ReelMagic

The ReelMagic (also known as REALmagic) was an MPEG-1 hardware decoder card from Sigma Designs, released in 1993. At a time when PCs could barely handle software video playback, this card enabled smooth full-motion video in a handful of DOS games, Return to Zork, Lord of the Rings, and The Horde among them.

Only a small number of titles ever supported it, so this is a niche feature. If you’re not specifically trying to run one of those games, you can safely ignore this section entirely.

The following DOS games are known to use the ReelMagic card:

• Crime Patrol (1993)
• Crime Patrol 2: Drug Wars (1993)
• Dragon’s Lair (1993)
• Entity (1995)
• Flash Traffic: City of Angels (1994)
• Lord of the Rings (1990)
• Man Enough (1994)
• Return to Zork (1993)
• Space Ace (1994)
• The Horde (1994)

Troubleshooting video playback

ReelMagic games encode their MPEG video streams using a 32-bit key for copy protection. DOSBox Staging auto-detects this key for most games, but if videos play incorrectly (wrong speed, garbled frames), you may need to set reelmagic_key manually. The common key works for most titles; The Horde uses a unique key (thehorde). A custom hex value can be provided for other games.

If videos still play at the wrong speed despite the correct key, try overriding reelmagic_fcode with a specific frame rate code (1–7). The default 0 auto-detects the rate from the video stream. Common values: 1=23.976, 2=24, 3=25, 4=29.97, 5=30 FPS.

Configuration settings

You can set the ReelMagic parameters in the [reelmagic] configuration section.

reelmagic

ReelMagic (aka REALmagic) MPEG playback support.

Possible values:

• off default – Disable support.
• cardonly – Initialise the card without loading the FMPDRV.EXE driver.
• on – Initialise the card and load the FMPDRV.EXE on startup.

reelmagic_key

Set the 32-bit magic key used to decode the game’s videos.

Possible values:

• auto default – Use the built-in routines to determine the key.
• common – Use the most commonly found key, which is 0x40044041.
• thehorde – Use The Horde’s key, which is 0xC39D7088.
• <custom> – Set a custom key in hex format (e.g., 0x12345678).

reelmagic_fcode

Override the frame rate code used during video playback.

Possible values:

• 0 default – No override: attempt automatic rate discovery.
• 1 to 7 – Override the frame rate to one of the following: 1=23.976, 2=24, 3=25, 4=29.97, 5=30, 6=50, or 7=59.94 FPS.