The H7 in the SET BLASTER line seems odd. Does the standard H5 setting not work?

You are on the right way to the perfect configuration, setting multiple old sound cards right to work under multiple OS is not a task for the faint-hearted 😈

You may need to go into the BIOS and set IRQs to specific cards or set IRQ reservations for ISA.

That's right, changing some BIOS settings makes the configuration under Win9x and DOS much easier.
The important settings for that matter are under "PnP and PCI setup" (this may be labeled a little different in your BIOS). Recommended settings:

• "PnP OS installed :"
  Setting this to "No" causes the BIOS to pre-select resources before letting an OS decide. Definitly a good idea when using DOS.
• "Slot # IRQ:"
  In many BIOS setups you can choose which PCI card gets which IRQ. This is very useful in your case.
  Usually the slot numbers are assigned like this: Slot 1 is the AGP slot and the first PCI slot from the top (or right). The next slot downwards (or left) would be slot 2, etc...
  You can assign an IRQ to your PCI cards, in your case there should be two cards to configure: The Matrox G450 and the SoundBlaster PCI (The Voodoo cards can be ignored because they don't need an IRQ). Good IRQs for these two cards would be 10 and 11. That would leave IRQ 5 or 7 for the AWE64 and 9 for the SCC-1 MPU-401 interface.
• "IRQ # used by ISA:"
  This is for ISA cards that are not PnP compliant, so do not assign the values for the AWE64 here, since it is a ISA-PnP card. But you should set it to "Yes" for IRQ 9, because this is the standard setting for the SCC-1 (check jumper position on the card!)
• "DMA # used by ISA:"
  Same as above, only for DMAs. You don't need to set anything here.

Now boot into Windows. It may first come up with messages saying that some hardware resources have to be reconfigured. Once Windows is loaded, take a look at the device manager. There may be some conflicts, but they are easy to solve now. Check if the G450 has the same IRQ you assigned in the BIOS setup.
Then configure the AWE64 to the following settings (You may have to tick off the "Configure automatically" checkbox first):

• Interrupt: 05
  DMA: 01
  DMA: 05
  I/O range: 0220 - 022F
  I/O range: 0300 - 0301
  I/O range: 0388 - 038B

If the dialog does not let you choose these settings, select a different base configuration above. If Windows complains about the resources being already used, ignore this for now. You may also reactivate the SB PCI and set it to free resources (Doesn't matter which, as long as you don't activate the DOS emulation for this card).
Reboot and see if the settings stay at the desired values. If you still get messages about resource conflicts, try to solve them without touching the settings for the AWE64.

Now restart into DOS mode and run the diagnostic program. It should confirm your hardware settings and alter the "SET BLASTER"-line to your current values.

At this point the card should be configured to work with any dos-based game when you exit from Windows to DOS. When booting directly to DOS, you will need CTCM, but that's a different matter... It's important to sort out the resource stuff first, then the rest is a piece of cake 😀

I hope this wasn't too long 🙄 Good luck!

HunterZ wrote:

As recently discussed on another thread, the Creative install program for the DOS drivers will detect a Windows installation even if it isn't running, and will abort. Someone mentioned that you can get the drivers and utilities individually and make them work, though.

Actually, as I recall the key to getting the install program running is to use an MS-DOS 6.22 bootdisk. Perhaps other things will work, but Win9x rescue disks won't do it, nor will something based off PC-DOS 7. (Perhaps it loks for FAT32 support.)

Jorpho wrote:

HunterZ wrote:

As recently discussed on another thread, the Creative install program for the DOS drivers will detect a Windows installation even if it isn't running, and will abort. Someone mentioned that you can get the drivers and utilities individually and make them work, though.

Actually, as I recall the key to getting the install program running is to use an MS-DOS 6.22 bootdisk. Perhaps other things will work, but Win9x rescue disks won't do it, nor will something based off PC-DOS 7. (Perhaps it loks for FAT32 support.)

True. The perfect option would be to install dos 6.22 on a fat16 partition, then install the awe64 drivers. Go to creative's website, do a download search for drivers/awe64/dos, download "Creative PnP Configuration Manager (Rev 4)" and "Sound Blaster 16/SB32/AWE32 Basic Disk for DOS/Windows 3.1 Installation ". Boot in dos 6.22 and install pnp configuration and "sb16/32/awe32 basic disk" after that. Reboot and you should be all set. You can then install win98 on top of dos and later boot in dos 6.22 using f8 and selecting "previous version of ms-dos". That is the best option in my opinion. I have verified it because my dos-dedicated pc is a p2-350@Mhz and I have both DOS 6.22 and Win98 SE installed on it. The awe64 works perfectly in dos 6.22.

PS: You can also download "Real & Protected Mode AWE32 John Miles Audio Interface Libraries" from the same place as the previous two files. This pack adds awe32 compatibilty to many games and is very cool. 😀

Yes, installing the drivers under a "real" DOS version is the only method that has worked for me. I haven't found out what the install program checks to conclude that a Win9x version is installed (I've moved the Windows directory, deleted the env variables, played around with SETVER, exchanged the DOS system files, but nothing seems to help).
Besides, I do not have a use for the driver pack anyways. All the essential tools (CTCM, AWEutil) are available in separate archives which do not need an install program. The only important thing missing is the mixer software, but for that I have much better alternatives.
There seemed to be a "DOS drivers for Win9x" package on the Creative site a long time ago, has anybody seen this anywhere lately?

I probably still have it around here somewhere. Would you like me to post it?

The only important thing missing is the mixer software, but for that I have much better alternatives.

There is a mixer in the pack I mentioned. What drivers are using? Install the ctcm and sbbasic.exe - these are the essential drivers. Check the /sb16 dir or wherever you have installed the basic dos drivers from creative and search for mix **.exe something. I'm absolutely sure there is. Been using it always for my awe64. There are even bass and treble settings under dos. Very nice indeed. 😀

Here is the link:
http://bg.europe.creative.com/support/downloa … type=0&x=23&y=5

You need "Creative PnP Configuration Manager (Rev 4)" and " Sound Blaster 16/SB32/AWE32 Basic Disk for DOS/Windows 3.1 Installation" - these are the essential drivers.

"Real & Protected Mode AWE32 John Miles Audio Interface Libraries" is optional but provides cool awe32 support to many games including ultima 8, ultima underworld, arena. 😀

Please note again that for all this sweet stuff you need to have dos 6.22 installed.

5u3 wrote:

Yes, installing the drivers under a "real" DOS version is the only method that has worked for me. I haven't found out what the install program checks to conclude that a Win9x version is installed (I've moved the Windows directory, deleted the env variables, played around with SETVER, exchanged the DOS system files, but nothing seems to help).

Last time I was playing with this, it didn't seem to care at all what was installed on the hard drive - the only thing you need is the 6.22 boot disk.

doomer wrote:

True. The perfect option would be to install dos 6.22 on a fat16 partition, then install the awe64 drivers. Go to creative's website, do a download search for drivers/awe64/dos, download "Creative PnP Configuration Manager (Rev 4)" and "Sound Blaster 16/SB32/AWE32 Basic Disk for DOS/Windows 3.1 Installation ". Boot in dos 6.22 and install pnp configuration and "sb16/32/awe32 basic disk" after that. Reboot and you should be all set. You can then install win98 on top of dos and later boot in dos 6.22 using f8 and selecting "previous version of ms-dos". That is the best option in my opinion. I have verified it because my dos-dedicated pc is a p2-350@Mhz and I have both DOS 6.22 and Win98 SE installed on it. The awe64 works perfectly in dos 6.22.

OK. Great. There is HOPE that I can get the awe64 finally working with DOS games on a win98 based PC.

Only trouble is, how do I go about installing dos 6.22 on a fat16 partition? Can someone explain how I can do this in dos (google is not always your friend).

buckrogers wrote:

OK. Great. There is HOPE that I can get the awe64 finally working with DOS games on a win98 based PC.

Only trouble is, how do I go about installing dos 6.22 on a fat16 partition? Can someone explain how I can do this in dos (google is not always your friend).

I think DOS 6.22 might have trouble recognizing partitions (even FAT16 partitions) located on today's gigantic hard drives.

Again, I suggest you simply try running the install program after booting from a DOS 6.22 bootdisk. Bootdisk.com has these. If you cannot find your hard disk after booting from such a disk, I think you can still set up a RAM disk, point the installation program there, and then copy the relevant files back to another floppy. After installation, the utilities should run fine in Win9x DOS mode (although I am quite willing to admit that my memory may be wrong on this).

But if you really want to install DOS 6.22, well, do you have the original setup disks?

Got the boot disk. But no install disks. Would prefer not to have to boot off floppy. I'll try it first and then try the install thing if I can get the install disk images. Thanks.

Jorpho wrote:

I probably still have it around here somewhere. Would you like me to post it?

It may help other users who can't install the DOS-only driver packs because they also have Win9x installed.

doomer wrote:

There is a mixer in the pack I mentioned.

Yes, I'm aware of that, but I refuse to use it, because it's very poorly programmed. It's a TSR which takes a lot of memory, doesn't set the volumes right and doesn't offer presets.

A long time ago I found a 3rd party mixer called "Mr. Gun's MasterMixer", it has a lot of nifty features:

+ Can set channel volumes at full resolution (5 bit/channel; 4 bit for treble/bass)
+ Better input/output gain control
+ Presets that can be called from the command line
+ Doesn't clog up DOS memory, since it is no TSR program
+ Customizable echo/reverb settings on AWE cards
+ DSP/EMU device reset

It also has some drawbacks and minor bugs:
- Only compatible with SB16(PnP)/AWE32(PnP)/AWE64 ISA cards (no support for old SB and SBpro or newer PCI models)
- Needs a mouse driver for the user interface (but recalling presets works without)
- Redefines VGA char height for some kind of intro/outro scaling effect, this may not work with some non-register-compatible VGA cards
- Fiddly installation (especially for DOS beginners)
- AWE chorus/reverb settings are not saved

All in all it's a very competent program. You can still find it on various FTP servers specializing on DOS utils. Here is a download link.

Personally I do not use Creative's driver packs, because of their installation trouble and because they install a lot of stuff I don't need. The only programs I use are CTCM and AWEUtil, they are available in separate archives.

Jorpho wrote:

I think DOS 6.22 might have trouble recognizing partitions (even FAT16 partitions) located on today's gigantic hard drives.

If the partition is properly formatted in fat16 and is a primary partition, dos 6.22 will install hassle free. You should know that a fat16 partition can be as large as 2Gb so it does not matter if the hard drive is new or not.

5u3 wrote:

Yes, I'm aware of that, but I refuse to use it, because it's very poorly programmed. It's a TSR which takes a lot of memory, doesn't set the volumes right and doesn't offer presets.

Last time I checked it did not take any memory on my dos pc. Don't know what you try but it works great here and I'm sure that it does not behave as a tsr. I actually doubt if it is a tsr. Only aweutil can be said to be a tsr but still unloads after initializing the card. The other drivers available in the pack also only initialize and do not take up memory.

buckrogers wrote:

Only trouble is, how do I go about installing dos 6.22 on a fat16 partition? Can someone explain how I can do this in dos (google is not always your friend)

I suggest that you back up your important stuff, delete your current partition/s and then create a primary fat16 partition using a dos 6.22 boot disk. You can use fdisk, and then use "format" to format the parition. Then, after restarting, boot with the dos 6.22 system disk and insert disk 1 of dos 6.22. After successfully installing dos 6.22, you can install win98 on top of dos and later boot dos 6.22 using f8 and "previous version of ms-dos." If your hard drive is much larger than 2 or 3gbs, you can create an extended fat32 partition for win98se but it will only be visible in win98's new dos or win98 itself.

doomer wrote:

Jorpho wrote:

I think DOS 6.22 might have trouble recognizing partitions (even FAT16 partitions) located on today's gigantic hard drives.

If the partition is properly formatted in fat16 and is a primary partition, dos 6.22 will install hassle free. You should know that a fat16 partition can be as large as 2Gb so it does not matter if the hard drive is new or not.

I'm aware of the 2 GB limitation and the primary partition requirement. What I seem to recall hearing from somewhere is that DOS 6.22 was also subject to the 8.3 GB hard drive limitation somehow.