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First post, by Erik765

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Hi all,

I've recently setup a retro gaming box. Currently it's running a Pentium II/450 on an Intel motherboard, with a SB16 (ct2230), 8gb HDD (2gb partition used) (will be changing out to a CF on an adapter soon since this drive is so damn loud), 64Mb ram, Diamond Stealth 2000 Pro 4mb gpu (pci) and an older 28x CD drive.

I've tried a few different CD drivers and loaders so far (oak and now uidejr) loaded by either mscdex or shsucdx.

The issue is this (which doesn't occur when playing this on Scummvm and having the CD "drive" mounted from a directory on my actual hard drive)-

When the music starts playing (coming directly from the audio track on the cd), it plays fine until Blount speaks. If I make him talk, it interrupts the music streaming, he talks, then the music starts again off the cd... I don't recall this occurring when playing this game on my old dos system as a kid.

Why is this happening?

Is it possible (since I'll have multiple 2gb partitions setup once I get my CF/IDE adapter) to just have one of those partitions with the CD data on it and have the game point to that instead of my actual cd? (like I can via Scummvm on my modern system)?

Also, another weird thing is the game tells me I don't have enough extended ram when I start either the installer or the game. The numbers it cites are all mixed up too-

"RAM:-3872 Ko/100 K0"

What the?

I've tried running it with 32, 64, 256 and 384Mb of ram installed in this system, and still the same message.

Thanks for all your help/suggestions in advance!

Reply 2 of 10, by Erik765

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I seem to have resolved the Memory error issue by trying again with 32Mb installed in the system (which is plenty for all I'm doing anyway, so I'm OK with that).

If you'd still like to see the output of mem, let me know, but otherwise no memory errors and I have 608K of conventional available.

My config.sys is:
DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS /NUMHANDLES=128 /TESTMEM:OFF /Q
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE RAM
BUFFERS=11,0
FILES=60
DOS=UMB
LASTDRIVE=E
FCBS=1,0
DOS=HIGH
DEVICEHIGH= /L:2,5792 =C:\UIDEJR\UIDEJR.SYS /D:MSCD000
STACKS=9,256

Let me know if you need anything else.

Thanks!

Reply 3 of 10, by collector

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No, the CDA track is just music. The speech is in a file (USGOB3.ITK for the NA release I believe).

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Reply 4 of 10, by Erik765

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okay.

I swear I don't remember the music being interrupted when blount speaks when I played this as a kid on my old 386. Perhaps it did and now I'm just thinking of when I later played in via Scummvm (which doesn't seem to do this (both play at once)). I don't suppose there's any physical way of doing this then, short of hacking the game somehow to reference the USGOB3.ITK file from another location/partition while not touching the 'play track' process from the CD? I haven't been able to come up with any ideas though 🙁

Am I crazy in thinking they played both at the same time on my old system? Anyone willing/able to test/confirm?

Thanks again guys.

Reply 7 of 10, by Davros

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obvious question
Is cda music (you can play the cd in media player ?) coming over the bus or via a cable (not sure if it can come over the bus with an isa card)

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Reply 8 of 10, by collector

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Doesn't matter since it works when there is no speech. It just cuts out during speech.

The Sierra Help Pages -- New Sierra Game Installers -- Sierra Game Patches -- New Non-Sierra Game Installers