VOGONS


First post, by robbo007

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Hello all,

i have downloaded the latest version of dosbox for OSX. I can get the midi working fine in the old sierra games but when I configure the game to use a soundblaster it does not seem to work??

I get the following error:

Unable to Initialize your music hardware.

Here's my dosbox.conf

[sdl]
#fullscreen -- Start dosbox directly in fullscreen.
# fulldouble -- Use double buffering in fullscreen.
# fullfixed -- Don't resize the screen when in fullscreen.
# fullresolution -- What resolution to use for fullscreen, use together with fullfixed.
# output -- What to use for output: surface,overlay.
# hwscale -- Extra scaling of window if the output device supports hardware scaling.
# autolock -- Mouse will automatically lock, if you click on the screen.
# sensitiviy -- Mouse sensitivity.
# waitonerror -- Wait before closing the console if dosbox has an error.
# priority -- Priority levels for dosbox: lower,normal,higher,highest.
# Second entry behind the comma is for when dosbox is not focused/minimized.
# mapperfile -- File used to load/save the key/event mappings from.
# usescancodes -- Avoid usage of symkeys, might not work on all operating systems.

fullscreen=true
fulldouble=false
fullfixed=false
fullresolution=640x480
output=surface
hwscale=1.00
autolock=true
sensitivity=100
waitonerror=true
priority=higher,normal
mapperfile=mapper.txt
usescancodes=false

[dosbox]
# language -- Select another language file.
# memsize -- Amount of memory dosbox has in megabytes.
# machine -- The type of machine tries to emulate:hercules,cga,tandy,vga.
# captures -- Directory where things like wave,midi,screenshot get captured.

language=
machine=vga
captures=capture
memsize=32

[render]
# frameskip -- How many frames dosbox skips before drawing one.
# aspect -- Do aspect correction.
# scaler -- Scaler used to enlarge/enhance low resolution modes.
# Supported are none,normal2x,advmame2x,advmame3x,advinterp2x,interp2x,tv2x.

frameskip=6
aspect=false
scaler=advmame2x

[cpu]
# core -- CPU Core used in emulation: simple,normal,full.
# cycles -- Amount of instructions dosbox tries to emulate each millisecond.
# Setting this higher than your machine can handle is bad!
# cycleup -- Amount of cycles to increase/decrease with keycombo.
# cycledown Setting it lower than 100 will be a percentage.

core=auto
cycles=22050
cycleup=2048
cycledown=10

[mixer]
# nosound -- Enable silent mode, sound is still emulated though.
# rate -- Mixer sample rate, setting any devices higher than this will
# probably lower their sound quality.
# blocksize -- Mixer block size, larger blocks might help sound stuttering
# but sound will also be more lagged.
# prebuffer -- How many milliseconds of data to keep on top of the blocksize.

nosound=false
rate=44100
blocksize=2048
prebuffer=10

[midi]
# mpu401 -- Enable MPU-401 Emulation.
# intelligent -- Operate in Intelligent mode.
# device -- Device that will receive the MIDI data from MPU-401.
# This can be default,alsa,oss,win32,coreaudio,none.
# config -- Special configuration options for the device. In Windows put
# the id of the device you want to use. See README for details.

mpu401=true
intelligent=true
device=coremidi
config=

[sblaster]
# type -- Type of sblaster to emulate:none,sb1,sb2,sbpro1,sbpro2,sb16.
# base,irq,dma,hdma -- The IO/IRQ/DMA/High DMA address of the soundblaster.
# mixer -- Allow the soundblaster mixer to modify the dosbox mixer.
# oplmode -- Type of OPL emulation: auto,cms,opl2,dualopl2,opl3.
# On auto the mode is determined by sblaster type.
# oplrate -- Sample rate of OPL music emulation.

type=sb16
base=220
irq=7
dma=1
hdma=5
mixer=true
oplmode=auto
oplrate=22050

[gus]
# gus -- Enable the Gravis Ultrasound emulation.
# base,irq1,irq2,dma1,dma2 -- The IO/IRQ/DMA addresses of the
# Gravis Ultrasound. (Same IRQ's and DMA's are OK.)
# rate -- Sample rate of Ultrasound emulation.
# ultradir -- Path to Ultrasound directory. In this directory
# there should be a MIDI directory that contains
# the patch files for GUS playback. Patch sets used
# with Timidity should work fine.

gus=true
rate=22050
base=240
irq1=5
irq2=5
dma1=3
dma2=3
ultradir=C:\ULTRASND

[speaker]
# pcspeaker -- Enable PC-Speaker emulation.
# pcrate -- Sample rate of the PC-Speaker sound generation.
# tandy -- Enable Tandy Sound System emulation (off,on,auto).
# For auto Tandysound emulation is present only if machine is set to tandy.
# tandyrate -- Sample rate of the Tandy 3-Voice generation.
# disney -- Enable Disney Sound Source emulation.

pcspeaker=true
pcrate=22050
tandy=auto
tandyrate=22050
disney=true

[bios]
# joysticktype -- Type of joystick to emulate: none, 2axis, 4axis,
# fcs (Thrustmaster) ,ch (CH Flightstick).
# none disables joystick emulation.
# 2axis is the default and supports two joysticks.

joysticktype=2axis

[serial]
# serial1-4 -- set type of device connected to com port.
# Can be disabled, dummy, modem, directserial.
# Additional parameters must be in the same line in the form of
# parameter:value. Parameters for all types are irq, startbps, bytesize,
# stopbits, parity (all optional).
# for directserial: realport (required).
# for modem: listenport (optional).

# serial1=modem
# serial2=dummy
serial3=disabled
serial4=disabled

[dos]
# xms -- Enable XMS support.
# ems -- Enable EMS support.
# umb -- Enable UMB support (false,true,max).

xms=true
ems=true
umb=true

[ipx]
# ipx -- Enable ipx over UDP/IP emulation.

ipx=false

[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.
mount d /Users/rcraig/games/sq6/ -t cdrom -usecd 0 -ioctl -label SQ6
mount c /Users/rcraig/games
c:

Reply 1 of 12, by Qbix

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unless you have symlinked /Users/rcraig/games/sq6/ to /Volumes/SQ6 you can drop the -ioctl and -usecd 0 flags.

I think you should set the cycles back to auto or at least to a lower value.
Soundblaster detection routines don't work at high speed.

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

Reply 2 of 12, by robbo007

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Thanks for the reply. That seemed to work changing the cycles to "auto" Not sure how SQ6 will play though. I'll have to play with the settings.

Another couple of questions if I may.

Does dosbox for mac emulate the Roland MT-32? Or is it using another type of general MIDI emulation?

Not sure if you have noticed, some midi instruments on the Sierra games seem to get stuck when you change screens. You can hear the instrument playing over the top of the music. Is this normal dosbox behavior? Or problems with the coding on the Sierra games?

Thanks,

Rob

Reply 4 of 12, by MiniMax

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*** Moved ***

DOSBox 60 seconds guide | How to ask questions
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Reply 5 of 12, by IIGS_User

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robbo007 wrote:

Unable to Initialize your music hardware.

There must be a reason for this err msg, because it shows also when using SoftPC or Virtual PC. 😮
I should try this game in DOSBox, too...

Klimawandel.

Reply 8 of 12, by collector

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Unkillable Cat wrote:

And a solution to some of that problem can be found here.

No, those patches are for game scripting timer issues. This is a well known timer bug with some of the Sierra SoundBlaster drivers. It is a problem with the hardware detection routine of the driver. It can be solved with the GOSiERRA patch or simply lowering the cycles that the game starts at. If higher cycles are desired, it can be raised after the driver has initialized. A similar work around used to be suggested by Sierra by using the old turbo switch.

Reply 10 of 12, by collector

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Unkillable Cat wrote:

Oh, right. Mixed those two up. Silly me. Anyways, there's nothing wrong with having both the GoSierra patch and these timer patches, is there?

No, but they are two different issues. NewRisingSun has patches for a handful of Sierra games, but not all that have speed issues. anyone playing the Sierra games that NRS has made patches for should apply them.

Reply 11 of 12, by Sladi

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Hi!

I didn' want to creat a new thread but I'd like to know how to enable General Midi in Sierra games if possible. I'm not sure which Larry games actually support General Midi.
I bought one of hthe Larry collection boxes.

Regards,
Sladi

Reply 12 of 12, by collector

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That is easy, but you should start a new thread for you problem, first, instead of hijacking an old, dead thread.

The Sierra Help Pages -- New Sierra Game Installers -- Sierra Game Patches -- New Non-Sierra Game Installers