Verify that you are using the proper IRQ/DMA/Port settings in the game.

If you want to run multiple commands in DOSBox then you either put them in a batch file or put them in the [autoexec] section of DOSBox.conf.

SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D3 T1

Here's what I have in the dosbox conf file, what are the correct settings if wrong.

reset dosbox config file

How do I reset the config? Also how would I write out the batch file. The two files are blakstar.exe and fm.com.

I'm voting for deleting postings that don't even have minimal information about their system/dosbox setup.

Make a simple batch file and save it into the same directory as you have fm.com and blakstar.exe

Call it blak.bat

1SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D3 T1
2fm
3blakstar

Launch the file with dosbox.

Tested on DOSBox 0.73, in Ubuntu 9.10
Music works as expected.

The game uses a sound driver that apparently does not work with SB16 or SBPro2, but the other SB types work. I can tell that you came up with "BLASTER=A220 I7 D3 T1" from the game's SOUND.DOC file, but note that it says your environment variable will be *similar* to that. In general you should not directly set the BLASTER environment variable, and let DOSBox build it from the SB settings. In this case it does not cause a problem because there is only FM music and no digital sound, but indicating DMA 3 in the environment variable when DOSBox is configured for DMA 1 (the default) could cause problems.

A better way to get sound working in the game is to use sbtype=sb1 in the dosbox.conf instead of sbtype=sb16; or if you prefer to make a batch file:

1sbtype sb1
2fm
3blakstar

ripsaw8080 game works with sbpro2 too

works with sb16 too if you change blasters T value to 0-4
5 and more doesn't work
it is only Tx dependent
you can even start fm.com first and change T later.

The T parameter is changed by sbtype, and it is still best practice to change DOSBox's SB settings than to change the BLASTER environment variable directly, even if it's not critical in this case. Please do not obfuscate the important point with pointless details.

I don't think these details are pointless.

Nevertheless i think it may be better to use:

1sbtype sbpro2
2fm
3blakstar

cause opl3 may produce better quality music.

The FM driver says "Sound Blaster Card Version" copyright 1990; which predates even SBPro1, so what are the chances that it will use OPL3? If you could use a later version of the FM driver with the game... then "maybe".

Anyway, I only objected to you suggesting that changing the BLASTER environment variable is enough. Sure, it's enough in this case, but it's not the right way to do it in general, because there are cases where it is NOT enough.

that info was for you and other devs, not toxee,
and as i expected you to reply so i didn't care about obfuscating 😉

Ahh, that did the trick alright, I was able to run the new bat in D-fend too which is great too know I can run multiple things at once in that. Thanks a ton for the help, my question seemed like a general dosbox functionality question, didn't have much to do with specs or version but I will try to drop that next time so as not to offend.

ripsaw8080, yes, you can use a later version of the FM driver, but i don't know whether it improves quality or not.