I thought about this when the XP SP3 thread's discussion turned to DOS (but figured it was off-topic enough I should start a new thread).

I have some old DOS apps (specifically 7th Guest & 11th Hour) that I would LOVE to play, but I can never get the sound to work. Its just got a selection of old DOS-compatible sound cards (Sound Blaster etc) and no matter which one I select, I never get sound.

Is there an additional app or tool I need to install? Any ideas?

[This message has been edited by OKflyboy (edited 05-02-2008).]

Use DosBox 0.72. It's a true DOS emulator that actually slows down the emulation otherwise your DOS programs will run waaaaaaaaay too fast on modern machines. Plus, XP's cmd prompt isn't 100% DOS compatible.

I use DosBox to play my favorite DOS games.

I have a solution: Dust off your old 486 SX.

Try running the programs in "emulation" mode for DOS or use the program stated above by cliff.

quote Originally posted by Cliff Pennock: Use DosBox 0.72. It's a true DOS emulator that actually slows down the emulation otherwise your DOS programs will run waaaaaaaaay too fast on modern machines. Plus, XP's cmd prompt isn't 100% DOS compatible. I use DosBox to play my favorite DOS games.

I use this as well, works good and havent had any problems so far.

Awesome! Thanks guys!

quote Originally posted by Cliff Pennock: Use DosBox 0.72. It's a true DOS emulator that actually slows down the emulation otherwise your DOS programs will run waaaaaaaaay too fast on modern machines. Plus, XP's cmd prompt isn't 100% DOS compatible. I use DosBox to play my favorite DOS games.

Wow thanks for the link!

I have a bunch of games and simulators that I quit screwing around with when we were trying to get the kid to quit the games and try real life, didn't have much luck with that one. Trying to set an example etc. Now that he is gone I would love to play around with my old stuff when I am down with an injury or sick. No time otherwise. Thanks!

Many games don't work in XP "dos" windows because they make direct calls to hardware, which is blocked by most versions of Windows. It also blocks certain BIOS and Disk operations among other things.

If you have a program that actually did use the DOS sound blaster driver, it usually will work in XP box.

If I remember right...
The DOS emulator above knows about this and traps such calls as well but instead of just ignoring them the calls are passed back to Windows for processing. It's slow but it works.

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