Multiplayer Gaming on Windows 98 with DOSBox Pure

Introduction

Windows 98 was a classic platform for multiplayer gaming, especially over LAN. With DOSBox Pure, you can recreate that environment today by running Windows 98 inside an emulator and enabling networking support.

Requirements

• DOSBox Pure (a fork of DOSBox designed for RetroArch/Libretro)
• A Windows 98 installation image
• NE2000 network drivers for Windows 98
• A working RetroArch setup with DOSBox Pure core installed

Setup

One way to transfer the driver files into Windows 98 is to create a batch file (empty file runme.bat) in the same folder as the drivers. When you load this batch file with DOSBox Pure and enter the operating system, the required files for installing the network will be available on the D drive.

In Windows 98, open the Control Panel and click Add New Hardware.

When the wizard window appears, choose to install the hardware manually from a list.

Select Network adapters then Next.

Click Have Disk to choose the folder where NE2000 drivers are located.

Inside the folder Lnt-10tn you need to select Win98 folder.

After selecting the Win98 folder a new file show up on the left.

Click OK to proceed with the installation

The adapter is found from the selected pcmcard.inf file

Be prepared to mount the Windows 98 CD, it will be required during installation. Also during the installation version conflict files will be detected, just click Yes, to keep the system files, to all of them.

Once completed, you need to restart the operating system!

A new icon should appear on the desktop, indicating the network has been installed successfully.

The new icon will show after the restart of the OS

Go in Control Panel then Network.

Click Add then select Adapter from the list and click the Add button.

We need to add the NE2000 adapter

Select Adapter then Add.

From the left list choose Novell/Anthem and on the right list choose NE2000 Compatible.

Now select the new adapter and click Properties.

Go in the Resources tab and change its properties to use:

• IRQ = 10
• Port = 0x300

Click OK and you are done, you can restart the OS and you are ready to play with another RetroArch on another machine.

How to Play

Host PC

1. Open Netplay in DOSBox Pure.
2. Select Host.
3. Load the game.
4. The host will receive notifications when clients connect.

Client PC

1. Open Netplay in DOSBox Pure.
2. Go to Network and set the Server Address to the host PC’s IP.
3. From the Netplay menu, click Connect to Netplay Host.
4. Load the game normally.
5. Once connected, the host will see your connection notification.

Notes

• After connecting, gameplay setup depends on the specific game — follow its multiplayer instructions.
• If you need help with game-specific steps, check the community resources (e.g., Discord channel).

Notes

The operating system will detect a NE2000 networking card which will not be able to connect to the real internet. To avoid slow boot times, make sure to configure it to use base address port set to 0x300 and base IRQ set to 10.

Reference link to the DOSBox Pure GitHub page.