VOGONS


First post, by carlostex

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Hello there!

I'm pretty sure other threads about these specific sound devices already exist, but i wanna focus on these sound devices as far as knowing which games supported them and to document how we can get them to work.

I'm not gonna give the details and backstory into these devices, it's been documented all aound.

Anyway, the point is game support for these devices, specially for the FB-01 since it is so much easier and certainly cheaper to acquire than an IMFC.

The following pic, courtesy of Cloudschatze are very good to determine Sierra games support for sound devices, including the FB-01 and the IMFC:

sierrasupport.jpg

Now for those owning a FB-01 (like me) there is still need for MPU-401. Using SoftMPU is therefore essential for those who don't own a real MPU-401 hardware interface. There was a problem with some Sierra games giving a dump/error message on the FB-01, so better support through SoftMPU and sierra FB-01 driver investigation has followed and came to culmination here:

*START HERE* SoftMPU 1.91 - Software Intelligent MPU-401 Emulator

Ripsaw8080 managed to do his magic on the Sierra drivers and figured out the problem on the FB01 Sierra drivers, that were causing dump errors on the FB-01 sound module.

So for starters i would like to use this thread to document game testing, not only for Sierra games but others as well that might support the FB-01 and IMFC.

Reply 1 of 30, by carlostex

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I tested the following games so far with ripsaw8080 modified Sierra Driver:

Space Quest 3 -- OK!
Leisure Suit Larry 2 -- Wrong and garbled notes!
Leisure Suit Larry 3 -- OK!
King's Quest 4 -- OK!
Police Quest 2 -- OK!
Silpheed -- OK!

Keep in mind that some game versions might not work correctly. I haven't found a Leisure Suit Larry 2 version (including my owned original copy) that works correctly with the FB-01.

Reply 2 of 30, by Great Hierophant

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The following games worked with ripsaw8080's driver with a real Yamaha FB-01 and Roland MPU-401 + MIF-IPC-A :

Codename : ICEMAN
Colonel's Bequest
Conquests of Camelot*
Hero's Quest/Quest for Glory I
Hoyle's Book of Games : Volume 1
Leisure Suit Larry 2
Leisure Suit Larry 3
King's Quest I
King's Quest IV
Mixed-Up Mother Goose*
Police Quest II
Silpheed
Sorcerian
Space Quest III

* - needs patch.002

Games that will not work with either Sierra or ripsaw8080's FB01.DRV are :
King's Quest V
Quest for Glory II
Thexder 2 : Fire Hawk
King's Quest IV (version 1.006.111 or 1.000.111)
Leisure Suit Larry 2 (v1.000.011)
1988 Christmas Card Demo

http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/ - Nerdly Pleasures - My Retro Gaming, Computing & Tech Blog

Reply 3 of 30, by MaxWar

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Hehe, funny, literally 2 days ago I was reading the equivalent thread on Questudios forum and marveling at the prospect of taking my FB-01 out for a stroll.
But at least here I can post :p

Here are other relevant threads:
IBM Music Feature Card/Yamaha FB-01
http://queststudios.com/smf/index.php?topic=3384.0
http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/showt … ic-feature-card
http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/showt … M-Music-Feature

FM sound card comparison on a Grand Scale!!
The Grand OPL3 Comparison Run.

Reply 4 of 30, by carlostex

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Great Hierophant wrote:

Games that will not work with either Sierra or ripsaw8080's FB01.DRV are :
Leisure Suit Larry 2 (v1.000.011)

Yeah that's the exact Leisure Suit Larry 2 version i have...

Are there any non Sierra games that might have support for the FB-01?

Reply 8 of 30, by Cloudschatze

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kreats wrote:

QfG VGA doesn't seem to work for me with ripsaw8080's driver - should it?

No, that driver isn't compatible with the later, non-SCI0 releases. Also, unless the music resources were lifted straight from the EGA version for the VGA release, the necessary FB-01/IMFC MIDI track data would be missing besides.

Reply 10 of 30, by Stiletto

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bristlehog wrote:

By the way, is there a FB-01/IMFC programming guide anywhere?

Better late than never: IBM PC Music Feature Technical Reference: ftp://ftp.oldskool.org/pub/misc/Hardware/IBM/ … 20Reference.pdf

FB-01, I can offer the manual and service manual. Dunno about a programming guide:
http://soundprogramming.net/manuals/Yamaha_FB-01_Manual.pdf
http://soundprogramming.net/manuals/Yamaha_FB … rviceManual.pdf

"I see a little silhouette-o of a man, Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you
do the Fandango!" - Queen

Stiletto

Reply 11 of 30, by pleonard

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Not sure what made me try, but the IMFC fits (and works) inside a PS/2 Model 25:

25906025645_06a3b80658_c.jpg

And yes, the machine can close too... The top slot is, unbelievably enough, a full 13" long. As you rotate the bottom closed, the end of the IMFC goes all the way into the monitor's lower lip, which extends an inch or two from the front of the Model 25. The lower slot is shorter, as it meets the floppy bezel underneath the monitor lip.

You often see the Model 30 listed as the only ISA-based PS/2 model this card will work with, but we can add another to the list.

Reply 12 of 30, by Yart

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Sorry for the necro-post, but I'm getting the "dump/error !!!" error with my FB-01 in DOSBox 0.74 trying to run Silpheed using the fixed FB01.DRV.

Has anyone else encountered this issue with DOSBox too? I can't seem to get it to work.

I'm running the FB-01 through a Roland UM-3EX to my PC, a Midi to USB adapter of sorts. I've tried DOSBox's MIDI setting with both Intelligent and Uart modes.

Reply 13 of 30, by Pierre32

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Since this thread was last active, things have progressed in the FB-01 realm making it much more accessible to everyone. Scali has released a fork of DOSBox which allows you to fully emulate the FB-01, or drive a real one:

https://scalibq.wordpress.com/2019/03/26/the- … d-yamaha-fb-01/

And also SoftIMFC which allows you to drive one from real hardware, using the IBM Music Feature Card driver:

Scali wrote on 2018-01-22, 08:56:

Another update for SoftIMFC: https://www.dropbox.com/s/1qorqr9ppyorod6/SoftIMFC.zip?dl=0
This time it should really work on MPU-401. In the earlier version the init code was never called, so it never switched the MPU-401 into UART mode. Which meant it only worked if the MPU-401 was already in UART-mode, which it isn't on powerup.

There aren't nearly enough videos on Youtube showcasing the IMFC/FB-01, so now that I've got my own set up, I thought I might go about fixing that situation! Today I've uploaded a handful, and attached is a peek at the list I'm working through. There are many SCI games that allow you to "add" support by dropping in certain files from other Sierra releases (thanks carlostex for this info in your other thread). So I will note here, and also in the video descriptions, if I've had to do this to make it work.

Astro Chicken: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eoxkwy6a4R4
Native IMFC support.

Astro Chicken 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5RnTD6LUGk
To make this work I copied PATCH.002 from Silpheed, and renamed it to 2.PAT. (You also hear some game SFX in this one).

Conquests of Camelot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI2VUFYJLi8
Updated - this is now the official IMFC patch

The Colonel's Bequest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZs3VZm61Z8
Native IMFC support.

Hoyle's Book of Games Vol 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4ZkD9skwFY
Native IMFC support.

Hoyle's Book of Games Vol 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLBqlqjiBGs
To make this work I copied IMF.DRV and PATCH.002 from Silpheed.

Attachments

Last edited by Pierre32 on 2020-06-21, 13:42. Edited 2 times in total.

Reply 14 of 30, by Pierre32

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Quest for Glory 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y5J2BfBaE0 (Love this one!)
Native IMFC support (EGA version).

King's Quest 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHVWDi15AIw
To make this work I copied IMF.DRV and PATCH.002 from Silpheed.

King's Quest 2 (SCI fan remake alpha): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idYIVgLc7pQ
To make this work I copied IMF.DRV and PATCH.002 from Astro Chicken 1.

King's Quest 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMp5Ey9DAKM
Native IMFC support.

Mixed Up Mother Goose: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NkI4Of0VU8
To make this work I copied IMF.DRV and PATCH.002 from Silpheed.

Reply 15 of 30, by Pierre32

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An expanded approach to testing has allowed me to get a few more working. It also means I can't be as specific about which games I grabbed patches from, because I stopped keeping track! I searched a big lot of Sierra games for DRV and PATCH/002 files, and it turns out there are quite a few versions differentiated by different file size, which I gathered in one location for quicker testing. I found that the smallest ones are often the most compatible. More info on these files is available in the video descriptions, where applicable.

Hoyle's Book of Games Vol 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS8wsn5DvCU
Patched

Leisure Suit Larry 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8oQtqIENCs
Native support

Police Quest 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnhtC3xv1Do
Native support

Sorcerian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZLtN4MZ4LM
Patched

Thexder 2 Fire Hawk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dRK0kwpzt8
Patched

Christmas Card 1988: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H02hgSG3eao
Native support

This wraps it up for now, for the ones I can call successes. There are others that "work" but the renditions are complete train wrecks. It's actually interesting and sometimes funny to hear how things fail, so I might compile them into a fail vid for giggles.

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Reply 16 of 30, by Pierre32

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As threatened, here's the fail compilation for your amusement and horror. Space Quest 1, Space Quest 5, Police Quest 1, Police Quest 3, Larry 1 and Larry 5 at their very worst.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtiVilXhgU0

Reply 17 of 30, by carlostex

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Pierre32 wrote on 2020-06-14, 09:28:

Conquests of Camelot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCMjdD2m8VU
To make this work I copied IMF.DRV and PATCH.002 from Silpheed.

Why on earth did you need to copy a patch.002 file from another game to Conquests of Camelot? Camelot has its own patch.002 file. At least the version i have includes its own patch.002 file which the header clearly states is for Conquests of Camelot.

Filename
PATCH.zip
File size
2.11 KiB
Downloads
94 downloads
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception
Pierre32 wrote on 2020-06-21, 11:09:

As threatened, here's the fail compilation for your amusement and horror. Space Quest 1, Space Quest 5, Police Quest 1, Police Quest 3, Larry 1 and Larry 5 at their very worst.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtiVilXhgU0

This happened because these games really need optimized patch.002 files for each soundtrack. Even the ones that sound good, like Space Quest 4 could sound even better. Technically it is possible to make them sound better, if proper instruments are put in the proper places. Its a matter of understanding the patch file structure, checking out the IMF/FB01 instrument map and rearrange the instruments for each soundtrack on the patch file. FOr better results this would have to be done on a game basis, every game needs its own optimized patch.002 file.

Reply 18 of 30, by Pierre32

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carlostex wrote on 2020-06-21, 12:01:
Pierre32 wrote on 2020-06-14, 09:28:

Conquests of Camelot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCMjdD2m8VU
To make this work I copied IMF.DRV and PATCH.002 from Silpheed.

Why on earth did you need to copy a patch.002 file from another game to Conquests of Camelot? Camelot has its own patch.002 file. At least the version i have includes its own patch.002 file which the header clearly states is for Conquests of Camelot.

That's the difficulty with this - there seem to be so many variants of the games out there. I looked for one that had patch.002 and couldn't find it, so I was curious about the version you had.

Similarly, I could not get any version of SQ4 to sound remotely like the one you uploaded. I'm interested to see if your patch.002 from CoC will make a difference. Thanks for attaching.

carlostex wrote on 2020-06-21, 12:01:

This happened because these games really need optimized patch.002 files for each soundtrack. Even the ones that sound good, like Space Quest 4 could sound even better. Technically it is possible to make them sound better, if proper instruments are put in the proper places. Its a matter of understanding the patch file structure, checking out the IMF/FB01 instrument map and rearrange the instruments for each soundtrack on the patch file. FOr better results this would have to be done on a game basis, every game needs its own optimized patch.002 file.

Yep, aware of this but just having fun with the drag-n-drop experimentation. I've looked at the structure of the patch files, but that's above my paygrade.

[edit] The new patch file is a huge improvement to Conquests of Camelot - as it is supposed to sound, obviously. I'll have to update my upload. An improvement to SQ4 too, although still not identical.

Reply 19 of 30, by carlostex

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I'll check which patch.002 i was using for SQ4 and let you know. Might be from Hero's Quest

EDIT: Ok i checked, it's actually the patch file from Quest for Glory II. Keep in mind that Quest for Glory II didn't ship originally with a patch.002 file, it was released through their BBS service i believe.

Filename
2.zip
File size
2.34 KiB
Downloads
92 downloads
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception

Unzip the file into Space Quest 4, i use the CD version BTW. You can obviuosly rename the 2.pat file to patch.002 again and try it on Quest for Glory II, since it was made for that.