I used something similar decades ago and it had jumpers, used it with 2 joysticks to game with the kids. Had to disable the jumper set sound cards game port to get it to work or else had port conflicts. Your game card does have jumpers so you might be able to get it to work. Since you are using a AWE64 as that is PNP it may be a bit more difficult.

Yeah, there could be an issue with the PnP. I read on a google group about one user having trouble disabling the game-port in DOS on his Creative Sound Blaster and had to wire up some NOR gate to the card to change the address, thus disabling it. https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp. … ech/wcdgDs7ZE9s

Does anyone know how to disable the game port in DOS on the AWE64Gold? Also, if I disable the Awe64Gold's game port, will the S2 wavetable connected to the game port still function properly?

CTCU (or is it CTCM?) can disable the gameport, no effect on the MIDI functionality

It is CTCU.EXE that is supposed to be able to disable the gameport. CTCU.EXE needs a DOS 6.22 installation or boot disk to work. If you run after booting DOS 7.1, you get CTCU cannot be run under Win95 or Win3.1 DOS box. So I am using a DOS 6.22 boot disk and running CTCU from the floppy. Anyway, when I reboot and run CTCU.EXE again, the gameport is still enabled. Why won't the gameport stay disabled?

Selected the AWE64Gold from the PNP device menu after loading CTCU loaded:

The joystick config page after the user set it to disabled:

Rebooted and the check box is gone:

What gives? Gameport in the BIOS is set to disabled.

feipoa wrote on 2020-04-09, 10:38:

It is CTCU.EXE that is supposed to be able to disable the gameport. CTCU.EXE needs a DOS 6.22 installation or boot disk to work. If you run after booting DOS 7.1, you get CTCU cannot be run under Win95 or Win3.1 DOS box. So I am using a DOS 6.22 boot disk and running CTCU from the floppy. Anyway, when I reboot and run CTCU.EXE again, the gameport is still enabled. Why won't the gameport stay disabled?

You can try Unisound if you want, it can disable the game port (you also won't need CTCM nor aweutil /s to init the card, the tool will do everything). Could this solve your problem...? UNISOUND - Universal ISA PnP Sound Card Driver for DOS v0.81b

To disable game port, a special new parameter is needed in the BLASTER environment 'J', to enable: J200 for example. To disable: J0.

So you can try (example):

SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 E620 T6 J0
UNISOUND.COM

You can check if it is disabled running UNISOUND /R , if the JOY parameter is read as '0', it is disabled.

Edit: You can run Unisound in any DOS version.

Thank you for this information. I will test it out. You mention adding J0 to the BLASTER environment to disable the game port. Is this for unisound, Creative's drivers, or both?

Currently, my autoexec.bat looks like this:

SET SOUND=C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND
SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E MODE:0
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 T6
SET CTCM=C:\WINDOWS
C:\WINDOWS\CTCM.EXE
C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND\DIAGNOSE /S
C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND\AWEUTIL /S
C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND\MIXERSET /P /Q

The order may be important because when I changed it around, the Dreamblaser S2 connected to the game port wouldn't work anymore.

So if I use unisound, I don't need those 8 commands anymore?

feipoa wrote on 2020-04-10, 08:38:

Thank you for this information. I will test it out. You mention adding J0 to the BLASTER environment to disable the game port. Is this for unisound, Creative's drivers, or both?

It's only for Unisound. It is one of the special parameters it accepts.

Currently, my autoexec.bat looks like this: […]
Show full quote

Currently, my autoexec.bat looks like this:

SET SOUND=C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND
SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E MODE:0
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 T6
SET CTCM=C:\WINDOWS
C:\WINDOWS\CTCM.EXE
C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND\DIAGNOSE /S
C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND\AWEUTIL /S
C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND\MIXERSET /P /Q

The order may be important because when I changed it around, the Dreamblaser S2 connected to the game port wouldn't work anymore.

So if I use unisound, I don't need those 8 commands anymore?

Correct. For DOS, you can replace them all (unless you want to keep detailed mixer control, and after all, I would not use creative mixer, too many files, too many drivers to load, and you can control the mixer with other 3rd party utils that don't need any of the CT drivers loaded, like the great Multi-Mixer (BM.EXE) from Peto Kornel.

I see that your settings don't match with an AWE64 gold. That settings lack the AWE part (maybe you used wrong installation disks?). My recommendation is to replace those lines (or at least REM them to test first) with these 2:

SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 E620 T6 J0
C:\YOURPATH\UNISOUND.COM

You can remove/REM the Creative related lines in CONFIG.SYS too.

Note: if you want to put the master volume to a desired level at init, you can add the /Vxx argument to UNISOUND.COM (00 to 99% volume), example:

C:\YOURPATH\UNISOUND.COM /V70

About external Dreamblaster S2 connected to game port... I don't have one, but I tested today with my AWE64 Gold and my Roland SC-55 connected to game port, and initializing the card only with the 2 lines i wrote above and it worked perfectly. You have nothing to lose trying it 😀 Try and let me know if it worked for you.

When I typed those autoexec.bat commands out manually, I accidentally left out the E620; it was there though.

I've run what you suggested. Here is the result:

But when I run CTCU again, the disable box is not checked for the joystick. So which program is to be trusted?

I won't be able to test the sound card with the S2 plugged into the game port for another 24 hours. In order to make space for the 2-port game card, I am having to shrink the space requirement for my rotated S2 game port adapter. I'm turning the sound jack 180 degrees, but since the left channel and GND would get flipped, I am having to epoxy the sound jack to the PCB and rewire LEFT and GND.

In the mean time, I was wondering if unisound has a feature to force the general midi emulation from within DOS, instead of just in Windows? There is a way to do it with the Creative software, but it doesn't always work. I think it is:

C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND\AWEUTIL /EM:GM /KEY-

feipoa wrote on 2020-04-10, 12:53:

I've run what you suggested. Here is the result:

It's OK 😀

But when I run CTCU again, the disable box is not checked for the joystick. So which program is to be trusted?

I believe CTCU is bugged. If you try to disable WaveTable for example, the same happens, it is not disabled.
In fact, about the game port, check your own pictures from previous posts and your last post. See the difference? With CTCM & CTCU the disable box is not checked AND the I/O Range and Configuration # are set. With Unisound & CTCU you can see empty I/O Range and empty Config #.
Unisound disable the game port I/O address and its entire logical device. I am sure of this.

In the mean time, I was wondering if unisound has a feature to force the general midi emulation from within DOS, instead of just in Windows? There is a way to do it with the Creative software, but it doesn't always work. I think it is:

C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND\AWEUTIL /EM:GM /KEY-

No, Unisound does not do the MPU emulation in DOS, Unisound is not a TSR. To cut costs, Creative did not make MPU emulation for the AWE implemented in hardware, it is done entirely in software (relying on NMI, so it does not work on some machines). All of the MPU emulation in DOS is done by software in real time with AWEUTIL /EM loaded in memory. Anyway, if you use an external sound module (as your Dreamblaster S2), the card is using the native MPU port (usually 330h) routed to the midi/game port, so you should not enable the MPU emulation. Only use MPU emulation (AWEUTIL /EM:xx) if you don't have any external module attached.

Anyway, Unisound does initialize the AWE part, so games with native AWE support will work, and the external module should work too via standard MIDI port 3x0h.

With the S2 attached to the gameport, I've been using the S2 in pure DOS games while I use the sound font banks in Windows 95. This offers some variety to test things out.

I finished flipping the stereo jack 180 degrees on the Chill 'n Phil so that the configuration doesn't consume the next two adjacent ISA slots, only one now. This allowed for the needed space to install a game port card. I needed to epoxy the stereo jack once I turned it because the strain on just the centre solder leads will rip off the pads when you insert the stereo jack.

Will test things later this evening.

I tested the card with the S2 connected to the back as shown above, but the MIDI volume is a lot lower than the digital volume. I recall having this issue with the Creative drivers, but running the C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND\MIXERSET /P /Q command fixed it. When using unisound, how do I set the midi volume to max and the line-in gain to max? Recall that midi is passed to the line-in port in my configuration.

EDIT1: It appears that the issue with the low volume using the Chill 'n Phil on the AWE64Gold is because the default Line-in volume is 200, whereas the Voice is 224. So unless unisound has a way to make these equal (unisound /v99 doesn't do anything to the line-in volume), then Creative's Mixerset.exe program must still be used, which which case the command needed is mixerset.exe /LI:224

@feipoa

Yes, Unisound at this point offers basic mixer control only (user-configurable master volume and fixed volume for the rest), because it has a lot of different cards / brands /models to support. I could add some more detailed mixer settings in a future release. In the meantime, you can use mixerset to set the line-in volume and others. You can also check bm41free.zip from here: https://www.sac.sk/files.php?d=11&p=8 , it is a good alternative SB mixer program.

About the main toipic of the thread, I wish you luck with the CH Gamecard 3 Automatic. Is it working OK? I think I have a very similar card... I'll try it at some point...

Back on topic - the problem I am having now is that some software in Windows 95 must be editing my AUTOEXEC.BAT at start-up or shutdown, but I don't know which. If I have this in the AUTOEXEC.BAT: SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 E620 T6 J0, I can boot into Windows fine with the joyport disabled, but when I got to restart the system, the J0 has disappeared. Any idea which part of the Creative Windows software is doing this and how to stop it? Unless I edit the AUTOEXEC.BAT file again before booting Windows, Windows will hang on boot because of two cards trying to use the joyport address (CH card and AWE64G).

feipoa wrote on 2020-04-11, 09:29:

Back on topic - the problem I am having now is that some software in Windows 95 must be editing my AUTOEXEC.BAT at start-up or shutdown, but I don't know which. If I have this in the AUTOEXEC.BAT: SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 E620 T6 J0, I can boot into Windows fine with the joyport disabled, but when I got to restart the system, the J0 has disappeared. Any idea which part of the Creative Windows software is doing this and how to stop it?

Good question... post your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT lines with any Creative stuff you have there.
And check also the c:\windows\dosstart.bat and C:\CONFIG.DOS and AUTOEXEC.DOS or C:\CONFIG.W40 and AUTOEXEC.W40

Something there is modifyng the config...

I could not locate CONFIG.DOS, AUTOEXEC.DOS, CONFIG.W40, AUTOEXEC.W40, but the other three are here:

Autoexec.bat
LH /L:2 C:\MSCDEX /D:ASPICD0 /M:15 /E /S /V
MODE CON CODEPAGE PREPARE=((850) C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\EGA.CPI)
MODE CON CODEPAGE SELECT=850
LH MOUSE
SET PATH=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WBEM;%PATH%;C:\
SET DIRCMD=/P /A
SET TEMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
SET TMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
@ECHO OFF
REM SET SOUND=C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND
REM SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E MODE:0
REM SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 E620 T6
REM SET CTCM=C:\WINDOWS
REM C:\WINDOWS\CTCM.EXE
REM C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND\DIAGNOSE /S
REM C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND\AWEUTIL /S
REM Can sometimes force GM emulation in DOS if MFBEN jumper set and use C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND\AWEUTIL /EM:GM /KEY-
REM C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND\MIXERSET /P /Q
@ECHO ON
@ECHO.................................................................................
@ECHO Loading Cyrix 5x86 Registers
5x86.exe /LSSER=off /FP_FAST=on /RSTK_EN=on /MEM_BYP=on /DTE_EN=on /BWRT=on /LINBRST=off /LOOP_EN=on /BTB_EN=off
@ECHO Type BTBon/BTBoff to turn ON/OFF branch prediction
@ECHO.................................................................................
@ECHO OFF
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 E620 T6 J0
UNISOUND.COM /V99
C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND\MIXERSET.EXE /LI:224 /CD:224

Config.sys
DOS=HIGH,UMB,NOAUTO
LASTDRIVE=E
COUNTRY=004,850,C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\COUNTRY.SYS
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /V
REM DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE RAM /MIN=0 I=B000-B7FF /V
DEVICEHIGH /L:2 =C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\DISPLAY.SYS CON=(EGA,,1)
DEVICEHIGH /L:2 =C:\ASPI8U2.SYS /D /P140 /Q10
DEVICEHIGH /L:2 =C:\ASPICD.SYS /D:ASPICD0
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\IFSHLP.SYS
SHELL=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND.COM C:\WINDOWS\ /E:1024 /P

Dosstart.bat
C:\WINDOWS\CTCM

I'm pretty sure it is the last one. OK to REM that out? What is the purpose of DOSSTART.BAT? For when you restart the system in MS-DOS mode from within Windows?

Nope, not that last one. Remarking out C:\WINDOWS\CTCM from DOSSTART.BAT didn't help. I rebooted and the J0 was gone again!

Weird... I'll try to reproduce your settings here to see what is happening. Windows 95 A? B? OSR2...? What drivers did you install in Windows? original AWE64 Gold CD? downloaded drivers? version?

I'm using Windows 95C, or OSR 2.5. I don't recall which drivers I installed. I setup this systems years ago. I think it was from the original CD-ROM, but I setup so many systems that I cannot say that with any certainty. If there is a date of any particular driver file, I can relay it.

I completely deleted the line from dosstart.bat. I then we to "restart in MS-DOS mode" and C:\WINDOWS\CTCM is getting run, so there must be another file which is calling this upon shutdown/restart. Once restarted in MS-DOS mode [from Windows], I check the autoexec.bat file and the J0 is gone. So I'm pretty sure CTCM is the culprit, but don't know how it is let to run.

EDIT1: I checked dosstart.bat again and C:\Windows\CTCM.exe made its way back in there. So I think the question is, what is writing it back in there? Some registry entry?

EDIT2: If I leave dosstart.bat as REM C:\Windows\CTCM , the REM stays put and CTCM doesn't load, but the J0 is still missing from the SET BLASTER line in autoexec.bat, so there is likely some higher order taking control here.

Anyway, according to the device manager, I am using SB16.VXD, with version 4.38.16 from 4-8-1998 and using SBAWE.VXD with version 4.37.00.0155 from 4-8-1998.

I searched the registry for CTCM but nothing came up that looked relevant.

My temporary workaround for this issue is as follows.

1) Leave SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 E620 T6 in autoexec.bat. Do not alter it. It is now a dummy entry.

2) Create a bat file called NOJOY.BAT. Include in this bat file,

SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 E620 T6 J0
UNISOUND.COM /V99
C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND\MIXERSET.EXE /LI:224 /CD:224

3) Add NOJOY.BAT to the autoexec.bat file. The location of NOJOY.BAT should be somewhere after the original dummy SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 E620 T6 line.