LemEdit mouse problem in Dosbox

[Nortaneous]

Is there any way to get the mouse to work in LemEdit under Dosbox? I'm unfortunately stuck running Windows 7 (I'd rather not have to boot up my clunky old XP machine in order to edit Lemmings levels), and Microsoft had the absolutely brilliant idea to nuke DOS program support somewhere between here and XP.

Google turns up a cached version of a thread on camanis.net (which seems to be down) that says:

As for LemEdit, the problem is that you need a mouse hooked up into your COM1 port. Basically, you can't use USB or PS/2 mice unless you have a PS/2 to serial converter... or something like that...

And considering I haven't owned a serial mouse in at least a decade, that's a bit of a problem. I tried looking up ways to emulate a serial mouse in Dosbox, but I just get some things about mouse drivers in Linux and modem emulation and other things that don't really help. I read something about a patched version of LemEdit that fixed the serial mouse problem, but it looks like it was only hosted on camanis.net, and that's down. Does anyone here have it? Or is there a way to get Dosbox to trick LemEdit into thinking there's a serial mouse in COM1, if that's what's necessary to get it to work?

[ccexplore]

I read something about a patched version of LemEdit that fixed the serial mouse problem, but it looks like it was only hosted on camanis.net, and that's down.

You're in luck, I thought I had it on another computer that I don't have with me right now, but turns out I do have a copy of LemEdit3.exe with me at the moment.  I've attached it to this post.  Hope it works for you!  (I haven't used LemEdit in ages.)

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and Microsoft had the absolutely brilliant idea to nuke DOS program support somewhere between here and XP

Actually, support for DOS has been slowly worsen even since XP; on my old XP laptop, running Lemmings directly under Windows result in completely garbled screen when in a level.  I'd expect by Win7 the only DOS programs that still work are the ones that are text-mode only, in other words anything besides games.

The bane of DOS programs, especially games, are that they expect direct and exclusive access to all hardware on your computer, including the video card, sound card, etc., which obviously doesn't work as-is in today's multitasking environments.  Also, many of them are designed for old video card and sound card standards that might not even be supported on modern hardware.  The only real way to maintain compatibility for these sorts of programs across the breadth of different PC hardware out there is a good emulator, and it makes sense that MS isn't too terribly invested financially in this area of computing (though it does offer VirtualPC).

Fortunately there's DOSBox to step up and fill in the void.

[Incidentally, chances are good that the serial mouse problem will occur even if you actually install DOS on your computer and run LemEdit that way.  USB simply didn't exist back in the ages of DOS and LemEdit, and if LemEdit attempts to directly talk to mouse hardware (instead of through a more generic interface that exists even in DOS) then it makes sense that it would only work with one type of mouse.]

[Nortaneous]

You're in luck, I thought I had it on another computer that I don't have with me right now, but turns out I do have a copy of LemEdit3.exe with me at the moment.  I've attached it to this post.  Hope it works for you!  (I haven't used LemEdit in ages.)

That works. Awesome.

I'd expect by Win7 the only DOS programs that still work are the ones that are text-mode only, in other words anything besides games.

Yeah, I think it's a graphics driver thing; DOS programs that want to do anything with graphics get errored out. I haven't tried textmode-only programs, but from what I remember of XP, textmode programs lagged horribly unless they were fullscreened, and I'd be surprised if they can be fullscreened anymore. (Actually, I have a vague memory of not being able to run QuickBASIC in Vista, so maybe they dropped it completely?)

[Incidentally, chances are good that the serial mouse problem will occur even if you actually install DOS on your computer and run LemEdit that way.  USB simply didn't exist back in the ages of DOS and LemEdit, and if LemEdit attempts to directly talk to mouse hardware (instead of through a more generic interface that exists even in DOS) then it makes sense that it would only work with one type of mouse.]

It worked on my old (bought in 2005) desktop, and the mouse says it's a PS/2, not a serial, so it might just be a problem with Dosbox. Next time I boot it up, I'll try it with a USB mouse and see if it works.