are the resources set properly in windows device manager (220, 7, 1)?

robertmo wrote:

are the resources set properly in windows device manager (220, 7, 1)?

Yes, although the IRQ used is 5.

the sound drivers on this page *might* work:

http://vsynchmame.mameworld.info/

I think my problem is that my card has a Yamaha YMF-724-V chip. The revision history talks about the YMF-724-E-V and YMF-724-F-V chips. I believe my card has an earlier revision that does not support distributed DMA. I also derive support from the Waveforce 192XG manual, which does not mention D-DMA, only PC/PCI. The revision history for the DOS drivers says for rev 3.06 "D-DMA can be used with 440BX + YMF724E." I would suggest therefore that this feature was added when it was ready, sometime after the manuals were printed. I have a weird NEC card that I bought because it has an S/PDIF out.

In order to solve this issue, I have decided to obtain a Yamaha YMF-744B-V card, (the only other one I could find with S/PDIF out. It also has support for 4 speakers, unlike the 724, which supports two.

AFAIK the main difference of the YMF-744 chip in relation to the 724 is the exclusion of the OPL3 circuitry. Not what a retro gamer would want. EDIT: disregard this.

AFAIK the main difference of the YMF-744 chip in relation to the 724 is the exclusion of the OPL3 circuitry. Not what a retro gamer would want.

No, the main difference is not the exclusion of the OPL3 circuitry, it is the addition of quad-speaker output.

i have yamaha YMF744B-V and i don't see opl3 chip anywhere, actually there are only two of them on the card:
-YMF744B-V
-STAC9708T

Great Hierophant, After looking around I must agree, the 744 seems to have the same FM legacy block as the 724. I do not know where I read the myth about it having no FM hardware...

@robertmo
The ymf7xx chip is developed by Yamaha, whom created the OPL3, they have integrated the original OPL3 circuitry in the main chip.

Edit:
comparing the spec sheets of the Ymf7xx series in regard to the FM hardware:
Ymf724F (DS-1_) it says 'Genuine OPL3'
Ymf744B (DS-1S) it says 'FM Synthesizer'
Ymf754_ (DS-1E) it says 'FM Synthesizer'

Edit: comparing the spec sheets of the Ymf7xx series in regard to the FM hardware: Ymf724F (DS-1_) it says 'Genuine OPL3' Ymf […]
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Edit:
comparing the spec sheets of the Ymf7xx series in regard to the FM hardware:
Ymf724F (DS-1_) it says 'Genuine OPL3'
Ymf744B (DS-1S) it says 'FM Synthesizer'
Ymf754_ (DS-1E) it says 'FM Synthesizer'

I was aware of the differences in the datasheets. I will soon be able to determine whether this change is merely semantics or denotes real differences between functionality of the earlier chip as opposed to the later ones.

I have received my YMF-744B-V card, and it does allow you to select D-DMA in the SetupDS program. I saw a readme file for a setupds file that states that the YMF724E, YMF724F support D-DMA on the Intel 440BX. Chips that do not support D-DMA on the Intel i440BX include the
YMF724, YMF724B, YMF740, YMF740B, YMF740C, YMF724C, YMF724D, YMF734.

I do not know if my chip really supports D-DMA or not. Sound Blaster 8-bit emulation only works in the SetupDS program. Using common DOS games like Wolfenstein 3D, Ultima 7/8, or Doom gives no digital sound. My Set Blaster variable is always set to the resources the program claims to be using.

I remember it was troublesome to get the soundblaster support actually working on the YMF724E-V when selecting D-DMA. Eventually, after trying many settings in both the Bios and SetupDS, it did work properly, on a 440BX mainboard that was. But I also had the SB-Link hardware connected and that was very reliable, so I preferred that method.

I managed to get it working in real mode DOS for the most part by forcing it to use IRQ7. Ultima 7, Serpent Isle, Wolfenstein 3D, Spear of Destiny System Shock and Quake all work correctly. Doom and Doom 2 crash.

I got this same sound card today and stumbled upon this thread looking for drivers 😀
Popped it in a 486 board I'm playing around with and got it all working so far, even the sampled sounds in doom, doom2 and wolf3d work correctly.

What I had to do was overwrite the files in the driver directory with the ones found here:
http://www.yamahamultimedia.com/yec/helpcente … card_Whelp.html

That wasn't all, it only works if you run dsdma.exe before playing.
I've only played with this card for 40 minutes or so but I'm impressed, it actually has a real OPL chip 😀

TheLazy1 wrote:

I got this same sound card today and stumbled upon this thread looking for drivers :) Popped it in a 486 board I'm playing aroun […]
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I got this same sound card today and stumbled upon this thread looking for drivers 😀
Popped it in a 486 board I'm playing around with and got it all working so far, even the sampled sounds in doom, doom2 and wolf3d work correctly.

What I had to do was overwrite the files in the driver directory with the ones found here:
http://www.yamahamultimedia.com/yec/helpcente … card_Whelp.html

That wasn't all, it only works if you run dsdma.exe before playing.
I've only played with this card for 40 minutes or so but I'm impressed, it actually has a real OPL chip 😀

Indeed it does, and by using dsdma I was able to get DOOM working. I would strongly recommend this card for legacy DOS compatibility.

Do you know what fmmidi.exe is for?
It just spits out an error number with no other explanation.

So you actually have to use DSDMA manually in some circumstances...

TheLazy1 wrote:

Do you know what fmmidi.exe is for?
It just spits out an error number with no other explanation.

I remember you could give it a midi file as parameter and it would then play it through the FM synthesizer. But only when the Yamaha SB-Pro emulation was initialized, and it would not work with other soundcards

gerwin wrote:

So you actually have to use DSDMA manually in some circumstances...

Apparently it does, and DSDMA.EXE requires EMM386.EXE. Fortunately, it does not require this when working with Ultima VII or Serpent Isle.

I may be interpreting the datasheet incorrectly but it says this chip has a wavetable synthesizer with gm compatibility.
Would this be possible to get working under dos with doom/doom2?

Not that there's anything wrong with the OPL output I'm just curious how it would sound.

TheLazy1 wrote:

I may be interpreting the datasheet incorrectly but it says this chip has a wavetable synthesizer with gm compatibility.
Would this be possible to get working under dos with doom/doom2?

Not that there's anything wrong with the OPL output I'm just curious how it would sound.

I got it to work with Doom without a problem, but only in a DOS Box (Win 9x was running). It sounds excellent.