Latest news: DBGL version 0.82 is available with some bugfixes and a few usability improvements!
If you're willing to volunteer to translate DBGL into another language, I'd like to know!
Just know that you don't have to have any programming skills to be able to help! Simply follow these instructions.
English, Arabic, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Korean, Polish, Portugese-Brazillian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish and Russian are already covered, although some translation are somewhat incomplete.
Volunteers are more than welcome.
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Tutorial DBGL in Linux DemoHi everybody,
DBGL is a Java frontend for DOSBox, based largely upon the proven interface of D-Fend.
DBGL serves as a frontend / Graphical User Interface to DOSBox (configuration). It tries to make creating DOSBox configuration files a little easier by offering a (relatively) simple interface, some shortcuts and a little bit of intelligence (DOSBox behavior). Once your DOS games are configured in DBGL, its very easy to setup or start them, or alter their configuration or associated DOSBox version.
Initial work for the frontend was done in 2006, and the product has gradually improved over the course of the years. Still, it is by no means finished, it's a work in progress. Source code for the complete program is available, please feel free to hack away.
To name some of its features:
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 Main DBGL screen (Windows 7)  Importing D-Fend profiles... (Windows XP)  Editing a profile (Ubuntu)  DBGL in Chinese (Mac OSX) |
Just extract the archive to any dir (*) and start launch.exe (Windows), or ./dbgl (Linux). Mac users can simply drag the DBGL icon into their Applications folder and start it. Please note that you MUST have the Java Runtime Environment 1.7 (or higher) installed, it will not work without the JRE1.7, or with an older version.
(*) Due to certain restrictions imposed by DBGL's envisioned portability in combination with Windows' UAC, it is currently not advised to store DBGL in a folder below "C:\Program Files" or "C:\Program Files (x86)". A better location would be C:\DBGL or %USERPROFILE%\DBGL where UAC does not apply.
The archive contains DBGL with some pre-configured templates and the latest DOSBox release, so you can get going instantly.
Since the frontend was written in Java, it should be relatively easy to port to another platform. If anybody is interested in another build, please let me know.
| First-time installation | Upgrading an existing installation |
| Download the appropriate archive for your operation system and extract it to a directory of your choice. | Just download the JAR and overwrite the single file in this zip archive. It is always a good idea to make backups of
your profile information when upgrading; this means the /profiles, /captures, /db and /templates folders. Special note for users upgrading to DBGL 0.74: Some additional library files are necessary. Besides updating DBGL.jar, just put commons-lang3-3.1.jar and commons-io-2.2.jar in your DBGL/lib folder. Special note for users upgrading to DBGL 0.76: One additional library file is necessary. Besides updating DBGL.jar, just put gallery-0.5.3.jar in your DBGL/lib folder. Special note for users upgrading to DBGL 0.77: Two additional files are necessary. Besides updating DBGL.jar, just put gallery-0.6.0.jar in your DBGL/lib folder, and default.xml in your DBGL/templates directory. Special note for users upgrading to DBGL 0.79: Multiple new library files are required. Besides updating DBGL.jar, start by removing all existing *.jar files in your DBGL/lib folder. Then download the full 0.79 package for your platform, and extract all files from the archive's lib folder into your DBGL/lib directory. Special note for users upgrading to DBGL 0.80: One additional library file is necessary. Besides updating DBGL.jar, just put commons-lang3-3.4.jar in your DBGL/lib folder. Special note for users upgrading to DBGL 0.81: Some additional library files are necessary. Besides updating DBGL.jar, just put commons-lang3-3.5.jar, commons-io-2.5.jar and jersey-2.25.1.jar in your DBGL/lib folder. |
LinuxExtract and run ./dbgl |
Note 1: Java Runtime version 1.7(or higher) is required to run this application. If you can't use version 1.7 or 1.8 for whatever reason, try using a DBGL version prior to 0.79 which should run on older JVMs. DBGL does not run on Java 9, support will come in the next release.
Note 2: On DBGL startup, Windows may or may not ask whether or not to allow the program to establish connections to other machines. You can choose 'Block' since DBGL doesn't need to connect to other computers, communication takes place on localhost only. In case you don't want to use the 'Send To' functionality, you can choose to disable it in the Settings dialog window, that will also get rid of the Windows popup.
Note 3: Some users have reported problems starting up DBGL. Please make sure you're using the right package for the right environment, and you have your JAVA_HOME environment setting properly configured.
Attention Linux users: Make sure you have the packages 'libsdl-sound' and 'libsdl-net' installed (sudo apt-get install libsdl-sound1.2 libsdl-net1.2), because otherwise the included DOSBox build will NOT run. /usr/bin/java should be (a symbolic link) pointing to the 1.7+ JVM (sudo apt-get install openjdk-7-jre). If you're having problems starting up DOSBox inside DBGL (some error message saying "Can't init SDL DirectFBCreate: Initialization error!") chances are you're using the GNU Interpreter for Java. It seems this Java distribution has a problem in the ProcessBuilder implementation. Please use openJDK or Oracle's Java Runtime as a workaround. When using DBGL on Linux with an older version of KDE, specifically using the library gtk2-theme-oxygen, you might experience crashes. If so, either use a different theme for GTK2, or try to update gtk2-theme-oxygen to 1.4.6 or later.
The following game pack archives can be imported into DBGL using the menu: Profiles -> Import...
Please note that you should not extract these archives. Just store the game.dbgl.zip file somewhere on your disk, and let DBGL import it. Enjoy the games!
This is the game as provided for free by Bethesda Softworks on elderscrolls.com, complete with screen captures, customized DOSBox configuration and game documentation.
This is the game as provided for free by Bethesda Softworks on elderscrolls.com, with screen captures, customized DOSBox configuration and game documentation.
This is a collection of all the freeware games found on 3drealms.com, complete with screen captures, customized DOSBox configuration and game documentation.(Adventure Fun-Pak, Alien Carnage, Arctic Adventure, Beyond the Titanic, Bio Menace, Dark Ages, Kroz, Major Stryker, Monuments of Mars, Pharaoh's Tomb, Puzzle Fun-Pak, Stargunner, Supernova, The Thor Trilogy, Trivia Whiz, Word Whiz, Xenophage)
This is a collection of all the shareware games found on 3drealms.com, complete with screen captures, customized DOSBox configuration and game documentation.(Blake Stone, Boppin', Commander Keen 1+4+6, Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure, Crystal Caves, Death Rally, Duke Nukem 1+2+3D, Hocus Pocus, Math Rescue, Monster Bash, Mystic Towers, Paganitzu, Raptor, Realms of Chaos, Rise of the Triad, Secret Agent, Shadow Warrior, Terminal Velocity, Wacky Wheels, Wolfenstein 3D, Word Rescue)
This is a collection of all the shareware and freeware Epic (Mega)Games found on classicdosgames.com, complete with screen captures, customized DOSBox configuration and game documentation.(Adventure Math, Ancients 1: Deathwatch, Brix (version 2.0), Drum Blaster, Electro Man, Epic Baseball, Epic Pinball, Extreme Pinball, Heartlight, Heros I: The Sanguine Seven, Highway Hunter, Jazz Jackrabbit, Jazz Jackrabbit: Holiday Hare 1994, Jazz Jackrabbit: Holiday Hare 1995, Jill of the Jungle, Ken's Labyrinth, Kiloblaster, LineWars 2, One Must Fall 2097, OverKill, Radix: Beyond the Void, Seek and Destroy, Silverball, Solar Winds: The Escape, Space Chase III: Showdown In Orbit, Super ZZT, The Adventures of Robbo, Traffic Department 2192, Tyrian 2000, Xargon, Zone 66, ZZT)
This is a collection of all the shareware games from id Software found on classicdosgames.com, complete with screen captures, customized DOSBox configuration and game documentation.(Commander Keen: Keen Dreams, DOOM, Heretic, Hexen: Beyond Heretic, Quake, Rescue Rover, Spear of Destiny)
This is a collection of all the freeware games from PLBM found on plbm.com, complete with screen captures, customized DOSBox configuration and game documentation.(Abductor, Ack-Ack Attack!, Crawly-Pede, Galaxi, Gravity Well, Heli-Jeep, Hyper Tank, Island Hopper, Kerboom!, Meteor Rescue, Nitro!, Pong-Out, Revenge of Froggie, Roxx, Scud Attack, Spaced-Out Invaders, Speed-Kar, Splat!, Stalactites, Star Fortress, Submarine Fury, Swar, Viper, Zee Artillery)
This is a collection of all the shareware games from Soleau found on classicdosgames.com, complete with screen captures, customized DOSBox configuration and game documentation.(Alpha Man, Ant Run, Balloon Challenge, Banyon Wars, Battle for Atlantis, Blind Wars, Block Man 1, Block Man 2, Bolo Ball, Crusher, Crusher Castle II, Dotso, Doubolo, Gold Hunt, Isle Wars, Numlo, Sea Run, Sink'em, Spider Run, Tribolo, Wordle, Wordmax)
This is a collection of freeware, shareware and demo games as reviewed by Kris Asick from Pixelmusement in his webshow called Ancient DOS Games, episodes 1 to 46. Also included are three of his freeware games, complete with screen captures, customized DOSBox configuration and game documentation.(Captain Comic, Command & Conquer, Cybersphere (Plus), Dangerous Dave, Descent, Flightmare, FX Fighter, Jade Fighter Arena, LineWars, Magic Carpet, Caverns of Zeux, Round 42, Sango Fighter, Snarf, Space Fortress, Star Gladiators 2, StarMines 2, Dark Forces, Stunts (4D Sports Driving), Supaplex, System Shock, Tank Wars, Teenagent, Thor's Hammer)
This is a collection of freeware, shareware and demo games as reviewed by Kris Asick from Pixelmusement in his webshow called Ancient DOS Games, episodes 47 to 98, complete with screen captures, customized DOSBox configuration and game documentation.(Abuse, Amulets & Armor, Animal Quest, C-Dogs, Cash Invaders, Catacomb (Abyss 3-D), Caverns of Xaskazien, CD-Man, Crime Fighter, Cyberdogs, Electranoid, Excelsior Phase One: Lysandia, Galactix, Googol Math Games, Highway Hunter, Kosmonaut, Lacewing, MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat, Moraff's World, Paku Paku, Reaping the Dungeon, Scorched Earth, SkyRoads (Xmas Special), Space Adventure, Star Quest I, Star Wars: TIE Fighter, TechnoVenture, Telengard, Ugh!, Visual Star Trek, X-COM: UFO Defense)
This is a collection of freeware, shareware and demo games as reviewed by Kris Asick from Pixelmusement in his webshow called Ancient DOS Games, episodes 99 to 133, complete with screen captures, customized DOSBox configuration and game documentation.(3D CyberPuck (a.k.a. 3D Ball Blaster), Amulets & Armor Classic, Aquanoid, Betrayal at Krondor, Carmageddon, Crusader: No Remorse, Descent II, Earthworm Jim, God of Thunder, Impulse Tracker, Advanced Tactical Fighters, Lawn Mower, Magic Carpet 2: The Netherworlds, Out of This World (a.k.a. Another World), Rogue (a.k.a. Dungeons of Doom), Roketz, Sango Fighter 2, SimCity 2000, Skunny Kart, Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri, Words of Jesus, Worms, Worthy Opponent)
This is a collection of freeware, shareware and demo games as reviewed by Kris Asick from Pixelmusement in his webshow called Ancient DOS Games, episodes 134 to 176, complete with screen captures, customized DOSBox configuration and game documentation.(Amy's First Primer, Blood, Cannon Fodder, Chopper Commando, DreamWeb, Full Throttle, Jetpack, Nitemare-3D, Sam & Max: Hit the Road, Slipstream 5000, Squarex, Squarez Deluxe!, Street Rod (Special Edition), Street Rod 2: The Next Generation, Xerix, Xerix II: The Caverns of Mars)
To start a profile, press enter. To run the setup for a given profile, use shift-enter (as in D-Fend). Ctrl-enter and F2 bring up the profile-editing screen.
GamePackArchives are plain zip files, optionally containing captures. In the root of the archive is a special file called profiles.xml which contains all the meta-data for the game(s) inside the package. The xml is human-readable and well-structured which should make it easy to understand.
Please note that there are certain restrictions (currently) when exporting complete games; For one, they have to reside in a directory below the dosroot.
DBGL can optionally use the DOSBox 'Multiple Config Files' functionality (which is enabled by default), to use incremental config files. What this means, is that your game profile only stores the differences compared to the main dosbox.conf file. Then, suppose you want to switch all profiles from say output=surface to output=opengl, you only have to alter the main dosbox.conf setting to instantaneously alter all corresponding child profiles. Another advantage is that the resulting .conf files are smaller and simpler. 'Multiple Configuration Files'-functionality is available in DOSBox since v0.70 (or CVS since october 2006). An example:
[dosbox] captures=..\captures\9 memsize=4 [cpu] cycles=10000 [autoexec] mount C "." C: cd \adv\amazonge amazon.exe exit |
 ...As they say, beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder... |
Profile information is stored in the various [ID].conf files in the 'profiles' subdirectory. Normally, only _changes_ (to the default settings) are stored in these .conf files. So, suppose you create a profile and you only change the cycles value and store the profile, then only that specific cycles setting is stored in the .conf file (well, together with the autoexec section and captures setting, obviously). Upon running the profile, dosbox is started with dosbox.conf as its base settings file, together with [ID].conf which overrides the cycles setting and contains a set of autoexec commands to run the game. However, if you should choose to disable the 'Multiple Configuration Files' setting (for example when using the official DOSBox release v0.65), ALL settings are stored in the [ID].conf file and only that file is handed over to dosbox to lauch the game. In that case, dosbox.conf is only used to provide default values for the profile-editing dialog.
Templates are stored in ./templates/[ID].conf files and also only contain differences between your settings and the associated dosbox.conf settings.
Config-files, captures, file-links and mounting locations are all relative to the dosroot folder, if possible. That's what makes DBGL highly portable; for example, if you have DBGL on an external harddrive with all
your games stored in the dosroot, then changing the hdd's driveletter would be totally painless, all games would still work without any reconfiguration. You could even move the DBGL directory structure to another
drive and/or subdirectory, everything would still work.
If you would decide to store your games in another location than the dosroot folder, absolute paths will be used. It will work, but you will loose the portability.
It works as follows: Two entries are used in Settings.conf to specify the locations of the 'DATA' and 'DOSBOX' directories (either relative to the DBGL dir, or using an absolute path). The DATA dir specifies the folder in which DBGL expects the 'captures', 'profiles', 'templates', 'export' and 'xsl' subdirectories. More importantly is the subdir below the DATA dir called 'dosroot'. If you would decide to move your game-files into that subdirectory, DBGL will treat all mounting and game-related information relative to that special location. Likewise for DOSBox versions; put them in a subdirectory of the DOSBOX directory setting to make them relative. If possible, document links are also stored relatively to the DATA folder. Note that the DATA and DOSBOX directories are '.' by default (i.e. the DBGL directory itself).
The migration dialog can be used to alter existing DBGL profile information with absolute paths to use relative paths instead. So, for example, if you select your '/Users/Me/Documents/Dosgames' as 'From' location, DBGL will update all profiles that are somehow using that directory location to use (a subdirectory under) the dosroot instead, to make it relative.
When editing a profile, you can doubleclick on the mounting list to add or edit an entry. The dosroot (.) is used as the default mounting location. If you browse and select a game executable with no mounting locations defined, DBGL will autocreate one.
To create a filter showing a certain subselection of your profiles, use ctrl-f. For example, you can create a filter to only display profiles with the string 'quest' in it's name by simply creating a filter with that title. To remove a filter-tab simply click on its close button, or double click on a tab to change it. More advanced filtering is also possible; for that you'll have to write a sql 'where clause' in the filter's condition field. Some examples:
GAM.FAVORITE=trueCUST1.VALUE='MT-32'YR.YEAR < 1984UPPER(GAM.NOTES) LIKE '%KEYS%' AND GAM.SETUP=trueUPPER(DEV.NAME) LIKE '%APOGEE%' OR UPPER(PUBL.NAME) LIKE '%APOGEE%'UPPER(GEN.NAME) LIKE '%ACTION%'When using Gulikoza's or YKHWong's special DOSBox builds, you may have to place glide2x.ovl and the Shaders folder into DBGL's dosroot folder for it to work properly. This is necessary because DBGL's dosroot folder is the directory from which all DOSBox versions are started ('current working directory'). Those special DOSBox builds expect these files to be in the cwd, apparently.
dosbox.conf is never manipulated in any way by DBGL, but DBGL does have a button for launching a text-editor so you can manually edit the file. Changing the dosbox.conf settings is not recommended since its defaults are wisely chosen. Only system-specific settings - such as the output setting - should be changed from the default if that works better for a particular videodriver/platform combination.
v0.82 (10/25/2017)
fullresolution: desktop windowresolution: desktop output: surfacepp surfacenp surfacenb scaler: normal4x normal5x normal6x device: mt32 fluidsynth oplemu: nuked ems: emsboard emm386
v0.81 (01/31/2017)
v0.80 (11/27/2015)
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 The new LOG dialog. |
v0.79 (03/08/2015)
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 You can find the new 'share' function in the profile-editing dialog; one button to share your configuration with the community, and one to search for a configuration in the on-line database, based on the game's title. |
v0.78 (04/12/2014)
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 Adding a new game profile in DBGL using Windows 8.1. |
v0.77 (10/14/2013)
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 This release comes with a new set of templates using speed measurements made with TOPBench ...  ... and a tool to assist in creating filter conditions. |
v0.76 (06/16/2013)
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 DBGL using "Gallery View" mode. |
 The main dialog showing a list of profiles |
 Access the contextmenu by right-clicking |
 Click the Templates tab in the main window to manage them |
 This shot shows the profile's general information |
 Set the associated Dosbox version or load a template with preconfigured settings |
 More profile settings; the audio section |
 The mounting tab where one can select the mount location and game.exe |
 Editing a template is very similar to editing a profile |
 Click on a capture to view it enlarged, like this |
Hi there, my name is Ronald Blankendaal, you may contact me by mail, or use the information provided at Vogons (rcblanke).
Of course, bug-reports and/or suggestions are very welcome. Please let me know what you think!
DBGL is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
