I was wondering how feasible it'd be to create a custom DOSbox single game release, optimized for say playing just one game?
I'd say something like maybe The Elder Scrolls 2 - Daggerfall would be a good example:
Here are it's original system requirements - 486DX2 66MHz; 8MB RAM; 50MB hard drive space.
Would the DC be capable of handling this game run through an emulator, while running off the datafiles on a disc?
If not DOSbox, could custom binaries/executables be made to run off the DC, assuming you have the games to copy the necessary game files from of course...
Single DOS games possible?
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Stryfe
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Re: Single DOS games possible?
DOSbox for Dreamcast isn't exactly optimized and runs rather slow according to what I've heard. As far as I know, it should be possible to emulate early 286 games at a reasonable speed, but I haven't tested it myself.
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BlackAura
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Re: Single DOS games possible?
You could, but it would be pointless.
It just about worked for MAME because of the way MAME works. MAME is an enormous piece of software, with hundreds of different emulators for different components, and different types of arcade machines. The full version of MAME could not possibly run on a Dreamcast - it's something like 40MB of code.
The single-game versions of MAME stripped out everything that wasn't necessary, and then pre-set all of the options (frameskip and sound quality, mostly) to get the game running acceptably. A couple (Warmtoe's Simpsons, for example) made a few changes to get some specific games to work with less RAM available.
None of that applies to Dosbox. It's a small emulator, emulating only one system, and can't really be stripped down any further. Realistically, there's no chance of this being able to run 386-era games well on a Dreamcast, no matter what you do to it.
It just about worked for MAME because of the way MAME works. MAME is an enormous piece of software, with hundreds of different emulators for different components, and different types of arcade machines. The full version of MAME could not possibly run on a Dreamcast - it's something like 40MB of code.
The single-game versions of MAME stripped out everything that wasn't necessary, and then pre-set all of the options (frameskip and sound quality, mostly) to get the game running acceptably. A couple (Warmtoe's Simpsons, for example) made a few changes to get some specific games to work with less RAM available.
None of that applies to Dosbox. It's a small emulator, emulating only one system, and can't really be stripped down any further. Realistically, there's no chance of this being able to run 386-era games well on a Dreamcast, no matter what you do to it.