Thanks for this, works great. 😀 With the sound font, DOOMs music sounds considerably better than my old AWE64 imo.
For reference, it's using an Audigy 2 ZS on a P4 2.0, 256MB DDR, GF4 Ti4200, 865PE based board.
Now to see how many of my late-era DOS games work on this machine.
gen_angry wrote on 2023-03-05, 15:34:Thanks for this, works great. 😀 With the sound font, DOOMs music sounds considerably better than my old AWE64 imo.
For reference, it's using an Audigy 2 ZS on a P4 2.0, 256MB DDR, GF4 Ti4200, 865PE based board.
Now to see how many of my late-era DOS games work on this machine.
Glad it worked well for you. Enjoy your gaming!
This guide is pure gold. I was running around in circles with my DELL Audigy 2zs because the installation CD wouldn't identify the card. I followed the steps one by one and I could install the drivers and EAX so now I can begin to install games.
One recommendation , please change the thread title to : Installing Windows 98 and DOS drivers on an Audigy2 ZS (version 2.1).
I took me as long time to find this thread since i was searching for Windows 98 and not DOS.
Note:
I cant install some programs like diagnose or audiohq , I get "Ikernel cant find the specified file" error. I followed step 3.2 Any ideas?
MarmotaArmy wrote on 2023-04-18, 13:37:This guide is pure gold. I was running around in circles with my DELL Audigy 2zs because the installation CD wouldn't identify the card. I followed the steps one by one and I could install the drivers and EAX so now I can begin to install games.
Cheers, glad it was helpful to you!
One recommendation , please change the thread title to : Installing Windows 98 and DOS drivers on an Audigy2 ZS (version 2.1).
I took me as long time to find this thread since i was searching for Windows 98 and not DOS.
Good point, done!
Note:
I cant install some programs like diagnose or audiohq , I get "Ikernel cant find the specified file" error. I followed step 3.2 Any ideas?
Have you done a clean install of Win98SE as suggested in the guide? Also, are you by any chance using an "unofficial service pack"?
That said, I seem to recall that not all utilities from the CD could be installed manually for whatever reason. The ones that I specifically list in the guide do work (including AudioHQ) but it might be possible that the other ones have some extra requirements.
Note:
Have you done a clean install of Win98SE as suggested in the guide? Also, are you by any chance using an "unofficial service pack"?
That said, I seem to recall that not all utilities from the CD could be installed manually for whatever reason. The ones that I specifically list in the guide do work (including AudioHQ) but it might be possible that the other ones have some extra requirements.
No , it's not a clean install good point. Its a 98SE + USB 2.0 drivers but... i have been playing with several video cards and different motherboards.
MarmotaArmy wrote on 2023-04-18, 14:23:Note:
Have you done a clean install of Win98SE as suggested in the guide? Also, are you by any chance using an "unofficial service pack"?
That said, I seem to recall that not all utilities from the CD could be installed manually for whatever reason. The ones that I specifically list in the guide do work (including AudioHQ) but it might be possible that the other ones have some extra requirements.No , it's not a clean install good point. Its a 98SE + USB 2.0 drivers but... i have been playing with several video cards and different motherboards.
I tried with a clean install and it went flawlessly 😀
MarmotaArmy wrote on 2023-04-26, 15:04:I tried with a clean install and it went flawlessly 😀
Glad you got it working!
Does anyone know if it's possible to modify the driver so that we don't need to add the duplicate legacy sound emulation device manually? It's a very odd step in the process.
Kahenraz wrote on 2023-04-26, 16:41:Does anyone know if it's possible to modify the driver so that we don't need to add the duplicate legacy sound emulation device manually?
I don't know of a way. Someone else might have better luck.
It's a very odd step in the process.
Unfortunately, this step is necessary because that DOS driver pack was designed for the Audigy 1. The later Audigy 2 and ZS cards don't even have DOS drivers (VxD version) on their official installation CDs.
BTW, the instructions for creating a second SB16 emulation device originated here. Without doing that, there is no way to get SB16 emulation working on retail Audigy 2 and ZS cards.
Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2020-01-18, 14:29:[…]
- EAX 1, 2 and 3 support for Win9x games
- Sound Blaster 16 emulation for DOS games
- FM Synthesis emulation for DOS games
- General MIDI emulation for DOS games
- Soundfont support for DOS games running under Windows 98SE
Is that a mistake in the list or do vxd-drivers limit the Audigy2 ZS to EAX 3?
villeneuve wrote on 2023-05-07, 12:31:Is that a mistake in the list or do vxd-drivers limit the Audigy2 ZS to EAX 3?
Honestly, I'm not sure how many EAX4 capable games can even run under Win9x, which is what this guide is focused on. From what I can tell, EAX4 started appearing in games somewhere between late 2003 and early 2004. By that time, many games which supported it (e.g. Doom 3 and Thief: Deadly Shadows) required Windows 2000 as a bare minimum in order to run.
However, it looks like Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness might work under Win9x, so I suppose I can test that and see if EAX4 gets detected.
Good point, I didn't think about the fact if there even were EAX4 capable games that supported Windows 9x.
Thanks for checking and finding out that Tomb Raider game that does.
Since my appropiate systems are packed up currently I'd really be interested in your test result.
villeneuve wrote on 2023-05-07, 13:19:Good point, I didn't think about the fact if there even were EAX4 capable games that supported Windows 9x.
Thanks for checking and finding out that Tomb Raider game that does.
Since my appropiate systems are packed up currently I'd really be interested in your test result.
Just tested it with Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness v52 (latest official patch applied) and EAX Unified version 4.0.0.1 (from here). The game simply crashes on startup while "Enumerating Audio Devices" if VxD drivers are used.
On the other hand, when using WDM drivers from that same installation CD, the game runs fine and properly detects EAX4 under Win9x:
I have also tested Colin McRae Rally 04 (demo version from here) and got the same result. Meaning, with VxD drivers, EAX4 was not available, while it worked perfectly fine with WDM drivers under Win9x:
In conclusion, I don't think EAX4 is viable under Win9x when using VxD drivers. And while I can't say for certain that it's not supported, it doesn't look promising, at least based on these tests.
P.S.
I have also tested a few EAX3 games such as the original Splinter Cell and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and they worked fine under Win9x using VxD drivers.
Awesome, thanks very much for the extensive testing!
So I'd say the list in the opening post must stay as it is 😀
Thank you for the instruction, it worked great!
briefer wrote on 2023-05-10, 18:32:Thank you for the instruction, it worked great!
You're welcome!
Always good to hear from someone who found this helpful!
undeon wrote on 2020-08-26, 12:21:Thanks Joseph, your guide worked, somehow, to install my Audigy 2ZS on my Windows Millenium PC. The only however was the DOS Driver Installation. The step 4.3 wont worked, because the setup refused to go saying that I'm not using an Win9x OS.... But it didn't matter because after that, even with an error, the Creative SB16 Emulation showed on my Device List as expected...
if you remove the checkos.exe file in the installation folder, it will work
I have Audigy 2 SB0400. does it work for this one as well?
Eimer wrote on 2023-06-03, 23:24:I have Audigy 2 SB0400. does it work for this one as well?
It should, if it's a retail card manufactured by Creative.
On the other hand, if it's an OEM card (from Dell, HP etc.) it might not work. With such cards, it's difficult to say for certain.
Sound Blaster Live! cards from Dell are notorious for driver problems. I had one in the 90s and never understood what the heck was wrong with my card.
