need help with incomplete soundscape opus win9x installation \ VOGONS

need help with incomplete soundscape opus win9x installation

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First post, by stanwebber

Posted on 2023-07-31, 21:10

stanwebber Offline

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Joined: 2022-02-16, 21:26

i sourced the drivers from vogonsdrivers.com, but the installer fails to detect my soundscape card. others have reported this issue with the opus, but the installer dumps the driver contents to windows\temp so i was able to continue installing the devices via device manager, but the installation is woefully incomplete.

there's no dos support files, but i was able to remedy that with a standalone dos package pulled from a win3x install. dos functionality is fine and i even picked up on the tip to specify CodeFile=SNDSCAPE.CO3 in sndscape.ini for the opus.

my primary issue is the 'soundscape plug and play sound blaster emulation' device fails to start after rebooting win98se. on the properties page it complains about configmg.vxd not being able to start the driver files. i can reinstall the driver (from the driver cache) which immediately reinitializes the card and the sb emulation is functioning again.

so what am i missing from the aborted installation? should something be added to the config.sys or autoexec.bat files? i tried loading ssinit /i (with set sndscape and blaster variables) prior to starting windows, but that had no effect. i notice sndscape.ini asks for the windows install directory and specifically mentions system.ini in the remarks, but no changes were made to my system.ini. presumably because the installation was incomplete? i remember the soundscape vivo90 added something named along the lines of *vivo*.vxd to system.ini. too bad there isn't an opus.vxd

it has to be some config i'm missing since the failed sb emulation device can be restarted everytime without fail by just reinstalling the driver with no reboot.

Reply 1 of 2, by stanwebber

Posted on 2023-08-11, 03:07

stanwebber Offline

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Rank: Member
Posts: 386
Joined: 2022-02-16, 21:26

i'm giving up on this card. i've tried every conceivable (and incompatible) driver to no avail. the error originates with configmg.vxd so i even restored the 4.10.2222 version from the win98se cab files over the updated 4.10.2225 and nothing. i also found out the missing entries in system.ini from the aborted installation:

1[SNDSCAPE.DRV]
2Port=330
3WavePort=338
4IRQ=9
5SBIRQ=5
6DMA=1

i thought for sure this was it, but no. add the fact that there's no wss and only sb 1.0 compatibility plus under dos the right channel is noticably lower, whereas in windows it's more or less equal...just doesn't make the wavetable on this card worthwhile...and i haven't done much of any listening to the emulated fm yet which i can only imagine...

Reply 2 of 2, by swaaye

Posted on 2023-08-17, 18:47

swaaye Offline

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stanwebber wrote on 2023-08-11, 03:07:
i'm giving up on this card. i've tried every conceivable (and incompatible) driver to no avail. the error originates with config […]
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i'm giving up on this card. i've tried every conceivable (and incompatible) driver to no avail. the error originates with configmg.vxd so i even restored the 4.10.2222 version from the win98se cab files over the updated 4.10.2225 and nothing. i also found out the missing entries in system.ini from the aborted installation:
1[SNDSCAPE.DRV]
2Port=330
3WavePort=338
4IRQ=9
5SBIRQ=5
6DMA=1
i thought for sure this was it, but no. add the fact that there's no wss and only sb 1.0 compatibility plus under dos the right channel is noticably lower, whereas in windows it's more or less equal...just doesn't make the wavetable on this card worthwhile...and i haven't done much of any listening to the emulated fm yet which i can only imagine...

Their most redeeming quality is if you can get the Soundscape mode working with a game it will sound better than many other sound cards. The analog section is pretty nice on Ensoniq cards.

Another little nicety is they are the last Soundscape model with the Motorola 68EC000 still onboard which means minimized host overhead and (I think) they don't need EMM386 loaded.

The SB compatibility is only SB 2.0, and the FM is faked with remapped MIDI so those aren't especially appealing. And since their Plug-n-Play design tends to assign a port address that the older Soundscape cards didn't have as an option, some games won't detect them as a Soundscape card. That is unfortunate.

I've used the Opus but it has been so long that I don't remember any of the driver/install quirks. They were almost exclusively a Gateway 2000 card and Ensoniq wanted you to go to Gateway for support. I suggest looking at these Gateway CDROMs because they put hardware drivers on them. The Opus should be a 1995-1996 card.
https://archive.org/search?query=creator%3A%2 … Gateway+2000%22

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