Got it!
I reproduced your settings in my test PC and checked everything. I used the AWE64 Gold CD drivers under Win95 OSR2.5

To solve the problem, just edit C:\Windows\System.ini, and look for a line in [boot] section containing 'ctpnpscn.drv' , mine looks like this:

[boot]
drivers=mmsystem.dll power.drv ctpnpscn.drv

Then, remove ctpnpscn.drv from that line and save file. Reboot. Enjoy.

(ctpnpscn.drv is not needed for the card to work, it only adds CTPNP to dosstart.bat and SET BLASTER to autoexec.bat, so you can remove that entry safely)

Fantastic, thank you! I will try it this evening. I am curious how you discovered that the issue was ctpnpscn.drv in the system.ini file? I had previously looked through system.ini but nothing stood out to me. I did not suspect ctpnpscn.drv, so how did you know that was the culprit?

Yep! It was tricky. First I checked all the obvious, config/autoexec, dosstart/winstart, registry, ini files... then I centered in CT* or *PNP* related files/entries, because it was obvious it had something to do with that, and opened some files with an hex-editor looking for string references like BLASTER, etc... When I reached ctpnpscn.drv , some strings caught my attention:

'Creative PnP utility that will save PnP hardware settings to a file'
'\.CTPNP.CTCM.EXE.\.CTCM'
'BLASTER=.'
'\.DOSSTART.BAT.\.CONFIG.SYS.\.AUTOEXEC.BAT'
'/WIN95.BLASTER./WIN95./WIN95./BLASTER. /BLASTER=.SET BLASTER=. /BLASTER='

And some more...

Then I thought... that file must be the key. Checked where I saw it loaded, after checking registry and ini files again, I found it in system.ini, tried removing it from the [boot] section and voila! After rebooting, AUTOEXEC.BAT was not modified and CTCM line was not added to DOSSTART.BAT

That's pretty good thinking to look for CT* files and entries; that didn't occur to me. I have removed the ctpnpscn.drv entry from system.ini and the problem is now resolved. Thanks for your help in this regard. I've also ditched the Creative DOS drivers except for the mixer. Do you have any plans to have it so that the unisound.com file sets all inputs at the same level, or at least the line-in level with voice and midi volumes?

So back to testing the gameport card...

Both ports of the CH Gamecard III Automatic work fine once the AWE64Gold's gameport is disabled in, both, DOS and Windows. Your unisound.com file saved the day here, as it seems the Creative CTCU utility was not up to the task.

In dual controller mode, we are limited to just two gamepad buttons, which could be limiting if you are running something like Street Fighter II w/Mame. I then went on to test two GamePad Pro controllers. Both controllers work fine once the Gravis GrIP drivers are installed, but you can only use Port A on the CH Gamecard III Automatic (one controller plugs into the plug of the first controller).

On the other hand, when using the Gravis GrIP drivers, which are required for the Gamepad Pro, if the Gamepad Pro is not plugged in, or if a regular Gamepad is plugged in and you try to use the computer for Windows tasks, there is a very noticeable mouse pointer lag that comes and goes. So this is probably not a configuration suitable for a 5x86. Maybe it happens on PIII's as well, I don't know.

Another problem I noticed is that, although the GRiP drivers are supposed to work with regular Gamepad's, I was only able to use one Gamepad; if I plugged in two, only the one on Port B worked. I also tried to use one Gamepad Pro and one Gamepad, plugged in either the Gamepad Pro's through port, or on the CH Gamecard III's port B, but only the Gamepad Pro would work. So if you want to do 2-player, you must stick with two Gamepad Pros, otherwise, you must uninstall the GrIP drivers and use two Gamepad's with both the CH Gamecard III's ports. Who wants to uninstall drivers when changing gamepads?

I have since uninstalled the Gravis GrIP drivers and will stick with dual Gamepad's on this computer, since it has two gameports, and leave the Gamepad Pro's for a faster system with only a single gameport.