Reply With QuoteRun it in DOSBox. It has a screenshot function. (I had this very same issue a few weeks ago.)Originally Posted by Thomas Wilde
Troy
I'm working on a retrogaming article, and we're hitting a snag. What's a good way to take screenshots of an old PC game that only runs in DOS?
This is the kind of bizarrely specific query that Google doesn't help with too much.
Run it in DOSBox. It has a screenshot function. (I had this very same issue a few weeks ago.)
Troy
Use DosBox to run the application, then the print screen button will work.
http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/news.php?show_news=1
It is a little unwieldy, you have to launch dos box then "mount" the game's directory to it. Then execute whatever launch file you choose. So if you wanted to launch MyGame in c:\root\someFolder\MyGameFolder You'd first go "mount c c:\root\someFolder\MyGameFolder". Once the mount succeeds do "C:". You'll be in the c you mounted, just type the name of the executable or .bat file.
Edit: Drat, beaten!
Good deal. Thanks!
Haha, you might want to write about Dosbox too, if it's a retrogaming article.
Speaking of DOSBox, I recently (well ok, not too recently, but when you get old, everything seems more recent) found this, which is DOSBox with MT-32 emulation built in. It's really the best way to play, as the Roland sound vastly trumps old Adlib and Soundblaster FM Synth. I know that ScummVM has MT-32 emulation in it now, but the problem is that it ties it to the digital output, so there are usually significant volume issues in "talkie" games, between the volume of the music and the voices. This flavor of DOSBox takes care of that, and is my preferred choice for all of my olden-days gaming.
A real new games journalist would spend 400 words talking about the ephemeral nature of old technology and what they ate when they couldn't get DOSbox to run.
Fortunately, I'm a games journalist (lol).
That means I talk about the games and try not to take myself too seriously.
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