I might be making headway. Or I might not.

According to this page:

SC2, being an old DOS game, requires conventional memory (the first 640 kilobytes of your machines memory) and then expanded memory for sound and music.

When I boot, DOS tells me "WARNING: Unable to set page frame base address--EMS unavailable" and, later, "Expanded memory services unavailable."

My config.sys is:

1DEVICE=C:\DOS\SETVER.EXE
2DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
3REM DEVICE=C:\DOS\MOUSE.SYS
4DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE RAM
5REM DEVICE=C:\DOS\OAKCDROM.SYS /D:MSCD001
6DOS=HIGH
7FILES=40
8BUFFERS=20
9device=C:\ULTRASND\ultrinit.sys ultrasnd=240,3,3,11,7 

I'd think the game would simply refuse to run if it were a memory shortage issue... but I admit I'm in over my head here.

Update - tried:

1DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE RAM frame=e000

On reboot, it told me "Option ROM or RAM detected within page frame," but apparently EMS was successfully enabled anyway. It didn't fix the music issue though. 🙁

What do you have in AUTOEXEC.BAT?

It might be that you don't have a complete file set in C:\ULTRASND, or some files are corrupted.

Here's my autoexec.bat:

1@ECHO OFF
2PROMPT $p$g
3SET PATH=C:\ULTRASND;C:\DOS;C:\PKZIP;C:\DOSRAR\RAR
4SET TEMP=C:\DOS
5
6REM *** GUS ***
7SET ULTRASND=240,3,3,11,7
8SET ULTRADIR=C:\ULTRASND
9C:\ULTRASND\ultrinit.exe
10REM call C:\ULTRASND\sbos.bat
11
12REM *** SB16 ***
13SET SOUND=C:\SB16
14SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E
15SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 T6
16C:\SB16\DIAGNOSE /S
17C:\SB16\MIXERSET /P /Q
18
19REM C:\DOS\MSCDEX.EXE /D:MSCD001
20C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE /X 

One thing I just realized is that this problem is identical to what used to happen when I tried running SC2 under DOSBox years ago. Apparently the problem's fixed in the latest version of DOSBox... but I refuse to believe that I can't get SC2 running properly on the hardware for which it was originally intended.

What version of DOS are you using? And your system specs?

As you've discovered EMM386 can still provide EMS without a page frame - however some programs won't work without one.
You could try B000 for your 'frame' parameter - if you don't have a monochrome card installed in your system this is usually free.
The fact that E000 is in use already suggests you have some sort of expansion card that has loaded a ROM on boot, possibly an IDE controller that gives large hard disk support or a network card with a boot ROM.

EDIT actually I don't think B000 will work as B800 is used for VGA text modes and that won't leave enough space for the page frame. Normally C800-D7FF is used for the page frame, you can try removing cards until whatever is using that memory space is gone. If you have the appropriate DOS version you can use MSD.EXE to view your memory map and find a big enough free address range (64KB).

I have an ISA Intel EtherExpress card in the slot under the GUS, but I haven't installed any drivers for it yet. The NIC does have a boot ROM installed. Shouldn't the system be basically ignoring it at this point?

Machine is a P-133 with 16 MB RAM, MS-DOS 6.22, a non-PnP SB16, a non-PnP GUS Classic, and the EtherExpress.

My sudden recollection about my old DOSBox issue with SC2 is starting to make me verrrry suspicious - I swear, it was the exact same problem: sound effects being substituted in for musical instruments. Hmmmmmm.

Well, I guess I could do worse than to try updating the GUS drivers. I was using the original installation disks, labeled "v2.05". Might as well try v4.11 which seems to be the last version available.

I believe the boot ROM will remain resident in memory even if you aren't booting from it. If you can remove the ROM from the card, or even take out the card entirely, I suspect you will be able to install the page frame at that address.

As far as your wrong instruments issue goes, it sounds like the opposite of the GUS's Adlib emulation. It will substitute Adlib sound effects with instruments from its wavetable, with generally poor results. But this requires you to load SBOS or MegaEM first which I don't think is necessary with SC2 since it supports the GUS natively.

Have you installed the latest drivers for your GUS? I believe they are 4.11 and can be found here http://ftp.isu.edu.tw/pub/Hardware/multimedia … 411/index-e.htm

I think your first step is to get the page frame loaded though as I believe SC2 requires it to use EMS.

Subjunctive wrote:

SET ULTRASND=240,3,3,11,7

How do you get SC2 to work with a GUS on these settings? Isn't that game hardcoded to the 220h address or something like that?

I removed the EtherExpress and updated the GUS drivers using the v4.11 installation disks.

EMS now works properly, but the SC2 music issue remains.

I don't currently have the tools with which to remove the boot ROM from the EtherExpress without a high chance of bending/breaking the ROM's pins. Some sort of NIC will be necessary as that's how I'd like to transfer files to this machine in the future - possibly I'll just put the EtherExpress back in as-is and take my chances or try to find a memory range that EMS will agree with. Thanks DK, btw, for homing in on that.

The SC2 issue, however, is the far more important one. I'm starting to pull my hair out - in all the searching I've done, no one anywhere has mentioned any sort of technical problem with SC2's sound or music, either in DOSBox or on real hardware. And here I am, with what's ostensibly the best hardware for the game, and it's throwing up one of the strangest issues I've ever seen. 😒

It doesn't help that SC2 itself is maddeningly opaque: no sound setup program, no config files, just an executable and some other untouchable binaries. Like 5u3, I used to think it was hardcoded to use certain GUS settings, but I believe it just uses whatever you set in autoexec/config (I've been changing the IRQ and it picks right up).

Did you go to the latest GUS drivers? Maybe install ProPatches?

Get the latest drivers (4.11) here: http://www.gravisultrasound.com/

Edit: just re-read and noticed you tried the drivers already. 😖

Don't mind me!

Try the game with Megaem/Sbos and /s:sblaster

Gamecollector wrote:

Try the game with Megaem/Sbos and /s:sblaster

Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of the GUS, though? The whole point of having the GUS is so I can take advantage of those games that use it natively.

Anyway, I'm starting to suspect that there's something corrupted in my floppy-disk version of SC2. I deleted and reinstalled, and now, the game simply freezes once I enter the correct star ID in the copy-protection screen, even with /S:SILENT. I'm going to obtain a second copy of the game - the CD-ROM version this time - and see if there's any difference.

I must say, it's at least been an educational struggle so far!

starcontrol II ist very strange.

I also get soundproblems with GUS upgraded to 1 MB Ram. With 512 KB there are no strange sounds.

I initially posted this separately, but I think it would be better to add my issue to the OP's, since it is so similar.

In Star Control II using the Gravis Ultrasound (/s:gravis) option, the music plays too slow in comparison to a Sound Blaster 16 in the same system or DOSBox. The game came off a compilation CD with Star Control I. Here is what is currently in the system :

Intel 486DX/2 66
ASUS ISA-486SV2 v3.1 w/256KB Cache
8MB RAM
Diamond Stealth 24VL w/1MB
Gravis Ultrasound ACE 1.0 w/1MB
Roland MIF-IPC-A & MPU-401
Creative Labs Sound Blaster 16 CT-1750 ASP DSP v4.05
Eagle Novell NE2000T
1GB Compact Flash w/IDE adapter

My GUS ACE has 1MB of RAM, and if the socketed RAM chip is removed, then 512KB of RAM. The issue occurs regardless. I tried using GUSTEST to zero out the RAM, as I read that SCII has problems with more than 256KB, but no dice.

Anyone else encounter this issue? Using 4.11 drivers and MS-DOS 5.00

My config.sys is as follows :

DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE RAM 4096 I=B000-B7FF I=E000-EFFF
DOS=HIGH,UMB

My autoexec.bat is as follows :

@SET ULTRADIR=C:\ULTRASND
@SET ULTRASND=240,3,6,5,2
@C:\ULTRASND\ULTRINIT.EXE -dj
@ECHO OFF
@PROMPT $P$G
@SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 H5 T6 P300
@PATH=C:\ULTRASND;C:\;C:\DOS
@LH CTMOUSE.EXE

Physically and configuratively setting the card to I/O 220 did not affect the problem.

The game would not start, only showing a blank screen, until I set the GUS and Midi IRQs for the card to different values.

I have had other problems with games on this system and the Ultrasound. DOOM/DOOM 2 would play music but not sound effects if unless I manually set the ISA Bus speed to 7.15MHz in the BIOS. Epic Pinball's music would cut in and out until I disabled IRQ2 on the Stealth or moved the hard drive to the ISA instead of the VLB IDE connector (don't know which).

Great Hierophant wrote:

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1@SET ULTRADIR=C:\ULTRASND
2@SET ULTRASND=240,3,6,5,2
3@C:\ULTRASND\ULTRINIT.EXE -dj
4@ECHO OFF
5@PROMPT $P$G
6@SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 H5 T6 P300
7@PATH=C:\ULTRASND;C:\;C:\DOS
8@LH CTMOUSE.EXE

Just because I'm a pedantic dork:

You can remove the @ symbol from the front of every line except @ECHO OFF, then move that line to the top of the program.

The @ symbol suppresses the command line being displayed as the batch file runs, but only does it for the line it's on, @ECHO OFF is a toggle, so you only need it once:

1@ECHO OFF
2SET ULTRADIR=C:\ULTRASND
3SET ULTRASND=240,3,6,5,2
4C:\ULTRASND\ULTRINIT.EXE -dj
5PROMPT $P$G
6SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 H5 T6 P300
7PATH=C:\ULTRASND;C:\;C:\DOS
8LH CTMOUSE.EXE

I fixed my problem. Turns out that the version of the game I was using (a late CD version) did not like my card or system. I tried the floppy version instead and now the music plays appropriately. Covet those floppies, as this is far from the first time I have encountered broken games CD compilations.

Hopefully I have similar luck. I've ordered what I believe to be an original SC2 CD (not a compilation):

http://www.mobygames.com/game/star-control-ii … eCoverId,14993/

By the way, this may be starcon2.com (crack) issue. Most cd compilations run the game through crack. AFAIR, this crack is severely broken. Try starcon2.exe instead (and starmap for the passwords).

I'm using original floppies, not a cracked version. But like I said, I think they may have corrupted data or something because after I removed and reinstalled the game, it's now freezing after the copy-protection screen. It never did that before.

I suppose I could try reinstalling again, but what I'd really like is another original copy of the game, on more stable media. The CD I'm getting is (supposedly) a standalone original, not a compilation of any kind. We'll see what sort of results I get with that.

Port 220, IRQ 5,7, DMA 1 must not be used by any other card.
GUS should be at default settings: 220 5,11,1, 1

also works with GUS:
- Ultrasound IRQ / Midi IRQ: 11/5, 11/7, 7/5
- DMA 1 and 5 works - 3 does not
- Joystickport On
- call ultrainit
- BIOS PnP Settings: reserve IRQs 5, 7, 9, 11 for ISA (legacy)

see also
http://www.dosforum.de/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=60 … +control#p16512
(may require translation tool)