You don't! The only way to do this, is to load a soundfont through Windows and run the DOS game through the DOS Prompt in Windows.
Someone was working on a way to do this under DOS (since there is no reason for the lack of such an option). Apparently, AWEUTIL can load an .SBK file, however I have tried to replace the .SBK file and the system hanged.

I don't know what the difference between .SBK and .SF2 is, but I can tell you that the AWE cards fully support .SF2.

F2bnp thank you so much for the clarification!
It's a shame the lack of options in ms-dos for sound blaster... 🙁

F2bnp wrote:

You don't!

You do!
you use sf2load

F2LOAD is run from the command-line, and the syntax is
SF2LOAD [<option>] [<bank number> <soundfont filename>]

Available Options:
-h Help
-d <filename> Create a bat-file for loading all soundfonts currently
in memory. Use full pathnames.
-dist <filename> Create a bat-file for loading all soundfonts currently
in memory. Use filenames only (suitable for distribution)
-distm <filename> Create a bat-file (filename.bat) for loading all soundfonts
in memory. Use filenames only and include a line to
play the MIDI file (filename.mid) using mediaplayer
-c <bankno> Clear the specified soundbank (remove it from memory)
-C Clear all soundbanks currently in memory
-n <deviceno> Set AWE device number (for users with multiple cards)
-l List all soundfonts currently in memory
-L List all soundfonts currently in memory (with filenames)
-p <bankno> List all (melodic) presets in bank
-i Print information about the AWE card
-v Enable verbose mode
-nt Do not print the program title
-t Print the program title

you may also need the SoundFont Management System

Davros wrote:

F2bnp wrote:

You don't!

You do!
you use sf2load

No really, you don't. SF2LOAD is a Windows program.

The reason why it doesn't work under DOS is explained in this thread (read gerwin's post).

mp10 wrote:

I have some questions: […]
Show full quote

I have some questions:

1. How do I load a SoundFont bank in msdos? through the "aweutil"? Which command(s)?
2. Which the difference between .SBK and .SF2 soundfonts?
3. The Soundblaster AWE32 supports the .SF2 format?

Thank you

1. AWEUTIL loads synthgm.sbk, synthgs.sbk and synthmt.sbk respectively when emulating GM, GS and MT32 mode. You can replace synthgm.sbk with your bank. SF2 can be converted to SBK with Awave Studio. Use 'AWEUTIL /EM:GM' to start AWEUTIL in GM emulation mode.

Due to AWE32 architecture limitations AWEUTIL needs to be resident for soundfont to function. If CPU goes to protected mode, AWEUTIL will stop working or even freeze the system.

If you just want to play some MIDI file with some soundfont, you may use AWEPLAY by Guenther Klaming.

2. SBK was first, proprietary soundfont format version. SF2 is the second and it was opened to the public by Creative Tech. Thus, SF2 banks are ubiquitous, and there are very few SBK banks.

3. AWE32 does, but AWEUTIL doesn't.

Unfortunately i'm forced to migrate to the win95 to take all the advantages of my awe32 with expansion memory...
Thank you for the help!