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First post, by MrEWhite

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When I run Wolfenstein 3D after DOOM, my machine hangs when starting Wolf3D. Any fix for this?

Reply 3 of 13, by keenmaster486

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Probably a memory allocation issue. Try messing with EMM386; i.e. enabling/disabling EMS, increasing the available amount of EMS, or starting under pure HIMEM.

World's foremost 486 enjoyer.

Reply 5 of 13, by keenmaster486

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Hmm... Try using "DEVICEHIGH=EMM386.EXE 5000". If that doesn't work try increasing that number, up to the max XMS memory you have. BTW what computer are you doing this on? Do you have real EMS memory or just XMS?

World's foremost 486 enjoyer.

Reply 6 of 13, by zerker

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MrEWhite wrote:

Removing the RAM switch off EMM386 made it work, but there isn't music after running DOOM now.

What sound card are you using? I find I need to re-run AWEUTIL /s on my AWE64 in this scenario.

Reply 7 of 13, by MrEWhite

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zerker wrote:
MrEWhite wrote:

Removing the RAM switch off EMM386 made it work, but there isn't music after running DOOM now.

What sound card are you using? I find I need to re-run AWEUTIL /s on my AWE64 in this scenario.

Ah, forgot to put that. Yeah, I'm using an AWE64 Gold. Do I have to re-run aweutil every time I want to play DOOM then something else then?

Reply 8 of 13, by MrEWhite

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keenmaster486 wrote:

Hmm... Try using "DEVICEHIGH=EMM386.EXE 5000". If that doesn't work try increasing that number, up to the max XMS memory you have. BTW what computer are you doing this on? Do you have real EMS memory or just XMS?

My machine is running a Pentium III-S 1.4 GHz on a GA-6VTXE with an AWE64 Gold.

Reply 9 of 13, by keenmaster486

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Ok... I have my doubts that it's directly sound-card related. I have a system with an AWE64, and I have not had to re-run AWEUTIL or anything like that. After playing DOOM I never had any problems... but of course things may be different for your system. Does it only happen when you try to run Wolf3D after DOOM, or does it happen with every other game you try to play after running DOOM?

EDIT: I need to read the other posts more carefully before replying 😊 It definitely could be the sound card. Try a different one and see what happens.

World's foremost 486 enjoyer.

Reply 10 of 13, by zerker

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MrEWhite wrote:

Ah, forgot to put that. Yeah, I'm using an AWE64 Gold. Do I have to re-run aweutil every time I want to play DOOM then something else then?

I think Doom tends to mute the FM Synth when using the AWE midi driver... or something. I haven't done any extensive testing. So it's probably just Doom -> some FM game that would need it.

Reply 11 of 13, by MrEWhite

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keenmaster486 wrote:

Ok... I have my doubts that it's directly sound-card related. I have a system with an AWE64, and I have not had to re-run AWEUTIL or anything like that. After playing DOOM I never had any problems... but of course things may be different for your system. Does it only happen when you try to run Wolf3D after DOOM, or does it happen with every other game you try to play after running DOOM?

EDIT: I need to read the other posts more carefully before replying 😊 It definitely could be the sound card. Try a different one and see what happens.

I haven't put that many games on the machine. And this is currently my only sound card (looking for an AWE32 at the moment). Have you tried running these two games together? I can also confirm that it plays music after running aweutil /s again.

Reply 13 of 13, by mateusz.viste

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MrEWhite wrote:

Yeah, anything I tried doesn't work. Only running AWEutil /s fixes it.

Good news: you're not alone :) bad news: that's how things are, and you can't do anything about that.

The problem comes from the fact that Doom initializes the EMU8000 chip on the SB64, and that wrecks the OPL rerouting. I mentioned that succinctly here:
Re: AWE64 Gold, no GM in DOS

you might also be interested in reading my gopher article about the SB64:
gopher://gopher.viste.fr/1/hardware/sound/Creative%2520Labs/SoundBlaster%2520AWE%252032%2520and%252064

Two work-arounds:
- do not configure Doom's sound as SB64, so it won't init the EMU chip (you could configure Doom to use the SB16 API - but be prepared for a huge degradation of in-game music...)
or
- simply run AWEUTIL /S each time you quit Doom (you could also put it into a batch file that would start doom and run aweutil afterward)

The sad truth is that SB64's OPL won't work unless initialized by AWEUTIL. This holds true for both the situation when the PC boots up AND whenever any app uses the EMU. Seems to be a bug in some models. Myself, I observed it on a CT4500 and a CT4390 ("Gold"). I did NOT notice it on a SB32 CT2760.

It's interesting to note that the Creative's programmer documentation says that using an awe32Terminate() call is the solution:

awe32Terminate(VOID)
The EMU8000 will be initialized to process FM audio.

But, alas, this doesn't make things any better on the cards I mentioned above. The reason I investigated all this is because I spent hours debugging DOSMid back in 2014, after I noticed that OPL games were either loosing sound or (sometimes) having a very loud hiss after I played MIDI on the EMU chipset... It wasn't any bug in DOSMid after all, but a hardware glitch of the sound card.