Hello!
I have been trying to figure of if there's any difference in DOS compatibility between Votex 1 and Vortex 2 cards.
I know Vortex 2 is superior in almost every way, but how about pure DOS compatibility? I have possibility to get Votex 1 cards for around 4 USD but Votex 2 cards are in general much more expensive.
Thanks for your input!
From what I've heard, both are not good at all if you want it just for DOS. The Vortex cards fit better in a Windows 95/98 era machine.
What have you heard specifically? My Vortex2 has been great in DOS - nice SB pro compatibility and has a working wavetable header which is impressive for DOS. Haven't tried a Vortex 1 sorry OP.
Life? Don't talk to me about life.
Now I have an i865 based Northwood 2.4/800 config specifically to play Blood and it has a Vortex2 (Diamond Monster Sound) card.
The DOS driver is fine for Blood on this config - even though I've caught it die time to time it's mostly stable with this game. On the other hand I couldn't get it work with Doom or Quake. Not that I tried too hard. And I haven't even tried older, real retro games.
One must always keep in mind that (s)he won't get proper OPL2/3 sounds from the emulator it comes with. But to play Blood with sound on an impossibly modern build (to get a playable 1600x1200) it fit the bill. I got worse performance with my true ISA Tualatin and Palomino (+SDRAM) attempts (though a real GUS doubtlessly gave me much better music). I also ran into serious problems with a lot of other (too modern like 479, 775, 1155, AM3, FM2) motherboards. Emulator mostly didn't work at all or died together with the game soon.
Shame on us, doomed from the start
May God have mercy on our dirty little hearts
wrote:What have you heard specifically? My Vortex2 has been great in DOS - nice SB pro compatibility and has a working wavetable header which is impressive for DOS. Haven't tried a Vortex 1 sorry OP.
Mostly compatibility issues and issues trying to get the DOS driver to load. I guess I should just keep it to myself since I've only used my Vortex 2 in Windows.
