I've changed the IRQ of my Sound Blaster Pro to IRQ7, but the games still don't work.
I've also noticed that the computer restarts itself if I try to play Alone in the Dark with "Sound Blaster Pro" selected as sound source, but I can play it perfectly if I instead select regular "Sound Blaster".

Hello Paddan1000, I can share my settings with you and maybe it gives you some ideas for a solution.

One question for you: What PC are you using? Specifically what processor and clock speed.

I installed 2 drivers:

1. The Sound Blaster Pro 2 drivers disks from Maliks archive (2 floppies)
2. SBP2UP.EXE which updated these drivers to the latest versions from the Creative support site

After this is done all your files will be in C:\SBPRO and there will be entries to AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS

Note that I manually added more options to SB-SET.EXE as this allows you set the mixer when you boot the machine. I have included a full list of commands right at the bottom.

Here are the relevant files from my CONFIG.SYS.SYS:

DEVICE=C:\SBPRO\DRV\CTSBPRO.SYS /UNIT=0 /BLASTER=A:220 I:7 D:1
DEVICE=C:\SBPRO\DRV\CTMMSYS.SYS

And here from my AUTOEXEC.BAT:

SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 T4 SET SOUND=C:\SBPRO SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E C:\SBPRO\SBP-SET.EXE /M:10,10 /VOC:15,15 /FM:15,15 /CD:0 /X […]
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SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 T4
SET SOUND=C:\SBPRO
SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E
C:\SBPRO\SBP-SET.EXE /M:10,10 /VOC:15,15 /FM:15,15 /CD:0 /X:0 /LINE:0,0 /DNFI:OFF

SB-SET.EXE options:

Boot screen after SET-SB.EXE is run through AUTOEXEC.BAT:

[/b]

@Mau1wurf1977

He's using a Sound Blaster Pro 1 CT1330A so the Sb Pro 2 drivers aren't the right "medicine"

@Paddan

Can you please post your autoexec.bat and config.sys? and list what hardware you use in this machine

True but I thought the methodology of installing the software might help him out.

Driver disks from Malik (or the ones he already has) + SB Pro update from Creative (SBPUP.EXE) which is available on Creatives support site. It's the same process...

And SBP-SET.EXE should also apply seeing he had some issues with the mixer settings. I find it easier to define the mixer settings in AUTOEXEC.BAT then you don't need to touch them again.

My computer is a Pentium 75 with 80 mb of RAM (64 usable) and MS-DOS 6.22. It says "BRAVO MS P/75" on the chassi.
It has a Soundblaster Pro 1, an Ensoniq Soundscape Elite and a Voyetra V4001 MIDI-interface to which a MT-32 is connected.
It has an IBM PS/2 keyboard and a no-name PS/2 optical mouse. One CD-drive, one 3,5 floppy drive and one 5,25 floppy drive.

TheSoudlaster Pro uses: Port 220, IRQ 7, DMA 1.
The Soundscape Elite uses: Port 340, IRQ 5 and 10, DMA 3.
The Voyetra V4001 uses: Port 330, IRQ 2/9.
The parallell port and one serial port is disabled. The other serial port uses IRQ4.

I decided to buy an external mixer instead of activating the internal mixer of the Soundblaster Pro.

Here are my config files.

config.sys
SHELL=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM C:\DOS /E:256 /P
DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS /testmem:off
DOS=HIGH,UMB
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE RAM 4096 I=B000-B7FF
COUNTRY=046,850,C:\DOS\COUNTRY.SYS
DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\DISPLAY.SYS CON=(EGA,,1)
FILES=40
BUFFERS=20
LASTDRIVE=H
STACKS=0,0
DEVICE=C:\DOS\SETVER.EXE
DEVICEHIGH=C:\DRIVERS\CDDRV\SBIDE.SYS /D:CD /P:170,15

autoexec.bat
SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 T2
SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E MODE:1
SET SNDSCAPE=C:\DRIVERS\SNDSCAPE
C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE /X
@ECHO OFF
PROMPT $p$g
PATH C:\DOS;C:\WINDOWS;C:\NC;C:\DRIVERS\SNDSCAPE;C:\BATCH
SET TEMP=C:\TEMP
@SET SOUND=C:\SBPRO
MODE CON CODEPAGE PREPARE=((850) C:\DOS\EGA.CPI)
MODE CON CODEPAGE SELECT=850
LH KEYB SV,,C:\DOS\KEYBOARD.SYS
LH C:\DRIVERS\CDDRV\MSCDEX.EXE /D:CD /L:G
LH C:\DRIVERS\MOUSE\CTMOUSE.EXE
LH C:\DRIVERS\SNDSCAPE\SSINIT.EXE /I

And I got the driver disks for Sound Blaster Pro 1 and installed them, but they didn't do much, except adding the SET BLASTER and SET SOUND variables to the autoexec.bat and creating a folder on the hard drive with programs and stuff, but no special drivers.

Maybe test the machine without the other 2 cards?

With alone in the dark it's possible that they had the Sound Blaster Pro 2 in mind. This is something you could test in DOSBox (it allows you to configure both modes).

Your issues might also be speed related. Try ICD.EXE which disables the internal cache (you can find it on various posts here on VOGONS).

I tried to configure Alone in the Dark in DosBox with both SB Pro 1 and SB Pro 2 emulated, but the options menu of the game let me choose the "Soundblaster Pro" option, only the common "Soundblaster" option is highlighted, thus selectable, in the menu.
At least the options menu detects the SB Pro on my DOS-computer, but the computer restarts itself if I try to start the game with "Soundblaster Pro" for sound effects.

I tried to start King's Quest IV at 10% speed, using Moslo. It still didn't work. However, it worked in DosBox with SB Pro 1 emulated.

I will try to remove the other cards as a last resort. The inside of the computer is really cramped and it's almost impossible to get something out without dissassembling the computer completely.

Hmm ok that's interesting...

I have an old Sound Blaster 1.5 and it doesn't give me speech in "Fate of Atlantis". Maybe these older cards just have issues with certain games...

I will try KQ4 (from the Steam KQ collection) and also Alone in the Dark on my SB Pro 2.0 and see what happens!

UPDATE:

I tried the Alone in the Dark Demo: http://www.dosgamesarchive.com/download/alone-in-the-dark/

SB Pro 2.0

Music: Works with setting SB and SB Pro
Effects: Works with SB DMA, SB no DMA. SB Pro option > Blinking cursor, machine locks up

ESS AudioDrive 1868F: Exact same behavior

Now the music isn't Stereo, so I doubt the effects would be Stereo. I wouldn't worry about it and just select Sound Blaster (DMA) for sound effects!

KQ4: Works but I don't know that game, so not sure where there is an example of a digital sound effect. More details required...

Ok. Thanks for testing it out. Then I guess it must be a bug in the game Alone in the Dark and not a problem with my computer or soundcard.

KQ4 probably doesn't support the Soundblaster, since it was released in 1987. If the Steam version does, support has been added later (is it a talkie version?).

I will try Fate of Atlantis if I can get my hands on it and see if I have problems with that game too. Otherwise, Quest for Glory 1 VGA and King's Quest IV are the only Sierra games that gives me an error message about not finding the selected sound source (but then most other Sierra games only features MIDI-music and no sound effects).

Do you think you could try Cannon Fodder too? I know there is a demo somewhere.

In that case KQ4 works just fine. I can choose from PC speaker, MT-32 and Adlib/Soundblaster. No talkie version of KQ4 exists, it's all old school 🤣

And I guess KQ4 is purely Adlib even on a Soundblaster card. AFAIK KQ4 is one of the very first games to support Adlib and MT-32.

I will try Cannon Fodder tomorrow.

I still believe that maybe the other cards are the reason why you are having issues,specifically the SoundScape seeing it supports Adlib...

That midi card can stay inside, it doesn't interfere with the Soundblaster in any way. I take it that midi card is a Roland MPU401 clone?

I've found the problem with the Sierra games. My computer was too fast for them and using Moslo didn't fool them into detecting my Soundblaster Pro.
I downloaded the Gosierra patch and now all of the Sierra games work as they should.
The reason I didn't think of this before was that I never had any problems when I was using an AWE64 Gold.

That leaves Cannon Fodder as the only game I can't play with sound...

See that's why I recommended to disable the internal cache (BIOS setting or ICD.EXE)!

Seeing you have an IBM I doubt there will be a BIOS setting. So ICD.EXE is the way to go.

I have attached ICD.EXE for future use. If ICD.EXE locks up your machine use the other tool ICACHE.EXE which you launch by typing ICACHE D for disabling cache and ICACHE E for enabling cache.

It's the first thing I do when there are issues, as 386 games on a Pentium can often cause issues. It's also much more reliable than these slowdown utilities.

The Heart of China is another game that gives you an error when the machine is too fast. Disable Cache and all is good.

Cannon Fodder:

On my machine it's also a speed related issue.

I got an error in the INSTALL.EXE program when selecting Soundblaster or Soundblaster Pro. Auto detect and Test would give me an error.

So I disabled internal Cache and all is good! Detection works as it should.

Also for reference here is a cheat sheet showing what machine you get when you disable L1/L2 cache with socket 7 chips:

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

And here from my AUTOEXEC.BAT: […]
Show full quote

And here from my AUTOEXEC.BAT:

SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 T4 SET SOUND=C:\SBPRO SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E C:\SBPRO\SBP-SET.EXE /M:10,10 /VOC:15,15 /FM:15,15 /CD:0 /X […]
Show full quote

SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 T4
SET SOUND=C:\SBPRO
SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E
C:\SBPRO\SBP-SET.EXE /M:10,10 /VOC:15,15 /FM:15,15 /CD:0 /X:0 /LINE:0,0 /DNFI:OFF

SB-SET.EXE options:

Boot screen after SET-SB.EXE is run through AUTOEXEC.BAT:

[/b]

Thank you so much! I downloaded tons of mixers... But all of them is GUI! I have Roland connected to the line, so it is impossible every time to load gui and set the line. That program is great, I haven't noticed it in my SBPRO folder! Need to be more careful 😀 Thanks!

Paddan1000 wrote:

Then I guess it must be a bug in the game Alone in the Dark and not a problem with my computer or soundcard.

Yes that is true and a patch for CD rom version exists which may or may not fix the hanging AotD with SB PRO option for digital effects selected. Can't test it though, because I don't have a working CD-ROM drive and a copy of AotD on CD. What I do have though is an old floppy version of the original Alone in the Dark and this version doesn't even have Sound Blaster Pro option, which leads me to conclusion that they added it hastily for the CD rom version and they didn't test it properly.

Excerpt from patch's readme.txt file:

I-Motion, Inc. wrote:

It seems that some Soundblaster Pros and compatibles sometimes have
the above difficulties, we're working on a solution. Check for fixes on AOL,
Compuserve, Prodigy, and our BBS.

P.S. To moderators. Sorry for necroposting again. Please let me know if that is a problem and I will stop. Thank you.

alexsydneynsw wrote:

P.S. To moderators. Sorry for necroposting again. Please let me know if that is a problem and I will stop. Thank you.

Can't speak for others but as for me I only start getting cranky about it when it's a bit more than a 2 or so year bump. 😀