Jump to content
Search In
  • More options...
Find results that contain...
Find results in...
Markyb

Question about Macintosh, Dosbox and the Steam version of Doom

Recommended Posts

Hi everyone, great forum.
Now I don't want everyone to get mad at me, I read through the forum rules and searched the forum as well. I've spend all day trying to find the answer to my question to no avail.

So here I go...

I have a Macintosh and downloaded the shareware version of Doom from one of the many sites which provides it (probably this one - http://www.dosmuseum.com/pages/view.php?ref=356&search=gamecat%3AAction&order_by=relevance&sort=DESC&offset=0&archive=0&k= ). I was able to play it through DOSBox, does this mean if I buy the game off Steam then I will be able to do the same.

Perhaps this question is nowhere because it is so stupid, for this I must apologise and will not be surprised if I get banned or something.

Secondly, great work, I love people who are dedicated to keeping an old video game like this 'alive'.

Mark

EDIT: I tried to PM a mod before starting this thread but only realised how to do it a second ago...

Share this post


Link to post

Yeah, the Steam releases are just the DOS versions bundled with DOSBox. You'll just need to run them with the Mac version of DOSBox instead of the included Windows version.

Share this post


Link to post
Dragonsbrethren said:

Yeah, the Steam releases are just the DOS versions bundled with DOSBox. You'll just need to run them with the Mac version of DOSBox instead of the included Windows version.


Woah, thanks for the immediate response!

I'm thinking of doing the same for Star Wars: Dark Forces, although I'm guessing this trick will only work for games which were previously released on the MS-DOS platform.

I don't think I've ever joined a forum before just to make a singular post as I think people should add to the 'community', however I didn't think you'd all mind too much seeing as I would be paying for a copy of Doom.

I once set up a Wordpress account which I never used, I'm thinking of making my first blog post in praise of games from the early 90s so if that materialises I might post it here.

Mark
PS - Looking forward to trying out these user-generated maps!

Share this post


Link to post
Markyb said:

I'm thinking of doing the same for Star Wars: Dark Forces, although I'm guessing this trick will only work for games which were previously released on the MS-DOS platform.

There was a DOS version of Dark Forces, so this shouldn't be a problem. I don't know if Steam sells the Mac version as well as the DOS one; I'd hazard a guess that they've only packaged the DOS version but haven't checked.

Share this post


Link to post
Markyb said:

Now I don't want everyone to get mad at me, I read through the forum rules and searched the forum as well. I've spend all day trying to find the answer to my question to no avail.

All I'd say on that point is that it is a good idea to give your threads a title that gives some indication what it is about, so people can see if it something they are interested in and/or can help with when they scan through the list of threads/new posts.

(Thread title edited.)

Share this post


Link to post

One thing I forgot to mention, for whatever reason they didn't include the Doom setup program with the Steam releases, unlike Heretic and Hexen. You can just use the one from the shareware version.

Share this post


Link to post
Gez said:

There was a DOS version of Dark Forces, so this shouldn't be a problem.


Actually, Dark Forces was a DOS-only title, just like Doom and Descent at the time of release (pre-Windows 95) so this should not be a problem.

Share this post


Link to post
Grazza said:

All I'd say on that point is that it is a good idea to give your threads a title that gives some indication what it is about, so people can see if it something they are interested in and/or can help with when they scan through the list of threads/new posts.

(Thread title edited.)


Fair point, thanks for that.

[quote]Maes said:
Actually, Dark Forces was a DOS-only title, just like Doom and Descent at the time of release (pre-Windows 95) so this should not be a problem. [quote]
After playing the demo level of Dark Forces which I downloaded from DosMuseum, I decided to make the full version my first ever 'Steam' purchase.
Now I must have done something wrong as when I try to play it DOSBox says, "The program cannot locate the Dark Forces CD-ROM diskette. Please make sure that the disk is in your CD-ROM drive and that your CD-ROM drivers are loaded."

This is no big deal as I paid less than 4 quid for the game and I also found a laptop using Windows which the previous residents of my house mysteriously left here, will try it on there when i can.

Mark

EDIT: Conscious of going off topic.

Share this post


Link to post

If Dark Forces comes with some kind of CD image you'll need to mount that in DosBox as well.

I thought all Steam Dos games already came with DosBox configured? Surely DosBox's commands are the same under Mac as they are on Windows.

Edit: If you want to play custom maps you're probably need to use a source port instead of the original executables. It looks like most don't support Mac though, except for PrBoom and ReMooD.

Share this post


Link to post

Steam-configured DOSBox isn't exactly known as good (plus, they don't have the latest DOSBox version anyway...). You're better off starting with a fresh DOSBox.

Also if you're looking for the original Doom experience, just go with Chocolate Doom, much less hassle than a DOS emulation environment.

Share this post


Link to post
Scet said:

If Dark Forces comes with some kind of CD image you'll need to mount that in DosBox as well.

I thought all Steam Dos games already came with DosBox configured? Surely DosBox's commands are the same under Mac as they are on Windows.

Edit: If you want to play custom maps you're probably need to use a source port instead of the original executables. It looks like most don't support Mac though, except for PrBoom and ReMooD.

PrBoom-Plus, ZDoom, Doomsday Engine, and I think Chocolate Doom also have Mac builds.

Share this post


Link to post
Markyb said:

Now I must have done something wrong as when I try to play it DOSBox says, "The program cannot locate the Dark Forces CD-ROM diskette. Please make sure that the disk is in your CD-ROM drive and that your CD-ROM drivers are loaded."

This forum should be helpful to you:
http://www.df-21.net/phpbb/index.php
More particularly:
http://www.df-21.net/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=20011#20011
http://www.df-21.net/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=1546
And maybe even:
http://sites.google.com/site/megazzt/runningdarkforcesonxp

Share this post


Link to post
esselfortium said:

PrBoom-Plus, ZDoom, Doomsday Engine, and I think Chocolate Doom also have Mac builds.


Well the ZDoom site claims it only works on Windows and I didn't mention Chocolate because most non-ZDoom custom maps are probably going to require Boom compatibility.

Share this post


Link to post
esselfortium said:

PrBoom-Plus, ZDoom, Doomsday Engine, and I think Chocolate Doom also have Mac builds.

Don't forget Skulltag (beta versions anyways) and Odamex.

Scet said:

Well the ZDoom site claims it only works on Windows

I think that line on the ZDoom site just means that it no longer supports DOS. The first thing on the features list reads "It runs well under all modern versions of Windows, from Windows 95 to the new Windows Vista. If you have Linux, it works with that too."

Share this post


Link to post

It's a wrapper of Windows Skulltag in Wine (slightly amusing, since the Linux one is a real port :p).

Share this post


Link to post
chungy said:

It's a wrapper of Windows Skulltag in Wine (slightly amusing, since the Linux one is a real port :p).

What are you talking about? There's no PowerPC support yet since the ZDoom binary is broken (and I can't do anything since it doesn't crash in Rosetta), but it's a native x86 app.

Share this post


Link to post

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×