Hey all - I'm a speedrunning fan but not a runner.

Supposing I did want to get out an old DOS title to run through Dosbox and try some runs, is it generally frowned upon to use anything other than the standard keyboard controls?

Basically I've been playing with a custom profiled DS4 controller. Nothing fancy going on - just directions and a shoot button, with my livesplit hotkeys mapped onto the controller also for convenience.

Unless the community and the rules for the game say otherwise, you can use whatever controller is comfortable for you. The only generally accepted rule is that the controller can’t do anything the standard way of playing cannot.

As an example, a standard, un-modified SNES controller can’t press two opposite directional buttons (up and down) at the same time, so anyone who uses a different controller can’t do anything with the controller that simulates that (meaning you can’t map up and down to say L and R on a PS4 controller to press them at the same time).

Double check with the mods of the game if you’re unsure about anything related to the game’s rules in regards to that.

Thanks!

No one appears to have ever run this, so I don't have a point of reference regarding existing rules, but given the inputs I might take a look at some similar DOS titles to get a baseline.

If you're literally the first person to run the game (or at minimum, the first to run it and submit it here) then you get to make the rules.