0MHz DOS Collection 2024.03.20 Released

[AmintaMister]

The following PR I have just created may be of interest:

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Main_MiSTer/pull/887

With this, we can indicate in the MGL file, a CFG file associated with a core set. Not only that, but any change to it inside the core will affect only this CFG in core...leaving ao486.cfg, pcxt.cfg or any other of the default config path, untouched with its original configuration.

I will at least use it for my new-features fork, in which I foresee other changes to make more flexible the use of MGL on the x86 platform without the need of having a TapTo device, and always with the aim of also having the possibility of using a single VHD with all the games of interest, and with its own internal launcher from MSDOS.

Example:

Code: Select all

<mistergamedescription>
    <rbf>_Computer/PCXT</rbf>
    <file delay="1" type="s" index="2" path="/media/fat/games/PCXT/HDD/PCXT_CGA_Tandy_2.3.1.vhd" cfg="/media/fat/games/PCXT/MGL/config/AlleyCat.cfg"/>
    <reset delay="1"/>
</mistergamedescription>

It would also make sense for it to be inside the reset tag, in any case, it would work in a similar way.

Thanks, definitively to adopt!

[Emubastard]

The following PR I have just created may be of interest:

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Main_MiSTer/pull/887

With this, we can indicate in the MGL file, a CFG file associated with a core set. Not only that, but any change to it inside the core will affect only this CFG in core...leaving ao486.cfg, pcxt.cfg or any other of the default config path, untouched with its original configuration.

I will at least use it for my new-features fork, in which I foresee other changes to make more flexible the use of MGL on the x86 platform without the need of having a TapTo device, and always with the aim of also having the possibility of using a single VHD with all the games of interest, and with its own internal launcher from MSDOS.

Example:

Code: Select all

<mistergamedescription>
    <rbf>_Computer/PCXT</rbf>
    <file delay="1" type="s" index="2" path="/media/fat/games/PCXT/HDD/PCXT_CGA_Tandy_2.3.1.vhd" cfg="/media/fat/games/PCXT/MGL/config/AlleyCat.cfg"/>
    <reset delay="1"/>
</mistergamedescription>

It would also make sense for it to be inside the reset tag, in any case, it would work in a similar way.

That would be fantastic if it happens.

[Emubastard]

great collection.. is it missing wolfenstein 3d.vhd or am i missing that file?

We have heard the cries.

The fixed version has been uploaded.

[Emubastard]

I don't know exactly how this might work, if we really need to inject a whole file, or if could at least send some kind of signal from the outside, which the Ms-Dos that runs in the core might use.

Is there anything in the AO486.CFG that might affect something in the core that might be read from Ms-Dos?

This is what I do with the x86 TapTo feature in my new-features fork, more info in the README.md of my repository:

https://github.com/spark2k06/Main_MiSTer

Although I am thinking that TapTo is not necessary, but that the ID can be passed from the MGL. In any case, it is stored in CMOS memory, available both in PCXT and ao486 (but it was not accepted by sorgelig, hence my fork)... it is a limited memory, but then we can use it as a game launcher, with whatever features. But as @limi says, in order not to make this thread more dirty, if you want we can discuss it in the thread about this fork:

viewtopic.php?p=84458#p84458

It would be wonderful to have this in main. Then have a utility which can extract the and create an error code that can be used in a batch file inside the running core.

[Alkadian]

There may be a couple bios files there like 'boot0.rom' and 'boot1.rom' that need to be moved over to the 'games/ao486' folder on the USB drive.

Ah! Thanks for clarifying. This is what I have forgotten to do. I will check it out as soon as I get home.

Yup! That did the trick indeed!
Thanks!

[whocares]

Amazing work! Bringing back so many old memories.

7th Guest is not working out of the box, there was a typo in the .mgl and easily fixed

Also, Warcraft II launches Warcraft 1, the .vhd is missing.

[Emubastard]

Amazing work! Bringing back so many old memories.

7th Guest is not working out of the box, there was a typo in the .mgl and easily fixed

Also, Warcraft II launches Warcraft 1, the .vhd is missing.

My apologies. Fixed for next release.

[AntialiasedPixel]

I might be missing something, but I'm only seeing 24 games 7th guest - Command & conquer, seems any after that alphabetically aren't in the list of zip files?

[ItalianGrandma]

I might be missing something, but I'm only seeing 24 games 7th guest - Command & conquer, seems any after that alphabetically aren't in the list of zip files?

I think they are just updating the archives. I’m sure they’ll all be back soon, along with more titles.

[limi]

Video Game Esoterica covered it too, including a quick tutorial:

[seastalker]

First, thank you for creating yet another option to play these games. Having ScummVM and the EXODOS collection already, initially I wasn't going to take up more space. I saw PCN's video and have reconsidered, at least with a handful of games. Great fun for fastloading some classics.

Nothing negative is intended in the following, but in testing, I thought to share some hiccups along the way in hopes it helps streamline this even more.
Some notes may or may not be game related and not any fault of the project.

7th Guest - Stuck at "Please Insert Disc One"

Crime Wave - start a new game/kids level = "ERROR - BAD OR MISSING ?.EXE FILEC:\CRIME>" I did not test other options/difficulty settings.

Grand Theft Auto - The game boots to a graphic with the game title and a "CD Warning" claiming the CD is not present.

King's Quest II - Happy to see that the game supports a gamepad, but RIGHT direction on a d-pad or stick moves him LEFT (as well as the LEFT directional). Can't make him move right even with a Mister menu remap. KEYBOARD right arrow does work however.

Lemmings- Doesn't load for me... "Invalid directory" "Bad command or file name" "D:\>11"

Monkey Island - I don't see my MT32-pi showing activity, but perhaps I need to set that up manually for some of these games.

For me, I must get used to accepting that some games were by design (and obviously no fault of the project here), not meant to be played with a controller. I love being surprised when games do support them [Thank you to PCN for suggesting 'Super Cars International' in the video], but it does take me just a bit out of the consolized experience of DOS gaming. This project is pretty darn close at bridging that inherent gap though. Well done!

Now if only ZORK had analog racing wheel support...

[limi]

Thanks! Filed as https://github.com/0mhz-net/0mhz-collection/issues/14

There are bound to be issues, there’s a lot of different configurations.

Ideally report them directly in the issue tracker, and we will get to them: https://github.com/0mhz-net/0mhz-collection/issues

[ItalianGrandma]

Just a tip for configuring Joysticks/Controllers for anyone that doesn't know:

If your joystick/controller isn't working in a game and the game options have no way to configure it, you can check for a separate setup program for the game by doing the following:

1) Exit the game back to the DOS prompt
2) In the DOS prompt, type in "dir" to get a listing of the files in the folder
3) Look for something like "Setup"
4) Type in "Setup" to run the game setup program

From there, you may be able to go through the steps of configuring your joystick/controller. Save the settings and exit and then relaunch the game and your controller is likely to work.

[Emubastard]

First, thank you for creating yet another option to play these games. Having ScummVM and the EXODOS collection already, initially I wasn't going to take up more space. I saw PCN's video and have reconsidered, at least with a handful of games. Great fun for fastloading some classics.

Nothing negative is intended in the following, but in testing, I thought to share some hiccups along the way in hopes it helps streamline this even more.
Some notes may or may not be game related and not any fault of the project.

7th Guest - Stuck at "Please Insert Disc One"

Crime Wave - start a new game/kids level = "ERROR - BAD OR MISSING ?.EXE FILEC:\CRIME>" I did not test other options/difficulty settings.

Grand Theft Auto - The game boots to a graphic with the game title and a "CD Warning" claiming the CD is not present.

King's Quest II - Happy to see that the game supports a gamepad, but RIGHT direction on a d-pad or stick moves him LEFT (as well as the LEFT directional). Can't make him move right even with a Mister menu remap. KEYBOARD right arrow does work however.

Lemmings- Doesn't load for me... "Invalid directory" "Bad command or file name" "D:\>11"

Monkey Island - I don't see my MT32-pi showing activity, but perhaps I need to set that up manually for some of these games.

For me, I must get used to accepting that some games were by design (and obviously no fault of the project here), not meant to be played with a controller. I love being surprised when games do support them [Thank you to PCN for suggesting 'Super Cars International' in the video], but it does take me just a bit out of the consolized experience of DOS gaming. This project is pretty darn close at bridging that inherent gap though. Well done!

Now if only ZORK had analog racing wheel support...

Thank you for this.

7th guest had a typo in the MGL, it's already being addressed.

I can't really do much about game pad support with these games. It's kind of hit and miss. I've run into a lot of issue myself.

MT-32 support isn't officially supported. You can of course change the config of any games you like and try. Your milage may very.

We are going to add an MT-32 MGL folder and reconfigure all games that support MT-32. I just need to get an MT-32 pie first to test with.

I will look at these games and see if I'm having the same issues and fix them.

-Emubastard

[flynnsbit]

The following PR I have just created may be of interest

Yes, it's a useful solution, which seems easier to use than the core configuration bits. This might replace having to use SYSCTL.EXE from the Ms-Dos, to do things like setting the clock speed, and will make it easier to tweak compared to having to mount the .VHD and edit the autoexec.bat.

There's still something missing from a true "console-like" experience, I don't know if it's possible with the current framework or not:

Right now, this whole collection is made assuming the standard Soundblaster FM music. But what if we wanted to use MT-32 instead (either software or with an mt32-pi module)? In many cases, the difference it's just a tiny .CFG file in the game, so it would be a waste and a huge amount of time to create separate .VHDs just to replace a single file.

The Top300 collection managed this by using a Choice menu before the game starts but, we don't want to spoil the console-like experience, and have the game starting seamlessly, don't we?

If the .MGL file could send custom information to the core, perhaps the autoexec.bat or whatever .bat file is used to start the game, could use it to SWITCH dynamically the .cfg file that controls the sound, but not only, even alternate configs like CGA, EGA, VGA, etc.

Or, what if the .MGL could just pass a custom CONFIG.SYS/AUTOEXEC.BAT files? These might stay in the Mister filesystem in the game folder, same as your solution for a custom AO486.CFG.

One work around I did in one of my MGL tests for audio is to put the choice menu AFTER the game load in the autoexec. So open the game using an MGL, don't like the audio, quit the game, the choice menu comes up, select the audio you want, and it loads the game (loops, you never see a dos prompt.) The MGL/VHD setup I have for Mortal Kombat II on Archive is setup this way. A hack but at least gives an option for audio to the user. JChoice could also have an option that handles opening the setup for the game for custom controls, graphics, etc. So you just have to exit the game to get there.

[PistolsAtDawn]

I just love this community so much! You're all awesome, and this is great!

[Bas]

If anyone finds it useful, DOSContainer uses ZIP files that contain the game + boot menu BAT file in a format that just extracts to C:\ if you already have that bootable. They're available from my FTP: ftp.area536.com/doscontainer/distfiles. They could save (some of) you some work. Also, I'd happily host/mirror the VHD's for 0MHz.

[Alkadian]

I just love this community so much! You're all awesome, and this is great!

+1

[circletheory]

This approach is awesome and it allows like a million ways to curate these DOS games. Just reading these posts and watching the videos, I was thinking of having dedicated MGLs for compilations of smaller games. Like there's a bunch of early Capcom Arcade PC Ports that could use a front end loader (via Flynn's TDL). Like upon launching, show a list of the games (Ghost n Goblins, Trojan, Strider, etc). Maybe one for Data East games (Karnov, Ikari Warriors). I'm a sucker for these early arcade IBM PC ports from the late 80s. They were universally panned, but there's something endearing about them!

[cruz1383]

Can anyone test out earthworm Jim 2 before I submit a ticket on 0mhz's github. I tried to run it with an 8bitdo sn30 controller but I can't get it to register the controller letters in the game menu (not the mister menu it works fine on the mister menu but the game's menu it does not). I tried the esc and typing dir in DOS and then setup but that only let me setup the sound card and not the joystick controller.

[ItalianGrandma]

Can anyone test out earthworm Jim 2 before I submit a ticket on 0mhz's github. I tried to run it with an 8bitdo sn30 controller but I can't get it to register the controller letters in the game menu (not the mister menu it works fine on the mister menu but the game's menu it does not). I tried the esc and typing dir in DOS and then setup but that only let me setup the sound card and not the joystick controller.

Tested, and I can't get my joystick to be recognized either.

In the game's built-in Options menu, there is a setting for configuring a joystick, but when I try to configure it, none of the directions work (only the button for whip works). If I go into game without configuring, I can get my d-pad to work and the button for Shoot, but that's it. The fact that this game should have support for a joystick does make me think that the config for this game could be tweaked to make it work.

If you really want to force it, you could use the core setting for remapping keyboard keys to controller buttons, but these settings will persist for all games and might interfere with other games.

[cruz1383]

Can anyone test out earthworm Jim 2 before I submit a ticket on 0mhz's github. I tried to run it with an 8bitdo sn30 controller but I can't get it to register the controller letters in the game menu (not the mister menu it works fine on the mister menu but the game's menu it does not). I tried the esc and typing dir in DOS and then setup but that only let me setup the sound card and not the joystick controller.

Tested, and I can't get my joystick to be recognized either.

In the game's built-in Options menu, there is a setting for configuring a joystick, but when I try to configure it, none of the directions work (only the button for whip works). If I go into game without configuring, I can get my d-pad to work and the button for Shoot, but that's it. The fact that this game should have support for a joystick does make me think that the config for this game could be tweaked to make it work.

If you really want to force it, you could use the core setting for remapping keyboard keys to controller buttons, but these settings will persist for all games and might interfere with other games.

great man that means the config is messed up somewhere it also seems to be the same case for Earthwarm Jim 1 also. I'm not good with DOS lol so ill probably have to write a ticket on there github. thanks a lot for the test. yeah I don't want o mess with remapping the keyboard and then have to remap again for another game.I wonder how or what other games have this issues as well?

[thera34]

• Heroes of Might & Magic II

You might want change the default on rungame.bat to SB16. CD-Audio is choppy on this game unfortunately, I myself have a MT32Pi and use MIDI, best we can have for now on Heroes 2.
Also, you can delete the Multiplayer choice, it won't work in your setup as you don't have even PPP support installed (this game also uses IPX and couldn't find a reliable way to have it running on top of the PPP over serial we can use as connectivity, other than Doom in LAN).

Keep up the good work !

[Emubastard]

• Heroes of Might & Magic II

You might want change the default on rungame.bat to SB16. CD-Audio is choppy on this game unfortunately, I myself have a MT32Pi and use MIDI, best we can have for now on Heroes 2.
Also, you can delete the Multiplayer choice, it won't work in your setup as you don't have even PPP support installed (this game also uses IPX and couldn't find a reliable way to have it running on top of the PPP over serial we can use as connectivity, other than Doom in LAN).

Keep up the good work !

CD Audio may work better with DOS/32A extender

[Emubastard]

Lemmings- Doesn't load for me... "Invalid directory" "Bad command or file name" "D:\>11"

How many times have you tried this? I can't reproduce it.

[thera34]

• Heroes of Might & Magic II

You might want change the default on rungame.bat to SB16. CD-Audio is choppy on this game unfortunately, I myself have a MT32Pi and use MIDI, best we can have for now on Heroes 2.
Also, you can delete the Multiplayer choice, it won't work in your setup as you don't have even PPP support installed (this game also uses IPX and couldn't find a reliable way to have it running on top of the PPP over serial we can use as connectivity, other than Doom in LAN).

Keep up the good work !

CD Audio may work better with DOS/32A extender

It doesn't HOMM2 is an all time fave of mine, I have tested it before on my own setup, under different memory managers etc and couldn't find a workaround for the CD Audio issue.

[flynnsbit]

Lemmings- Doesn't load for me... "Invalid directory" "Bad command or file name" "D:\>11"

How many times have you tried this? I can't reproduce it.

Top 300 VHD saved in the second IDE 0-1 slot maybe? If so, that would break D: for your MGLs. We talked about it on the discord this morning, but Top 300 now needs a MGL so it doesn't break all of these or IDE 00,IDE 01, 10, and 11 need to be cleared on load of an MGL. The better way would be they are clear for the ao486 default save and Top 300 has its own MGL now.

[blktiger]

If possible, a big improvement re: packaging would be to keep the configurations (MGL, CFG) separate from the game .zip files, maybe in a single zip for all game configurations as the size is very small. That way, frequent configuration changes (e.g. for bugfixing) can take place without one having to redownload the entire game.

[cruz1383]

Can anyone test out earthworm Jim 2 before I submit a ticket on 0mhz's github. I tried to run it with an 8bitdo sn30 controller but I can't get it to register the controller letters in the game menu (not the mister menu it works fine on the mister menu but the game's menu it does not). I tried the esc and typing dir in DOS and then setup but that only let me setup the sound card and not the joystick controller.

Tested, and I can't get my joystick to be recognized either.

In the game's built-in Options menu, there is a setting for configuring a joystick, but when I try to configure it, none of the directions work (only the button for whip works). If I go into game without configuring, I can get my d-pad to work and the button for Shoot, but that's it. The fact that this game should have support for a joystick does make me think that the config for this game could be tweaked to make it work.

If you really want to force it, you could use the core setting for remapping keyboard keys to controller buttons, but these settings will persist for all games and might interfere with other games.

great man that means the config is messed up somewhere it also seems to be the same case for Earthwarm Jim 1 also. I'm not good with DOS lol so ill probably have to write a ticket on there github. thanks a lot for the test. yeah I don't want o mess with remapping the keyboard and then have to remap again for another game.I wonder how or what other games have this issues as well?

well it looks like the only work around is to use the core settings to remap keyboard keys to controlller buttons unless some DOS wizard can do us the favor and get the settings on Earthwarm jim 1 and 2 to work properly with the mister core.

from @ Emubastard

I have tested this and have the same issue with an Xbox controller. Joystick support is hit and miss in the collection due to compatibility. None of the options in the core fixed it. ao486 core is amazing but DOS is also wildly non standard in how things are implemented. This game will have to be played with keyboard unless someone else can figure something out.

My apologies.

[Bas]

Would it be possible to map controller inputs to keycodes so your pad acts like a faux keyboard?