DOSBoxWiki - User contributions [en]

TOOLS:ImDisk Virtual Disk Driver

2012-10-24T01:03:54Z

Anamon: Added screenshot

{{Infobox Tool
|title=ImDisk Virtual Disk Driver
|homepage=http://www.ltr-data.se/opencode.html/
|abandonware=No
}}

The ''ImDisk Virtual Disk Driver'' is an open-source application for Windows that allows to mount image files as virtual drives in Windows. In particular, it also supports mounting floppy images as virtual floppy drives, which makes it useful for playing multi-floppy games in DOSBox, as the internal [[IMGMOUNT]] command does not support floppy image swapping. In contrast to alternative solution ''Virtual Floppy Drive'', the ''ImDisk'' driver also works on 64-bit versions of Windows.

The driver can be installed and uninstalled without having to reboot Windows. It creates a new symbol ''ImDisk Virtual Disk Driver'' in the system control panel (users of Windows Vista and above will have to switch their control panel from category to symbol view to get the new option to show up). Using the ''Mount new...'' button, a new virtual drive can be created. By convention, you will most likely want to use A: or B: as a drive letter. Choose your floppy image file, set the device type to Floppy, and choose other options as desired. Windows will probably complain about wanting to check the freshly mounted drive for errors, which you should skip.

Once the virtual drive is mounted, you can now use the regular [[MOUNT]] command to expose it to DOSBox. For example:
mount a b:\ -t floppy
to expose the virtual floppy drive B: from Windows as drive A: in DOSBox. If you need to swap disks, you can return to the ImDisk configuration window, select the existing drive and unmount it, then mount the other image to the same letter. In contrast to other workarounds for multi-disk games, this solution should always work, since games and applications see the entire floppy disk including original media label (as for all intents and purposes, even DOSBox is unaware of the fact that it is not a real, physical disk drive).

'''Note:''' When you mount two images to the same drive letter by accident, you will end up with an entry in the virtual drive table that no longer works, but you also cannot unmount (since it was already implicitly unmounted by being replaced with the new one). This entry will only disappear next time you reboot your system. This seems to be a bug in current versions (1.5.7) of the ImDisk driver.

[[File:ImDisk.png|200px|thumb|left|Floppy image mounting example]]

File:ImDisk.png

2012-10-24T01:02:50Z

Anamon: Screenshot of the ImDisk configuration window and the window for mounting a new image as a virtual drive; including example settings for mounting a floppy image.

Screenshot of the ImDisk configuration window and the window for mounting a new image as a virtual drive; including example settings for mounting a floppy image.

TOOLS:ImDisk Virtual Disk Driver

2012-10-24T00:58:18Z

Anamon: Mount command according to official syntax

TOOLS

2012-10-24T00:55:26Z

Anamon: Added ImDisk

Here is a list of every article for tools that can assist either playing games or using DOSBox generally.

* [[TOOLS:Disk Explorer|Disk Explorer]]
* [[TOOLS:DOS32A|DOS32A]]
* [[TOOLS:FreeDOS|FreeDOS]]
* [[TOOLS:ImDisk Virtual Disk Driver|ImDisk Virtual Disk Driver]]
* [[TOOLS:ScummVM|ScummVM]]

TOOLS:ImDisk Virtual Disk Driver

2012-10-24T00:54:43Z

Anamon: Description and instructions

{{Infobox Tool
|title=ImDisk Virtual Disk Driver
|homepage=http://www.ltr-data.se/opencode.html/
|abandonware=No
}}

The ''ImDisk Virtual Disk Driver'' is an open-source application for Windows that allows to mount image files as virtual drives in Windows. In particular, it also supports mounting floppy images as virtual floppy drives, which makes it useful for playing multi-floppy games in DOSBox, as the internal [[IMGMOUNT]] command does not support floppy image swapping. In contrast to alternative solution ''Virtual Floppy Drive'', the ''ImDisk'' driver also works on 64-bit versions of Windows.

The driver can be installed and uninstalled without having to reboot Windows. It creates a new symbol ''ImDisk Virtual Disk Driver'' in the system control panel (users of Windows Vista and above will have to switch their control panel from category to symbol view to get the new option to show up). Using the ''Mount new...'' button, a new virtual drive can be created. By convention, you will most likely want to use A: or B: as a drive letter. Choose your floppy image file, set the device type to Floppy, and choose other options as desired. Windows will probably complain about wanting to check the freshly mounted drive for errors, which you should skip.

Once the virtual drive is mounted, you can now use the regular [[MOUNT]] command to expose it to DOSBox. For example:
mount a: -t floppy b:\
to expose the virtual floppy drive B: from Windows as drive A: in DOSBox. If you need to swap disks, you can return to the ImDisk configuration window, select the existing drive and unmount it, then mount the other image to the same letter. In contrast to other workarounds for multi-disk games, this solution should always work, since games and applications see the entire floppy disk including original media label (as for all intents and purposes, even DOSBox is unaware of the fact that it is not a real, physical disk drive).

'''Note:''' When you mount two images to the same drive letter by accident, you will end up with an entry in the virtual drive table that no longer works, but you also cannot unmount (since it was already implicitly unmounted by being replaced with the new one). This entry will only disappear next time you reboot your system. This seems to be a bug in current versions (1.5.7) of the ImDisk driver.

Talk:MIDI software devices

2012-10-24T00:28:55Z

Anamon: FluidSynth and TiMidity++

== FluidSynth and TiMidity++ ==

Would it be appropriate to include instructions for setting up TiMidity++ or FluidSynth with DOSBox on this page? I sometimes use FluidSynth with GM soundfonts several 100s of megabytes in size to get high-quality MIDI music from DOSBox. It's fun to hear how good these old games can sound that way. With QSynth, FluidSynth is ridiculously easy to set up for Windows users, and both FluidSynth and TiMidity++ are cross-platform. --[[User:Anamon|Anamon]] 00:28, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

GAMES:Test Drive

2012-10-22T13:59:55Z

Anamon: Not the first racing game for DOS (Pitstop II in 1984, Pole Position in 1986).

{{Infobox Game
|title=Test Drive
|image=[[Image:GAMES-TestDrive-Cover.jpg]]
|caption=The cover art for Test Drive
|publisher=Accolade
|released=1987
|version=[[Version0.60|0.60]]
|status=Perfect}}

''Test Drive'' was a car game released in 1987 by Accolade. It is the original that created the sub-genre of racing hot cars while outrunning the police, a concept successfully copied by newer franchises such as ''[[GAMES:NeedForSpeed|Need for Speed]]''. In fact, ''Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit'' pays homage to ''Test Drive'': one of the tracks, titled ''Rocky Pass'', consists of roads along the side of a mountain. ''Test Drive'' was released in 1987 for DOS, the Atari ST and Commodore 64. The game was one of the first racing games for DOS.

In this first version of the game, the player is given the choice of a variety of different sports cars such as Ferrari Testarossa, Lotus Turbo Esprit, Porsche 911 Turbo, Lamborghini Countach and C4 Chevrolet Corvette. The player then must race up a narrow mountain highway, avoiding the oncoming traffic, police and the guardrail-free cliff. If the player successfully makes it to the top within the time limit, they are given the (virtual) car for free to keep. The game's graphics were considered as impressive by contemporary standards, with the Atari ST and Amiga versions particularly standing out. (Source [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_Drive_(video_game) Wikipedia])