I've received plenty of PMs inquiring on how I run Daggerfall using Windows XP. Rather than repasting this over and over again, I'll simply post it here for others to refer to.

:read:
WARNING: I only use Dosbox for Daggerfall and the settings make it so it will only run Daggerfall (with or without the cd). So if you plan on playing Arena, I wouldn't copy my entire dosbox.config file, rather, pick out the parts you need.

Dosbox requires massive CPU use for proper emulation, I cannot recommend any of the below settings if you run anything less than about a 1.9ghz processor (which is what I use with very little hiccups in performance). As such, Dosbox does not require you to use a CPU slowing utility... rather, the faster your CPU the better.

(This also eliminates the invisible quest and climbing bugs normally experienced while running Daggerfall in Windows XP.)

:read:

Use the windowsxpdagger installer which is about 41mb found somewhere (I think I found it at fileplanet) on the net to install daggerfall in its native C:\Dagger folder.

Do not mess with the VDM sound that installs with the installer, instead, just run the SETUP.exe inside the Dagger folder. Select Sound Blaster Pro and its default IRQ, DMA, etc settings for both MIDI and Digital. It most likely will not sound anything when testing, but this is only so Dosbox will recognize it. NOTE: If you play the game and the shop/tavern music is not what you used to hear (Daggerfall had two sets of music depending on your MIDI card), change the MIDI to Ensoniq Soundscape with all of its defaults and leave the Digital the same. This will enable the GSHOP and TAVERN songs instead of using FM_SQR_2 and SQUARE_2.

Also, open up the z.cfg (located in C:\Dagger) with notepad and change the drive settings listed to whatever folder Dagger is in and also your cd drive. For instance, my z.cfg looks as such with Dagger in C and my cd drive being drive D>>

type dfall_largepath c:\dagger\arena2\pathcd d:\dagger\arena2\fadecolor 0mapfile drendergame 1user 1startMap 179region 17helmet 0maxSpeed 200controls betaplyr.datmaps mapsave.sav

Now with Dosbox, I'm using 0.63 and I recommend it to you as well. Simply install Dosbox and paste this entire thing over the existing contents inside of the dosbox.config file (open using notepad)>>

[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,ddraw.# 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.fullscreen=truefulldouble=falsefullfixed=falsefullresolution=320x200output=surfacehwscale=1.00autolock=truesensitivity=100waitonerror=truepriority=higher,normalmapperfile=mapper.txt[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=16[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.frameskip=0aspect=falsescaler=normal2x[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!# cycleup   -- Amount of cycles to increase/decrease with keycombo.# cycledown    Setting it lower than 100 will be a percentage.core=normalcycles=18000cycleup=500cycledown=100[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=22050blocksize=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,none.# config      -- Special configuration options for the device.mpu401=trueintelligent=truedevice=defaultconfig=[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=22050[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=truerate=22050base=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=22050tandyrate=22050disney=true[bios]# Nothing to setup yet![dos]# xms -- Enable XMS support.# ems -- Enable EMS support.xms=trueems=true[modem]# modem -- Enable virtual modem emulation.# comport -- COM Port modem is connected to.# listenport -- TCP Port the modem listens on for incoming connections.modem=falsecomport=2listenport=23[directserial]# directserial -- Enable serial passthrough support.# comport -- COM Port inside DOSBox.# realport -- COM Port on the Host.# defaultbps -- Default BPS.# parity -- Parity of the packets. This can be N, E or O.# bytesize -- Size of each packet. This can be 5 or 8.# stopbit -- The number of stopbits. This can be 1 or 2.directserial=falsecomport=1realport=COM1defaultbps=1200parity=Nbytesize=8stopbit=1[ipx]# ipx -- Enable ipx over UDP/IP emulation.ipx=false[autoexec]# Lines in this section will be run at startup.mount d d:\ -t cdrommount c c:\c:cd daggerfall.exe z.cfg

The above will automatically set the CPU cycles to 18000 which I find to be best while playing Daggerfall (any more cycles and the music skips), and play the game in its natural resolution 320x200 in fullscreen. NOTE: You'll still have to press CTRL F10 at game start to lock the mouse in Dosbox.

Also as a minor aesthetic thing, you can make a shortcut to dosbox and place it on your desktop, change icon, and then browse the Dagger folder to find the original Lysandus skull icon file and change it to that. Rename the "shortcut to dosbox" to "Daggerfall" and you have yourself a Daggerfall emulator!

This should be Pinned!

Definetly. Thanks for the info. I changed my config file and upped the cpu cycles and the lag on Daggerfall is totally gone now.

Here are some things to try if you can't get it working right.

1. A common problem I encountered and have heard of many people with is the blank screen after starting the game. When I first got it working I started and I'd either get a mess of colored pixels or a single pixel on a blank screen. If this happens check the z.cfg file in your dagger directory. Make sure the path and path cd are set to access the resources when the folders are mounted in dosbox. For example I have mine set to

path c:\arena2\
pathCD c:\arena2\

With this setting I mount C:\dagger to C: under dosbox. Originally I had it set to

path c:\dagger\arena2\
pathCD c:\dagger\arena2\

which caused the problem because it was looking for the resources as they were mapped out in windows not as they were in dosbox.

Also dosbox has problems with the CD and it is porbably necessary to set things up to run without the cd. If you mount your cd drive or a drive containing the proper files then daggerfall will claim the CD is not the correct daggerfall CD and not run.

To make it run without the CD you need to copy the Dagger\Arena2 directory from the Daggerfall CD to the Arena2 folder under your dagger directory overwriting any files. Then open up z.cfg under the dagger directory. You path and pathCD setting should be set as listed above

path c:\arena2\
pathCD c:\arena2\

Then when you start the game you will have to run fall.exe and set the config file instead of dagger.exe. The command line will be

fall.exe z.cfg

At this point the game should start and run ok.

Also I was able to find the installer and a wealth of other daggerfall files at http://www.uesp.net/

The file can be found at

http://www.uesp.net/dagger/files/dagfiles.shtml#misc

You will need to download DF install to install the game under windows.

one more advice use opengl instead of surface for better graphics and really a great guide!!!!so some lag is still present

Hrm, still, with my current settings I have listed, I can run Daggerfall with or without cd with absolutely no hangups or workarounds. The only problem I could forsee with people not getting the cd to work correctly would be if your cd drive is not D, rather another letter.

If say, your cd drive is drive E (another common letter). The mount in Dosbox would look like>>

mount d E:\ -t cdrom

Note that the d after mount stays the same. Also, the line in z.cfg in the Dagger directory would look like>>

pathcd e:\dagger\arena2\

Regardless of which, if you *actually have* the original Daggerfall cd and still get the "no cd" message, please post your z.cfg and dosbox.cfg files so I could see what's happening... as you *should* be able to use it (so you can see all the cool movies and such).

EDIT: OH! And these things *ArE cAsE sEnSiTiVe* I find... so don't go mucking with the caps when they are not necessary! :nono:

one more thingy MPU401 is alot better than SB its massively faster and doesnt lag at 23000, the digital sound always lags if higher than 12000 so I lower it when watching the music, in game digi sounds aren t really good so i can live without them

Now this great guide is hosted http://www.oblivionsource.com/?style=lib&page=library&op=view&id=34

Well, so far no troubles with this, although i do have one question... The bottom of my screen is cut off as my moniter wasn't exactly made for such a low res. Is it possible to run it in a window? If so am i likely to encounter more problems? and what would i need to change to do this, thanks.

Snake

Just press alt+enter to switch from full screen to window mode. You shouldn't have any problems, I don't. Just remember ctrl+F10 to lock/unlock the mouse in Dosbox.

hmmm, alright, now that that's settled and i can see the ok button to actually get somewhere, i got to the first cut scene and noticed my sound skipping... how would one fix that?

That usually means your running it too fast.
Try slowing Dosbox down by pressing CTRL+F11 (You can speed it back up with CTRL+F12)

Best to toy with this in window-mode, as you can see the CPU speed in the titlebar.

just change the settings on the monitor as you like they wont influence your normal seetings with which you play modern games it would be just for DF

Alright, i gave this a shot and it slows the game down as i guess i should have suspected. Is there a way to have both steady audio and decent fps, or is it simply a compromise?

My comp should be decent enough to run this... I know he said dos-box is cpu intensive, but i have a amd2800 so i should be fine...

Dosbox also has a function called "frame skip" that you can use to speed up video performance; you increase the number of frames skipped by pressing CTRL+F8 and decrease them with CTRL+F7. I've never used it, so I don't know exactly how it works.

thanks for the tip, i'll give it a shot

Oh! Oh! OH!!


Where can i get Dagger Fall from?

Actually, that's not really fast enough to run it flawlessly. And in some areas the game will lag regardless of how fast your CPU is. Dosbox simply requires too much resources to run Daggerfall satisfactory, especially with sound.

This is why we're trying so hard to find a solution that doesn't require Dosbox or any other emulators. We have found one, but it requires a bit of computer knowledge, or a very detailed guide, since you have to resize/create partitions(you need to have a 40-999 MB Fat32 or NTFS partition), and use VDMsound & Speedset to get it to work perfectly.

Unfortunately frame skip causes terrible screen tearing in Arena and Daggerfall. I don't know if Dosbox has some kind of syncronization options that could fix it, or if such synchronization would in fact create enough processor overhead to negate what's gained from frameskip.

sweet, thanks mechaexailious, i had some code 211 error that kept me from getting past race selection that that apparently fixed. =) Now to play daggerfall for the first time ever =P

[Deleted by original poster]

Bumpies of appreciation.

http://www.anukki.com/miscimages/desktopdaggerfall.jpg of Daggerfall running in a window on my desktop.

I want this thing on a handheld.

Thanks for this, works a treat.

Might as well have it up front where people can find it.

Good to see this has worked for so many peeps... I wish everyone could have experienced the greatness of Daggerfall when it first came out. If companies would only make games regardless of where the mainstream is at again. I long for my stats, die rolls, and other PnP features the older games had...

sorry but the cpu cycles depends on the cpu you are useing. a p4 northwood 2.8ghz
runs very well with the music not skiping at 14000
my barton 2500+(1.8ghz) works alright with less.

mmmmmmmmmmmm