Interesting.

But I have to add: Hooked up a system with an Aureal Vortex 2 Soundcard. SBPro+MPU emulation TSR was loaded and verified to function in 'safe mode dos prompt'. Then run Speedsys.exe or V86.exe which are supposed to detect protected mode and tell me. But they just run !? (allthough V86.exe gives an exception message too)

I was using a Yamaha YMF718 along with a Roland MT-32 and I was unable to get SoftMPU to load.

Is there no support for this soundcard?

Also a CT1750 alongside a Roland MT-32 was plagued with constant issues with and without SoftMPU.

(486DX2-66)
CT1750+Roland MT32+SoftMPU
Wing Commander 1 (working)
Wing Commander 2 (working but crashes with speech in the intro)
Ultima Underworld (not working) starts sending midi message then fails to load.
Ultima Underworld 2 (not working) starts sending midi messages then fails to load
Monkey Island (working)
Ultima 6 ( working)

CT2940+Roland MT32+SoftMPU
Wing Commander 1 (working)
Wing Commander 2 (working but crashes with speech in the intro)
Ultima Underworld (working)
Ultima Underworld 2(working)
Monkey Island(working)
Ultima 6 (working)

There is already a patch for Ultima 6 to support MT32 running on a sound blaster midi interface. I had that installed when I tested SoftMPU.

Ok I spent some time tinkering.

SoftMPU does support Yamaha YMF718 sound card
I seem to be having issues with the WSS I/O setting in setupsa where sometimes softmpu does not detect it.
A warm reboot will not fix it. I need to cold boot to fix this.

SoftMPU is a marvel. It seems to support old sierra titles that I cant get working normally with Roland MT-32

Yamaha YMF718+Roland MT32+SoftMPU
Quest for Glory 1 EGA (working)
Police Quest 2 (working)
Space Quest 3 (working)
King Quest 1 (working)
Wing Commander 2 (working but crash in the intro during speech)

Yep YMF718 should work fine, I have one here 😀

SoftMPU 1.4 is pretty much ready to go, it fixes the crash with Wing Commander II and adds better version detection for EMM386. I'll hopefully get it released at the weekend.

So what exactly does it do bjt?

It seems to not only allow you to play games that require intelligent mode MPU401 but also supports a Roland Device working off the Sound Blaster joystick port/midi port?

bjt. Why am I having so many issues with CT1750 + Roland MT32 + SoftMPU?

All it does is emulate an intelligent mode MPU interface on top of a SB compatible with UART-only MPU interface, nothing more.

Have posted in your other thread re CT1750.

I played a few old games last night without having to patch them with a SB-MT32 patch thanks for softMPU

Yamaha YMF718+Roland MT32+SoftMPU
Conquest of Camelot (working)
Kings Quest 6 (working)
Quest for Glory 4 (working)
Castle of Doctor Brain 2(working)
Ultima Worlds: Martian Dreams (working)
Ultima Worlds: Savage Empire (working)
Wing Commander: Academy (working)

I am finding that after loading a few particular games. Maybe the IRQ is being held up even after I quit the software and I have to cold boot to get the roland to work again. Not sure if its MT-32 or SoftMPU related.

Confirmation with SoftMPU 0.51

Yamaha YMF718+Roland MT32+SoftmMPU 0.51

Wing Commander 2(working)-intro working.

Is there any chance you will continue to update 0.51?

Im using a DX2-66

Version 1.4 is out and fixes Wing Commander II.

No more updates for 0.51, it's a different codebase to the later versions. I just put it up here for those with slower 386 machines, you will be fine with any 486. 1.4 supports all the games that 0.51 does (and many more).

bjt wrote:

Version 1.4 is out and fixes Wing Commander II.

Thanks for all the hard work. If I get time, I might test a few more PCI cards...

Registered here just to say this: test SoftMPU with Texture sequencer from http://www.magneticmusic.com/downloads.html

Last time I checked it worked in DOSBox but not 100%, metronome feature didn't work and recording would freeze it.

I expect SoftMPU will have the same issues as it's based on the DOSBox code. I think there is a patch for DOSBox that improves recording support, but it's not made it into the main codebase yet.

Wanted to give a quick testing update now 1.5 is out. We are in pretty good shape with 52 games and 14 soundcards confirmed working.
Compatibility lists here: http://github.com/bjt42/softmpu/wiki

There are a few games left to test if anyone has them:

Martian Memorandum - Version 1.0
Thexder II - Version 1.0
Zeliard - Version 1.0
Princess Maker

Also a few sound chipsets left to test:

Any ESS ISA chipset
Dream/Atmel SAM9233/SAM9203
C-Media ASC-9308/CMI8328/CMI8330
Avance Logic ALS Series
Logitech SoundManWave (MV JAZZ 16)

How forgetful I am. I have tried these weeks ago on my CT2940 Blaster and AWE32:

Martian Memorandum - OK with SoftMPU 1.x
Zeliard - OK with SoftMPU 1.x
Thexder II - also OK. This one also has a music player accessible from main menu, plays all tracks without a hitch.

....and no, I would not touch that pinkish girly thingie with a 10 feet pole 😀

Awesome. Did you confirm the opposite e.g. they didn't work without SoftMPU?

I only ask because the later versions of these games don't need intelligent mode at all.

Zeliard v1.0x and v1.208 will surely fail without SoftMPU.

The other two needs further proof - can someone pin down the correct executable file sizes for them ? Seems I have Thexder 2.0 only (although in 3! flavours) and I cannot find the version info in mm.exe.

Afraid I can't help with working out the versions, but if you load the game without SoftMPU and don't get music that's good enough for me to add it to the list.

Thexder II v.1.0 and Martian Memorandum v1.0 is pending, then. (Whatever versions I have of these games, they do not need intelligent mode.)

Thanks, understood!

To sum up other people's posts with game testing:

I missed the post that confirmed that early (1.0?) versions of:
A-10 Tank Killer
Death Gate
Mechwarrior
did or did not require intelligent mode and/or worked without SoftMPU.

And you're still looking for:
Martian Memorandum - Version 1.0
Thexder II - Version 1.0
Princess Maker 1

Otherwise, looks like this thread resulted in adding the following to Great Hierophant's list:
A-Train
Elvira II
Flashback
Future Wars
Might and Magic III
Operation Stealth
Populous
Sensible Soccer
Super Space Invaders

PS. Great Hierophant had one more on his list that I didn't see debunked: Cruise for a Corpse?

A-10 Tank Killer 1.0 and Cruise for a Corpse require intelligent mode and work with SoftMPU.
Death Gate and Mechwarrior don't need intelligent mode (at least the versions I have).