Using SCORE in DosBox

Windows installation

Installation should be nearly identical to installing in MacOS, so tell me if there are any significant differences.

MacOS installation

Download and install DosBox

• Install DosBox for Mac OS X version 0.74-3-3 dmg (Universal) from the download page of DosBox: [1]

DosBox download page.

• The Mac OS X link takes you to sorceforge [2] to download the application:

DosBox download page on sourceforge.

• Open the downloaded dmg file:

Downloaded DoxBox dmg file.

• The following files will be displayed. Copy the DOSBox.app program to "/Applications" or "~/Applications".

Downloaded files for DosBox.

Download SCORE files

• Unzip the SCORE zip file and store where you want it to be stored. It should be able to go anywhere such as in your home directory, the Desktop, or a class-related folder. I would avoid having the full path contain any spaces, which could potentially cause problems. I place it at "/Users/craig/score-dosbox". (i.e., in the home directory).

Unzipped SCORE folder for DosBox.

• Run score by typing without quotes: "c:\scor4\scor4.bat". You should then see the SCORE splash page:

SCORE splash page after starting SCORE.

Run DosBox

• Note that there may be access permissons required the first time DosBox is run (so accept any security permission requests).

• Open the DosBox app (double click on "/Applications/DOSBox.app" or put in your Dock). You should see this view after a brief splash page:

Starting window for DosBox.

• Make note of where you installed the score-dosbox directory/folder. There are two directories that need to be connected to DosBox as the C: and D: drives. For me the C: drive is /Users/craig/score-dosbox/c_drive, and the D: drive is /Users/craig/score-dosbox/d_drive.

• You need to type these two commands in DosBox:

  mount C /Users/craig/score-dosbox/c_drive

and

  mount D /Users/craig/score-dosbox/d_drive

Mounting C: and D: drives in DosBox.

• Now you can start score with the command:

   c:\scor4\scor4.bat

and you should see the SCORE splash page:

Score splash page

Press the space bar (or any key) to skip the splash page faster.

• You will end up in the SCORE editor after the splash page is closed:

Main SCORE editor.

• You can type "exit" (then the return key) to close score and go back to the initial DosBox window:

Exiting SCORE.

Preference file

• You can automatically mount the C: and D: drives by adding these lines at the bottom of "/Users/craig/Library/Preferences/DOSBox 0.74-3-3 Preferences":

  mount C /Users/craig/score-dosbox/c_drive
  mount D /Users/craig/score-dosbox/d_drive

(This should be in the "[autoexec]" options region.). After adding this, the mounting commands will be done automatically when opening DosBox:

Automatic mounting of C: and D: drives in DosBox.

• You can also add the command "C:\SCOR4\SCOR4.BAT" to the preference file after the mount commands to automatically start SCORE when DosBox is opened:

Setting up SCORE to run automatically when DosBox is started

• Note that you must use back-slashes (\) and not forward slashes (/) for the command to start SCORE.

Tips

• To prevent DosBox from capturing the mouse, add this option to the Preference file:

   autolock=false

within the "[sdl]" region of the preferences file:

Setting the autolock preference for DosBox.

Then you do not need to use control-F10 to release the mouse for DosBox.

Keyboard notes

See: https://www.dosbox.com/wiki/Special_Keys

• option-m toggles display of the menu at the bottom of the screen in the SCORE editor.
• option-i will show the arrow key increment for parameter editing
• Most keyboard shortcuts do not seem to work in MacOS.
• In order to get full screen mode by pressing option-return (and pressing again to go back to smaller window), I had to add this settings in the "[sdl]" preference region:

   fullresolution=1920x1080

The MacOS full resolution is probably too large, and otherwise DosBox will quite if I try to go to full screen.

Continue

• Go to SCORE user input to start entering the first SCORE exercises.

• Also refer to the SCORE survival guide for step-by-step instructions on how to enter the exercises.

• When you save files, they will be placed in the /Users/craig/scores-dosbox/d_drive directory (at least for me). You can view the files in the Finder at the same location:

SCORE files in Finder.

The files "#MUSDIR#.TMP" and "SCORE.SAV" are temporary files that SCORE uses. The file "EX1.MUS" is a binary file that stores the music notation prepared in SCORE.

• You can create readable ASCII versions of MUS files in SCORE by using the PMX command. Also you can use a command-line tool to convert binary MUS files into ASCII PMX (parameter maxtrix files), both show the internal format of the musical data which contain rows of numbers, each row representing a particular musical object on the page.

https://github.com/craigsapp/mus2pmx