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First post, by soviet conscript

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I've run into a very strange issue with Star Wars: X-Wing in DOS.

First off i'm running the game on a real 486 DX2-66 and for sound i'm using an SB16 for digital effects and a Roland MT-32 for sound. I'm running a real X-Wing collectors edition CD, DOS version. On installing the game and setting up the sound, everything works fine. Everything is heard in the setup and when I start the game everything plays just fine; music via the MT-32 and digital sound effects play. However, once I restart the PC or power off and restart the game, the digital sound effects are gone and all I hear is the MIDI music via the MT-32. If I check the sound setup everything is still set correctly and both digital effects and MT-32 test and play as normal. If I uninstall the game and reinstall it, I get the same issue, both work fine on the first play but after that, the digital effects are gone. I have no idea why the game is just not playing digital sound effects after the initial play. I tested other games and they all run correctly with SB16 digital sound and MT-32 music after multiple restarts so the issue seems to be localised to X-Wing.

Any ideas?

Reply 1 of 12, by MagefromAntares

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Hi,

I have a bit hesitated to answer this as I'm more familiar with Tie Fighter as I consider it superior to X-Wing(Unless you specifically want to play as rebels), so I don't have X-Wing currently installed, but X-Wing might be one of those programs where sometimes the game itself writes to the config file and not just the config utility. Check that the configuration file contents are the same before starting the game and after exiting it. If it changes then you can make a copy of the config file before the initial play, and create a batch file that replaces the config with the known good one before starting the game.

"A process cannot be understood by stopping it. Understanding must move with the flow of the process, must join it and flow with it." - Dune

Reply 2 of 12, by SScorpio

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So you are installing, configuring sound, and the playing and it works fine. But if you exit, but don't reboot and relaunch the game the sound doesn't work? Or does it only stop working after a reboot?

Sound configuration is written to SETMUSE.INI file in the install direction. It's binary, but check the timestamp and make sure it's being written. How are you launching the game? First run from automatically from the installer? On extra runs you are going into the directory and running it?

Reply 3 of 12, by soviet conscript

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SScorpio wrote on 2026-06-11, 16:40:

So you are installing, configuring sound, and the playing and it works fine. But if you exit, but don't reboot and relaunch the game the sound doesn't work? Or does it only stop working after a reboot?

Sound configuration is written to SETMUSE.INI file in the install direction. It's binary, but check the timestamp and make sure it's being written. How are you launching the game? First run from automatically from the installer? On extra runs you are going into the directory and running it?

It stops working after a reboot.

After an install, it doesn't automatically launch, it takes me to the command line and I type xwingcd
After a restart, I go to the directory and type xwingcd,
example C:\xwingcd>xwingcd

If I go and check the SETMUSE.INI file all that's listed in it is ROLAND.MDR

Reply 4 of 12, by jh80

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This sounds strange.

Just to confirm again, you start the game, everything works, you exit the game and re-start it, and everything still works? In that case, it doesn't seem to be anything related to the game saving a particular config upon exit or something.

It's only when you reboot the computer that the game won't work correctly. That's odd.

Just to triple check, after you install the game but before you launch it, can you copy the entire contents of the install directory to a backup directory, and then after rebooting, overwrite the original install directory with the backup? What happens then?

Reply 5 of 12, by feda

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soviet conscript wrote on 2026-06-11, 20:13:

If I go and check the SETMUSE.INI file all that's listed in it is ROLAND.MDR

Really, that's all? There should be more stuff in there.
Here's mine.

Reply 6 of 12, by NeoG_

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I wonder if SETMUSE.INI is being replaced by the default one that is on the CD, due to how the game is being launched or something. If that is the case it may be copied as read only and can't be overwritten again by setmuse

98/DOS Rig: BabyAT AladdinV, K6-2+/550, V3 2000, 128MB PC100, 20GB HDD, 128GB SD2IDE, SB Live!, SB16-SCSI, PicoGUS, WP32 McCake, iNFRA CD, ZIP100
XP Rig: Lian Li PC-10 ATX, Gigabyte X38-DQ6, Core2Duo E6850, ATi HD5870, 2GB DDR2, 2TB HDD, X-Fi XtremeGamer

Reply 7 of 12, by soviet conscript

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feda wrote on 2026-06-12, 00:38:
soviet conscript wrote on 2026-06-11, 20:13:

If I go and check the SETMUSE.INI file all that's listed in it is ROLAND.MDR

Really, that's all? There should be more stuff in there.
Here's mine.

yep, mine looks like this. Maybe I can try manually adding what I need to for SB16 digital effects and then see if that corrects the issue, and see if it gets overwritten and changed after a restart? what line would I add to enable sound blaster digital effects?

Reply 8 of 12, by SScorpio

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Can you run "attrib" in the install directory on the HDD? Look for what returned for SETMUSE.INI.

Reply 9 of 12, by soviet conscript

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SScorpio wrote on 2026-06-12, 13:24:

Can you run "attrib" in the install directory on the HDD? Look for what returned for SETMUSE.INI.

i'm sorry, I'm not familiar with that command. How do I use it exactlly? If I type it in the install directory or type attrib setmuse.ini I just get a "bad command of file name" message.

Reply 10 of 12, by SScorpio

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soviet conscript wrote on 2026-06-12, 19:06:

i'm sorry, I'm not familiar with that command. How do I use it exactlly? If I type it in the install directory or type attrib setmuse.ini I just get a "bad command of file name" message.

What version of DOS are you running? It's used to show and change file attributes. I want to see if anything is weird with SETMUSE.INI such as being read-only or something.

C:>cd xwingcd
C:\xwingcd>attrib

It's just the command attrib, no other paths or anything.

Reply 11 of 12, by soviet conscript

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SScorpio wrote on 2026-06-12, 20:20:
What version of DOS are you running? It's used to show and change file attributes. I want to see if anything is weird with SETMU […]
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soviet conscript wrote on 2026-06-12, 19:06:

i'm sorry, I'm not familiar with that command. How do I use it exactlly? If I type it in the install directory or type attrib setmuse.ini I just get a "bad command of file name" message.

What version of DOS are you running? It's used to show and change file attributes. I want to see if anything is weird with SETMUSE.INI such as being read-only or something.

C:>cd xwingcd
C:\xwingcd>attrib

It's just the command attrib, no other paths or anything.

i'm running DOS 6.22, regular install from official floppy disks.

all I get when I try that is "bad command or file name"

Reply 12 of 12, by MagefromAntares

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soviet conscript wrote on Today, 00:04:
SScorpio wrote on 2026-06-12, 20:20:
What version of DOS are you running? It's used to show and change file attributes. I want to see if anything is weird with SETMU […]
Show full quote
soviet conscript wrote on 2026-06-12, 19:06:

i'm sorry, I'm not familiar with that command. How do I use it exactlly? If I type it in the install directory or type attrib setmuse.ini I just get a "bad command of file name" message.

What version of DOS are you running? It's used to show and change file attributes. I want to see if anything is weird with SETMUSE.INI such as being read-only or something.

C:>cd xwingcd
C:\xwingcd>attrib

It's just the command attrib, no other paths or anything.

i'm running DOS 6.22, regular install from official floppy disks.

all I get when I try that is "bad command or file name"

Hmm this is weird, the attrib command should be present on all DOS versions 5.0 or above(I think it might have even existed in some 3.x versions), does the DOS directory contain ATTRIB.EXE and is the directory in your PATH?

"A process cannot be understood by stopping it. Understanding must move with the flow of the process, must join it and flow with it." - Dune