Originally posted by jez Wow Nicht... long night?

Long night...day...week...year. In any case, it's not personal and it is accurate. All I know from his post is: he's using a "Hercules Game Theater XP" sound card and running the Win9x version of VDMSound. Win95? 98? ME? VxD or WDM audio drivers?

Critical data is missing. Beyond all that, what program is he trying to run? Every DOS program is like it's own OS, so it needs specifics in order to troubleshoot. The huge number of variables make PC troubleshooting difficult in the first place, not having needed info makes it near-impossible.

"How do you get this to work?", unless followed by some description, is a mystery in itself. Like I said before, you don't call a Doctor to say you feel bad, then ask what kind of pills you should take; you either go to the Doctor for an examination or give as detailed a description of your problem as possible over the phone then ask for a recommendation.

Seriously folks, if the answers were all easy like, "just press the big blue button on the front of your PC" we wouldn't be asking for the info.

BTW, the "getting shot in the head" reference comes from a story (which, of course, I can't find the reference now....*grr*) where a woman was awoken during the night by a noise, realized she had a really bad headache, went to the bathroom to get some aspirin, then went back to bed but couldn't sleep very well.

Decided to see a doctor as the pain just kept getting worse. Turns out that her husband (apparently despondent over...something) has shot her in her sleep, then immediately freaked that he had just shot his wife and ran away. The bullet had lodged in a bony mass of her skull, saving her life.

Win98SE
Athlon XP
512MB RAM
Latest WDM drivers for the Game Theater XP

I am trying to run VDMSound with XCOM Apocalypse. I've tested it with Doom2 and a few other DOS titles. I either get the screech or no sound at all.
I've followed Jez's latest installation directions (read above post).
The blaster settings in dosdrv.bat are A220 I7 D1 H5 P330 T6.
In Doom2 the screech sounds vaguely like the game's sound track. Apoc's setup utility always detects a SB16, even if I change the blaster settings to T1 or T3 (I know only the default are recommended).

Thanks,

HearGames

Originally posted by HearGames Win98SE

Ok, Stable OS with DOS support.

Athlon XP

Ok, more than enough processor speed.

512MB RAM

Just about the right amount of RAM. Beyond this amount in Win9x, and you start having to tinker with settings to keep it running.

Latest WDM drivers for the Game Theater XP

More stable, but for DOS titles that means less compatibility; which is why you're probably trying VDMSound.

I am trying to run VDMSound with XCOM Apocalypse.

Doesn't this include a Windows executable? Mobygames says there is, but nobody else seems to have it.

For DOS, I recommend that you try this with your Sound card's DOS drivers (no VDMSound yet). Try for the most basic audio you can get: the basic Soundblaster (ignore the Pro/ProII, SB16, etc...) matching whatever IRQ/DMA settings your card is using.

Also try MIDI only for output to see if your card supports it.

Whatever the results from these, try them again using VDMSound using only VDMSound's settings: IRQ 7, Low DMA 1, High DMA 5, etc...
Also try the MIDI only option.

I've tested it with Doom2 and a few other DOS titles.

Well DOOM is available as a Win9x port, so the best solution for that is to use a port. Try Ms.Pac-em, it's one of the least demanding titles for SoundBlaster compatibility.

I either get the screech or no sound at all.

So its loading up, just not producing audio properly.

Apoc's setup utility always detects a SB16,

Is there a manual override option for the sound card choice? If so, choose a basic SoundBlaster as it gives you the best chance for success.

Thanks for the attention, Nicht Sehr Gut.

Apocalypse only has a windows installer.
There are no DOS drivers for my sound card.
Overriding the detected settings in the Apocalypse setup utility crashes the utility.
I'll try Ms. Pac-em.

-HearGames

Originally posted by HearGames Apocalypse only has a windows installer.

? The installer isn't in question, it's the game. The game you have is DOS-only right?

There are no DOS drivers for my sound card.

Not according to everything I've read:
http://www.3dsoundsurge.com/reviews/GameTheat … XP/gtxp-p2.html

The other reviews specified DOS support both in a command prompt within Windows and at DOS-level of Win98 (no GUI loaded). If you can't find the info on your driver CD, you might try contacting Hercules or try checking their forum http://forum.hercules.com/

Unless, of course, you have a model like the "7.1", which has a different chip and no DOS support at all.

Overriding the detected settings in the Apocalypse setup utility crashes the utility.

Definitely a incorrect response. Using manual setting should work, is there a "no sound/no soundcard" option?

XCOM is DOS-only.
I've tried selecting other sound settings within the XCOM setup utility, but they crash the utility. There's even a warning message "selecting other settings may crash the utility".
The newest Hercules drivers don't support MS-DOS. The older ones are buggy, and they only work from MS-DOS mode, not pure MS-DOS.
Ms. Pac-em crashes windows when I run it.

BTW, which non-ISA sound card do you recommend for Soundblaster compatibility?

-HearGames

HearGames wrote:

BTW, which non-ISA sound card do you recommend for Soundblaster compatibility?

Um... SB Live?

Wait, it crashes WINDOWS?! Something isn't kosher in your machine if that's happening.

Originally posted by HearGames XCOM (Apoc) is DOS-only.

Confirmed. Found my CD. Very annoying considering it's quirks...

I've tried selecting other sound settings within the XCOM setup utility, but they crash the utility.

Well, when you set it manually, you've got to have everything correct and I wouldn't try testing within the setup tool. Just give it the settings you know are correct.

For example, with VDMSound that would be a SB16 with an IRQ of 7, DMA of 1. If that didn't work, you change it to SBPro, but leave these settings alone (IRQ7/DMA1). If that didn't work, you change it to a basic SoundBlaster.

There's even a warning message "selecting other settings may crash the utility".

Just about anything seems to "crash the utility". I'm starting to think some programmers code with nitroglycerin.

The newest Hercules drivers don't support MS-DOS. The older ones are buggy, and they only work from MS-DOS mode, not pure MS-DOS.

Yeah, classic VxD versus WDM conundrum...

Ms. Pac-em crashes windows when I run it.

*woof* Like Snover said, that ain't right. I'm starting to suspect there are other problems going on with your PC. Running "Ms. Pac-em" is like running Solitaire, it uses very little in resources. At worst it should just use speaker sound instead of SoundBlaster.

BTW, which non-ISA sound card do you recommend for Soundblaster compatibility?

They're getting harder and harder to find...
showthread.php?threadid=60&perpage=20&highlight=sound card compatibility&pagenumber=1

The AW540 card I mentioned as I had seen one in a local store, and now that store no longer carries it... Oddly enough, they still have one ISA sound card model left (some generic SB clone).

My Philips PSC706 seems pretty compatible, but even then there's no guarantee. I've had plenty of DOS titles that just won't work with it. X-COM Apocalypse just barely works with it. Of course, that doesn't seem to matter much as I can't keep the game running for any length of time on the Win98 side...

Best I was able to achieve was running it on the XP side using this info and it's files...
http://www.xcomufo.com/xcom3fix.html

Is the Win9x version of VDMsound still being worked on? /me wishes he was a better coder that could handle the advanced VXD stuff. Whilst VDMsound is nice, stuff like DOSbox is clearly the way to go. A full DOS emulation within Windows. The next version of Windows won't have even basic DOS emulation, and whilst Win98 still does a damn good job with modern hardware, it won't be ubiquitous forever, and will become as obsolete as DOS is now.

I get the blue screen of death when running MsPac-em. It's an error in VxD Sbemul... I finally got to the loading screen, though, where the game hangs.
I'll keep messing with VDMSound to see if I can get it to work.

Thanks,

HearGames

HearGames wrote:

I get the blue screen of death when running MsPac-em. It's an error in VxD Sbemul... I finally got to the loading screen, though, where the game hangs.
I'll keep messing with VDMSound to see if I can get it to work.

I had some trouble with sbemul.sys and VDMSound under Windows 98SE. I managed to disable sbemul.sys and then got some games to work under VDMSound. If you look back in this thread you can read about my experiments. You can try to disable sbemul.sys, but you must edit your registry so be very carefull. All the standard warnings about Regedit.exe and the possibility of damaging your Windows installation apply.

First, use Regedit to search for "sbemul.sys" (without the quotes, of course) inside HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. There should be one value called NTMPDriver under the key for your sound card driver that looks like:

1NTMPDriver [REG_SZ] = [i]yourdriver.sys[/i],sbemul.sys

Use the Export Registry File command in the Registry menu to save a copy of the key. After that, edit the NTPMDriver value and remove the reference to sbemul.sys. Finally, reboot your machine.

To make sure that sbemul.sys is not being lodaded, after the reboot open a DOS prompt inside Windows (without VDMSound) and check if you have a BLASTER environment variable. If sbemul.sys is loaded it will automatically add a BLASTER variable to your environment, but if it is disabled this should not happen. After that, give VDMSound a try.

(edited to fix a typo in the value name)

Regards,

There were about six instances in MEDIA directories like these:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Class\MEDIA\0024

But there were none elsewhere.

I got VDMSound to work with Elite Plus, but it uses Adlib and Roland, not SoundBlaster.

Thanks,

HearGames

Check in your config.sys and/or win.ini to see if it is being loaded there.

HearGames wrote:

There were about six instances in MEDIA directories like these: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Class\MEDI […]
Show full quote

There were about six instances in MEDIA directories like these:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Class\MEDIA

Originally posted by HearGames There were about six instances in MEDIA directories like these: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\Curre […]
Show full quote

Originally posted by HearGames
There were about six instances in MEDIA directories like these:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Class\MEDIA\0024

But there were none elsewhere.

24

But there were none elsewhere.

Well, I do not have a running copy of Windows 98 right now, so I must give you the clues only from my memory. Anyway, I believe that you could save the entire HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Class\MEDIA key and then remove the references to sbemul.sys from all the NTMPDriver values you find. If anything goes wrong you just have to restore the original key. Step by step:

1 - Open Regedit, go to HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Class\MEDIA, make sure that it it the selected key, open the Registry menu, select Export Registry File and save it to a file.

2 - Search for "NTMPDriver". For each value you find, edit its data, removing the references to sbemul.sys

3 - Reboot, then try to run a game that needs a SoundBlaster using VMDSound.

Finally, although Regedit shows registry keys in a folder-like structure, I still use the standard nomenclature. The registry is divided into keys (what you called directories) and keys store values. A value is composed of a name and some data from a certain type. I believe you can find the attached screenshot useful.

Regards,

Aha, I was rereading earlier posts in this thread and found those pertaining to running Ms. Pac-em and sbemul.sys.
Well, Ms. Pac-em works now without sound, after having removed references to sbemul.sys in my registry.
I get the same errors MajorGrubert reported when trying to run Ms. Pac-em in VDMSound. I seem to be having the same problems as he has had. Sorry I haven't noticed the similarities earlier.

HearGames

HearGames wrote:

I get the same errors MajorGrubert reported when trying to run Ms. Pac-em in VDMSound. I seem to be having the same problems as he has had.

Ok, just remember that even if Ms. Pac-em did not work for me I was able to play other games under VDMSound for Win 9x. It's strange, because Ms. Pac-em is a fairly simple game in terms of sound, music and memory requirements, but don't let its failure stop you from trying to run XCOM.

Regards,

Originally posted by MajorGrubert It's strange, because Ms. Pac-em is a fairly simple game in terms of sound, music and memory requirements, but don't let its failure stop you from trying to run XCOM.

Right, it's meant as a "quick-check" game as it needs no configuration, it's small uses SoundBlaster only, etc... I do find it odd that it wouldn't work. On an NT OS, I don't see why that would happen unless you're running one of those "direct hardware access" programs.

I follow all the steps (install vcredist, unzip and install vdmsound, edit autoexec)
To run the game I open a Dos windows and run dosdrv.bat and then run the game but still don't have sound.
What I'm doing wrong?
I have to run setsound before running the game?
Which sound blaster i must choose, SB pro, SB16, SoundBlaster, SoundBlaster 2?
I try with pinball 3DVCR and pinball dreams 2.
I'm using Windows 98 SE and my sound card (on board) is SIS 7018
Thanx!

Originally posted by caceresmartin2000 To run the game I open a Dos windows and run dosdrv.bat...

Did you change to your VDMSound directory before starting VDMSound? Presuming you did, what messages did you see appear on the command line? Did you see a "Tip of the Day" error window pop up?

...and then run the game but still don't have sound.

Note that Ms.Pac-Em will default to speaker sound (and stay that way) if it doesn't detect a SoundBlaster when it's first run. To be sure, go into the options portion of the menu and try to switch it from "PC Speaker" to "SoundBlaster" each time.

What I'm doing wrong?

Maybe nothing...maybe a lot of things...hard to tell at this point. It might "just not work". It's an Alpha program, after all...

I have to run setsound before running the game?

Not for Ms.PacEm, but you do for 90% of the other PC games.

Which sound blaster i must choose, SB pro, SB16, SoundBlaster, SoundBlaster 2?

That's going to depend on the circumstances. I'm guessing that you're referring to VDMSound here; in most bases you can leave it set to the default (SoundBlaster 16). Occasionally, you might need to override it with another choice.

I try with pinball 3DVCR and pinball dreams 2.

*wuff*
The "Pinball Dreams" titles (and their cousins) are pretty picky titles to try to run. All of mine either ran poorly (or not at all) on anything faster than my 486. The early ports like "Pinball Dreams" were especially bad...

I'm using Windows 98 SE and my sound card (on board) is SIS 7018

*wuff* again...
On on-board chipset running in Win9x...not good. Then again, it wouldn't too hot in 2000/XP either.

Have you tried using the "real-mode" DOS driver? If you don't already have it go here. Choose AUDIO for the Category and "Windows 95" or "98" for the OS. You'll find the DOS driver inside the 7018_114.zip file.

I came across an alternate manual install method in the text file attached below.