If the only DOS you are looking at is the Wingcommander series. Then you need great SB Pro support. The music is down to Adlib or MT32. The Soundscape 2000 isn't an MT32, it can sound OK for some games that don't remap instruments. But Wingcommander requires an MT32 with an intelligent mode MPU401. If Adlib sounds great for the AvanceLogic ALS100, then that would be my pick. The GM support would also be nice for game that made the jump to GM MIDI support.

For the Windows games, get a Sound Blaster Live or Audigy. EAX can add a lot to the experience of Win9X games. And with the good ISA card you don't need to worry about DOS compatibility issues.

I don't have experience with the card, but that AvanceLogic is after the move to the Adlib support being bundled into a single chip. So it's not an exact OPL clone. Only you can decide if you are fine with how it sounds.

You can turn off the L1 with SetMul for slowdown but that's about the only option you've got with that CPU so no chance for fine tuning the speed.

For Wing Commander you're better off playing either the Kilrathi Saga version for Win95 or the fan patch which adds a proper speed limiter.

For the sound card, I would go with the Sound Blaster 32 unless CQM is a huge turn-off, and if it is you can use the SB Pro or ALS card in the other slot.

onethirdxcubed wrote on 2025-11-07, 16:01:

For Wing Commander you're better off playing either the Kilrathi Saga version for Win95 or the fan patch which adds a proper speed limiter.

There's a recent patch that adds the speed limiter from the Secret Missions 2 pack to the base game.

You still need to do some speed limiting for briefings and cutscenes. But the actual flight is no longer speed sensitive and impossible to perfectly dial in.

New Patch - Wing Commander 1 (1990) speed throttling for 486+ CPUs

Go with the ALS100 Pro. The cards have a separate (unlicensed) OPL3 clone chip which are 100% accurate. This is contrary to mainstream thought which claims that there is some sort of proprietary FM integrated into the IC. The IC itself has zero FM capability.

SScorpio wrote on 2025-11-07, 15:48:

If the only DOS you are looking at is the Wingcommander series. Then you need great SB Pro support. The music is down to Adlib or MT32. The Soundscape 2000 isn't an MT32, it can sound OK for some games that don't remap instruments. But Wingcommander requires an MT32 with an intelligent mode MPU401. If Adlib sounds great for the AvanceLogic ALS100, then that would be my pick. The GM support would also be nice for game that made the jump to GM MIDI support.

For the Windows games, get a Sound Blaster Live or Audigy. EAX can add a lot to the experience of Win9X games. And with the good ISA card you don't need to worry about DOS compatibility issues.

I don't have experience with the card, but that AvanceLogic is after the move to the Adlib support being bundled into a single chip. So it's not an exact OPL clone. Only you can decide if you are fine with how it sounds.

Much thanks. WC 1&2 will be SBPro, WC3 and 4 detect use the Soundscape directly. I am leaning in the direction of the SB64 or SB32 in one slot and the AL/GM daughter in the other. I do have an early Audigy and a couple of SB Lives in other more modern projects and know they are great for Win98.

onethirdxcubed wrote on 2025-11-07, 16:01:

You can turn off the L1 with SetMul for slowdown but that's about the only option you've got with that CPU so no chance for fine tuning the speed.

For Wing Commander you're better off playing either the Kilrathi Saga version for Win95 or the fan patch which adds a proper speed limiter.

For the sound card, I would go with the Sound Blaster 32 unless CQM is a huge turn-off, and if it is you can use the SB Pro or ALS card in the other slot.

TQ for your reply. Indeed, testing and failing with SetMul the last couple of days made me consider hunting down a K6+ which may become an option I take. CQM is not as bad as most people make out so I think this has me weighing up the merits of either the AWE64 value against the SB32 now for Win98

SScorpio wrote on 2025-11-07, 16:14:

There's a recent patch that adds the speed limiter from the Secret Missions 2 pack to the base game. […]
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onethirdxcubed wrote on 2025-11-07, 16:01:

For Wing Commander you're better off playing either the Kilrathi Saga version for Win95 or the fan patch which adds a proper speed limiter.

There's a recent patch that adds the speed limiter from the Secret Missions 2 pack to the base game.

You still need to do some speed limiting for briefings and cutscenes. But the actual flight is no longer speed sensitive and impossible to perfectly dial in.

New Patch - Wing Commander 1 (1990) speed throttling for 486+ CPUs

Excellent. I did no know about this patch.

mockingbird wrote on 2025-11-07, 19:40:

Go with the ALS100 Pro. The cards have a separate (unlicensed) OPL3 clone chip which are 100% accurate. This is contrary to mainstream thought which claims that there is some sort of proprietary FM integrated into the IC. The IC itself has zero FM capability.

I agree. It is a very under rated card. I prefer it to my SB Pro 2 cards as it sounds the same and has less noise.

This now leaves me with the SB32 or AWE64 question...which to use for Windows? The AWE64 is in the system currently and Win98 drivers are installed for it.

KiasuKing wrote on 2025-11-08, 06:29:

I agree. It is a very under rated card. I prefer it to my SB Pro 2 cards as it sounds the same and has less noise.

This now leaves me with the SB32 or AWE64 question...which to use for Windows? The AWE64 is in the system currently and Win98 drivers are installed for it.

Do you really need a separate card for Windows? If the ALS100 Pro has working Windows drivers including General Midi support via the daughterboard - just use that.

ALS100, that's the sweet spot of the cards you listed here in terms of wanting both DOS and windows, and the variety of games listed. It'll be compatible with WC1 and other DOS games while still making games from 2000 sound good.

Playing games like NOLF on a K6/2 is going to be a slog, you will need all the CPU power you can get and the best bet is something like an SB Live or Audigy. But I still think you will be disappointed, my K6/2+ 550 with higher speed, on die L2 and V3 2000 AGP is not really really fast enough. I think NOLF2 is out of the question.

There are quite a few slowdown programs for DOS that either eat CPU cycles or flood the system with IRQ requests.

These were in use long before the programs that control the CPU clock speed were around.

It just takes a bit to figure out the proper settings and some even have hot keys that allow you to adjust the speed real-time.
As for Wing Commander 1&2, they re-releases them for Win9x and they didn't have the speed issues. I don't remember how the music was done in the Windows version... If is was pre-recorded or not.

cyclone3d wrote on 2025-11-09, 20:30:

There are quite a few slowdown programs for DOS that either eat CPU cycles or flood the system with IRQ requests.

I recall MoSlo and Bret Johnson's Slowdown were quite popular back in the day.

dr_st wrote on 2025-11-08, 10:16:

KiasuKing wrote on 2025-11-08, 06:29:

I agree. It is a very under rated card. I prefer it to my SB Pro 2 cards as it sounds the same and has less noise.

This now leaves me with the SB32 or AWE64 question...which to use for Windows? The AWE64 is in the system currently and Win98 drivers are installed for it.

Do you really need a separate card for Windows? If the ALS100 Pro has working Windows drivers including General Midi support via the daughterboard - just use that.

Good point. I have a socket 370 system (Pentium 3) with a SB live 5.1 card in it. That would simplify things. Maybe I am trying to do too much with it.

NeoG_ wrote on 2025-11-09, 11:46:

Playing games like NOLF on a K6/2 is going to be a slog, you will need all the CPU power you can get and the best bet is something like an SB Live or Audigy. But I still think you will be disappointed, my K6/2+ 550 with higher speed, on die L2 and V3 2000 AGP is not really really fast enough. I think NOLF2 is out of the question.

Yes, I do have a Pentium 2 on a socket 370 which runs it fine. That said...it actually runs and looks best on a P4 I have. I need to segment the games to the hardware.

BTW the whole reason i started down this route is my wife of 30+ years is keen for me to lighten the "sorting out dads junk after he expires" argument. Maybe I should just ignore the stress, enjoy the systems and let the kids sort it out when I will no longer be here to care hahahah...sorry if thats morbid.

dr_st wrote on 2025-11-09, 21:05:

cyclone3d wrote on 2025-11-09, 20:30:

There are quite a few slowdown programs for DOS that either eat CPU cycles or flood the system with IRQ requests.

I recall MoSlo and Bret Johnson's Slowdown were quite popular back in the day.

oh my!!! Moslo!

I had that once upon a time. Likely still on one of my HDDs. I need to find it and report back!

Double-check: is that ALS100 really an ALS100 or an ALS100+? If no plus you're in luck, as the non-ALS100 isn't just SBPro2-compatible but also SB16 compatible including high DMA, just without Creative's MIDI and clicking bugs. Also if it's not paired with a real OPL3, it will have a 1:1 clone, so perfect FM as well. If you want a single card that does it all, this one is definitely the way to go.

But you have two slots and it would be a shame not to use both. Given the era you're looking at, you'll want good FM. Out of that list, that means the SBPro2 or the ALS100 - the SB32 and AWE have less highly regarded CQM and the less said about the Soundscape's "FM" the better. For Windows any of them will give sound, but ideally you want hardware WSS support up to 48kHz to avoid resampling mess. The ALS100 also ticks that box (unlike the Creative cards that cap out at 44kHz), as does the Soundscape.

So basically the ALS100 does everything you need - and it has a GM wavetable daughterboard too. So the only added value for the other slot would be a different MIDI synth. In that case it's a subjective question of whether you prefer the AWE64's EMU8k with soundfonts, or the Soundscape's native MIDI. I'd check those games again and see what they natively support.