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Can Soundblaster 16 work on Windows 3.1 on Standard mode?

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First post, by DOSfan1994

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I have been wanting to ask and know about Windows 3.1 and Soundblaster 16.

Do you know anyways to make Soundblaster 16 work on Windows 3.1 on Standard mode? Because everytime I try to use Windows 3.1 to get to play my DOS games from there I don't here the startup sound, I tried Creative midi in the audio software directory and it says the MCI is installed I mean when you are on Windows 3.1 modes it's installed. But when you try it on Standard mode it says it's not installed and can't play midi files. When I play a DOS game I can hear the sounds quite fine, but if I want to listen to a Audio CD or watch a MPEG file on XingMPEG the sounds don't play. I would like to know why I can't hear the sounds from Soundblaster 16 when I an using Windows 3.1 on standard mode. Is it the amount on conventional memory or is the hardware ram?

I would like to hear on how to solve this problem.

Reply 3 of 8, by Cyberdyne

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Multimedia drivers do not work in standard mode!

I am aroused about any X86 motherboard that has full functional ISA slot. I think i have problem. Not really into that original (Turbo) XT,286,386 and CGA/EGA stuff. So just a DOS nut.
PS. If I upload RAR, it is a 16-bit DOS RAR Version 2.50.

Reply 5 of 8, by Jo22

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Cyberdyne wrote:

Multimedia drivers do not work in standard mode!

They do, if the the manufacturer cares about (see SB 1.x drivers). Unfortunately, one like Creative didn't. +386 says the SB16 box..
The MediaVision Pro AudioSpectrum 16, for example, had its drivers fully functional in Standard Mode, too.

Same goes for graphics drivers. It's an urban myth that Standard Mode couldn't go beyond standard VGA.
Given the appropriate drivers, even Real-Mode Windows 2.x could do 1024x786 in 256 colours

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 6 of 8, by yawetaG

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DOSfan1994 wrote:

Ok can I delete this post now. I'll just wait to get more memory for my DOS/Windows 3.1 computer.

How much memory do you have now? AFAIK, enhanced mode should work on machines with as little as 2 Mb of RAM...

Reply 7 of 8, by Jo22

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yawetaG wrote:
DOSfan1994 wrote:

Ok can I delete this post now. I'll just wait to get more memory for my DOS/Windows 3.1 computer.

How much memory do you have now? AFAIK, enhanced mode should work on machines with as little as 2 Mb of RAM...

Yup, though I assume the Creative drivers are too fat to fly. Err, to fit.. 😁
Anyway, it's possible to overwrite auto-detection and force Enhanced Mode via Win /3.
(Strictly speaking, Windows 3.1 is running "enhanced" Standard Mode all the time on +386 machines.)

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 8 of 8, by Cloudschatze

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Apologies for the necro, but yes, using earlier drivers, a Sound Blaster 16 is fully-functional in a Standard Mode, Windows 3.1 environment.

I recently went through this exercise using a steam-powered 286 @ 10MHz system with a whopping 1MB of RAM. An SB16 w/CSP installed in the system's single (8-bit) ISA slot is primarily leveraged for MIDI and "16-bit" CTADPCM-compressed digital audio playback within Windows. Despite the obvious and not-so-obvious constraints, this works much better than it ought to.

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