Caesum wrote:

Oh by the way, sometimes when I want to test sound via DOS apps(eg for Redguard) it says that C-Media Mixer is occupied by another application. I'm not sure what to do.

So you're trying to run these games while Windows is running? BattleSpire and Redguard are probably some of the most demanding DOS games ever devised and I would suggest running them in MS-DOS mode – except I doubt you can find DOS drivers for that "audio device". You might want to consider getting a proper PCI sound card; while there's nothing really wrong with integrated sound devices nowadays, that was not always the case.

The only other thing I might suggest would be to try using HIMEMX to restrict the amount of RAM you have available. 512 MB is a lot for Win98SE and might be enough to cause problems. It's easy enough to try, at least.

Wow, thanks for quick answer!

My motherboard have integrated sound card yes, but I also have a dedicated sound card CMI8738/C3DX and this is the one I use. Maybe it's because I don't have the integrated soundcard disabled in BIOS?

I will try HIMEMX soon, thanks!

Wasn't Redguard designed for Windows 95 though? I thought it was, since it has Windows installation option. I will try it but what should I do if the game freezes? Just reboot? Never used DOS mode that much.

There were a few DOS games that were released around that time that used Windows installers and Windows configuration programs for DOS games for some dumbass reason probably in the name of keeping it simple but it didn't really do much of that.

Redguard is a DOS game.

Caesum wrote:

My motherboard have integrated sound card yes, but I also have a dedicated sound card CMI8738/C3DX and this is the one I use.

I have never heard of anything like that. It could very well have obscure compatibility issues.

Maybe it's because I don't have the integrated soundcard disabled in BIOS?

That is always a good idea, especially when you have another sound card.

I will try it but what should I do if the game freezes? Just reboot?

What else would you do?

CMI8738/C3DX seems to have been quite popular in Poland back then. Not sure how about the rest of the world. Seems they are still making soundcards 🤣.

Anyway, disabled integrated soundcard but it didn't do no good. Both games still lack sound for some reason. Funny thing ARENA and DAGGERFALL work great! No issues there.

Tried running BATTLESPIRE in MS-DOS mode but it works very slow and there's no sound anyway. Should I install separate drivers for MS-DOS? I don't remember how it works in W98.

OFFTOPIC: where should I ask about problems with Windows itself? I cannot make my OS shutdown properly, it reboots. Which category is for that?

Caesum wrote:

Should I install separate drivers for MS-DOS?

You would have to find them first. But DOS compatibility for PCI sound cards has always been a tricky thing, and I doubt they exist for this particular card.

OFFTOPIC: where should I ask about problems with Windows itself?

I dunno, every thread seems to be in the wrong place these days. 😜

Like I said, limiting your RAM is at least worth a try.

http://www.soundcard-drivers.com/companies/222.htm

This site has a whole range of beautiful drivers and most of them seem to be made for this device. I can see several DOS drivers too. I was thinking about using this one:
CMI8738, 8338 driver 38dosv2.zip

Although there are also several Windows 3.1 drivers that seem to be for DOS too?

Caesum wrote:

Although there are also several Windows 3.1 drivers that seem to be for DOS too?

That site contains a lot of errors with regards to operating systems, driver names, and even the sound cards the drivers are meant for (found a file meant for a Yamaha YMF-7xx chipset listed under an unrelated sound card and operating system). Proceed with caution.