try playing without sound for a while ... if the game runs stable then, the sound device is the problem ...

Already checked that, when I disable the sound the games runs fine.

There have been almost as many versions of "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego" as there have been of "EA Sports Hockey".
Since you're using a DOS version that narrows it down to two or three (maybe four). Can you give us a version # or possibly the year it was released?

Also, have you considered getting one of the many re-releases of this title for Windows?

Also, have you tried running this with XP's built-in SoundBlaster emulation?

Sorry, wasn't aware that there were so many versions.

I've actually got the original CD so I haven't really looked at it on the web, but I'll see if I can find a Windows version somwhere.
Curious about how that turned out 😀.

As for the version on the CD it says "v1.0" and the copyright notice in the manual says "1990, 1992".

Lastly, what exactly do you mean with XP's built-in SoundBlaster emulation? Unless you mean trying to run it without VDMSound (which gives zero sound) I don't know what you mean.

*sigh* I'm such a n00b 🙁.

Hmm, looks like I forgot to login when I posted the above post.

Anyways I've just been looking around and there've been indeed numerous re-releases.
I haven't even been able to find the right edition yet.

The one I have isn't the first one, but it's also not one of the newer releases.

It's logically still a DOS release and it uses 256 colors.
It also sais "Deluxe" but there's been re-releases of that version aswell.
As far as I can guess I think it's a release that came between the original deluxe re-release and the newer Windows version deluxe re-release.

Unregistered wrote:

As for the version on the CD it says "v1.0" and the copyright notice in the manual says "1990, 1992".

Hrmm. I'm guessing that's the first "re-release" then (2 copyright dates). So that's pretty ancient.

I'm afraid I can't be a whole lot of help as I don't have it, but I can make a few suggestions. Try the suggestions below first, without VDMSound.

Lastly, what exactly do you mean with XP's built-in SoundBlaster emulation?

XP has a primitive soundblaster emulation built-in. You shouldn't need to do anything to activate it. For example if you were to run setup for DOOM and choose basic SoundBlaster, it will give you soundblaster audio (horribly, unacceptably rough audio...but it's there).

From no audio try to gradually step your way up to the best possible soundblaster audio with MIDI (if possible).

1) Try it with audio set to NONE(nothing,whatever...). See if it crashes while running normally without audio. If it still crashes, then the problem is with the program and running it natively in XP may be a no-go.

2) MUSIC ONLY: Try setting it for MIDI out only to see if that works.

3) MUSIC ONLY: Try setting it for AdLib/SoundBlaster out only to see if that works.

3) SOUND/DIGITAL AUDIO ONLY:Try basic SoundBlaster audio (no music selection).

4) If 2 and 3 worked, try both simultaneously.

5) If it's still stable, then you have basic operation, so you can try stepping it up the line :
SoundBlaster II/2.0
SoundBlaster Pro
SoundBlaster Pro II/2.0/New
SoundBlaster 16

The idea is to gradually ask for more until it stops working properly, then go back 1 step if it does, then use that configuration.

If it works out then try these same suggestions, remembering that VDMSound uses an IRQ of 7 by default.

On 1: It doesn't crash nor appears to have the repeats (when the audio is on with VDMSound some lights that blink hamper too when it's repeating) when there is no audio.

On 2+: The address my soundcard (SB128PCI) uses is 9400h (can't change it in device properties, can't even deselect "use automatic settings") and the sound setup only allows me to choose 0210h-0260h and no IRQ/DMA whatsoever. So unless WinXP also emulates it on 0220h I can't get my sound working either way.
The setup also doesn't have a "no sound" option but I can copy a clean config that doesn't have any sound selected yet to work around that, but as soon as I select a digital sound device it automatically sets the MIDI device to the same one (not vice-versa, so I can select MIDI without digital).
As for the options, MIDI has Ad Lib and SB/SB Pro and digital only has SB/SB Pro, it doesn't distinguise between the different SB's.
The other soundcard options are Tandy Sound, PS/1 Option Card, Pro Audio Spectrum and CompuAdd Multimedia Card.
Neither of these worked (hell the game won't even start with some :\) for digital sound.
The MIDI worked though when I choose Roland MT-32/CM-32L/LPAC-1. It's horrible compared to the SB sound but it's something 😀.

SunMar wrote:

On 1: It doesn't crash nor appears to have the repeats when there is no audio.

That seems to indicate it is an audio issue, not the program in general.

On 2+: The address my soundcard (SB128PCI) uses is 9400h ... and no IRQ/DMA whatsoever. So unless WinXP also emulates it on 0220h...

While that's a very unusual setting, it's not relevant as XP is emulating basic SoundBlaster with an IRQ of 5 and DMA's 1 and 5. Those are the settings you use. There is no DOS audio support in any NT OS (DOS allows direct hardware access from software programs / NT will not allow this because of stability issues), that's why they threw in some basic SB emulation. All DOS programs under an NT OS have to go through a "wrapper" or an emulator to play audio, so it won't be using the settings in your control panel.

I can't get my sound working either way.

Unfortunate. If it won't work with the settings I mentioned, then there's a problem. You will probably have to go with emulation or possibly a dual-boot.

The setup also doesn't have a "no sound" option...

*groan* One of the most annoying things about DOS setup programs is their almost complete lack of a standard.

As for the options, MIDI has Ad Lib and SB/SB Pro and digital only has SB/SB Pro, it doesn't distinguise between the different SB's.

Some setup programs will distinguish between them, some won't. I was giving you a general description of things to try because there's no way for me to know the particular setup you may be dealing with, it's also good as a general reference for most DOS audio setup programs.

The other soundcard options are Tandy Sound, PS/1 Option Card, Pro Audio Spectrum and CompuAdd Multimedia Card.
Neither of these worked (hell the game won't even start with some...

Don't choose audio hardware that you don't have (or, at least, emulated hardware). If you had tried these under DOS or Win9x, it's just as likely as you would've locked up your whole OS.

The MIDI worked though when I choose Roland MT-32/CM-32L/LPAC-1. It's horrible compared to the SB sound but it's something

The MT-32/CM-32L/LPAC-1 is/are MIDI, so yes, they should work. Be aware that MT-32 is different from "plain" MIDI, so MIDI that isn't MT-32 "aware" will give you some odd results. Just ask Snover and Vlad about this (Try a quick search for MT-32 Emulation on this board).

Have you tried DosBox with this title? You need some basic DOS knowledge to make it work, but version 0.56 was just released and it does quite well with a lot of 286 and early 386 titles.

You will probably have to go with emulation or possibly a dual-boot.

Sticking with trying to make it work with some form of emulation 😀.
Dual-boot isn't really an option for me, because when I play games it's usually because I'm waiting for something to finish in the background. If dual-boot was an option I'd already have DOS 6.22 running on a 500mb partition or something 😀.

Have you tried DosBox with this title? You need some basic DOS knowledge to make it work.

Just tried it and stumbled upon something that looked like a case problem, but this isn't the forum for that.
I'll try some more with it tomorrow

So this looks like it's the end of the line of VDMSound for me :\.

Thanks for the suggestions and recommendations though.
Even learned something new about the SB emulation in NT/2K/XP 😀.

If the lights are blinking then the game uses MIDI and VDMSound is working. If the game uses MT-32 then you have to tell VDMSound to map MT-32 to GM (see point #8 in the FAQ or, if using LaunchPad, set the MT-32 option under the VDMSound shortcut's Properties). Also see on the Lucas site what patches are available for your version of the game, and try them one by one.

vladr wrote:

Also see on the Lucas site what patches are available for your version of the game, and try them one by one.

Lucas? As in LucasArts? The program was from Br0derbund. Since it's from 1990/92, I doubt you'll find patches for it.

He could just emulate another system's version like the Apple II's or the Amiga's.

Don't know what he meant by a "case problem", though.

vladr wrote:

If the lights are blinking then the game uses MIDI and VDMSound is working. If the game uses MT-32 then you have to tell VDMSound to map MT-32 to GM (see point #8 in the FAQ or, if using LaunchPad, set the MT-32 option under the VDMSound shortcut's Properties). Also see on the Lucas site what patches are available for your version of the game, and try them one by one.

With blinking lights I was referring to some graphics in the game, not that Scroll Lock thing or something.
Whenever something is happening (a case file is coming up, somebody is talking, or stuff like that) some lights on the graphical panel on the screen start blinking just for show, the way they blink is always the same and doesn't change when different audio plays or is attached to the audio in any way in the first place. However fact that they start hampering as soon as the audio is repeating (probably because the game is "choking" at that point or something) is thus a reasonable indication to see whether the game is still heaving problems at that point when audio is off since I won't be able to hear it.

About the MIDI, that only works without VDMSound when I choose MT-32 like I already said in a previous post.
As I explained before, with VDMSound digital sound works and MIDI aswell with SB, Ad Lib and MT-32 (tried them all), however even though the audio works the game "chokes" or something and repeats audio segments from time to time and at some points in the game it even crashes (for example as soon as you try to apprehend somebody and at some other points aswell that I can't be more specific about).
This does not happen when (digital) audio is turned off.

As for patches, what do you mean by the Lucas site?
If you mean Lucas Arts, than there's nothing there.
This game was released by Broderbund and on their site there are no patches available either, I already checked that out too.

Don't know what he meant by a "case problem", though.

DOSbox says that it can't find a file and the filename it displays is lowercase while the actual filename is uppercase.
DOS/Windows is supposed to be case insensitive when it comes to filenames but I saw that at least on linux there were some problems with the case of files on Linux so it might be that.
Could be something very different, that it might be the case of the filename was just a first guess after fiddling around with it for 10 minutes. Will look some more at what other things it might be this weekend.

SunMar wrote:

However fact that they start hampering as soon as the audio is repeating (probably because the game is "choking" at that point or something)...

Turn on logging for warnings and errors and create a log and post it here. Maybe Vlad can spot something in it.

This game was released by Broderbund and on their site there are no patches available either, I already checked that out too.

I kind of figured that. Br0derund isn't going to be any help as they simply want you to use the most recent version.

DOSbox says that it can't find a file and the filename it displays is lowercase while the actual filename is uppercase.

Hrmm. Odd. Seems possible that maybe that it actually can't find the file (not being related to case) and that the error is being reported in lower case. That's all I can think of since, as we both know, case is irrellevant as far as DOS/Windows is concerned. If you want, start a thread in the DOS section (under "The Guide") for the DosBox issue. DosBox would probably be a more ideal setup for you as it would allow you to run it in a window, allowing you to keep an eye on your other programs.

Scrounging around I was only able to find version 2.2 of the original and it exhibited some odd behavior as well. No digital audio under native XP, works fine under VDMSound. It's strange because, while XP emulation is fairly primitive, it does work pretty consistently.

In the meantime, classicgaming has the freely distributable Apple II version and the the emulator to run it. This is the 1985 original (whoah...Carmen goes back further than I thought).
http://www.classicgaming.com/rotw/carmen/
Audio/Visuals will obviously look quite primitive compared to your VGA version, but at least you can play with it in a window in the meantime.

Nicht Sehr Gut wrote:

In the meantime, classicgaming has the freely distributable Apple II version and the the emulator to run it. This is the 1985 original (whoah...Carmen goes back further than I thought).
http://www.classicgaming.com/rotw/carmen/
Audio/Visuals will obviously look quite primitive compared to your VGA version, but at least you can play with it in a window in the meantime.

Ah, my old nemesis, Apple II "Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego?" I have fond memories of playing that with my family...

"You're getting too close, shamus..." THWACK.

AppleWin is indeed pretty good:
(Original port) http://www.jantzer-schmidt.de/applewin/
(Extra crispy) http://pages.ripco.net/~wizwom/applewin/

And I've heard good things about this new "Dapple" for DOS:
http://www.rmfdos.org/dapple/

I love playing Montezuma's Revenge on AppleWin. Ah, the memories... 😀

Thnx for the link.

I turned logging on for everything and here's a log of when the game crashes: http://www.suninet.nl/VDMS-crash.LOG.

The last 9-10 number of bytes showed for the "Interrupting (8-bit, x1) ....." are the same so I'm guessing that the game might get stuck in some sort of loop.
I'm not very familiar though with what everything in the log means so that's just a guess.

Here's one of when it repeats (as soon as it repeated I exitted the game normally): http://www.suninet.nl/VDMS-repeat.LOG.

Log looks OK from here, nothing strange going one (game playing sound using a 1s buffer, interrupts come after every second, interrupts acknowledged).
V.