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0.78.0 release notes

Release date: 2021-12-25

How to upgrade

Download and launch the latest version:

At theZ:\> prompt, run config -wc to write the new configuration file. Any existing settings will be retained, however, extraneous comments will be dropped.

Significant changes

  • Added Universal binary for macOS, supporting x86-64 and ARM64 (Kirk Klobe) (#1240)

  • Added a workaround for vsync lag, which is useful for video outputs that enforce vsync (Kirk Klobe) (#1158)

  • Added window size and placement customizations (John Novak) (#1272)

  • Added full /help output text for the AUTOTYPE, BOOT, CALL, CHOICE, CLS, COPY, DIR, ECHO, EXIT, GOTO, HELP, IF, INTRO, KEYB, LS, MD/MKDIR, MEM, RD/RMDIR, REN/RENAME, RESCAN, SHIFT, SUBST, and TYPE commands (Wengier) (#1356)

  • Added MSYS2-based release builds and instuctions for those on Windows using MSYS2 (Sherman Perry) (#1443)

  • Merged PCjr composite patch by NewRisingSun. Thanks to JKapp76 for testing and feedback (NewRisingSun) (#1122)

  • Merged CGA composite improvement patch by reenigne, respectively. Thanks to JKapp76 for testing and feedback (reenigne) (#1157)

  • Added bash-shell completion. See contrib/linux/bash-completion/README for adding this to your shell (FeignInt) (#1200)

  • Added Loguru, a fast cross-platform logging subsystem. Logs are now time-stamped and warnings are now colorized (Kirk Klobe) (#1225)

  • Merged S3 video patch by s3freak. This adds more video modes and supports up to 8 MiB of video memory, vmemsize = 8, when using machine = svga_s3. Thanks to Zorix, Grounded0, Brandon Roberts, GranMinigun, Kirk Klobe, and nemo93 for testing (s3freak) (#1244)

  • Added configurable FluidSynth chorus and reverb settings. Thanks to GranMinigun for the extensive listening tests (kcgen) (#1268)

  • Added auto-exit. When an executable that’s passed on the command-line exits, then so too will the emulator. This is equivalent to manually adding the -exit command-line flag. Thanks to Burrito78 for testing (kcgen) (#1269)

  • Added layered and portable configuration file handling. Thanks to JKapp76, Grounded0, and Burrito78 for testing (kcgen)

  • Added ENet (reliable UDP) as an option for modem and null-modem transport, as well as SERIAL.COM for runtime serial-port configuration (Scott Duensing) (#1398)

  • Added support for virtual Ethernet and TCP/IP networking via slirp (Jookia) (#1419)

  • Added support for networking in Windows for Workgroups 3.11 from the shell. Previously networking in WfW was only possible when booting a real MS-DOS installation from a bootable HDD image (Wengier, nanshiki) (#1447)

  • Added IDE controller support, authored by joncampbell123 of the DOSBox-X project, for CD-ROM image-mounts, which is useful for CD-ROM based games that also happen to need a real DOS environment such as Revell’s car games, like European Racers (joncampbell123, Wengier) (#1451)

Bugfixes

  • Fixed 32-bit dynamic core crashes (Kirk Klobe) (#1205)

  • Fixed regression when setting windowresolution in the config file. Thanks to arrowgent for the report and testing (kcgen) (#1144)

  • Fixed hanging in Mortal Kombat Trilogy when joysticktype = none. Thanks to nemo93 for the report and GranMinigun for also testing (kcgen) (#1241)

  • Fixed regression during shutdown while using the ALSA sequencer. Thanks to AaronBPaden for the report and testing (kcgen) (#1362)

  • Fixed zero-offset PC Speaker issue on Windows 11. Thanks to ggpettas for reporting (kcgen) (#1389)

  • Fixed regression that broke video recording. Thanks to Grounded0 for reporting and testing (kcgen) (#1400)

  • Fixed ability to run an application-provided help.exe|com program. Thanks to SmilingSpectre for reporting (Wengier) (#1136)

  • Removed VESA modes 320×200×15/16/24, which were added late in the 90s and were not properly supported by some games (NicknineTheEagle) (#1457)

Translation updates

  • Italian (Kappa971)
  • German (Burrito78)
  • Russian (GranMinigun)

Translations (de, es, fr, it, pl, and ru) are included with the release package and can be selected using the two-letter country code either via environment variable (LANG=de), config file ([dosbox] language = it), or command-line (-lang ru). See Section 14 in the README file for more details.

Repository authors

To ensure authors are credited for their work, the project records authorship on all commits in the version control system, including all works from the upstream DOSBox project, patch authors, and external projects.

0.78 author Lines changed
arrowgent 361
Brandon Roberts 1495
Burrito78 1882
Christer Solskogen 4
Dan Church 2
David Reid 6733
Eli Schwartz 6
GranMinigun 1204
Gregory Pakosz 1178
John Novak 668
Jookia 2296
Kappa971 2773
kcgen 63022
Kirk Klobe 1658
llm 6
NicknineTheEagle 30
Patryk Obara 103
ripsaw8080 59
s3freak 648
Scott Duensing 7330
Sherman Perry 5408
Sjoerd van der Berg 28
Wengier 5430
Yann Collet 2438
ykhwong 7

During the 0.78 timeframe, DOSBox SVN commits r4466 through r4471 were merged to the project and authorship is reflected above.

Wiki authors

0.78 wiki author Lines changed
Alberto Salvia Novella 164
Burrito78 2
Grounded0 557
John Novak 12
Joshua Fern 30
kcgen 243
Kirk Klobe 2
LowLevelMahn 14
MasterO2 395
nemo93 5370
Tobias Gruetzmacher 5

Financial contributors

  • Antti Peltola: Project sponsor. His combined contribution of 4,000 USD spanning the 2021 period to maintainers and the project has allowed the team to add a dedicated Apple M1 build host. Thank you!

  • Burrito78: Project backer. Thank you!

To support our work, join the Open Collective.

Thank you

We are extremely grateful for all contributions, including the invaluable improvements merged in from the DOSBox project.