It looks like your gameport has a conflict, but the other settings look fine. Many DOS games can use a SB assigned to IRQ 7, so that should not cause a problem. If you really want the SB emulation on IRQ 5, you'll need to set the SB emulation driver in Windows 98 to manual configuration by unchecking "Automatic" and then set the IRQ to 5 (assuming that doesn't conflict with anything else in your system).

If you only want SB emulation in DOS to use IRQ 5, you can edit VORTEX.INI in your audio driver folder (likely somewhere in your Windows directory) with the following parameter:

SBFMIRQ=0x5

That should assign IRQ 5 when the DOS driver loads.

BTW, the FM IRQ has no impact on ADLIB sound or MIDI. Those only need an I/O address if you intend to use OPL or General MIDI (220/388 and 300/330 respectively).

It looks like Windows 98 assigned those correctly without any conflicts.

Most NForce2 have onboard sound, and it looks enabled in bios without the chipset drivers installed in win98. I'd disable the onboard sound to get rid of any extra gameport and any oddness with the assigning out the resources/irqs for all the devices.

Oh, and you'll need to edit VORTEX.INI to enable external MIDI in DOS (it's disabled by default) if you intend to use the wave table header or external midi device. Here's the parameter you need to set:

MPU401External=1

Is the sound actually working in pure DOS mode? I tried last year with a Nforce 3 board without luck.

The DOS driver would appear to initialize, but the sound in games wouldn't work. My understanding is that Nforce boards are missing a piece that allows the lower IRQ range to map to the higher ones provided by PCI.

I thought that DOS sound did work from within Windows.

The Vortex 2 does have a neat feature for MIDI. The systray configuration program contains an option that allows you to choose the MIDI output device for DOS prompt programs. This allows you to configure games to use the Vortex 2's emulated MPU401, and you can pipe that MIDI anywhere you want. That includes the Yamaha SYXG50 softsynth. I use this to swap between the Vortex 2's wavetable, an SBLive's Soundfont, syxg50, and an SB Live Drive's external MIDI connection.

Hi,
the first at all:
yes the onboard soundcard is activated in my bios. But i disabled it in Windows.
I hope it eat no ressourced like free IRQ's. The driver r also not installed.
If u say i have to disable the onboard devices, i will do that.

I do not use some external mididevices.
What exactly i have to do, to activate the Soundblaster emulation for Windows98?
Iam a noob.

Windows dont find the Vortex.ini. But i found the au30dos.ini.
Look at the pic.

I agree that you should disable the onboard sound in BIOS if you don't intend to use it in this case. It likely causes the joystick conflict and might cause other unseen conflicts as well (some sound cards don't share resources with other PCI sound cards well).

All of your settings look like they should work in a Win98 DOS box. Just set your DOS game to Sound Blaster Pro mode, IRQ 7, I/O Address 220, DMA 3, and General MIDI at 310. That should work.

Ok, i have deactiveted the onboard devicec except paralel and serialport.
Sound FX Card works fine with standardsettings. But music card dont works.

If i select Soundblaster, i cant set the midiport. If i use general Midi, i can select the midiport. But not 310.
But both mididevices dont works.

Look at the pix.

Glad to see that you got Sound FX working.

You might need to set the "Vortex AU8830 MPU-401 Interface" manually in Windows Device Manager to "300-30F". Then select General MIDI at 300 in your game. If that doesn't work, try address 330, but it looks like that's reserved for external MIDI.

Otherwise, you can select "Adlib" sound at address 388 in the music options for OPL emulation.

I set in the device manager (Vortex AU8830 MPU-401 Interface) the 300-30F and selected the general midi in the game.
It dont works. -> could not detect MPU 401.

I cant select any adress if i select Adlib

🙁

Does Adlib work then (you might not need to set the address since Adlib defaults to address 388).

Check your AU30DOS.INI for the following parameter:

MPU401Base=0x300

If it's still 0x310, change it to 0x300.

You can also try address 330 in your game. That's the address of your real MPU-401 per the screenshots you posted in your first message.

I'm setting up a Windows 98 system right now with an Aureal Vortex to see if I can replicate what you're seeing.

In AU30DOS.INI:
MPU401Base=0X300

Yes it is 😀

I tried all ports at general Midi in the Game. Nothing works 🙁 -> could not detect mpu-401

Adlib dont works with standardsettings -> could not find fm chip

Thank u very much 😀

May be its still the nforce bug 🙁

You might be running into a general incompatibility with your chipset. It's weird that Sound FX work, but not music. DOS issues with PCI cards usually fail with Sound FX, but not music.

I just tested a Vortex 1 (don't worry about that, it's very similar to the Vortex 2 in DOS) using a Core 2 Duo on an Intel 865G chipset (I don't have an NForce board). These are the Vortex Settings in Device Manager:

SB Pro IRQ = 5
SB Pro I/O = 220
SB Pro DMA = 3
MPU-401 = 330

I tested this configuration with Doom and music worked with SB FM, Adlib, and General MIDI at address 330. Here are a couple of screen shots of my configuration:

You could also try to find different drivers. A newer set might work better.

Does MIDI play back using Windows Media Player? Try playing CANYON.MID to see is MIDI works at all.

Hi, i will check ur information tomorrow. Where i find a midifile in Windows98?
Iguess it makes sense to test it first.

Great support. Thank u.

I found a Midifile. It calles Tenorgroove. It works fine in WMP 9.0
I will check the new informations in few hours.

Hi, i tried again. but i failed?
I can have an other try with other settings?
May be manualsettings in the devicemanager of some devices?
Actually i get FX Sound with the most of my cards even the onboardsound. But i never got Midi 🙁