Home » Prince of Persia 1 » Running Prince of Persia 1 under CGA/Tandy/Hercules machine

How to run PoP under an emulated CGA, Tandy and Hercules machine.

Using DosBox emulator, you can emulate your game to work under a CGA or a Tandy or Hercules machine. To do so, change your machine type under the [dosbox] tab in the dosbox.conf file. The game normally runs under the VGA graphics adapter. (Dungeon/Palace)

For CGA machine:

In dosbox.conf:

[dosbox]
machine=cga

Or start with parameter: prince.exe cga

Your levels will look like:

1. Under dungeon level type:
POP CGA machine-1

2. Under palace level type:
POP CGA machine-2

For Tandy machine:

In dosbox.conf:

[dosbox]
machine=tandy

Or start with parameter: prince.exe tga (or ega) Note that the ega and tandy (or tand) modes only differ in technical details, they use the same graphics set.

Your levels will look like:

1. Under dungeon level type:
POP Tandy machine-1

2. Under palace level type:
POP Tandy machine-2

For Hercules machine (Black and White):

In dosbox.conf:

[dosbox]
machine=hercules

Or start with parameter: prince.exe herc (or hga)

Your levels will look like:

1. Under dungeon level type:
POP Hercules machine-1

2. Under palace level type:
POP Hercules machine-2

The screen gets wider under Hercules mode, and the game play seems to be "longer" too (it's like the prince jumps twice than in normal). But it's just an imagination, because if you compare it with the normal version (all emulated machine except Hercules), it's absolutely the same. ;)

FAQ

prince.exe herc : It doesn't work: I get Graphics mode not available. But when I change the machine type in dosbox.conf (machine=hercules) It works. Why?!

When you start dosbox without specifying a machine type (i.e. no machine= line in the config file and no -machine argument), it starts in vga mode. The vga graphics adapter is backward compatible with the cga and ega ones. But it does not emulate the hercules and the tandy interface. PoP can choose between the available adapters, but not the others.

Available options are:
dosbox -machine hercules => prince herc (or, equivalently prince hga)
dosbox -machine cga => prince cga
dosbox -machine tandy => prince cga, prince tga
dosbox -machine vga => prince cga, prince ega, prince vga

Note that the ega and tandy modes only differ in technical details, they use the same graphics set.