Downloading and setting up DOSBox is easy these days, but it still has it’s issues. One issue I have encountered in DOSBox is getting the correct sound and video output from the game. Luckily, GOG is around and has preserved many DOS games. Even that has its occasional issues. Take Theme Hospital, for instance. The GOG version runs great, but the MIDI sound is off. It sounds much different than when I originally played it on my Dell OptiPlex GX100 PC. Some other games also experienced this issue with DOSBox. While searching for old drivers for some retro machines, I stumbled upon a solution to these issues. Enter eXoDOS.
eXoDOS is a game preservation project that takes the guesswork out of getting DOS games to run correctly. Each game has been pre-set up and is ready to go. As of the time of writing, it preserves 7,633 games. There’s a lot to like about eXoDOS, but what I adore about it is that when launching the game, you’re given the option of what sound type you would like to use. This completely resolved the issue I had with poor-quality MIDI sound. Choosing “Sound Canvas” gave me the MIDI sound from my original experience with Theme Hospital. You can also select the window resolution, screen ratio type, and whether to use windowed or full-screen mode. It even includes the 3DFX version of Shadow Warrior, which I never had the chance to try back in the day.
It also fully supports the popular front-end that I use, Launch Box. It integrates very well and makes browsing games easy. There are tons more to explore with eXoDOS. It supports Multiplayer, Printing to PDF (in DOS games that support printing), CRT Shaders, games designed for REELMagic MPEG Decoder cards, and even features a Media Add-On Pack that includes old magazines, books, soundtracks, and more.
“Choosing “Sound Canvas” gave me the MIDI sound from my original experience with Theme Hospital. You can also select the window resolution, screen ratio type, and whether to use windowed or full-screen mode. It even includes the 3DFX version of Shadow Warrior, which I never had the chance to try back in the day”
eXoDOS comes in two versions. The Lite Release is 5GB, and the Full Release is a whopping 638GB. I opted for the Lite Release. It’s able to install only the games you want as you go. The Media Add-On Pack is also hefty at 220GB.
eXoDOS supports Windows and nearly all Linux versions that support Flatpak. Official listed versions are Arch, Manjaro, SteamOS, Fedora, and Ubuntu. The Linux version is available via a Linux patch, which can be found here.
In the video where I play Shadow Warrior, I’m using eXoDOS instead of Shadow Warrior Classic Redux because I wanted the original, unenhanced experience, and it worked perfectly. I can’t recommend eXoDOS enough for Retro Gaming on DOS.
Read more and download at:
https://www.retro-exo.com/exodos.html.
LaunchBox: https://www.launchbox-app.com/
