VOGONS


First post, by retro games 100

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Introduction
I am testing a Creative Sound Blaster Live! CT4760 card. I think it's an X-Gamer model, but I am not exactly sure. According to the Creative website, there are two types of X-Gamer cards: the X-Gamer 5.1 and the X-Gamer (not 5.1). I think this card can support 5.1 speakers, and so I am guessing it is a 5.1 card, but during my tests I ran a 5.1 driver for it, and it failed to find the card, so I am confused as to exactly what type of card this is.

The card
Anyone know what the jumpers do at location 6 and 7, on the photo? They are jumpers JP3 and VOL_CTRL. Also, 1 - 5 are:

1: Digital Out
2: In
3: Mic
4: Out 1
5: Out 2

Regarding the ports numbered 1+4+5 above. The manual (extract below) says that the digital out port only works in "5.1 mode" on certain models. I now think that my card is not a 5.1 model, even though it looks like it can support 5.1 speakers.
jack.jpg

live2.JPG

1) Link to the full Live!Ware 3.0 CD. Filename is "Creative Live!Ware 3.0 CD ISO+update.7z". Source: some random MegaUpload link.
2) Link to the Creative upgrade patch. Filename is sblw9xup.exe. Source: Creative.
3) Link to the "Beta" Creative upgrade patch. Filename is sblive2.zip. Source: mdgx.com, also discussed here on the msfn website.
4) Link to the Play Center patch. Filename is PlayCenter155.exe. Source: Creative.
5) Link to the Disc detector patch. Filename is DDINSUPD.EXE. Source: Creative.

6) Link is http://www.mdgx.com/sbdr/SB_Live!_Setup_CD_IS … _1713331000.rar (punctuation confuses hyperlink, so it has been removed, but be careful when clicking on link) to another full Live!Ware 3.0 CD. Filename is SB_Live!_Setup_CD_ISO_1713331000.rar. Source: mdgx.com.

7) Link to the standalone Live!Ware 3.0 drivers. Filename is liveware3.0.zip. Source: DriverGuide. See note 7 below.
8 ) Link to the full install CD, using the WDM driver model (Windows Millennium). Filename is Live! Install CD.7z. Source: Malik's Creative software thread, here.
9) Link to the English user guide manual. File name is English.pdf. Source: it's in the User Guide sub folder located inside the software above, at link number 8.

Notes
1) This is the best software package to use for Windows 98. It should run on 95, but I haven't tested it. I would recommend a different package (link 8 ) for Windows Millennium. This full CD will install the VxD drivers, and not the WDM drivers. It will also install a range of applets. Please note that this download file comes with a "bundled" Creative upgrade patch. This patch is mentioned in link 2, below.

2) This will upgrade the software in link number 1 above. It only updates a few core drivers. If you don't want to use a Creative written Beta upgrade, then just use this one.

3) This will upgrade the software in link number 1 above. It updates quite a few core drivers. One is marked Beta. It is not available on Creative's website anymore. I am guessing they removed it "for safety" because it contains a Beta driver, and is now completely unsupported. If you want to use it, then you do not need to run the Creative upgrade in link number 2 above. However, if you do run it, it will do no harm whatsoever.

4) This upgrades the Play Centre installed from link number 1 from version 1.53 to version 1.55

5) This upgrades the disc detector applet installed from link number 1 from version 1.54 to 1.55. You need to reboot the PC to see the change take place. Please note that this patch didn't seem to work when I installed the software in link number 6 below. I don't know why.

6) This is a different installation CD, compared to the software in link number 1. It's got KeyTar and Rhythmania on it. However, the drivers are definitely older. Also the Disc Detector patch doesn't seem to work with this software. Generally speaking, I would avoid this software. I recommend that you use the software in link number 1 instead. However, what you could do is that once all of your software is installed, you could then run this setup, and simply pick these two extra apps (KeyTar + Rhyth) only, and not select anything else.

7) This is a driver package only. I think some of the drivers are newer than the software in link number 1, but as those can be easily upgraded, I wouldn't bother with this package, because if you use the software in link number 1, you can select the "Drivers only install" option anyway. If you can't download this file from DriverGuide for whatever reason, just google for LiveWare 3.0 or liveware3.0.zip, and you'll surely find it.

8 ) This is a good CD if you are using Windows Millennium, because it installs a late looking (date wise) set of WDM drivers, but the WDM model doesn't cater for DOS emulation, so that's something to bear in mind. This software is a full CD, and has all the typical Creative apps on it, which are also on the software in link 1. I'm not sure if there is any upgrade to this CD. It's possible that this CD contains the latest drivers. Please don't run the update in link number 2 or 3. They are both strictly for Win 95+98 (VxD) only.

Last edited by retro games 100 on 2011-06-20, 16:45. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 1 of 13, by leileilol

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I know the 5.1 was a hot buy for the awesome game bundle alone.

Don't install the Creative PlayCenter or the newsfeed thing.

It has some obsolete mp3 playing novelties from the year 2000 like that ACID Player as well. OMG YOUR MP3S ARE IN 3D!!!!!!!!1

apsosig.png
long live PCem

Reply 2 of 13, by srry

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I have the exact same card.

I used the drivers I found on Creative's site first, and then later found that there was no way to control all the device's features, so I found an old link to the Live!Ware 3.0 ISO on this very forum of all places, and installed all that, worked perfectly... never bothered upgrading it beyond that. The extra software is indeed pretty silly stuff, I uninstalled most of it after playing with it for a few minutes.

It's really confusing though because there's a later version of the SBL called "Sound Blaster Live! 5.1" Which is apparently a separate product from the "Sound Blaster Live! X-Gamer 5.1". I think the X-Gamer 5.1 was released earlier. I just don't know what a 5.1 X-Gamer card would physically look like, if it has any distinguishing marks compared to the non-5.1 version, or what its model number is. Even without all that info, I'm still quite certain the CT4760 is the non-5.1 version.

Also, I don't think what you have identified there as jumpers are actually jumpers, I'm pretty sure the VOL_CTRL thing, and probably the other pins are for the optional front-panel audio I/O control plate that I hear some of these came with. Thus, VOLume ConTRoL.

Reply 3 of 13, by retro games 100

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Re: "hot buy". Yes, I found a review of the card online (sorry too tired to look it up), and it came with SIX CDs, many of them games.

Re: Creative Play Centre + Newsfeed. Why not the CPC? Is it crap? The Newsfeed thing can be disabled in the preferences somewhere...

Re: old link to LW3 ISO. I wonder if it's the same as the software link number 1, in my o.p. above? It's a 9x based VxD full install. Very good.

Reply 4 of 13, by srry

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Yeah it's the same file as the link above. Were you having trouble installing everything correctly earlier, in that other thread? I had trouble initially too, but only when I tried messing around and doing a custom install. Truth of it is, what the CD apparently wants you to do is install absolutely everything on the disc, otherwise it has a tendency to hang. At least, that's what I found. After I selected the default method and installed every bit of frivolous bloatware in the most generic way available, it all worked perfect.

Reply 5 of 13, by retro games 100

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Hehe, yes I understand what you are saying. Actually I tried that installation both ways: everything, and also just the drivers. It didn't work. I think that particular CD (the WDM based one) and the CT4760 card just don't work together, in W98SE. However, it worked very well in W-ME. I've linked to it in this thread, in link number 8 in my o.p. above.

Reply 7 of 13, by remax

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Up, i'd like this iso too. Anyone can help ? 😀

By the way, i'm looking for a cd-rom to sound card cable...

A few questions

1) the manual talk about MPC to MPC, so i must look for a cable with the same ends?
2) there is a 2 pin and a 4 pin connector, what's the difference? One analog and one digital?
3) i saw soundblaster to cd rom cables, are these good for me? I don't think so as it seems not to be the good end on the sound card side

I would sum up : what would be the best choice ?
[/quote]

Reply 8 of 13, by akula65

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I can say from personal experience that the CT4760 pictured in the first post is the same card that shipped in each of the following packages:

Sound Blaster Live! Platinum (non-5.1) (4.0 = stereo with rear speakers support)
Sound Blaster Live! X-Gamer (non-5.1) (4.0 = stereo with rear speakers support)
Sound Blaster Live! MP3+ (non-5.1) (4.0 = stereo with rear speakers support)

I own the first two packages, and each has the same CT4760 card although the boxes were marked with the model number as indicated on this page at Creative's site (note the extra letter added to the CT4760 designation):

http://support.creative.com/kb/ShowArticle.as … =ws:,case=10846

On the other hand, the 5.1 versions of the following products all shipped with the same SB0060 card:

Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 Platinum
Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 X-Gamer
Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 MP3+

The various 5.1 and non-5.1 packages (Platinum, X-Gamer and MP3+) were distinguished by what was in the box APART from the sound card itself, and this includes the Drivers and Applications & Games CD-ROMs.

Last edited by Stiletto on 2020-10-27, 21:46. Edited 2 times in total.
Reason: thanks to HiroSK

Reply 9 of 13, by wollev45

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i know, this is a old Posting.

but, i have a very old Information...

the Pins from jp7 are manual volume adjustment !

Middle is gnd
one pin for volume Up and one pin for volume down.
if You connect the middle pin with one of the other pin, the volume increase/decrease a step.

in the end of the 90ths, i have this in my case modded 😀

Reply 10 of 13, by JeffGMont

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Yes, I'm replying to this old post because some information is pertinent for anyone else coming to this later.

retro games 100 wrote on 2011-06-20, 17:09:

Hehe, yes I understand what you are saying. Actually I tried that installation both ways: everything, and also just the drivers. It didn't work. I think that particular CD (the WDM based one) and the CT4760 card just don't work together, in W98SE. However, it worked very well in W-ME. I've linked to it in this thread, in link number 8 in my o.p. above.

Don't forget the order the OSes were released:
- 98
- ME
- 98SE

So 98 and ME used the same drivers, but 98SE used newer drivers, IIRC, which is probably where the other drivers come into play than what are available for the 1st link.

Also, of note, yes - the CT4760 _is_ 5.1 surround, with #4 from your image being front/left/right and #5 being rear left/right. (I forget how the sub worked but I am pretty sure that was also through #4 - I had tried to get a good setup but could never quite get "good enough" speakers living on the budget I was in '99-'05 when I was using this.)

Also of note, the systems at the time had you feed the audio cable from the CD ROM (IDE drives) to the card's CD_IN, or CD_SPDIF depending on the CD ROM you had, and I had an FM card that also fed to one of the other inputs so I could listen to the radio.

I'm currently trying to catalog some old cards, as I'm about to build a rig to try and recover data from old floppy disks and drives, and was looking up information about the card when I came across your post. I bought this with a new computer system at the time (Pentium FTW!) and yes, it came with a large number of games, and three CDs for the card - one for Windows 98, one Live! Ware installation, and the third was "Application & Game Demo CD", in addition to "Need for Speed" and the other games. And yes, I still have them.

Oh, and the volume control? Some old PCs had a volume dial or buttons on the front of the case that could be hooked to the card.

Back to the cataloging - but thought I'd help clarify a bit for "future me" and my fellow old hardware enthusiasts.

Reply 11 of 13, by Hatta

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JeffGMont wrote on 2022-01-07, 07:09:
Don't forget the order the OSes were released: - 98 - ME - 98SE […]
Show full quote

Don't forget the order the OSes were released:
- 98
- ME
- 98SE

98 - June 25, 1998
ME - September 14, 2000
98SE - May 5, 1999

Reply 13 of 13, by AmiSapphire

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I've actually managed to grab the requested ISO from the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. Amusingly, it hung on a certain spot (88.7MB) while downloading for ~7 seconds, then eventually finished downloading. Because of that, I did test the archive thoroughly, no issues of note.

The link I used:
https://web.archive.org/web/20150602091654/ht … _1713331000.rar

For now, this is on my home server as well:
http://cwcyrix.nsupdate.info/creative/SB_Live … _1713331000.rar

Edit: Also found this on VOGONSDrivers after the fact (only real difference is the ISO is not archived - ISO image CRC32 is different from the one in the .rar archive):
http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fileid=319 - [SB_install_drivers_1713331000.iso is ready to download!]

However, the one in the .rar archive is the proper.rip.

Site update: cwcyrix.duckdns.org -> cwcyrix.nsupdate.info due to the former no longer working.