# Setting up Prince of Persia

## First steps

We will set up the demo version of [Prince of
Persia](https://www.mobygames.com/game/196/prince-of-persia/), the classic
cinematic platformer from 1990 as our first example. It was a landmark game,
and it can still provide countless hours of entertainment if you like
platformers that require you to exercise that pesky grey matter a bit too.

First of all, we'll create a new folder for storing all our DOS games. We'll
use `DOS Games` throughout this guide, but you can pick any name you like.
It's best to create this folder in your regular documents folder so DOSBox
Staging has full read and write access to it (don't put it in a system folder,
e.g., `Program Files` on Windows). Each game will have its dedicated subfolder
under `DOS Games`, so let's create our first one called `Prince of Persia`.

Now download
[pop1.zip](https://www.dosgamesarchive.com/file/prince-of-persia/pop1) from
the [Prince of Persia demo
page](https://www.dosgamesarchive.com/download/prince-of-persia) and extract
its contents into `DOS Games/Prince of Persia`. The archive contains only two
files: `pop1.txt` (a regular text file) and `pop1demo.exe` (an MS-DOS
executable). Let's open `pop1.txt` in our text editor!

    It's like an Arabian Nights movie come to life... with you as the star!
    Leap into an exotic labyrinth of heart-stopping action, challenging mazes,
    intrigue and superb animation that's breathtakingly realistic!

    This is a demonstration version which only has limited functionality.  To
    obtain the full program, just access GO BB, and order it from our store.

I'm not quite sold on the "heart-stopping" part, but otherwise sounds
intriguing! As indicated by the second paragraph, this is a fully playable
demo version that includes only the first two levels of the game. That's more
than enough for our purposes here; you can always get the full game later.

But there are no further instructions, so what should we do next? Well,
setting up old DOS games is not all that dissimilar to solving adventure game
puzzles. Getting past these puzzles requires some logical thinking, a little
bit of background knowledge, and an element of trial and error is occasionally
involved as well. Well, the user manual often helps too if you happen to own
the original or can procure a [scanned copy][pop-manual] online (most often
you can).

[pop-manual]: https://ia600809.us.archive.org/29/items/princeofpersia_201708_201708/prince-of-persia_dos_04ra.pdf

Luckily, this is an easy one: executable files (programs or scripts you can
start) under MS-DOS have the `.EXE`, `.COM` or `.BAT` file extension. Looking
at `pop1demo.exe` the solution is quite obvious: we'll need to run this
executable file in DOSBox!


## The C drive

Most DOS games need a hard drive as a *hard requirement* (okay, I'll show
myself to the door...), but DOSBox doesn't have access to your computer's hard
drive by default where your programs and documents reside---we need to tell it
which folder to use as its "virtual DOS hard drive". This is called
*mounting*; we *mount* a folder as the "DOS hard drive", the contents of which
are then available to DOSBox as the *C drive*. All drives in DOS are assigned
to the letters of the English alphabet (just like in Windows) and the C drive
is usually your first hard drive.

The recommended way to mount the C drive is to create a `drives` subfolder
inside your game folder. This `drives` folder is a "magic" folder with a
special purpose: all its subfolders having single-letter names are
automatically mounted as DOS drives with the same letter. In our case, we only
need a single C drive, so we'll create a `c` subfolder inside our `drives`
folder (technically, it does not make a difference whether you use uppercase or
lowercase `C` on Windows and macOS but it does in Linux).
We'll then copy the files from the `pop1.zip` archive into `drives/c` to end
up with the following folder structure:

![Prince of Persia folder structure](https://archive.org/download/dosbox-staging-getting-started-guide-assets/pop-tree1.png){ .skip-lightbox style="width: 14.5rem; margin: 0.9rem max(calc((50% - 14.5rem/2) * 0.85), 0rem);" }


!!! note "Origins of the C drive"

    Have you ever wondered where the "C drive" in Windows got its name from?
    This is something Windows inherited from its MS-DOS heritage (which in
    turn inherited it from CP/M). In DOS, all drives are assigned letters from
    A to Z. Most computers of the era had two floppy drives, so letters A and
    B were reserved for them or other removable media, and the first hard
    drive partition was usually assigned to the letter C. We no longer have
    floppy drives in our computers as standard equipment, but this tradition
    stuck around for backwards-compatibility reasons.


!!! important

    If you're a Windows user, do not confuse your *real* C drive where your
    operating system and programs are stored with the "virtual DOS C drive" of
    DOSBox. It is important to understand the distinction between these two as
    they are completely separate concepts---DOSBox will *not* see the contents
    of your real C drive by default (or the contents of any of your other
    drives, for that matter).


## Starting DOSBox Staging

Okay, with our C drive set up and ready to go, the next step is to start
DOSBox Staging from our `DOS Games/Prince of Persia` folder. This is
accomplished slightly differently on each platform:

<h3>Windows</h3>

!!! warning First things first

    After installing DOSBox Staging, it's highly recommended to open it once
    using the Start Menu shortcut of the desktop icon [as described
    here](../releases/windows.md#microsoft-defender-smartscreen), otherwise,
    the below instructions might not work.

If you have used the installer with the default options to set up DOSBox
Staging (and it's highly recommended to do so while you're still learning the
ropes), simply right-click on the `Prince of Persia` folder in Windows
Explorer and select the *Open with DOSBox Staging* in the context menu.

Alternatively, you can enter the folder, right-click anywhere on the blank
area inside it, and then select *Open with DOSBox Staging* in the context
menu.

<h3>macOS</h3>

1. Mount the DOSBox Staging installer `.dmg` image file.
2. Copy the *Start DOSBox Staging* icon from the appearing window into the
   `Prince of Persia` folder.
3. Right-click or ++ctrl++-click the icon, then select the topmost
   *Open* menu item.
4. A dialog with the following text will appear: *macOS cannot verify the
   developer of "Start DOSBox Staging". Are you sure you want to open it?*
5. Press the *Open* button.
6. A dialog will open, asking for permission to allow DOSBox Staging access
   to your Documents folder. Click on the *OK* button.


You only need to perform this procedure once when opening the *Start DOSBox
Staging* icon for the first time. After the first launch, you can use it like
any other regular icon.

!!! tip

    To avoid having to repeat these steps whenever you set up a new game, copy
    an icon on which you have already performed this initial procedure into
    your new game folder, rather than copying the original one from the `.dmg`
    file.

<h3>Linux</h3>

Open your favourite terminal, `cd` into the `Prince of Persia` directory, then
run the `dosbox` command from there.

Make sure to check with the `--version` argument that you're running DOSBox
Staging and not some other DOSBox variant:

    % dosbox --version
    dosbox-staging, version 0.81.0

    Copyright (C) 2020-2022  The DOSBox Staging Team
    License: GNU GPL-2.0-or-later <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html>

Alternatively, create a shell script or a shortcut on your desktop that
executes the following command:

    dosbox --working-dir <PATH>

`<PATH>` is the absolute path of your game directory (`Prince of Persia` in
this case).


## Installing the game

You'll be greeted by the following window when starting DOSBox Staging:

<figure markdown>
  ![DOSBox start screen](https://archive.org/download/dosbox-staging-getting-started-guide-assets/dosbox-start.png){ loading=lazy }
</figure>

Let's ignore the polite welcome message for now and focus on the text below
the big blue rectangle:

``` { . .dos-prompt }
Local directory drives/c/ mounted as C drive
Z:\>_
```

The first line is pretty straightforward---it tells us that DOSBox mounted
`drives/c` we created earlier as the "C drive".

The second line is the DOS prompt. DOS has a command line interface that
predates graphical user interfaces we're accustomed to from modern operating
systems. We get DOS to do things by typing in commands, and if manage to do
this correctly, DOS will follow our instructions to the letter (pun intended).
DOS is *not* a multitasking operating system; you can only do a single thing
in it at any given point in time.

Let's analyse the prompt a little bit. It always starts with a letter followed
by a semicolon which denotes the current drive. Right after startup, this is
always the `Z` drive. This is a special drive that's always available; DOSBox
stores some of its commands on it—you don't need to worry about it now.

After the semicolon is the path of the current folder or current *directory*
in DOS terminology. This is currently the root directory of the `Z` drive as
indicated by the `\` (backslash) character. The `>` character just signifies
the end of the prompt, and the blinking underscore (`_`) character after it
is---guess what?---the cursor.

Okay, enough theory, type in `C:` and then press ++enter++ to switch
to the C drive. The prompt should now reflect that we're in the root directory
of the C drive:

``` { . .dos-prompt }
Z:\>c:
C:\>_
```

Type in `dir` and press ++enter++ to list the contents of the current
directory:

``` { . .dos-prompt }
C:\>dir
 Volume in drive C is CDRIVE
 Directory of C:\

POP1     TXT                     362 07/07/1995 10:12a
POP1DEMO EXE                 267,420 07/05/1995  9:53a
                2 file(s)               268,116 bytes
                0 dir(s)            262,144,000 bytes free
C:\>_
```

Well, that's what we put into our virtual C drive, so nothing too spectacular
so far. We'll execute `pop1demo.exe` next! Type in `pop` and press the ++tab++
key once to instruct DOSBox to complete the filename for you. This handy
feature is called *tab completion* and it saves you from a lot of typing!
Press ++tab++ a few more times and observe how it alternates between
`POP1.TXT` and `POP1DEMO.EXE`; this makes sense as these are the only two
files in the current directory that start with `pop`.

!!! important "DOS filenames"

    DOS filenames are always uppercase and are limited to 8 characters, plus
    an optional 3-character file extension. It does not matter whether you
    type in lowercase or uppercase letters because DOS will always convert
    them to uppercase before dealing with your input. Tab completion always
    uses uppercase because... I guess it just looks nice?

Okay, let's make sure `POP1DEMO.EXE` is displayed in the prompt then press
++enter++ to run this executable file. It turns out this is a
self-extracting archive that unpacks its contents into the current directory
when you run it. The following will appear (I've redacted the list of
extracted files):

``` { . .dos-prompt }
C:\>POP1DEMO.EXE

PKSFX (R)   FAST!   Self Extract Utility   Version 2.04g  02-01-93
Copr. 1989-1993 PKWARE Inc. All Rights Reserved. Shareware version
PKSFX Reg. U.S. Pat. and Tm. Off.

Searching EXE: C:/POP1DEMO.EXE
  Inflating: CDUNGEON.DAT
  Inflating: DIGISND1.DAT

  ...

  Inflating: PRINCE.EXE

C:\>_
```

The more observant among you might have noticed the last entry, `PRINCE.EXE`.
Bingo, that's our game executable! But let's pretend we haven't spotted it;
how do we find all executables in the current directory? By issuing the `dir`
command with the `*.exe` wildcard search pattern!

But instead of typing in `dir *.exe`, press ++up++ a few times until `dir`
appears in the command line, then type in the rest (++space++ character
followed by `*.exe`). This handy feature is called *command history*---you can
move forward and backward in the list of previously executed commands with the ++down++
and ++up++ keys, respectively. Best of all, the command history is preserved
across DOSBox Staging restarts.

Okay, so here's what the output looks like:

``` { . .dos-prompt }
C:\>dir *.exe
 Volume in drive C is CDRIVE
 Directory of C:\

POP1DEMO EXE                 267,420 07/05/1995  9:53a
PRINCE   EXE                 123,335 03/29/1990  0:00a
                2 file(s)               390,755 bytes
                0 dir(s)            262,144,000 bytes free
C:\>_
```

!!! tip

    Alternatively, you can use the `ls` command that displays the directory
    contents in a wide list format. This command highlights executable files
    in green (`.EXE`, `.COM`, and `.BAT` file extensions) and directories
    (folders) in blue.


!!! note "FAT filesystem"

    MS-DOS uses the *FAT filesystem* (nothing to do with body weight) that
    allows up to 8-character filenames, followed optionally by a file
    extension consisting of a dot and at most three further characters.
    Filenames can only contain uppercase letters, digits, and certain special
    characters, such as the dash (`-`), underscore (`_`), and the exclamation
    mark (`!`).

    The two files we originally copied to our `drives/c` folder had all
    lowercase filenames (`pop1.txt` and `pop1demo.exe`). This does not matter
    as DOSBox automatically converts all filenames in our `drives/c` folder to
    uppercase behind the scenes.


## Starting the game

There's nothing else left to do than to start `PRINCE.EXE` (type in the letter
`p`, press ++tab++ to auto-complete it to `PRINCE.EXE`, then press ++enter++).
After a short loading, the title screen will appear and you'll hear the
classic Prince of Persia intro music playing! Don't press any key yet, just
wait and watch the intro sequence until the end to learn about the game's
backstory.

!!! tip "Running DOS programs"

    To run executable files (files with the `.EXE`, `.COM` or `.BAT` file
    extension) it's enough to type in the filename only, without the
    extension. So you could have started the game with the `prince` command as
    well.


<div class="image-grid" markdown>

<figure markdown>
  <a class="glightbox" href="https://archive.org/download/dosbox-staging-v0.81.0-prince-of-persia/pop-title.jpg" >
    ![Prince of Persia -- Title screen](https://archive.org/download/dosbox-staging-v0.81.0-prince-of-persia/pop-title-small.jpg){ loading=lazy .skip-lightbox }
  </a>

  <figcaption markdown>
  Prince of Persia --- Title screen
  </figcaption>
</figure>


<figure markdown>
  <a class="glightbox" href="https://archive.org/download/dosbox-staging-v0.81.0-prince-of-persia/pop-intro.jpg" >
    ![Prince of Persia -- Scene from the intro sequence](https://archive.org/download/dosbox-staging-v0.81.0-prince-of-persia/pop-intro-small.jpg){ loading=lazy .skip-lightbox }
  </a>

  <figcaption markdown>
  Prince of Persia --- Scene from the intro sequence
  </figcaption>
</figure>

</div>

If you keep watching, the game will enter demo mode, where the protagonist
will soon meet his untimely death... Surely, we can do better than that! Press
any key to start the game!

This particular game supports both the keyboard and the joystick. DOSBox
Staging emulates a joystick by default, even if you don't have a physical game
controller plugged in. The game is clever enough to auto-detect that and
switches to joystick mode at the start. Okay, so let's switch to keyboard mode
instead by pressing ++ctrl+k++!

You can control the prince with the cursor keys. Hold down the ++shift++ key
to walk carefully. It's not that hard to figure out the various movement
combinations on your own, but reading the *Controlling Your Movements* section
of the [user
manual](https://ia600809.us.archive.org/29/items/princeofpersia_201708_201708/prince-of-persia_dos_04ra.pdf)
should definitely help. The manual also contains helpful hints and a full list
of available keyboard shortcuts.

<figure markdown>
  <a class="glightbox" href="https://archive.org/download/dosbox-staging-v0.81.0-prince-of-persia/pop-vga.jpg" >
    ![This is where the adventure starts!](https://archive.org/download/dosbox-staging-v0.81.0-prince-of-persia/pop-vga-small.jpg){ loading=lazy width=88% .skip-lightbox }
  </a>

  <figcaption markdown>
  This is where the adventure starts!
  </figcaption>
</figure>

Congratulations, you've got your very first DOS game running in DOSBox
Staging! Have some fun, try to find the sword, overcome a few guards, and
maybe even attempt to complete the first level.

You can quit the game by pressing ++ctrl+q++ which will return you to the DOS
prompt. There you can use the `exit` command to close DOSBox. Of course, you
can quit DOSBox any time by pressing ++alt+f4++ on Windows and Linux, or
++cmd+q++ on macOS. 

!!! note

    The ++ctrl+q++ shortcut for quitting the game is specific to Prince of
    Persia. Other games might provide completely different mechanisms for
    exiting to DOS, or perhaps none at all.


!!! tip "How to approach old games"

    If you've only ever played modern games, you're probably in for a bit of a
    culture shock! There's minimal to no handholding in most DOS games from
    the 1980s and the '90s; you are expected to read the user manual, often
    there is no in-game tutorial, and the games are generally unforgiving and
    require a level of dedication from the player that's uncommon in more
    modern titles.

    However, this does not mean that these games are less fun, on the
    contrary! The old adage "you get out what you put in" is certainly true
    for old DOS games. Many people (including the author of this present
    article) think that the satisfaction and enjoyment you get when mastering
    such difficult games have few parallels in the modern gaming landscape.


## Authentic CRT monitor emulation

DOSBox Staging includes a **cathode-ray tube (CRT) monitor emulation** feature
which is enabled by default. It strives to achieve authentic, period-correct
results; the look of PC CRT monitors from the 1980s and 1990s has been
painstakingly recreated via shaders as accurately as current technology
allows. These monitors exhibit certain characteristic peculiarities when
displaying low-resolution graphics; you can think of them as "built-in
filters" that can never be disabled. Artists of the era had to embrace and
work with these peculiarities, and people playing DOS games on their CRTs saw
the art through the same "filters" as the artists.

For this reason, many people who grew up with CRTs think that once these
filters are "digitally removed" by drawing the pixels as sharp little
rectangles on modern flat screens, the art looks bland, sterile, and loses its
"analog magic". That's the main reason behind enabling the CRT emulation by
default, to give people a chance to see the art of DOS games in their full
glory as the developers intended.

The remarkable thing about the feature is that it's "zero config"---it
automatically adapts to the changing circumstances to always produce the
correct CRT look based on the emulated graphics adapter, the current DOS video
mode, the window size, and the native resolution of your monitor. You don't
need to think about it or tinker with it, **It Just Works(tm)** :sunglasses:

We'll showcase the authentic CRT emulation throughout the guide, but if you
prefer sharp pixels, we'll explain how to achieve that in the next chapter.


!!! warning "Proper viewing of screenshots"

    Screenshots of CRT shaders in action *need* to be viewed at 100%
    magnification; otherwise, you might see strange wavy interference patterns
    caused by the browser rescaling the images. These unwanted
    artifacts can sometimes
    resemble repeating rainbow-like patterns, and rest assured, that's *not*
    how CRT emulation is supposed to look in DOSBox Staging!

    To view a screenshot featuring a CRT shader properly, click on the image
    to enlarge it, then if your mouse cursor looks like a magnifying glass,
    click on the image again to display it at 100% magnification.


## Auto-executing commands at startup

Every time we want to play the game, we need to type in DOS commands to switch
to the C drive and run `PRINCE.EXE` from there. Isn't there a way to
automate that?

There certainly is! We need to create a so-called
*configuration file* that can contain various settings to customise the
behaviour of DOSBox, along with a list of commands to auto-execute at startup.

Launch your [text editor of choice](introduction.md#other-stuff-well-need) and
create a new plain text file called `dosbox.conf` inside the `Prince of
Persia` folder with the following content:

```ini
[autoexec]
c:
prince
```

The commands you want to be executed right after startup should be listed in
the aptly titled `[autoexec]` configuration section, each command in a
separate line. Configuration sections are introduced by names enclosed in square
brackets; everything that follows belongs to that section.

!!! warning

    Some text editors insist on appending the `.txt` extension after the
    filename you enter in their save dialog. This might result in creating a
    file called `dosbox.conf.txt` which won't work. Get to know your text
    editor and make sure you save the configuration file with the `.conf`
    extension only as `dosbox.conf`

When DOSBox starts, it looks for this special `dosbox.conf` file in the folder
it was started from, and if it finds it, it configures the DOS environment and
DOSBox itself according to its contents. This is handy because we can put a
different configuration file into each of our game folders to set them up
differently (this is necessary; it's simply impossible to create a single
configuration that would work with all DOS games).

Just to make everything absolutely clear, this is the folder structure we
should have at this point (only the first four files are shown in `drives/c`
to save space):

![Prince of Persia folder structure showcasing the location of the 'dosbox.conf' file](https://archive.org/download/dosbox-staging-getting-started-guide-assets/pop-tree2.png){ .skip-lightbox style="width: 14.5rem; margin: 0.9rem max(calc((50% - 14.5rem/2) * 0.85), 0rem);" }

Starting up DOSBox Staging from the `Prince of Persia` folder should now launch the
game right away without any manual intervention!

So far so good---now let's see how we can use the advanced features offered by
DOSBox Staging to our advantage!


!!! info "DOSBox vs DOSBox Staging"

    Astute readers might have noticed that the guide sometimes refers to
    "DOSBox Staging" and sometimes to just "DOSBox". Why is that?

    As explained on our [About page](../about/index.md), DOSBox Staging is a
    modern continuation of the original DOSBox project. Technically, DOSBox
    Staging is an open-source fork of and separate project from the
    [SourceForge-hosted DOSBox project](https://sourceforge.net/projects/dosbox/).

    Generally, we use "DOSBox Staging" when we discuss features specific to
    Staging, or when we talk about the DOSBox Staging application, installer,
    or process itself. But when mentioning base functionality present in the
    original DOSBox and pretty much all other DOSBox variants, we simply say
    "DOSBox". Admittedly, sometimes the distinction gets rather blurry, and
    seeing "DOSBox Staging" fully typed out everywhere would get old rather
    quickly!

    Using the term "DOSBox" is also a nod to the original DOSBox developers to
    whom we are grateful for starting this awesome open-source project in the
    first place.

