Hello everyone,
first post. :)

As per the title, I'm looking for tips/suggestions for configuring and playing the original Screamer at its best.

My setup:
- MSI GS63 Stealth 8RE gaming laptop (i7, 16GB, GTX1060 6GB)
- AOC 1080p 144hz 25" monitor
- Xbox One controller

I'm a bit lost in graphics settings/video options... The game seems to be running fine in full screen, but I'm noticing some screen tearing (which I have no idea if it's supposed to be there or not). Also, I'd like to know if there's an easy way to configure my controller for this game (and all arcade-like games too, possibly), so I can map the keyboard inputs on it.

Thanks alot in advance!
G

Benvenuto su GOG!

Which game are you talking about? There are three Screamer games currently sold on GOG and this is the subforum for the whole series.

Ciao, grazie per la risposta! ^_-

Yeah, I meant the first Screamer, sorry.
And apologies for being a bit too impulsive: as soon as I posted my own thread, I saw a pretty detailed guide right on top of this forum's page. My bad!

That said, to recap my current situation:

--- XBOX One controller ---
Solved.
Editing the dosboxScreamer.conf file (joysticktype=4axis and timed=false, to prevent calibration issues) and then running the setup.exe as described, worked just fine. I couldn't assign steering inputs to the dpad, and the controller itself only works during actual races (menus still require keyboard commands), but I'm inclined to assume it's all normal.

--- random freezing/crashing during races ---
Solved (I'll take some more time to test the game, and report if needed).
I investigated the issue a bit further and I found out the original game used to be quite unstable in SVGA as well. Once again, editing the dosboxScreamer.conf file (by setting the CPU core from auto to normal) seems to help, but then Screamer runs just like it probably did back then, at higher resolutions... Which means awfully choppy, at a blistering 20 or so fps. Not my cup of tea, tbh. :)
Since I like to play these old DOS/Win95 classics on a 1440x900px window anyway - to keep their original 320x200px resolution at 4.5x, and the wider aspect ratio intact, without scaling artifacts - I went on and edited the dosboxScreamer_single.conf file, changing startH.exe into startL.exe (to launch the game in VGA mode, instead of SVGA). Even though it's much blockier, I still find the regular VGA very pleasing, not to mention both the frame rate and speed are now spot on. Should anyone else want to test my video settings, I also suggest to change scaler=none and aspect=false, to get a sharp, pixel perfect image.
Finally, turning on double buffering (fulldouble=true) got rid of any noticeable screen tearing.

All that said though, I'm still open to suggestions, to further improve my DOSBox experience!

Thanks for sharing your solutions: I think you did very well as a beginner. Happy gaming!