Modern operating systems do not come with MSDOS installed anymore. Because of this, programs like Wolfenstein 3D and it’s DOS-based editors no longer work “straight out of the box”.
To fill the gap, applications like DOSBox have been developed and released that let you use these programs again in an authentic DOS-like emulation.
When you first download DOSBox, it can seem a little confusing as to how to use it. But when you learn what the options are, it’s actually reasonably effortless!
If you haven't already, download and install the latest version of DosBox to your preferred location.
When you've done this, run the program. Windowed or full screen, you should see a window similar to the following:
This is our emulated DOS Prompt, and should look familiar if you’ve ever run command prompt on your computer.
Next, we need to point DosBox to our program's directory.
DOSBox requires you to point it to the folder with your DOS-compatible files inside. To accomplish this, we do something called "mounting" a drive.
To do so, you enter a command into DosBox in the following format:
mount <LETTER> <DIRECTORY>
This line creates a new drive, labels it LETTER, and points it to the DIRECTORY.
So, assuming you wanted to have DosBox run Wolfenstein 3D, which you have installed in C:\WOLF3D, you would type:
mount c C:\WOLF3D
This will create a new temporary disk drive within DosBox, assigned as the C: drive, and filled with the files in your WOLF3D folder. When you mount a drive, you should see something similar to the following:
This means you were successful in mounting your drive! To access your new "drive", simply input the drive name. In this case, that is "C:" (without quotation marks):
We’re in! We’ve hacked the mainframe. Matt Farrell would be proud.
Assuming you are currently in your successfully mounted drive in DosBox, all that is left to do is run your program. All you need to do is enter the name of the executable to start it up! If you know the name (In this case, WOLF3D.EXE), then you can type it in manually.
All that you have to do is enter in the name of the executible file you wish to run! If you know the name (In our case, WOLF3D.EXE), you can type it in and hit enter:
If you don’t know the name of the file you need to run, you can press TAB to scroll through the various files in the currently mounted directory.
When you have the name of your program, press enter and it should start running!
This process can be used to run a majority of DOS programs, including Wolfenstein 3D mods made in DOS, and the various DOS-based Editors you can use to mod the games.
Enjoy!