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2.93 DOS version limitations?

#1 User is offline   BFeely 

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Posted 19 January 2024 - 03:29 AM

What are the current limitations of the 2.93 DOS version? Testing it in DOSBox it appears to only support 16-color text mode, no SMZX or unbound sprites. That said, the latest build of DOSBox-X doesn't seem to support SMZX mode on the original DOS versions either.
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#2 User is offline   GetDizzy 

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Posted 19 January 2024 - 03:35 AM

If you switch to the SVGA renderer (should be possible from the F2 menu or a config.txt option) you should get SMZX and unbound sprites afaik. It defaults to the EGA renderer.

fwiw I can't get the SVGA renderer to work on my actual DOS machine (see recent bug report), but it apparently does work in DOSBox from what I've heard.
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#3 User is offline   BFeely 

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Posted 19 January 2024 - 03:44 AM

As for DOSBox-X (the fork I tried it with) I left a bug report since I confirmed it wouldn't do SMZX mode in the old 2.69c DOS version: https://github.com/j...x-x/issues/4764
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#4 User is offline   Lachesis 

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Posted 19 January 2024 - 03:47 AM

DOSBox and other emulators (and most real video adapters...) do not support SMZX at all. The new DOS port has two renderers: EGA (text mode, default) and SVGA (graphics mode). To get SMZX and unbound sprites support, you need to run MZX with "video_output=svga"—either in config.txt or as a command line argument—or you need to use the F2 menu to switch to the SVGA renderer at runtime. The SVGA renderer is a bit slower than the EGA renderer, which is why it's not enabled by default.

Other limitations:
  • The only sound card supported currently is the Sound Blaster 16, and reportedly it might be totally broken on some or all real hardware.
  • MZX tries its best to convert long filenames (LFNs) to 8.3 short filenames (SFNs) where possible, but a lot of modern games use filenames that don't resolve to unique SFNs. You might have to get a DOSBox fork (such as DOSBox-X) that supports LFNs and enable them. Apparently the latest version of DOSBox-X also has troubles running MZX with audio enabled, though.
  • I've encountered graphical bugs when MZX tries to render expensive frames using the SVGA renderer on real hardware which sometimes make the UI layer completely invisible.

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