I think they meant Chasm: The Rift (sans Dark), and its 640x480 mode works correctly in Win32 DOSBox 0.74, although they didn't really describe the problem. Maybe a platform issue.

640x480 works fine for me too, with the usual svga_s3, ram 32. Definitely NOT a Dosbox problem.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/chasm-the-rift
Was able to play it just fine a few years ago.

Wow. So I tried to play Chasm again and it still runs quite slow in 640x480 mode. I posted that on Arstechinca, and when you type "chasm rift boxer" in Google this thread is listed first in the results. Yes I incorrectly called it The Dark Rift 😀

I use Boxer on hackintosh with an E8400 3ghz, 8gb ram ,so I don't think my "shitty mac" has much to do Chasm running poorly. It runs much better at 320x240, but I want to use the hires mode. Carmageddon too runs very slow in Hires, as does Skynet (when it works).

Perhaps its Boxer problem, but since Boxer is a frontend for DosBox maybe is a Dosbox OS X issue? I use Boxer because no other frontend is nearly as slick or as easy to use.

I'll try messing about with Dosbox under W7 to see if Chasm runs as poorly under hires.

For those who are saying it runs "fine" for them are you saying it runs smooth (i.e. playable say 30fps or more, any less and its not worth it imo), or that it just works. Of course it works, just runs slowly under 640x480 mode.

Try a different output mode, try no scalers

I don't think Boxer adds overhead, but try without it once 😉

Boxer uses a modified version of DOSBox, so may try a plain DOSBox or DBGL/Mac version, and see if results are similar.

Ok so here is a shot of what Boxer gives me. I dont know where the conf file is or how Boxer uses them so Im unaware of another way to edit any config to squeeze out more power:

I installed Dosbox 0.74 and CBoxRun frontend for Windows 7 x64. While not nearly as elegant it has a ton more options to play with.

Anyway I installed and played Chasm under Windows 7. Under hires mode it does run significantly faster but still barely playable. I've turned off any scaling, using max CPU cycles. I've tried playing with scalers, different renderers but none seem to really improve things.

Is there a way to display FPS in games that dont have a built in fps counter?

I've attached the conf for this game if it helps.

Dosbox has a readme which tells you where the config file is (~/library/preferences/dosbox 0.74 preferences) and in there all options are described

From the default DOSBox settings this is all I change.

[sdl]
fullscreen=true
output=ddraw

[dosbox]
memsize=63

[joystick]
joysticktype=none

Tried all sorts of different settings. Played around with all the renderers and cycles, but Im not really seeing any improvment in performance. In hires its simply barely playable, to choppy for comfort for me.

For giggles I installed Quake for Dosbox (I actually use Fitzquake port for normal play) to see how it would perform. It runs slightly better (not by much though) than Chasm.

Maybe my CPU just doesnt have enough juice, even though its a 3ghz E8400.

Can others please post how Chasm works under their Dosbox configs? You can download the demo and see for yourself. Is it possible to get this game at 60fps under Dosbox on an uber rig?

These are very demanding games so you certainly won't get 60fps at 1024x768 target resolution.

Figured as much. So is a game like this limited no matter how fast a CPU may be? I'd be happy to get 30fps in its hires mode, but would that require an even faster CPU?

gag halfrunt wrote:

So is a game like this limited no matter how fast a CPU may be?

Not in my experience. I don't know the frame count but it runs nice on my system, Core 2 Duo with 4 GB RAM. As do Blood and Quake.

What precise settings are you using to get it to "run nice" - and how do you define "running nice"? 15/20FPS average? I say this because I have tried changing cycles, video modes, memory etc. to no avail - I simply cannot achieve acceptable performance at 640x480 resolution.

My Specs:

DOSBox 0.74 + D-Fend frontend
Core i7 2600K @ 3.4 Ghz
8GB DDR
GeForce GTX 460 SuperClocked
Windows 7 64-but Premium + all updates
up to date drivers/BIOS
CPU frequency changing turned off in BIOS (the Intel tech that throttles CPU down to save power)

Also, the game refuses to start if I select "auto" or "dynamic" CPU modes.

it should be noted that all other applications and games are running as expected on this machine, and it is malware/virus free, so not an issue on my end.

Start with default settings.
output=ddraw
memsize=63
joysticktype=none

In Game:
Options
Video Modes...
640 x 480 Flat

I don't know what FPS it averaged. The graphics weren't jumpy or anything else that would have interfered with my enjoyment. Thus it ran nice.

SKARDAVNELNATE wrote:

Start with default settings. output=ddraw memsize=63 joysticktype=none […]
Show full quote

Start with default settings.
output=ddraw
memsize=63
joysticktype=none

In Game:
Options
Video Modes...
640 x 480 Flat

I don't know what FPS it averaged. The graphics weren't jumpy or anything else that would have interfered with my enjoyment. Thus it ran nice.

Not seeing any difference...and for some reason this one game has really bad sound distortion when I use 85K+ cycles or so (and it doesn't seem to run much/any faster) though other titles like Descent etc. run quite smoothly (40-60fps) with 100K cycles. I've tried normal and simple CPU core, and the game refuses to start with dynamic core selected. tried different virtual graphics card settings and output settings, thusfar nothing has made a difference and 640x480 remains choppy, laggy and just barely playable (though not enjoyable as it is of course impossible to aim with any kind of accuracy).

Too many cycles can cause it to run slower if you're trying to emulate more than your system can handle. I aim for 40,000.

gag halfrunt wrote:

I use Boxer on hackintosh with an E8400 3ghz, 8gb ram ,so I don't think my "shitty mac" has much to do Chasm running poorly. It runs much better at 320x240, but I want to use the hires mode. Carmageddon too runs very slow in Hires, as does Skynet (when it works).

It is a shitty Mac, since it's not the real thing, both Carmageddon and Skynet run fine for me using high-res (but it's not a Mac or, worse, a shitty Mac).
I just tried the shitty Chasm demo...it runs fine in 640x480...even while DosBox is running the demo as I write this.