Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall Guide

Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall is the second installment of a long series of Role Playing First Person Shooters by Bethseda Softworks. Released in 1996, Daggerfall boasted a lot of features new to FPS games:

• Open World - 62K Square Miles
• 750,000 Interactice NPC's
• Looting System
• Inventory/Equipment System
• Spell Creation
• Political System
• Melee and Ranged combat

Follow my step-by-step guide on installing, configuring and optimizing Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall in Linux with PlayOnLinux.

Note: This guide applies to the Free DOS version of Daggerfall

Tips & Specs:

Mint 17 64-bit
DOSbox 0.74

Download Daggerfall

Go to: http://www.elderscrolls.com/daggerfall/
Click "download the full game"
Agree to the license
Save DFInstall.zip to your desktop

Install DOSbox from your Software Installer
Create a folder called "dosgames" in your home folder

Open DFInstall.zip with the Archive Manager
Select DAGGER and DFCD
Click Extract

Navigate to your home and open dosgames
Click Extract

Close

Run DOSbox

Type:

mount c ~/dosgames -freesize 1000

Press Enter

Type:

mount d ~/dosgames/DFCD -t cdrom -label daggerfa

Press Enter

Type:

d:

Press Enter

Type:

install

Press Enter

Installing Daggerfall

Click the window to use the mouse or just use the keyboard
Click "Continue, I agree to the terms"

Click "Install the game to your hard drive"

Click "Change the install size"

Click "Huge installation"

Click "Yes, this installation size is fine"

Click "Yes, I want to install the game here"

Click "Go ahead and install the game"

Watch the "HUGE" game install

Setup Sound Card

Click Yes

Select "Auto Detect"
Press Enter

Select Detect
Press Enter
Select Test
Press Enter to hear audio
Select OK
Press Enter

Select OK
Press Enter

Press Enter again

Installation Complete
Click OK

Click OK again

Type:

fall z.fcg

Press Enter

title screen

Patching Daggerfall

Exit Daggerfall but don't exit DOSbox
Type:

DAG213

Press Enter

Press Y

Press Y

Launch Daggerfall again...

Daggerfall Shortcut

Navigate to your home folder
Hidden files need to be on
Open .dosbox

Copy dosbox-0.74.conf

Rename to daggerfall.conf
Open with Text Editor (gedit)
Scroll to the very bottom
Enter this text:

mount c ~/dosgames
c:
cd DAGGER
fall z.cfg

Click Save
Close daggerfall.conf

Right click Desktop (Mint)
Select "Create a new launcher here..."

Name: Daggerfall
Command: /usr/bin/dosbox -conf /home/username/.dosbox/daggerfall.conf
Click OK

Note: Use your login in place of username
Note: Open the DAGGER.ICO in GIMP and export as dagger.png, then select it for your icon

Optimization

Open daggerfall.conf

Experiment with these settings to get the best experience:
fullscreen=false
fulldouble=false
fullresolution=1600x1200
windowresolution=1600x1200
output=opengl
autolock=true
sensitivity=100
waitonerror=true
priority=higher,normal
mapperfile=mapper-0.74.map
usescancodes=true

frameskip=0
aspect=true
scaler=normal2x

Conclusion:
Daggerfall vanilla ran perfectly in DOSbox. To be honest the installation took me at least 10 tries to get it right. DOS installing is very confusing on a modern day computer. I also experimented with the conf setting so I could get Daggerfall to match my widescreen resolution. I'm looking forward to Daggerfall XL making installation and graphical improvements when its released.
Note: When launching Daggerfall the first time, you might need to use Ctrl+F10 to allow mouse control.

Gameplay video:

Screenshots:

 

Is this when you initially try to run the game in DOSbox?
Make sure you are in the correct directory when running it...
Did you extract the game properly?
Also make sure to mount the D:\ drive according to the guide...
I know it is a LOT of steps, so it can be confusing.
It took me a few times starting from the beginning to figure it out.

 

Is this when you initially try to run the game in DOSbox?
Make sure you are in the correct directory when running it...
Did you extract the game properly?
Also make sure to mount the D:\ drive according to the guide...
I know it is a LOT of steps, so it can be confusing.
It took me a few times starting from the beginning to figure it out.

Thanks, I repeat the steps, and this time worked. I think that I missed character in one of the code lines.

 

Well done!
I had the same problem...
Re-living the DOS days isn't always fun and chips

 

I want to install this game, though the instructions don't work for my system, not actually.
I'm on Debian 9 Stretch.

I type:
sudo mount c ~/DOSGames -freesize 1000
& it returns:
mount: invalid option -- 'e'



Maybe I'll figure it out, or get a little help from somebody.
I'm looking forward to looking at it.

 

I want to install this game, though the instructions don't work for my system, not actually.
I'm on Debian 9 Stretch.

Yeah, this guide has like 1000 steps!
Its been a while but DOSBox should work as it always has. The problem I had with Daggerfall is getting the game to recognize the CD ROM.

make sure you create the folder dosgames and make sure DOSBox command line starts in the dosgames as root folder. Also always use lowercase. Caps aren't very friendly in DOS environments

 

I figured out that Debian Stretch is missing libpng12-0, which is necessary for running the game via the PlayOnLinux install.

I think that the PlayOnLinux install automates your instructions for the DOSBox install, though that's just a supposition.

Trying to figure out what to do, because I want this game.

 

Oh, wait a second, are you playing the GOG version?
If yes, then it comes with windows version of DOSBox which should run in PlayOnLinux or Lutris.

Otherwise, this guide is for the Bethesda version which included the original DOS version of Daggerfall.

 

Man ur a real geek, Thanx alot for this, i always wanted to play on DOS Daggerfall, and now u made it possible for Linux, ur the BEST!!!

 

Man ur a real geek, Thanx alot for this, i always wanted to play on DOS Daggerfall, and now u made it possible for Linux, ur the BEST!!!

Thank you! I can't believe how many different ways we can play Daggerfall these days! All thanks to developers who are gamers! If you haven't seen it, check out Daggerfall Unity. Its like a reboot of the original game, but the graphics and controls are better.