Kordanor wrote on 2024-04-15, 16:29:

Yeah, thats what I tested. I do get the music, but I dont get the sound (neither the thud, nor the death sound).
I tested it with a Soundblaster Live (emulated as SB16 in DOS). With that card it works. But with my ESS1868 I only get the music. And a totally broken soundeffect on some driver files (which are so loud and broken you immediately want to restart the PC). Can you attach the drv file which you use? Thats likely also different just by using a different version of the game.
Are the drivers (outside of the file) relevant? I tested it with ESS Drivers as well with unisound though, and it doesnt seem to make a difference.

It's in the "SBPRO" directory from the aforementioned thread you linked to (ct-voice_all.7z). The version I downloaded initially had a 'ct-voice.drv' from 1996, and that didn't work (maybe for SB16?). Are you initializing ESSCFG.EXE? Do you have the SET BLASTER paramater defined? Definitely try ESSCFG instead of Unisound.

Which of thhis file did you use? There are 5 files. None of them worked for me, but at least I could start nailing it down to the one which works for you.
Yes, ESSCFG is initialized with A:220 I:7 D:1 B:330 J:D
SETBLASTER had not been defined before on ESS, I did add it, but it didnt change anything. I only used setblaster with UNISOUND before.

Kordanor wrote on 2024-04-15, 17:02:

Which of thhis file did you use? There are 5 files. None of them worked for me, but at least I could start nailing it down to the one which works for you.
Yes, ESSCFG is initialized with A:220 I:7 D:1 B:330 J:D
SETBLASTER had not been defined before on ESS, I did add it, but it didnt change anything. I only used setblaster with UNISOUND before.

Try setting the card to interrupt 5 instead. In the "SBPRO" directory, I used the one in the '1993' subdirectory.

mockingbird wrote on 2024-04-15, 17:37:

Kordanor wrote on 2024-04-15, 17:02:

Which of thhis file did you use? There are 5 files. None of them worked for me, but at least I could start nailing it down to the one which works for you.
Yes, ESSCFG is initialized with A:220 I:7 D:1 B:330 J:D
SETBLASTER had not been defined before on ESS, I did add it, but it didnt change anything. I only used setblaster with UNISOUND before.

Try setting the card to interrupt 5 instead. In the "SBPRO" directory, I used the one in the '1993' subdirectory.

Tested that as well. Didnt change anything.
Here is a video demonstration, also showing the setting and whatnot. Be warned. The end is super loud!
https://youtu.be/-_khSkjuEaA

Kordanor wrote on 2024-04-15, 18:02:

Tested that as well. Didnt change anything.
Here is a video demonstration, also showing the setting and whatnot. Be warned. The end is super loud!
https://youtu.be/-_khSkjuEaA

Herr Kordanor! You have to move that "rem" statement to the next line in that batch file... Otherwise, burn.exe will not parse the command line parameters correctly. I can't believe you didn't catch that right off the bat.

mockingbird wrote on 2024-04-15, 20:47:

Kordanor wrote on 2024-04-15, 18:02:

Tested that as well. Didnt change anything.
Here is a video demonstration, also showing the setting and whatnot. Be warned. The end is super loud!
https://youtu.be/-_khSkjuEaA

Herr Kordanor! You have to move that "rem" statement to the next line in that batch file... Otherwise, burn.exe will not parse the command line parameters correctly. I can't believe you didn't catch that right off the bat.

Interesting, wasn't even aware you can't do rem mid-line. The file was written that way by the setup program (I just changed the IRQ for testing in there). That said, I changed it and it doesnt help unfortunately.

Kordanor wrote on 2024-04-15, 21:06:

Interesting, wasn't even aware you can't do rem mid-line. The file was written that way by the setup program (I just changed the IRQ for testing in there). That said, I changed it and it doesnt help unfortunately.

Oh, sorry then, I stand corrected. You are missing "/E:" for the second DMA channel in your ESSCFG.EXE initialization routine in AUTOEXEC.BAT. Try '/E:3'.

Doesnt work either.

However I just installed Burntime from a different source now.

My Original Installation is the Floppy Release (I own that physically). There I got the sound to work only with the SB Live Emulation

I now used an Installation which came with the PC Action Magazine (also a legal copy). There the Copy Protection is cracked. In this instance there is no bat file (you got to start with the burn.exe) and the game asks on every start where the savegame location is. In this installation as well, I had no sound. But there copying the ct-voice from SB Pro 1993 actually worked.

So I still have no idea, what is the root of the cause, as the floppy version works as well (just not with this soundcard). I also tested just running the floppy version with the burn.exe, but that one still doesnt work.

In any case I got it working, and I thank you for your help. Would still be interested in finding the cause, but it's not of "high importance" anymore. ^^

Some turn of events unfortunately, despite what I wrote before, it still does not work.

So I got 2 versions of Burntime, both german.

3.5 Disk Version: With copied drivers: Horribly broken sound when attacking dogs. However, the voices of vendors actually work!

PC Action Version: With copied drivers, sound when attackings dogs is fine. However, when going into any shop it first spat out an error: dma buffer is too small and I should set it to 48. So I did that (also tested 64, 128).
When I try it with that bigger DMA buffer, I can enter the building, but either after the vendor had is voiceline or if the voiceline is triggered a second time, the PC will just restart.

So essentially in both versions of Burntime, it still doesnt work.

I also tested my SB Live again (SB 16 emulation), and the results are...weird.
First, the game does run a little bit slower. I used the 10 Driver here (oldest). On the 3.5" version the sounds (attack) and voice (vendor) work fine, and the game doesnt crash. I then tested the PC Action version again, with the same driver. It will lead to the same crash as with the ESS.
Also this was all without that DMA Buffer change.

However I would rather not use the SB Live because the MIDI Music doesnt exactly sound nice.

This all lets me believe that something is wrong regarding the resources the ESS card uses with that driver, possibly in combination with some issues in the game.

Kordanor wrote on 2024-04-16, 15:46:

This all lets me believe that something is wrong regarding the resources the ESS card uses with that driver, possibly in combination with some issues in the game.

I will test further and report back.

I might have found a solution again.

I took the floppy version of the game. Then I copied over all the ANI and VOC files from the CD Version, and this seems to work without crashes (note that the unmodified files work with the SB Live card). So it might be that the crash is inherent to the CD Version. I hope that this will work now, but ofc there is still something wrong somewhere. I will also send you a PM.

Kordanor wrote on 2024-04-16, 16:22:

I might have found a solution again.

I took the floppy version of the game. Then I copied over all the ANI and VOC files from the CD Version, and this seems to work without crashes (note that the unmodified files work with the SB Live card). So it might be that the crash is inherent to the CD Version. I hope that this will work now, but ofc there is still something wrong somewhere. I will also send you a PM.

Thanks. I tested with the CD version - it works fine. I tested it and I do hear the voices at the vendor after a trade is enacted. The cd "installer" makes a very sparsely populated "burn" directory on C:\. The CT-VOICE.DRV (SB Pro 2 version) must be manually copied in there as well.

If you're getting crashing - this in my opinion could mean instability with your system. Are you using a 486?

BTW, I also tested with my Opti 82C930 - that worked fine too.

I am using a K2+ @200 MHz, I had no stability issues with any other game so far. And as mentioned it does work with the Floppy version. So I can't really nail it down to a single thing.
CD version crashes on both cards, so it can't be the card.
But because it works with the "floppy" version, it would mean it should be the game. But apparently on your machine it works, so it must be some weird combination.

Ok, as long as it's working... I recommend something like playing through Doom for a while to test stability.

mockingbird wrote on 2024-04-16, 20:05:

Ok, as long as it's working... I recommend something like playing through Doom for a while to test stability.

There are no stability issues otherwise. Already played through lands of Lore for Example (16h), Jagged Alliance (50h+) and Jagged Alliance Deadly Games (50h+)