Anyone Here Familiar with DOSBOX?

[mikethompson]

Kind of a shot in the dark, but I'm wondering if anyone here has experience with DOSBOX.

I bought an older laptop running Windows XP to play some older games on. I am having trouble with a really old game called Kings Quest 5. It is supposed to run in DOS, so I installed DOSBOX to make it run. I still can't get it to install / run.

Can anyone help me out?

 

[Kobold]

I can’t help but I used to play that game all the time! One of my all time favorites. I would love to play it again.

 

[mikethompson]

I can’t help but I used to play that game all the time! One of my all time favorites. I would love to play it again.

I grew up playing it with my brother. It was great. I'd love to intro duce it to my kids. I think there is even a pipe in there, if that's what the older knome is holding

 

[ThermionicScott]

That old Sierra On-Line stuff was great! King's Quest, Space Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, etc.

 

[renfield]

Give this a try. I haven’t tried it myself but might do what you need.

Kings Quest on Windows

 

[anotherbob]

dosbox usually works pretty easy but somethings just don't want to run on it properly. My suggestion is ask google, there is a good chance people have had the same problem and have solved it on another forum.

 

[Lumbridge]

In Windows, make a new folder on your computer's actual C: drive called dosgames or something similar. Keep in mind, the folder names I'm using are just examples. Create a subfolder there with a name like kingsq5 and paste the game files into it. You can make subdirectories for different games inside your dosgames folder.

Open Dosbox and mount the dosgames\kingsq5 folder as the C: drive in Dosbox using the following command:
mount c c:\dosgames\kinsq5

Then, change the open directory with the command:
c:\

The open directory will change to the folder you mounted. Simply type the name of the executable file with no file type extension into the command line (ex: king5) whatever the name may be, execute the command, and the game should launch. Keep in mind that not all games run or run well in Dosbox, as it's an imperfect emulator.

So, to recap, the commands to launch the game would be:
mount c c:\dosgames\kinsq5
c:\
king5 [insert the actual executable file name here]

Some other useful commands:
cd (followed by a directory) change directory
dir lists the contents of the open directory
dir /p useful if the contents of a directory are very long, prints the results in pages

 

[Lumbridge]

Let me know if that works for you, if not, feel free to PM me and I might be able to clarify or otherwise help. I've been using Dosbox to play old games for several years now.

 

[bullet08]

DOS is a simple OS. You need .exe or .bat to run the program. Doesn't XP have command prompt? Make a directory, copy everything in there. If a compressed file, unpack in that directory and type whatever .exe or .bat and hope there aren't any viruses.

 

[mikethompson]

Let me know if that works for you, if not, feel free to PM me and I might be able to clarify or otherwise help. I've been using Dosbox to play old games for several years now.

Thank you sir! I will try this and report back

 

[mikethompson]

In Windows, make a new folder on your computer's actual C: drive called dosgames or something similar. Keep in mind, the folder names I'm using are just examples. Create a subfolder there with a name like kingsq5 and paste the game files into it. You can make subdirectories for different games inside your dosgames folder.

Open Dosbox and mount the dosgames\kingsq5 folder as the C: drive in Dosbox using the following command:
mount c c:\dosgames\kinsq5

Then, change the open directory with the command:
c:\

The open directory will change to the folder you mounted. Simply type the name of the executable file with no file type extension into the command line (ex: king5) whatever the name may be, execute the command, and the game should launch. Keep in mind that not all games run or run well in Dosbox, as it's an imperfect emulator.

So, to recap, the commands to launch the game would be:
mount c c:\dosgames\kinsq5
c:\
king5 [insert the actual executable file name here]

Some other useful commands:
cd (followed by a directory) change directory
dir lists the contents of the open directory
dir /p useful if the contents of a directory are very long, prints the results in pages

Well this is a weird one.

 

[Lumbridge]

Well this is a weird one.

View attachment 258192

Hmm, looks like it's the Windows version of the game, then. If it doesn't run natively in XP, the solution would be tracking down either the DOS game or an emulator for an older version of Windows. I'd be really careful about downloading anything directly onto an XP machine, as it will be vulnerable to security threats.

Are you familiar with GoG (Good Old Games)? It looks like they have all of the King's Quest games available, and they should be able to run on a modern PC. That might be the easiest route. They have frequent sales, as well.