RetroArch DOSBox-SVN Core: Supported Features and Limitations

DOSBox-SVN is a port of DOSBox SVN trunk (0.74-SVN) to libretro, and it runs as a RetroArch core for DOS software. The official documentation states that it allows on-the-fly configuration through core options and offers different sync methods. It also notes that DOSBox-core was forked from DOSBox-SVN.

Authors

• The DOSBox-SVN core has been authored by:
• - DOSBox Team
• - radius

Feature support at a glance

The official documentation publishes a feature support table for the DOSBox-SVN core. The entries below reflect that table; the full table, including supported items, is reproduced in the table block accompanying this article.

Features the documentation marks as unsupported

• The official documentation marks the following as not supported by the DOSBox-SVN core:
• - Saves
• - Save states
• - Rewind
• - Netplay
• - Memory Monitoring (achievements)
• - RetroArch Cheats
• - Native Cheats
• - Multi-Mouse
• - Rumble
• - Sensors
• - Camera
• - Location

What these restrictions mean in practice

Because the documentation lists saves and save states as unsupported, in-core suspend and resume features are not available through the DOSBox-SVN core per the official table. Likewise, rewind and netplay are not listed as supported, and achievement memory monitoring, cheats, rumble, sensors, camera and location features are all marked unsupported. Controls and remapping are marked as supported, as are core options and disk control, so configuring input and managing multi-disk DOS titles remain within the documented scope of the core. This article does not test those behaviors; it only restates the published support table.

Relationship to DOSBox-core

The source documentation describes DOSBox-SVN as a libretro port of the DOSBox SVN trunk (0.74-SVN) and notes that DOSBox-core was forked from DOSBox-SVN. If you are choosing between the two cores, that lineage is the documented relationship; this article does not benchmark or compare their behavior.