i get that older games that can't set up sound card ressources themselves look for SET BLASTER, but wouldn't it be redundant for games that have setup progams? for instance, duke3d mentions SET BLASTER as required in the readme for some reason even though it has a setup program...
It's weird like that, but at least when using AWE32, the Duke Nukem 3D setup program will complain if the BLASTER variable is not set (or set improperly), even though it allows you to manually specify the EMU8000 port and MIDI port. It doesn't care when testing Sound Blaster digital audio / FM.
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I think it's mainly because some routines for complete auto-detection could potentially lock up your machine given the right (wrong) software/hardware circumstances; so an accurate BLASTER var lets the setup program avoid needing to actually auto-detect.
wrote:i get that older games that can't set up sound card ressources themselves look for SET BLASTER,
but wouldn't it be redundant for games that have setup progams?
Yes, I think so. These games were likely made in the early Sound Blaster-only times (incl. Adlib/CMS), before more advanced models like GUS, Soundscape or PAS showed up, so they had no setup program yet.
In addition, the blaster variable is also helpful to avoid auto-detection issues if the game (only) supports Sound Blaster (as AllTinker said).
In Windows or OS/2, for example, a game's auto-detection mechanism can go wrong sometimes.
As far as I know, some games used both, a setup program and the blaster variable.
If Sound Blaster was selected, the setup program would show recommended settings according to the SET BLASTER variable (see AllTinker's post, too)
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