VOGONS


Recommend a PCI Sound Card for DOS

Topic actions

Reply 80 of 127, by Kamerat

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
bergqvistjl wrote:

Are there any PCI sound cards that DON'T require EMM386? It's just the 3DFX version of Nascar Racing 2 won't run with emm386 🙁

Many cards don't require EMM386, what motherboard are you using?

DOS Sound Blaster compatibility: PCI sound cards vs. PCI chipsets
YouTube channel

Reply 81 of 127, by bergqvistjl

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

Asus TUSL2-C. Although the kicker is I'd like for it to work in DOS games when run within Win98 as well as DOS outside of Windows. I'm having trouble with creative cards, as their DOS drivers require Emm386.

Reply 82 of 127, by Kamerat

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
bergqvistjl wrote:

Asus TUSL2-C. Although the kicker is I'd like for it to work in DOS games when run within Win98 as well as DOS outside of Windows. I'm having trouble with creative cards, as their DOS drivers require Emm386.

Intel chipset newer than i440BX narrows your choices, but you still got some options in the Forté Media FM801-AU and Aureal Vortex series.

DOS Sound Blaster compatibility: PCI sound cards vs. PCI chipsets
YouTube channel

Reply 83 of 127, by dr.zeissler

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

I think I have found one problem. The ESS-Solo1 (ESS1938) has issues with the high-bit-dma in dos. E.g. Doom1 works very well in Dos with the ESS-Solo1 (ESS1938), SFX and music is fine, with opl and midi330 with dreamblaster s2. Doom2 does not have SFX at all. Doom2 has a newer "cygens-id-software" sound installer (v 1.5) that asks for a high-dma, which is 5 in my case. Though I get no error message in the installer, but I can't get any SFX at all in Doom2. The Doom1 Sound-Installer does not work for Doom2. 🙁

Retro-Gamer 😀 ...on different machines

Reply 84 of 127, by gdjacobs

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

The ESS1938 emulates SB Pro. One DMA channel only as a Sound Blaster. I believe you need an Audiodrive aware sound library before more DMA channels are necessary.

All hail the Great Capacitor Brand Finder

Reply 85 of 127, by gdjacobs

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++
Kamerat wrote:

Also cards with the FM801 chipset and some Crystal Semi based cards. I believe there were a handful of Soundblaster 16 PCI cards that also had PC/PCI headers but I'm not sure.

Trident 4DWave-NX also does PC/PCI and some of ESS other chipsets like the Maestro-1. Never heard about Sound Blaster 16 PCI with PC/PCI, I think all of them were Ensoniq design.[/quote]

The AWE64 PCI cards used cable sideband.
http://akiba-pc.watch.impress.co.jp/hotline/9 … age/awe64d2.jpg

All hail the Great Capacitor Brand Finder

Reply 86 of 127, by dr.zeissler

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

https://lazyretroist.wordpress.com/2014/10/14 … n-ms-dos-games/

Duke Nukem 3D
Aureal Vortex 2: digitized music and effects play
ESS Solo-1: game won’t start if sound effect enables (FM music plays)

Exactly what I found out. Duke3d/Blood/ShadowWarrior and a lot of other games use that same Sound-Engine where the ess-solo has a big issue with the SFX.
If that could be analyzed and fixed the ess-solo should be by far the best PCI-Soundcard for dos.

Btw. Doom1 in an early Version is fine, a later 1.6 Version does not play any SFX, Doom2 never plays SFX on Solo1.

I don't know the "technical-stuff" behind the sound-drivers and theire usage of the machine, but there are a lot of games that work fine with sfx and fm !

"Team17" Ultimate-BodyBlows works fine, BodyBlows does not work and "TowerAssault" does also not work 🙁

M&M4 works fine if EMS is configured. Prince1 works just fine, Prince2 does not.

Retro-Gamer 😀 ...on different machines

Reply 87 of 127, by dr.zeissler

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

https://www.daniweb.com/hardware-and-software … -1-aka-ess-1969

I do not have problems with DOTT. Music and SFX is fine. I generally only use himem and qemm386 only if the game asks for it. I will use softmpu with mt32 for most adventures. (therefore I need emm386), but the standard will be himem.

Biomenace is a tricky one. First start music is OK, SFX does not work. Second start, music and sfx are not working, only PC-Speaker 🙁

Dangerous-Dave is working fine with SFX (the game has no music afaik)

Also interesting: http://www.flaterco.com/kb/audio/PCI/

Last edited by dr.zeissler on 2017-08-05, 07:53. Edited 1 time in total.

Retro-Gamer 😀 ...on different machines

Reply 88 of 127, by dr.zeissler

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

Would be interesting if the patched Sb-driver with sfx and mt32 will work on my machine...
Monkey Island 1&2: Roland MT-32 + Sound Blaster support

Retro-Gamer 😀 ...on different machines

Reply 89 of 127, by dr.zeissler

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

I have the exact same system (ScoveryXS1215) and with this machine, I will check other PCI-SoundCards as well. (Vortex2 is my next attempt).

Retro-Gamer 😀 ...on different machines

Reply 90 of 127, by dr.zeissler

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

Got my ALS4000 PCI Card today and put it in the Backup ScoveryXS.
I installed the Dos-Drivers and FM seems to go everwhere 😀 and sound pretty good. I can't really find a difference to the ESS-SOLO1. Is there the same FM-Emulation?
Problematic Games are still the problem. Duke3d quits setup randomly, then reports a failure on "high-dma" because it's not supported by the card/dosdriver and
therefore refuses to start with "unable to initialize soundsystem"... so no real advantage. Disadvantage is that the card has not sop much in/outputs and no wavetable-header.

The ess-solo is still the best pci-card for dosgamers... but further tests will be done...

Retro-Gamer 😀 ...on different machines

Reply 91 of 127, by Kamerat

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

You can modify duke3d.cfg manually to set 16 bit DMA lower than 5.

DOS Sound Blaster compatibility: PCI sound cards vs. PCI chipsets
YouTube channel

Reply 92 of 127, by dr.zeissler

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

Got my CS4624 yesterday. Installed in Win98 and copied the dosfiles to the dos-partition. Init works, but the problematic games do not work 🙁

My "problematic" reference-games are currently "Tyrian" and "Duke3d". Both do not play SFX with every pci-soundcard I tested so far.
Changing the duke3d.cfg in the high-dma to "1" or "-1" do not work either. The game fails to start the sound-engine 🙁

Vortex is the next.

ESS-SOLO1 = My favorite. Plays nearly all FM sounds (except "adlib" in raiden). Works for lots of old stuff e.g. ddave 😀, has MPU401i and a wave-table heade for my dreamblaster 😀
YMH746 = FM works good and sounds as good as ESS-SOLO1, works on not so much games as the ESS-Solo1, crashes some games at startup randomly
ALS4000 = FM works good and sounds as good as ESS-SOLO1, works on not so much games as the ESS-Solo1
CS4624 = FM sounds like shit, works in a view games.

Retro-Gamer 😀 ...on different machines

Reply 93 of 127, by dr.zeissler

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

https://github.com/fabiensanglard/chocolate_d … me/src/audiolib

Is it possible to compile the sound-engine new if I manage to get that same audilib from the working doom1 game?

Retro-Gamer 😀 ...on different machines

Reply 95 of 127, by gdjacobs

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

Yes, some Apogee games of that generation use ADPCM modes that aren't supported by Yamaha chips.

All hail the Great Capacitor Brand Finder

Reply 96 of 127, by dr.zeissler

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

Can someone please test an ESS-SOLO1 PCI Soundcard in a a motherboard with I865GV and Win98se?
In Dos and Win2k it works great, in Win98se I get an (!) for the Dos/Win VXD-Driver and a bluescreen for the wdm-driver.

I can't figure out what the problem is.

Retro-Gamer 😀 ...on different machines

Reply 97 of 127, by dr.zeissler

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

I tested my System with WINME and WINME has internal Drivers for my ESS-SOLO1. These WDM-Drivers work fine.
If I want to install my Win98SE Drivers, I get a report that These Drivers are not suitable for my Hardware, but
they worked fine (WDM and DOS-Driver) for the i845 chipset and Win98se.

Regardless, I can use win9x and that System.

I think I will test my fortex2 Card in win98se on that same machine too, but I know about the bad adlib-sound
comparing to the ess-solo1, but the main target is win9x/win2k and not msdos. therefore I can think about
using the vortex2 and put an opl2lpt on the printer port.

Retro-Gamer 😀 ...on different machines