Re: New version of Xargon (Epic Megagames 1994) released on 4/1/2024 with level editor + bonus levels! (not an April foo

Posted on 2024-04-04, 12:01

by

by dukeofurl

in Release Announcements

in Release Announcements

^that was a port by a fan, and that's right, there's been no public release of compiled binaries and I don't think it's been worked on in some time.

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New version of Xargon (Epic Megagames 1994) released on 4/1/2024 with level editor + bonus levels! (not an April fool)

Posted on 2024-04-02, 02:00

by

by dukeofurl

in Release Announcements

in Release Announcements

Allen Pilgrim, the original designer and programmer of Xargon back in 1994 has graciously released a version of Xargon that allows you to edit your own levels, maps, and story scenes using an editor that is built into this special 4/1/2024 dos version of the game. He has also provided a very …

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Re: Trouble getting Gravis PNP soundcard to work on my 386

Posted on 2024-03-29, 01:20

by

by dukeofurl

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I played with the GUS soundblaster emulation IRQs and DMAs and it made no difference with any of my issues. So now I'd like to post some examples and ask of anyone else who has a GUS PNP whether they have the same audio issues on their system, at which point I can stop trying to mess with …

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Re: Trouble getting Gravis PNP soundcard to work on my 386

Posted on 2024-03-28, 22:46

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by dukeofurl

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I've discovered that sometimes pressing keys on my keyboard can result in glitches with the sound blaster emulation. The most notorious example I've encountered so far is that the opening/main menu music of Lamborghini American challenge (a game I played often with Gus adlib emulation in the 90s). …

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Re: Gravis Ultrasound Sony/Mitsumi CD-ROM interface daughtercard

Posted on 2024-03-27, 21:36

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by dukeofurl

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Cool. Nice to see they kept the red color going for their cards even when it was some kind of extra add on. I actually had a Gus Max and a mitsumi drive back in the 90s. I think the max had a mitsumi port on it for that model. Currently have a mitsumi drive and separate controller card for it, will …

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Re: Trouble getting Gravis PNP soundcard to work on my 386

Posted on 2024-03-23, 19:51

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by dukeofurl

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Fixed my ultrasound mode compatibility issues by going to a lower IQ (7). This fixed Doom, Raptor, and some glitches I had with audio in Boppin and Tyrian. At this point the ultrasound mode seems fully functional and just works for games that support it 🙂. The sound blaster/adlib emulation is also …

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Re: Trouble getting Gravis PNP soundcard to work on my 386

Posted on 2024-03-23, 02:56

by

by dukeofurl

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Ok, reinstalled and reconfigured everything. Another interesting situation: Ultrasound works in all fixed epic games. Ultrasound does not work in Doom at all and Raptor newly friezes on startup, so it effectively doesn't work there either. I think I need to configure some EMS. Epic Pinball and a …

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Re: Trouble getting Gravis PNP soundcard to work on my 386

Posted on 2024-03-22, 22:06

by

by dukeofurl

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I'm totally ok with "not great" Gus SB and opl emulation. As weird as it sounds, this was how I remember the games sounding (exclusively used a Gus Max for years in the 90s) so I'm very interested in getting that opl emulation going. But where the experience differs, is that in the 90s, …

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Re: Trouble getting Gravis PNP soundcard to work on my 386

Posted on 2024-03-22, 16:47

by

by dukeofurl

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Will try to reinstall. Previously I grabbed a drivers and utilities pack for the Gus pnp that someone had prepared and was working off that, but I do have the CD, just no CD-ROM drive on the PC I'm installing it to 😄. I did scan the CDs contents previously for it and didn't see it just hanging out …

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Re: Trouble getting Gravis PNP soundcard to work on my 386

Posted on 2024-03-22, 11:17

by

by dukeofurl

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Should there be a separate executable for iwsbos in my ultrasound directory? I don't seem to have that. Will try to hunt it down.

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Re: Trouble getting Gravis PNP soundcard to work on my 386

Posted on 2024-03-22, 01:56

by

by dukeofurl

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I thought megaem included sbos, which I thought emulated adlib as well as soundblaster? Is there a different program I should run to emulate adlib? I know the Gus gets a bad rap for the result, but it can do it, no?

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Re: Trouble getting Gravis PNP soundcard to work on my 386

Posted on 2024-03-22, 00:48

by

by dukeofurl

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Ok! I changed no settings but got some stuff to work. If I run ultramid (not megaem), and I patch all the Epic games with prepgame, then they all work with ultrasound! Yay! Tyrian doesn't seem to be one of the games that prepgame fixes, but it seemed to play music today, too... however I noticed it …

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Re: Trouble getting Gravis PNP soundcard to work on my 386

Posted on 2024-03-20, 12:19

by

by dukeofurl

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

You mention using a GUS UltraSound previously. Was it a GUS PnP? Or was it a different model of GUS? Not all of them have the same chipset(s) and therefore have different compatibility levels. GUS Extreme is the most compatible since it has an ESS chipset for SB Pro / Adlib compatibility. For Jazz …

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Trouble getting Gravis PNP soundcard to work on my 386

Posted on 2024-03-20, 01:39

by

by dukeofurl

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I'm having some trouble getting a Gravis PNP soundcard (one of the popular modern reproductions) working on my 386. I've actually gotten it to work in some rare circumstances, so the card is OK, but its not regularly repeatable. I had a Gravis Ultrasound running on this same pc back in the 90s on a …

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Re: Standard Computer Corporation 386/486, attempt to refurbish

Posted on 2024-03-09, 12:14

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by dukeofurl

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Added windows 3.1. I figure w95 might run but wouldnt give me much of any advantages here. The PC is likely too slow to play w95 games. PXL_20240309_043134690.jpg By the way, the PC speaker on this PC is quite loud. I've never heard of such a thing, but I don't suppose there is software that might …

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Re: Standard Computer Corporation 386/486, attempt to refurbish

Posted on 2024-03-08, 21:32

by

by dukeofurl

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

edit: dont enable all of them, just video, system, and the one that matches the xtbios address I did switch these bios settings on today, but ultimately it was the same FPS in 3D bench as without the settings. 15.6FPS looks like the current and probably final max right now, which is certainly a …

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Re: Standard Computer Corporation 386/486, attempt to refurbish

Posted on 2024-03-08, 04:03

by

by dukeofurl

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Pickle, you are a genius! L2 is enabled now and there's an appx 4-5 fps boost in 3D bench! PXL_20240308_035651100.jpg Ignore the clock speed, I had turned off "turbo" for a second in the bios to see what would happen, and the cpu showed up as considerably slower. PXL_20240308_040137932.jpg Doom is …

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Re: Standard Computer Corporation 386/486, attempt to refurbish

Posted on 2024-03-08, 03:51

by

by dukeofurl

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

This looks promising Filename PXL_20240308_034931665.jpg File size 1.9 MiB Views 316 views

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Re: Standard Computer Corporation 386/486, attempt to refurbish

Posted on 2024-03-08, 03:45

by

by dukeofurl

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Pickle wrote on 2024-03-08, 03:08: Also one of your earlier bios shots showed system set to fast which is good, but that is your way to 'turbo' the system to be slower 😀 Wait... you're saying that if I set the system performance in the bios to "slow" it will run faster? 😀

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Re: Standard Computer Corporation 386/486, attempt to refurbish

Posted on 2024-03-08, 02:31

by

by dukeofurl

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Motherboard says "SN 901013" on it. I didn't get any relevant hits with a quick google search though. Cache check didn't see the cache when run on default settings. Over in this topic https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=45756 it is said that "The DLC/SXL chips have L1 cache enabled by default, …

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