# DOSBox blows weasel, alternatives? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 17, 2008, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dosbox-blows-weasel-alternatives/473162 "2008-11-17T19:40:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dosbox-blows-weasel-alternatives/473162/1 "2008-11-17T19:40:02Z")
Is there a user-friendly program that does the same thing as DOSBox? Or should I just take a clunky old 400mhz 'puter and load it with DOS 6.22 and be done with it? ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dosbox-blows-weasel-alternatives/473162/2 "2008-11-17T19:48:02Z")
I’d be interested in finding the answer, too. I love using ZSNES to play old SNES games, but with my 1280x1024 resolution, the game shows up so small that I have to squint to play it. ---
**Author:** ![kasuo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@kasuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kasuo)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dosbox-blows-weasel-alternatives/473162/3 "2008-11-17T20:37:11Z")
> [@Agent\_Foxtrot](#): > > I’d be interested in finding the answer, too. I love using ZSNES to play old SNES games, but with my 1280x1024 resolution, the game shows up so small that I have to squint to play it. Check to see if you can ALT + Enter while you have ZSNES open to make use of a full-screen, scaled viewing window. ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dosbox-blows-weasel-alternatives/473162/4 "2008-11-17T21:04:57Z")
> [@kasuo](#): > > Check to see if you can ALT + Enter while you have ZSNES open to make use of a full-screen, scaled viewing window. Oh, I do. But there will still be a 2-inch black border around the game screen. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dosbox-blows-weasel-alternatives/473162/5 "2008-11-17T21:46:42Z")
There’s probably a resolution option under Zsnes. You can look into VDMSound. It isn’t nearly as robust as DOSBox, but it works quite well for older games like those from Lucasarts. Really though, DOSBox isn’t that hard to figure out, and works quite well. [Here](http://www.bebits.com/app/4443) is the first link I found by searching for “dosbox gui” but I haven’t tried it. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dosbox-blows-weasel-alternatives/473162/6 "2008-11-17T23:37:20Z")
Try this front end program. [Defend Reloaded.](http://dfendreloaded.sourceforge.net/) ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dosbox-blows-weasel-alternatives/473162/7 "2008-11-17T23:43:30Z")
Ooh neat! I think that may be just the thingie. ---
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dosbox-blows-weasel-alternatives/473162/8 "2008-11-18T06:08:21Z")
Man, if you don’t like DOSBox… write your own ;D …DOSBOX does everything I want it to. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dosbox-blows-weasel-alternatives/473162/9 "2008-11-18T10:29:41Z")
First, are you using the program named DOSBox or are you using the DOS box built-in to Windows? Because the one built in to Windows does indeed suck _and_ blow things banned by international convention. If you’re using the standalone program, try [DOSEMU](http://dosemu.sourceforge.net/), which is what I usually use. ---
**Author:** ![KarmaComa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e36b37/32.png) [@KarmaComa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarmaComa)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dosbox-blows-weasel-alternatives/473162/10 "2008-11-18T12:55:21Z")
If you don’t like ZSNES, try [SNES9x](http://www.snes9x.com/). I don’t know why the black border would appear with the right settings in ZSNES. ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dosbox-blows-weasel-alternatives/473162/11 "2008-11-18T13:41:58Z")
The black border appears because the highest resolution I can set in ZSNES is 800x600. On my old WinXP computer, the game screen took up the whole monitor screen… not sure why I can’t do it with Vista. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dosbox-blows-weasel-alternatives/473162/12 "2008-11-18T13:55:56Z")
> [@Agent\_Foxtrot](#): > > The black border appears because the highest resolution I can set in ZSNES is 800x600. On my old WinXP computer, the game screen took up the whole monitor screen… not sure why I can’t do it with Vista. Do you have an LCD monitor? A CRT can scale up or down to different resolutions just fine, but that’s much harder to do with an LCD. They don’t like being at something other than their native resolution. ---
**Author:** ![Aghris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecccb3/32.png) [@Aghris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aghris)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dosbox-blows-weasel-alternatives/473162/13 "2008-11-18T14:07:13Z")
You could have it blow a ferret, but I’m not sure that would improve matters. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dosbox-blows-weasel-alternatives/473162/14 "2008-11-18T14:43:56Z")
> [@Aghris](#): > > You could have it blow a ferret, but I’m not sure that would improve matters. When I saw this, the title of the thread right below was “Making the best of a pet civet”. ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dosbox-blows-weasel-alternatives/473162/15 "2008-11-18T15:22:07Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > Do you have an LCD monitor? A CRT can scale up or down to different resolutions just fine, but that’s much harder to do with an LCD. They don’t like being at something other than their native resolution. Nope, CRT monitor. Is there some resolution setting in DOSBox I can change? ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dosbox-blows-weasel-alternatives/473162/16 "2008-11-18T15:32:14Z")
[QUOTE=Agent Foxtrot] Is there some resolution setting in DOSBox I can change? [/QUOTE] Open up the dosbox.conf file in notepad, and you’ll see this line towards the top: ```auto fullscreen=false ``` Change the false to true and it will run full-screened. Below that line is this line: ```auto fullresolution=original ``` that will let you change the resolution. Just set it to whatever your screen’s resolution is, ie 1280x1024. So it would look like this: ```auto fullscreen=true fulldouble=false fullresolution=1280x1024 ``` Make sure to save a backup copy before you make changes just in case. ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dosbox-blows-weasel-alternatives/473162/17 "2008-11-18T15:34:40Z")
Thanks, **bouv**! I’ll give it a shot when I get home. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dosbox-blows-weasel-alternatives/473162/18 "2008-11-18T15:41:07Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dosbox-blows-weasel-alternatives/473162/19 "2008-11-18T16:53:48Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > Try this front end program. [Defend Reloaded.](http://dfendreloaded.sourceforge.net/) I use [DOSShell](http://www.loonies.narod.ru/dosshell.htm).