Re: MT-32 and SC-55 to DOS/Windows 95 PC
Posted on 2022-05-29, 15:52
Yes, that would work and you just need standard MIDI cables to go from that to the MT-32 or SC-55. https://www.serdashop.com/MIDI-Cable-1m
Re: Descent II stops in InstallShield setup
Posted on 2022-05-29, 14:51
Does it install any files at all or does it attempt the DirectX check and installation before installing the game? The problem is that installer for DirectX was written for Windows 95, and 11 is blocking it. If the installer extracts the game files and then fails. You could try a Descent source port …
Re: Descent II stops in InstallShield setup
Posted on 2022-05-29, 13:55
What version of WIndows are you trying to install that on? What version of the game, retail CD, GOG downloaded, etc?
Re: 2008-era Win XP build
Posted on 2022-05-29, 13:53
That's close to what I was running at that time, except I had the Xeon version of the Q6600, and SLI'd 8800 GT. For the time it ran things great, but it used a ton of power and put out a lot of heat. The SLI configuration was flaky in some games. For example, the original Mass Effect ran fine, but …
Re: Looking For A MIDI Keyboard Compatible With Windows 98
Posted on 2022-05-27, 20:17
If you get one with a standard MIDI DIN output, you'd just need whatever MIDI In on your computer that works with Win 98. You could use the MPU401 on a soundcard, but there were early MIDI to USB cables around that time as they first came out with the iMac if I remember correctly. Stay away from …
Re: WP32 McCake : MT32 compatible waveblaster board
Posted on 2022-05-22, 13:23
Same mode. It's just to minimize confusion for people who know they have a Sound Canvas but might not realize it's General Midi compatible. As far as I know ID game soundtracks are synth agnostic and use same midi for both. It's possible some games could have a Roland GS mix that's different from …
Re: WP32 McCake : MT32 compatible waveblaster board
Posted on 2022-05-21, 23:43
Awesome stuff! Quick, followup as well on a games like Heretic, is it best to use General Midi or Sound Canvas on the McCake? Also, which sound mode would I use there? Sorry for all the questions, I only had Adlib and SB Pro cards growing up! General MIDI, which soundfont is up to you. I'm not sure …
Re: Revisiting an x86-based alternative to the Raspberry Pi, optimized for retro gaming
Posted on 2022-05-21, 13:59
I agree. OEM P4sand even Athlon 64 systems are literally like VD. Shit is everywhere. It used to be the same with P2/3, Pentiums, 486s, etc. Give it 5-10 years and supply will begin to dry up. The next jump in hardware is then to XP which has a very wide range of hardware you could use, and it's …
Re: Software question?
Posted on 2022-05-13, 19:32
Phil has a DOS Bench bundle. The game side of things is on the 486 to Pentium range with Doom and Quake. But it has other benchmarking tools in it that can run all the way down to a 8086. https://www.philscomputerlab.com/dos-benchmark-pack.html
Re: Any benefits when installing DOS instead of just copy ?
Posted on 2022-05-07, 18:49
If you mean doing a full install versus just copying files off a boot floppy. Then the full install will include a bunch of utilities that helped the usability of the system back when it was the primary system someone used. If you are only booting to DOS for games, then you probably won't see much …
Re: Athlon64 3000+ / Asus K8V-MX / GeForce4 / Audigy1
Posted on 2022-05-07, 14:10
I'm not sure how this works on Audigy cards, but the SBLive had some extra connectors on its LiveDrive front panel where you could plug in the digital I/O card, as well as the digital DIN connector bracket. Here's a pic showcasing this: LiveDrive.jpg I don't have a digital I/O card though, so I'm …
Re: Athlon64 3000+ / Asus K8V-MX / GeForce4 / Audigy1
Posted on 2022-05-05, 16:59
Interesting. Did that work for your DOS games as well? I might be able to get one of those mini DIN to standard DIN adapters and try it out. Yes, but only when I selected the Audigy MPU 401 as the DOS MIDI device in the Aureal drivers, my understanding is that the same MIDI signals are output to …
Re: Athlon64 3000+ / Asus K8V-MX / GeForce4 / Audigy1
Posted on 2022-05-05, 13:30
In short, if I play CANYON.MID using Windows Media Player, it will properly use my SC-155. But if I start a DOS game and select General MIDI for music, then the Audigy's internal synth gets used. Not sure if this is due to a driver limitation or something else. I believe it's a Windows setting but …
Re: Is there such a thing as a usb-to-serial mouse converter?
Posted on 2022-04-28, 13:03
There's also this project: https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=86211 Currently this is for IBM PC and Mac, but it's modular and support for other systems is planned. It uses a Rasp Pi with a hat, and then there is a separate protocol board. This supports keyboard, mouse (serial and PS/2), …
Re: Building my dream-Windows XP machine
Posted on 2022-04-15, 02:37
An issue with XP was how long it was around. So what do you consider XP games? When it came out DX8 was still around, and more modern cards can have issues with some games. There are also games that have issues with more than one CPU core. But later games needed dual core or even ran best on a quad. …
Re: external and internal midi synths
Posted on 2022-03-29, 13:03
The MPU401s on SB16s are mixed bags and most (possibly all) have some issue. It could have the drop notes bug that's easy to verify in Doom 2, or it might have the issue where MIDI has problems when using 16-bit audio. Since you are using an external mixer, you'll probably have a better experience …
Re: SD-IDE or CF-IDE adapters - Is there any recommended model/make?
Posted on 2022-03-29, 12:55
Probably not what you're looking for as you have some already, but I guess something to keep in mind in the future, I think you can get the ones that come with metal expansion slot brackets. I'm not sure how well those adapters do/don't work in comparison to yours, but I know people who have had …
Re: external and internal midi synths
Posted on 2022-03-29, 01:22
Connect the S2 to the Music Quest MPU clone's wavetable header. You want to default its IO to 330 for most games, some older ones might require 300 but most look for 330. For the SB16, set its MPU401 to 300. If you have a PnP SB16, use Unisound and you can skip the MPU initialization altogether. …
Re: 486DX4 -> i5 Z77
Posted on 2022-03-19, 14:04
to be honest, in the XP era I wasn't playing anymore and I don't care about having a computer that spans those years. I was hoping they would be covered by i5. The i5 can cover the XP era, and aside from some tweaking you need to do for certain games, IE some only like a single-core, most games can …
Re: 486DX4 -> i5 Z77
Posted on 2022-03-19, 03:33
That i5 running XP will be fine for about 2003+. But you'll have issues with the 9X era. And even later DOS games that need a Pentium. A Pentium MMX or K6-2/3+ would give you higher headroom and give you better down clocking than a DX4.
Page 8 of 22