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.

Windows will ask for the path of the drivers, so locate the NE2000 driver. After selecting Network NE2000 Compatible, the installation will begin.

During installation, you also need to mount the Windows 98 CD because Windows will require a few files. Once completed, you will be prompted to restart the OS, do this twice.

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

Next, go to Network in the Control Panel and add the new Network NE2000. Change its properties to use:

IRQ = 10
Port = 0x300

These are the values used by DOSBox Pure to communicate with the network on RetroArch.

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.

Also for reference link to the DOSBox Pure GitHub page.