MSDOS-Game-Example

This is an example of a setup for building an MS-DOS game in modern Linux/Mac/Windows with some automation in DOSBox. There's no actual game in this repo but this is a good starting template for a project.

Playing

1. Install DOSBox
2. Run dist/FIREDUDE.EXE inside DOSBox

Development

This has only been tested on Linux; this should work on Mac if dosbox is added to $PATH.

Setup

1. Download Turbo C 2.01
2. Extract the Turbo C files into tools/TC, so tools/TC/TCC.EXE is present
3. Download Turbo Assembler 5.0
4. Extract tasm/BIN/TASM.EXE to tools/TASM/TASM.EXE
5. Install DOSBox
6. Ensure dosbox is in your PATH
7. (Optional) Install EditorConfig plugin - most critically, the .editorconfig files enforce line endings in ./src.

Build / Run

./build.sh && ./run.sh

Caveats

Turbo C uses an old C version and runs on DOS, so ensure that:

• All comments are block comments (/* ... */)
• All source files (inside src) use Windows line endings (CRLF)
• All variables are declared at the beginning of scope blocks

If you use inline assembly code, Turbo Assembler won't support the asm { ... } syntax:

/* Doesn't work! */
void interrupt scan_keyboard(void)
{
    asm {
        cli
        ...
        sti
    }
}

Instead, use the asm keyword on each line:

/* Works! */
void interrupt scan_keyboard(void)
{
    asm cli
    ...
    asm sti
}

Turbo C 2.01 Compiler Help

Turbo C  Version 2.01  Copyright (c) 1987, 1988 Borland International
Syntax is: TCC [ options ] file[s]       * = default; -x- = turn switch x off
  -1      80186/286 Instructions          -A      Disable non-ANSI extensions
  -B      Compile via assembly            -C      Allow nested comments
  -Dxxx   Define macro                    -Exxx   Alternate assembler name
  -G      Generate for speed              -Ixxx   Include files directory
  -K      Default char is unsigned        -Lxxx   Libraries directory
  -M      Generate link map               -N      Check stack overflow
  -O      Optimize jumps                  -S      Produce assembly output
  -Uxxx   Undefine macro                  -Z      Optimize register usage
  -a      Generate word alignment         -c      Compile only
  -d      Merge duplicate strings         -exxx   Executable file name
  -f    * Floating point emulator         -f87    8087 floating point
  -gN     Stop after N warnings           -iN     Maximum identifier length N
  -jN     Stop after N errors             -k      Standard stack frame
  -lx     Pass option x to linker         -mc     Compact Model
  -mh     Huge Model                      -ml     Large Model
  -mm     Medium Model                    -ms   * Small Model
  -mt     Tiny Model                      -nxxx   Output file directory
  -oxxx   Object file name                -p      Pascal calls
  -r    * Register variables              -u    * Underscores on externs
  -v      Source level debugging          -w      Enable all warnings
  -wxxx   Enable warning xxx              -w-xxx  Disable warning xxx
  -y      Produce line number info        -zxxx   Set segment names

Resources

These are some excellent resources for MS-DOS development:

MS-DOS game programming

Author	Resource
Alex Russell	Alex Russell's Dos Game Programming in C for Beginners
GameBub	C++ Graphics: MS-DOS Games
David Brackeen	256-Color VGA Programming in C
Dr. William T. Verts	The VGA and 256 Colors
Ben Lunt	DOS Programming, Undocumented DOS, and DOS Secrets
Mark Feldman	Programming the Keyboard

Turbo C

Author	Resource
Betelgeuse LLC	Turbo C Programming Using Turbo C++ Compiler
Shreeharsha P.	Turbo C Graphics Programming
Trim Tab	TASM 5 Intel 8086 Turbo Assembler Download