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First post, by almeath

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I am experiencing a problem with Tandy sound emulation in the 64 bit SVN build of DOSBox for macOS.

In two AGI games (King's Quest 1 and 2) with machine type set to Tandy, I am experiencing sound distortion that does not occur in the 32 bit 0.74 build with equivalent settings.

Using King's Quest II as the reference point, I recorded two sound samples to illustrate the problem.

There is a high pitched distortion at the start of the musical sequence, and at the end of the sample I have included ocean wave sounds from the first scene. As you will hear, the wave sound in the 64 bit build is completely distorted, whereas it sounds normal in the 32 bit build.

SVN DOSBox 64 bit build:

http://userweb.eftel.com/~almeath/mac/kq2_dosbox64.mp3

0.74 DOSBox 32 bit build:

http://userweb.eftel.com/~almeath/mac/kq2_dosbox32.mp3

This seems to indicate that compiling in 64 bit is breaking something in the Tandy sound emulation. The weird thing is that it only affects two AGI games, as I own most of the other Sierra AGI games and the rest seem work normally in 64 bit.

It makes no difference if I use the dynamic, normal or simple core. I also tried changing the output from 22050 up to 49716 and that only makes the sound less "noisy" but it does not affect the distortion issue.

DOSBox SVN for macOS (x86-64) - customized with Munt MT-32, Nuked OPL3, 3dfx Voodoo, Extra RAM, Large HD, and more.
https://github.com/almeath/DOSBox-SVN-64-bit-for-macOS

Reply 1 of 9, by Dominus

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On IRC Qbix brought up a good point:
The Tandy core changed in SVN, so comparing to 0.74 might not be the best test case. My built also includes the 32bit arch. In Finder right click on my app, select "get info" and in the info screen of my app, click "open in 32-bit mode". Then it should run in 32bit when you start it (check in Activity Monitor). After that can you test again, so we know whether it is the arch or more likely the tandy core.
Tandy 3 Voice missing a channel in SVN is the relevant thread about that.

Windows 3.1x guide for DOSBox
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DOSBox SVN snapshot for macOS (10.4-11.x ppc/intel 32/64bit) notarized for gatekeeper

Reply 2 of 9, by almeath

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I tried your suggestion, and I can confirm that the issue occurs in both 32 bit and 64 bit mode in the SVN.

For testing purposes, is it possible to get 0.74 to compile in 64 bit? Or does that only work on the SVN?

DOSBox SVN for macOS (x86-64) - customized with Munt MT-32, Nuked OPL3, 3dfx Voodoo, Extra RAM, Large HD, and more.
https://github.com/almeath/DOSBox-SVN-64-bit-for-macOS

Reply 3 of 9, by Dominus

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lock stock 0.74 might have big problems in 64bit, at least in dynamic core. BUT if it already happens in 32bit on SVN then the arches are really not likely to be the culprit

Windows 3.1x guide for DOSBox
60 seconds guide to DOSBox
DOSBox SVN snapshot for macOS (10.4-11.x ppc/intel 32/64bit) notarized for gatekeeper

Reply 4 of 9, by Qbix

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It might be better to focus on trying to get the tandy sound fixed. I kinda stopped on it, in the hopes of getting comfirmations that the changes in that thread fix the problems.
but now that I have a second game with problems. I can take a look again at it. As with only one test case it is kinda difficult to make such changes.

Water flows down the stream
How to ask questions the smart way!

Reply 6 of 9, by almeath

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I can confirm that the issue is now fixed in the latest SVN with both King's Quest 1 and 2 (v2.1). My sincere thanks to Qbix and any others who assisted in addressing the bug.

DOSBox SVN for macOS (x86-64) - customized with Munt MT-32, Nuked OPL3, 3dfx Voodoo, Extra RAM, Large HD, and more.
https://github.com/almeath/DOSBox-SVN-64-bit-for-macOS

Reply 7 of 9, by doscodger

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I know this is months late, but I just noticed this bug in 0.74-2 in the Darwin's Arena game. The bug is not there in 0.74 and earlier versions, at least not on my system, which is 64 bit. I am going to poke around with some of the recent SVN builds and see what I can find out.

Reply 8 of 9, by Qbix

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0.74-2 should be fine, so maybe there is a different bug ? Or I am remembering things wrong, that is also possible

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Reply 9 of 9, by doscodger

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It may a different bug, bug similar. It sounds similar to what almeath described in the first post.

So far the only Tandy game affected is Darwin's Arena, which was compiled in QuickBASIC using assembly routines by a guy named Joe Albrecht to access the Tandy sound and graphics modes. Only one other game (Trek 1000) and a few demos were made using these apps, to my knowledge. So it may be a bug unique to these.

Just my rotten luck, as there was no problem in 0.74 or earlier versions. No other affects I can see or hear, the game runs as usual if the user chooses no sound. I'm going to test out those other programs to see what I can learn.