Apparently UNIVBE is very picky about which TNT2 cards it will work with and the M64 is perhaps the only one for some reason.

It's different enough to be incompatible with the DOS version of Scitech
Display Doctor 7 Beta. 🙁

I bought a TNT M64 for my Retro PC, since I wanted to play anything from
the Tex Murphy Games to Carmageddon TDR2000.

The problem is, while the Windows Scitech Display Doctor 7 Supports the
TNT2 and TNT2 M64, the DOS version only supports the Standard TNT2.

Therefore, If you install the Windows Version of SciTech you will be
locked out of MS-DOS Mode completely.

So far, I've installed 374 Games to my machine.

Most of what I threw at it works brilliantly, but there were a few (3 So
Far) that just refuse to work correctly or at all:

"Tex Murphy Overseer": (Clickable objects have a purple aura.) (Still
Playable)

"D" Colours are wrong, green speckles all over the place, can't see where
you're going at all. (Unplayable)

"Angel Devoid" Insists on UniVBE, if bypassed, game crashes and PC
hangs, even if sound is disabled.

If it's just about a "video card", not a "3d card" i would recommend most older S3 models, these are fairly compatible and supported by virtually every windows version and DOS game "out of the box". Otherwise the Rage 128 series is of course also nice and quite compatible.

That rigth M64 refers to a memory bus that is 64-bits wide where the reg TNT 2 memory bus that is 128-bits that main diff is 16Bit vs 32Bit color the reg TNT 2 was all most 2x faster

You can always find a S3 Virge VX with more memory to support your resolution requirements and get an old Voodoo board for 3D games. Win31 will just ignore it.

If you get an early NVidia based board, be wary of their video quality (text fuzziness, etc). Some had really crappy RAMDAC's. Do your research and look for the best one possible. An early experience with a RIVA128 board turned me off of NVidia for years.

e-man wrote:

At the moment I have a nice retro pc with an easy to remove CF card as harddisk. This allows me quickly add files with my regula […]
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At the moment I have a nice retro pc with an easy to remove CF card as harddisk. This allows me quickly add files with my regular pc or change the operating system.

My current card, a S3 Virge Stealth 3d 3000 (PCI) works great in Dos, has good drivers for Windows 3.11 (1280x1024!) but in Windows 98 the best I get is 1024x768 at 16 bit color depth.

What I'm searching for is something like this but with higher resolution in Windows 98 (1280x1024) at preferably 24 bit color depth. (It still needs to run virtually every dos game and needs to have drivers for Win 3.11)

I did some research myself and came to the conclusion was a Riva 128 PCI can be an option. What do you think about this or maybe a better suggestion?

The best overall card for Dos/ Win3.11 and 98

S3, Matrox, Trident or ATI but do keep mind that with Win3.11 it well know for have major font problem with ATI card driver.
You want min memory configurations 8MB of video that way you can cover wide number Resolution and Color depth but keep in mind that min older card only had 24bit color depth after all back then there no need for 32bit color so what see now days is 24bit color + 8-bit alpha channel included = 32bit color

Sounds like Riva 128 ZX should be ultimate choice, but looking for a PCI one may be futile.

Thanks for all the replies, i'm currently looking for a Diamond Viper V330 PCI (which is a riva 128) but it proves to be very difficult.

Also finding a Sound Blaster 1.0 / 1.5 or Gravis Ultrasound Extreme is difficult to impossible (maybe even unpossible)

just go for a sound blaster 16. they are much easier to find and perfect for dos computers on a budget, IMO.

I'd dig for a SBPro2 instead, if you want to run a lot of games that don't have native SB16 support. SB16 is not always compatible with the older cards.

Also, sometimes searching by model number on Ebay gets you more results:
http://www.ask.asia.creative.com/wwenglish/ge … _list_audio.htm

jaqie wrote:

just go for a sound blaster 16. they are much easier to find and perfect for dos computers on a budget, IMO.

Why get a SB16 when you can get an AWE32? AFAIK, it has full SB16 compatibility (being an actual SB16 at the core) + wavetable. Some have a waveblaster header, and some even have a real Yamaha OPL3.

Unless there are some games that have issues with the AWE32?

AWE32 and AWE64 are essentially SB16 cards with an EMU synth attached and are fully SB16 compatible yes.

There are problems with SB16/AWE32 though when it comes to older games. Creative removed real Yamaha OPL3 later on and replaced it with a poor substitute that may annoy. AWE64 never had OPL3.

Or just buy an AWE64 Gold.

😉

I think the Riva 128 ZX is not really the best option due poor driver support that nvidia had after they was going more for Win95 & 3D at the time, I also forgot a few other option you could look in to Intel i740, Cirrus Logic, SiS and well know Tseng Labs.
There as the 3Dlabs Permedia NT, 2 and 3 which had really good 2D/3D performance but that card was really made for Windows NT I never did try out ELSA GLoria Synergy Win3.11 driver on Windows 3.11.
Tseng Labs and if recall rigth also Voodoo Rush or was it Banshee that had Super Faster Dos GUI ever made as far I know of.
For compatibility advantages the S3 Trio32/64, Trio3D which they are used in various PC emulation and virtualization packages.
Still wait on that famous Bitchin'Fast! 3D 2000 card or Killer BitBoys Glaze3D card hehehe

There are other things that vary with model numbers as well, such as the flawed DSP/hanging notes bug, and the ASP/CSP chip and chip socket.

Another option is the Live!, which has SB16 emulation in DOS and Win98. But if you're that serious about DOS and Win3.1, go with a real ISA sound card. AFAIK, the Live! cannot work in Win3.1, and you can't use it's SB16 emulation in DOS to use it as a SB16 in Win3.1

I'm also not sure whether to say that the AWE32/64 actually only almost fully SB16 compatible. I know of at least one game which hates my AWE64 Gold, but is reported to work fine on (at least some) SB16s.

All PCI sound cards can and will be a headache with DOS games. Some games do work ok, yes, but the emulation that PCI sound cards use to fake an ISA sound card and respond to ISA events is generally touchy and unstable (and does not work on all mobos). And there is the need to have EMM386 running (with Creative PCI cards) and this in itself is a problem in some cases.

As I said, if you want to reduce headaches as much as possible, SBPro2 is a no brainer. No PNP. TSRs/drivers are not needed. OPL3. Excellent backward compatibility.

We've had the DOS sound card discussion so many times.... Use search.

AdamP wrote:

jaqie wrote:

just go for a sound blaster 16. they are much easier to find and perfect for dos computers on a budget, IMO.

Why get a SB16 when you can get an AWE32? AFAIK, it has full SB16 compatibility (being an actual SB16 at the core) + wavetable. Some have a waveblaster header, and some even have a real Yamaha OPL3.

Unless there are some games that have issues with the AWE32?

AWE32's are quite noisy with noticable background hiss.
AWE64's are better but they lack the OPL3 and dealing with AWEUTIL isn't much fun under DOS.

Some SB16 Vibra's like the CT2800 and CT2900 have good sound quality and a real OPL3 but they have the hanging note bug. These are the only SB16 cards I'd recommend, and only if you aren't interested in MIDI.

Personally I've given up on all post-SB PRO Creative cards for DOS gaming. I now use a Yamaha YMF719 - excellent sound quality, real OPL3, no issues with MIDI/waveblaster header, and I have yet to find a game it doesn't work with. 😀

You can also use something like an ESS Audiodrive. I had a couple and they both had good SBPro compatibility and worked with just about everything.

Back to video cards...

Which cards work with the SVGA driver in Windows 3.1? So far I know that the Matrox Mystique 220 works with it and it also has its own drivers for Windows 3.1. It may not be absolutely necessary for a card to have specific drivers unless you want to take advantage of acceleration and other features.

The Live! is ok but it really good option you still be better off with ISA but it all depend on the game you be playing with I think there are only hand full game that really really pickey game like Ultima 7

Here some PCI soundcard currently out there seem have Dos support
Aureal Vortex 1
Aureal Vortex 2
Ensoniq ES1370, ES1371, ES1373
Creative Soundblaster PCI64, Live
ESS Maestro-1, Maestro-2, Canyon 3D
Trident 4D DX/NX
Yamaha YMF-724, YMF744, YMF754

If this game want play Ultima 7, No!, Crystal Dream 2 best look that Yamaha for it Real Mode Dos other don't your time on few non working games.

Ok here the low down after look a round a bit
OPL = YM3526 was wide use in Commodore 64 expansion, the Sound Expander, as well as several Arcade games.
OPL2 = YM3812 was wide use in IBM PC-based sound cards such as the AdLib and Sound Blaster
OPL3 = YMF262 was used in many sound cards, including the popular Sound Blaster Pro 2.0, Sound Blaster 16 ASP and some AWE32 family only you need look at card it self to see it had chip on board.
OPLL = YM2413 cut down version use in Sound Blaster 16
OPL4 = YMF278B was used in the Moonsound MSX sound card and in Yamaha's SoundEdge sound card

Everone started doing OPL emulation in stead getting the real deal yamaha chip that my have had something to do with the fact that Yamaha was try get into PC Sound Chip market which really sad that Yamaha give up so in the game.