DOSBox-X 0.83.5 2020-09-01 01:13

Note 1: Our redesigned DOSBox-X homepage (http://dosbox-x.com/) is now launched! Please be sure to check out the new homepage for the latest information about DOSBox-X.

Note 2: No Visual Studio build this time. I have no patience for a program (VS2019) that mysteriously stops working, and then completely forgets how to load a project file after a lengthy reinstall process (COM object errors???). Maybe next month, Microsoft.

0.83.5

• Windows installer now offers the option to upgrade
  the DOSBox-X config file (dosbox-x.conf) to the
  latest version format automatically while keeping
  users' current settings. It can also add a context
  menu for executables (.exe, .com, .bat), config
  files (.conf) and folders in the Windows Explorer
  so that you could quickly run or open them with
  DOSBox-X from the Windows Explorer. More icons
  are added to the DOSBox-X program group within the
  Start menu as well. (Wengier)
• Added config option "startbanner" in [dosbox]
  section which if set to "false" would skip the
  welcome banner when DOSBox-X starts. Also added
  config option "fastbioslogo" which if set to "true"
  will skip the BIOS logo (replacing the command-line
  option -fastbootlogo). A new command-line option
  "-fastlaunch" is added to enable fast launch mode
  by skipping both the logo and the banner. (Wengier)
• Added config option "ega per scanline hpel" in
  [dosbox] section to control whether EGA emulation
  latches hpel at display start (as VGA emulation
  does) or allows hpel to change per scanline.
  Setting the option to false is needed for some
  games like Commander Keen.
• Support for mounting CD images with a sector size
  of 2448, used by for example the MDF image of the
  game Grand Theft Auto. (Wengier)
• Allowed Sound Blaster to be enabled by the games
  "Desert Strike" and "Jungle Strike". (Wengier)
• Sound Blaster Pro emulation now maps DSP commands
  0x41 to 0x47 as aliases of 0x40 (set time constant)
  to support broken demoscene code that uses 0x41
  in that way. Yes, such code would obviously break
  on clone cards and the SB16. Added a config option
  "dsp command aliases" in [sblaster] section to turn
  it off for debugging. Alias is documented on Vogons
  forums where someone made a SB Pro clone card.
• Fixed the issue with CD audio play by porting the
  audio code from DOSBox ECE. (Wengier)
• COPY command now assumes /Y automatically when
  running in the batch file or with CALL command
  (or COMMAND /C) as in real DOS. (Wengier)
• DOSBox-X will allow control characters 8 (BS),
  9 (TAB), 26 (SUB), and 27 (ESC) when executing GOTO
  command in batch files without warnings. (Wengier)
• Normal core: REP MOVSD now checks segment limits
  for ES:(E)DI and throws a GP fault if exceeded.
  Demoscene productions marked as using VESA BIOS
  modes and scribbling on the VGA BIOS are relying
  on segment limits and GP faults to fake a linear
  framebuffer.
• Added config option "vesa bank switching window
  range check" to allow disabling the VESA BIOS
  window number range check when called on to
  bank switch. Needed for "Pill" by Opiate in the
  end credits, which for some reason requires a
  call for window number 0xFFFF to succeed in order
  to draw credits without glitching.
• Added config option "vesa bank switching window
  mirroring" for instructing VESA BIOS to ignore
  bank switching window parameter when asked to
  get/set bank switching window setting. Needed for
  some old demoscene and game applications that
  assume Window B is available, and will not render
  SVGA properly without it.
• Added config option "quit warning" to indicate if
  DOSBox-X should warn show a warning message when
  you try to close the DOSBox-X window. If set to
  "auto" (default), DOSBox-X will warn only if at
  least one file handle is still open, or you are
  currently running a guest system. (Wengier)
• Add command-line option "-defaultdir" to specify
  a directory (instead of the current directory) as
  the working directory. DOSBox-X will look for the
  dosbox-x.conf file in this directory. (Wengier)
• The -winrun command-line option will also enable
  LFN support with "lfn=auto" on Windows. (Wengier)
• VER /R now shows DOSBox-X's Git commit SHA1, in
  addition to the build date and other version
  information shown by the VER command. (Wengier)
• Fixed that joystick may not work with the setting
  "usescancodes=auto" when a non-US keyboard layout
  is activated on the SDL1 build. (Wengier)
• DOSBox-X will now search for system fonts if the
  fonts required for the printing feature cannot be
  found in the FONTS directory. (Wengier)
• Added menu item "Send form-feed" under the DOS menu
  for manually ejecting new pages to print. (Wengier)
• Added "Quick launch program..." menu (under "DOS")
  to quickly run the specified program as selected
  by the Windows file browser in DOSBox-X. (Wengier)
• Added "Drive information" menu item under "Drive"
  menu to show information for the specified drive,
  and added "Show mounted drive numbers" menu item
  under "DOS" menu to show details for all mounted
  drive numbers (0-5). (Wengier)
• The command "Swap CD" now swaps only CD drives (as
  the name), not all non-floppy drives. Also added
  "Swap disk" menu item under the "Drive" menu for
  swapping individual mounted drives. (Wengier)
• IMGMAKE now tries to resolve home directory (~)
  on Linux and macOS platforms. Also improved the
  help message for this command. (Wengier)
• Fixed unmounting swap disks when unmounting drives
  with MOUNT or IMGMOUNT command. (Wengier)
• Fixed possible failure when mounting .VHD images,
  and the issue that leading colon (:) or read-only
  marker may not work for such images. (Wengier)
• IMGMOUNT command without parameters now shows the
  disk position and number of swap disks, as well as
  IDE controller (if applicable). Also added option
  -examples to show its usage examples. (Wengier)
• Add "-ro" option for IMGMOUNT command to mark all
  disk images as read-only at once. You could also
  mark read-only disk images individually using the
  leading colon as in previous versions. (Wengier)
• The default value for "output" (in "sdl" section)
  is now "default", which will default to the value
  according to your platform. (Wengier)
• The -Q (quiet) option of MOUNT, BOOT and RESCAN
  commands now silences virtually all outputs (error
  and normal messages) of these commands. (Wengier)
• Worked around the mounting issue with LaunchBox,
  by allowing a mounting command-line with single
  quotes like MOUNT C 'X:\DOS' on Windows. (Wengier)
• Unmounting ISO drives will auto-unmount associated
  El Torito floppy drives (if any) too. (Wengier)
• Updated xxHash library by Yann Collet from 0.7.4
  to the stable version 0.8.0. (Wengier)
• Added support for the OPL2 audio board by setting
  the config option "oplemu=opl2board".
• The save state feature now tries to save and then
  restore the mounted drives of all types (if the
  paths or image files still exist on host system).
  This fixes the "save state corrupted" error while
  trying to load saved states but the drives are not
  yet mounted in DOSBox-X. (Wengier)
• The save state feature now verifies the emulated
  machine type (VGA, PC98, etc) too when loading a
  saved state. All confirm and error dialog boxes
  for saving or loading states appear in a cross-
  platform manner now, instead of only on Windows
  systems. Also added the option to remove the saved
  state in the selected save slot. (Wengier)
• Increased the number of save slots from 10 to 100.
  Each page in the save slot menu (under "Capture")
  still shows 10 slots as before, but you can now go
  to the previous or next page (up to 10 pages) for
  more save slots (100 in total). (Wengier).
• The [pci] section is now the [voodoo] section, and
  the config option "voodoo" (the only option of that
  section) is now named "voodoo_card" within the
  [voodoo] section to make clear it is for emulating
  the Voodoo card hardware. Also added config option
  "voodoo_maxmem" (default: true) to specify whether
  to use the maximum memory size (12MB instead of the
  standard 4MB) for the Vooodoo card. (Wengier)
• Added support for Glide wrapper. It can be enabled
  with the new config option "glide" set to "true"
  in [voodoo] section. The library file glide2x.dll
  (Windows)/libglide2x.so (Linux)/libglide2x.dylib
  (macOS) is required for Glide to work. Be sure to
  use 32-bit dll for 32-bit DOSBox-X binary, and
  64-bit dll for 64-bit DOSBox-X binary. (Wengier)