Bringing back the DOS engine

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

Thought I'd start a topic instead of using any of the 3.X threads because this might hi-jack said threads.

Now, I never thought I'd ever advocate bringing back the DOS engine for AGS. It's an old OS that no one uses anymore, and which Windows itself stopped using since XP.

But then there's this thread: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=33666.0

At the time of writing I don't know if this person's experiment did well, dunno if he managed to play it on a mac. But it IS intriguing. If there are cross-platform ports of DOS-running-apps, then a DOS version of an AGS game could be cross-platform. Maybe via DOS, we could finally get our Linux and Mac game engine ports, ports that don't need to be specially and specifically updated every time a new AGS version needs it.

Thoughts? Is it possible, or just gibberish? Do the cons outweigh the pros, or is it the other way around? Gilbot, I'm relying on your support here, you DOS-lover you.

[Ghost]

Would the method you described in the other thread work for all compiled games, Rui?

[Radiant]

Would the method you described in the other thread work for all compiled games, Rui?

Probably only for those using up to v2.62 or thereabouts.

I kind of like the idea, actually. 2.72 still runs in Linux, but to my knowledge anything above 2.5 doesn't run on a Mac any more. And that's a significant bit of market share.

Incidentally, can't we attract somebody else to take up the Mac port? Surely most of the AGS runtime is some variant of C++ that would compile cross-platform to anything that allows Allegro?

[SupSuper]

Well for most cases, if it'll run on DOS, it'll run on DOSBox, and AGS is no exception. (only the really really old AGS versions won't run)

(AGS 2.62 default game, needs CWSDPMI.EXE to run)

And yes, what runs on DOSBox for Windows should run on DOSBox for every other platform. The only downside is DOSBox is an emulator so the system requirements are much steeper than a native port, and there's probably features that DOS doesn't support. (otherwise we could've stayed in the 90s )

[Pumaman]

I don't see any real reason to bring back the DOS port. The Mac and Linux ports will be updated in time, when their maintainers have the time to do it.

[Monsieur OUXX]

It could sound like a clever idea to use a DOS emulator to make AGS 100% cross-platform, but nowadays the various Windows emulators are as powerfull as DosBox, so I don't think it's worth forcing CJ to maintain de DOS version.

Use AGS 2.72 with a Windows emulator
Don't use AGS 2.62 with a DOS emulator

[Radiant]

Use AGS 2.72 with a Windows emulator

Well, I've been asking this in the Mac Port thread but got no response so far... can somebody who owns a Mac confirm or deny whether ATOTK can somehow be run on a Mac? Is Virtual PC or whatever emulator there is these days powerful enough to pull it off at a decent performance?

[covox]

Playing AGS games with DOSBox works quite well. The only gripe is that transitions between different rooms are sluggish, other than that it's a fine way of playing older pre-2.5 games on Linux.

[Joseph DiPerla]

The only reason why I support bringing back the dos version is because I live off my PDA's and so does everyone else I know. Dosbox and other emulators are available for phones, windows mobile and even palm. It would really allow for maximum portability. On top of that, Steve and etg are busy as well and they cant constantly keep updating AGS for Mac and Linux at the same speed as Chris releases AGS and thats understandable. So a dos version would work on those emulators for those platforms as well while we wait for a release to the other ports.

[scotch]

If you have a 1.5+Ghz x86 PDA, DOSBox emulation might be an option, but for most systems, including non intel macs, dosbox would run too slow for most AGS purposes.
Running Windows in a virtualised environment should give you better performance than DOSBox. The only downside is you need to aquire a copy of Windows from somewhere.

[farvardin]

a dos version of the player would be really cool, with dosbox it would mean to be able to play AGS games on many devices!