My GOG copy of MM2 for some reason gives a "stopped working" error when I close it in any other way than quitting at the inn.

By Cntr-F9 or pressing the X in the corner as I always play minimized screen anyway. (As it was easier to access my maps and spell page)

In MM1 this was useful as there was no other way to exit the game and I tended to just quit if let's say I run into six gold dragons and knew I was completely screwed. Or if multiple party members were eradicated. It was faster to just force-quit than to wait for everyone to die and continue at the inn.

Keep in mind it's a force of habit at this point.

Yet as I said, 2 gives an error when I do this.

-Should I just ignore it?
-Just wait until everyone dies and quit then?
-Will it actually do damage to the game or computer in the long run?

I took a screenshot of this to show what I mean.

There was no other way to close some games in DOS era than by restarting PC. So it isn't surprising that Dosbox doesn't like it in some cases.

However, if my memory isn't wrong. MM2 should have Ctrl+Q combination to instantly quit game.

If you are caught in a long battle and want to force-quit, I think it is safe to ignore this error entirely. There is no way it can do any damage to the game, because game only writes to game files when you are in inn.

Thanks :D