I play Syndicate plus. That is CD with both Syndicate and datadisk Revolution. Sound seems to be ok. 0.63 of course. Using soundblaster 16 emulation.

config file contains these, default lines:

type=sb16
base=220
irq=7
dma=1
hdma=5
mixer=true
oplmode=auto
oplrate=22050

I just got sound working in syndicate under DOSbox (standard version - not syndicate plus).

Firstly, I edited synd.bat to change it from

main.exe >nul: /iirq5 /idma1 /iio$220 /c0

to

main.exe >nul: /iirq7 /idma1 /iio$220 /c0

i.e. so it matches the values specified in my dosbox.conf.

Secondly, I had to copy all of the files in the syndicate folder into the data sub-directory as follows

cd \games\synd
copy *.* data

This fixed it for me, hope that helps

I don't know how to edit synd.bat or any other files. I run a Mac OSX and can't edit the files in OSX and I am not too fmailiar with DOS commands to edit in DOSbox. I have Syndicate - standard version works fine but with no sound, I'd like to try the fix you reccommend but I don't know how. Can you tell me please, or point me to where this is discussed in the forums?
Thanks a bunch

Lazzardo - what is the simplest text-editor you have on your system?

As far as I know the simplest text editor I have is called TextEdit. And AHA, it seems to be able to open the files....
Thanks for that little trigger, I only feel a little silly for not figuring that out.

And yes benkid77's fix above works for me too. But on my Mac here it's choppy sound and a bit too slow now for fun playing. Time to see if I can speed things up a bit.

What are your settings for CPU core and cycles in DOSBox?

Here is what it says in the config file:
core=normal
cycles=3000
cycleup=500
cycledown=20
I have made a few changes to other aspects of the config file via the DOSbox guide tutorial for speeding things up, but not to these settings you have asked about. I can't really tell much difference in speed from the changes I made, so I'm wondering if I need to save the changed config file in a certain place, or enter a command so dosbox recognizes the changed file...?

You have several choices. You can edit the default dosbox.conf in the dosbox.exe directory, and the changes will work for all games. Or you can create a game-specific config, and have DOSBox use that instead (see the README for how to start DOSBox with a specific conf-file). Both require you to restart DOSBox.

Or you can change the settings on the fly. E.g.

1Z:\> config -set cpu cycles=10000
2config -set cpu core=dynamic

There is even a 4th method: Create an environment variable with a setting before starting DOSBox:

1$ DOSBOX_CPU_CORE=dynamic
2$ export DOSBOX_CPU_CORE
3$ dosbox

I tried editing on the fly with the exact input you suggested:

Z:\> config -set cpu cycles=10000
config -set cpu core=dynamic

Then I ran syndicate and it seems to run even slower. Is there a place to learn the best cycles and cpu settings? I imagine it could be different for different games? I certainly don't have any games that run too fast, but it would be great to speed things up. Thanks for your help too.

Dynamic core doesn't work on macs, the next dosbox version
should have the dynamic core at least on intel macs available.
Other than that try cycles=auto while leaving core=normal.

Now I get an illegal command when I try to -conf configfile in order to run dosbox from the config file i edited.
Does that command not work?

How exactly did you specify that? When exactly do you get "illegal command"?

lazzardo wrote:

<snip> I'm wondering if I need to save the changed config file in a certain place, or enter a command so dosbox recognizes the changed file...?

A good test is to enter some wacky cycles number in the config file, and then watch the title-bar of the DOSBox window. It should always display the cycles settings. If the wacky number shows, then DOSBox did find your config.

Maybe I don't know how to enter what the readme calls "the -conf switch". In Dosbox I just entered: z:\>-conf configfile
I also tried z:\>-conf dosbox.conf
I thought this would point Dosbox to the config file I wrote, but it tells me illegal command -conf.

That's a switch for the executable, ie. use "dosbox -conf test.conf"
instead of just clicking on some dosbox icon. Of course you can use
the above in a shortcut or something as well.

Syndicate works fine for me with default settings. I've almost beaten the game again in a few days. Try DosBox 0.65, it loaded up right quick.

benkid77 wrote:

I just got sound working in syndicate under DOSbox (standard version - not syndicate plus). […]
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I just got sound working in syndicate under DOSbox (standard version - not syndicate plus).

Firstly, I edited synd.bat to change it from

main.exe >nul: /iirq5 /idma1 /iio$220 /c0

to

main.exe >nul: /iirq7 /idma1 /iio$220 /c0

i.e. so it matches the values specified in my dosbox.conf.

Secondly, I had to copy all of the files in the syndicate folder into the data sub-directory as follows

cd \games\synd
copy *.* data

This fixed it for me, hope that helps

I need to try copying the files into the data directory. I bet it will fix my no sound problem. I had already modified the batch file, but it didn't work.

copying all the files except for main.exe and the intro.* files into the data directory worked along with editing the synd.bat file.