New in This Version

1. Notable New Features

• Scalable TrueType font (TTF) output for DOS applications

  With the new TrueType font (TTF) output, you will get nice high resolution DOS screen rendered using a TrueType font (either the built-in one or a TTF font of your choice), and the window can be set to almost any usable number of lines and columns. This feature greatly improved DOSBox-X’s support for DOS applications. Set “output=ttf” (or from the “Video” menu) to enable this output.

• On-screen text styles for DOS applications

  With the TrueType font output, DOSBox-X now supports on-screen text styles for DOS applications including WordPerfect, WordStar, and XyWrite. With this feature you will visually see fonts in bold for bold text, and fonts in italics for italicized text, and so on. Set a DOS word processor (WP/WS/XY) to enable this feature.

• Support for Apple M1 Mac and macOS Big Sur

  DOSBox-X now supports the new Apple ARM-based M1 MacBooks! The dynamic core now works on the new ARM-based macOS systems. The audio also works once again when compiled and run on macOS 11 Big Sur.

• Pasting clipboard text in macOS SDL1 builds

  Pasting text from the host system clipboard is now supported in the macOS SDL1 build, similar to the Linux SDL1 build. On all other platforms (Windows SDL1/SDL2, Linux SDL2, and macOS SDL2) both copying to and pasting from the clipboard are supported.

• System menu in Windows SDL2 builds

  The system menu that was available in Windows SDL1 builds is now also available for Windows SDL2 builds, which includes a few common menu options such as the configuration tool and the mapper editor.

• Select common host keys from the menu

  You can now select a host key from the “Main” menu, which now includes common key combinations such as Ctrl+Alt, Ctrl+Shift, and Alt+Shift, or you may just use the mapper-defined host key (which default to F11 on Windows and F12 otherwise). The default shortcuts for a few items are changed to use the host key style.

• Switch OpenGL (GLSL) shaders at run-time

  With the OpenGL outputs (opengl/opengnb/openghq), you can now select and switch to a different GLSL shader at the run-time by selecting the menu item “Select OpenGL (GLSL) shader…” from the “Video” menu, similar to the function for Direct3D pixel shaders for the Direct3D output.

• Display IDE disk or CD status

  There is now a menu option under “DOS” menu which allows you to see the current assignments (disk or CD image) of the IDE controllers.

• Support for mounting MAME CHD CD images

  Mounting the MAME CHD images is now supported in DOSBox-X! You can mount CHD files as CD images with IMGMOUNT command, or from the “Drive” menu.

• Support for saving your files for the save-state feature

  There is a now a FLAGSAVE command which allows you to mark files to be saved and loaded by the save-state feature. Type “FLAGSAVE /?” at the DOSBox-X shell for more usage information.

• Enhanced MODE command to change screen dimensions

  You can now change the number of columns and lines on the screen with the MODE command, similar to real DOS systems. Alternatively, this can be done from the “Video” menu (within “Text-mode” menu group).

• Improved LOADFIX command to auto-allocate memory

  The LOADFIX command now has an -a option which will automatically allocate enough memory to fill lowest 64KB memory instead of using exactly 64KB memory. This will let some memory-demanding DOS programs or games to run with this command.

• Improved automatic fix for the “Packed file corrupt” error

  The handler for the “Packed file corrupt” error has been greatly improved so that it will likely automatically handle the error more efficiently. There is now also an option to silence the messages during the automatic fix.

2. Notable Usability Improvements

• Improved mapper editor interface

  The mapper editor interface has been enhanced! The texts for the shortcut functions are now longer and clearer, and there are now multiple pages in the mapper, navigable with the “Previous Page” and “Next Page” buttons.

• Load DOSBox-X mapper files from menu

  You can now select and load DOSBox-X mapper files at run-time from the “Main” menu. Previously it was possible to load a mapper file dynmically from the command line, but now you can do so from the menu too.

• List network interfaces from menu

  There is now a “List network interfaces” menu option under the “Help” menu that will list the current network interfaces for the NE2000 networking feature. Previously you can only see the network interface list from the log file.

• Display DOS command help from menu

  You can now find a “DOS commands” menu group under the “Help” menu, which allows you to select a DOS shell command (DIR, CD, etc) to see its help messages. Alternatively you can type “[COMMAND] /?” (e.g. “DIR /?”) for help information for the command.

• Searching for config file and mapper file in DOSBox-X executable path

  DOSBox-X will now look for the config file (e.g. dosbox-x.conf) and the mapper file in the directory containing the DOSBox-X executable too if they cannot be found in the DOSBox-X working directory. This makes DOSBox-X even more portable.

• More saving options for the built-in configuration tool

  The graphical configuration tool now provides the option to save to the primary or user config files, not just the dosbox-x.conf file.

• New config options for save state options

  The config options “saveremark” and “forceloadstate” are added to [dosbox] section which can be used to control the save state-related options from the config file. In the previous section these can only be done from the “Capture” menu.

3. Bugfixes and Other Improvements

There are also many bugfixes and other improvements, such as fixing the CD audio issue with the game “The Secret of Monkey Island” when talking to the pirate in Scumm Bar. Please see the full changelogs below for more information.

4. Full Changelog In This Version

• Added support for scalable TrueType font (TTF) output for text-mode programs. Set “output=ttf” and optionally a monospaced TTF font (such as consola) with config option “ttf.font” to use it. Lines and columns can be specified with config options “ttf.lins” and “ttf.cols”, and the cursor can be made blinking with the option “ttf.blinkc”. The config options “ttf.ptsize” and “ttf.winperc” can be used to set the TTF font size and window percentage respectively. If you specify a TTF font size with “ttf.ptsize” then “ttf.winperc” will be ignored. You can also specify a word processor (WP=WordPerfect, WS=WordStar, XY=XyWrite) for the on-screen text-style and 512-character font (WP) features. When using the TTF output DOSBox-X will temporarily switch to a different output when a graphical mode is requested (or when trying to take a screenshot); the TTF output will be auto-switched back later), which can be customized via config option “ttf.outputswitch” (which defaults to auto). Menu items in the “Text-mode” menu group (under “Video” menu) have been expanded to support TTF options such as increasing/decreasing the TTF font sizes and on-screen text style toggling (including bold, italics, underline and strikeout). You can also select a TTF font to use at run-time with the “Select TrueType font (TTF)” menu option. (Wengier)
• Added the “Load mapper file…” menu option (under “Main”) to select and load a DOSBox-X mapper file at run-time. Be sure to select a SDL1 mapper file for SDL1 builds, and similar for SDL2. (Wengier)
• You can now select a host key from the menu (under “Main”) including Ctrl+Alt, Ctrl+Shift, Alt+Shift, or use the mapper-defined host key as in previous versions (which default to F11 on Windows and F12 otherwise). A config option “hostkey” is added so that you can specify it from config file. (Wengier)
• Pasting text from the clipboard on macOS SDL1 build is now supported like Linux SDL1 build. (Wengier)
• Added support for ARM-based Apple M1 MacBook. The dynamic core now works on ARM-based macOS systems. SDL1 builds updated to use newer audio APIs on the macOS platform so that the audio works once again when compiled and run on macOS 11 (Big Sur). Prior to the change, ancient versions of the API dating back to the mid 2000s were used which no longer work on Big Sur.
• DOSBox-X will now look for the config file (i.e. dosbox-x.conf/dosbox.conf) and the mapper file in the directory containing the DOSBox-X executable too if the config or mapper file cannot be found in the DOSBox-X working directory. (Wengier)
• The system menu in Windows SDL1 builds is now also available for Windows SDL2 builds, and menu items “Reset font size”, “Increase TTF font size” and “Decrease TTF font size” are added. (Wengier)
• Enhanced the mapper editor interface to allow more keyboard shortcuts to be added, shown in multiple pages in the mapper, navigable with the “Previous Page” and “Next Page” buttons. The text in the grids are now longer and clearer too. The default shortcuts for a few items are changed to use the Host key style (e.g. Host+S and Host+L for saving and loading states respectively). (Wengier)
• Added menu item “List network interfaces” under “Help” menu to list network interfaces in the host system for the NE2000 feature. (Wengier)
• Added menu group “DOS commands” under “Help” menu to display the help content for the selected DOS shell command (DIR, CD, etc). (Wengier)
• Configuration Tool now provides the option to save to the primary or user config files. (Wengier)
• Certain config options (e.g. doublescan) that were marked as advanced options are now general config options and will appear in dosbox-x.reference.conf apart from dosbox-x.reference.full.conf. (Wengier)
• Added config options “saveremark” (default: true) and “forceloadstate” (default: false) in [dosbox] section which can be used to control if DOSBox-X should ask users to enter remarks when saving a state or show warnings when loading a saved state if there is a mismatch found. (Wengier)
• The config option “pixelshader” is moved from the section [gui] to [render] so that it will be in the same section as the option “glshader”. (Wengier)
• Added menu item “Select OpenGL (GLSL) shader…” to allow OpenGL shader switch from the menu, just like the function for Direct3D pixel shaders. (Wengier)
• Added menu item “Show IDE disk or CD status” under “DOS” menu to show the current assignments (disk or CD image) of the IDE controllers. (Wengier)
• Fixed IDE CD assignment may not be reset when soft reboots are activated from guest systems. (Wengier)
• The program 80x43.COM is added into the ZIP package TEXTUTIL.ZIP on the Z drive. You can also change current text screen to the 80x43 mode from the menu group “Text-mode” under “Video” menu. (Wengier)
• Enhanced MODE command so that you can change the number of columns and lines in the screen with the syntax “MODE CON COLS=c LINES=n” (c=80 or 132, and n=25, 43, 50, or 60). The command “MODE CON” will show the current number of columns and lines in the screen as in a real DOS system. (Wengier)
• Added FLAGSAVE command for the save state feature to flag (mark) one or more files to be saved and loaded. Type “FLAGSAVE /?” for more information on this command. (PogoMan361 and Wengier)
• Enhanced A20GATE command to show the current status of the A20 gate when no parameter is given, along with other small improvements. (Wengier)
• INT 21h DOS=HMA emulation, to enable the A20 gate, and autoa20fix, to disable the A20 gate, now checks whether the CPU is running in virtual 8086 mode. If vm86 detected, the code will control the A20 gate by calling the XMS interface instead of direct reading/writing via port 92h. This consideration is required for autoa20fix to cooperate with Microsoft Windows 3.1. Note that Windows 3.1 does not virtualize port 92h. If it did, this workaround would not be necessary.
• Added -a option to LOADFIX command which will auto allocate enough memory to fill lowest 64KB memory instead of using exactly 64KB memory. (Wengier)
• Added autofixwarning option (true by default) which allows user to silence the messages when DOSBox-X tries to auto-fix “Packed file is corrupt” error when running a program with this issue. (Wengier)
• Added autoa20fix option (enabled by default). This option when enabled attempts to resolve EXEPACK “Packed file is corrupt” errors by temporarily disabling the A20 gate and running the program again. This may provide better support for affected DOS applications than the LOADFIX option. If both autoa20fix and autoloadfix are set, then autoa20fix will be tried first, and if it did not work then autoloadfix will be tried next.
• The autoloadfix config option changed to allocate only enough memory to keep the executable above the 64KB boundary, instead of blindly allocating 64KB.
• Fixed menu items “Rescan drive” and “Swap disk” in “Drive” menu being reversed. (Wengier)
• Fixed CD audio issue with the game “The Secret of Monkey Island” when talking to the pirate in Scumm Bar by adapting the patch that fixes it. Thanks kcgen for the fix logic. (Wengier)
• Added support for MAME CHD CD images. You can now mount CHD images with IMGMOUNT command, or from the Drive menu. Based on libchdr library and the work of the user whocares010. (Wengier)
• Updated FLAC/MP3/WAV CD-DA decoder libraries to the latest versions (versions 0.12.22, 0.6.19, 0.12.14 respectively). Thanks to mackron & kcgen. (Wengier)