I managed to get it running on DOS 7.10!
One has to load SetVer* before loading CTCM in config.sys
Beforehand one has to type the following command "SetVer CTCM.EXE 6.00".
Then CTCM will initialize the soundcard. CTCM and CTCU will still refuse to run properly from the command prompt.

I did not load EMM386, but loaded SetVer and CTCM as a device in config.sys, then AWEUTIL /s from the command promp. Only SetVer is resident with 864 bytes. The Digital sound, FM synth, MPU interface and Native AWE32 Midi are available for games. Diagnose test results are fine.
Unlike "Diagnose /s" which configures a SB16 soundcard according to the BLASTER setting, CTCM uses CTPNP.CFG which is present in the same folder.

(*SetVer is a DOS tool from Microsoft that is shipped with Windows, It uses a configuration table which says what DOS version to report to individual programs. As to improve compatibility)

Looks like the PnP-Mess ist still chasing creative users.
ctcm just checks the dos version and defaults to a windows config if the version is 7 or greater.
If it's 6 then it just reads (and writes) ctpnp.cfg in its own folder.
I always tried to sync the subsequent PnP-EEProm profiles with ctcu to the wanted setting given in ctpnp.cfg. Then I set ctpnp.cfg to read-only to prevent ctcm's rewrites of ctpnp.cfg which might change the first suggested configuration on next run.

So does ctcm really sets your BLASTER environment if you run it from config.sys?
On normal operation it should.

diagnose.exe is just for configuration checking with full PnP cards as AWE.
aweutil /S enables routing of OPL3 through the EMU8K (and also allows to enable some DSP effects)

diagnose /s is for the SB16 cards that are semi-PnP and have a jumper for I/O Port. There it sets the remaining resources according to a previously set BLASTER environment.

While using setver seems to work, can't you just fake a Win9x installation with a configuration file?

elianda wrote:

Looks like the PnP-Mess ist still chasing creative users. ctcm just checks the dos version and defaults to a windows config if t […]
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Looks like the PnP-Mess ist still chasing creative users.
ctcm just checks the dos version and defaults to a windows config if the version is 7 or greater.
If it's 6 then it just reads (and writes) ctpnp.cfg in its own folder.
I always tried to sync the subsequent PnP-EEProm profiles with ctcu to the wanted setting given in ctpnp.cfg. Then I set ctpnp.cfg to read-only to prevent ctcm's rewrites of ctpnp.cfg which might change the first suggested configuration on next run.

Darn you are right, when setting CTPNP.CFG to IRQ 7, CTCM just puts it back to 5 every time.

elianda wrote:

So does ctcm really sets your BLASTER environment if you run it from config.sys?
On normal operation it should.

It does not set a BLASTER environment.

elianda wrote:

While using setver seems to work, can't you just fake a Win9x installation with a configuration file?

Windows 98SE "Winimize" is installed on that system. It is a Windows that loads up very fast, but doesn't have any audio functionality.
I don't know what CTCM expects there to be in order to function better?

The improved SB16 Digital audio part on the AWE64 Gold is an interesting improvement over the CT2800. But for my system the CT2800 (combined with a roland MPU) works like nothing else. The CT2800 is fully accessible to any DOS game/app running from within Windows Winimize, yet Windows will never detect it and try to install drivers for it. The AWE64 is detected as 3 devices.

I use this windows just as an easy access interface for DOS apps, for USB, for running SoftFSB to set my machine from 150 to 400MHz and for emulating EMS without EMM386.

dvwjr wrote:

That is not exactly true. The Creative Labs Sound BLaster model CT-2800 used the Vibra CT2504 ASIC, but did use the Yamaha YMF- […]
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TheMAN wrote:

. . . "the CT28xx/CT29xx series cards no longer use the YMF262 chip and has the crappy FM chip... some of them use vibra chips t […]
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.
.
.
"the CT28xx/CT29xx series cards no longer use the YMF262 chip and has the crappy FM chip... some of them use vibra chips too"

That is not exactly true. The Creative Labs Sound BLaster model CT-2800 used the Vibra CT2504 ASIC, but did use the Yamaha YMF-262-M OPL3 and the YAC-512-M DAC. No CQM here.

A keeper...

Creative OEM CT-2800 ViBRA-16S

dvwjr

edit: use thumbnail photo to link to larger picture

I thought Vibra was a budget model chip and was noisy so you wanted to avoid models that had it. I always thought CT2290 was the Sound Blaster to have.

sliderider wrote:

I thought Vibra was a budget model chip and was noisy so you wanted to avoid models that had it. I always thought CT2290 was the Sound Blaster to have.

You might wish to read the information contained in this thread - "Two issues about the AWE32" on the QuestStudios forums for more information about various Sound Blasters model cards - their features and noise levels.

dvwjr

gerwin, congratulations on getting the card working! Smart move of yours, to use SetVer like that!

retro games 100 wrote:

gerwin, congratulations on getting the card working! Smart move of yours, to use SetVer like that!

Thanks!
Although it appears that it was not necessary.
I learned three things.

1) Somehow CTCM and CTCU do run from a DOS v7.10 bootable floppy?

2) CTCM has a /T parameter which will force it to run under DOS v7.10, even without a bootdisk. It says "Windows 95 experimental mode".

3) CTCU does not have this parameter, but one can live without CTCU by manually editing ctpnp.cfg. Moving the AdLib IO to 398 instead of 388 can only be done with manual editing.

Thank you 'retro games 100' for sharing this ISO image with us. This is a rare disc that I've been searching for, for many YEARS now. I know you've put it up on Media Fire already, however they delete those images after some time (I do not know how long) so to help keep this ISO image alive I've created a Torrent image for it and posted it over here: http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/6488573/Creat … all_Gold_CD-ROM

I gave you credit in the description text, and I'll be seeding this as long as i possibly can (Probably several years), I'm sure you and I are not the only AWE64 users left in the world, someone will need this some day.

Also can anyone here tell me if there is any audio quality difference between the AWE64 "Green PCB" cards and the AWE64 Gold cards? Is there any functional difference other than the two RCA jacks and the SPDIF output?

Looking through some websites I've found someone selling this odd character: http://www.lovinglotus.com/images/ta/may/isa1.jpg

I notice two 30-Pin SIMM slots, are those for the SoundFonts expansion like the SIMMconn device provides? Does anyone know anything about this creative video card, is it even an AWE32/64 card?

Yes I'm sad... I still have working 30-pin memory modules, several sets of matched pairs 😁 4x4mb, 8x8mb, 10x16mb, 4x32mb, as well as several matched pairs of different sizes of 72-pin simms, up to a matched set of 8x64mb each.

It's a 1995 Sound Blaster 32 PnP, has no YMF262 or AWE in its name. Yes those banks are used for soundfonts, and it's NOT A VIDEO CARD! though, that gameport looks strangely too VGA in that picture, on the CT-3600 I have, it definitely 530% is a gameport...

hrmm, interesting card 😁 Thanks for the information. I've been considering getting some form of 'better' creative sound card for my MS-DOS gaming machine, it has a ISA Sound Blaster 16 Value right now.

I see Green-PCB AWE64 Value cards for < $10 with shipping, and there's a cheap Black-PCB AWE64 Gold for about $16.50 with shipping, just wondering if the gold is really that much better?

That's the nice thing about old hardware: it gets dirt cheap after a few years. 😀 Didn't the AWE64 Gold card retail for over $100 when it was new?

An update regarding this thread, I sent an email to Xu Wang of Luck Star Power Machine Co. about the SIMMConn, and yes, they are still available if anyone needs one, thought I would pass the information along to y'all.

In another topic I concluded that the Sound Blaster Vibra 16S digital/voice channel is actually slightly flawed (whistles). I tested two of them.
The SB16's prior to the 16S are told to be noisy cards and the ones later than the 16S have no true OPL3. Even though I used to dislike the AWE64 because it is higly regarded mostly because of its name (AWE!..64!..Gold!), while it is actually just a SB16 with the same semi-software synthesizer and fake OPL3. I now have to say it is of good value for retro computing because the SB16 part of the AWE64 is clean.
I don't know about the Vibra cards designed in between the Vibra 16S and the AWE64.

kithylin wrote:

That's the nice thing about old hardware: it gets dirt cheap after a few years. 😀 Didn't the AWE64 Gold card retail for over $100 when it was new?

True 😀. List below is in dutch guilders. In US dollars the prices are half the guilder price.

Magna Computers Amsterdam - August 1997 Soundblaster 16, PnP, OEM ........................ 115,- Soundblaster 16, PnP Retail, fu […]
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Magna Computers Amsterdam - August 1997
Soundblaster 16, PnP, OEM ........................ 115,-
Soundblaster 16, PnP Retail, full duplex ....... 188,-
Soundblaster 32, PnP,OEM .......................... 179,-
Soundblaster AWE-64 Special edition ........... 210,-
Soundblaster AWE-64 OEM ......................... 285,-
Soundblaster AWE-64 gold .......................... 440,-
Soundblaster AWE-64 Memory 4 MB ............ 140,-
Soundblaster AWE-64 Memory 8 MB ............. 205,-

YAY I went over to a used computer parts store in another city and spent about an hour pawing through plastic bins with ISA Sound cards in static bags, and down in the bottom, low and behold i found an ISA Creative Sound Blaster AWE64 Gold black PCB for $5! 😲

This'll go great with my MS-DOS gaming machine. 😀

kithylin wrote:

Thank you 'retro games 100' for sharing this ISO image with us. This is a rare disc that I've been searching for, for many YEARS now. I know you've put it up on Media Fire already, however they delete those images after some time (I do not know how long) so to help keep this ISO image alive I've created a Torrent image for it and posted it over here: http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/LINK_REMOVED

I gave you credit in the description text, and I'll be seeding this as long as i possibly can (Probably several years)...

Please can you remove the ISO image from that website. Thank you.

don't mess with the internetz...

"Quick" question, both in windows or in DOS mode I can't hear fx sounds in Doom and Doom 2,( I do have music with the sc-55 connected to the c
awe lime-in) while Duke 3d is fine, what could be causing this? do any of the jumpers present on the card pcb have anything to do? because I remember removing one of them don't know why.

My soumd setup is an AWE64 gold +Sc-55 MKI, SBLASTER settings are 220, irq: 5, hdma: 1

copados33 wrote on 2020-02-29, 11:10:

My soumd setup is an AWE64 gold +Sc-55 MKI, SBLASTER settings are 220, irq: 5, hdma: 1

What's the low DMA? That should be 1 and high DMA is normally 5 in most cases.

derSammler wrote on 2020-02-29, 11:13:

What's the low DMA? That should be 1 and high DMA is normally 5 in most cases.

yes sorry, its 5.

so in the se order as they appear in the doom setup menu config:

220
5
1
5

16 bit DMAs start from 5, so set the first DMA to 1 and the second to 5.

I just ran the "diagnose utility" and it says that none of the low DMA channels are available, maybe this has something to do, although I do have have FX sounds in Duke 3D....

Is this a PCI/PnP system? If so you need to go into BIOS to explicitly reserve resources (IRQ and DMA) for non-PnP devices, which is what the AWE64 is becoming if you force its resources. So make sure you reserve IRQ 5, DMA 1 and DMA 5 or 6.