Portable clean installation of Daggerfall w/ DOSBox ECE (for Windows)

[MrFlibble]

A user at the UESP Forums complained that the most recent version of DaggerfallSetup installs third-party fixes and patches even if the user does not want to, and one of those "fixes" apparently alters skill-related mechanics and is effectively a cheat, or something.

I suggested to clean install Daggerfall is DOSBox, but since some people might find this a bit complicated, I quickly threw together a clean install of the game from Bethesda's freeware release, bundled it with DOSBox ECE (Windows version) and uploaded it here:

https://mega.nz/file/zM53UJib#e2x5D9-94 ... s4_3fGV0KU

This is just the installed part that would normally be on your hard drive (if you played from the CD back in the day). You still need to supply the files on the CD by downloading the Bethesda freeware release (DFInstall.zip) and unpacking it into the same folder where you put the portable version. For clarity, the folder DFCD must be in the same folder as DOSBox.exe, dosbox.conf and the DAGGER folder, and the DFCD folder must contain INSTALL.EXE and various sub-folders.

Once set, run DAGGER.BAT to play.

The game is patched to v1.07.213 and also adds the CompUSA quests. FALL.EXE is patched with DOS/32A for better memory performance in DOSBox, while the original binary is still there as FALL.BAK. Note that mods like AndyFall don't work with DOS/32A, you need the original EXE.

I have edited Z.CFG to set a good amount of texture and item cache memory to avoid out of memory crashes.

I also took the liberty to add my paperdoll and inventory fix, as it does not affect gameplay and fixes some nasty paperdoll clothes errors for almost every race. But if you want the raw game, the unmodified files that the fix replaces are kept in the ARENA2\BAK directory.

There are no other fixes or patches, so you can experiment with adding whatever unofficial stuff you want.

DOSBox is configured to properly run the game, with enough cycles to play smoothly and without glitches, correct aspect ratio and clean sharp pixels using a built-in shader. However, if you want you can download and use various GLSL shaders that imitate a CRT screen with varying degrees of fidelity. To change shaders, edit dosbox.conf with your favourite text editor.

DOSBox ECE also has built-in FluidSynth, so you can use a soundfont for better MIDI music. Recently I found a neat SC-55 soundfont that works quite well.