Deksor wrote:

I have sometimes garbled music on MK1 on my 486 DX33 using sound blaster pro 2 for some reason. However like I said, I never had any issues running DOTT on my pentium 2 with my YMF744 sound card

I only used primarily the original 8bit Sound Blaster or the SB AWE64. Both those as far as I can recall never had issues playing DOS games. I did a lot of MK1 on the SB 8bit card but don't recall any garbled sound issues. When is this occurring in the game and which sound effects or sound tracks? Did you try reducing the Graphics Detail to Low to see if it still occurred? I know MK2 was more CPU intensive than MK1 but even MK1 required a lot as I recall dropping Graphics Detail to Low to get smoother gameplay which could have affected the sound if it got too intense.

I have glitching in IJFA at higher clocks with OPL3 on a CT2800 (Vibra 16), CT2770, and MIDI through a CS4232 card. It runs properly at ~486 DX/2 performance levels or less.

gdjacobs wrote:

I have glitching in IJFA at higher clocks with OPL3 on a CT2800 (Vibra 16), CT2770, and MIDI through a CS4232 card. It runs properly at ~486 DX/2 performance levels or less.

IJFA? Just going off my head would this be Indiana Jones and The Fate of Atlantis?

If so I don't think I played that game above a 486 DX33 but If I were to guess I was still using the 8bit Sound Blaster during that time. It wasn't till around 1998-1999 or so that I picked up the SB AWE64.

IJATFOA came out around 1992 I believe. I don't recall it being sluggish but then we are talking about over 20 years ago but it was definitely one of the better games back in the day that I enjoyed.

Welcome. I'm in a similar boat, being new as well. I have been keeping my eyes open on craigslist, and found a local surplus store that had some old stuff collecting dust in the corner. I haven't spent more than $200, but I've managed to gather 10 different systems in various states of disrepair and completeness, including 286, 486, 6x86, pentium, and pentium 3. Half of those were free! Anyway, just wanted to mention that deals are still out there, especially on the local level!

Good luck.

tizzdizz wrote:

Welcome. I'm in a similar boat, being new as well. I have been keeping my eyes open on craigslist, and found a local surplus store that had some old stuff collecting dust in the corner. I haven't spent more than $200, but I've managed to gather 10 different systems in various states of disrepair and completeness, including 286, 486, 6x86, pentium, and pentium 3. Half of those were free! Anyway, just wanted to mention that deals are still out there, especially on the local level!

Good luck.

Very true. I got a free C64 with some copied disks off Craigslist. Sometimes people just want to get rid of their junk.

OK,
After lots of thought I am gonna try and start with an Asus P2b or preferably a P3B-F board.
I will get a slowish PII and fastish PIII processor to play with.
I am leaning toward a Geforce2 GTS for the graphics.
Does this sound like a sensible start?
I also like Racing games and All the Doom-a-likes...
Although a little newer, I was thinking of the SB Audigy 2 ZS.
Still OK?

95DosBox wrote:

clueless1 wrote:

95DosBox wrote:

What was the speed of your Pentium MMX? Which sound card were you using that caused the garbled music issue? I've only played most of these back on a 486 33MHz at most so I never noticed these problems. I did have a P1 133MHz but I usually played MK1 and MK2 on it and the sound was never garbled on those games.

200Mhz. Sound card was Audician 32 Plus with DreamBlaster S1.

See if you have time to try these games again that had garbled sound using a SB AWE 64 ISA sound card. I think this could possibly be sound card related. Although during that time I used both the original Sound Blaster 8-bit which had physical jumpers on it for certain games if I didn't want to deal with the DOS TSR.

You assume I have an AWE64. 😀 And honestly, I am not looking any further for a solution. I have one already: use period correct PCs as much as I am able, and disable cpu cache when necessary.

Why not build a fast PC that can run 98, XP or 7 for newer Adventure Games?

Secret Files (Tunguska, etc) or Runaway Series?
Or the TombRaider Series? I like Legend and Underworld.

And than use Dosbox for old Dos Adventure Games.
Then you can use SB16 or Midi Music.

Also there a many Racing Games (NFS Series, Underground, Most Wanted) should be Runnung under 98 or XP

Ideal PC should be a system which can run still Windows 98.
(i have Socket A Machines (1,3 and 3,2 GHz, Pentium 4 Machines and they can run Windows98 and XP)
GraphicsCard is Ati X800 XT (AGP) and Geforce 4 Ti 4200 (AGP)
Soundcards are Sblive (1024 and Live!5.1 but Nforce2 onboard sound works too in Win98)

My AthlonXP 3,2 GHz is fast enough for running Adventures in Dosbox.
(Can emulate around Pentium 120 MHz Speed)

clueless1 wrote:

You assume I have an AWE64. 😀 And honestly, I am not looking any further for a solution. I have one already: use period correct PCs as much as I am able, and disable cpu cache when necessary.

Oh you don't own one. 🙁 I thought most people grabbed this by now. How about a SB AWE32?
This should be just as compatible and in some way more compatible since the earlier ones before PNP you could still use jumpers on them so you didn't need to the adjust IRQ setting in 95/98 or deal with a TSR.

Sammy wrote:

Why not build a fast PC that can run 98, XP or 7 for newer Adventure Games? […]
Show full quote

Why not build a fast PC that can run 98, XP or 7 for newer Adventure Games?

Secret Files (Tunguska, etc) or Runaway Series?
Or the TombRaider Series? I like Legend and Underworld.

And than use Dosbox for old Dos Adventure Games.
Then you can use SB16 or Midi Music.

Also there a many Racing Games (NFS Series, Underground, Most Wanted) should be Runnung under 98 or XP

Ideal PC should be a system which can run still Windows 98.
(i have Socket A Machines (1,3 and 3,2 GHz, Pentium 4 Machines and they can run Windows98 and XP)
GraphicsCard is Ati X800 XT (AGP) and Geforce 4 Ti 4200 (AGP)
Soundcards are Sblive (1024 and Live!5.1 but Nforce2 onboard sound works too in Win98)

My AthlonXP 3,2 GHz is fast enough for running Adventures in Dosbox.
(Can emulate around Pentium 120 MHz Speed)

That was one of my goals Sammy, but I found that the Z68/Z77 chipset broke some sort of compatibility as I couldn't detect any PCI sound or video cards correctly in 98SE on a clean install. I'm not sure what's causing it yet. Have you tested any Intel chipsets beyond the Pentium 4?

I would rather have a DOS system that has pure ISA slots and use that for pure DOS games and for 98SE gaming since some require an AGP port or PCI slot as well.

On the other end if you wanted XP/W7/W10 gaming I would go to Z270 as I have tested it works and you'd want to maximize performance as long as those OSes can still run on them.

Using the same low end system from XP would just be ease of transferring files back and forth and not for pure XP gaming unless some old game ran too quickly on a modern machine but I don't think XP games have that issue. And the system would be optimized for DOS and 98SE gaming.

No, the fastest Machines i have is a Core2Quad and AMD Athlon 64 6000 X2.

Both run XP and 7, the first one Ubuntu too.

I have not installed Win98 on that Machines because the Graphics Cards are Geforce570ti and Radeon4870.
For both there existist no win98 drivers.

Even on the Pentium Machines its Hard to find drivers for Win98 (chipset / onboard sound / lan )

The fastest system with isa is a KT7 Motherboard with Athlon 1,3 Ghz CPU.
But the sb16vibra has Problems with digital Sound in dos games.

A sb16 (nonPNP) works better.

Sammy wrote:

No, the fastest Machines i have is a Core2Quad and AMD Athlon 64 6000 X2. […]
Show full quote

No, the fastest Machines i have is a Core2Quad and AMD Athlon 64 6000 X2.

Both run XP and 7, the first one Ubuntu too.

I have not installed Win98 on that Machines because the Graphics Cards are Geforce570ti and Radeon4870.
For both there existist no win98 drivers.

Even on the Pentium Machines its Hard to find drivers for Win98 (chipset / onboard sound / lan )

The fastest system with isa is a KT7 Motherboard with Athlon 1,3 Ghz CPU.
But the sb16vibra has Problems with digital Sound in dos games.

A sb16 (nonPNP) works better.

Which motherboard are you using for the Core2Quad? Did you try installing 98SE on that and get the video and sound cards working?

leenew wrote:

Although a little newer, I was thinking of the SB Audigy 2 ZS.
Still OK?

I'd recommend getting an ISA card instead of a PCI for much better DOS compatibility. PCI cards require drivers to operate in DOS mode; ISA cards can sometimes require a Plug-and-Play configuration tool, but otherwise work 'as is'. I've got an AWE64 Value in my Retro tower, and it's been great for both internal midi and external MT32 sound (if you go that route). Audician 32+ is also recommended around here as you've probably seen by now, but I haven't tried one (yet).

95DosBox wrote:

Sammy wrote:

No, the fastest Machines i have is a Core2Quad and AMD Athlon 64 6000 X2. […]
Show full quote

No, the fastest Machines i have is a Core2Quad and AMD Athlon 64 6000 X2.

Both run XP and 7, the first one Ubuntu too.

I have not installed Win98 on that Machines because the Graphics Cards are Geforce570ti and Radeon4870.
For both there existist no win98 drivers.

Even on the Pentium Machines its Hard to find drivers for Win98 (chipset / onboard sound / lan )

The fastest system with isa is a KT7 Motherboard with Athlon 1,3 Ghz CPU.
But the sb16vibra has Problems with digital Sound in dos games.

A sb16 (nonPNP) works better.

Which motherboard are you using for the Core2Quad? Did you try installing 98SE on that and get the video and sound cards working?

I did not try win98 on that Machine.
Motherboard should be a Elitegroup P43T
Board has no AGP Slot so there i can't put in a GFX Card i have an 98 Driver for.

Sammy wrote:

I did not try win98 on that Machine. Motherboard should be a Elitegroup P43T Board has no AGP Slot so there i can't put in a GFX […]
Show full quote

95DosBox wrote:

Sammy wrote:

No, the fastest Machines i have is a Core2Quad and AMD Athlon 64 6000 X2. […]
Show full quote

No, the fastest Machines i have is a Core2Quad and AMD Athlon 64 6000 X2.

Both run XP and 7, the first one Ubuntu too.

I have not installed Win98 on that Machines because the Graphics Cards are Geforce570ti and Radeon4870.
For both there existist no win98 drivers.

Even on the Pentium Machines its Hard to find drivers for Win98 (chipset / onboard sound / lan )

The fastest system with isa is a KT7 Motherboard with Athlon 1,3 Ghz CPU.
But the sb16vibra has Problems with digital Sound in dos games.

A sb16 (nonPNP) works better.

Which motherboard are you using for the Core2Quad? Did you try installing 98SE on that and get the video and sound cards working?

I did not try win98 on that Machine.
Motherboard should be a Elitegroup P43T
Board has no AGP Slot so there i can't put in a GFX Card i have an 98 Driver for.

Try a PCI video card with 98 Drivers if you have one.

You can go as far as a Geforce FX series PCI card. You can get DVI that way and use DVI to HDMI cables.
You could pair that with a Voodoo 2 card if you want to add voodoo support. If you go that route, you lose DVI/HDMI except through pricey adapters cause you'll be stuck with VGA.