excellent job gathering all the info/drivers Akuma !

Searching through my games directory (fgrep -i -r ct-voice.drv), a few other games that seem to need CT-VOICE.DRV:

- Caesar - Impressions Games - 1992 (CSR.EXE references it)
- Omnitrend's Paladin II - Impressions Games - 1992 (PALADIN2.EXE references it)
- Moonstone: A Hard Days Knight - Mindscape - 1992 (MAIN.EXE references it)
- The Wild Science Arcade - Binary Zoo Software - 1993 (MAIN.EXE references it)
- Epic - Ocean Software - 1992 (START.EXE and GAME.DAT references it)

Probably a red haring:
- Around the world in 80 days - EA - 1994 (CREATIVE/SB16DOSD.PVL on the CD references it)

keropi wrote on 2020-09-20, 14:13:

excellent job gathering all the info/drivers Akuma !

Appreciate it 😁

_Rob wrote on 2020-09-20, 16:04:

Searching through my games directory (fgrep -i -r ct-voice.drv), a few other games that seem to need CT-VOICE.DRV: […]
Show full quote

Searching through my games directory (fgrep -i -r ct-voice.drv), a few other games that seem to need CT-VOICE.DRV:

- Caesar - Impressions Games - 1992 (CSR.EXE references it)
- Omnitrend's Paladin II - Impressions Games - 1992 (PALADIN2.EXE references it)
- Moonstone: A Hard Days Knight - Mindscape - 1992 (MAIN.EXE references it)
- The Wild Science Arcade - Binary Zoo Software - 1993 (MAIN.EXE references it)
- Epic - Ocean Software - 1992 (START.EXE and GAME.DAT references it)

Probably a red haring:
- Around the world in 80 days - EA - 1994 (CREATIVE/SB16DOSD.PVL on the CD references it)

Thanks _Rob, I'll mark the last one with a note 😁

Hmm, where to put this thread? I think it might be good to put it in the DOSBox Guides forum. What do you think?

Thanks for collecting this!

Probably should be on vogons drivers as well either split into the Adlib and Creative Labs section with a identifiable name so it can be used on real PC and emulators or left as is in a new section.
It shouldn't be labeled specificically for DOSBox, see this too often for fixes that are listed as such giving the wrong impression.
May make sense to update the dosbox.com compatibility list.

Wow; super helpful roundup Akuma!
Thumbs up for ensuring that others may experience these games' audio as the authors intended some ~30 years ago.

Just to clarify:

On regular systems, where the SoundBlaster/AdLib/CMS drivers are installed,
these files are present/loaded.

In DOSBox they are not, because the card(s) are already initialized.
It is the game that expects one of these files being present/loaded,
and that requirement is targeted with this package.

Switching cards through 'sbtype' only requires loading/copying in a
different file.

On regular systems, switching cards requires all new drivers being
installed and that is more than this package provides.

Dominus wrote on 2020-09-20, 18:35:

Hmm, where to put this thread? I think it might be good to put it in the DOSBox Guides forum. What do you think?

Thanks for collecting this!

Sure, where-ever you think most people will look for it
Much appreciated 😁

krcroft wrote on 2020-09-20, 19:45:

Wow; super helpful roundup Akuma!
Thumbs up for ensuring that others many experience these games' audio as the authors intended some ~30 years ago.

Thanks 😁

I need to run sound.com to get Adlib music in Golden Axe (on a real machine in dos).

AvalonH wrote on 2020-09-22, 14:26:

I need to run sound.com to get Adlib music in Golden Axe (on a real machine in dos).

Which version ? and do you no sound when not run ?

AvalonH wrote on 2020-09-22, 14:26:

I need to run sound.com to get Adlib music in Golden Axe (on a real machine in dos).

Which version ? and do you get no sound when running it without loading 'sound.com' ?

I figured out the version numbering of CT-VOICE.DRV driver, so I will be updating that in the next release .

1ORIGINAL/SB1_0/CT-VOICE.DRV  20 02 03 0d 01         1.13
2ORIGINAL/SB1_0du/CT-VOICE.DRV  20 02 07 0e 01       1.14
3ORIGINAL/SB1_5/CT-VOICE.DRV  20 02 07 0e 01         1.14
4ORIGINAL/SB1_5du/CT-VOICE.DRV  20 02 07 0c 02       2.12
5ORIGINAL/SB2_0/CT-VOICE.DRV  20 02 07 0b 02         2.11
6ORIGINAL/SB2_0du/CT-VOICE.DRV  20 02 05 0c 02       2.12
7ORIGINAL/SBASP16/CT-VOICE.DRV  20 02 05 05 03       3.05
8ORIGINAL/SBAWE32/CT-VOICE.DRV  20 02 05 05 04       4.05
9ORIGINAL/SBPRO1_1993/CT-VOICE.DRV  20 02 05 0c 02   2.12
10ORIGINAL/SBPRO1/CT-VOICE.DRV  20 02 07 0c 02        2.12
11ORIGINAL/SBPRO2/CT-VOICE.DRV  20 02 07 0c 02        2.12
12ORIGINAL/SBPRO2du/CT-VOICE.DRV  20 02 05 0c 02      2.12

FYI, each CT-VOICE driver is programmed to only work with a specific model of SB, which it does by checking the DSP (chip) version on the card. So, I guess the numbers are baseport (220), irq (3,5,7), and DSP version.

Regarding "Spellcasting 101: Sorcerers Get All The Girls", I think that only applies to the diskette version. I have the version from "The lost adventures of legend" compilation CD, and I don't need to load SOUND.COM

When I run the games SETUP.EXE it gives me these options

But the manual of the disk version of the game indeed talks about loading SOUND.COM

Quick Start: Installation […]
Show full quote

Quick Start: Installation

If you are an experienced gamer using a hard disk, and if you are wise in
the ways of DOS, hard disks, and music cards, then do the following:

1) Make backup copies of the disks.
2) Make sure you have at least 3,870,000 bytes of free space on your
hard drive.
3) Insert System Disk #1 in drive "A" and type A: to set the default
drive. The type INSTALL to start the installation program and
follow the directions on the screen. (You need to use this install
program instead of just copying over all the files so that the
sound-effects files get decompressed).

4) If you have an AdLib Music Synthesizer Card be sure to run
SOUND.COM before starting the game.

5) If you have a mouse, be sure you have loaded the mouse driver.

6) Start the game by typing S101.

The game will automatically detect what kind of graphics card you have
(CGA, EGA, VGA, etc.) and it will default to the highest standard that it
finds. If you have an EGA of VGA card but wish to force the game to run
with CGA graphics, type S101 CGA.

If you have a Roland MT-32 (or compatible) sound module, start the game
with the command S101 MT32.

If you have an AdLib Music Synthesizer Card (and you have run SOUND.COM),
the game will automatically detect its presence and will default to it upon
start-up.

If the above makes no sense to you, or if it doesn't work, or if you do not
have a hard drive, or if you just like to read manuals, then please see the
Technical Information section starting on Page 29 for detailed installation
and start-up instructions.

ripsaw8080 wrote on 2020-09-23, 13:07:

FYI, each CT-VOICE driver is programmed to only work with a specific model of SB, which it does by checking the DSP (chip) version on the card. So, I guess the numbers are baseport (220), irq (3,5,7), and DSP version.

Yeah, the 30h-31h is word for the address, 32h for the irq, and 33h-34h for the driver version.
So the DSP version matches the driver version, do the SBPRO1 and SBPRO2 have the same DSP ? because their drivers are identical.

Some of CT-VOICE.DRV drivers eg SB 1.0 works also if sbtype=sb16 (DOSBox Magic?), but matching them to the sbtype makes more sense.

_Rob wrote on 2020-09-23, 13:16:

Regarding "Spellcasting 101: Sorcerers Get All The Girls", I think that only applies to the diskette version. I have the version […]
Show full quote

Regarding "Spellcasting 101: Sorcerers Get All The Girls", I think that only applies to the diskette version. I have the version from "The lost adventures of legend" compilation CD, and I don't need to load SOUND.COM

When I run the games SETUP.EXE it gives me these options
install_000.png

But the manual of the disk version of the game indeed talks about loading SOUND.COM

Quick Start: Installation […]
Show full quote

Quick Start: Installation

If you are an experienced gamer using a hard disk, and if you are wise in
the ways of DOS, hard disks, and music cards, then do the following:

1) Make backup copies of the disks.
2) Make sure you have at least 3,870,000 bytes of free space on your
hard drive.
3) Insert System Disk #1 in drive "A" and type A: to set the default
drive. The type INSTALL to start the installation program and
follow the directions on the screen. (You need to use this install
program instead of just copying over all the files so that the
sound-effects files get decompressed).

4) If you have an AdLib Music Synthesizer Card be sure to run
SOUND.COM before starting the game.

5) If you have a mouse, be sure you have loaded the mouse driver.

6) Start the game by typing S101.

The game will automatically detect what kind of graphics card you have
(CGA, EGA, VGA, etc.) and it will default to the highest standard that it
finds. If you have an EGA of VGA card but wish to force the game to run
with CGA graphics, type S101 CGA.

If you have a Roland MT-32 (or compatible) sound module, start the game
with the command S101 MT32.

If you have an AdLib Music Synthesizer Card (and you have run SOUND.COM),
the game will automatically detect its presence and will default to it upon
start-up.

If the above makes no sense to you, or if it doesn't work, or if you do not
have a hard drive, or if you just like to read manuals, then please see the
Technical Information section starting on Page 29 for detailed installation
and start-up instructions.

That would make sense, as the later versions (201, 301) did not seem to need it iirc.

Thanks _Rob, adding a note to the list.

@Calvero:

You submitted Street Fighter II to the list, after some testing I could get sound effects with:

• setting sbtype=sb16 in the conf (which it is by default)
• copying in the SB16ASP/CT-VOICE.DRV replacing the original 'SBDRIVER.DRV'
• making sure that the CT-VOICE.DRV was patched to irq7 (original was set to 5)

Also it's easy to test in the options menu, which makes this an excellent example 😁

Thank you very much!

Akuma wrote on 2020-09-23, 13:23:

Yeah, the 30h-31h is word for the address, 32h for the irq, and 33h-34h for the driver version. So the DSP version matches the […]
Show full quote

ripsaw8080 wrote on 2020-09-23, 13:07:

FYI, each CT-VOICE driver is programmed to only work with a specific model of SB, which it does by checking the DSP (chip) version on the card. So, I guess the numbers are baseport (220), irq (3,5,7), and DSP version.

Yeah, the 30h-31h is word for the address, 32h for the irq, and 33h-34h for the driver version.
So the DSP version matches the driver version, do the SBPRO1 and SBPRO2 have the same DSP ? because their drivers are identical.

Some of CT-VOICE.DRV drivers eg SB 1.0 works also if sbtype=sb16 (DOSBox Magic?), but matching them to the sbtype makes more sense.

It seems it's not the DSP version that you're looking at, it's just that DSP version 4.05 is typical of SB16, so I was misled. However, you will find the DSP version in the driver related to its test, and it may be a range of versions accepted rather than a single version. The earliest drivers may not have the DSP check, or they have in some cases been hacked to bypass the check, and an SB1 driver would be a good candidate for that because it will probably work with any later SB model.

A claim was made here that stereo playback is impacted if a different driver is used.

* - There are two versions of this driver, one dated February of 1992 and one dated October of 1992. The February 1992 driver (7,276 bytes) supports stereo playback, the October 1992 (7,191 bytes) driver does not.

I still have to verify that claim and find a game that actually has that functionality 😒

Tested Street Fighter II by switching sbtype's and drivers (that are patched to use IRQ7)
In conclusion: the SB1.0/SB1.5 v1.x drivers are the most compatible, and there was a bug when testing the SB16 driver.

Is there a way to create a table in the forum ?
(I feel like a bit of a moron pasting it in like that)