Hi.
I wanted to play the oldie game "Alien Breed" (1991), but the keyboard layout is impossible, at least on my laptop. Is there any guide or even a file that can help me change the keyboard keys layout?

Absolutely. What you need is the Dosbox Keymapper. And Dosbox staging.

Firstly, here's the unhelpful guide from the horribly out of date Dosbox Wiki. https://www.dosbox.com/wiki/Mapper

Now here' a video guide from someone who actually knows what they're doing since Dosbox is their emulator of choice:

https://youtu.be/0nVjB9hSoJI


And thirdly, here's the Dosbox staging guide on the keymapper, since I suggested you use Staging in the first place anyways:

https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging/wiki/Keymapper

Dosbox-Staging has better keyboard support in general:

https://dosbox-staging.github.io/#feature-highlights

https://dosbox-staging.github.io/getting-started/introduction/

https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging/wiki/Frequently-asked-questions#where-is-the-config-file

Dosbox-Staging - Discord Chat Channel

Also, type keyb /? at the Dosbox-Staging command prompt and press Enter to learn more about how to switch keyboard layouts for your specific country.

Alternatively, open dosbox-staging.conf in a text editor, scroll to the [dos] section, and change keyboardlayout from auto to il.

Since you are in Israel, your country code is IL. This is not case sensitive, so you can type either il or IL and it will work.

Thank you both very much. And if we were talking about DosBox already - do you know how to save progress on oldies?
I think that maybe I found in the past that Alt+F5 should do it but it doesn't work for me. How do I operate it, please?

So called "save states" (as known from console emulators) aren't implemented yet in Dosbox or Dosbox Staging. AFAIK, they would require some deep deep changes in the code potentially breaking other (working) stuff in the process. I found this feature request that is still open and unassigned:
https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging/issues/313

You are not entirely mistaken, though. 4-5 years ago, someone created a fork of original Dosbox ("SVN" / "Daum") and actually implemented more or less reliably working save states. But that version is old and incompatible by now, especially in comparison to the awesome new Dosbox Staging version. Don't hold your breath for any "quick" code patches.

Considering what's involved, they're possible (the PC Action Replay for Dos could do it), but I imagine they're also incredibly fragile and limited.

As has been mentioned already, Dosbox-Staging does not support save states.

However, many DOS games do have the ability to save your progress, but not every DOS game does.