Many people have been asking for step by step instructions on installing and running a game on iDos, so I decided to take a whack at it. SECTION 1: Preparing The first step is downloading iDos before it's removed from the app store, that means now! Now that you have that, download iPhone Explorer http://www.macroplant.com/iphoneexplorer/ It's a small program so it only takes a minute to download. SECTION 2: Downloading a Game and Putting it on Your iPhone Now go to DOSGamesArchive http://www.dosgamesarchive.com/download/bananoid/ and download a game. In this example we are using Bananoid because its fun and works well in iDos. Now just extract the zip folder and remember where it is on your computer (Remember to name the uncompressed file bananoid). After its downloaded and saved on your computer we are going to put it onto your iPhone. Just open up iPhone Explorer and plug in your iPhone. Under the Apps root (the one that has +Apps) Look for the iDos App. It looks like a lot of numbers and letters and then .idos. Just click on that. You should now see a few folders, one of them being titled "Documents". Double Click on the folder to open it. Now right click and choose "Add New Folder". Title it "Games". Open up the empty games folder by double clicking and drag over the uncompressed Bananoid folder. Now unplug your iPhone. You don't have to, but I just click on the sync button on the top right before unplugging my iPod. NOTE: YOU MUST HAVE ITUNES CLOSED FOR IPHONE EXPLORER TO WORK! SECTION 3: Running the Game in iDos Now comes the fun part! Open the iDos app on your iPhone and follow these steps. Click on the C:\ sticky note on the bottom of the app, this opens DOS. You should see "c:\>". Now type "cd games". This means "change directory to games". Games is the folder you saved the Bananoid folder in earlier, remember? At this point you should see "c:\GAMES>". Now type "cd bananoid". You should now see "c:\GAMES\BANANOID>". Now for the final step, type "bananoid.exe". This will execute the games file that makes it run, for diffirent games the file will be different so be sure to check what it's called before trying to run the game. Have fun and ask me for any help
Thanks for the Guide. Do you know how to change performance settings for the games you install? Almost every game that I have tried, didn't run properly. For example the game SWOS 96-97 runs very slowly and don't know how to change the performance or cycles. All I can do is to use the Ctrl+F11 and Ctrl+F12 to get the CPU to 105 %.
Games made from start till about 92ish work best. Once people started using odd memory managers and stretching the limits of DOS thru creative tricks, those games will run poorly or not at all. Strike Commander comes to mind as a great example of this. Zone 66 had oddball memory managment as well. Rixx
Thanks for the guide, but I can't seem to get iPhone Explorer to work. Whwnever I click an app folder it says "file or directory not found". Any help?
Windows 95 or Windows 98 So, has anyone tried to install windows 95 or 98 yet? If so, how? I can get the install to start, by playing with the switches but it has yet to complete. Suggestions?
Bananoid won't unzip for some reason, but I got Alien Carnage onto it! Thanks! No, wait... It says it's installed but it's not in the store or in my collection...
Installed games will not show up in the collection. I didnt actually bother putting them there either - too much fussing around. Press the C:\ icon on the main screen and it will take you to a Dos prompt. ie C:\> To start a game, change directory and find the .exe or .bat file and start it. I dont know what it is for your game so I will use pinball as an example eg type the following... "dir /w" to see the directories (pic1 and pic2) "cd pinball" to change to the pinball directory (pic3) "dir *.*" to see the files in that directory (pic3) "pinball"to run pinball.exe (pic3) This is basic DOS navigation "cd\" returns you to the home directory
To create a quickstart batch file for the example above. On your PC, create a file called "pinball.txt", edit in notepad and put the following into it. cd pinball pinball cd \ Rename the file to "pinball.bat" copy "pinball.bat" to documents directory on iDos (not a subdirectory) when in iDos and at C:\> prompt just type "pinball" and it will run
fyi mac users can use PhoneView instead of iPhone Explorer... http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/25347/phoneview
I wrote how to access the games above. For lag, it is dependent on each game. Just try some small simple games to get the method right.
Well, it's not just the downloaded games, it's also the games that come with the app. (talking about the lag) How can I enable a complicated game such as Full Throttle? It has multiple .exe files and I don't know which one to use. It also has a few folders in it, do I have to do anything special with those?
there are some games that simply wont run because of new tricks developers started using. Also, for more basic running of games avoid using any that have an install file, I haven't been able to install any yet and assume it has to do with the way iDos works. Also, to all the people wondering how to run the game, read the thread
The bigger and later the games, the harder it will be to work. Copy the whole directory structure. For multiple exe's, either try them all, google the start instructions, look for a batch file or look for a specific significant name like runme, start, fullthrottle, ft, etc
I've tried installing Windows 95, but it's not working. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I can choose "Windows 95" from the Windows list, but then it says: "Launching Windows 95. . . Could not extract drive geometry from image. Use parameter -size bps,spc,hpc,cyl to specify the geometry. Opening image file: c:\w95.img Booting from drive A. . . Error loading operating system" Windows 3.1 went quite smoothly, but I can't get a handle on how to work Windows 95. If anyone has any suggestions, that would be great. I think I read something about image mounting, but I wasn't sure how to do that..
