Updated testing to include a 486 DX-33 system (see the second post in the thread). This was included to get an absolute baseline while trying to eliminate as much speed sensitivity among games as possible.

I added Prehistorik and Tyrian to the list of games for testing, and updating the Pentium 100 and Pentium 4 2.0 GHz tests accordingly.

I also re-tested and updated testing with Prince of Persia. It turns out it does work on an MT-32, it just requires the latest firmware installed.

Doing some more testing and discovered that I could get Abuse's General MIDI music working provided I first initialized the MIDI interface with another game's setup program.

In this particular case, I launched the Blood setup program and tested General MIDI playback. Then I launched Abuse's setup program and General MIDI music played back correctly. I further launched the game itself and music was working.

I also tested with Descent where it also failed to initialize MIDI hardware. The same trick seems to work.

Shponglefan wrote on 2024-02-02, 00:28:

Doing some more testing and discovered that I could get Abuse's General MIDI music working provided I first initialized the MIDI interface with another game's setup program.

I would advise caution with such games.

While they might initially appear to "work" what happens after you complete a level? Or when the music track changes? I've encountered similar things before on a different card (YMF744) and it didn't always result in a permanent "fix".

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2024-02-02, 02:02:

I would advise caution with such games.

While they might initially appear to "work" what happens after you complete a level? Or when the music track changes? I've encountered similar things before on a different card (YMF744) and it didn't always result in a permanent "fix".

I tested Abuse in-game and it seemed fine changing music tracks going from the intro theme to the in-game music.

Didn't thoroughly test Descent although given its other speed sensitivity issues, it's probably moot even if it doesn't work.

After further testing I discovered I could throttle Dark Forces on the Pentium 4 2.0 GHz to the point where General MIDI / Roland MT-32 sound works.

Using CPUSPD setting CPU throttle to 2/8 and CPU modulation to 4/8 seems to work.

The actual game still feels quite smooth. Adding in L1 cache disabling gives it a slightly chunkier feels probably more reminiscent of playing on a 486.

I've dusted off one of my own Solo-1 cards and put it in my Athlon64 build. That system is impractical for pure DOS, due to conventional memory being gobbled up by the SATA RAID controller, so I'm running DOS games from within the WinME command prompt. Still, I did notice one interesting thing.

The Solo-1 has a working SBPro low-pass filter, which is great for older DOS titles (1993 and earlier), especially the "talkie" adventure games. Oddly, the filter seems to be permanently turned on when the card is in SBPro mode. Meaning, low-pass filtering cannot be enabled/disabled through software on the Solo-1 (and some other ESS cards), which is possible on a real SBPro.

Nonetheless, it sounds excellent in older games like Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. I've made some recordings on a modded YMF719 card to showcase this filter, and the Solo-1 sounds pretty much the same. You may need to turn the volume up a bit to hear the subtle differences between the recordings.

Update on testing and General MIDI compatibility. I'd been testing with both Abuse and Whiplash, both of which have the same issues with GM playback. They each fail to initialize the MPU-401 device.

I had previously discovered that running other games setup programs and testing GM playback, followed by launching these games and then they would play General MIDI just fine.

Launching other games' setup programs is a bit of a pain. Instead, I found an application GSPLAY which can initialize General MIDI from the DOS prompt. It can be downloaded from DOS Days (under DOS Tools): https://dosdays.co.uk/topics/midi.php

Launching this application with the command line "GSPLAY GM" initializes General MIDI playback. Subsequently launching Abuse or Whiplash then results in proper General MIDI playback.

I tested this thoroughly in Whiplash playing through full races and having the game undergo multiple music switches. Did further testing in Abuse as well. No issues were noted.

I've updated the Pentium 4 testing accordingly. I still need to test the same with the 486 and Pentium 100 setups, but at least it appears that for games which fail to initialize MPU-401 playback there is an easy solution.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2024-02-04, 01:48:

I've dusted off one of my own Solo-1 cards and put it in my Athlon64 build. That system is impractical for pure DOS, due to conventional memory being gobbled up by the SATA RAID controller, so I'm running DOS games from within the WinME command prompt. Still, I did notice one interesting thing.

The Solo-1 has a working SBPro low-pass filter, which is great for older DOS titles (1993 and earlier), especially the "talkie" adventure games. Oddly, the filter seems to be permanently turned on when the card is in SBPro mode. Meaning, low-pass filtering cannot be enabled/disabled through software on the Solo-1 (and some other ESS cards), which is possible on a real SBPro.

Nonetheless, it sounds excellent in older games like Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. I've made some recordings on a modded YMF719 card to showcase this filter, and the Solo-1 sounds pretty much the same. You may need to turn the volume up a bit to hear the subtle differences between the recordings.

That's good to know about the LPF and the Solo-1. I haven't really tried it much with talkie games yet (other than briefly testing Space Quest 4). I'll have to try some more games and give it a listen.