A PCI sound card is going to need some form of emulation software in order for a DOS program to access it as if it were an ISA sound card (cf. BLASTER variable). The Creative driver pack should include this, though it might not be included with the stock Windows 98 driver or the Windows-only drivers.

also: Your results may be quite different trying from plain DOS mode, vs. a DOS box running inside Win98. In the latter case the emulation may already be in place.

This sounds very promising. I'm perusing the drivers page for Sound Blaster, but I have no idea where to start. I would essentially need to find the correct emulation software, install it, and while it is running and I'm in 98, it will simply detect it as ISA? This is definitely out of my depth, so I really appreciate your help and time.

I think what jakethompson1 was saying was that if you find the correct set of drivers - which might be described as being for both DOS and Windows - that should include it, not that you're likely to find a separate DOS emulation driver. I would imagine that the DOS emulation driver would be installed automatically with the rest of the drivers.

I'm not sure if Creative have all their old drivers on their website, you might be best to check https://www.vogonsdrivers.com/