Homebrew Emulation [Release] DOSBox-SVN port for 3DS

SWChris · Sep 18, 2022

Yay I got Starquake up and running, albeit a bit stretched. This is really going to blow my dad’s mind when he sees it.

A couple things for the wishlist

1. Scaling 320x200 16:10 to 4:3 for games like starquake that display in 16:10 but are designed to be seen on 4:3 monitors. This blog has a handy way to do that for screenshots while retaining image sharpness and prevent pixel distortion as best as possible. Basically you upscale nearest neighbor up to 640x1200 and then bilinear resize down to 640x480. Probably more complicated doing the same thing for video, but it’s just an idea.

2. CIA forwarders for individual games. Not expecting this any time soon, but thought I’d signal my interest. Especially if you can get custom .conf files working with this.

3. Option to boot the app with the bottom screen keyboard already on screen. My kids won’t know to do the long press on the gray button without me telling them when they use this thing. This should be usable by people who didn’t set it up. I can do a lot through autoexec to make it usable by normies but I don’t think I can do that specific thing yet.

I’m really happy you started this. Thank you!

Asaki · Sep 23, 2022

SWChris said:
Could you please upload that BAT menu? I’m even less proficient but can get by with customizing what’s already written. Thank you!

I'm not fantastic at batch programming, and I tried to keep it as simple as possible, but it works well enough for my purposes:

Code:

@ECHO OFF

:BEGIN
MODE0D.COM

:PAGE1
ECHO.
ECHO ========================================
ECHO.
ECHO                                  PAGE 1
ECHO.
ECHO  1 Game 1
ECHO  2 Game 2
etc...
ECHO  0 Game 10
ECHO.
ECHO     [B]ACK    [N]EXT PAGE    E[X]IT
ECHO.
ECHO ========================================
ECHO.
ECHO.
ECHO.
ECHO.
choice /c:1234567890BNX
if errorlevel 13 goto EXIT
if errorlevel 12 goto PAGE2
if errorlevel 11 goto PAGE5
if errorlevel 10 goto GAME10
etc...
if errorlevel 2 goto GAME2
if errorlevel 1 goto GAME1

:RETURN
CD\
ECHO.
PAUSE
GOTO BEGIN

:GAME1
CD GAME1
GAME1.EXE
goto RETURN

:GAME2
CD GAME2
GAME2.EXE
goto RETURN

:EXIT
ECHO.
ECHO Bye!

SWChris · Sep 24, 2022

Asaki said:

I'm not fantastic at batch programming, and I tried to keep it as simple as possible, but it works well enough for my purposes:

Code:

@ECHO OFF

:BEGIN
MODE0D.COM

:PAGE1
ECHO.
ECHO ========================================
ECHO.
ECHO                                  PAGE 1
ECHO.
ECHO  1 Game 1
ECHO  2 Game 2
etc...
ECHO  0 Game 10
ECHO.
ECHO     [B]ACK    [N]EXT PAGE    E[X]IT
ECHO.
ECHO ========================================
ECHO.
ECHO.
ECHO.
ECHO.
choice /c:1234567890BNX
if errorlevel 13 goto EXIT
if errorlevel 12 goto PAGE2
if errorlevel 11 goto PAGE5
if errorlevel 10 goto GAME10
etc...
if errorlevel 2 goto GAME2
if errorlevel 1 goto GAME1

:RETURN
CD\
ECHO.
PAUSE
GOTO BEGIN

:GAME1
CD GAME1
GAME1.EXE
goto RETURN

:GAME2
CD GAME2
GAME2.EXE
goto RETURN

:EXIT
ECHO.
ECHO Bye!

Thanks!

Thee_Stranger · Sep 25, 2022

Wait, wait, wait. I just have one, very important question: Can I use this to play Skifree?

raxadian · Sep 27, 2022

Does Monkey Island run on this?

Tebra · Sep 27, 2022

raxadian said:
Does Monkey Island run on this?

Don’t know but probably better with scummvm for 3DS

raxadian · Sep 27, 2022

Tebra said:
Don’t know but probably better with scummvm for 3DS

Yeah, probably.

There is a Dosbox for DS but it has not been updated in ages.

Kwyjor · Sep 27, 2022

Thee_Stranger said:
Wait, wait, wait. I just have one, very important question: Can I use this to play Skifree?

A moment of Googling suggests there is already a DS port of Skifree that will probably run much better.
https://www.gamebrew.org/wiki/FreeSKI

Thee_Stranger · Sep 27, 2022

Kwyjor said:
A moment of Googling suggests there is already a DS port of Skifree that will probably run much better.
https://www.gamebrew.org/wiki/FreeSKI

You are a God among men. And google. Thank you.

EDIT: Never mind. The DS port of Skifree is unfinished. None of the ramps work. In fact, there's no collision detection whatsoever. You just infinitely scroll the map, right through all the trees and obstacles, and the Yeti never even comes to eat you.

So, would it be possible to play old PC games like Dark Colony with this...? Would I have to download Windows 95 for this thing? Must investigate further.

lyva · Dec 6, 2022

I just get "error can't allocate memory 16mb" upon launch from homebrew

Thee_Stranger · Dec 15, 2022

So... is there a way to make XML shortcuts via Homebrew Launcher for individual games with this? If so, could someone please point me in the right direction? Thanks.

raxadian · Dec 15, 2022

This is great wish there was dosbox for the Vita.

Kwyjor · Dec 15, 2022

Thee_Stranger said:
The DS port of Skifree is unfinished. None of the ramps work. In fact, there's no collision detection whatsoever. You just infinitely scroll the map, right through all the trees and obstacles, and the Yeti never even comes to eat you.

Well, if you're so inclined, you could always try to learn how to finish it yourself..? Decompilation projects of the original executable are available.
https://github.com/yuv422/skifree_decomp

Perhaps you may consider the GBC version included in Microsoft: The Best of Entertainment Pack? (Yes, it's a real thing.)

So, would it be possible to play old PC games like Dark Colony with this...? Would I have to download Windows 95 for this thing?

Anything fancy is likely to run much too slowly to be usable.

Thee_Stranger said:
So... is there a way to make XML shortcuts via Homebrew Launcher for individual games with this? If so, could someone please point me in the right direction? Thanks.

Is https://github.com/MrHuu/dosbox-3ds/releases sufficient direction?

raxadian said:
This is great wish there was dosbox for the Vita.

I can't believe there isn't something like that already.

raxadian · Dec 15, 2022

Kwyjor said:
I can't believe there isn't something like that already

There is a x86 emulator but not Dosbox it is ridiculous.

Thee_Stranger · Dec 18, 2022

Kwyjor said:
Well, if you're so inclined, you could always try to learn how to finish it yourself..? Decompilation projects of the original executable are available.
https://github.com/yuv422/skifree_decomp

Yeeahh... probably not. If I were to dedicate that kinda time, I'd rather do a ground-up version for the 3DS, complete with stereoscopic 3D! But that's well beyond my scope.

I'd be interested in fixing the mirrors in eDuke32 on 3DS myself, however, if I had the first clue how.

Kwyjor said:
Perhaps you may consider the GBC version included in Microsoft: The Best of Entertainment Pack? (Yes, it's a real thing.)

Huh. Had no idea that was a thing. I'll definitely track down the ROM just for the sheer novelty of it. But from what I've seen of it, it's a decidedly different experience.

I ended up installing Windows 3.1 through DOSBox, and playing Skifree that way. It scratched the nostalgic itch in just the right way, save for the screen resolution being so obnoxiously crunched and distorted on 3DS DOSBox. Navigating any text or menus on this thing is like trying to transcribe ancient calligraphy.

Kwyjor said:
Anything fancy is likely to run much too slowly to be usable.

Yeah, I've put that together since it chugs with the least-demanding of DOS games. No way it could handle anything beyond that.

Kwyjor said:
Is https://github.com/MrHuu/dosbox-3ds/releases sufficient direction?

Ah, thank you. Knew I read that somewhere. Still confused where exactly I'm supposed to code that, though. Notepad++? Doesn't look like DOS commands.

godreborn · Dec 18, 2022

I wonder if sm64 works through this. it works through dos box on pc. you do need a few prerequisites, but it's not hard.

raxadian · Dec 19, 2022

godreborn said:
I wonder if sm64 works through this. it works through dos box on pc. you do need a few prerequisites, but it's not hard.

There is a Nintendo 64 emulator for 3DS.

Now if you meant Comodore 64, that definitely needs a specific emulator.

Thee_Stranger · Dec 19, 2022

raxadian said:
There is a Nintendo 64 emulator for 3DS.

Now if you meant Comodore 64, that definitely needs a specific emulator.

Already have one on 3DS, and it's quite good.

Kwyjor · Dec 19, 2022

Thee_Stranger said:
I ended up installing Windows 3.1 through DOSBox, and playing Skifree that way. It scratched the nostalgic itch in just the right way, save for the screen resolution being so obnoxiously crunched and distorted on 3DS DOSBox.

I'm astonished it works at all.

Thee_Stranger said:
Still confused where exactly I'm supposed to code that, though. Notepad++?

Yes, almost any text editor will do.

raxadian · Dec 20, 2022

Kwyjor said:
I'm astonished it works at all

Technically Windows 3.1 only needs like 1 mb of ram but in practice you need at least 4 if you wanna do anything with it.

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