Hi there! Please don't worry, there's a way.

Sound support works if there is any kind of Sound Blaster compatibility available on DOS.
Some PCI soundcards have DOS drivers.

Once there's SB compatibility, you can use Sound Blaster drivers that ship with Windows.
Control Panel -> Drivers -> Add drivers -> Sound Blaster 1.5
Drivers for [MCI] should also be installed same way.

Graphics. You can use a generic Super VGA driver.
It uses VESA VBE if the GPU is unknown to the driver (too new).
The driver package is called svga256.zip, I believe.
WfW 3.11 already ships with that driver set.

Edit: I did a quock search. Here's the driver I meant: https://archive.org/details/Windows3.1256ColorDisplayDriver

There's also a patch for it, to adjust it for VMs.
The unaltered driver should already work, though.

Thank you. Now about the settings for the sound card?

Harry Potter wrote on 2024-01-09, 12:42:

Thank you. Now about the settings for the sound card?

Hi. The standard settings for a Sound Blaster or Sound Blaster Pro are Port 220h, IRQ 5 (or 7) and DMA 1.

16-Bit Sound Blaster also use High DMA 5 in addition.

But 16-Bit drivers aren't included in Windows 3.1x.
They must be downloaded separately.
Maybe have a look at Vogons drivers site.

But please note, there are different versions of the SB16 driver.
The earlier ones are still capable to run on Standard-Mode (286+), for example.

Anyway, it's just a matter of experience.
With a little bit of trial & error, someone figures out quickly.

Some PCI soundcards cards from the mid-90s also ship with special Windows 3.1 drivers,
so Sound Blaster compatibility isn't required.

Edit: The BLASTER variable, I forgot.

SB1:
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T1

SB1.5:
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T2

SB2:
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T3

SB Pro 1 (rare, 2x OPL2):
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T4

SB Pro 2 (has OPL3):
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T5

SB16:
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T6 P330 H5

https://dos.fandom.com/wiki/BLASTER_Variable

Thank you. Maybe I'll try different settings in some DOS games to figure out the right figures. 😀

Jo22 wrote on 2024-01-09, 12:38:

Sound support works if there is any kind of Sound Blaster compatibility available on DOS.
Some PCI soundcards have DOS drivers.

Ehhh.. I wish that was true. My YMF744 PCI card's DOS drivers do not enable Win3.1 to output sound whether I use its internal SB1.5 driver or if I install Creative SBPro Win3.1 drivers. It seems Win3.1 bypasses the port handlers installed by YMF DOS drivers. At least it does so in 386 mode (couldn't test standard mode).

wbahnassi wrote on 2024-01-09, 16:42:

Jo22 wrote on 2024-01-09, 12:38:

Sound support works if there is any kind of Sound Blaster compatibility available on DOS.
Some PCI soundcards have DOS drivers.

Ehhh.. I wish that was true. My YMF744 PCI card's DOS drivers do not enable Win3.1 to output sound whether I use its internal SB1.5 driver or if I install Creative SBPro Win3.1 drivers. It seems Win3.1 bypasses the port handlers installed by YMF DOS drivers. At least it does so in 386 mode (couldn't test standard mode).

Ah, those YMF cards! They seem to be popular these days. They have a real OPL3, but SB Pro compatibility is ..emulated? 🤷‍♂️
I don't have one for testing at hand right now, unfortunately. 🙁
From what I've found online, an SB-Link cable can increase Sound Blaster compatibility. YMF744 using SB-Link Oddity?

That being said, your objection is justified. 🙂👍
There are indeed some cards that don't work so easily with the bundled Windows 3.1 drivers.
I haven't thought about the YMF cards, for example.
I think I've experimented with an Ensoniq Audio PCI, some CMI card and a TT Solo card on Windows 3.1x at some point.
But my memory is a bit sketchy here. Please double check.

I suppose that sound cards that work with DOS4GW games (Protected-Mode Extender games) do also work with Windows 3.1x.

Another idea is to try out earlier Windows drivers, maybe. Say those that are available to Windows 3.0 MME.
If Windows 3.0 MME and its sound drivers do work, an upgrade to Windows 3.1 could be performed.
It's just an idea. Maybe there's not much of a difference, not sure. 🤷‍♂️

Maybe someone on the forum has some experience with this.
Maybe there's some sort of chart that covers Windows 3.1 compatibility.

PS: SNDBLST.DLL seems to work in Real-Mode, as well. So it might be more friendly torwards Sound Blaster emulation in general.
However, only a few games and applications do support it.
It was the original way of talking to Sound Blasters, way back in the Windows 3.0 days.

Edit: We discussed that DLL a little bit over here: Adventures with Windows 3.0

User Cloudschatze had mentioned quite a few titles that work with the DLL.
The application "Mathematica" seems to support it, too, according to the screenshot that user Grzyb had posted.

Edit: Just checked. I once got an Audio PCI working.
It has Windows 3.1x drivers. Though Installation might be a bit finicky.
Re: PCI Sound card for Windows 3.XX & Dos 6.2X

Edit: These are just some tips, I'm not without faults either.
It's been years since I've tinkered with these things.