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This is a tech refresh article describing any changes since the original article ' Just deserts: F/A-18 Hornet Classic ' was published. Updated emulation will be examined along with any resulting changes. Versions When the original article was written, only the PowerPC version of the game was widely available, F/A-18 Hornet Classic (equivalent to v1.12). However F/A-18 Hornet v1.1 became available, this meant this version of the game could be patched to the final beta version, becoming F/A-18 Hornet v1.13b2 for the m68k architecture Macs. As the PPC architecture Macs were backwardly compatible with m68k Macs both versions of the game can be run with SheepShaver. All patches can be found at the Macintosh Repository . Joystick setup The original article suggested mapping the mouse x/y axes to the joystick x/y axes which although correct, lacked detail. The joystick axes to Windows axes mappings are shown below: Physical axis Windows axis Joystick x-axis MOUSE_X_AXIS Joystick y-axis MOUSE_Y_AXIS Only the joystick axes are supported. It is recommended to use throttle buttons to control the throttle power. This mapping should be placed in your HOTAS profile software or Joystick Gremlin. SheepShaver At time of writing the latest version of SheepShaver is SheepShaver-Windows-20-10-2024 . When published the latest version was SheepShaver-Windows-27-08-2023-framebuffer . To upgrade the settings shown in the SheepShaverGUI app should be copied from the older version to the newer version. This will allow the existing emulated Mac to be run and allow the game to be played. If creating an emulated Mac or installing the game, the existing advice in the article ' Just deserts: F/A-18 Hornet Classic ' should continue to be followed. Keycodes The keycodes facility of SheepShaver has been improved to support both ANSI and ISO keyboards. Within the Keyboard/Mouse tab of the SheepShaverGUI app either the keycodes_ansi or keycodes_iso file should be chosen, depending on your keyboard. You should also take the opportunity to check the keyboard layout with the Keycaps app within the emulated Mac. Qemu m68k The recommended version of Qemu for multi-monitor emulation remains Qemu-m68k-Win64-qfb-experimental-05-10-2022 . Later versions of Qemu, including later version of the experimental multi-monitor version all suffer from the same issue. Using SDL as the rendering engine, the Windows key is not handled properly as a modifier key and cannot be held down. This affects the sim as the Windows key is used as the Mac cmd key. The issue is known to affect the following versions: Qemu-system-m68k-Win64-06-10-2023 Qemu-system-m68k-8.2-Win64-20-12-2023 Qemu-m68k-Win64-qfb-experimental-26-12-2023 Qemu-system-m68k-9.0-Win64-24-04-2024 Old versions of the builds are not hosted at the Emaculation website, but I've been kindly allowed to host the old experimental build here, so a big thank you to Cat_7 and the people at Emaculation (this version has been superseded, see the update below). Update : A brand new version of the experimental multi-monitor build has been created by Cat_7. The latest version is qemu-system-m68k-9.2-Win64-qfb-experimental-28-12-2024 and can be found on the Emaculation forums . This version correctly handles the Windows key as a modifier. MAME The original article was published when the current version of MAME was v0.260 . The current version of MAME is v0.272, available at the MAME download page . The download is a self extracting exe file, open the self extracting exe and choose a folder. Once installed the following files/folders should be copied from your original MAME installation folder into your new MAME folder: cfg folder diff folder nvram folder roms folder If you are using the MacFlight plugin, it should be copied from your original MAME plugins folder to your new MAME plugins folder. Any batch (.bat) files created. Any  hard disk images in a .chd (compressed hunks of data) format . The Mac Quadra 800 ini file (macqd800.ini). Run the MAME executable once to recreate any other necessary .ini files. You should then be able to start the an emulated Mac using the new version of MAME with the batch files in the new MAME folder. The advice to create a new virtual Mac with MAME and installing F/A-18 Hornet remains unchanged. The ScrLk key will continue to enable/disable the MAME UI and the Tab key will open/close the MAME config menu. Using the MacFlight plugin The MacFlight plugin continues to work with MAME v0.272. The advice in the article ' MacFlight: A MAME plugin for retro Mac flight sims ' should continue to be followed. The MacFlight plugin will attempt to identify any connected joysticks, so the above joystick mapping is not required if using the plugin, however you may still create a virtual controller for button mappings if required. The plugin should find your virtual device. It's worth noting that the role of MacFlight plugin was to convert joystick input into an appropriate mouse input for Mac flight sims. It does not control any button mappings, only the joystick x and y axes. Rather than duplicate functionality, the comprehensive facilities provided by your HOTAS profile software, Joystick Gremlin or the MAME control settings should be used to map HOTAS buttons. Good hunting!

This is a tech refresh article describing any changes since the original article, ' The Tornado (Digital Integration) guide ' was published. Since the original article the version of DOSBox Staging has changed from v 0.81.2 to v0.82.0. The only change is an updated DOSBox Staging configuration shown below, the rest of the advice in the previous articles remains valid. DOSBox Staging configuration These are the settings which differ from the DOSBox Staging defaults. [sdl] host_rate = vrr vsync = off presentation_mode = vfr [dosbox] memsize = 31 dos_rate = 1000 [cpu] cpu_cycles = 20000 cpu_cycles_protected = auto cycleup = 1000 cycledown = 1000 [voodoo] voodoo = false [mouse] dos_mouse_immediate = true [mixer] reverb = large chorus = normmal [midi] mididevice = mt32 [mt32] model = mt32_new romdir = "D:\Midi\Versioned" [joystick] joysticktype = 4axis timed = false swap34 = true deadzone = 0 [autoexec] mount c "D:\Games\Dos\Tornado\hdd" C: call go.bat pause exit The sdl settings are appropriate for a variable refresh rate monitor. They can be left as default or omitted for standard monitors. The sdl, dos_rate and mouse settings are also applicable for high frame rates as described in this article  by Omnicycle. The voodoo emulation is disabled as it isn't required. The mixer settings are a personal preference to enhance the music and audio. The midi and mt32 sections allow both Soundblaster and MT32 to be used in the sim for an optimum audio experience. Joystick settings will be dependant on your particular HOTAS setup and may require adjustment. Good hunting!

This is a tech refresh article describing any changes since the original article, ' Running Wing Commander: Privateer in DOSBox Staging ' was published. Since the original article the version of DOSBox Staging has changed from v 0.81.2 to v0.82.0 and a revised config is shown below. The rest of the article remains valid and provides background for many of these settings. DOSBox Staging configuration These are the settings which differ from the DOSBox Staging defaults. [sdl] host_rate = vrr vsync = off presentation_mode = vfr [dosbox] memsize = 64 dos_rate = 1000 [render] viewport = 89% [cpu] cpu_cycles = 12000 cpu_cycles_protected = auto cycleup = 100 cycledown = 100 [voodoo] voodoo = false [mouse] dos_mouse_immediate = true [mixer] reverb = large chorus = normal [midi] mididevice = fluidsynth # mididevice = mt32 [fluidsynth] soundfont = "D:\Midi\Soundfonts\Shan SGM-X48 v1.0.SF2" [mt32] model = cm32l romdir = "D:\Midi\Versioned" [sblaster] irq = 5 [joystick] joysticktype = 4axis timed = true swap34 = false deadzone = 0 [dos] ems = false [autoexec] mount C "D:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy\Games\Wing Commander Privateer" mount C "D:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy\Games\Wing Commander Privateer\cloud_saves" -t overlay imgmount d "D:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy\Games\Wing Commander Privateer\game.gog" -t iso -fs iso mixer FSYNTH 33:33 c: call gog-menu.bat The sdl settings are appropriate for a variable refresh rate monitor. They can be left as default or omitted for standard monitors. The sdl, dos_rate and mouse settings are also applicable for high frame rates as described in this article  by Omnicycle. The voodoo emulation is disabled as it isn't required. The mixer settings are a personal preference to enhance the music and audio. The midi setting include fluidsynth (enabled) and MT32 (disabled) allowing both to be tried if desired. Joystick settings will be dependant on your particular HOTAS setup and may require adjustment. In the autoexec section the mixer volumes are changed with the mixer command to a personal preference. The startup menu (gogmenu.bat) is used, as described in the previous article. Good hunting!

This is a tech refresh article describing revised DOSBox configurations for the DOS versions and additional testing of the Glide versions since the original articles were published. Controller setup The original article suggested the joystick to Windows mappings with a screenshot which although correct, lacked detail. The joystick axes to Windows axes mappings are shown below: Physical axis Windows axis Joystick x-axis DX_X_AXIS Joystick y-axis DX_Y_AXIS Throttle DX_Z_AXIS Rudder pedals DX_XROT_AXIS DOSBox Staging Configuration The DOSBox Staging configurations originally described were for v0.81.1 with the below configs revised for v0.82.0. The rest of the advice in the ' Running Jane's AH-64D Longbow (DOS) in DOSBox Staging ' article remains valid. Jane's AH-64D Longbow and Flash Point Korea The first config is for the original Jane's AH-64D Longbow with the Flash Point: Korea expansion. The move to v0.82.0 has introduced issues which need a revised config to correct, as described below: [sdl] host_rate = vrr vsync = off presentation_mode = vfr [dosbox] machine = vesa_oldvbe memsize = 48 vmemsize = 8 vmem_delay = on dos_rate = 1000 [cpu] cpu_cycles = max cpu_cycles_protected = auto cycleup = 1000 cycledown = 1000 [voodoo] voodoo = false [mouse] dos_mouse_immediate = true [mixer] reverb = large chorus = normal [joystick] joysticktype = 4axis timed = false swap34 = true deadzone = 0 [autoexec] mount c "D:\Games\Dos\Janes Longbow\hdd" imgmount d "D:\Games\Dos\Janes Longbow\cd\JLBCD1.iso" -t iso imgmount e "D:\Games\Dos\Janes Longbow\cd\JLBCD2.iso" -t iso imgmount f "D:\Games\Dos\Janes Longbow\cd\JLBCD3.iso" -t iso c: cd janes\longbow lb exit The sdl settings are appropriate for a variable refresh rate monitor. They can be left as default or omitted for standard monitors. The sdl, dos_rate and mouse settings are also applicable for high frame rates as described in this article  by Omnicycle. The dosbox settings have required changes to machine, vmemsize and vmem_delay to run in the 640x480 resolution. Without these changes the sim will only display in a 320x200 resolution, with access to the in-flight options menu failing. The cpu settings use the new DOSBox Staging standard. The voodoo emulation is disabled as it isn't required. The mixer settings are a personal preference to enhance the music and audio. Joystick settings will be dependant on your particular HOTAS setup and may require adjustment. In the autoexec section remains unchanged from the original advice. Jane's Longbow Gold The DOS version of Jane's Longbow Gold struggles with high and/or variable refresh rates so the defaults are used in preference, resulting in a smaller config file, shown below: [dosbox] memsize = 48 [cpu] cpu_cycles = max cpu_cycles_protected = auto cycleup = 1000 cycledown = 1000 [voodoo] voodoo = false [mixer] reverb = large chorus = normal [joystick] joysticktype = 4axis timed = false swap34 = true deadzone = 0 [autoexec] mount c "D:\Games\Dos\Janes Longbow\hdd" imgmount d "D:\Games\Dos\Janes Longbow\cd\LBGCD1.iso" -t cdrom imgmount e "D:\Games\Dos\Janes Longbow\cd\LBGCD2.iso" -t cdrom imgmount f "D:\Games\Dos\Janes Longbow\cd\LBGCD3.iso" -t cdrom c: cd janes\lbgold lb exit The config autoexec section uses different commands suitable for the Longbow Gold installation folder and cd images. Jane's AH-64D Longbow (3dfx/Glide) testing The Glide version was tested with the latest DxWrapper v1.2.7400.25 but would fail when loading a mission. The latest version of DDrawCompat v0.5.4 was tested and would load a mission resulting in audio playing but would fail to hand off Glide requests to a Glide wrapper resulting in a blank screen. Therefore the advice in the article, ' The difficult child: Running Jane's AH-64D Longbow (3dfx/Glide) in Windows 10 ' remains the recommended course of action. Good hunting!

This is a tech refresh article describing any changes since the original article ' M1 Tank Platoon: Getting the DOSBox hull down ' was published. Since the original article the version of DOSBox Staging has changed from v0.80.1 to v0.82.0. The only change is an updated DOSBox Staging configuration shown below, the rest of the advice in the previous article remains valid. DOSBox Staging configuration These are the settings which differ from the DOSBox Staging defaults. [sdl] host_rate = vrr presentation_mode = vfr [dosbox] # For unpatched vanilla version # mcb_fault_strategy = allow [cpu] # For unpatched vanilla version # core = normal # cputype = 386_prefetch core = simple cycleup = 100 cycledown = 100 [voodoo] voodoo = false [mixer] reverb = medium chorus = normal [midi] mididevice = mt32 [mt32] model = mt32_new romdir = "D:\Midi\Versioned" [joystick] # joysticktype = disabled joysticktype = 4axis timed = true swap34 = false deadzone = 0 [autoexec] # v449.01 # imgmount a "D:\Games\Dos\M1 Tank Platoon\fdd\disk1.img" "D:\Games\Dos\M1 Tank Platoon\fdd\disk2.img" "D:\Games\Dos\M1 Tank Platoon\fdd\disk3.img" -t floppy -ro # mount c "D:\Games\Dos\M1 Tank Platoon\hdd" # v449.02 # imgmount a "D:\Games\Dos\M1 Tank Platoon\fdd2\disk1.img" -t floppy -ro mount c "D:\Games\Dos\M1 Tank Platoon\hdd2" c: # call tank.bat cd tank call m1tpmenu.bat The sdl settings are appropriate for a variable refresh rate monitor. They can be left as default or omitted for standard monitors. The dosbox and cpu sections have settings for running an unpatched vanilla version of the game, if required (disabled). The cycles are omitted as the default setting of 3000 is suitable. The voodoo emulation is disabled as it isn't required. The mixer settings are a personal preference to enhance the music and audio. Midi settings use the mt32 new model as shown in the ' List of MT-32-compatible computer games ' on the VOGONS wiki.   Joystick settings will be dependant on your particular HOTAS setup and may require adjustment. 4axis is used as I have a joystick, throttle and rudder pedals connected and this prevents the wrong device from being detected in-game. The game is playable without a joystick and this may be preferable, in which case the joystick can be disabled. The autoexec section has mount and imgmount commands for v449.01 (disabled) and v449.02 (enabled). The imgmount commands are disabled once the game is installed from floppy image. The batch file, tank.bat is created when the games is installed (disabled). This config uses my own startup menu m1tpmenu.bat (enabled). Good hunting!

A guide to setting up and playing Privateer 2: The Darkening, the sequel (in name if not setting) to Wing Commander: Privateer. This guide covers installation, patching and first run in DOSBox Staging, followed by running natively in Windows 10. This guide will cover the installation and patching of the original DOS version of the game in DOSBox. Then we'll take this DOSBox installation folder, install additional components and patches to turn it into a modern Windows 10 compatible version of Privateer 2. Versions & patches A list of the various commercial releases of Privateer 2 and the patches used to update them. Each release will be covered but not each patch, as many of the later patches have been superseded by the latest enhancement pack. The only patches that will be recommended are: Latest official patch v17.0e. Midi driver fix. Privateer 2 Enhancement Patch. For impressive amounts of information on Privateer 2, including a number of additional patches that aren't strictly required, but may be useful for some, check out the Privateer 2 pages of the Wing Commander Combat Information Centre (CIC). Privateer 2: The Darkening (DOS) The original base game, developed by EA Manchester and published by Electronic Arts in 1996 for DOS, distributed on 3 cds. This release is v16.0 (named Commercial). Latest official patch v17.0e The latest official patch which upgraded the version to v17.0e (named Buffalo Wings). The patch provided a number of bug fixes and a few enhancements (an invulnerability option, native support for some joysticks of the day, some additional key commands, etc.). It was released around Jan 1997. This is a recommended patch for any DOS version not already at v17.0e. It can be found at the Wing Commander CIC, Privateer 2 Patch page. Midi driver fix This is a file replacement fix of the midi driver file, MPU401.MDI. The driver file is padded with zeros to increase the file size, from 2kb to 17kb, making it the same size as other midi driver files on the cd. This increases compatibility with DOSBox Staging and reduces crashes in movies. This fix was developed by VOGONS member ripsaw8080 to help prevent general midi crashes in another game, in this post . The same method was employed by VOGONS member kingjoma_za to reduce general midi crashes in Privateer 2 in this post . Big thank you to both for finding and developing this fix. This is a recommended patch for any DOS version with a small 2kb MPU401.MDI file. This file replacement fix can be found in this VOGONS post . Privateer 2: The Darkening Deluxe (DOS Edition) This was a compilation of the complete Wing Commander: Privateer and Privateer 2: The Darkening (DOS). Released by Electronics Arts in 1996. It's not known if this version is already patched to v17.0e, but it would probably benefit from the the midi driver fix. Privateer 2: The Darkening Deluxe (Windows 95 Edition) A re-release of Privateer 2 as a native Windows 95 game by Electronic Arts in 1997. The release included some limited edition goodies. This version is already patched to v17.0e, but it may benefit from the midi driver fix, if MPU401.MDI is still used in this release. Privateer 2: The Darkening (GOG Edition) The GOG re-release of a v17.0e patched DOS version of Privateer 2 running under DOSBox emulation. Released in 2013 by GOG, this release includes, manuals, key references, the strategy guide and other goodies. This is probably the most common version today, due to ease of availability. This may benefit from the midi driver fix, if it still uses a small 2kb MPU401.MDI file. Privateer 2 Enhancement Patch Developed by HCl the Privateer 2 Enhancement Patch is the only patch needed by Windows 95 and GOG Editions to allow Privateer 2 to be played natively under Windows 10 (and is compatible with DOS editions). The patch features a new executable and setup options, DirectX graphics and sound wrapper. A huge thank you to HCl for some excellent work. The patch can be found at the Wing Commander CIC . The patch is now into its third released version, p2_patch_test3.zip. Strategy I'll be using an original retail version converted into cd images. The installation strategy will be a fresh install from cd, of Privateer 2 in DOSBox Staging. The install will then be patched with latest official patch and midi driver fix. The game is then started and played until spaceflight. This ensures the HOTAS controller is configured and calibrated and the in-flight options work. Without this DOSBox install and initial spaceflight the in-flight options page is never accessible in Windows 10 and the game fails and crashes out with an error. For those with the Windows 95 or GOG editions, it may be sufficient to run the game once to ensure any required config files are created. The Privateer 2 installation folder is copied to an appropriate location, the contents of the cds applied and finally the Privateer 2 Enhancement Patch is applied. The game is then available to play natively under Windows 10. HOTAS Config If your HOTAS controller(s) use 4 axes or less, then this won't apply. If you have more than 4 axes then you'll need to use profiling software to create a virtual controller limited to 4 axes. A 4 axes joystick/controller is one DOSBox is able to use. I also found that the version of Privateer 2 that runs natively in Windows 10, also prefers a 4 axes controller, so the HOTAS config was used for both DOSBox and Privateer 2 natively in Windows 10. The 4 axes controller mapping will depend on your particular setup, but for reference this is one I created in TM TARGET profiling software: Physical Axis Windows Axis Joystick x-axis DX_X_AXIS Joystick y-axis DX_Y_AXIS Throttle DX_Z_AXIS Rudder pedals DX_XROT_AXIS Privateer 2 only uses the joystick and throttle axes. DOSBox Staging The purpose of using DOSBox is to create a Privateer 2 DOS install and then run the game to ensure any and all required config files are created. The DOSBox settings aren't required to be optimal just usable. DOSBox Staging config This DOSBox Staging config, just shows the differences from the default DOSBox Staging config and any settings of particular interest. [dosbox] memsize = 64 [cpu] cycles = auto cycleup = 1000 cycledown = 1000 [midi] mididevice = fluidsynth [fluidsynth] soundfont = "D:\Midi\Soundfonts\FluidR3_GM_GS.sf2" [joystick] joysticktype = 4axis timed = true swap34 = true deadzone = 0 mount c "D:\Games\Dos\Privateer 2\hdd" imgmount d "D:\Games\Dos\Privateer 2\cd\*.iso" -t cdrom c: The memsize setting needs to be increased from the default 16 for Privateer 2 to run. The CPU setting is left as auto, although cycleup/down will allow it to change in sensible increments if needed. We want a midi device so general midi can be chosen as the music option. Fluidsynth is configured with a soundfont. The joystick settings are suitable for my particular HOTAS config, you may need to tweak them for your setup. I'm using my DOSBox game management strategy, so there is a 'D:\Games\Dos\Privateer 2' folder which holds everything related to the game, with the 'hdd' subfolder acting as the DOSBox emulated C: drive. All the cd images are kept in the 'cd' subfolder, they are all mounted with the imgmount command and the *.iso wildcard for convenience. Installing & configuring Privateer 2 in DOSBox Privateer 2 DOS installer Use the DOS installer and config app, install.exe on cd 1 of the 3 cds (or cd images). The options should be set as shown. The sound card and music card can be autodetected and tested during the install process. The default directory isn't changed. Control is switched to Joystick/Throttle, although Joystick may be a more appropriate option, depending on your setup. Once selected the game should install in DOSBox without issue. Once installation has complete successfully, the latest official patch should be downloaded and extracted to the Privateer 2 installation folder. The patch should then be run from within DOSBox to patch the game to v17.0e. Once the patch is installed, the midi driver fix should be downloaded and extracted to the Privateer 2 installation folder replacing the existing MPU401.MDI file. That concludes the installation and patching of the DOS edition of Privateer 2. Running in DOSBox The DOS edition of game is run once in DOSBox to ensure all the required config files are created. Once the game has started playing intro movies: Hit Esc to skip past all the intro movies, there are about 15 mins worth. Once you reach a choice, select either choice. Continue skipping past movies, leave the bar and head to Customs. Use the booth system to buy a ship. Leave Hermes, the first time in spaceflight you may be required to calibrate the joystick/throttle. Once calibrated and the joystick/throttle is working as expected, quit the game. Other editions of the game should be run once to ensure appropriate config files are created. Windows 10 Here are the steps to create and run a native Windows 10 compatible version of Privateer 2. It will applicable to any of the DOS, Windows 95 or GOG editions. Installing Everything is done in Windows 10, DOSBox is no longer needed going forward. The first step is to take the existing Privateer 2 installation folder and copy it to a shorter path without spaces/non-standard characters. The game can be a bit temperamental with longer folder paths. So in my case we copy the ' D:\Games\Dos\Privateer 2\hdd\DARK ' folder to the D:\ drive creating a ' D:\DARK ' folder. Mount each cd (or cd image) and copy all the contents of each cd into the installation folder, in my case I'd be copying into the ' D:\DARK ' folder. Existing files from earlier cds can be overwritten and replaced with files from later cds. Once the contents of all 3 cds have been copied, this step is complete. Patching Download and extract the Privateer 2 Enhancement Patch into the Privateer 2 installation folder. In my case this was ' D:\DARK '. That's all that is required, the patch is installed! Configuring The Privateer 2 Enhancement Patch assumes the Privateer 2 installation folder exists on the C: drive. Since my folder exists on D: drive, a text editor can be used to change the first two settings in the DARK.FIX file from: C:. C:. to: D:. D:. The darkfix_setup.exe patch config utility should be run to make any changes necessary, then save and exit. Running To run the game, the new executable provided by the patch, DARKFIX.EXE should be used instead of the previous game executable. Good hunting!

This is a tech refresh article describing any changes since the original article ' Subwar 2050: Running in DOSBox ' was published. Since the original article the version of DOSBox Staging has changed from v0.80.1 to v0.82.0. The only change is an updated DOSBox Staging configuration shown below, the rest of the advice in the previous article remains valid. DOSBox Staging configuration These are the settings which differ from the DOSBox Staging defaults. [sdl] host_rate = vrr vsync = off presentation_mode = vfr [dosbox] dos_rate = 1000 [cpu] core = simple cpu_cycles = 20000 cycleup = 1000 cycledown = 1000 [voodoo] voodoo = false [mouse] dos_mouse_immediate = true [mixer] reverb = large chorus = normal [midi] mididevice = mt32 [mt32] model = mt32_new romdir = "D:\Midi\Versioned" [joystick] joysticktype = 4axis timed = true swap34 = true deadzone = 0 [autoexec] mount C "D:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy\Games\Subwar 2050" mount C "D:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy\Games\Subwar 2050\cloud_saves" -t overlay C: call gogmenu.bat exit The sdl settings are appropriate for a variable refresh rate monitor. They can be left as default or omitted for standard monitors. The sdl, dos_rate and mouse settings are also applicable for high frame rates as described in this article  by Omnicycle. The voodoo emulation is disabled as it isn't required. The mixer settings are a personal preference to enhance the music and audio. Midi settings use the mt32 new model as shown in the ' List of MT-32-compatible computer games ' on the VOGONS wiki. Joystick settings will be dependant on your particular HOTAS setup and may require adjustment. Good hunting!

This is a tech refresh article describing any changes since the original article ' F-22 Lightning II: Running in DOSBox ' was published. Since the original article the version of DOSBox Staging has changed from v 0.80.1 to v0.82.0. The only change is an updated DOSBox Staging configuration shown below, the rest of the advice in the previous article remains valid. DOSBox Staging configuration These are the settings which differ from the DOSBox Staging defaults. [sdl] host_rate = vrr vsync = off presentation_mode = vfr [dosbox] memsize = 32 dos_rate = 1000 [cpu] cpu_cycles = max cpu_cycles_protected = auto cycleup = 1000 cycledown = 1000 [voodoo] voodoo = false [mouse] dos_mouse_immediate = true [mixer] reverb = large chorus = normal [midi] # To use MT32 emulation # mididevice = mt32 # If you wish to try out fluidsynth and soundfonts mididevice = fluidsynth [fluidsynth] # One of my installed soundfonts soundfont = "D:\Midi\Soundfonts\FluidR3_GM_GS.sf2" [mt32] model = auto romdir = "D:\Midi\Versioned" [joystick] # Your settings may need to differ joysticktype = 4axis timed = true swap34 = true deadzone = 0 [autoexec] mount C "D:\Games\Dos\F-22 Lightning II\hdd" imgmount D "D:\Games\Dos\F-22 Lightning II\cd\F22Lightning2.iso" -t cdrom C: cd f22 f22.exe exit The sdl settings are appropriate for a variable refresh rate monitor. They can be left as default or omitted for standard monitors. The sdl, dos_rate and mouse settings are also applicable for high frame rates as described in this article by Omnicycle. The voodoo emulation is disabled as it isn't required. The mixer settings are a personal preference to enhance the music and audio. Midi settings for mt32 and fluidsynth are included, the choice is left as personal preference, in the above config, fluidsynth is enabled. Joystick settings will be dependant on your particular HOTAS setup and may require adjustment. Good hunting!

In previous articles we've looked at the releases and patches available for each edition of EF2000 and looked at the process to create a portable DOS install folder. In this article we'll use this folder to configure the EF2000 Reloaded app or DOSBox. What is EF2000 Reloaded? The Reloaded readme file provides an excellent summary and feature list: EF2000 Reloaded is a specialized DOSBox engine and front end GUI designed to make your EF2000 experience on a modern system even better than it was on a vintage Windows 98 system with a 3DFX card. While EF2000 Reloaded is optimized for EF2000 V2.0 for 3DFX (aka GFX+), it will work with any DOS version of EF2000. However, the DOSBox build included with EF2000 Reloaded is optimized for the OpenGL output, and the use of any other output rendering is unsupported at this time. 3DFX Emulation upconverted at the polygon level. TrackIR Enhanced support using VFX1 VR Headset emulation. Supports three separate installs of EF2000 (original DOS, TACTCOM, and GFX+). Integrated multiplayer front end allows hassle free IPX emulation over TCP/IP, with a "phone book" for your friends' IPXNet servers. Option to manage separate single player and multiplayer campaigns for each EF2000 install. Custom Campaign Creator allows custom scenarios based on the scenarios from Strategic Command for EF2000. Basic Campaign Editor allows you to adjust difficulty level, player influence, and player score. Includes Super Revive by Brett Luck for in-depth campaign edits. The Reloaded app has become the preferred method to play EF2000 on modern systems. The EF2000 Reloaded installer can still be found at MediaFire . 3dfx Voodoo card emulation EF2000 in EF2000 Reloaded EF2000 is a DOS Glide game, so you may expect the Glide passthrough facility of DOSBox-X could be used with a Glide wrapper, (as described in this article, Jetfighter III: Running in DOSBox-X with Glide passthrough ). Sadly this is not the case, most DOS Glide games (like JetFighter III) use a dynamically linked Glide library where Glide requests are sent from the game to a separate Glide library file and onward to a Voodoo card (or if a Glide wrapper is used, Glide requests are intercepted by the Glide wrapper and converted into modern equivalents and sent to a modern graphics card). However EF2000 is one of the very few DOS Glide games that uses a statically linked Glide library, which means the Glide library was built into the game executable. The game executable uses the built in Glide library to send low-level requests direct to the Voodoo card (or emulated Voodoo card). There are no Glide requests that can be intercepted by a Glide wrapper. This means Glide passthrough can't be used with EF2000 and instead we must use the low level Voodoo card emulation provided by DOSBox Staging, DOSBox-X or the optimised DOSBox build used by EF2000 Reloaded. 3dfx Voodoo2 cards This is a quick note for those wishing to run EF2000 on legacy hardware using the Voodoo2 card. The patched EF2000 install created earlier won't work with Voodoo2 cards (due to the statically linked library), without setting (what the old 3dfx faq called) 'Voodoo Graphics/Voodoo2 transitional environment variables'. Once these variables are set EF2000 should work. Voodoo Graphics/Voodoo2 transitional environment variables: set SST_GRXCLK=90 set SST_FT_CLK_DEL=0x4 set SST_TF0_CLK_DEL=0x6 set SST_TF1_CLK_DEL=0x6 set SST_VIN_CLKDEL=0x1 set SST_VOUT_CLKDEL=0x0 set SST_TMUMEM_SIZE=2 These need to be added to the autoexec.bat file in DOS, or added to a separate DOS batch file and run, before running EF2000. This was taken from a post on the old 3dfx.products.voodoo2 newgroup which has been archived on google groups. EF2000 Reloaded setup EF2000 Reloaded frontend Once you have installed EF2000 Reloaded using the installer app, then you can use the excellent included documentation available under the Reloaded ' References ' menu, including a comprehensive ' EF2000 Reloaded Manual ' covering all aspects of setup. The Reloaded GUI provides options to configure the optimised DOSBox build used, and coupled with the Reloaded manual you should be flying in no time, there are just a couple of additional points to be aware of. CD Images & music As stated earlier in the EF2000 Updated Part 2: Installation article, the EF2000 game cd should ripped to a bin/cue image pair which supports the red book cd music present on the EF2000 cd, if you want to use cd music in the game, rather than midi music. Then the imgmount command needs to be added, to mount the cd image, by adding an appropriate line to the Autoexec section of the EF2000 Reloaded config options. In my case I used: imgmount D "D:\Games\Dos\EF2000\cd\EF2000V20.cue" -t cdrom where D:\Games\Dos\EF2000\cd is the folder where I put my EF2000 V2.0 cd images (EF2000V20.bin and EF2000V20.cue) and EF2000V20.cue is the cue part of the bin/cue cd image pair. You can use the physical cd in your pc's drive, and the command becomes: mount d d:\ -t cdrom assuming d: is your cd/dvd drive. The DOS config utility will need to be run (from within the Reloaded app) and the cd option, rather than midi music option, selected. In the Reloaded config page, you may notice the music checkbox is unchecked, this is normal, this option seems to refer to midi music rather than music in general. When you start the game there won't be any midi music as you navigate the various options screens but you'll hear the cd music when you start a mission. On of the advantages of cd music is the ability to switch between midi and cd music with the in-game options. Resolution & scaling The EF2000 Reloaded app and optimised DOSBox build (based on the older DOSBox 0.74) pre-dates the ultra high def displays and high DPI awareness. If you are running a higher resolution than the one specified in the Reloaded app, the game window will appear in the upper left corner. If you are running display scaling above 100% then the mouse will behave erratically. To correct these issues use Windows Display settings to reduce the resolution to the one used by the Reloaded app and set the display scaling to 100%. In my example, you can see an EF2000 Reloaded resolution of 2560x1600. This resolution is also set in the Windows settings with 100% scaling. EF2000 Reloaded config options Windows display settings DOSBox setup As we have to use low level Voodoo emulation there is no advantage in using DOSBox-X rather than DOSBox Staging, so this example uses DOSBox Staging. It will only describe the differences between the default DOSBox Staging config file and the one used for EF2000, or settings of particular interest. EF2000 with a retro CRT feel Why use DOSBox Staging? Although Reloaded is the preferred method DOSBox Staging does allow you to use crt emulation for that retro feel to the game, or maybe you want to try out some fluidsynth soundfonts to see how things sound. The option is there if you'd like to try it! My DOSBox Staging settings [sdl] output = opengl [dosbox] memsize = 63 dos_rate = 60 [render] glshader = crt-auto # glshader = sharp integer_scaling = vertical [cpu] cycles = 60000 cpu_cycles_protected = 60000 cycleup = 1000 cycledown = 1000 [voodoo] voodoo = true voodoo_memsize = 12 voodoo_multithreading = true voodoo_bilinear_filtering = true [mixer] negotiate = true reverb = large chorus = normal [midi] # mididevice = auto mididevice = fluidsynth [fluidsynth] soundfont = default.sf2 [joystick] joysticktype = 4axis timed = false swap34 = true deadzone = 0 [autoexec] mount c "D:\Games\Dos\ef2000\hdd" imgmount d "D:\Games\Dos\ef2000\cd\EF2000V20.cue" -t cdrom c: cd ef2000 sdl, dosbox, render & cpu The output is set to opengl since voodoo emulation is used. The default 16MB memsize isn't enough for EF2000 so it should be increased to a minimum of 48MB. A dos rate of 60Hz corresponds to Voodoo output. The crt-auto shader will give you the retro crt scanline look and feel although you may prefer sharp. You should specify integer scaling to make sure it scales properly no matter which shader is used. The 60000 cycles equates to a pretty capable legacy machine which should have no problem running EF2000. voodoo Voodoo emulation is used, in this example all the settings have been maxed, although these may need to be tweaked if it causes issues. mixer, midi & fluidsynth Setting negotiate can help with any sound stuttering issues. Reverb and chorus is down to personal preference. With a fluidsynth midi device, alternative soundfonts can be used to experiment with the midi sound in EF2000, so effectively down to personal preference again. The soundfont to use is specified in the fluidsynth section of the config. MT32 as a midi device isn't recommended, as I think it sounds just a little too weirdly retro for EF2000! joystick These settings will depend on your own HOTAS/controller setup so you should consider them a rough guide only (see HOTAS Controller setup below). The deadzone setting is my personal preference. autoexec I'm using a DOSBox game management strategy as described in DOSBox game management . All EF2000 folders reside in the D:\Games\Dos\ef2000 folder. Then there is: hdd, the folder used by DOSBox, to emulate the C: drive. cd, a folder holding cd images, in this case the EF2000V20.bin and EF2000V20.cue files. HOTAS Controller setup Since EF2000 is a DOS game it supports a maximum of 4 axes. For those with a HOTAS/controller setup with 4 axes or less, this shouldn't apply. For those with more than 4 axes you should use your profiling software to limit the number of axes. EF2000 Reloaded (with an optimised DOSBox build) and DOSBox staging use similar, but not identical axes mappings. From within TARGET the joystick and throttle axes mappings I use for EF2000 Reloaded and DOSBox Staging are: Physical axis Windows axis Joystick x-axis DX_X_AXIS Joystick y-axis DX_Y_AXIS Throttle DX_Z_AXIS Rudder pedals (EF2000 Reloaded) DX_ZROT_AXIS Rudder pedals (DOSBox Staging) DX_XROT_AXIS Finally Hopefully you should have a fully playable EF2000 setup at this stage, if you have any problems, consult the EF2000 Reloaded manual in the first instance, it's an excellent resource. Good hunting!

Title screen, version 1.01.00.18 This is my quick guide for running the NovaLogic classic, F-22 Lightning II under DOSBox Staging. Due to the large size of the previous Gunship guide, this will be a little different. Other posts will be referenced, which provide background to a topic. The rest of this guide will be very focussed on getting F-22 Lightning II running under DOSBox. What's it called? Based on the original and re-released boxes, it's actual title seems to be F22 Lightning II (no hyphen) although Wikipedia, MobyGames, YouTube, in fact the internet in general, seems to call it F-22 Lightning II. Which version? There are a few versions of F-22 Lightning II you may come across: V 1.00.00.02 This seems to be the initial release on cd. V 1.00.02.08 This looks like first patch, but it often turns out to be V 1.00.04.00. I haven't managed to find this patch yet. V 1.00.04.00 This converts the game into a Multiplayer Slave only, effectively disabling the single player game. The patch readme is for V 1.00.02.08. V 1.01.00.18 This is the final patch and the Cdrom Classics re-release version. The preferred version is V 1.01.00.18 it fixes various issues and works well under DOSBox Staging. Game folders I use my DOSBox game folder scheme described in  DOSBox game management . So in my case I have a D:\games\dos\F-22 Lightning II  folder with the following sub folders: hdd (hard disk drive, DOSBox C: drive), folder used as hard disk by DOSBox. cd (cd drive, DOSBox D: drive), cd images. conf (DOSBox configuration file). docs (manuals, other docs, etc.) DOSBox setup The DOSBox Staging video and rendering setup defaults provide a solid set of options that don't need to be tweaked. F-22 precedes the era of GPU's and 3d hardware acceleration so the flight engine needs an untethered DOSBox to run as fast as needed. Leave the CPU type and cycles at their defaults, no need for fixed cycles this time. If it seems to run too fast on your machine you may need to change the cycles option in the cpu section. I have the Cdrom Classics re-release cd that I've converted to iso, for speed, convenience and no wear on the disc. There is no red book/cd audio on the disc so a .bin/.cue format is unnecessary. I mount this as a cd image in my DOSBox config. Midi setup For a discussion on midi setup see DOSBox midi . F-22 can be configured to use a Soundblaster 16 (emulated in DOSBox) as the digital music device. However, it can also be configured to use general midi, which makes F-22 an ideal candidate for trying out fluidsynth and various soundfonts in DOSBox Staging. Controller setup TARGET profile For an in-depth look at modern HOTAS controller configuration for retro flight sims, take a look at my series of posts, Controllers and retro sims . I'm running a TM TARGET profile for my TM Warthog HOTAS. The profile defines 4 axes: DX_X_AXIS (Joystick x-axis) DX_Y_AXIS (Joystick y-axis) DX_Z_AXIS (Throttle) DX_XROT_AXIS (Rudder pedals) These 4 axis allow for complete joystick, throttle and rudder control in F-22. My DOSBox Staging config This is my DOSBox config, I include as an example. These options are the ones changed from default, or those most likely to be experimented with. [sdl] fullscreen = false display = 0 fullresolution = desktop windowresolution = default viewport_resolution = fit [render] aspect = true glshader = crt-auto integer_scaling = vertical [cpu] core = auto cputype = auto cycles = auto cycleup = 100 cycledown = 100 [midi] # If you wish to try out fluidsynth and soundfonts mididevice = fluidsynth mpu401 = intelligent [fluidsynth] # One of my installed soundfonts soundfont = "D:\Midi\Soundfonts\FluidR3_GM_GS.sf2" [joystick] # Your settings may need to differ joysticktype = 4axis timed = true swap34 = true deadzone = 0 [autoexec] mount C "D:\Games\Dos\F-22 Lightning II\hdd" imgmount D "D:\Games\Dos\F-22 Lightning II\cd\F22Lightning2.iso" -t cdrom Installation and setup Run the installer from the cd with install.exe . Simply pick a folder on the C: drive (the default is fine) and select a full install. Once complete the setup utility will run automatically. It's time to select video, audio and performance options. They should all be fairly straightforward. In the music option select General MIDI if you wish to try out fluidsynth and soundfonts. Video setup Digital sound setup Music setup (note general midi option) Performance setup If you wish to run setup in the future, run setup.exe from your F-22 installation folder. Patching If you have any version other than V 1.01.00.18 you'll need the patch. It can normally be found as f2210018.zip . It can be found on the The Patches Scrolls site. To patch: Unzip the patch to your F-22 installation directory. Run the installer in DOSBox, specifying the cd mount, eg. install d: If the setup utility doesn't run, run it from the F-22 installation directory and apply the settings again. Once complete, run F-22, on the title screen you should see the new version: 1.01.00.18. Gameplay options All that remains before playing is to set the game options. Graphics can be set to their highest settings, sound and music tweaked to your personal preference and you'll need to set a generic 4 button joystick if you want to use a joystick or HOTAS controller. Options More options Manual I'm fortunate enough to have the Cdrom Classics re-release, with manual and reference card. I haven't been able to find the manual, however the reference card is available as a pdf. In addition, the support section of the Novalogic website (no longer available but archived) published an Addendum to the Manual: How to Land the F-22 .

Version 1.5 splash screen This is my guide to running the original A-10 Tank Killer and A-10 Tank Killer Version 1.5 under DOSBox Staging. Due to the large size of the previous Gunship guide, this will be a little different. Other posts will be referenced, which provide background to a topic. The rest of this guide will be very focussed on getting A-10 Tank Killer / Version 1.5 running under DOSBox. Which version? See A-10 Tank Killer: A version retrospective for a discussion on versions. The preferred versions are: Original A-10 Tank Killer v1.4 A-10 Tank Killer Version 1.5 (v1.52b1) Version 1.52b1 doesn't fix the joystick dead-zone issue but also includes mouse fixes which may be useful. Game folders I use my DOSBox game folder scheme described in DOSBox game management . So in my case I have a D:\games\dos\A-10 Tank Killer folder with the following sub folders: fdd (floppy disk drive, DOSBox A: drive), floppy disk images. hdd (hard disk drive, DOSBox C: drive), folder used as hard disk by DOSBox. cd (cd drive, DOSBox D: drive), cd images. conf (DOSBox configuration file). docs (manuals, other docs, etc.) Installation A retro simmer loads his DOSBox config A-10 Tank Killer is an old game with a number of releases over the years that have been archived into a wide variety of formats. The Dynamix install utility in use at the time, SmartStart can make thing a little more complicated, as it can be picky on where it is, or where it thinks it is on disk. Here are some of the examples I've come across: From floppy image Original A-10 Tank Killer was released on 2 x 3.5" 720k disks or 4 x 5.25" 360k disks, so you may find 2 or 4 disk images. A-10 Tank Killer Version 1.5 was released on 4 x 3.5" 720k disks so you should find 4 disk images. Mount the C: drive and the disk images (in order) as the A: drive in the DOSBox configuration file: [autoexec] imgmount A "D:\Games\Dos\A-10 Tank Killer\fdd\disk01.img" "D:\Games\Dos\A-10 Tank Killer\fdd\disk02.img" -t floppy -ro mount C "D:\Games\Dos\A-10 Tank Killer\hdd" Run DOSBox, go the A: drive and run install.exe to run the SmartStart installer. There may be an option to copy A-10 Tank Killer to the hard disk, select it. Midway you will probably need to switch to the other disk image(s) with -F4. If it's a very early original A-10 Tank Killer release there might not be an install to hard disk option (yes it's that old). If that is the case, you need to manually copy all of the files from the floppy image onto the hard disk, remember to switch to the other images once one disk is complete. Run the installer from the hard disk to setup graphics and sound options to complete installation. From combined floppy image folder Depending on the disk images you find, SmartStart may fail to install. This was the case when I tried to install using 4 disk images: [autoexec] imgmount A "D:\Games\Dos\A-10 Tank Killer\fdd\disk01.img" "D:\Games\Dos\A-10 Tank Killer\fdd\disk02.img" "D:\Games\Dos\A-10 Tank Killer\fdd\disk03.img" "D:\Games\Dos\A-10 Tank Killer\fdd\disk04.img" -t floppy -ro mount C "D:\Games\Dos\A-10 Tank Killer\hdd" I had all the files but they were spread across disk images in a way the installer wasn't happy with. This can be solved by creating a single large floppy folder, fdd-inst (or any name you want) and mounting it as an E: drive: [autoexec] imgmount A "D:\Games\Dos\A-10 Tank Killer\fdd\disk01.img" "D:\Games\Dos\A-10 Tank Killer\fdd\disk02.img" "D:\Games\Dos\A-10 Tank Killer\fdd\disk03.img" "D:\Games\Dos\A-10 Tank Killer\fdd\disk04.img" -t floppy -ro mount C "D:\Games\Dos\A-10 Tank Killer\hdd" mount E "D:\Games\Dos\A-10 Tank Killer\fdd-inst" Run DOSBox and copy the files from each disk image onto the E: drive. Quit DOSBox once complete. Now we need to mount fdd-inst as our A: drive (as the installer may complain if we don't) [autoexec] # commented out # imgmount A "D:\Games\Dos\A-10 Tank Killer\fdd\disk01.img" "D:\Games\Dos\A-10 Tank Killer\fdd\disk02.img" "D:\Games\Dos\A-10 Tank Killer\fdd\disk03.img" "D:\Games\Dos\A-10 Tank Killer\fdd\disk04.img" -t floppy -ro mount C "D:\Games\Dos\A-10 Tank Killer\hdd" # Was E now A mount A "D:\Games\Dos\A-10 Tank Killer\fdd-inst" -t floppy Run DOSBox and run the SmartStart installer, install A-10 to the hard disk. Remember to run the installer from the hard disk once more to set graphics and sound options to complete installation. From cd If you have a compilation cd image in a DOSBox supported format (.iso or .cue/.bin) then they can be mounted as a cd and the cd installer run as normal in DOSBox. There may be Windows based installers as well as DOS installers on cd compilations, so check and run the correct DOS one. For some of the unsupported cd image formats you may have to use a 3rd party tool to mount the image in Windows and then copy the A-10 folder on the cd image to your DOSBox cd folder. So in my case I copied an a10 folder to D:\games\dos\A-10 Tank Killer\cd\a10 The installer expected to be on a cd and in an a10 folder so my drives were mounted as follows: [autoexec] mount C "D:\Games\Dos\A-10 Tank Killer\hdd" mount D "D:\Games\Dos\A-10 Tank Killer\cd" -t cdrom I could then run the installer successfully in DOSBox from the D: drive. Remember to choose the full install from cd. From zipped folder To install from a zipped folder simply unzip the contents into your hdd folder. Run the A-10 installer in DOSBox to set graphics and sound options to complete installation. Patching The patches are normally zipped up so they'll need to be unzipped first, you can unzip them directly into the A-10 installation folder under the hdd folder, although I normally use an intermediate folder first. Original A-10 Tank Killer v1.4 patch You'll need to find the A-10 patch, A1014.ZIP . Unzip this file and run the patch executable A1014.EXE in the A-10 installation folder. A-10 Tank Killer Version 1.5 (v1.52b1 patch) You'll need to find the A-10 patch, A10PATCH.ZIP. Unzip this file and run the patch executable PATCH.EXE in the A-10 installation folder. If a cd releases is used, this step can be skipped, as they already include this patch. DOSBox Setup The DOSBox Staging video and rendering setup defaults provide a solid set of options that don't need to be tweaked for either version of A-10 Tank Killer. Midi setup For a discussion on midi setup see DOSBox midi . For DOSBox Staging the versioned MT-32 roms are used. The VOGONS wiki page List of MT-32-compatible computer games indicates MT-32 old roms are optimal for A-10 Tank Killer Version 1.5 and there is no preference for the original A-10 Tank Killer. Controller issues They're not happy with the joystick handling either For an in-depth look at modern HOTAS controller configuration for retro flight sims, take a look at my series of posts, Controllers and retro sims . Original A-10 Tank Killer v1.4 has the best joystick handling of any version in the series and is perfectly playable with a modern stick. Unfortunately any of 1.5 versions took a large step back by introducing a large joystick dead-zone, which affects stick usage to such a degree that keyboard is still the preferred control mechanism for Version 1.5. All versions of A-10 use the keyboard for throttle control. The rudder axis can be mapped to a second joystick, so for those with a twist joystick axis or pedals, this is an option. My example config This is my example config with the changes/options most likely to change from the DOSBox Staging default. [sdl] fullscreen = false fullresolution = desktop windowresolution = default viewport_resolution = fit [render] aspect = true glshader = crt-auto integer_scaling = vertical [cpu] cycles = fixed 3000 cycleup = 100 cycledown = 100 [midi] mididevice = mt32 mpu401 = intelligent [mt32] model = mt32_old romdir = "D:\Midi\Versioned" [joystick] joysticktype = 4axis timed = true swap34 = true deadzone = 0 [autoexec] mount C "D:\Games\Dos\A-10 Tank Killer\hdd" # specific to the release I use C: cd sierra\a10 call a10cd.bat exit Manuals There are manuals available on the cd releases but they require Windows help applications no longer available under Windows 10. You could install a retro Windows version in DOSBox-X or PCem, but there are pdf versions of the A-10 manual available and easily found, rendering a retro Windows install unnecessary. Running Before running the game, ensure the mouse has been captured by the DOSBox window. When the game starts it will attempt to detect the mouse, it may fail to do so if the mouse isn't captured, disabling the mouse in game.

Gunship 2000 Intro This post is about obtaining the optimum version of Gunship 2000 and how to optimise the gameplay experience in DOSBox-X or DOSBox Staging. The release of Gunship 2000 on GOG and Steam hasn't gone well, the version is an abandonware version and the documentation lacks the necessary GPS codes required to use the in-game map, effectively reducing the game to a demo. At time of writing the publisher has indicated the release will be updated to the latest version, hopefully fixing many of the problems in the current release. This guide assumes you are using Windows 10 and want to set up HOTAS controllers, but most of it is fairly general. If there is anything you think is inaccurate, misleading or just plain wrong, let me know, I wrote this to help out other retro flight sim fans, so getting it right is important. Warning : Make sure your are comfortable doing this, this is for informational purposes only. I can't take responsibility for any loss or damage incurred. This is working on my particular machine and setup, your experiences may differ. Which version of Gunship 2000? Gunship 2000: Office Simulator My preference is for the cd version of Gunship 2000 found on the 'Conquer the Skies' cd compilation. This version has many advantages including: It's the latest 469.085 version. It includes the base game and Islands & Ice expansion, with the mission editor. The copy protection GPS codes aren't required, so the in-game map 'just works'. There is a complete high quality pdf manual with expansion and mission editor sections. There aren't any GPS codes in this version of the manual but they aren't needed anyway. Which version of DOSBox? My preference is for DOSBox-X or DOSBox Staging, it's very much down to personal preference. In fact there's no reason not to install both and see which one you prefer. The advantages over standard DOSBox include huge numbers of additional components already built in and available. Take a look at the DOSBox-X and Staging websites to see just how far DOSBox has come today! For Gunship 2000 the most important one will be the midi component. You can use standard DOSBox v0.74 (at time of writing GOG still does) but you get so much more built in with DOSBox-X/Staging. Installing DOSBox You can get the latest version of DOSBox-X from the DOSBox-X website . Installation is straight-forward so I won't cover it here. Likewise DOSBox Staging is available from the DOSBox Staging website , again it's a straightforward installation. Once one or both are installed, remember to run each one, this will create a default configuration, which we will use later. Installing midi components 'I thought you said midi components were built in?' I did and they are, however if you wish to enjoy the music of the Roland MT32 or CM32L midi synths, you'll need to supply some rom files. For the MT32 and CM32L you'll need: MT32_CONTROL.ROM MT32_PCM.ROM CM32L_CONTROL.ROM CM32L_PCM.ROM You'll want to create a sensible folder somewhere eg. D:\MT32 and then create a subfolder for MT32 and CM32L roms, eg.  D:\MT32\MT32 and  D:\MT32\CM32L . Having them in a separate folder means one copy can be used by DOSBox-X and DOSBox Staging, not only for Gunship 2000 but any other games you configure in the future! For Gunship 2000 we'll use the CM32L roms as the specs on MobyGames suggests Gunship 2000 has support for the LAPC soundcard. Generally you'll use the MT32 roms unless the game setup has an option for the LAPC sound card, which was basically an enhanced MT32 synth as a pc soundcard, then you can use the CM32L roms. Don't be afraid to try both out, it's easy to switch back and forth. If you try other games and think the midi music is a sounding a bit strange, try the other roms. Soundfonts If you're feeling adventurous, you can try a soundfont. DOSBox-X/Staging has a fluidsynth component built in. You can specify the fluidsynth component as your midi device and supply a soundfont, a file in a .sf2 format. A soundfont can make old DOS game music sound amazing, really really weird or somewhere in between. If you're interested, the midi section of the DOXBox-X wiki is well worth a read. How I set things up This bit is very subjective and based on my personal preference. I have a lot of DOS flight sims and this approach allows me to keep things organised while only using a single copy of DOSBox-X/Staging. Firstly I have a folder where all the DOS games live, D:\games\dos Within that folder there's another folder for Gunship 2000, D:\games\dos\Gunship 2000 Within the Gunship 2000 folder there are a number of sub-folders, each one has a particular purpose: hdd folder This is the folder that will be mounted in DOSBox as a hard disk drive, the C: drive in DOSBox. cd folder Stores the cd image of the game, the D: drive in DOSBox. I tend to rip my cd's to cd image files as who knows how long the cd or cd drive will last and it's generally faster. I normally use iso for data only (or cue/bin if there are audio tracks on the cd). The .iso format is fine for Gunship 2000. fdd folder Stores the floppy disk images of the game (normally older games not found on cd) and acts as a floppy disk drive, the A: drive in DOSBox. We won't need this for Gunship 2000. conf folder Stores the DOSBox-X/Staging configuration(s) specific to a game, in this case Gunship 2000. docs folder Stores any game related documents, so manuals, reference cards, addendums, hints & tips, strategy guides, release/patch notes, etc. will be here. patches folder Stores any patches I've downloaded from the internet for a particular game. icon folder Store an icon image (in .ico format) I use for a DOSBox shortcut for the game. I normally find the box art and convert it, giving me a very nice box art shortcut. This is entirely optional and based on personal preference. misc folder For anything else game related I want to keep. So for Gunship 2000 we'll have a minimum of: hdd, cd, conf and docs folders within a D:\games\dos\Gunship 2000 folder. This is all subjective and based on personal preference so feel free to use a folder/naming scheme that works for you. Initial DOSBox Setup If you haven't run DOSBox-X or DOSBox Staging before, start them up, there will be a shortcut on your desktop. This will create default configuration files which we'll use next. Next we'll want to copy the default configuration to the game configuration folder. The default configuration for DOXBox-X is: C:\Users\\AppData\Local\DOSBox-X\dosbox-x-.conf While the default configuration for DOSBox Staging is: C:\Users\\AppData\Local\DOSBox\dosbox-staging.conf You may have to set the file explorer to show hidden files and folders as AppData is hidden by default. So in my case I'll be copying dosbox-x-0.83.15.conf and dosbox-staging.conf to the D:\dos\games\Gunship 2000\conf folder. I normally change the name of the config file to something more descriptive, like gunship2000.conf . If you're trying DOSBox-X and Staging you might want to call them something like gunship2000-x.conf and gunship2000-staging.conf . We now have a games specific configuration(s). Next we want to Copy and 'Paste shortcut' (not Paste) the DOSBox-X/Staging shortcut on the desktop, we can also change the shortcut text to Gunship 2000, Gunship 2000 in DOSBox-X, Gunship 2000 in DOSBox Staging or whatever you prefer. Now our new shortcut will still be using the default DOSBox config, so we need to tell it to use the game specific one. We need to go into the shortcut properties and in the Target box add a -conf option followed by the game config folder and game specific config. So for me the DOSBox-X Target becomes: C:\DOSBox-X\dosbox-x.exe -conf "D:\Games\Dos\Gunship 2000\conf\Gunship2000-x.conf" And for DOSBox Staging: "C:\DOSBox Staging\dosbox.exe" -noconsole -conf "D:\Games\Dos\Gunship 2000\conf\Gunship2000-staging.conf" Because I have a space between Gunship and 2000, I need to use double quotes around the config. We now have a game specific shortcut using a game specific config. If we start it up we won't see any difference because our game specific config is identical to the default one. Now it's time to make our game specific config suitable for Gunship 2000. DOSBox Configuration So find your config and open it in your favourite text editor. It looks daunting, there's a lot there but most of it you don't need to worry about so we'll keep it simple for now. The config file is split into sections, each section has a header: [sdl] an explanation of the various options in the section, as comments: # fullscreen: Start directly in fullscreen. # Run INTRO and see Special Keys for window control hotkeys. # display: Number of display to use; values depend on OS and user settings. and the options themselves: fullscreen = false display = 0 We'll describe the options to check/change by specifying the section and what the option should be, eg: [sdl] fullscreen = false Display settings This bit could be a number of posts in it's own right and very much down to personal preference, but we'll keep it simple for now. For DOSBox-X: You'll probably want the output to be openglpp for a pixel perfect display or if it looks a bit squashed opengl . You can spend hours/days reading various articles on what is best and how to achieve it! And I always go with aspect correction enabled, as most DOS games were created for 4:3 aspect ratio displays, but feel free to try things out, it's all personal preference! If you want to run things fullscreen, set the fullscreen option. I tend to leave fullscreen off as it's easy to toggle between windowed and fullscreen, so... [sdl] fullscreen = false # or true output = openglpp [render] aspect = true For DOSBox-Staging: Since the release of DOSBox-Staging v0.81.0 the work done to clean up the display options and the confusion it caused has progressed to the point the default 'out of the box' settings provide an excellent game play experience for most games and players. The release notes are definitely worth a read. That being the case here are the settings to check: [sdl] fullscreen = false fullresolution = desktop windowresolution = default output = opengl [render] aspect = auto integer_scaling = auto viewport = fit glshader = crt-auto # or sharp If you really don't like the CRT effect produced by the crt-auto option, the sharp option uses the old default without a CRT effect. CPU Settings Quite an important one as DOSBox will try and guess how fast it should run stuff. For Gunship 2000 we need to tell DOSBox to set the cycles to 10000 and leave it there. However, if you feel it's too fast you can change the cycles up or down as you play. With 100 cycle increments this'll give you fairly fine grained control. [cpu] cycles = fixed 10000 cycleup = 100 cycledown = 100 Midi Settings Here's where DOSBBox-X and Staging differ, but we specify the same things so no big deal. We tell them to use an MT32 midi device and where to find the roms and that's it. I keep my MT32 roms in a D:\MT32\MT32 folder, so... For DOSBox-X: [midi] mididevice = mt32 mt32.romdir = D:\MT32\MT32 For DOSBox Staging: [midi] mididevice = mt32 [mt32] romdir = D:\MT32\MT32 Soundblaster settings Gunship supports the Roland MT32 for midi music and a Soundblaster card for digital audio. DOSBox picks standard settings for Soundblaster which work for the vast majority of games including Gunship 2000, so just check these are correct. [sblaster] sbtype = sb16 sbbase = 220 irq = 7 dma = 1 hdma = 5 Autoexec Settings Who remembers the old DOS autoexec.bat file? For those too young to remember (consider yourselves lucky) this is DOSBox's version of it. It's also where we tell DOSBox where to find the folder that will act as DOSBox's C: drive and where to find cd images that we will mount in DOSBox as a D: drive. As I'm using my folder scheme I described above, the folder that will act as a C: drive will be D:\games\dos\Gunship 2000\hdd . So I need to add a mount command: mount c "D:\games\dos\Gunship 2000\hdd" Now I need to specify the cd image to use, with the image mount command, imgmount . My particular cd image is made up of a single iso file (CQ-SKIES.iso), that I have stored in D:\games\dos\Gunship 2000\cd . I specify it like so: imgmount d "D:\games\dos\Gunship 2000\cd\CQ-SKIES.iso" -t cdrom The -t tells DOSBox it's a cd-rom image type. If my cd image was made up of a cue file (CQ-SKIES.cue) and a bin file (CQ-SKIES.bin), I only need to specify the cue file in DOSBox, like so: imgmount d "D:\games\dos\Gunship 2000\cd\CQ-SKIES.cue" -t cdrom This gives me the following autoexec section in DOSBox: [autoexec] mount c "D:\games\dos\Gunship 2000\hdd" imgmount d "D:\games\dos\Gunship 2000\cd\CQ-SKIES.iso" -t cdrom If we start DOSBox from our Gunship 2000 shortcut you should see the following commands and messages: Z:\>mount c "D:\games\dos\Gunship 2000\hdd" Drive C is mounted as local directory D:\games\dos\Gunship 2000\hdd\ Z:\>imgmount d "D:\games\dos\Gunship 2000\cd\CQ-SKIES.iso" -t cdrom MSCDEX installed. Drive D is mounted as D:\games\dos\Gunship 2000\cd\CQ-SKIES.iso We can go to the D: drive and see the files on our cd rom image! If we go to the C: drive, we find it very empty, as we haven't installed anything and that's next! Installing Gunship 2000 I'm assuming that there is some DOS knowledge, at least enough to change drives, get a directory listing, find and run the installer. So we want to find and run the Gunship 2000 installer. Where it is and what it is called will depend on the cd image you are using but the installer will normally be called something sensible like install.exe . Because I'm running from a compilation cd, the commands I used are: d: - go to the cd drive dir - look at the cd files/folders cd gs - go to the Gunship 2000 folder dir /w/p - look at all the files in that folder, find install.exe install - run install.exe During the install you'll be asked some questions: Install onto which drive [C] The default C drive is fine. Install to which directory on drive C? [\MPS\GS2000CD] The default directory is fine. Copy objfile, 226173 bytes (221K) required (Y/N)? These days we have huge amounts of disk space so just answer Y. The second part of the installer will now ask if we want to run the secondary installer which allow us to run the entire game from hard disk without the cd. Would you like to perform secondary install [Y/n]? Again we have huge amounts of disk space so answer Y and the installer will start decompressing and copying files to the C drive. Once complete it'll say: Secondary Installation complete. Type GS2000 to play. First Install Secondary Install DOSBox setup Right now if we wanted to play Gunship 2000 we would start DOSBox from our Gunship 2000 shortcut, then we'd have to go to the C drive and then we'd have to change directory to the Gunship 2000 installation directory. Then we can start Gunship 2000 or run the setup. Having to change drive and directory each time would get a bit tiresome after a while, so we can tell DOSBox to do this for us by adding some commands to the end of the autoexec section in the DOSBox config. After doing so my autoexec section becomes: [autoexec] mount c "D:\games\dos\Gunship 2000\hdd" imgmount d "D:\games\dos\Gunship 2000\cd\CQ-SKIES.cue" -t cdrom c: cd \mps\gs2000cd Where c: changes to the C drive. And cd \mps\gs2000cd changes to the \MPS\GS2000CD folder. As DOS is not case sensitive lowercase or uppercase commands will both work. Running the shortcut now takes us to the correct drive and folder to run Gunship 2000 or the setup utility. As we have made a full install of Gunship 2000 and don't need to the cd to run it, we could remove the imgmount command, but it doesn't hurt to leave it where it is. Getting the documentation Now for something completely different. At this point it's probably a good idea to grab any documentation. This bit is entirely optional but I find it useful. The manual Gunship 2000 Instruction Manual As I'm using a iso cd image I can mount this image using the Windows Explorer, once mounted I can go to the virtual cd and examine the cd contents. Fortunately there is a Manual folder on the cd and within this folder, the Gunship 2000 manual in pdf format. I can now copy this manual, GS2000.PDF to the docs folder I mentioned earlier D:\dos\games\Gunship 2000\docs . If my cd image was in a different format (eg. bin/cue), I could use the DOSBox Gunship 2000 shortcut to mount the cd image, go to the D: and search for documents. If I found any, I could use the DOS copy command to copy them to the C: drive. In my case, like so: d: cd manual copy gs2000.pdf c:\ Then use Windows Explorer to copy the manual GS2000.PDF from the D:\dos\games\Gunship 2000\hdd folder into the D:\dos\games\Gunship 2000\docs folder. If you have a paper manual then you can use that or search for a manual in pdf format. Other documents It's worth checking the installation directory for any useful documents. You can use Windows Explorer and go to the Gunship 2000 installation folder. In my case this is D:\games\dos\Gunship 2000\hdd\MPS\GS2000CD . In this folder there is a READ.ME text file and a GS2KHINT.TXT file. I'll copy both of these to my D:\dos\games\Gunship 2000\docs folder. Creating a shortcut When playing a particular sim I like to keep the docs close at hand. To do this I'd copy the D:\dos\games\Gunship 2000\docs folder and 'paste it as a shortcut' on the desktop, making it easy to find. Open the shortcut and all the documentation is there! Setup Gunship 2000 To set up Gunship 2000 we run Gunship 2000 shortcut then the setup utility. Run the command: C:\MPS\GS2000CD>setup Confirm the version, it's shown at the top of the page and should be Version 469.085 . Set the Flight Control: Keyboard. Set the Sound Source: Roland & SndBlstr Check Digitized Sound: On. Check Music: All Music On. Open the Details Level menu Check all options are On. Open the Miscellaneous menu. Set the Proportional Collective: Off at present. Check Digital Sound Address: 220h Check Digital Sound IRQ: IRQ 7 Check Digital Sound DRQ: DRQ 1 We don't set any HOTAS or joystick controllers at present for reasons explained later. Gunship 2000 Setup Running for the first time We can now run Gunship 2000 with the command: C:\MPS\GS2000CD>gs2000 First flight in the Defender The purpose of this first run is to check things out, let the intro run and see if the midi music sounds ok. Once complete check the music in the office area. If it sounds ok you can continue, otherwise you may need to change the MT32 roms or check the setup options. Make sure your mouse works as well, you don't use it for flying but you can use it to select options. Now we need to start a training mission, if this is the first time you've played, you may want to have the manual handy to consult as needed. The aim of this training mission is to check the digital sound effects provided by the Soundblaster emulation and to check the speed and fluidity of the game. Take-off, fire the cannon, rockets and a missile or two, fly around for a bit, hopefully everything sounds good and if not check the DOSBox config and run the setup utility again to check the settings. The last thing to check is the game speed and this is very subjective. It'll depend on your hardware and how you feel about the gameplay experience. It's assumed you'll want a fluid experience and the 10000 cycles option set earlier is a good starting point. If it feels a little too fast/slow you can use the following: For DOXBox-X: F11 + - Decrease cycles F11 + = Increase cycles For DOSBox-Staging: Ctrl + F11 Decrease cycles Ctrl + F12 Increase cycles We really want to be happy with the speed before we start dealing with controllers as the DOS/game calibration is very speed sensitive. Changing cycles whilst playing with a controller will cause significant drift at best or make the game unplayable at worst. If you have to change speed after setting up your joystick/HOTAS, run the Gunship setup utility again and recalibrate your controllers. Setup Joystick/HOTAS Controllers If you're following along step-by-step then STOP HERE . The next section is very involved and you'll want to read it first and understand the issues and how it might apply to your particular controller set up. To be honest I need to break this up into a number of different posts! I obviously can't cover every setup out there, so I'll explain the issues and how it relates to my setup, which I think is a fairly involved one. Hopefully your setup is either easier or by reading this it'll give you pointers on how to achieve a similar result. We'll be discussing controller axes as assigning buttons to functions is fairly straight-forward by comparison. The Golden Rules There are a few of rules I'd advise you to follow: You don't have to set everything up all at once. I almost never do. I usually set up the joystick and throttle and only later, once I'm happy with the config, will I start on adding rudder pedals into the setup. If you're not confident, start with your stick, then later add the throttle and finally add the rudder (pedals). Change one thing and test. Don't try and change too much, there are a lot of parts to all this, trying to figure out what's gone wrong after changing a lot of things will get very frustrating very quickly! Calibrate your controllers! Or least check they are well calibrated, lets eliminate one source of problems before we start on this journey! This process is going to depend on your particular pc and controllers, so it'll be different for everyone! Remember it's probably going to be an iterative process, tweaking settings and discovering issues during the first few test flights! The first time you do this, it may be a bit of pain, but it does get easier once you've done it a few times and you understand DOSBox and your controller setup. Modern controllers and retro sims In the old DOS days of yore you might have a joystick, sometimes a joystick and throttle and if you were very lucky a joystick, throttle and rudder pedals. One controller would act as a 'hub' and the rest would plug into it (usually with some proprietary cable) and a gameport cable would run from the hub controller into a gameport socket in your soundcard. You might have had 2 or 3 controllers but as far as your pc was concerned it was a single gameport device. You'd plug it all in, calibrate the controllers in the game and away you would go. Fast forward a few years and the gameport has gone, to be replaced by usb. Later usb controllers like the Saitek X45 or Logitech X52 Pro would continue to use a similar design. One controller would be the hub and the rest would plug into it (still with a proprietary cable). Now a usb cable runs from the 'hub' controller into a usb port. But as far as your pc was concerned it was still a single usb device. These days we'll often find that the mid/high end controllers are usb devices in their own right. My Warthog stick, throttle and rudder pedals are each a usb device, this has some important implications for retro flight sims. DOS Flight sims and DOSBox Most (if not all) DOS flight sims will support a maximum of 4 axes. Those will be: The joystick X/Y axes. The throttle (collective for helicopter sims) axis. The rudder axis. What DOSBox would really like to see is a single device with 4 axes or fewer. It'll be ok with a single device with between 4 and 8 axes, but it's definitely not a fan of multiple usb devices. If I just try and use DOSBox-X with my joystick, throttle and pedals connected. It'll happily ignore the stick and pedals and only pick up the throttle as a 4-axis device. Windows 10/11 (I'm assuming that's the platform most of us are using) has a limit of 8 axes per usb device. Controllers, devices and axes. So the question we need to ask is: Given the controllers I wish to use, how many devices and axes is that? If it's a single usb device with 4 axes or fewer then DOSBox should find them all. There may still be to be some configuration but they are available. If it's a single usb device with 4 -8 axes then DOSBox should find the device but you may have to tell it which axes you want to use. If it's multiple usb devices and/or 8 axes or more then we need to take a detour on our journey and take a look at virtual controllers. With my Warthog stick, throttle and rudder pedals I have a total of 3 devices and 10 axes (I think). In my case I need to create a virtual device for my Warthog devices and rudder pedals. Virtual Controller A virtual controller, also known as an enumerated device, is a single controller which is seen in Windows as a single device which replaces one or more usb controllers. The virtual controller can be configured with a variable number of axes and button assignments. If you have profile software for your HOTAS device(s) it may create a virtual controller when a HOTAS profile is applied. Target I'm fortunate enough to have a Thrustmaster throttle, stick and pedals supported by Thrustmaster's profiling software Target. With this software I can assign the 3 axes I want to use to axes across all 3 of my controllers, but I will briefly cover an alternative below. Using Target I can leave the X and Y axis assignment of my stick at it's default. Change the throttle to use a single Z axis on the main throttle axis (disabling the rest) and add an X rotation axis to my rudder pedals, as shown below. My T.A.R.G.E.T profile I have now used a virtual controller to turn 3 usb devices with many axes into a single 4 axes controller. When I run the profile, my 3 usb devices used in the profile are disabled in Windows to be replaced by a single virtual controller. This is my default DOSBox profile in Target which I can use as a basis for a more specific game profile, I have the axes, now I can copy it and add button assignments as needed! You may have you own profiling software from your HOTAS supplier which may allow you to do something similar. Joystick Gremlin If you can't use your suppliers profiling software, may be it doesn't support one of your particular device, or provide functionality to disable axes, or you are using controllers from multiple suppliers then there is an open source alternative, Joystick Gremlin . Joystick Gremlin provides similar functionality as Target but supports devices from any manufacturer, their website is definitely worth a look. Joystick Gremlin will create your HOTAS profile and then use vJoy to provide the virtual controller. Now to be honest I have dabbled very very briefly in Joystick Gremlin and there may be a bit of a learning curve and as I was starting out with Target I put Joystick Gremlin aside. So if you want to try this route I would suggest taking a look at some tutorials, websites and videos so you know what might be involved. Make sure you are comfortable in trying it out. I have seen comments where Target users have tried Joystick Gremlin and vowed never to go back! Maybe one day I'll take another run at it and become a convert, but for now I'm finding Target sufficient for my needs. One last point if you have created a virtual controller, check the calibration in Windows to make sure it is well calibrated and has all the axes you expect! Setup DOSBox Now it's time to setup DOSBox. We'll want to take a look at the joystick section: [joystick] joysticktype = auto timed = true swap34 = false deadzone = 10 These settings will take some trial and error as they'll depend on your controllers and on your personal preference. You need to try some test flights, to see if they need to change. I set my joystick type to 4axis. If you experience controller drift as you fly you might want to try setting timed to false. After a few tests flights my controllers were ok so I left this setting at the default. If the throttle/collective acts as the rudder and the rudder acts as the collective you can swap these axes. During my first test flight, this happened so after quitting the sim and DOSBox I had to swap axis 3 and 4 by changing swap34 to true. I also prefer a smaller deadzone but that's just personal preference. In my case I ended up with the following settings: [joystick] joysticktype = 4axis timed = true swap34 = true deadzone = 1 In DOSBox-X the deadzone option doesn't exist, instead there's a mapper section immediately following the joystick section, with a deadzone option for each joystick and axis: [mapper] joy1deadzone0- = 0.60 ... joy2deadzone7+ = 0.60 I tend to set mine to 0 but you can tweak them to your personal preference. DOSBox Keymapper DOSBox Staging mapper Also known as just the Mapper in DOSBox Staging. This utility allow you to assign buttons to keys and shows you which of your controller axes are mapped to the 4 axes in DOSBox. If you aren't using profiling software, this utility will allow you to rebind DOSBox axes to your controller axes. Each axis is split in half into a negative and positive area. Clicking on the box representing a joystick axis shows the current axis mapping. Depending on your controller(s) you may want to rebind the axes if you're not using your HOTAS profile utility or you don't have one. You have the ability to del ete the current binding and then add a new one. Once you click the add button, move the controller in the appropriate direction. Setup Gunship 2000 again! Controller Setup Before running the setup open up the joystick panel in Windows and find the centre point of your throttle, if you're going to set one up. The setup utility may ask you to centre the collective which is tricky to judge by hand. Now it's to set up and calibrate your controllers for Gunship 2000 so start up the setup utility and you should see the following Controller Setup. Now setting up the Joystick is simple enough, set Flight Control to Joystick . You'll be asked to move the joystick to top left and bottom right limits to calibrate it, follow those instructions. If it keeps repeating the same instructions again and again, then it's having trouble calibrating your joystick, hit Esc to exit and check your controller and DOSBox settings. Now go to the Collective/Rudder menu. The menu options may require an explanation: Keyboard +/- : Keyboard +/- keys control the collective, no keyboard rudder control, this might be useful if you just want to setup up a joystick or you want to set up other controllers later. Keypad Arrows : Keypad up/down arrows control the collective, left/right arrows control the rudder, again useful if you have a single stick or you want to set up a collective/rudders later. Rudder : If you just have a joystick with a twist action or a third axis and no other controllers and you want to use this as a rudder then select this option. You'll be asked to calibrate. Collective : If you just have a joystick with a third axis and you want to use this as a collective, or a joystick and throttle without rudder control or joystick and throttle with rudder control but you want to set up rudders later, choose this option. You'll be asked to calibrate the axis. I actually chose this option for my first few tests before I set up my rudder pedals. Second Joystick : If you have a throttle/collective and rudder you wish to use, choose this option. When it asks you to calibrate top/left limits, move your throttle to the top AND move you rudder to the left before continuing. For bottom/right limits, move your throttle to the bottom AND move you rudder to the right before continuing. If it keeps repeating calibration instructions, then it has a problem, use Esc to exit and check your controller and DOSBox settings. You might want to move the throttle to the afterburner detent if you have one, when calibrating, rather than using the full range of the axis, to make the collective easier to use. It's something to try out and see which you prefer. There's one final option you may want to set, under the Miscellaneous menu, there is a Proportional Collective option. I think this makes it easier to fly with a throttle as collective, so I set this to On , but it's personal preference. First flights So it's time to fire up Gunship 2000 and kick off a training mission. The aims of these tests will be to ensure the controller(s) behave as expected. So get up into the air (if you can) and test each of the axes you have configured. Might also be worth ensuring your disabled axes are actually disabled! When I first set up pedals, the pedals controlled the collective and the rudder pedals controlled the collective, so I had to quit the game and swap axis 3 and 4 in my DOSBox config before trying again. Once the testing is over you're done, now go enjoy all that hard work! Final (optional) touches These bits are completely optional. You can get DOSBox to automatically run Gunship 2000 and then close the DOSBox window once you quit the game by adding the following to the end of the autoexec section of your DOSBox config: gs2000 exit So mine would become: [autoexec] mount c "D:\games\dos\Gunship 2000\hdd" imgmount d "D:\games\dos\Gunship 2000\cd\CQ-SKIES.iso" -t cdrom c: cd \mps\gs2000cd gs2000 exit If you need to get to the DOS prompt to run setup again, you'll need to comment out those lines like so: # gs2000 # exit Shortcut Icon Game management As pretty as the DOSBox-X and DOSBox Staging shortcut icons are. I prefer to use some retro box art instead. After finding a suitable image, I use a suitable website service to convert it from it's original .jpg or .png format to a .ico format, used by Windows icons. I think it makes for a nice flight sim collection! Miscellaneous Notes End screen advert If you use DOSBox-X then when you quit Gunship 2000 you may see an error in the DOSBox window, seems like a minor incompatibility somewhere. If you use DOSBox Staging you'll see a Microprose advert splash screen. Good hunting!