Install custom DOSBox build and nglide to play this

[ksio89]

I just saw these games on sale at Steam and I think that I could post this miniguide to help some users, because I have some knowledge of setting up games with DOSBox.

Tomb Raider 1 and Unfinished Business expansion were DOS games that used Glide API for HW acceleration with 3dfx cards, such as the glorious Voodoo 2 and 3. The vanilla DOSBox build does not support Glide wrappers, so you should install a custom patched DOSBox build to support nGlide wrapper, which is a tool that translates Glide API calls to DIrect3D, so you can have hardware accleration with modern video cards. HW accelerator runs and looks much better, that's definitely worth the trouble to enable it.

You can get them here:

DOSBox SVN Daum: http://ykhwong.x-y.net/ (For Windows/MacOS X/Linux)

nglide: http://www.zeus-software.com/downloads/nglide

This custom build of DOSBox is easier to use than the vanilla build, because there's a graphical interface which you can setup DOSBox settings on the fly, without needing to edit the dosbox.conf configuration file which is a PITA. For example, you can set CPU type, sound card, image mounting options etc. via drop-down menus dynamically, it's much faster than inputing commands in DOSBox command line interface.

I don't know if the Steam version of TR1 is already patched to support 3dfx (otherwise nglide won't work), but it probably is. Basically, just copy the necessary files from Steam and uninstall the remaining files, because the stock DOSBox doesn't support glide wrappers such as nglide.
It's like Duke Nukem 3D or Doom, which are DOS games as well, you better get the necessary files, use a source port such as eduke3D and uninstall the remaining files.

There' an advanced installer which brings the PlayStation soundtrack to PC along with an installer for free Unfinished Business expansion, which is already patched for 3dfx (and nglide).

[DDA]

The game offered through Steam is the same as the GOG version and already contains the 3DFX patch.