MatchesMalone wrote on 2024-12-10, 18:32:

My question is, is it possible to run these games in "sound blaster" mode? Or they will only work if I had an actual Sound Blaster from Creative Labs?

Hi there! 😃 The short answer is: maybe.

Long answer: If the card is sufficient Sound Blaster/Sound Blaster Pro compatible then it works.

However, it might be that ct-voice.drv goes extra steps in identifying if the sound card is a genuine Creative card.

This check might be possible by testing the DSP revisions or checking for behavior that's specific to the original Sound Blasters but not clones.

For example, not all clones support SB-MIDI, the Creative MIDI intetface (predecessor to MPU-401)..

If there's such detection code in ct-voice.drv in can be patched out, of course.

Unfortunately, I'm just a layman here.

The game Jill of Jungle had several revisions and some included a Creative driver, too.
Maybe there's more indepth information available about this.

Best wishes,
Jo22

Edit: I recommend trying out the ct-voice.drv files that came with the 8-Bit Sound Blasters (1.0, 1.5, 2.0).
Vogonsdrivers.com has the installation disks, I think.

I used to play Prehistorik with various sound cards - no real problems.
Just be aware that it likes to incorrectly detect the SB IRQ - make sure to select the proper one.
You can also delete GRAWAGA.CFG to force it to ask about configuration.

It is possible to use CT-VOICE.DRV with compatible clones (up to the SBPro2 version for the OPTi 82C930A), keep in mind that the SB IRQ is hardcoded into said file. Earlier versions used IRQ 7 while later ones use IRQ 5.

Wait, so Creative's own software doesn't use the BLASTER variable? 😮
I mean, I know of a couple of games who ask the user for SB resources but I haven't thought Creative itself would do that.

Thank you all for the responses!

I think some versions of ct-voice.drv have a hardcoded IRQ and in fact do not rely on the BLASTER variable.
I'm not 100% sure of this, but I've downloaded a creative driver pack that included an utility to actually patch ct-voice.drv to change the IRQ it expects.
So, based on that, I'd say that at least some versions are hardcoded to a specific IRQ.

MatchesMalone wrote on 2024-12-11, 15:03:

Thank you all for the responses! […]
Show full quote

Thank you all for the responses!

I think some versions of ct-voice.drv have a hardcoded IRQ and in fact do not rely on the BLASTER variable.
I'm not 100% sure of this, but I've downloaded a creative driver pack that included an utility to actually patch ct-voice.drv to change the IRQ it expects.
So, based on that, I'd say that at least some versions are hardcoded to a specific IRQ.

If you find that utility, would you please post it here?

mockingbird wrote on 2024-12-11, 16:50:

If you find that utility, would you please post it here?

it is part of Akuma's Sound Driver Pack : Sound Driver Pack

utility is located inside the archive here: SoundDriverPack103.7z\CT-VOICE.DRV\TOOLS

MatchesMalone wrote on 2024-12-11, 15:03:

[...] So, based on that, I'd say that at least some versions are hardcoded to a specific IRQ.

if you find a version that works I am also interested to know which 😀

Here's the file from my copy of Prehistorik.
Tested to work fine on a PAS16 with SB emulation using IRQ 5.
Just be careful: after deleting GRAWAGA.CFG, HISTORIK.EXE suggests IRQ 3 as the default choice.

Grzyb wrote on 2024-12-11, 19:42:

Here's the file from my copy of Prehistorik.

I tried your file with Prehistorik and It worked! Thank you 😀

So it appears it is a question of getting the right ct-voice.drv version.

Based on this post (Re: Sound Driver Pack), I'm looking at your ct-voice.drv with a HEX editor and it is version 20 02 07 0E 01, which translates to it being version 1.14.
Looking into Akuma's Sound Driver Pack it looks that your file is the one located at CT-VOICE.DRV\1.14\SB15 (the other 1.14, the one at \SB10 is a different one). So its version 1.14 for SB 1.5 I guess.

As a side note, I also tried it with:
- Innocent until caught: it doesn't give any errors, setup seems to detect the sound card correctly, but i don't think I'm getting any actual sounds (only music). Perhaps the game doesn't have thay many sounds anyways, not really sure.
- Monkey Island 1: I run it in "Game Blaster" mode (ie. monkey.exe with the 'g' argument), and the game works but the sound is all clicks and noises. Game Blaster was the predecessor for the Sound Blaster series, it seems it also relied on ct-voice.drv. Not sure if the Sound Blaster Pro (or the OPTi card in Sound Blaster Pro mode for that matter) should be compatible with a "Game Blaster" in the first place.

MatchesMalone wrote on 2024-12-11, 20:50:

- Monkey Island 1: I run it in "Game Blaster" mode (ie. monkey.exe with the 'g' argument), and the game works but the sound is all clicks and noises. Game Blaster was the predecessor for the Sound Blaster series, it seems it also relied on ct-voice.drv. Not sure if the Sound Blaster Pro (or the OPTi card in Sound Blaster Pro mode for that matter) should be compatible with a "Game Blaster" in the first place.

SB Pro cards - both genuine and clones - aren't compatible with Creative Music System a.k.a. Game Blaster.
CT-VOICE.DRV has nothing to do with CMS/GB.
CT-VOICE.DRV is only for the *VOICE* (a.k.a. PCM, DAC, DIGITAL, WAVE) part of SB - even the FM part of SB uses different drivers.

Grzyb wrote on 2024-12-11, 21:09:

CT-VOICE.DRV has nothing to do with CMS/GB.

That's what I thought too, but for some reason if I try to run Monkey Island in "Game Blaster" mode, without having a ct-voice.drv in place, it fails to execute.
But if I have ct-voice.drv present in the path stated in the SET SOUND variable, it runs and produces strange noises and clicks. I think it's very strange that it is actually looking for ct-voice.drv. Or at least it seems to do so.

Nope, ignore my last message, Monkey Island runs regardless of ct-voice.drv just like you said. It was something else that was making it crash, sorry for the confusion.

MatchesMalone wrote on 2024-12-11, 20:50:

[...] As a side note, I also tried it with: - Innocent until caught: it doesn't give any errors, setup seems to detect the sound […]
Show full quote

[...]
As a side note, I also tried it with:
- Innocent until caught: it doesn't give any errors, setup seems to detect the sound card correctly, but i don't think I'm getting any actual sounds (only music). Perhaps the game doesn't have thay many sounds anyways, not really sure.
[...]

thanks for the info on the working ct-voice.drv version 😀
IUC is a strange case, I had the same question some years ago, check the replies here: Re: Running Innocent Until Caught with SB support
basically you can check if it works on that ship landing sequence at start, you should hear some mediocre engine sounds 🤣

keropi wrote on 2024-12-12, 19:18:

IUC is a strange case, I had the same question some years ago, check the replies here: Re: Running Innocent Until Caught with SB support
basically you can check if it works on that ship landing sequence at start, you should hear some mediocre engine sounds 🤣

I think we crossed paths in that same thread in fact hehe.
Ah.. mediocre engine sounds... I better get to it.

thanks!