The only reason why I don't run Windows ME is because the DOS mode is inferior compared to the previous iterations of Windows 9x (the DOS mode patch is a hack from the Windows ME boot disk, cannot use multi-config, unable to unload the XMS driver, etc.). Much of the improvement around booting was to due to IO.SYS being compressed, disregarding CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT without the "patch", and HIMEM.SYS being integrated.

For the sound card you must use a VXD driver for SB compatibility, installing a driver from an older Windows version should work.

Gmlb256 wrote on 2021-09-05, 18:21:

The only reason why I don't run Windows ME is because the DOS mode is inferior compared to the previous iterations of Windows 9x (the DOS mode patch is a hack from the Windows ME boot disk, cannot use multi-config, unable to unload the XMS driver, etc.). Much of the improvement around booting was to due to IO.SYS being compressed, disregarding CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT without the "patch", and HIMEM.SYS being integrated.

For the sound card you must use a VXD driver for SB compatibility, installing a driver from an older Windows version should work.

Would a VXD driver be included in the Aztech driver or is that something else? I'm fairly new to playing around with drivers, have mainly just messed with hardware.

Thorad wrote on 2021-09-05, 18:40:

Would a VXD driver be included in the Aztech driver or is that something else? I'm fairly new to playing around with drivers, have mainly just messed with hardware.

At least on Windows 95 and 98 it is included by default.

On VOGONS driver library there's a list of drivers related to Aztech sound cards. You could also try to find a Windows 95 driver for the sound card if anything there doesn't work.

Your sound card sounds more like a Sound Galaxy Pro 16 Extra.

Gmlb256 wrote on 2021-09-05, 18:59:

At least on Windows 95 and 98 it is included by default. […]
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Thorad wrote on 2021-09-05, 18:40:

Would a VXD driver be included in the Aztech driver or is that something else? I'm fairly new to playing around with drivers, have mainly just messed with hardware.

At least on Windows 95 and 98 it is included by default.

On VOGONS driver library there's a list of drivers related to Aztech sound cards. You could also try to find a Windows 95 driver for the sound card if anything there doesn't work.

Your sound card sounds more like a Sound Galaxy Pro 16 Extra.

I should have clarified. I am running the win95 driver for this card, that is the driver I manually installed, and it is from the archive you linked. Soundblaster music works, the sound effects do not. Also the card ID is i38-msn811. So, nova 16 extra. Slight identification mishap.

Thorad wrote on 2021-09-05, 19:01:

I should have clarified. I am running the win95 driver for this card, that is the driver I manually installed, and it is from the archive you linked. Soundblaster music works, the sound effects do not. Also the card ID is i38-msn811. So, nova 16 extra. Slight identification mishap.

Did you check how the BLASTER environment and the resources on Device Manager was set on Windows?

You can allow the sound card to be configured manually by software if you disable the "EEPROM setting" thru jumpers except the address which should be 220H by default.

Gmlb256 wrote on 2021-09-05, 19:04:

Thorad wrote on 2021-09-05, 19:01:

I should have clarified. I am running the win95 driver for this card, that is the driver I manually installed, and it is from the archive you linked. Soundblaster music works, the sound effects do not. Also the card ID is i38-msn811. So, nova 16 extra. Slight identification mishap.

Did you check how the BLASTER environment and the resources on Device Manager was set on Windows?

You can allow the sound card to be configured manually by software if you disable the "EEPROM setting" thru jumpers except the address which should be 220H by default.

I'm pretty sure that's already set as I've messed with IRQs through software before. The address is 220 for music, and works at that address. That's the same address used by games for sound effects as well, yet it still does not work.

Thorad wrote on 2021-09-05, 19:12:

I'm pretty sure that's already set as I've messed with IRQs through software before. The address is 220 for music, and works at that address. That's the same address used by games for sound effects as well, yet it still does not work.

Make sure that the IRQ is 7 or 5 and DMA is set to 1. Note that there may be two low DMA settings on Device Manager which isn't a bit clear but one is for SB and the other one is for WSS (for Windows).

Gmlb256 wrote on 2021-09-05, 19:15:

Thorad wrote on 2021-09-05, 19:12:

I'm pretty sure that's already set as I've messed with IRQs through software before. The address is 220 for music, and works at that address. That's the same address used by games for sound effects as well, yet it still does not work.

Make sure that the IRQ is 7 or 5 and DMA is set to 1. Note that there may be two low DMA settings on Device Manager which isn't a bit clear but one is for SB and the other one is for WSS (for Windows).

Doubled checked it. IRQs are 10 and 5. Set in game, and it still doesn't work. I'll likely blame this one on winME dos compatibility and switch to 98 again.

Thorad wrote on 2021-09-05, 19:17:

Doubled checked it. IRQs are 10 and 5. Set in game, and it still doesn't work. I'll likely blame this one on winME dos compatibility and switch to 98 again.

Prior switching back to Windows 98. Did you swap the IRQs? Did you also test this on DOS mode?

IRQ 10 and higher isn't very compatible with DOS games.

Gmlb256 wrote on 2021-09-05, 19:19:

Thorad wrote on 2021-09-05, 19:17:

Doubled checked it. IRQs are 10 and 5. Set in game, and it still doesn't work. I'll likely blame this one on winME dos compatibility and switch to 98 again.

Prior switching back to Windows 98. Did you swap the IRQs? Did you also test this on DOS mode?

IRQ 10 and higher isn't very compatible with DOS games.

It was around the same before. I could swap it around and try to get it to work, but like you said 98 has the better dos compatibility mode and I'm a bit lazy to troubleshoot it. Next time I'll try switching the 10 to the 7 if I get fed up with 98 again 😀