Retro PC Gaming the Easy Way with DOSBox Pure Unleashed

In this how-to, I will show you how to set up, configure, and tweak DOSBox Pure Unleashed to play DOS and Windows-era games.

In the early 1990s, I moved from my beloved Commodore Amiga setup to a 486 DX 33 build. I loved that machine, but the march of progress soon saw Intel’s Pentium and Microsoft Windows 95 make my 486 look like a joke. But for a brief moment, I was content with a slew of classic games that my 486 DX 33 with 4MB of RAM could handle. Star Wars: X-Wing, The Secret of Monkey Island, and Star Trek: 25th Anniversary, these games entertained teenage me, and I wish that I could go back in time and play them.

Well, now I can, and best of all, I don’t need to create any virtual machines, nor do I need to find drivers for antique hardware. DOSBox Pure Unleashed makes retro PC gaming as easy as console gaming. All you need is a modern-day PC and access to your favorite games.

• DOSBox Pure Unleashed makes retro PC gaming easy by using console-style workflows that contain games in ZIP, ISO, and other disk image formats.
• DOSBox Pure Unleashed can play MS-DOS and Windows games with little or no configuration.
• Windows 95, 98, and XP can be installed in a custom virtual machine to create your own portable retro-gaming rig.
• Game states can be saved and reused to tackle tricky quests and missions. Save, try, die, and repeat until you beat that boss.

What games can I play with DOSBox Pure Unleashed?

If you love PC games from the 1980s and 1990s, then you have found paradise. DOSBox Pure Unleashed is made for those of us who spent hours escorting Rebel fleets and protecting them from Imperial inspection, shooting demons back to hell, or rescuing a princess before the sand timer ran out. The games that we loved on our 386, 486, and early Pentium machines are now as easily playable as our console games.

But, where do we get the games from? The first thing I have to say is that most older games are still under copyright. They may be listed as abandonware on many sites across the Internet, but somebody, somewhere, will hold a license and may just enforce it. If you want a legal means to get old games, your choices are eBay, yard sales, or GoG.

I chose GoG for my games, downloading the game files using the GoG app, and then telling DOSBox Pure Unleashed where to find them. Of course, GoG also uses DOSBox to run older games on modern PCs, making it the ideal means to illustrate how DOSBox Pure Unleashed works.

Setting up DOSBox Pure Unleashed

Setup is really easy, essentially just a single download, followed by running the executable.

1. Open a browser window and visit the DOSBox Pure Unleashed releases page to download the latest version for your OS. At the time of writing, this was a preview of the upcoming release, but this should be final by the time you read this.
2. Extract the downloaded file to a directory on your system.
3. Double-click on the extracted executable file to launch DOSBox Pure Unleashed.

Loading a game via DOSBox Pure Unleashed

1. Drag and drop a supported file onto the DOSBox Pure Unleashed interface. Supported files are ZIP archives, CD images (ISO and CUE), hard disk images (IMG/IMA/VHD/JRC/TC), DOS executable files (EXE/BAT/COM), or files and folders directly.
2. Click on the game file when it appears to launch the game.
3. Start playing the game. To exit the game, close the DOSBox window.

DOSBox Pure Unleashed Hotkeys

Hotkeys provide quick access to essential features, some buried deep within DOSBox Pure Unleashed.

To use a hotkey, press CTRL and then the following keys

Using Save States

We’ve all been there. We attempted something in-game that seemed like a great idea but turned out to be a disaster. From leaping chasms to running into a room full of gun-toting goons eager for your demise! In the old days, it would be game over, but now we can just save before going in and reload the save state to give us another chance!

1. Load up your chosen game and start playing.
2. Press CTRL + F5 to create a save state. Now go and make a complete mess of some ridiculous leap of faith/room clearance, or attempt to overtake a race car. I chose Prince of Persia and decided to take a look at a room on the right. There was a guard with a sword, and all it took was one hit to end my game.

3. Press CTRL + F9 to load the save state, and this time try not to die/lose.

DOSBox Pure Unleashed User Interface

The main user interface has two key areas

1. Start Menu: Here is where your games/applications are run from. We drag the files onto here and then select the executable to run the application.
2. Configuration: By default, the Start Menu is highlighted, but there are two more menus for mapping controllers and tweaking your DOSBox system. The L and R options change the highlight between the three choices (Start Menu, Controller Mapper, and System)

The Configuration menu has more menus within each of the two options.

For the Controller Mapper, there are presets for generic keyboards, Mice, generic controllers, brand-specific controllers (Gravis and Thrustmaster, for example), along with custom mapping. You can map mouse and keyboard commands to a USB controller to play your old DOS games from the comfort of your sofa and a modern gaming controller, such as those for Xbox and PlayStation. All of the presets can be tweaked to your liking.

The System menu hides a plethora of things that we can tweak for our emulated DOS system.

General: Modify hotkeys, control game speeds, tweak FPS, and use configuration files.

Input: Keyboard, mouse, and controller settings can be tweaked. Mouse sensitivity, analog joystick deadzones, automatic gamepad mapping, and more can be tweaked here.

Performance: Set the raw performance, limit the CPU performance for sensitive games (Wing Commander is known to be sensitive), and show performance statistics.

Video: Tweak the emulated GPU (CGA/EGA/VGA/SVGA and more), add more graphics memory. Emulate a 3DFX Voodoo card, add a CRT filter, scaling, and more.

System: Change the emulated machine's RAM, CPU type (386/486/Pentium), CPU cores, and OS specific options.

Audio: Change the soundcard from a range of Soundblaster compatible cards, enable MIDI, Adlib. Gravis Ultrasound

Am I limited to just DOS games?

No! You can install a period-specific version of Windows and run Windows-based games, too! DOSBox Pure Unleashed also supports 3dfx Voodoo cards, so you can play older 3D games with full 3D acceleration. During this era, I had a Voodoo 2 12MB, and I was blown away by games such as G-Police and Incoming. Then I played Tomb Raider to death!

To run Windows games with DOSBox Pure Unleashed, you will need a copy of Windows 95 to XP, and of course, the CD key. Then follow these steps, and you will soon have a retro-gaming PC setup.

1. Open DOSBox Pure Unleashed and drag an ISO for the operating system onto the user interface.

2. Select Boot and Install New Operating System.

3. Create a hard disk image for the installation. I chose an 8GB disk image as I was using Windows 98 Second Edition. If your plan is to create an older hard disk image, say for DOS, then choose an appropriate capacity. Note that the disk image (IMG file) location is at the top of the screen. You can copy this image to another device running DOSBox Pure Unleashed.

4. Follow the installation instructions for your chosen OS. My Windows 98 install brought back a lot of memories from a time when I was learning HTML from some encyclopedic tomes of reference books.

5. To reuse the installed OS, click on Run Installed Operating System and select it from the list.

+ F12 to open the DOSBox Pure menu.

6. Press CTRL

7. Drag and drop a game file. If asked to reset DOS, select OK.

8. Select to boot from the Installed Operating System.

9. Select the operating system from the list.

10. Click on My Computer and then locate D:, inside that drive are the contents of the game, which can be installed/started as per its requirements.

What have we achieved?

We’ve created a retro gaming setup to play DOS and Windows games without the need for real hardware. The setup is simple, enabling us to get straight to the fun of gaming, without the need for tweaking configuration files. Now go and enjoy “the golden years” of PC gaming.