# DOSBox Staging 0.84.0-alpha — 0.84.0-alpha release notes preview

- Product: DOSBox Staging (https://whatsnew.fyi/product/dosbox-staging)
- Vendor: DOSBox Staging Team
- Date: 2026-05-18
- Version: 0.84.0-alpha
- Original notes: https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging/releases/tag/0.84.0-alpha
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/dosbox-staging/releases/0.84.0-alpha
- Labels: Pre-release; Platforms: Desktop

What's New is an index, not a publisher: every entry below links to the vendor's own release notes, which are the authoritative source. Entries are labelled where they are hand-curated sample data, pre-releases, or drawn from a secondary source such as a developer blog.

Reuse: the summaries, labels and curation here are © What's New. Quote freely with attribution and a link back; wholesale republication of the corpus is not permitted — terms: https://whatsnew.fyi/terms. The vendors' own release notes remain their publishers'.

---

- **fixed** — Fix Frontier: First Encounters crash on non-x86 platforms
- **changed** — Improve PC speaker impulse model
- **added** — Add 'vesa_custom_resolution' setting
- **added** — Add 'wrap_modeN' shader pragma
- **fixed** — Clear BIOS cursor type in EGA/VGA graphics modes
- **fixed** — Fix deinterlacer and image capture issues
- **changed** — Externalise hardcoded cga_colors palettes
- **fixed** — Fix auto integer scaling
- **fixed** — Only lock/unlock SDL surface when it is not already in that state
- **changed** — Save window size and position on mapper exit
- **fixed** — Post SDL3 mixer cleanup and bugfixes
- **changed** — Reduce GUS frame processing overhead
- **removed** — Remove stray OPL3_ProcessSlotMaybeInline
- **changed** — Replace Nuked-OPL3 with Nuked-OPL3-fast
- **changed** — Send samples to Mixer::AddSamples in batches
- **changed** — Update Nuked-OPL3-fast to v1.8-fast.3
- **added** — Add CHCP to allow changing only the codepage
- **added** — Add recognition of multiple floppy extensions and recognition as floppy images based on disk geometry
- **fixed** — Convert filenames to UTF-8 on host and Codepage 437 in DOS
- **changed** — Default MediaId to HardDisk like in original codebase

> [!WARNING]
> **These are the automatically generated release notes of the latest development snapshot builds!** This is not a stable release; things might blow up! 💣 🔥 💀
>
> You can download the latest development builds from here:
> https://www.dosbox-staging.org/releases/development-builds/

##### Full PR list of game compatibility improvements

  - Fix Frontier: First Encounters crash on non-x86 platforms ([#4892](https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging/pull/4892))
  - Improve PC speaker impulse model ([#4906](https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging/pull/4906))


##### Full PR list of graphics-related changes

  - Add 'vesa_custom_resolution' setting ([#4985](https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging/pull/4985))
  - Add `wrap_modeN` shader pragma ([#4901](https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging/pull/4901))
  - Clear BIOS cursor type in EGA/VGA graphics modes ([#4959](https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging/pull/4959)) _[backport]_
  - Deinterlacer & image capture fixes ([#4969](https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging/pull/4969)) _[backport]_
  - Externalise hardcoded cga_colors palettes ([#4976](https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging/pull/4976))
  - Fix auto integer scaling ([#4902](https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging/pull/4902)) _[backport]_
  - Only lock/unlock SDL surface when it is not already in that state ([#4970](https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging/pull/4970)) _[backport]_
  - Save window size & position on mapper exit ([#4967](https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging/pull/4967))


##### Full PR list of sound-related changes

  - Improve PC speaker impulse model ([#4906](https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging/pull/4906))
  - Post SDL3 mixer cleanup and bugfixes ([#4973](https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging/pull/4973))
  - Reduce GUS frame processing overhead ([#4956](https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging/pull/4956))
  - Remove stray OPL3_ProcessSlotMaybeInline ([#4918](https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging/pull/4918))
  - Replace Nuked-OPL3 with Nuked-OPL3-fast ([#4910](https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging/pull/4910))
  - Send samples to Mixer::AddSamples in batches ([#4916](https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging/pull/4916))
  - Update Nuked-OPL3-fast to v1.8-fast.3 ([#4981](https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging/pull/4981))


##### Full PR list of DOS integration related changes

  - Add CHCP to allow changing only the codepage. ([#4997](https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging/pull/4997))
  - Add recognition of multiple floppy extensions and recognition as floppy images based on disk geometry ([#4882](https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging/pull/4882))
  - Convert filenames to UTF-8 on host and Codepage 437 in DOS ([#4966](https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging/pull/4966)) _[backport]_
  - Default MediaId to HardDisk like in original codebase ([#4932](https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging/pull/4932)) _[backport]_
  - Fix CPU slice dependent DOS file I/O delay (0.81.0 regression) ([#4991](https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging/pull/4991)) _[backport]_
  - Implement DOS STACKS-type feature for keyboard and timer interrupts ([#4855](https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging/pull/4855))


##### Full PR list of localisation-related changes

  - docs: Add German translations for newly-added CHCP/KEYB changes. ([#5001](https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging/pull/5001))
  - Update French translation strings and typo fixes ([#4875](https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging/pull/4875)) _[backport]_
  - Update german (de) translation ([#4934](https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging/pull/4934)) _[backport]_


##### Full PR list of documentation-related changes

  - Add Claude Code rules for C++ style, docs style, and commits ([#4887](https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox

_[Truncated at 4000 characters — full notes: https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging/releases/tag/0.84.0-alpha]_