I noticed one thing. That using the special version of dosbox compiled with for shaders support means a huge performance boost in Daggerfall. Allways use this instead of the normal download.

@DaGrooved1
If you want a pinned thread about this send a message to one of the moderators and ask them.

Sometimes it will say I have 60 FPS (let's say if I drop skipframe)....yet movement is terribly clunky and slow.

What would happen if I forced AA and AF on for DF?

I noticed that also - the version that was used appears to run much better than the production version. When I use the shaders with Dagger, distant objects appear nice, but the blur in the close objects is distracting - I think I prefer to turn them off and just use normal2x.

I have a AMD 2600+ with a Ti4800, and can get 70FPS with the cpu at about 21000 at the normal2x. I turned the sound sample back to 22050.

I just loaded up Privateer 1 with this version of DOSBox and it runs very smooth!

Nothing, AA and AF have no impact on DOS games. AA and AF only effect games rendered in OpenGL or DirectX, DosBox merely uses Directx or OpenGL to display the frames drawn by Xngine(daggerfall's engine, which doesn't support AA or AF), then scalers are applied to each frame much like applying an effect to an image.

Thanks DaGroove.

Played it with Hqgl last night, and one of the scalers - can't remember which one. Played well. though fighting is a bit laggy.

I dont like too smooth graphics can somebody please tell me if I can play Daggerfall not laggy,no XP bug Etc.. please

My computer = AMD Duron 1,30 GHZ
Ati Radeon 9200 SE
256 MB ram


I will get this when OB comes out: (mabye) AMD athlon 64 3800+
(mabye) Ati Radeon x800XL
(I will get) 1 Gig ram

do I have to wait until I get my upgrade?? :unsure: or can I run Daggerfall great now??

This made my copy of daggerfall run completly bug free and with no real problems, and the pixelshaded thing helpt a lot to. Dosbox is a bit laggy on my computer though but I can live with that ^_^

Dies-in-Mud, yes you can run Daggerfall fine, I can't determine the XP-Bug etc as that seems to occur a bit more randomly then I can predict. I'm also not sure what you mean when you say "I don't like too smooth graphics" any machine made in the last 10 years can run daggerfall without smooth graphics.

Mars Keeper, your welcome

Ok I will try more with DosBox

Edit: got it to work! works fine at 8800 cycles thx alot!! :goodjob:

Ok, I don't think anyone has noticed yet, but if you download the version of DosBox in my Tutorial Post, you can simply set the total cycles to 50,000 and set Timesynched to true then DosBox will automatically adjust the number of cycles for maximum performance.

Okay, I believe I have done everything you said to do with the config file, but for some reason Daggerfall won't even run now. This is my config:

[sdl]# fullscreen -- Start dosbox directly in fullscreen.# fulldouble -- Use double buffering in fullscreen.# fullfixed -- Don't resize the screen when in fullscreen.# fullresolution -- What resolution to use for fullscreen, use together with fullfixed.# output -- What to use for output: surface,overlay,opengl,openglnb,openglhq,ddraw,direct3d.# hwscale -- Extra scaling of window if the output device supports hardware scaling.# autolock -- Mouse will automatically lock, if you click on the screen.# sensitiviy -- Mouse sensitivity.# waitonerror -- Wait before closing the console if dosbox has an error.# priority -- Priority levels for dosbox: lower,normal,higher,highest.#             Second entry behind the comma is for when dosbox is not focused/minimized.# mapperfile -- File used to load/save the key/event mappings from.# pixelshader -- Pixelshader program to use for resizing: none,point.fx,bilinear.fx,scale2x.fx,2xsai.fx.fullscreen=truefulldouble=falsefullfixed=falsefullresolution=320x200output=direct3dhwscale=1.00autolock=truesensitivity=100waitonerror=truepriority=highest,normalmapperfile=mapper.txtpixelshader=none[dosbox]# language -- Select another language file.# memsize -- Amount of memory dosbox has in megabytes.# machine -- The type of machine tries to emulate:hercules,cga,tandy,vga.# captures -- Directory where things like wave,midi,screenshot get captured.language=machine=vgacaptures=capturememsize=63[render]# frameskip -- How many frames dosbox skips before drawing one.# aspect -- Do aspect correction.# scaler -- Scaler used to enlarge/enhance low resolution modes.#           Supported are none,normal2x,advmame2x,advmame3x,advinterp2x,interp2x,tv2x,hq2x.frameskip=2aspect=truescaler=hq2x[cpu]# core -- CPU Core used in emulation: simple,normal,full,dynamic.# cycles -- Amount of instructions dosbox tries to emulate each millisecond.#           Setting this higher than your machine can handle is bad! (unless timesynched is set)# cycleup   -- Amount of cycles to increase/decrease with keycombo.# cycledown    Setting it lower than 100 will be a percentage.# timesynched -- Do not emulate more cycles than possible.# showcycles -- Display the number of emulated cycles in the titlebar (uses some CPU).core=normalcycles=50000cycleup=500cycledown=20timesynched=trueshowcycles=true[mixer]# nosound -- Enable silent mode, sound is still emulated though.# rate -- Mixer sample rate, setting any devices higher than this will#         probably lower their sound quality.# blocksize -- Mixer block size, larger blocks might help sound stuttering#              but sound will also be more lagged.# prebuffer -- How many milliseconds of data to keep on top of the blocksize.nosound=falserate=11025blocksize=2048prebuffer=10[midi]# mpu401      -- Enable MPU-401 Emulation.# intelligent -- Operate in Intelligent mode.# device      -- Device that will receive the MIDI data from MPU-401.#                This can be default,alsa,oss,win32,coreaudio,mt32,none.# mt32rate    -- Sample rate of MT32 emulation# config      -- Special configuration options for the device. In Windows put#                the id of the device you want to use. See README for details.mpu401=trueintelligent=truedevice=defaultmt32rate=11025config=[sblaster]# type -- Type of sblaster to emulate:none,sb1,sb2,sbpro1,sbpro2,sb16.# base,irq,dma,hdma -- The IO/IRQ/DMA/High DMA address of the soundblaster.# mixer -- Allow the soundblaster mixer to modify the dosbox mixer.# oplmode -- Type of OPL emulation: auto,cms,opl2,dualopl2,opl3.#            On auto the mode is determined by sblaster type.# oplrate -- Sample rate of OPL music emulation.type=sb16base=220irq=7dma=1hdma=5mixer=trueoplmode=autooplrate=11025[gus]# gus -- Enable the Gravis Ultrasound emulation.# base,irq1,irq2,dma1,dma2 -- The IO/IRQ/DMA addresses of the #            Gravis Ultrasound. (Same IRQ's and DMA's are OK.)# rate -- Sample rate of Ultrasound emulation.# ultradir -- Path to Ultrasound directory.  In this directory#             there should be a MIDI directory that contains#             the patch files for GUS playback.  Patch sets used#             with Timidity should work fine.gus=falserate=11025base=240irq1=5irq2=5dma1=3dma2=3ultradir=C:\ULTRASND[speaker]# pcspeaker -- Enable PC-Speaker emulation.# pcrate -- Sample rate of the PC-Speaker sound generation.# tandyrate -- Sample rate of the Tandy 3-Voice generation.#              Tandysound emulation is present if machine is set to tandy.# disney -- Enable Disney Sound Source emulation.pcspeaker=truepcrate=11025tandyrate=11025disney=false[bios]# joysticktype -- Type of joystick to emulate: none, 2axis, 4axis,#                 fcs (Thrustmaster) ,ch (CH Flightstick).#                 none disables joystick emulation.#                 2axis is the default and supports two joysticks.joysticktype=2axis[serial]# serial1-4 -- set type of device connected to com port.#              Can be disabled, dummy, modem, directserial.#              Additional parameters must be in the same line in the form of#              parameter:value. Parameters for all types are irq, startbps, bytesize,#              stopbits, parity (all optional).#              for directserial: realport (required).#              for modem: listenport (optional).serial1=dummyserial2=dummyserial3=disabledserial4=disabled[dos]# xms -- Enable XMS support.# ems -- Enable EMS support.# umb -- Enable UMB support (false,true,max).xms=trueems=trueumb=true[autoexec]# Lines in this section will be run at startup.mount e e:\e:cd daggerfall.exe z.cfg

I'm pretty sure that is exactly what you had, but mine won't run at all now. I'm not happy about it...

Ok, so, I'm assuming you could run Daggerfall before, are you getting any error messages? Or is anything appearing on your screen? What I would suggest doing is changing everything in your original DosBox.conf one by one to what I have in mine, testing it each time, first set your ouput to direct3d, run the game, if it plays intro movie, quit, go to next part, set it to what I have, run the game, if it plays intro movie, quit, save, do the next thing...etc. Also make sure you downloaded the correct version of DosBox linked in my post.

I wrote a Daggerfall in DOSBox for XP guide months ago. Guess I could copy&paste it into this thread.

Step-by-step instructions how to run the game in DOSBox
01. Install DOSBox and start it.
02. Type mount d X:\ -t cdrom (where X is your CD drive letter with the Daggerfall disc)
03. Type mount c C:\ -freesize 500
04. Type D:
05. Type INSTALL
06. Select the HUGE installation, and the default install path (C:\DAGGER). Afterwards you should be in the sound setup.
07. Go into "Select Digital", and pick Soundblaster 16/AWE32, Port 220, DMA 1 and IRQ 7.
08. Then into "Select MIDI", and pick MPU-401 and Port 330, and we are done with the sound setup.
09. Now the installer should be finished and DOSBox should show the command promt. Lets leave that for now, but do not close the program.
10. Download the http://www.uesp.net/file.shtml?dagger/files/addquest.zip and unpack them into C:\DAGGER\ARENA2
11. Download http://www.uesp.net/file.shtml?dagger/files/dag213.exe and place it in C:\DAGGER
12. Copy all the *.VID files from X:\DAGGER\ARENA2 to C:\DAGGER\ARENA2
13. Go back to DOSBox and type DAG213.EXE to start the patching. You can close DOSBox when it's done.
14. Open Z.CFG in C:\DAGGER with notepad and make sure that both PATH and PATHCD say c:\dagger\arena2\ and then save the file. (you won't need the CD anymore)
15. Open dosbox.conf (which is where you installed DOSBox) with notepad.
15a memsize=16 should be changed to 40.
15b frameskip=0 should be changed to 1.
15c cycles=3000 should be a bit higher like 8000. (you may want to raise this one more later, depending on how powerful your computer is. Daggerfall will be jerky depending on this value being too low or your computer being too slow)
15d Go down to the bottom of the file, after "# Lines in this section will be run at startup."
15e Add the line MOUNT C C:\
15f Add the line C:
15g Add the line CD DAGGER
15h Add the line FALL.EXE Z.CFG
15i Save the file as daggerfall.conf and not overwrite the original dosbox.conf!
16. Pick the file dosbox.exe and drag it with the right mousebutton to the desktop (your Morrowind background) and pick "create shortcut here". You should see a new shortcut named "Shortcut to dosbox.exe"
17. Rename the new "shortcut to dosbox.exe" to "Daggerfall".
18. Rightclick on your new shortcut and click on properties.
18a Change the Path_where_you_installed_Dosbox\dosbox.exe to Path_where_you_installed_Dosbox\dosbox.exe -conf daggerfall.conf -noconsole
18b Change the icon it uses to C:\DAGGER\DAGGER.ICO
18c Save the changes.
19. Done! Doubleclick on the Daggerfall shortcut to play the game! Although it will run sluggish because of the mere amount of 8000 cycles.

You can raise the amount of cycles while running DOSBox by pressing CTRL+F12. And decrease them by using CTRL+F11. The more cycles, the more calculations has to be made so the more powerful the computer need to be.

If you have problems to get the mouse to work, then press CTRL+F10.

And you can switch between playing the game in a window or fullscreen by pressing ALT+RETUR.

Enjoy the game!

Freddo, is there any chance we can pin this thread? It's REALLY useful.

We should add things like the http://www.izhtex.com/tes2/ as well.

And is there any reason (that you know of) why I can't connect to UESP? I cannot connect through those links.

Won't happen. Although we could copy&paste the good stuff into the current pinned thread. With proper credits, of course.

UESP is a bit wonky at the moment. So try again in a few hours and now and then until it works. Worked for me just fine when I wrote the above post, and that was just a few hours ago. UESP will change server in a not too distant future, so it should get better.

Thanks Freddo.

Would you please copy & paste it then?

Oh, and TY for the info re UESP as well.

Yep, I have the correct version of dosbox. Now I will get to changing things one by one. This might take a bit of time...

How do I launch the game after doing all this? I'm opening dosbox.exe and getting the following message:

C:\>cd dagger
Unable to change to: dagger.

C:\>fall.exe z.cfg
Illegal command: fall.exe.


I'm pretty bad with computers, so I hope someone can help. I own the original daggerfall cd (legally) and would really like to get this to work. I think I followed all the steps in the orignal post.

I don't think that dosbox is recognizing the fall.exe file from c:\dagger.

Does anyone know why this would happen?

NM I got it to work.

I don't remember the game being this hard 9 years ago. I think I lost my skills.

Yay, I got mine to work!.

I've got the game working, but noticed that there is a patch available for the game (2.13). Do I need to install this patch? And how do I do that with dosbox?

Using the initialization code that mechaexalious provided, Daggerfall runs beautifully... until I get to Daggerfall city, where the game crashes whenever I try to enter the city. I can travel anywhere else without a problem, but not Daggerfall city. It simply won't work with DOSBox, although I'm able to run it normally in the XP environment (although with the normal [censored] performance). Anyone else had a similar problem?

If you already have the game up and running on dosbox, how do you instal the patch? I know you need to download it and unpack it in C:dagger, but will dosbox recognize it here? You had a step in your description stating to type in a command that would start the patching. How do I do this? Thanks for your help and sorry for the 20 questions.

w00t! Mine is working almost perfectly at long last! I felt as though I had tried everything and now its all good. Timesynched makes all the difference it seems.

Theres only one minor problem left. When I'm looking over areas with alot of surfaces (polygons..) my framerate still drops to an unplayable level. My dosbox.conf is identical to yours, DaGrooved1. Except that I changed scaler to normal2x and incremented frameskip to 3 for some extra performance.

Changing scaler to none brings the bane of framerate and invites in all the graphical artifacts to mess up the game. Raising frameskip anymore than I have causes the framerate to be pretty bad too.

So any suggestions for giving me a bit extra performance?

I tried dynamic cpu, it didn't like that much, thats for sure. I also tried messing with the pixelshader and output settings some, no real advantage.

Mind you I'm messing with this more as I write up this post.. Upon further testing, the loss of framerate seems inconsistent. I can stand out in the middle of a city, with loads of buildings, rooves, city walls and townspeople moving about in my field of vision, but if I enter an inn with a few wooden pillars and 5 random people infront of me, my framerate drops? Ontop of that, the framerate drop only seems to happen when I try to move under said circumstances, not while still and looking around.

So yeah.. Beats me. Help?

If you use the Daggerfall WinXP Installer, it applies the .213 patch as well... so there's no need to worry about it