When I try to install UU1/UU2 using the GOG.com installer, I click on "Options" and uncheck the "Install DOSBox" option as I already have it installed and configured to my liking. I then browse for my DOSBox folder in the appropriate text field (my DOSBox folder is C:\Program Files (x86)\DOSBox-0.74), and am unable to proceed with the installation because the installer claims that DOSBox is not found or is too old. The same happens when I try to install Dungeon Keeper or Crusader.

Any suggestions as to what I might be doing wrong? For reference, I am running Windows 7 64-bit.

Personally I would just install it to another location and then move relevant data over.

I've never heard of this problem though. You are clearly on the newest version (and I assume the program is there) so I can only assume UAC is being its hateful self and doing something.

Thanks for your suggestion, but I forgot to mention that I've already tried installing and moving the data. It appears that the installed version mounts an ISO image, runs a small program that detects the folders containing the speech clips and sound effects, feeds that info to the game via another small app (some sort of CD-ROM emulator, it seems), and then runs the game. I tried copying the contents of the ISO image into DOSBox; if I try to run the batch file that comes with the GOG.com version, DOSBox crashes. If I try to run either game directly, I get no sound.

I'm curious if anyone has had any luck with installing to an existing DOSBox installation or copying the data after a clean install.

It's probably also worth mentioning that I have UAC disabled, so that shouldn't be the problem.

Thanks a lot, that did the trick.

I copied the GAME.GOG file into a separate directory, and copied over the UNDEROM1 and UNDEROM2 directories into my DOSBox mount directory. Then I wrote a small batch file that simply mounts the ISO and runs the game off that. It's a bit inelegant but at least it's better than having a separate DOSBox installation just for two games.

Again, thank you.

Glad to have been of help!

By the way, a similar problem happens with the Might and Magic pack, and the reason for it is that the version of DOSBox that comes with the pack is older (v0.72 I believe) and the installer does not recognize newer versions of DOSBox.

You can work around this by keeping backup copies of the v0.72 DOSBox .exe as well as the v0.74 .exe, and then you swap them when installing from GOG. So for example, I have DOSBox v0.74 installed, but if I want to install the Might and Magic pack, I quickly swap in the v0.72 .exe file, install the pack, and then swap the v0.74 .exe file back in. The game will then run using v0.74.

I don't know which version of DOSBox is packed with Ultima Underworld though, so this might not be the same problem.

I can't confirm but most likely the newest version since the game has just been released. The only reason gog would use an older version is if the game was more compatible with a specific older version (happens on occasion) but even then I doubt gog would have done the research in finding out what the highest compatible version is.

I would have thought so, but since it's the exact same error it made me wonder. Does anyone know the exact DOSBox version that's bundled with Ultima Underworld?

This has nothing to do with UAC but rather GOG's very picky DOSBox version check implementation. An easier way would be to simply adjust the Start Menu and Desktop shortcut targets, e.g. for UU1 change:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\GOG.com\Ultima Underworld 1 and 2\DOSBOX\DOSBox.exe" -conf dosboxULTIMA1.conf -noconsole -c "exit"

to

"C:\Program Files (x86)\DOSBOX-0.74\DOSBox.exe" -conf "C:\Program Files (x86)\GOG.com\Ultima Underworld 1 and 2\dosboxULTIMA1.conf" -noconsole -c "exit"

...or whatever is appropriate to match where the game and DOSBox are installed to on your system. Note that the -conf entry changes from listing just the file name to giving the full path (and remember that it needs to be wrapped in " " because of the spaces in the path).

This way you don't need to make any changes to the actual GOG installation, just the shortcuts. The Game Explorer entries will still be wrong however; if you wish to change those you will need a third-party editor (or else hide the GOG entries and drag in the modified shortcuts instead).

But the GOG installer won't run unless you install DOSBox with it, right? So you're still installing a duplicate copy of DOSBox?

Or am I totally confused?

You run the GOG installer normally (allowing DOSBox etc.), then adjust the shortcuts to point to your preferred DOSBox installation instead (after which you can remove the DOSBox from the GOG game folder should you wish to). It's not the most elegant solution but it's the easiest of the various possible workarounds.

It's easiest to swap out EXEs when installing the game.

It would be, but apparently Ultima Underworld comes with the latest DOSBox verison (v0.74). So you'd be swapping identical EXEs. Unless the installer will successfully detect OLDER DOSBox versions for some reason.