VOGONS


Reply 20 of 54, by The Serpant Rider

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I'm bit confused that some of PNP files that I downloaded aren't contain some files like Ultramid (I read through readme.txt but it doesn't tell exact version). Is GUS_complete necessary to download? Also, I tried to search through your web and others Mega-EM 3.12 but nothing.

The things that I have for now:
1. Pro Patches 150/160/161, Pro Patches 3, GUS0043
2. p20disk3 (ROM Update)
3. PNPV22B (DOS), PNPV22a (Win 98 SE)
4. SETROM4 & SETRAM (both DOS & Win 98 SE)

ОСЕНЬЮ

Когда сквозная паутина
Разносит нити ясных дней
И под окном у селянина
Далекий благовест слышней,

Мы не грустим, пугаясь снова
Дыханья близкого зимы,
А голос лета прожитого
Яснее понимаем мы.

Афанасий Фет, 1870

Reply 21 of 54, by The Serpant Rider

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Recently, I'm just go with Roland's & Sierra's MIDI synthesizer instead of Gravis Ultrasound PNP/Pro. I compared Roland's MIDI synthesizer with Gravis PNP/Pro and noticed that Roland has better sound quality & no clicking/popping issues unlike Gravis (I watched Phil's Doom Gravis sound card video and heard clicking/popping in some musics). I'm almost done with planning and here's my plans that uses LCD and CRT monitor.

  • Using LCD Monitor/Giving Up Gravis Ultrasound PNP/Pro

    Monitor: LG's High Resolution LCD Monitor That Supports 4:3 Aspect Ratio
    Speakers: Modern 7.1 Speakers
    Midi synthesizer: Roland MT-32 (Old), CM-32L, SC-55mkII/88PRO
    Keyboard & Mouse: Modern one
    Chassis: Lian-Li PC-8N
    MOBO: ASUS P3B-F Rev 1.04 With 2 ISA Slots
    Memory: Kingston SDRAM PC-133 1GB (four 256 MB sticks)
    PSU: ENERMAX EG465P-VE 24P 460W ATX Power Supply
    CPU: Pentium 3-S Tualatin 1.4Ghz 512Kb Pinmodded
    GPU: Voodoo 5 5500 AGP
    NIC: Intel PRO/100+ PCI Management Adapter
    HDD: 80GB Hitachi Deskstar IDE, 2 500GB Hitachi Deskstar IDE
    ODD: SONY DDU1615 Internal 16X DVD-ROM IDE
    FDD: SONY MPF920-Z 3.5 IDE/CU1 Internal, Teac FD-55GFR 5.25" 5-1/4 INTERNAL FLOPPY DISK DRIVE BEIGE
    Sound Card: Roland MPU-401AT ISA, Sound Blaster AWE 64 Gold ISA 32 MB, Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum EX PCI, Vortex 2 PCI
    Fans: GlacialTech Silent Breeze II/III, 2 Noctua NF-F12 industrialPPC-3000 PWM (w 2 NA-SAV2)
    Other Miscellaneous: PCI ATA-133 IDE Adapter Card, Socket 370 Slot 1 CPU, 5.25 & 3.5 Dual FDD Cable, 4-Pin 3-Wire Audio Cable CD/DVD-ROM drive to sound card, PS/2 Adapters For Keyboard & Mouse, 3.5mm Stereo Jack Socket to Twin 6.35mm 1/4 inch Mono Jack Plugs Adapter Cable, 3.5mm Stereo Jack Plug to 2 x 6.35mm Mono Audio Cable, SIMMConn Gold, 72-pin SIMM, Behringer Xenyx 1002
    OS: Windows 98 SE
  • Partition Scheme

    1st HDD: 80GB for Windows 98 SE (C:\, Label: Windows 98 SE)
    2nd HDD: 500GB for gaming & program (E:\, Label: Games & Programs)
    3rd HDD: 500GB for storage (F:\, Label: Storage)

P.S.

I changed some of the components about few minutes ago.

Last edited by The Serpant Rider on 2015-04-18, 12:43. Edited 34 times in total.

ОСЕНЬЮ

Когда сквозная паутина
Разносит нити ясных дней
И под окном у селянина
Далекий благовест слышней,

Мы не грустим, пугаясь снова
Дыханья близкого зимы,
А голос лета прожитого
Яснее понимаем мы.

Афанасий Фет, 1870

Reply 22 of 54, by alexanrs

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Quick question: are you going to set the FSB to 100MHz or 133MHz? If you use 100MHz, the Tualatin will run underclocked at ~ 1GHz, and if you ise 133MHz the AGP slot wil be OCed and you're using PC100 instead of PC133 SDRAM, so the memory will also be overclocked (and by a 33% margin).

Reply 23 of 54, by The Serpant Rider

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I'd like to go with 133MHz if it has benefit like overclocking (seems to be same as overclocking). The ASUS P3B-F Rev 1.04 uses PC100 memory though. Does it have problem with DOS games like Blood? What about good fans for Socket 370/chasis, 7.1 speakers, IDE PSU cables, partition scheme?

ОСЕНЬЮ

Когда сквозная паутина
Разносит нити ясных дней
И под окном у селянина
Далекий благовест слышней,

Мы не грустим, пугаясь снова
Дыханья близкого зимы,
А голос лета прожитого
Яснее понимаем мы.

Афанасий Фет, 1870

Reply 24 of 54, by alexanrs

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Get PC133 modules. There are no compatibility problems using faster SDRAM DIMMs than what the MoBo was intended to use, I'm using PC133 modules on a PC66 socket 7 computer and it works just fine (but @66MHz). If you plan on OCing the FSB to 133MHz you are better off getting faster (and possibly newer) memory sticks that are rated at that speed, as PC100 modules might simply not work correctly at that speed.

Oh, and beware you'll need to tweak you DOS startup files (probably using a boot menu) to get Blood running anyway, as it insists on using EMS if it detects that, and EMM386 is limited to provide only 32MB and Blood has stability issues with that. Running on XMS only will work fine, according to others (I have not tested myself).

Reply 25 of 54, by The Serpant Rider

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I'll add PC133 modules instead of PC100 (they're hard to find on either Ebay or Amazon) for better usage. Can you tell me the steps for Blood that you mentioned just now? What about IDE PSU cable, 7.1 speakers (mainly for audiophile), fans, NIC? Also, I'd like to know where can I find MPU-401AT?

ОСЕНЬЮ

Когда сквозная паутина
Разносит нити ясных дней
И под окном у селянина
Далекий благовест слышней,

Мы не грустим, пугаясь снова
Дыханья близкого зимы,
А голос лета прожитого
Яснее понимаем мы.

Афанасий Фет, 1870

Reply 26 of 54, by alexanrs

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For a NIC anything will work. Intel NICs are regarded as better but unless you want to use heavy networking while multitasking, I believe any Realtec PCI 10/100 NIC will be just fine.
Fans... well... they haven't really changed much. As long as your case has places to put them, you can put anything modern there, as long it is the same size (80mm fans should be a safe bet).
7.1 speakers... do any of those sound cards output to 7.1 surround? I know the AWE64 doesn't, and I believe that neither the Vortex2 does. That would work fine, but would also be a waste IMHO.
IDE PSU cables? If your PSU has them, they should be fine. Even modern PSUs still have molex connectors so I don't see the problem here.
And good luck with the MPU-401AT, I have no experience with that, but I know it is not easy to find.

Btw, about Blood, I do not have the game so all I'm saying is based on what I read on other threads. Basically it will use EMS memory if it detects it, and XMS only if there is no EMS available. The problem is, while EMM386 is limited to providing 32MB, XMS can go up to 4GB (minus memory reserved by hardware devices), and Blood WILL run out of memory when limited to 32MB. The trick here is to either use a different memory manager (more complex and you'll have to deal with possible compatibility issues) or just make sure to not have EMS enabled when playing Blood. One way to accomplish that is to have a startup menu so you can have multiple DOS configurations and select which one you want at startup. In your EMS-less configuration you need to NOT load EMM386 or load it with the NOEMS parameter (so it can still provide UMBs).

Reply 27 of 54, by The Serpant Rider

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Then, which speaker (except 7.1, I've noticed that it would be waste) & headphone should I use? If any NIC will work, I'm just stick with my pick up. The chasis fan will be used modern one (Noctua). What about CPU fan (it is socket specific though)? Since I'm able to find IDE PSU cables as you mentioned above, it won't be a problem any more. How do I tweak DOS start menu in order to have multiple DOS configurations (it's easier than using memory manager, I have seen on Phil's video "How to tweak DOS Menu w Multiple Configuration")?

P.S.
I'm also considered to add PCI Live! or Audigy! as well. Can you tell me which is better for me?
The link of video is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6HzttM6wS0

ОСЕНЬЮ

Когда сквозная паутина
Разносит нити ясных дней
И под окном у селянина
Далекий благовест слышней,

Мы не грустим, пугаясь снова
Дыханья близкого зимы,
А голос лета прожитого
Яснее понимаем мы.

Афанасий Фет, 1870

Reply 28 of 54, by alexanrs

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Honestly, you can use any speakers/headphones you like in general. Even your 7.1 system works. I love my Sennheiser RS 170 headphones, but it is down to personal preference. If you put an Audigy there you can go up to 5.1 so your 7.1 system might not be completly wasted. And sorry, I have no experience with non-stock socket 370 coolers, so you'll have to get someone else to answer.

You're gonna have to do some reading about multiple startup entries in DOS/Win9x to fully understand how it works. The short version is, you use special commands in CONFIG.SYS to create a menu, and once you choose an item, only the relevant section of CONFIG.SYS will be processed. AUTOEXEC.BAT is a bit more convoluted, though, as you'll have to test the %CONFIG% environment variable to find out what item was chosen. You'll probably want at least three startup entries: One for Windows, one for XMS+EMS and one for XMS-only. The Windows one will be the simplest of them all, and the other two will load all the DOS drivers you might need.

Also, Audigy! (sans Audigy SE/Value/LS) is better than Live! AFAIK

Reply 29 of 54, by The Serpant Rider

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Then, it's good to add Audigy for my rig. 😀 Which is better among three Audigy models for 7.1, Sound Blaster Audigy ES, Sound Blaster Audigy SE & Audigy Value, Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum EX (Platinum EX seems the best for me, supports Win98SE too w more options/stuffs)? I'm sure that link of the video navigates to the guide contains same meaning that you mentioned above (it's same as yours, contains how to configure the DOS menu e.g. XMS only). The last thing is, is my partition scheme doesn't have any problem on Win 98 SE?

ОСЕНЬЮ

Когда сквозная паутина
Разносит нити ясных дней
И под окном у селянина
Далекий благовест слышней,

Мы не грустим, пугаясь снова
Дыханья близкого зимы,
А голос лета прожитого
Яснее понимаем мы.

Афанасий Фет, 1870

Reply 30 of 54, by alexanrs

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Audigy ES and Platinum EX are almost the same thing. Avoid Audigy SE & Value (not hardware accelerated, EAX in software, etc.), a Live! is better if those two are your only options.
If you're using multiple HDDs (and none of them are over 137GB) Windows 98 should be fine. Might have a few glitches on SCANDISK/DEFRAG but those can be solved. Read this. Having over 600GB in a Win98 machine is overkill, though, but shouldn't cause issues AFAIK. I also believe that your 600W PSU should be fine with this many HDDs.
Also, read this for config menus, and this for a relevant entry in MSDOS.SYS you might want to modify (so Windows will only load if you pick an specific configuration in the menu).

Reply 31 of 54, by The Serpant Rider

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Thanks for guides 😀 I'm just go with the Audigy Platinum EX for 7.1 speakers. You mean BHDD to solve scan disk glitch (I've already downloaded)? In BHDD's manual, I need bootable floppy to install this patch for first installation. However, I don't have any floppy at all. Should I use Win98SE Floppy disk of Win98SE package?

ОСЕНЬЮ

Когда сквозная паутина
Разносит нити ясных дней
И под окном у селянина
Далекий благовест слышней,

Мы не грустим, пугаясь снова
Дыханья близкого зимы,
А голос лета прожитого
Яснее понимаем мы.

Афанасий Фет, 1870

Reply 32 of 54, by alexanrs

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None of your HDDs are over 137GB, so you don't really have to do all that. Just install Win98 as usual, extract the BHDD package and run _INSTALL.BAT (you might need to do this in DOS mode). Actually, you don't even NEED to install this for the system to work, but updating SCANDISK/DEFRAG/FORMAT/FDISK/etc. can prevent a few glitches.

Reply 33 of 54, by The Serpant Rider

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Lucky that I don't need to go for getting floppy disk 😀 But, if I'm using large HDD such as 500GB, how should I do this w BHDD (I'm also have ATADRV98.EXE that performs same as BHDD)? Can you find an autopatcher that has full of updates until the end of the support of the Win98SE?

ОСЕНЬЮ

Когда сквозная паутина
Разносит нити ясных дней
И под окном у селянина
Далекий благовест слышней,

Мы не грустим, пугаясь снова
Дыханья близкого зимы,
А голос лета прожитого
Яснее понимаем мы.

Афанасий Фет, 1870

Reply 34 of 54, by alexanrs

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Most patchers I'm aware of (Unnoficial Service Pack comes to mind) will not only install all known fixes, but also install unnoficial stuff. That MDGX site has everything you could possibly imagine about that. Also, if you were to use a bigger HDD, there are two possible scenarios:

1- Large HDD is the system one:
You can either create the system partition under the 137GB mark (120GB should be safe), leave the rest unnalocated, install Windows, install the patch and THEN create the other partitions. Or, if you want the system partition to be larger than 137GB, you can do as the README says, but you'll need a spare floppy. The spare floppy doesn't need to be bootable (you can boot with the Win9x one, or even boot from the CD, and swap the floppy after DOS finishes loading).

2- Large HDD isn't the system one:
Leave the large HDD unplugged, and only plug it into the IDE cable AFTER installing the patch.

Reply 35 of 54, by The Serpant Rider

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The autopatcher that I have are AP2007, AP2008UP from MDGx. For system drive, I'm just using smaller size drive (like 60GB) rather than bigger one so I'd go with second option. Do I need to do partitioning manually after I installed that patch (2nd option) and connect these drives? Is it okay to install DOS games, programs (include Win 98 SE/DOS) on other drive rather than C:\? I tested that on Win 7 w GOG games and didn't work properly. 🙁

ОСЕНЬЮ

Когда сквозная паутина
Разносит нити ясных дней
И под окном у селянина
Далекий благовест слышней,

Мы не грустим, пугаясь снова
Дыханья близкого зимы,
А голос лета прожитого
Яснее понимаем мы.

Афанасий Фет, 1870

Reply 36 of 54, by alexanrs

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Btw if the drives are partitioned already, plugging them into Win98 after the patch should be enough. Also, unless you plan on swapping your 120GB drives you do not have to worry about this. If they are not partitioned, FDISK should do the trick (or you can use something more elaborated like Partition Magic).

The whole installing on drives other than C should work fine on virtually all games and software. DOS games from GoG are using DOSBox, so the process is a bit more involved. To run them in Win98 you'll probably need to copy the actual game files and run them directly, and beware that the configuration files might be pointing to some specific path. Some games also feature patched files to work arround some of the original's limitations or compatibility issues (this is mostly for Win9x games, not DOS ones).

Reply 37 of 54, by The Serpant Rider

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Interesting! It's okay to add FAT32 partitioned HDD after the patch. Now I'm feel safe and much better 😀 How big do I need for DOS/Glide gaming, storage (approx 200GB?)? Actially, it's possible to use GOG games by extracting data and add it to mixed CD (that can be seen on Phil's video) except Blood (god, they don't have proper installation file when I changed game.gog into game.ins to extract installation data and noticed this issue, this makes me difficult to make CD that I have to move whole files to the drive). How to make conf files to stay in the specific drive rather than keep saving on C:\?

ОСЕНЬЮ

Когда сквозная паутина
Разносит нити ясных дней
И под окном у селянина
Далекий благовест слышней,

Мы не грустим, пугаясь снова
Дыханья близкого зимы,
А голос лета прожитого
Яснее понимаем мы.

Афанасий Фет, 1870

Reply 38 of 54, by alexanrs

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Honestly, the HDD size you need depends on how many games you plan on having installed at once. So there is no definitive answer.

Also, if you have the original media, installing on drives other than C: is pretty simple (just point the installer to another drive when informing the destination directory), but if you are extracting stuff from GoG you'll have to ask if someone has experience with the specific games you are having issues with (and I do not own Blood, so I can't help you with that).

Reply 39 of 54, by The Serpant Rider

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It seems up to me to choose HDD size 😀 Btw, I'd like to play others on the VOGONS include you with this rig but I don't know whether there's an antivirus to prevent infection like Malwarebytes for Win98SE. Any idea to protect the rig or forget multiplayer? I'm just downloaded Audigy Platinum Ex on the Creative Labs. Can you tell me which thing should I use for Win 98 SE (http://support.creative.com/Downloads/welcome.aspx)? Also, I noticed that Vortex 2 driver's latest version is 2050 whereas my version is 2048. Can you search it for me (I tried but get nothing)?

ОСЕНЬЮ

Когда сквозная паутина
Разносит нити ясных дней
И под окном у селянина
Далекий благовест слышней,

Мы не грустим, пугаясь снова
Дыханья близкого зимы,
А голос лета прожитого
Яснее понимаем мы.

Афанасий Фет, 1870