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First post, by Paddan1000

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I just bought a Gravis Ultrasound Pro PnP with the RAM upgraded to 2,5 megabytes in total. I plugged it into my computer and spent the weekend trying to configure it. After a lot of work, I finally managed to make my computer recognise it and have it provide sound for some of my games. However, a lot of games just won't work when I have choosen "Ultrasound" for sound in the options menu. What could be the problem?!

Games that work are the following:

Doom
Heretic
Raptor
Duke Nukem 3d
Warlords 2 Deluxe
Escape from Delirium

Games that don't work:

All Epic games with Ultrasound support; Epic Pinball, Jazz the Jackrabbit, Hocus Pocus, One Must Fall, etc... (The games can sometimes be played, but no sound effects and no music)
Simon the Sorcerer 2 (I load the Ultramid TSR and the Ultrasound can play the test samples in the options menu, but when I try to start the game it says "Failed to initialize music driver")
Discworld (Game crashes when music is supposed to start playing)
Fallout (Sound works, but is choppy)
Toshinden and Angel Devoid (In the setups of the games I can't choose Gravis Ultrasound for MIDI at any other port than 220, and I'm using port 240. Strangely enough I can choose port 240 for sound effects)

My system contains the following:

Gravis Ultrasound Pro PnP Rev. 1 with 2,5 megs of RAM
Soundblaster Pro 1 (OPL2)
Voyetra MIDI interface (100% MPU-401 compatible)
Voodoo 1
MS-DOS 6.22
Mouse connected to the COM1-port.
IBM PS/2 Keyboard
Pentium 75 processor
80 Megs of RAM (64 megs usable)
2 floppy drives, 1 CD-ROM, 2 hard drives

Here are my config files:

CONFIG.SYS:

SHELL=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM C:\DOS /E:256 /P DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS /testmem:off DOS=HIGH,UMB DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE RAM I=B […]
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SHELL=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM C:\DOS /E:256 /P
DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS /testmem:off
DOS=HIGH,UMB
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE RAM I=B000-B7FF
COUNTRY=046,850,C:\DOS\COUNTRY.SYS
DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\DISPLAY.SYS CON=(EGA,,1)
FILES=40
BUFFERS=20
LASTDRIVE=H
STACKS=0,0
DEVICE=C:\DOS\SETVER.EXE
DEVICEHIGH=C:\DRIVERS\CDDRV\SBIDE.SYS /D:CD /P:170,15

AUTOEXEC.BAT

SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 T2 SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E MODE:1 SET INTERWAVE=C:\GRAVIS\ULTRASND\IW.INI SET IWDIR=C:\GRAVIS\ULTRASND\ SE […]
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SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 T2
SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E MODE:1
SET INTERWAVE=C:\GRAVIS\ULTRASND\IW.INI
SET IWDIR=C:\GRAVIS\ULTRASND\
SET ULTRADIR=C:\GRAVIS\ULTRASND\
SET ULTRASND=240,6,7,5,3
C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE /X
@ECHO OFF
PROMPT $p$g
PATH C:\DOS;C:\WINDOWS;C:\NC;C:\DRIVERS\MOUSE;C:\BATCH
SET TEMP=C:\TEMP
SET SOUND=C:\SBPRO
MODE CON CODEPAGE PREPARE=((850) C:\DOS\EGA.CPI)
MODE CON CODEPAGE SELECT=850
LH KEYB SV,,C:\DOS\KEYBOARD.SYS
LH C:\DRIVERS\CDDRV\MSCDEX.EXE /D:CD /L:G
C:\DRIVERS\MOUSE\CTMOUSE.EXE
C:\DRIVERS\MOUSE\CTMOUSE.EXE
C:\GRAVIS\ULTRASND\IWINIT.EXE

IW.INI

[languages] english=English, C:\GRAVIS\ULTRASND\LANGUAGE\ENGLISH default=English […]
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[languages]
english=English, C:\GRAVIS\ULTRASND\LANGUAGE\ENGLISH
default=English

[mixer settings]
SaveOnWindowsExit=true
init=iw8a1,4,0,60,0,61,0,62,0,63,0,5,0,9,0,0,10,-7,-7,83,0,12,3,14,0,15,0,16,1,17,0,18,0,19,0,20,127,127,21,-3,-3,22,-3,-3,23,0,0,24,-3,-3,25,-9,27,1,28,0,80,0,81,0,82,0,32,98,98,33,50,50,34,98,98,35,41,43,64,45,0,46,0,47,0,48,0,!,e
default=init
AlwaysOnTop=false
FullView=true

[patch descriptions]
rom_amd_1m=1M ROM Patch Set
amd_4m=4M RAM Patch Set
grav_org=Original UltraSound Patch Set

[vendors]
rom_amd_1m=ROMAMDGM_1_1_
amd_4m=gsfull4m.fff
grav_org=default.fff
default=rom_amd_1m

[vendor amd_4m]
gsfull4m.fff=C:\GRAVIS\ULTRASND\PATCHES

[vendor grav_org]
default.fff=C:\GRAVIS\ULTRASND

[patch editor]
patch_editor_dir=

[iwsbos]
library512=
library1024=
memcfg=ROM
SbosVector=7e
Mpu401Emulation=on
quiet=off

[windows]
apm=off
vxd_id=38DA
MaxWaveClients=4
midi_out_synchronous=true

[midi]
layer_atten_adjust=-8

[sndvol32]
UseInterwaveMixer=1

[setup 0]
mode=pnp
GPusage=IRQ
revision=B0
csn=1
pnprdp=20b
UseDma=true
SynthBase=240
CodecBase=34c
AdLibBase=0
GamePort=0
ATAPIBase=0
DMA1=6
DMA2=7
IRQ1=5
IRQ2=3
CDBase=0
CDIRQ=0
CDDMA=0
SBIRQ=0
SBDMA=0
MpuBase=0
MPUIRQ=0
vendor_id=GRV0001
effects=on
winrdp=20b
dosrdp=20b
config=0
ptelar=0

Reply 1 of 19, by Mau1wurf1977

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How did you manage to get it going with Doom and the other games? With my card it wouldn't work and I later found out I needed a program form the CD to initialize the card into GUS classic mode.

Apart from that I would try removing the SB Pro, reinstalling all the GUS drivers and testing again.

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Reply 2 of 19, by Paddan1000

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To make the card work with Doom and the others, first I installed the driver disk for MS-DOS. For some reason, the installation program always crashes after the files are copied to the hard drive, when it's time to choose system resources, so I had to manually alter iw.ini and autoexec.bat (should I make any changes to config.sys?). It took a lot of attempts before the computer would finally recognized the card when iwinit.exe was executed.
Next I installed all the sound patches from GUS Classic from the CD I got with the card and set the "ULTRADIR" variable in autoexec.bat.
I also flashed the card with the latest EEPROM, that disabled the IDE interface.

I don't think there is a conflict with my Sound Blaster Pro. I must have made a mistake in either configuring the card or in installing the games.

I'm especially concerned about the Epic games, since they were one of the main reasons I got the card.

And by the way, I can't get the Gravis emulation working in DosBox since I upgraded to Windows 7 64-bit. It always worked with Windows XP 32-bit. Is this a known problem?

Reply 3 of 19, by Mau1wurf1977

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Getting a crash wehn choosing the resourced doesn't fill me with confidence.

Regarding DOSBox, well it's an emulator, the the host OS is irrelevant. Plus I have it running on my W7 64 bit machine.

My website with reviews, demos, drivers, tutorials and more...
My YouTube channel

Reply 4 of 19, by 5u3

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Just did a quick test of Jazz Jackrabbit, Epic Pinball and One Must Fall: None of these work on my GUS PnP either, however they're fine with a normal GUS. Seems to be a bug in the games then (they all use the same sound engine).

Reply 5 of 19, by Paddan1000

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Ok, thanks for doing the testing. Funny that the games wouldn't work when the GUS PnP is advertised as "100% GUS Classic compatible" and the games were actually included on the CD that came with the card. I guess my next project will be to search the world for a GUS Classic (I had to order the GUS PnP all the way from Japan).

I managed to get some GUS-only demos working in DosBox, but Doom and other games don't work like they used to do.

Reply 6 of 19, by Paddan1000

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Great! I managed to get all of the Epic games working with my GUS PnP. All I had to do was put the file "prepgame.exe", that was installed together with the sound patches, in the directory of each game and execute it. That would patch the games to work with the PnP.
To bad it only worked with the Epic games and none of the other games. I'm really curious to what Simon the Sorcerer 2 would sound like...

Reply 7 of 19, by Great Hierophant

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I don't like to necropost, but Cloudschatze tested Simon 2 and Discworld with his GUS PNP and Mega-Em 3.11 and both worked fine. I can confirm that Fallout sounds like crap using the GUS driver, whether its a regular GUS or a PNP. Fallout probably works fine with the GUS MAX driver, since that is probably just a modified Windows Sound System driver. That just leaves Battle Arena Toshinden and Angel Devoid: Face of the Enemy as two identified games that may not work with the GUS PNP.

http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/ - Nerdly Pleasures - My Retro Gaming, Computing & Tech Blog

Reply 8 of 19, by sliderider

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Great Hierophant wrote:

Fallout probably works fine with the GUS MAX driver, since that is probably just a modified Windows Sound System driver.

Are Windows Sound System cards GUS compatible?

Reply 9 of 19, by Great Hierophant

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sliderider wrote:
Great Hierophant wrote:

Fallout probably works fine with the GUS MAX driver, since that is probably just a modified Windows Sound System driver.

Are Windows Sound System cards GUS compatible?

No, the GUS MAX, and a GUS with a daughter board has a digital audio chip on them that is functionally equivalent to the one used in a Windows Sound System that does 16-bit input and output. Its port I/O locations are different.

http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/ - Nerdly Pleasures - My Retro Gaming, Computing & Tech Blog

Reply 10 of 19, by schlang

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Use this and you will be fine: http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fileid=100

PC#1: K6-III+ 400 | 512MB | Geforce4 | Voodoo1 | SB Live | AWE64 | GUS PNP Pro
PC#2: 486DX2-66 | 64MB | Riva128 | AWE64 | GUS PNP | PAS16
PC#3: 386DX-40 | 32MB | CL-GD5434 | SB Pro | GUS MAX | PAS16

Think you know your games music? Show us: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=37532

Reply 11 of 19, by synacktic

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I was able to get Discworld working with the Gravis Ultrasound PNP without MegaEm, using native drivers.

First thing was patching Discworld, which seems to have major sound fixes. After that, the new setsound program (came with the Discworld patch) could see my Ultrasound PNP, but not the midi/music part of it. This could be fixed by loading megaem, but then the Ultrasound is clobbered and you have to use SB emulation. After playing with it for a while, I remove one of my 4MB sims and set the jumpers (mine is a PNP pro) to allow it to access the built in memory again. After that Discworld detected it for sound effects and music and worked flawlessly.

I don't know how this would play out without a pro version, but if anyone is having detection issues, with memory maxed, try removing some memory.

The Discworld patch is a little funky to find, but it is out there.
For example, it is attached to this post here:
Discworld 1 Install. PLEASE help.

It was called disc_up.zip in this case.

That is it, I hope this helps someone.

Reply 12 of 19, by Cloudschatze

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synacktic wrote:

That is it, I hope this helps someone.

Getting Discworld to work properly with a GUSPnP shouldn't be as complicated an affair as all that. I have a Pro with 8MB of RAM installed, and am able to run an unpatched CD version of the game - using the Gravis Ultrasound selections for both MIDI music (via the game's native use of ULTRAMID) and digital audio playback - without any trouble at all.

Reply 13 of 19, by NightSprinter

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Know it's a small necropost, but hear me out: Have you tried putting the PnP into legacy mode for initializing? Can do so either with iwinit -legacy or just change "mode" in iw.ini to legacy instead of pnp.

That's all I wanted to say.

Reply 14 of 19, by gerwin

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Another tip to get the most out of a Gravis Ultrasound PnP 'Interwave'.

I noticed this card is very 'Windows Sound System' compatible. Tested it with my own Doom MBF driver and with the Miles driver: Using SNDSYS.DIG instead of IWAV.DIG.
Actual WSS hardware is normally configured with I/O port 530h as a base address, but inside the driver the actual codec communication goes to 534h. That is an offset +4 For unknown reason...
My GUS PnP WSS compatible codec interface is configured at I/O port 34Ch. And this is the actual codec port address.

So when using a the GUS with a WSS driver, you have to configure the game to use port 348h, then the driver internally adds +4, and properly communicates with 34Ch. To do this trick with a windows sound system card, it is the other way around.

--> ISA Soundcard Overview // Doom MBF 2.04 // SetMul

Reply 15 of 19, by NightSprinter

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That's quite intriguing, Gerwin! I never imagined it would unofficially support the WSS standard. Shame we'd still need a real SB Pro, compatible, or SB16 in order to get proper OPL3 synthesis. I'll have to give this a shot with Tyrian sometime (as it supports WSS for digital audio).

But yeah, if a game that was really made to take advantage of the hardware mixing in the original GUS locks up (basically any of the stuff by Epic for DOS you mentioned), then reinitializing your card in legacy mode will solve it. I tested it out with OMF, Jazz, and Epic Pinball. System lock when in PnP Mode, but just fine in Legacy.

Reply 16 of 19, by gerwin

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Tyrian has this problem: it expects the default resources for the WSS (IIRC 530h, IRQ 5,DMA 0/3) and has no other options. Also its GUS driver isn't very interwave compatible. Last week I was even considering modifying the source in that regard. But the game is not really open source, so no chance.

--> ISA Soundcard Overview // Doom MBF 2.04 // SetMul

Reply 17 of 19, by NightSprinter

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Yeah, hence why I think for any games that really use the GUS that're incompatible with the Interwave needs the card in legacy mode. What would be great would, say, find a way to use Mega-Em for just the MIDI port at 300 while using an SB Pro 2 with SOFTMPU at 330 for the games that need an intelligent mode interface. A sort of dual compatibility.

Reply 18 of 19, by Cloudschatze

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NightSprinter wrote:

But yeah, if a game that was really made to take advantage of the hardware mixing in the original GUS locks up (basically any of the stuff by Epic for DOS you mentioned), then reinitializing your card in legacy mode will solve it. I tested it out with OMF, Jazz, and Epic Pinball. System lock when in PnP Mode, but just fine in Legacy.

The mode parameter simply defines whether the card is treated as fully "PnP" compliant, or as a software-configurable, "legacy" adapter, with respect to its resource configuration. Assuming a correct set of port, DMA, and IRQ resources is assigned using either method, this setting isn't really something that should affect game compatibility. It sounds like you're getting a different set of resources depending on the setting, where the PnP-assigned resources might be causing conflicts?

The "legacy" option was the installation default with my own GUSPnP (presumably because it was installed in DOS), and uses the resources I've manually specified, corresponding to an ULTRASND=240,7,7,11,11 environment variable. By forcing "PnP" mode, my card is (arbitrarily?) assigned resources that correspond with, and would require, an ULTRASND=240,3,6,11,11 variable. This being the case, and for all instances where the "PnP' option is being used otherwise, it would seem prudent to run the little SETIWENV batch file that automatically updates the environment variable based on the GETIWENV output, else you might have a problem with software that relies upon the "correctness" of that string.