So I guess this is really two questions.

1. Is it possible to run some of the GoG dosbox games on Android via Magic Dosbox by use of the offline installers? Specifically thinking about trying to get my copies of the old SSI goldbox games to work because it would mean I have a whole lot more time to play them like when commuting to work or just about anywhere really.

2. Assuming it can be done would this be ok or in breach of the GoG terms and condtions?

Advice appreciated :)

1. Yes it's technically possible and I've successfully tested that in the past. It will obviously depend on the game as they were nearly all designed for keyboard / mouse / "joystick" and not touch-screens but many will technically run. How well it "translates" depends on game & screen size. Some games will play better on an 8-10" tablet than a small phone screen (eg, small UI elements). It does help if you know how to add games to DOSBox on the PC and understand .conf files as some tweaking may be involved, eg, including a disc as an ISO that's "mounted" by DOS as a fake CD drive may be needed for some, or tweaking the default game speed / customizing keyboards / controllers. Plus the .exe installer itself is generally useless to Android, you'll probably need to install on PC, then copy the installed folder over to a micro-SD memory card / via USB. Those mini combined Bluetooth keyboard and touchpads can be a good idea too that can eliminate the need for "overlay" on-screen keyboards (and fingers getting in the way of what you're trying to see).

2. You should be fine as long as it's your own device and you aren't uploading it anywhere. People have also been running GOG DOS games under ScummVM for Android for tablets & Raspberry Pi's too for years with GOG's blessing. GOG care more about not pirating than worry about on which device in your house you play on. These days, they even package half their games with the same cross-platform ScummVM.

it's kinda funny (like in schadenfreude-funny) to read thread after thread pop up here or elswhere in which ppl are clumsily trying to get out of their Windows-comfort zone. Learning (learning as in getting totally confused) about OSes and architectures at last)

Tricky. But possible. I'd recommend Retroarch by virtue of being the least sketchy way to get Dosbox running on your phone.

I personally don't find that any funnier than people (like me) trying to run old Windows or MS-DOS games on modern PCs with Windows 10. That also needs all kinds of tricks and black magic, in the form of DOSBox, ScummVM, VirtualMIDISynth, Munt, dgVoodoo2 etc.

Not much different from trying to run a Windows game in Linux with WINE. With e.g. StarCraft, it didn't need more for me than just copying the StarCraft game files into my Linux box, and running the game with "wine StarCraft.exe", and the game runs just as good as it does on Windows 7 or 10. The only difference is that I use the command "wine StarCraft.exe" instead of a mere "StarCraft.exe".

I guess people do it because they want to play their games on devices which they use often, like their tablets etc. I am still setting up so that me and my kids could play e.g. some emulated, two player, arcade/console/MS-DOS games on Raspberry Pi 4, simply because that computer just happens to be connected to our big TV where such two-player/split screen games work better.

At this point I am not interested in trying to run PC games on tablets because I feel the lack of a mouse and keyboard for games that expect them is just not "worth it". It also helps that I don't use our Android tablet almost at all, and am not that interested in playing anything on the tiny screen of my Android phone.

My post was entirely observational, nothing practical attached.

Yet since you mention "people (like me) trying to run old Windows or MS-DOS games on modern PCs with Windows 10" let's talk about practice.
And the very first Q will be WHY? Why would do you try it on W10 apart from being a windoze slave knowing nothing but windoze? I for one wouldn't, haven't even had wincrap on my home PC for a long time now. And I do occasionally battle with running me some DOS oldie, be it with DOSBOX or even dosemu (dosemu2 these days, which even comes with KVM acceleration, yay!). Admittedly Glide emulation side is in a bad shape tho. However since there's about 2 games that are really worth getting it to work, I'll survive without native nglide or something similar. Maybe one day we'll see some glide-ogl(or vk) bridge built-in right into Mesa... But I'd rather see a native port of those 2 games (mostly interested in Archimedean Dynasty, but having Carma onboard would be nice too).
Even once had my real MIDI (the trusty Audigy 2) working with the old dosemu, now that was a pain.


Anyway the gist of my post was still different. What I meant was that for decades ppl were apparently happy with their hard vendor lock-in (M$ + Intel), but now life starts to hit back at them.

I... am unsure what you are trying to say here. That I should somehow feel bad for "accepting" a "hardware/OS lock-in" back in the early 90s when I was playing PC games on Microsoft Disk Operating System (MS-DOS) on a Intel 486DX PC, with a Soundblaster Pro and Roland LAPC-1 sound cards (two other "hardware lock-ins")?

Well, nowadays I play those games on modern PCs using e.g. DOSBox + Munt, which emulate the original environments for me, including their hardware. I also play Amiga games on WinUAE even though in the late 80s I "accepted" the hardware and OS lock-in by Commodore, by buying their Amiga 500 computer with the Kickstart 1.2 + Workbench operating system.

Today I play games from many past systems and environments, by using either emulators (old console and arcade emulators included) or DOSBox or ScummVM or glVoodoo2 or Munt etc.

Maybe we have a different sense of humor, but I fail to see what is funny about trying to play some old games on newer or even completely different systems. I don't have a real Commodore Amiga 500 anymore, on which to play Amiga games. Even if I did, I would probably choose to play them on an emulator anyway, on systems I use daily anyway. Like, I have a real PS2 there unused too, as I play any Playstation and PS2 games on emulators on my PC instead. Just easier that way.

DOSBox is an emulator/VM for MS-DOS, PC, keyboard+mouse based games.

Android is an OS for mobile gadgets. Where keyboards are non-existent.

People trying to use both these things together have VERY SERIOUS mental issues, in my not so humble opinion :-D

Well I pressed on and have successfully got Pool of Radiance to run with Magic Dosbox, fairly successfully, haven't quite nailed the startup properly, I am having to actually change directory and run the exe file to launch the game. Also might have to tweak the speed as I think its running just a little fast and combat messages are somewhat unreadable.

The use of a very small Bluetooth keyboard makes it all very easy to play, and the larger screen of a cheap 10" Amazon tablet makes for much better viewing than my phone but it works on my phone just fine too.

I know this is an old thread but the subject seemed to stray a bit.

To answer your question explicitly yes almost every DOS game will run in Magic DOSbox. There seems to be some misunderstanding on some posts. The Magic DOSBox allows you to create you own touch control overlays and even macro combos, and link them to the games keyboard or other commands. This means it's possible to make the interface better than the original, but requires some user effort. Alternatively the author has a website and you can download examples for many games.

I've played and finished Ultima Underworld 1+2, Lands of Lore 1, System Shock, Alone in the Dark, Shadowcaster, Heretic, Albion and Quake, all in Magic DOSBox Quake ran smoothly on on my mid-range phone at 800x600, System Shock ran at 640x480.
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There are plenty of advantages, the interface can be customized, the device used is portable for gaming on the go, and the low screen resolution of old DOS games is much less of an issue on a 6" screen than a 25" PC.

The main disadvantages are GOG assets sometimes need extra work to integrate as other have mentioned and FMV sometimes does work well. Issued particularly with Cue/Bin CD files. This is minor compared to the benefits.

Personally I can't see any compelling reason to play these games on a modern PC when most modern phones running this app will run everything ever written for DOS. Some people have even managed to load Windows 95.

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