The Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro can be used in Windows 98 as the driver CD should have Windows 98 VXD and WDM drivers.

However, the DOS support on this card may only work in Real Mode DOS (through the "9x DOS Mode Support for Audigy 2" drivers) and not in a Windows 98 DOS Box.

Also, regarding the sound quality of this card in DOS (also applies to the Sound Blaster Live! and Sound Blaster PCI 512), the General MIDI support is provided by an Ensoniq AudioPCI wavetable file (.ecw, of which only 3 are known to exist - 2MB, 4MB and 8MB) and the Adlib FM support (OPL2/OPL3) is somewhat decent (for a Creative PCI sound card, there are Yamaha YMF7xx sound cards that can do this 100% accurately) but it can sound rather inaccurate at times.

In Windows 98, you can use SoundFonts for better General MIDI playback quality, but you cannot use them in DOS or a DOS Box using the VXD drivers (same applies for the Sound Blaster Live! and the Sound Blaster PCI 512). However, using the WDM drivers, they may work in a DOS Box (but this method has issues and you don't get FM emulation and SB16 digital sound support).

Overall, the Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro should be a decent card for use in Windows 98 and DOS.

Hi and thank you so much for replying, i will definitely try out those drivers so i can run in dos mode, and not dos box mode 😀

I have found it works very well in Dos, that is probably the latest cards creative made that still work in real mode Dos. I'm not sure if the Audigy 4 would work (it might?). Is the model SB360 on the card? If so the only reason I got the regular 2ZS (SB350) over that card was the platnium lacking the internal pins to add a gameport joystick.

The weakest part is OPL3 emulation and it needs emm386. I have found the DAC\WAV to be better than a SB16 for SFX in games that play digital samples etc. General Midi is decent enough with the 8MB waveset. You can also run SBEmixer.exe and tick a box to support MT32. It also sounds decent in games that don't use sysex. I have paired mine with a SB16 to use for it's OPL3 and disabled everything else on the SB16.

standtall007 wrote:

Hi and thank you so much for replying, i will definitely try out those drivers so i can run in dos mode, and not dos box mode 😀

In case you are wondering, here are a few clips of what this card sounds like under DOS (provided by member Kamerat):

Duke Nukem 3D theme song using the 2MB DEFAULT.ECW AudioPCI wavetable file:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q860vDZ5iY0E … Zavl15Hn3I/view

Duke Nukem 3D theme song using the Adlib FM OPL2/OPL3 emulation:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dbID9iBI_c7l … 0DilcCYVBT/view

Doom E1M1 and E1M2 using the Adlib FM OPL2/OPL3 emulation:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iUDgujdnENdq … 5LhGkzXISt/view

And a few Adlib Tracker sample songs:

RBFACTRY.A2M:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/11i63YsBEwihe … LMyC8U7_2i/view

ALLOYRUN.RAD:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1d4gou_n8IbmY … VF8vXzyGH1/view

WHLCHAIR.DFM:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Llg-B0EP6yV4 … 7WGE2LLG4p/view

Thanks guys i am looking forward to try trying it out now even more 😀 I only need to receive my sound card but the reason i asked this was because i had already ordered the Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro before asking in here, and i saw PhilsComputerLab on YouTube and he used a different ZS card which did not have the model number i got (the SB0360) i cannot remember on the top of my head which version he used in that video but that doesn't matter 😀 I am just so happy that i can use this card for my retro computer which runs windows 98 😀
Again thanks so much guys, you have really saved my behind so i don't have to buy yet another sound card 😀

One point I didn't mention, I cannot get the SB16 emulation component working in Win98 with the Audigy 2ZS. I have looked for solutions but can't seem to find any clear cut evidence if it is possible. It's ironic because getting the real-mode dos emulation working is easy.

I currently have the Audigy 1 / SB0090 and i cannot get the dos drivers to work properly. Every time i install them windows 98 won't start up properly, and i have tried to see if i can install the dos drivers in dos but it just says that it cannot install in dos mode.

Use the following driver for DOS (this one comes with the 2MB waveset):

http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?file … 383&menustate=0

Unzip it to a directory, read the info in the *.txt files . The only file you have to touch is the ctsyn.ini file to point to the folder you unzippped the file to. The IRQ, DMA , Midi port and OPL port are set in that file, leave them as they are.
Whenever you run sbeinit, it will create the set blaster line for you. Type 'SET' in DOS to display it after running sbeinit. You then have to run Audigy12.exe (it takes up no memory). After that run sbego.exe to test the sound is working. When everything is working you can run sbemixer.exe to change the wav/midi/cd volume levels.
The Dos drivers are completely independent of win98 (works with or without it installed), I use it on a system that only has Dos installed. This is the same Dos driver (sbeinit ver 5) for all versions from the Audigy-1 right up to the 2ZS platinum Pro.

Lastly download the 8MB waveset from:
http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fileid=181

extract the 7zip file and rename the file eapci8m.ecw to default.ecw. Then copy default.ecw in to the folder you extracted the Audigy Dos drivers in the first part. Also make sure in the ctsyn.ini file that the path with default.ecw in it points to the folder you extracted the dos drivers to.

The only program in the Audigy Dos drivers that I don't know what purpose it serves is Sbeload.exe.

Thank you so much for helping me out 😀 As soon as i get the Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro in my hands i will try to get it to work by following your instructions as close as i can 😀 You guys are really the best!

AvalonH wrote:

Use the following driver for DOS (this one comes with the 2MB waveset): […]
Show full quote

Use the following driver for DOS (this one comes with the 2MB waveset):

http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?file … 383&menustate=0

Unzip it to a directory, read the info in the *.txt files . The only file you have to touch is the ctsyn.ini file to point to the folder you unzippped the file to. The IRQ, DMA , Midi port and OPL port are set in that file, leave them as they are.
Whenever you run sbeinit, it will create the set blaster line for you. Type 'SET' in DOS to display it after running sbeinit. You then have to run Audigy12.exe (it takes up no memory). After that run sbego.exe to test the sound is working. When everything is working you can run sbemixer.exe to change the wav/midi/cd volume levels.
The Dos drivers are completely independent of win98 (works with or without it installed), I use it on a system that only has Dos installed. This is the same Dos driver (sbeinit ver 5) for all versions from the Audigy-1 right up to the 2ZS platinum Pro.

Lastly download the 8MB waveset from:
http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fileid=181

extract the 7zip file and rename the file eapci8m.ecw to default.ecw. Then copy default.ecw in to the folder you extracted the Audigy Dos drivers in the first part. Also make sure in the ctsyn.ini file that the path with default.ecw in it points to the folder you extracted the dos drivers to.

The only program in the Audigy Dos drivers that I don't know what purpose it serves is Sbeload.exe.

I have tried the top most link and downloaded the file, and when unpacking the file it gives me no ctsyn.ini, only a setup routine to install the drivers via a setup.exe file, so i don't know if you mean that i should run the setup file first and then look after the ctsyn inside the installed folder?

standtall007 wrote:

AvalonH wrote:

Use the following driver for DOS (this one comes with the 2MB waveset): […]
Show full quote

Use the following driver for DOS (this one comes with the 2MB waveset):

http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?file … 383&menustate=0

Unzip it to a directory, read the info in the *.txt files . The only file you have to touch is the ctsyn.ini file to point to the folder you unzippped the file to. The IRQ, DMA , Midi port and OPL port are set in that file, leave them as they are.
Whenever you run sbeinit, it will create the set blaster line for you. Type 'SET' in DOS to display it after running sbeinit. You then have to run Audigy12.exe (it takes up no memory). After that run sbego.exe to test the sound is working. When everything is working you can run sbemixer.exe to change the wav/midi/cd volume levels.
The Dos drivers are completely independent of win98 (works with or without it installed), I use it on a system that only has Dos installed. This is the same Dos driver (sbeinit ver 5) for all versions from the Audigy-1 right up to the 2ZS platinum Pro.

Lastly download the 8MB waveset from:
http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fileid=181

extract the 7zip file and rename the file eapci8m.ecw to default.ecw. Then copy default.ecw in to the folder you extracted the Audigy Dos drivers in the first part. Also make sure in the ctsyn.ini file that the path with default.ecw in it points to the folder you extracted the dos drivers to.

The only program in the Audigy Dos drivers that I don't know what purpose it serves is Sbeload.exe.

I have tried the top most link and downloaded the file, and when unpacking the file it gives me no ctsyn.ini, only a setup routine to install the drivers via a setup.exe file, so i don't know if you mean that i should run the setup file first and then look after the ctsyn inside the installed folder?

I messed up the first link, (windows setup files). Use this link instead: (contains the already installed files, including ctsyn.ini, just unzip to folder of choice)
http://www.mbudde.de/mp3player/files/emu10dos.zip
then follow the instructions as before and it should work.

Lets say you unzipped the above emu10dos.zip file to the path c:\AUDIGY2

You then need to add the following line at the end of your Autoexec.bat file

SET CTSYN=C:\AUDIGY2

Next open the ctsyn.ini file and change
Waveset=c:\AUDIGY2\DEFAULT.ECW

that should be it.