You need to run DSDMA.EXE to compensate for lack of SBLink and DDMA. It requires EMM386 to be loaded first. After it loads successfully, digital sound should work with almost all games (only a handful of games aren't compatible with DSDMA).

wbahnassi wrote on 2022-12-11, 16:48:

You need to run DSDMA.EXE to compensate for lack of SBLink and DDMA. It requires EMM386 to be loaded first. After it loads successfully, digital sound should work with almost all games (only a handful of games aren't compatible with DSDMA).

Thanks for the reply! I gave it a try, and running dsdma.exe puts a red border around the screen and output "Legacy Audio Emulation Program V1. 00" and sits there blinking. I can't seem to input anything else. Any idea?

Eek.. never seen that behavior. For me it just loads in AUTOEXEC.BAT without trouble. Do you have DOS4GW.EXE next to it? Try to make sure you have the latest version there.

wbahnassi wrote on 2022-12-11, 21:23:

Eek.. never seen that behavior. For me it just loads in AUTOEXEC.BAT without trouble. Do you have DOS4GW.EXE next to it? Try to make sure you have the latest version there.

I do have DOS4GW.EXE next to it. I realized that trying to execute DOS4GW.EXE complained about "not enough memory" (which I probably have too much memory), so I messed with CONFIG.SYS to have:

DEVICE="C:\HIMEMX.EXE /MAX=512M /METHOD:FAST /VERBOSE

and either:
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS
or
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE 32768 /FRAME=D000 /I=B00-B7FF HIGHSCAN VERBOSE

would let me load DSDMA but then if I run SETUPDS, it loads a few lines in the prompt then crashes my computer 😒

Any ideas?

Yes. The correct sequence is to run SETUPDS first, followed by DSDMA, otherwise a hang. Sorry I forgot to mention that. It's been a while 🙂 IIRC DSDMA is very touchy so you might also have to load it before certain other devices too and after some others. If you get trouble, I'd start with an almost empty load set in AUTOEXEC.BAT, load SETUPDS and DSDMA, then start to add other devices, moving them before/after DSDMA as necessary. I also use a third command to adjust the IRQ from 5 to 7.. and that command too had to fit in the proper sequence. I'll share my AUTOEXEC/CONFIG files here later today once I turn on the machine. Mine has a YMF-744 PCI, but I'm sure that it works just like the YMF-724 as well.

wbahnassi wrote on 2022-12-14, 07:46:

Yes. The correct sequence is to run SETUPDS first, followed by DSDMA, otherwise a hang. Sorry I forgot to mention that. It's been a while 🙂 IIRC DSDMA is very touchy so you might also have to load it before certain other devices too and after some others. If you get trouble, I'd start with an almost empty load set in AUTOEXEC.BAT, load SETUPDS and DSDMA, then start to add other devices, moving them before/after DSDMA as necessary. I also use a third command to adjust the IRQ from 5 to 7.. and that command too had to fit in the proper sequence. I'll share my AUTOEXEC/CONFIG files here later today once I turn on the machine. Mine has a YMF-744 PCI, but I'm sure that it works just like the YMF-724 as well.

I figured it out with your help!

I had to setup HIMEMX in config.sys to limit XMS to 512mb, then run installtsr.bat (NOT dsdma directly), then in games setup the ports correctly with DMA 1 and IRQ 5.
I think the main issue is that one of the components (dos4gw?) thinks there's not enough memory, but it's actually because there's too much memory (because I'm pushing the system very hard with 4GB - I probably should have mentioned that).

At no point could I get digital audio to work in setupds, but I got full sound in game and all sound types in imuse! So thanks a bunch for the help!!

Now I have to figure out the Windows 98 side of things, because all the Win drivers I've tried freeze the system on boot 😀

wbahnassi wrote on 2022-12-11, 16:48:

You need to run DSDMA.EXE to compensate for lack of SBLink and DDMA. It requires EMM386 to be loaded first. After it loads successfully, digital sound should work with almost all games (only a handful of games aren't compatible with DSDMA).

Have you got a list of the ones that don't work with DSDMA. So far the only game I can't get working is Under a Killing Moon.

Hi, sorry I promised I'd send you my AUTOEXEC/CONFIG pair, but somehow forgot. Here they are attached to show you the sequence of execution I'm using. This works great for me.

As far as incompatible games, the only one so far I couldn't run from my collection is Crusader (both No Remorse and No Regret). Ruthan maintains a full list with more details here:
https://sheet.zohopublic.com/sheet/published. … 04bf92a9209e034