I have just tested The Dig under Windows 98SE with VDMS, and it works great!
Full Throttle was able to detect the emulated SoundBlaster in the sound setup secreen, but the game itself refuses to run, displaying a message that the game should not be run under Windows. Funny enough, the game runs without sound if I create a .pif file with the "Prevent MS-DOS programs from detecting Windows" option set. Unfortunately, a .bat file to load VDMSound and then load the game will not work with this option, because vxdsload.exe is a Windows application and cannot be load inside a VDM if Windows extensions are hidden (the 16-bit part of the exe file won't detect Windows and just prints an error message).

Anyway, I am going through a lot of boxes where I keep old CDs and I'll keep testing some old DOS games as soon as I can find them.

Regards,

Yeah, that's a pain. Might be something good to implement.

Nicht Sehr Gut wrote:

Yes, Tyrian2000 "hates NT". Even if you configure it to use no audio at all, performance will be terrible.

Just do a Quick Search on Tyrian 2000 and you'll see the fun we had with that one on XP...

I did, and just downloaded the 'CTBPPAT' patch. Wow! Works a lot better than TPPATCH. So I ran it on the original Tyrian, and now that works on my computer too, but guess what? *Identical* sound problems as Tyrian 2000. Makes you wonder whether the morons who released Tyrian 2000 just ran that on the Tyrian executable and replaced a few graphics. Can you tell that I despise the people that have the current license for the Tyrian source? 'Bout time they released it so that somebody can port it to a native Windows XP application, instead of tyring to squeeze money out of an 8 year old game for an 8 year old OS. 🙁

ANYWAY what this means is that Tyrian will *always* have problems in XP (as long as it remains a DOS app) whether it's the patched original or Tyrian2k, so let's switch attention to Win9x (this kind of thing was one of the main reasons I wanted the Win9x VDMsound 😀.

Can we presume you tried this in Windows 98 without VDMSound? If neither way gives you digital audio, you may be stuck.

I have indeed tried it in Windows 98 with and without VDMsound, and neither way gives me SoundBlaster (digital) audio. I don't quite understand why I may be stuck though. Isn't the whole point of VDMsound to emulate, amongst other things, SoundBlaster sound? If this is a main objective, and SB sound works fine for Tyrian(2k) in the Windows XP version, then surely it's a case of saying "there's a problem with VDMsound in Win9x, let's fix it"? 😀

BTW Adlib does seem to be being emulated fine by VDMsound in Win9x, works ok, as does MIDI. The only problem is with SB sound, which I thought it was the main purpose of VDMsound to emulate.

I've just been doing some more experimenting, and I'm convinced that it should be possible to get the sound effects for Tyrian(2k) working in Windows 95/98.

Some very strange stuff is happening when I run setup.exe and select SoundBlaster as my sound card.

With the original Tyrian, I select SoundBlaster, it pauses a while, then I hear a kind of banging sound (I recognise this as a Tyrian sound effect) and it displays the message "Error 253: Sound effects disabled.". The sound effects device remains at 'no effects', the music slows down, and *when I change selection, it now produces the 'change' sound effect*. VERY bizarre. I think this shows, however, that Tyrian IS able to produce the sound effects, but seems to be unwilling to do so. This error, however, is not displayed with Windows XP/VDMsound.

A further piece of evidence that SB emulation is kind of working in Win9x is that, with Tyrian2k, the setup program colours white a 'detected' sound device. Guess what? SoundBlaster is coloured white when VDMsound is run, and not when it isn't. Yet it still comes up with the message "Error 253: Sound effects disabled." when I try to select it. Very strange.

Isn't Tyrian 2002 out?

DosFreak wrote:

Isn't Tyrian 2002 out?

You joker!

Originally posted by jez A further piece of evidence that SB emulation is kind of working in Win9x is that, with Tyrian2k, the setup program colours white a 'detected' sound device. Guess what? SoundBlaster is coloured white when VDMsound is run, and not when it isn't. Yet it still comes up with the message "Error 253: Sound effects disabled." when I try to select it. Very strange.

Not really. I've seen "almost working" syndrome a lot. This is especially true in DOS/Win9x.

Unfortunately, that's a lot like being underwater and "almost making it to the surface". Even if you're just inches away from the surface of the water, you still can't breathe in the air.

Originally posted by DosFreak Isn't Tyrian 2002 out?

You have any idea how much time you just caused people to waste searching for this?

Hi vladr,

here I am! Since there is no chance for me to run an soundblaster compatible card on my pc (nforce2 chipset and a soundblaster live!, a terratec xfire and a als4000 soundcard doesn't work with my dos-games!) the only way to play my old games ist VDMSound for W98!
I have over 100 MS-DOS Original Games here (Most in german!), i was a ms-dos game profi (EMS, XMS, HMA, no problem for me!) and I'm ready to test yout great program. Any wishes? Or should I report any errors?

Greetings,
Torsten:P

Originally posted by Nostalgiker Hi vladr, here I am! Since there is no chance for me to run an soundblaster compatible card on my pc (nforce2 chipset and a soundblaster live!, a terratec xfire and a als4000 soundcard doesn't work with my dos-games!) the only way to play my old games ist VDMSound for W98!

Well, I'm not Vlad but with a SoundBlaster Live, you should be able to play at least some games with sound in DOS (the "MS-DOS mode" of Windows 98).

I have over 100 MS-DOS Original Games here (Most in german!), i was a ms-dos game profi (EMS, XMS, HMA, no problem for me!) and I'm ready to test yout great program. Any wishes? Or should I report any errors?

By all means, test it. Just understand that this is an experimental Alpha program. It will not perform anywhere near the level on the NT version.

By all means, test it. Just understand that this is an experimental Alpha program. It will not perform anywhere near the level on the NT version.

Don't scare him.. the 98 VDMsound runs 'near' perfect on my machine. Though I only use the midimapper output module to map midi through there, It runs flawless without lockups and on (almost) every game I play.. (Cause of speed issues that is)

Originally posted by Kyl3 Don't scare him.. the 98 VDMsound runs 'near' perfect on my machine.

It's "fair warning". It runs nowhere near perfect on my machine, and people expect that bugs or limitations will be worked on. In the case of the Win9x version, I wouldn't expect that.

🤣! I was thinking of T2002 which is based off of Turrican. I always mix up Turrican with Tyrian. Old age kills.

Nicht Sehr Gut wrote:

Well, I'm not Vlad but with a SoundBlaster Live, you should be able to play at least some games with sound in DOS (the "MS-DOS mode" of Windows 98).

Hi Nicht Sehr gut,

no chance, it seems to me that the nforce2 chipset is very incompatible with any kind of soundblaster emulation. I've tested three soundcards with their emulation and no one works in ms-dos (modus). With other motherboards/chipsets I havn't any problems with these cards. If you have a solution for my ASUS A7N8X Board i would be very happy!

Nostalgiker wrote:

Hi Nicht Sehr gut,

no chance, it seems to me that the nforce2 chipset is very incompatible with any kind of soundblaster emulation. I've tested three soundcards with their emulation and no one works in ms-dos (modus). With other motherboards/chipsets I havn't any problems with these cards. If you have a solution for my ASUS A7N8X Board i would be very happy!

You have to enable NMI (non-maskable interrupts) in the BIOS before DOS soundcard "emulation" can work, IIRC.

V.

vladr wrote:

You have to enable NMI (non-maskable interrupts) in the BIOS before DOS soundcard "emulation" can work, IIRC.

V.

Hi Vladr, thank for answer, but there is no option in the BIOS like that. I asked ASUS eight weeks before via e-mail, whether the board supports NMI, but get no answer! I have tried different BIOS Version, no NMI-Option, no sound, no fun in DOS-Games! If you know somebody, who has activate NMI on a ASUS A7N8X and/or a running soundblaster emulation, let me know!

But this wasn´t my reason to post here. I want to support your development as an alpha tester! So any wishes? Or should I report any errors?

Yes, report any errors, or even use the "Compatibility database" (~vladr/) to report (assume VDMSound version is 2.0.4 for this alpha).

Cheers,
V.

Originally posted by Nostalgiker I asked ASUS eight weeks before via e-mail, whether the board supports NMI, but get no answer!

You might check with NVidia to see if there's anything about the nforce2 that would keep you from doing this...

I've tried running Win9x VDMSound, but all I hear is very loud static. What am I doing wrong?

Thanks,

HearGames

----------------------

Sound Card: Hercules Game Theater XP

Originally posted by HearGames I've tried running Win9x VDMSound, but all I hear is very loud static. What am I doing wrong?

Well, let's see...don't know your OS, your processor, your memory, the program you're trying to run with VDMSound...that narrows it down to a few million possibilities....

Or maybe it just doesn't work for you, it is an Alpha after all...

What you've done here is the equivalent of calling the Doctor and saying, "My head hurts so I took some aspirin, but now it still hurts. Why is that?" You could have a migraine, concussion, been shot in the head,...who knows? We either need more detail or need access to your machine to do anything. And since access to your machine is pretty much out-of-the-question, we need details.

Wow Nicht... long night? 😀