General talk:Playing DOS Installments under DOSBox/Archive 1

This is an archive of past General talk:Playing DOS Installments under DOSBox discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page, except for maintenance such as updating links.

Runing under Mac OS ten?

when i try to run what i belive is the installer (the downloaded file) i get this "error" "this program must be run under win32" is there a way to make it work or not?

You've evidently downloaded the Windows installer. The OS X one is buried deeper in the downloads page (last time I looked, anyway). CVS builds are usually Windows only. Garrett^Talk 02:42, 17 July 2006 (EDT)

• err I think i didn't exaplin right i get that error when i run the arena file in dos box (not the dos box instaler i got that runing)Deuxhero 21:20, 29 July 2006 (EDT)

Oh that's simple enough, you just need a RAR extractor that supports EXEs. UnRarX for example can probaly do it. Garrett^Talk 01:32, 30 July 2006 (EDT)

I am having this problem - your solution makes no sense to me... Jazstar 09:43, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

Missing CD Error

Whenever I try to run DF in DOSBox, it says "Missing CD." I checked the box "Install to run without CD" in the installer. I do have my CD in the drive, though. What do I do? I'm using Vista 64-bit.—Sam324 19:29, 26 March 2008 (EDT)

Run the game with fall z.cfg and it will work. JKing 23:43, 16 August 2008 (EDT)

OK, thanks. I'll try that.—97.95.42.33 09:35, 19 August 2008 (EDT)

(←) I've got the same problem, but I can't find the fall z.cfg file, where is it??? — Unsigned comment by 125.238.137.37 (talk) at 00:45 on 5 July 2009

I get the same problem, using fall z.cfg just gives me the error "Illegal Command" or "Error map file not specified" any help? 128.193.240.70 05:43, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

page has nothing to do with arena/dagger, and just dosbox.

Theres nothing in this page specific to running either of these games under dosbox, its just a newbies guide to dosbox. Why is it when I try to install Daggerfall it says my hard drive is too small?

This should now be fixed. :) JKing 23:43, 16 August 2008 (EDT)

Vista 32-Bit dosbox.conf problem

I just wanted to print advice if anyone has he same problem I did while editing dosbox.conf file. When attempting to save the file, It would say "Cannot Create dosbox.conf file make sure file and path name are correct." If you try to replace it it will say "Cannot relace dosbox.conf file make sure file and path name are correct." To circumvent the problem, save it as a .txt file in your documents folder, as dosbox.conf, then click and drag the file to your DOSBOX folder in the side panel. Then choose the move & replace the file option in the screen that pops up. I added this here because I didn't think it was important enough to add to the page.-Puddle ^{Talk+Contribs.} 13:50, 24 August 2008 (EDT)

This is addressed in the DOSBox wiki, and issues like this are exactly why I referenced it. There's probably a number of other niggling problems one can run into, but it would be extremely difficult to cover even the most common ones without cluttering up this article, unfortunately. JKing 16:43, 24 August 2008 (EDT)

That's exactly why I placed it here, for those who wouldn't go to the wiki, and would look here for help.-Puddle ^{Talk+Contribs.} 18:30, 25 August 2008 (EDT)

Fair enough. :) JKing 18:34, 25 August 2008 (EDT)

Help with mac use

ok this may sound kinda noobish but how do i actually get daggerfall for my mac? i dont know where to buy it (or download it?)

Unfortunately the game cannot be legally downloaded, to my knowledge. However, there is one copy on eBay right now, but there's already sizable interest in it, it seems. You should sign your comments, by the way, Road Virus. JKing 06:43, 27 August 2008 (EDT)

Alright thanks-Road Virus 09:18, 27 August 2008

Plain black screen running Daggerfall under Vista?

Couldn't find info on this even on DOSBox's site... Help? — Unsigned comment by 32.158.71.159 (talk) at 08:39 on 9 November 2008 (EST)

You'll have to be more specific, I'm afraid. You may want to try and come by IRC, as this isn't the best place for in-depth troubleshooting. JKing 08:39, 9 November 2008 (EST)

Install on DOS Help

I moved my ARENA File into the DOS File. I opened DOS, and typed 'MOUNT C ARENA'

Now I don't know what to do. Anyone mind helping me out?

Acually, I'm quite sure I've done everything wrong. I don't have any arena106 file, it just says ARENA. As for configuring DOS, I tried to open the file, but it said it couldn't. I don't know what Notepad is. Could anyone help, please? Lucky the Cat Guy. 00:18, 11 January 2009 (EST)

There is no such thing as 'mount c arena'. The 'mount' command is used to indicate where your dos programs are (as in, 'mount c c:\dos'). Once the folder is mounted, you have to open the arena folder, by typing 'cd arena' (this is probably what you were thinking of by 'mount c arena'). Then you type 'arena' to actually play the game. That's how I do it, at least, and I got the 10th anniversary edition, too.Bob bobato 10:18, 12 January 2009 (EST)

How to change the drive letter?

Ive managed to mount my files, but when i type in dagger.exe after C:\DAGGER> (my file name) it gives me this message.

Unable to locate the Daggerfall CD. Make sure the CD is in the drive before starting the game. If the CD is in the drive, make sure that the drive letter assignment (D:,E:,etc.) is the same as when Daggerfall was installed.

Of course i have the CD in drive E: but the DOSBox wont recognize it. Please any words of suggestion on how to change that? — Unsigned comment by 69.156.104.81 (talk) on 28 March 2009

Look at the suggested configuration file and you'll see:

mount d D:\ -t cdrom -ioctl

Change that to E:\ –Rpeh^{•T•C•E•} 03:25, 28 March 2009 (EDT)

Help i have an error!

When i run daggerfall on dosbox it works like a charm, but when i start to do daedric quests i get a black screen as soon as i contact any of the daedra prince. The error is usually ERROR 116. Can anyone please identify the problem to this? Umbacano 8:22, 23 April 2009 (EDT)

I just got this error too when I tried to talk to the King of Daggerfall, I used to be able to talk to him before. (Dosbox Daggerfall up to date) --Anon

Need for instructions to install downloaded Daggerfall

Since Daggerfall is now released on Bethesda's site, I think it's necessary that instructions be added on how to properly install and play it, as has been done for Arena. Can't get Arena to work yet myself, learning about drive mounting on DOSBOX, but I'll keep trying, I only attempted for 5 minutes last night.

On a side note, a link to the Daggerfall patch is not supplied. — Unsigned comment by 212.187.194.74 (talk) at 16:58 on 10 July 2009 (UTC)

The patch is supplied. It is the DAG213 file. Instructions are provided in the pdf which you can find the link to on the main page. I am in the works for creating directions for Mac users. –Elliot^(T-C) 16:58, 10 July 2009 (UTC)

I suspect s/he may have made the same mistake as me which is to use a different games directory to the one mentioned in the installation PDF: it gave the impression the name was optional (at least to careless readers like me!) but if you use a different path, the DAG213 file is "missing". Easily fixed by manually copying it across to one's custom folder from the DAGGER directory in the downloaded zip file. --Cbh 18:03, 10 July 2009 (UTC)

Daggerfall Help

Alright, this is beyond confuseing. If someone could do a better step-by-step thing for me into installing Daggerfall for DOSbox, please do.

Do note, you're speaking to someone with 0% experience in useing DOSbox.

Alright. I have DOSbox installed. Now I downloaded the daggerfall zip file. Where do I extract it to? --Lucky the Cat Guy. 08:17, 11 July 2009 (UTC)

Did you read the guide provided by Bethesda themselves? Extract to c:\. –Elliot^(T-C) 09:05, 11 July 2009 (UTC)

I tried, but it's a .rar file, And I couldn't extract it. Anyway, I extracted the file to C:\. Now what should I do? --Lucky the Cat Guy. 09:19, 11 July 2009 (UTC)

Are you running on a PC or Mac OS X? I never had a .rar in the process of downloading or installing it. And like I said, read the guide Bethesda provided. –Elliot^(T-C) 09:22, 11 July 2009 (UTC)

PC. And I mean the guide was a .rar when I downloaded it. --Lucky the Cat Guy. 09:26, 11 July 2009 (UTC)

Use the link on the main page of the UESP. It is a pdf. –Elliot^(T-C) 09:34, 11 July 2009 (UTC)

Daggerfall downloads slowly

When downloading the freeware Daggerfall off Bethesda's site, my download speed drops from 60kbps to 3 and even 1. Seriously. It also said 'complete' after downloading less than 1 megabyte. This doesn't happen with any other thing I download, just bethesda's one. This happened yesterday too. I downloaded the version of Gamershell, but I can't seem to install that one correctly. — Unsigned comment by 212.187.194.74 (talk) at 21:00 on 11 July 2009 (UTC)

Use the one on FileFront. It is most likely the best download for you. --Elliot^(T-C) 21:00, 11 July 2009 (UTC)

Anyone have a microsoft word document version of Bethesda's Daggerfall PDF instructions?

Adobe Reader 5 is not compatible with my OS, Windows Vista and as such I can't open the PDF. — Unsigned comment by 212.187.194.74 (talk) at 10:16 on 13 July 2009 (UTC)

See if this download I created works. --Elliot^(T-C) 10:16, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

Foxit Reader works for me. There are probably other options, too, though I haven't looked very hard. JKing 12:33, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

Edit dosbox.conf

What does it mean? Since when where there a dosbox.conf? Am i supposed to create it and put it in my dosbox folder for games? There's no dosbox.conf in the dosbox install dir — Unsigned comment by 90.224.220.68 (talk) at 11:31 on 13 July 2009 (UTC)

Are you running on a PC? If so, it should be Start>All Programs>DosBox-0.73>Configuration>Edit Configuration. If you are running on a Mac, I do not believe there is a way to edit it, as I have been unable to find it. --Elliot^(T-C) 11:31, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

Actually, I just found how to do it for Macs. Open DosBox and type in CONFIG -writeconf dosbox.conf. It should be written to wherever the DosBox application is located. --Elliot^(T-C) 11:39, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

Free Daggerfall won't extract

• When I try to extract the free version of Daggerfall using jZip, it tells me that it "couldn't create" File whatever and when you click ok it does that over and over again until you use task manager to end the program. I tried it on another zip program, and it looked like it extracted properly, but there was nothing in the file once it was done. I even redownloaded it and it didn't work. What's going on? Jedibob5 13:41, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
  • Please Help! Jedibob5 12:30, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

If nobody replies, it's not because we're ignoring you, it's because nobody knows. With something like this you might be better off asking on the Official Forums. –rpeh^{•T•C•E•} 12:36, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

Daggerfall under windows

Daggerfall actually runs best under windows: Windows 95, that is. It runs much worse under MS DOS. Legacy sound emulation for DOS programs running under XP is terrible; I'm not sure what causes the graphical/gameplay glitches under XP that I've noticed, but I think it has something to do with a messed up internal clock. 90.201.209.84 03:36, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

It runs rather wonderfully under Mac OS X. –Elliot ^talk 04:05, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

Elliot, I think the commentor means natively in Windows 95; if that's the case, though, I don't see the logic behind the claim. The gameplay and graphic glitches mentioned are probably due to the processor running too fast. In DOSBox one should limit cycles to 60,00 at most (cycles auto limit 60000) to avoid them. I may eventually edit the article to reflect this, though I'm not sure how to do so for best clarity. JKing 14:41, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

Daggerfall Install Size

Can the install size of the downloaded version of daggerfall be less than huge because it says I don't have enough space to install it even though I have 32 gigs left on my C: drive?--174.43.202.237 21:17, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

You may choose any size, certainly; the recommendation of huge is actually an error, for freeware Daggerfall. For the freeware version in particular any size is acceptable since all access is from hard disk. Thus you don't incur the high latency of optical disc spin-up, nor the relatively lower access times as compared to a modern hard disk. As for the problem you experienced, be sure to mount the virtual hard disk with -freesize 512 (or higher if you wish, though even that much is overshooting Daggerfall's requirements) if you wish to avoid it. JKing 23:25, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

dosbox not recognizing the mouse

my mouse worked on daggerfall last night but it wont recognize it today. what do i do?

-ioctl command line

What exactly does that do? 68.224.248.125 04:29, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Why fall z.cfg?

So why do you run Daggerfall with "fall z.cfg", when I do that, I can't use the mouse anymore. (worked using DAGGER as my starter)

UrthakGrosham 07:31, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

I am not an expert on it, but I used DAGGER for mine in DOSBox and it always worked, and so did my mouse. It has been a while, but it may have to do with extra settings in your z.cfg file (such as changing the rate), but again, that worked with the DAGGER command. –Elliot ^talk 05:39, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

Finally got my mouse to work... was silly error on my part had to use ctrl+f10 to gain mouse control with fall z.cfg UrthakGrosham 19:48, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Battlespire Configuration

I tried this: "Add dos4g at the beginning of this line to run it through the extender: dos4g game spire.cfg %1", but it just gives an illegal command error. I couldn't find anything called dos4g in my Battlespire folder or on the CD. Nakanja 17:48, 6 December 2009 (UTC)

Mouse doesn't work properly for Daggerfall

The first time, the mouse worked fine, but every other time I tried to run the game, the mouse wouldn't move in the window. Is there a way to fix this? 58.174.98.29 00:11, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Also, is it normal for Arena to be laggy? 58.174.98.29 00:12, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

Try hitting Ctrl-F10 after the game starts and see if your mouse works. I don't have any problems with Arena, though I know I played with DOSBox's speed settings a fair bit to get something acceptable. ‒ Robin Hood↝Talk 07:00, 13 March 2010 (UTC)

DaggerFall on Mac OSX 10.5.6 using Boxer frontend program

I downloaded the Boxer frontend for DOSbox, and attempted to use it with Daggerfall. It worked the first time, and I made a virtual disk so Daggerfall would be able to run. Unfortunately, now when I try to open Daggerfall from the fake disk, it tells me to insert the Daggerfall CD, and does not start the game. I have tried reistalling. Could someone please help?

Did you start Daggerfall with 'fall z.cfg'? Does the CD drive still have the right letter assigned? JKing 11:28, 26 April 2010 (UTC)

Run the game off the cd?

When I run DAGGER.EXE with DOSbox, It says this exactly:"You can not play Daggerfall off the CD. Please install the game first." I run FALL.EXE and it tells me to run DAGGER.EXE. And I can't find that FALL Z.CFG file... And yes, It's completely patched up to date. — Unsigned comment by 98.195.113.21 (talk) at 22:24 on 3 May 2010

I only downloaded the free version, and the following command is what I use from DOSBox, which works perfectly: C:\DAGGER\FALL.EXE Z.CFG. Let me know if you have any problems. ‒ Robin Hood↝Talk 15:56, 5 May 2010 (UTC)

I ran into the same problem as the original poster and have tried running everything, could anyone elaborate further on fixing this problem, I have installed and run from there, before closing DOSBox and not knowing how to open it again. I have used other tutorials to get as far as having DAGGER up, but whenever I give any command it gives the same message the first poster got. Any help would be appreciated. — Unsigned comment by 76.84.82.99 (talk) at 05:33 on 2 January 2011

Hardware problems and the Command Prompt

i downloaded the free TES daggerfall off the website and have been following the given instructions. i'm now up to the part where i apply the patch DAG213.exe in the dosbox, although my 'y' key doesnt register in the command prompt this is because the key is dead on my keyboard, i've adjusted myself to just using copy/paste for the y. is there a way for me to insert the y into the command prompt and finish the patch, or do i need a new keyboard.

The latest version of DOSBox supports the Windows on-screen keyboard - found under start>accessories. using it you can enter any keyboard character into DOSBox's command line.RaidensTechSupp 03:37, 22 January 2011 (UTC)

Very odd bug.

I recently ran into a very odd bug in Arena...I've had no issues running the game under DOSBox to date, but now anytime I find a piece of plate armor that is not the default type, the game instantly crashes when I equip the armor and exit the inventory screen. Doesn't matter if it's Ebony, Elven, Dwarven, or even Steel - instant crash; note that this doesn't happen with regular plate armor even if it has an enchantment on it. Also, I can equip elven/dwarven/silver weapons without issue. Original speculation was that the pieces might be putting a stat over 100 or AC values beyond -25, but this can be done with non-visible pieces without issue. Does anyone know if this is something related to DOSBox or is it something in Arena that can't be fixed? Any insight would be appreciated. Tesanus 18:02, 12 June 2010 (UTC)

I'd suggest reinstalling the game or getting Linux as it has a DOS emulator that runs perfectly with arena, should you wish to download it. MikeTalk 18:15, 12 June 2010 (UTC)

Daggerfall - Problems Running in DOSBOX

So yesterday I installed the free version of this awesome game. Worked fine at first. However now I keep getting either a permanent Black screen after executing Fall Z.CFG or a crash after executing which comes up with either of these two error messages:

Segmentation Fault

OR

terminate called after throwing an instance of 'char*'

The game will randomly work sometimes though.

Running the game through Linux Dosbox - OS: Ubuntu 10.

-Update

Figured it out. I had mounted c as /Dagger/ and my Z.CFG I had pointed the CD and game files in DFCD/DAGGER/Arena2. So it couldn't find the files as C was mounted to the dagger folder.

Edited the config to show files in just /Arena2 and it works now. Bingo.

Daggerfall runing way too slow (Mac OS X)

I've installed daggerfall on my old ibook using boxer except when i play it, it plays way too slow. I've put the CPU cycles to max using the cmd up thing and tried putting the frameskip all the way up and down but still to no avail. Do you thinks it's my computer or should i try editing the .conf file? Also all my other DOS games run very slowly, running Mac OS 10.5 Leopard encase that helps.

Thanks — Unsigned comment by 86.3.217.11 (talk) at 11:24 on 10 October 2010

Most likely you will need more RAM, as even though this game is old, a sufficient amount of RAM is required for Daggerfall to run at a normal speed. — Unsigned comment by 108.112.202.170 (talk) at 20:33 on 15 June 2011

No Music

Whenever I play this game under DOSbox, I get perfect sound for everything but the music. The music never plays. — Unsigned comment by 71.195.93.136 (talk) at 06:18 on 27 November 2010

When you set up the sound in the blue/grey dialogue after installing, did you choose (and test) a MIDI device? RaidensTechSupp 03:23, 22 January 2011 (UTC)

Anyone else hosting/mirroring the free releases of Arena and Daggerfall?

As you may have noticed, Bethedsa are no longer distributing Arena or Daggerfall (at least nowhere I can find) on their websites. If anyone comes across a mirror of these versions (from a decent website) or maybe is willing to host the downloads themselves - please feel free to add them to the article. Note especially, I'm refering to files identical to those which bethedsa hosted between 2004 and 2010 not any of Ancestral Ghost's packages. It otherwise is a little strange having a guide to install a version of a game that no one can their hands on. RaidensTechSupp 03:19, 22 January 2011 (UTC)

Have you tried searching using a bit torrent client? I found several results using the search function on Vuze. Western3589 03:27, 22 January 2011 (UTC)

Torrents will yeild results, but I'm after a download link that a vistors to the USEP can easily use. RaidensTechSupp 03:36, 22 January 2011 (UTC)

I've found mirrors for both games on Cnet, they can be downloaded with little trouble. That should do for the time being. If anyone finds a better source - feel free to replace. (Note: sources which require you to have an account like TESNexus are not better) RaidensTechSupp 06:31, 22 January 2011 (UTC)

The games are once again available on the Elder Scrolls website. Elliot (talk) 18:21, 26 June 2011 (UTC)

I can't play Daggerfall.

After configuring DOSbox and installing Daggerfall, I was free to play the game. However, I shut down DOSbox and was planning to resume later, but I have no idea on how to open the game again without reinstalling every time I want to play. I can open DOSbox, but the command "fall z.cfg" doesn't work (anymore). — Unsigned comment by 84.194.37.23 (talk) at 18:02 on 1 September 2011

"0 not found in c:\" problem solved

When I installed Battlespire, this happened on two different computers (one had Windows 7 32-bit, the other had Windws 7 64-bit), I followed all the instructions on the page. Using DOSBox 0.74, I encountered a problem when trying to run Battlespire by typing "spire" in C: (this didn't happen when I launched the game using the prompt directly after the installation): After the completely normal message about my memory not being sufficient, I got the message "0 not found in c:\".

I solved this by installing the game again, but using the newly installed game's directory as C:, basically, by installing Battlespire once again inside "BATSPIRE". So I have another "BATSPIRE" folder inside the original "BATSPIRE" folder. Everything works now when mounting the first "BATSPIRE" as C:. I've experimented a bit and have found that the game only accesses the "GAMEDATA", "INSTALL", "MSS" and "PICS" folders in the second "BATSPIRE" installation directory, so I just removed all the other folders, and everything works fine.

So, to sum it up: I have all files in "BATSPIRE" which is mounted as C: , except for "GAMEDATA", "INSTALL", "MSS" and "PICS", which are in a folder called "BATSPIRE" (created by the second installation) inside the "BATSPIRE" folder. This second "BATSPIRE" folder only contains these folders. I hope I've helped someone, or if anyone knows what I did wrong in the first place, please reply :) SwedishBerzerker at youtube.com 21:25, 20 October 2011 (UTC)

not enough space?

Every time i try to install Daggerfall it says, "there's not enough disk space for my installation type," even though i have over 35GBs, of space, free on my hard drive whats going on? Did i miss a step in the whole installation process? — Unsigned comment by 66.208.231.17 (talk) at 20:07 on 3 December 2011

try increasing "freesize" that's what was wrong with mine. — Unsigned comment by 66.208.231.17 (talk) at 22:33 on 3 December 2011 (UTC)

update

When i try to get the latest patch into the game, I hit Y and it works out fine, but at the end after hitting Y for the updates, it says please insert the disc and then press any key? I cant get the patch in it seems. I am using a mac by the way. — Unsigned comment by 108.13.172.187 (talk) at 04:49 on 23 January 2012

Mouse won't work.

My mouse won't work when I try to play daggerfall. I am using dosbox 0.74 on mac and because of that I can't use the fixes that would work on a pc. The cursor stays in the top left corner and doesn't move. — Unsigned comment by 122.109.106.206 (talk) at 10:09 on 24 January 2012

Try editing the dosbox.conf line autolock=true to autolock=false. Ctrl-F10 also will serve to do this. — Unsigned comment by 166.248.73.113 (talk) at 16:00 on 15 February 2012

Mac and Cheatmode

I'm using Boxer on a Mac OS X and cannot figure out how to use the cheatmode. For example, CTRL+F1 does not reveal all maps. I'm following all the instructions but it does not seem to be working. I edited the Z file and everything.— Unsigned comment by 86.9.238.244 (talk) at 15:44 on 22 March 2012

Are you trying to hit your F1 key and make it register as "F1" instead of its OS X function(in my case, dimming the screen)? On my MacBook Pro, to register and "F1" hit, I use the "Fn" key beside the control key, bottom left corner of the keyboard.— Unsigned comment by Damon (talk • contribs) at 17:04 on 22 March 2012

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