It has been found that YT runs exceptionally well in DOSBox, able to withstand the scripted repetitive play styles typically expected from expert players without crashing.
However, do not use DOSBox 0.74 (the latest official version as of this writing). Socket inheritance, the feature that makes running door games possible over telnet, is broken in the latest official DOSBox build.
There are various versions of DOSBox with working socket inheritance:
 DOSBox 0.63 |
DOSBox 0.73 |
 DOSBox-X 0.83.10 |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Website | 🌐 | 🌐 | 🌐 |
| Advantages | - Fast | - Lightweight | - Stable - Share & File-locking - Regularly updated * |
| Disadvantages | - High CPU usage - Outdated |
- Speed limited to 115200 baud - Outdated |
- Speed limited to 115200 baud - Somewhat bloated |
| Works with Synchronet | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Works with Mystic | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Works with Other BBSes | ❔ | ❔ | ❔ |
| Description |
This is the first known version of DOSBox that had working socket inheritance patched in by H-A-L-9000. The directions in the link above outline the tried-and-true method of using DOXBox to get non-FOSSIL doors working in both Synchronet and Mystic. However, this is a very old and outdated version of DOSBox from 2004. Even though it offers fast speeds over telnet, those speeds come at a high CPU cost. |
This is the last known official DOSBox release that came with working socket inheritance out-of-the-box, however it's outdated, being from 2009. Speed is limited to 9600 baud by default, but can be increased to 115200 baud via the MODE.COM utility. This speed is very fast and usable, but can be at times noticeably slower than modern telnet speeds. Unfortunately, it does not seem to accept the socket handle passed by Mystic, but works with Synchronet just fine. |
This is probably the ideal DOSBox version to use, being regularly updated * and feature-rich. Runs stably with very little demand for resources. Speed is still limited to 115200 baud with the MODE.COM utility. As with 0.73, DOSBox-X does not seem to want to pick up Mystic's socket handle, but runs great with Synchronet. Also worth mentioning DOSBox-X adds support for file-locking, which, in theory, allows doors to be ran as multi-node. However, YTSYSOP.DOC is unclear as to whether multi-node use is supported. YT was written during a time when most BBSes ran on single-line systems on single-tasking operating systems, which means YT is probably best ran as a single-node door, therefore this feature may be of little benefit. |
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Steps for setting up DOSBox-X with Synchronet (3.18 and later) on Windows:
- Download DOSBox-X 0.83.10 from the project's GitHub site. * Later versions seem to have issues with clock speed emulation which can negatively impact time-based calculations, therefore later versions are not recommended.
- It will install to C:\DOSBox-X by default.
- Download dosbox-x_door_files.zip.
- Create a dosdoors subdirectory in your xtrn subdirectory
(ie: C:\sbbs\xtrn\dosdoors), and then unzip the included dosbox-win32.conf,
mode.com, and rundosdoor.cmd files into that subdirectory.
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The dosbox-win32.conf file has numerous settings already in place,
including:
- In the [CPU] section, cycles is set to auto. This ensures that DOSBox-X has enough power to keep up with fast players.
- In the [serial] section, serial1 is set to nullmodem inhsocket:1 telnet:1
- At the bottom, in the [autoexec] section, drive "C:" is mounted as the dosdoors directory: mount c c:/sbbs/xtrn/dosdoors
(Many other nonessential settings are disabled entirely [sound emulation, video scaling, etc.].)
- In rundosdoor.cmd, note the REM lines immediately above set SDL_VIDEODRIVER=dummy, and optionally
un-comment that line if you don't want to observe DOSBox-X running on the host while
someone is playing the game.
- If your DOSBox-X installation path is somewhere other than C:\DOSBox-X, make sure you change that accordingly in the bottom of rundosdoor.cmd
- The purpose of the mode.com file is to set the baud. Without it, the door game will default to 9600 baud. This is why the file rundosdoor.cmd contains the line echo mode com1:baudhard=1152 >> dosbox-%SBBSNNUM%.conf , to increase the baud to 115200, the maximum.
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The dosbox-win32.conf file has numerous settings already in place,
including:
- Create a dosdoors subdirectory in your xtrn subdirectory
(ie: C:\sbbs\xtrn\dosdoors), and then unzip the included dosbox-win32.conf,
mode.com, and rundosdoor.cmd files into that subdirectory.
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Set up the door in Synchronet as follows:
1: Name Yankee Trader 3.6 2: Internal Code YT 3: Start-up Directory ../xtrn/dosdoors 4: Command Line rundosdoor.cmd %h yt yt.exe C:\DORINFO%#.DEF 5: Clean-up Command Line 6: Execution Cost None 7: Access Requirements 8: Execution Requirements 9: Multiple Concurrent Users No 10: I/O Method Socket 11: Native Executable/Script Yes 12: Use Shell or New Context No 13: Modify User Data No 14: Execute on Event No 15: Pause After Execution No 16: Disable Local Display No 17: BBS Drop File Type RBBS/QuickBBS DORINFO#.DEF 18: Place Drop File In Start-Up Directory
- Download DOSBox-X 0.83.10 from the project's GitHub site. * Later versions seem to have issues with clock speed emulation which can negatively impact time-based calculations, therefore later versions are not recommended.
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Steps for setting up DOSBox 0.63 with Mystic 1.12 A47 on Windows (maybe Linux too, untested):
- Download bbsdbox.zip. This archive contains all the required files previously hosted on https://dosbox.bbsdev.net (dead FTP link on page).
- Follow steps #1 through #8 in the link under DOSBox 0.63, but replace any instance of sbbs\xtrn with mystic\doors or whatever your Mystic doors path is.
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Set up the door in Mystic as follows:
Action List ────────────── Access ───── Data ───────────────────────────── (!E) Check for semaphore yt.inuse (GT) Display line of text OK |CL |07Yankee Trader is in use. |15Try again later! (!C) Create semaphore !OK yt.inuse (GT) Display line of text !OK |CL (DD) Exec external program !OK copy c:\mystic\temp%3\dorinfo1.def c:\mystic\doors\dosdoors\dorinfo%3.def (DD) Exec external program !OK c:\mystic\doors\dosdoors\rundosdoor.cmd %0 yt yt.exe c:\DORINFO%3.DEF (!D) Delete semaphore !OK yt.inuse
This will create a semaphore file called "yt.inuse" in order to ensure that only one user runs the door at a time.
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Edit "rundosdoor.cmd":
- Add cd C:\mystic\doors\dosdoors to the top.
- Change every instance of %SBBSNNUM% to %2.
- Comment out the line echo mount d %SBBSNODE% >> dosbox-mystic.conf since you won't need a D drive mounted.
- Make sure the path to dosbox is correct.
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Edit "dosbox-win32.conf":
- Change the mount line at the bottom to mount c c:/mystic/doors/dosdoors, or wherever you have your dosdoors path.
When your users launch Yankee Trader, the drop file will be created in the dosdoors directory, right where DOSBox can easily find it (in the mapped "C:" drive). That's why we set the drop file location to the Start-Up Directory.
Other doors DOSBox/DOSBox-X has been tested with:
- Bagels - Produces random NTVDM errors if run on its own.
- Space Empire Elite - Does not run on Windows 32-bit systems.
- Space Quest 2112 - Lacks its own FOSSIL support.
- Trade Wars 1000 - An earlier door by the same author of YT, and similarly lacks its own FOSSIL support.
On rare occasion, if a user's BBS connection drops unexpectedly, DOSBox may not properly recognize the dropped carrier. If this happens, the game will continue to run idly without the user being present. So check your BBS server at least daily, and if you happen to notice DOSBox-X running without anyone being logged in, simply close the DOSBox window.
It has been observed that YT runs stably on Windows 2000 (or similar NT-based OS).
So, if practical, consider running YT on its own dedicated hardware running Windows 2000, and install a lightweight BBS software package like GameSrv (any pre-2016 version). Then, on your main BBS system, configure your YT door so that it connects to the Windows 2000 system via RLogin, which then executes the game when connected. To the user, it will appear as though it's all running under one roof.
Steve Bennett over at Slinky's Place BBS (telnet://slinkybbs.com) has done extensive experimentation in this area, and set up an entire Yankee Trader Game Server (YTGS), hosting several different YT games.
Steve decided to decommission and repurpose the server he used to run YTGS effective August 1, 2021. Prior to its removal, it ran reliably for approximately one year.