Homebrew Emulator I can’t play Dos games in Retroarch on my Switch

[T00nist8]

I was able to run Fallout 1 on my Switch, even though there was a bunch of files and I couldn’t tell which one to use to run the game, but I wasn’t able to use the controls on my joycons in handheld mode. I tried to switch the control inputs to game pad but it still wouldn’t work

I decided to try again with Wolfenstein 3D, as I thought it would be simple. I looked up the YouTuber Archades on his guide to play Dos games on Xbox Series X to get some ideas to do the same with Switch, but He ran his Dos games as ISO or bin and cue and my games are a bunch of files. I tried out ImgBurn to combine the files to one ISO and put into the rom folder in Retroarch and it seemed to have booted, but it gave me a black screen and a blue box with information about it. It also had a command prompt that it wants me to type, so I switched to a mouse and keyboard controls, plugged in my usb keyboard and mouse into it and I get some input but only a few letter keys seem to work and I’m stuck. Could someone please assist me with setting up Dos games in Retroarch? Like what files do I need to make into an ISO or just to put it into the roms folder? What must I do to actually use the controls?

 

[M7L7NK7]

You load the game through a conf file

So for example make a text file and name it Wolfenstein.conf and load that with retroarch, mine says

[Autoexec]
Mount c sdmc:/retroarch/roms/dosbox/wolf3d
C:
Wolf3d

To explain, autoexec tells it to auto execute the following code, mount c tells it that sdmc:/wherever is c drive and that is the location of the exe that starts it, c: changes the directory to c and wolf3d runs wolf3d.exe

Just replace file names and locations with your own

Controls are mapped in the quick menu and controls, then port 1 controls and device type as keyboard and mouse

 

[T00nist8]

You load the game through a conf file

So for example make a text file and name it Wolfenstein.conf and load that with retroarch, mine says

[Autoexec]
Mount c sdmc:/retroarch/roms/dosbox/wolf3d
C:
Wolf3d

To explain, autoexec tells it to auto execute the following code, mount c tells it that sdmc:/wherever is c drive and that is the location of the exe that starts it, c: changes the directory to c and wolf3d runs wolf3d.exe

Just replace file names and locations with your own

Controls are mapped in the quick menu and controls, then port 1 controls and device type as keyboard and mouse

Ok, so I made a text file and typed out the line of code shown and made changes to it to reflect what I’m doing:

[Autoexec]

Mount c sdmc:/retroarch/roms/DOSBox-SVN/Wolfenstein 3D

C:
Wolfenstein 3D

I changed the file name from .txt to .conf by typing it (as I saw that it’s ok to change it like that but that can be wrong), stuck it into the config folder within Retroarch as it has a folder for DOSBox-SVN, and I load it again and nothing has changed. Perhaps I’ll stick to how you wrote it and if it doesn’t work then I’ll just put wolf3d.exe by itself into my roms folder instead of the ISO I made earlier. Also, I saw other conf files from Wolfenstein 3D too, so I saw they were different from how you showed me but I’ll try to experiment with them if what you showed me hasn’t worked out.

 

[T00nist8]

Ok, so I made a text file and typed out the line of code shown and made changes to it to reflect what I’m doing:

[Autoexec]

Mount c sdmc:/retroarch/roms/DOSBox-SVN/Wolfenstein 3D

C:
Wolfenstein 3D

I changed the file name from .txt to .conf by typing it (as I saw that it’s ok to change it like that but that can be wrong), stuck it into the config folder within Retroarch as it has a folder for DOSBox-SVN, and I load it again and nothing has changed. Perhaps I’ll stick to how you wrote it and if it doesn’t work then I’ll just put wolf3d.exe by itself into my roms folder instead of the ISO I made earlier. Also, I saw other conf files from Wolfenstein 3D too, so I saw they were different from how you showed me but I’ll try to experiment with them if what you showed me hasn’t worked out.

Alright, so from what you taught me I decided to add the base folder of Wolfenstein, which’s where the game is, along with its conf files and deleted some of the DosBox files as it may seem unnecessary as I’m running the game with it in Retroarch and thus I am able to load the game, but even with the Pro controller it cannot work. I looked up the Controls menu from pausing the game, went to port 1 controls and selected game pad which has all the inputs in them but doesn’t work. Mouse and Keyboard work, but only the mouse has input and the rest of the controls haven’t been fixed up at all. Is there anyway to rectify this?

 

[M7L7NK7]

You have to assign each controller button to a keyboard button

 

[T00nist8]

You have to assign each controller button to a keyboard button

Ok, I’m trying to do but somehow it’s still not reading the controls. I’m using a usb keyboard and mouse that share the same signal, would that be the case and I should go for something wired?

 

[T00nist8]

Ok, I’m trying to do but somehow it’s still not reading the controls. I’m using a usb keyboard and mouse that share the same signal, would that be the case and I should go for something wired?

Never mind, I decided to connect to the internet and update the controls and cores and such (I made sure to put in a certain DNS to protect my console), so hopefully I can make some headway. I also saw DosBox Pure, which is meant to simplify things so I’ll try it out. Thanks for being patient with me, sorry for being all over the place.

 

[Purple_Shyguy]

can you get the game running decently? I have it running on the default core settings and outside of the menus its slooooooow

 

[T00nist8]

can you get the game running decently? I have it running on the default core settings and outside of the menus its slooooooow

Not really; I tried to run Star Wars Dark Forces and I get to a black screen that showed the EXE files and tried to click on one of them but it ends up crashing on me. I don’t see a start.exe either, and tried to use the command prompt and typed in what I saw from instructions on a Libretro page about DosBox pure to change the drives to C: as their wasn’t a drive set to the EXE, and yet it crashed again. I don’t really know what to do when I get to that point.

Another note, I ran Wolfenstein 3D from the ECWolf core and it’s playable from the joycons and pro controller, though the performance is better on DosBox SVN but the controls are just nonexistent for controllers and when I plugged in the mouse and keyboard only the mouse works. It is a wireless usb mouse and keyboard so it’s not entirely compatible with Retroarch, it gets wonky. Honestly, I just like to use DosBox SVN and use my game controllers but I can’t see an option to map the keyboard keys to the controller with that core (or maybe it’s there but not clear to me). I thought I can have a better chance with DosBox Pure to control mapping but if it is getting slow with some dos games, like System Shock or Dark Forces, then I am stumped.

 

[M7L7NK7]

I've had no luck with dosbox pure..

Is this where you're setting controls?

 

[T00nist8]

I've had no luck with dosbox pure..

Is this where you're setting controls?

View attachment 260432

Pretty much. I even saw an option in DosBox Pure that says “keyboard binding” where it shows keys being mapped to the switch controls. I am able to get input from the switch controls from there when mapping, but I need to look the keyboard controls for Wolfenstein to fully map it and tweak in places.

As for DosBox SVN, I tried to map the keys to the controller, but I still couldn’t get input. Maybe I need mapping file or something for the config folder, I don’t much to with SVN. Though At a glance it’s better than Pure Framerate wise.

 

[josephtheanthrogamerbat]

I was able to run Fallout 1 on my Switch, even though there was a bunch of files and I couldn’t tell which one to use to run the game, but I wasn’t able to use the controls on my joycons in handheld mode. I tried to switch the control inputs to game pad but it still wouldn’t work

I decided to try again with Wolfenstein 3D, as I thought it would be simple. I looked up the YouTuber Archades on his guide to play Dos games on Xbox Series X to get some ideas to do the same with Switch, but He ran his Dos games as ISO or bin and cue and my games are a bunch of files. I tried out ImgBurn to combine the files to one ISO and put into the rom folder in Retroarch and it seemed to have booted, but it gave me a black screen and a blue box with information about it. It also had a command prompt that it wants me to type, so I switched to a mouse and keyboard controls, plugged in my usb keyboard and mouse into it and I get some input but only a few letter keys seem to work and I’m stuck. Could someone please assist me with setting up Dos games in Retroarch? Like what files do I need to make into an ISO or just to put it into the roms folder? What must I do to actually use the controls?

View attachment 259962

I'm sorry that you're having troubles but the others will help you out

Post automatically merged: Feb 2, 2024

Pretty much. I even saw an option in DosBox Pure that says “keyboard binding” where it shows keys being mapped to the switch controls. I am able to get input from the switch controls from there when mapping, but I need to look the keyboard controls for Wolfenstein to fully map it and tweak in places.

As for DosBox SVN, I tried to map the keys to the controller, but I still couldn’t get input. Maybe I need mapping file or something for the config folder, I don’t much to with SVN. Though At a glance it’s better than Pure Framerate wise.

ok, i feared that the fact some consoles does need keyboard and mouse options so consoles can be computers while computers recreate console emulations.

 

[vivirexti]

Try lakka. It's the best option to play Dos games