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 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=2These 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
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 cdromwhere 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 cdromassuming 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.
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.
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 ef2000sdl, 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!
Comments