Little Big Adventure - sound problems in Windows 95 DOS mode \ VOGONS

Little Big Adventure - sound problems in Windows 95 DOS mode

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First post, by jimnastics

Posted on 2023-10-14, 14:37

jimnastics Offline

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Posts: 20
Joined: 2023-04-19, 09:30

Having a 'mare here with Little Big Adventure and hope you folks may have some ideas. I have a Pentium 75 machine with a Soundblaster 16 (CT2940).

I've restarted into DOS mode from Windows 95. installed LBA from CD as per norm, set up the sound as I believe it should be in setup.exe - I choose Soundblaster 16 for music and select 220 and Soundblaster 16 for sfx and 220 again, simple as. But when I play the game I get no speech and then the game crashes before loading the first level. I've tried various combos of choices (SB Pro, SB16 wave blaster etc.) and no joy. I've tried having the voice files on HDD, no luck.

Here is my config.sys:

1DEVICE=C:\Windows\HIMEM.SYS
2DOS=HIGH,UMB
3DEVICE=C:\Windows\EMM386.EXE NOEMS
4FILES=30
5STACKS=0,0
6BUFFERS=20
7DEVICEHIGH=C:\Windows\COMMAND\ANSI.SYS
8DEVICEHIGH=C:\VIDECDD.SYS /D:MSCD001

Dosstart.bat:

1SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T6 P330 H5
2SET PATH=C:\Windows;C:\
3LH C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /D:MSCD001
4LH C:\CTMOUSE.EXE /R2

If anyone can spot any problems in the above, or suggest settings or configs I can try, I'd be very grateful!

Last edited by jimnastics on 2023-10-14, 20:18. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 1 of 5, by Horun

Posted on 2023-10-14, 17:28

Horun Offline

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I see no outstanding problems with your configs. Did you read the Readme.txt and go thru the Troubleshooting ?
"5. Troubleshooting

Step A. Configuration
If you are having problems launching the game, make sure that LBA is configured properly.
If the problem remains, select VESA and no music and no sound FX and retry.
If the program gives you an error about VESA support, load the VESA driver provided with your SVGA card (see SVGA card manual).
If the problem is solved go to step F, if not, go to Step B with this minimal configuration."

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 2 of 5, by jimnastics

Posted on 2023-10-14, 19:08

jimnastics Offline

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Horun wrote on 2023-10-14, 17:28:
I see no outstanding problems with your configs. Did you read the Readme.txt and go thru the Troubleshooting ? "5. Troubleshoot […]
Show full quote

I see no outstanding problems with your configs. Did you read the Readme.txt and go thru the Troubleshooting ?
"5. Troubleshooting

Step A. Configuration
If you are having problems launching the game, make sure that LBA is configured properly.
If the problem remains, select VESA and no music and no sound FX and retry.
If the program gives you an error about VESA support, load the VESA driver provided with your SVGA card (see SVGA card manual).
If the problem is solved go to step F, if not, go to Step B with this minimal configuration."

Yes I've played around with turning things on and off. I can play the game fine without music and sfx (although I still get the CD streamed music, on the main menu for example). So there is definitely some issue here with sound. Thank god 13 year old me didn't get this problem in 94, I would have given up and missed out on a classic! It's very odd, I'm on a completely authentic P75 system here so no idea. Is it worth installing DOS as a bootable OS and trying straight through that? Or is Win95 DOS mode as good as doing that in the first place?

Reply 3 of 5, by Gmlb256

Posted on 2023-10-14, 19:13

Gmlb256 Offline

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I have noticed that VIDE-CDD has the /D parameter with OPTICAL while MSCDEX has it with MSCD001, try using the same device name (stick with MSCD001) when loading a CD driver in MS-DOS mode.

Reply 4 of 5, by jimnastics

Posted on 2023-10-14, 20:20

jimnastics Offline

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Rank: Newbie
Posts: 20
Joined: 2023-04-19, 09:30

Gmlb256 wrote on 2023-10-14, 19:13:

I have noticed that VIDE-CDD has the /D parameter with OPTICAL while MSCDEX has it with MSCD001, try using the same device name (stick with MSCD001) when loading a CD driver in MS-DOS mode.

Ah yes, sorry, I do have both already as MSCD001, that was an error in the first post. I've also tried switching to the oakcdrom driver, still the same issue. I've tested other games that use a combination of midi and wav, such as Simon the Sorcerer with full talkie voice, and they all work fine. Definitely something funky going on with LBA.

Reply 5 of 5, by feda

Posted on 2023-10-14, 22:28

feda Offline

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Posts: 219
Joined: 2010-07-04, 02:20

Does running it straight from 95 instead of rebooting into pure DOS give the same result?
Have you tried a different IRQ, DMA, card type in the set blaster variable?

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