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[justkc]

Awesome old game, if you can find a copy, grab it. I'd prefer if an outlet that didn't require an internet connection sold it, but oh well, I have an old copy. DOS version > Windows in playability, stability.

This game really challenges me on higher difficulties - which is a good thing.

[Suicide Boy]

I'm fairly good with DOSBox and have been using it for years, but X-COM runs so fast, it's unplayable for me. (I got X-COM from Abandonia long before Steam started selling it; yes, I've been lurking for years, heh.) For example, the text entry cursor blinks so fast it's a blur, the Geoscape timer runs much faster than it should, and when I rotate the globe, it spins at ludicrous speed.

Unfortunately, turning the CPU cycles down never helps me in any games I play on DOSBox. Instead of slowing down smoothly, the video and audio start stuttering and skipping at intervals. The game does run more slowly, but obviously it doesn't matter at that point because the game play quality suffers too much.

I have a fairly powerful computer though, maybe it's just too doggone fast. Does anyone have any advice for me, though, for slowing down games on DOSBox without inducing skipping and such? Is there some obscure setting I don't know about?

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Fortunately for me, I have the Amiga Forever emulator and I've got X-COM AGA installed on its hard drive. It runs 100% smoothly, just like on a real computer back in the day, but I'd still rather play the PC version because I hear there's a bug in the Amiga one that prevents finishing the game.

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On a final note, I absolutely HATE how companies are "re-releasing" old MS-DOS games. Instead of reverse engineering them to run on XP, they just take DOSBox, run the original games on that, and charge money for it.

I used to be all for selling (former) abandonware commercially again, but all they REALLY seem to be doing is taking exactly what we already have in the abandonware scene, and charging money for it.

And the companies getting paid for it aren't even the original developers in almost all cases. AND, they screw up the DOSBox settings half the time.

[The Fifth Horseman]

I have a fairly powerful computer though, maybe it's just too doggone fast. Does anyone have any advice for me, though, for slowing down games on DOSBox without inducing skipping and such? Is there some obscure setting I don't know about?

If it runs too fast on the default dynamic core, change the config file with these values:

core=normal
cycles=12000
cycleup=1000
cycledown=1000

Then try adjusting the cycles up and down until you get an acceptable speed.

AND, they screw up the DOSBox settings half the time.

That's their problem, and since the people who paid for the "new" product are entitled to tech support for it... yeah. The companies will either make sure the employees responsible for the configs are semi-competent or quit the DOSBox re-release game.

[Suicide Boy]

Originally Posted by The Fifth Horseman

If it runs too fast on the default dynamic core, change the config file with these values:

core=normal
cycles=12000
cycleup=1000
cycledown=1000

Then try adjusting the cycles up and down until you get an acceptable speed.

I have, and I've also tried setting the CPU type to Pentium, 386, 486_slow, etc.

The globe rotation speed can get to around normal levels, but unfortunately, with the 5 SEC button pressed, time in the Geoscape still passes at 1 minute per real second, and the game in general is never smooth.

[The Fifth Horseman]

Hm. Tried wth core=full?

[Suicide Boy]

Originally Posted by The Fifth Horseman

Hm. Tried wth core=full?

I did, and tried a few other settings along with it. As before, the globe can get down to fairly normal speeds and the game isn't too choppy, but the clock runs two thousand percent faster than it should, and Tactical Mode doesn't work at all. I just get a black screen and the mouse cursor won't move. The music plays, but that's about it.

Speaking of, I checked and it seems I get a black screen and stuck mouse cursor in Tactical Mode on every setting. It's been awhile since I've tried to run X-COM (say about two years), and that's probably what caused me to abandon it back then after I tried a bunch of different tweaks and settings.

At first I thought maybe I had the Windows version and was trying to run it in DOSBox like a dunderhead, but I just double-checked and it's indeed the DOS version.

So my choices are to continue trying to configure it to run correctly somehow, buy the Windows version on eBay and hope I can get it to work properly, or buy the Steam version which, as far as I know, is the same one I have now.

All I can say is, I'm lucky that the Amiga emulator acts exactly like there's a little tiny Amiga sitting inside your computer screen. No "simulated" speed-up or slowdown needed, the virtual machine somehow runs at the same speed an actual, physical A500 or A1200 would. That includes long floppy loading times, heh. If not for that, I might not be able to play X-COM comfortably at all.

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Oh, about what I said initially, I didn't mean that most games I use with DOSBox are either too fast or slow and choppy. I meant that there are some games I run that have extreme speed-up right off the bat, and I can never slow those down without ruining the gameplay with choppiness.

Thankfully I can run plenty of other games perfectly, or nearly so. Privateer, Martian Dreams, and System Shock are a few examples.

[peedee]

Hey,

Here is the full dosbox config from the Steam version. (I cut out the REM statements to save space) Obviously, change the autoexec at the end to the correct path etc.

I have a quad core cpu and the game runs at exactly the speed I remember it on my 33MHz 486!!! :woot2:

Good luck, I hope this works!!!!

[sdl]
fullscreen=true
fulldouble=false
fullresolution=original
windowresolution=original
output=surface
autolock=true
sensitivity=100
waitonerror=true
priority=higher,normal
mapperfile=mapper.txt
usescancodes=true

[dosbox]
language=
machine=vga
captures=capture
memsize=32

[render]
frameskip=0
aspect=false
scaler=advinterp2x

[cpu]
core=auto
cycles=auto limit 8000
cycleup=500
cycledown=20

[mixer]
nosound=false
rate=22050
blocksize=4096
prebuffer=14

[midi]
mpu401=intelligent
device=default
config=

[sblaster]
sbtype=sb16
sbbase=220
irq=7
dma=1
hdma=5
mixer=true
oplmode=auto
oplrate=22050

[gus]
gus=true
gusrate=22050
gusbase=240
irq1=5
irq2=5
dma1=3
dma2=3
ultradir=C:\ULTRASND

[speaker]
pcspeaker=true
pcrate=22050
tandy=auto
tandyrate=22050
disney=true

[joystick]
joysticktype=auto
timed=true
autofire=false
swap34=false
buttonwrap=true

[serial]
serial1=dummy
serial2=dummy
serial3=disabled
serial4=disabled

[dos]
xms=true
ems=true
umb=true
keyboardlayout=none

[ipx]
ipx=false

[autoexec]
@echo off
mount c XCOM -freesize 1024
c:
cd XCOM
call ufocd.bat
exit

Steam version config

Integrated spoiler tags (they are not only useful to hide spoilers but also to keep the navigation intact when writing long texts ). ~Luchsen

[Suicide Boy]

Hey, peedee, thanks a bundle, man... that configuration works almost without a hitch. I just had to set it to windowed mode and turn off graphics filters (I prefer unfiltered and windowed, that's all).

Looks like I still have a lot to learn about DOSBox configuration, I'll have to compare these and see what's different about them to learn how to slow down other games that cause problems.

Thanks again!

[Saccade]

Nice - Thanks Michael.

[another_guest]

That looks very interesting indeed, I'll be keeping an eye on this!

I wish there were more of these projects out there, remaking and enhancing some of those golden oldies that were somehow never overshadowed by more recent titles...