So I stumbled on my original SWars disc and managed to install and launch this amazing game with DosBox.

I can even use the high-resolution mode (640x480), this was not possible on my previous system.

The problem is that for some reason the game fails to work properly after restarting it.
I have to reboot my system in order to make it run fluid again.
What could be causing this?

I'm also wondering how I can record gameplay with FRAPS. (I own the full version of FRAPS but have never recorded Dos games before)

Thanks in advance.

This is my current system:
i7 920
6gb ram
560ti
Windows7 x64

I'm using a slightly adjusted version of the config found at:
http://syndicate.lubie.org/swars/html/swars_run_newpc_dosbox.php

No one? :'(

Is this a speed problem, or something else? I might be able to help if it's just that the game runs too fast in the menus or too slow in game.

It runs almost perfect, the menu animations are a bit too fast but that doesn't matter.

The problem is that when I restart the game the intro starts to skip / stutter and so does the actual gameplay.

The only thing I can do in that situation is restart my computer.

I used the below to get DOSbox set up correctly.. Although you might want to use notepad to edit the cycleup and cycledown values in the provided conf file so that you're able to switch between speeds with just one CTRL-F12 / CTRL-F11. I can't remember the exact values I used though. It would probably be different for you anyway.

http://syndicate.lubie.org/swars/html/swars_run_newpc_dosbox.php

My question is how to install the damn thing from cd, does dosbox have any kind of cd-rom support?

It's been a couple of years since I have used dosbox manually.

Yeah, but you can do it just as easily in Windows. Just copy the GAME folder wherever you want then call it SWARS.

You can set up DOSbox to recognise your optical drive without entering the command line each time too.

Yes, it has, both for actual CD drives and CD images.

Have a look at the wiki for the usage of the MOUNT command.

I've personally been using D-Fend Reloaded as frontend for quite some time.

Thanks, I'll give it a look later on.

Which version of DOSBox are you running? I ask because on the page you linked to, the config file is meant for 6.5 and DOSBox is currently on 7.4. Of course, that doesn't at all explain why it works smoothly only the first time.

I'm using the latest version

Below is a copy of the swars config I'm using:

[sdl]

fullscreen=true
fulldouble=false
#fullresolution=original
fullresolution=640x480
windowresolution=1920x1200
output=surface
#output=overlay
autolock=true
sensitivity=100
waitonerror=true
priority=higher,normal
mapperfile=mapper.txt
usescancodes=true

[dosbox]

language=
machine=vga
captures=capture
memsize=16

[render]

frameskip=0
aspect=false
scaler=normal2x

[cpu]

core=dynamic
cycles=120000
cycleup=5000
cycledown=5000

[mixer]

nosound=false
rate=22050
blocksize=2048
prebuffer=10

[midi]

mpu401=intelligent
device=default
config=

[sblaster]

sbtype=sb16
sbbase=220
irq=7
dma=1
hdma=5
mixer=true
oplmode=auto
oplrate=22050

[gus]

gus=true
gusrate=22050
gusbase=240
irq1=5
irq2=5
dma1=3
dma2=3
ultradir=C:\ULTRASND

[speaker]

pcspeaker=true
pcrate=22050
tandy=auto
tandyrate=22050
disney=true

[bios]

joysticktype=2axis

[serial]

serial1=dummy
serial2=dummy
serial3=disabled
serial4=disabled

[dos]

xms=true
ems=true
umb=true

[ipx]

ipx=false

[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.


I launch the game with the shortcut below:

C:\swars\DOSBox\dosbox.exe -conf c:\swars\dosbox\swars.conf c:\swars\play.bat

Hmm, it's a bit weird that there are #s before a couple of lines at the start. Try getting rid of the # on the lines "#fullresolution=original" and "#output=overlay".

Also, try changing output to ddraw rather than surface.

Finally, when you say the game runs poorly after you restart it, are you restarting by going back to the command prompt in DOSBox and restarting the game or are you quitting DOSBox fully and restarting from the shortcut?

I'm not sure if any of my suggestions will help with the problem you're having, they were just weird things about the config file that might improve the general running of DOSBox.
Honestly, the slowing down thing makes me think it might be something other than DOSBox stealing resources and causing DOSBox to run slowly.

Doesn't DOSBox support CD images up to 2 GB? Perhaps try running the game from an ISO in DOSBox to avoid some of the hassle.