Dochartaigh wrote on 2020-01-25, 21:24:

I think one of the problems is the process after I add the VxD drivers. After those drivers are installed, and it's supposed to add the hardware for the first time (which has an exclamation point) how exactly does it add the hardware there

The first SB16 Emulation device (with the yellow exclamation mark) should be added automatically, after all the required reboots are done.

Then how exactly do I add it a second time?

Start > Settings > Control Panel > Add New Hardware > Next > Next > No, the device isn't in the list > No, I want to select the hardware from a list > Sound, video and game controllers > Creative Technology, Ltd > Creative SB16 Emulation > Next > Finish.

You don't point the install wizard to any new drivers during this process, it just loads what was installed the first time and adds it as a second, working device.

And lastly, can you please tell me if my premise in trying to do all this is correct: for Midi music, I was going into the Multimedia Properties, Midi tab, and selecting ESS FM Synthesizer which gave me sound like I remembered from back in the day when I had crappy computers with built-in sound. THEN I discovered I can choose the Audigy for Midi, by choosing the "SB Audigy 2 ZS Sw Synth" (and there looks to be an A and B version of this too), and it sounds WAY better (see my short video above for a comparison). I believe that's because the Audigy is using Soundfonts, right? (and it was mentioned they're pretty close to the gold standard Roland SC-55?)

Its simple, OPL3 FM synthesis usually sounds inferior to soundfont-based General Midi, unless the music in the game was specifically composed with OPL2 or OPL3 in mind. Here's a site where you can listen to DOS game music as it plays on various sound cards including SB16, Roland SC-55 and even a Dreamblaster.

so if I even like the sound of the default/stock soundfonts, am I going to be able to use this Audigy in pure DOS mode, and STILL get it to use the soundfonts and sound like I can get it to sound through Windows?

The Audigy's default .sf2 soundfont which it loads in Win98 sounds different from the .ecw sound module that it loads while running in pure DOS. It's not the same thing.

Thank you once again for the directions!

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2020-01-25, 22:16:

so if I even like the sound of the default/stock soundfonts, am I going to be able to use this Audigy in pure DOS mode, and STILL get it to use the soundfonts and sound like I can get it to sound through Windows?

The Audigy's default .sf2 soundfont which it loads in Win98 sounds different from the .ecw sound module that it loads while running in pure DOS. It's not the same thing.

Is it decently close to the Roland though? (I'm so new to this I'm not that picky)

If I buy a Dreamblaster to use on my ESS, paired with the right soundfonts, will that get close to the Roland-esque sound I've been hearing through the Audigy when I'm playing DOS games through Windows 98?

On a related note, when I've rebooted into DOS I can't get my ESS ES1869F to play any Midi sounds. My go-to test is always the setup utility for Duke Nukem 3d. In Windows I believe it was set for Sound Canvas on port 330 and I got Midi sound from the Audigy (or I could do General Midi and get it from the ESS). In DOS proper the only ones which give me music is the non-Midi ones (like Sound Blaster or Adlib).

Autoexec.com is setup correctly (I tried it with and without "P330" on the end of setblaster as well):

C:\DRIVERS\ESS\ESSCFG.EXE /A:220 /I:5 /D:1 /B:330 /J:E
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T4

I've re-run the ESSCFG and the 330 port is setup correctly (I tried 300 as well). There are NO Audigy DOS drivers installed FYI.

And similar to the above, before I could get Quake to work in DOS proper, WITH the audio/music playing from the CD. Now....nothing (just sound fx). Official disc and all. I was having an error about mscdex on launch, but that went away after a fix. I can go to D: in dos and browse around - the CD definitely works.

Dochartaigh wrote on 2020-01-26, 00:22:

And similar to the above, before I could get Quake to work in DOS proper, WITH the audio/music playing from the CD. Now....nothing (just sound fx). Official disc and all. I was having an error about mscdex on launch, but that went away after a fix. I can go to D: in dos and browse around - the CD definitely works.

You need a cable connecting the analog audio port on the CD drive to the ESS sound card. Windows would be using digital extraction to play the audio tracks so it doesn't need the analog audio connected.

Dochartaigh wrote on 2020-01-25, 21:24:

If so, that would be awesome. If not, I think I need to do research on that Dreamblaster (which there seems to be like 8 different versions of 🤣) everybody keeps talking about (which I think can also use soundfonts, and I think can plug in directly to my ESS EF1869F card too!).

The Dreamblaster S* series are designed to support GM instruments with a single sound bank. They're more compact and economical. The Dreamblaster X* series supports more complex loadable sound banks and more polyphony. I suspect it could support GS or GM2 sound banks in the later versions, although I'm not sure if that's implemented.

Dochartaigh wrote on 2020-01-26, 00:22:

If I buy a Dreamblaster to use on my ESS, paired with the right soundfonts, will that get close to the Roland-esque sound I've been hearing through the Audigy when I'm playing DOS games through Windows 98?

I don't own a Dreamblaster, but from what little I've heard of it, it sounds pretty nice to my ears. Not exactly like a SC-55 but still very pleasant. Go here to listen for yourself:

https://www.wavetable.nl/doom/

Like I said before, that website has recordings of DOS game music played through a bunch of sound cards. It's a really nice resource to compare things.

Here's my notes for the ~15th? time 🤣 I'm installing the DOS drivers for the Audigy 2 ZS. It finally worked! - you don't have to read the massive wall of text below, but just in case my notes help somebody else:

I'm going to research how to load those larger/better SoundFonts for the Audigy 2 ZS, but now that I think about it that might have become a moot point... 

I did some testing and only about 6 out of ~30 or so DOS games had proper Sound FX and Midi sound when played through windows (Doom 1 & 2, Duke3d, Hexen/Heretic and Quake all worked in Windows). The others (when played inside Windows) usually have Sound FX but NO Midi sound, so to get those working correctly I have to 'reboot to DOS' mode, and in DOS mode I loose the ability to use those more advanced SoundFonts on the Audigy 2 ZS (i.e. to get closer to sounding like a Roland SC-55) -- since those SoundFonts ONLY work in Windows... so that's making me rethink everything...

OR, do you think I'm doing something wrong here? Is it normal for the VAST majority of DOS games NOT play nice inside Windows 98 SE? ...and this is probably why everybody is using actual Roland SC-55's, Dreamblasters, or other devices/solutions to get that type of superior sound to work in DOS proper?

Besides the above, I'll continue to test out the Audigy 2 ZS some more. I can now use proper SoundBlaster 16-bit sound, right? (where on the ESS it was only 8-bit unless the game happened to have an actual ESS mode - which I haven't found one which does yet)

What Midi/Music modes do I want to test the most? My go-to was 'Generic Midi' before (but ONLY in Windows, where I could use the Audigy/WDM Windows drivers to get Midi sound), but if I take Duke Nukem 3d for example it has options for: Ultrasound, SB, Sound Man 16, Pro Audio Spectrum, AWE 32, SoundScape, Wave Blaster, General Midi, Sound Canvas, Adlib. In Windows through Multimetia Properties > Midi tab, I can choose SB Audigy Midi port, Sw Synth, Synth A, Synth B - which to use? (or will this change once I load those larger SoundFonts?)

Oh, one random thing, some games, when choosing Sound FX, weren't giving me IRQ/DMA options which the Audigy had available. I have A220 I5 DMA1/5 (I'll have to take better notes next time I see this). Do I choose this for BOTH 8-bit and 16-bit option? (and in Duke Nukem 3D I don't think "5" was an option for 16-bit - they were higher so I couldn't coose one.....so I don't know how I can use 16-bit on the Audigy on games like this - again, I'll try this when I'm back home and take better notes).

Dochartaigh wrote on 2020-01-27, 16:06:

Here's my notes for the ~15th? time 🤣 I'm installing the DOS drivers for the Audigy 2 ZS. It finally worked!

Cheers, glad you managed to get everything working. Creative's Audigy drivers are a nightmare to set up, but the end result is well worth it. Enjoy your soundfont-enabled and SB16 compatible Audigy 2 ZS on Win98!

I'm going to research how to load those larger/better SoundFonts for the Audigy 2 ZS, but now that I think about it that might have become a moot point... 

For me personally, Patch93's SC-55 soundfont sounds the closest to the real thing. But unfortunately, it is in the .sfpack format initially which the Audigy can't load. You need to convert it to the .sf2 format using SF Pack. To do that, run SF Pack > Add Files > Files of type: SFPack FIles > SC-55.sfpack > Open. After that, click File > Go. It should then work for a few seconds and tell you something like "inflated by 200%". If everything worked ok, you should now have a Sc-55.sf2 file in that folder which the Audigy can load just fine.

To load this soundfont and use it in games you need to do the following:

1) Start > Programs > Creative > Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS > SoundFont Bank Manager
2) Click on "Midi Devices" and use the slider to set Sound Font Cache to a bit more than 50 MB then click Ok
3) Click on "Bank" then click on the default soundfont (should be something like CT4MGM.SF2) then click Replace and then point to SC-55.sf2
4) Finally, click Ok and your SC-55 sound fount should be loaded
5) Fire up any game that supports General Midi under the Win98 DOS prompt and enjoy!
6) If you ever want to go back to the original Audigy soundfont, you can find it in C:\Windows\System\CT4MGM.SF2

I did some testing and only about 6 out of ~30 or so DOS games had proper Sound FX and Midi sound when played through windows (Doom 1 & 2, Duke3d, Hexen/Heretic and Quake all worked in Windows). The others (when played inside Windows) usually have Sound FX but NO Midi sound

Hmm, you should get at least some form of music in every game. If you select "Sound Blaster 16" for music instead of "General Midi" you can even get the Audigy to play its CQM FM synth, which is Creative's clone of OPL3. That doesn't sound quite as nice as the real thing, but can be used in a pinch.

OR, do you think I'm doing something wrong here? Is it normal for the VAST majority of DOS games NOT play nice inside Windows 98 SE?

It varies from game to game, but there are a few games which absolutely need to run in pure DOS and won't even start under Win98. Still, for me the situation is that most games tend to work fine under Win98. Which games are you having trouble with?

I can now use proper SoundBlaster 16-bit sound, right? (where on the ESS it was only 8-bit unless the game happened to have an actual ESS mode - which I haven't found one which does yet)

Yes, but remember that the Audigy's SB16 emulation isn't perfect, so some games (especially older ones) might not work with it. This is exactly why I keep my Opti ISA card for pure DOS gaming. As for the ESS native mode, I know that WarCraft 2 supports it in setup and I've also seen it in some other games, but I don't remember which off hand.

In Windows through Multimetia Properties > Midi tab, I can choose SB Audigy Midi port, Sw Synth, Synth A, Synth B - which to use?

I always use Synth A since that was assigned by default. I never changed it and it always worked fine with any soundfont that I loaded.

Oh, one random thing, some games, when choosing Sound FX, weren't giving me IRQ/DMA options which the Audigy had available. I have A220 I5 DMA1/5 (I'll have to take better notes next time I see this). Do I choose this for BOTH 8-bit and 16-bit option?

This is a bit tricky. If a game offers you to choose both Low DMA and High DMA then assign them as Low DMA = 1 and High DMA = 5. Otherwise, if it just has a single choice, your best bet is to go with DMA = 1.

Thanks, I'll look into the other things you wrote when I get home.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2020-01-27, 17:05:

I did some testing and only about 6 out of ~30 or so DOS games had proper Sound FX and Midi sound when played through windows (Doom 1 & 2, Duke3d, Hexen/Heretic and Quake all worked in Windows). The others (when played inside Windows) usually have Sound FX but NO Midi sound

Hmm, you should get at least some form of music in every game. If you select "Sound Blaster 16" for music instead of "General Midi" you can even get the Audigy to play its CQM FM synth, which is Creative's clone of OPL3. That doesn't sound quite as nice as the real thing, but can be used in a pinch.

Yes, SoundBlaster (always?) works, but the entire point of this is to get that beautiful midi running! Here's a quick list - I don't guarantee all of these games even have the option for midi in their setups (some don't even have setup programs), but these some of the ones I was trying last night I couldn't get sound to work in Windows which had to use 'reboot in DOS' which worked fine.

Another World
Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold
Commander Keen 4
Commander Keen 5
Commander Keen 6
Dark Forces
EOB (Eye of Beholder) 1
EOB2
EOB3
Flashback
Lost Vikings
Monkey Island 2

Dochartaigh wrote on 2020-01-27, 18:31:

Yes, SoundBlaster (always?) works, but the entire point of this is to get that beautiful midi running!

Remember, if the game is so old that it doesn't support General Midi or at least a Roland MT-32, then you won't be getting any soundfont-based wave table synthesis out of it. Some older DOS games simply topped out at Adlib aka OPL2 and you can't force them to use General Midi instead.

Dark Forces

Run IMUSE.EXE choose C for Custom Setup then select Advanced Menu. There, choose General Midi at port 330 for music and SB16 at port 220 IRQ 5 and DMA 1 for digital sound. This works fine for me under Win98.

Monkey Island 2

You need to run it with the Roland switch in order to get General Midi to kick in. So, open an DOS prompt and start the game with:

1monkey2.exe v mo r

That said, the music in Monkey Island 1 & 2 was made with a Roland MT-32 in mind, not the SC-55. Same goes for some older Sierra games. If you want to learn more, here's an article which explains DOS game music in a bit more detail.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2020-01-27, 19:17:

You need to run it with the Roland switch in order to get General Midi to kick in. So, open an DOS prompt and start the game wit […]
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You need to run it with the Roland switch in order to get General Midi to kick in. So, open an DOS prompt and start the game with:

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1monkey2.exe v mo r

Thanks, but I tried that before - missing some sounds when run inside of Windows. Like the very first copy protection screen, when the monkeys come on - music starts normal after that but I don't know what else it'll be missing as I play the game.

I'll test some more when I get a chance - probably this weekend.

Has anybody ever gotten this error - only found two instances of it on the entire internet, and they're from this site. One seems to be specifically because of the Audigy per this post, and the other is about a SoundBlaster here. Upon shutting down Windows 98 SE, a black screen shows up and says "error: Could not configure PCI Port. Press any key to continue...".

It showed up for the first time last night - and just to remind this is a clean install of Windows I just did on Sunday. Loaded the WDM then VxD drivers, 7Zip and Daemon, and really nothing else whatsoever...

Dochartaigh wrote on 2020-01-28, 15:08:

Thanks, but I tried that before - missing some sounds when run inside of Windows. Like the very first copy protection screen, when the monkeys come on - music starts normal after that but I don't know what else it'll be missing as I play the game.

There might be some minor mapping differences between the .ecw sets that the Audigy uses under pure DOS and the way it maps the .sf2 soundfonts under Win98.

Even so, game music that was made for a Roland MT-32 often doesn't sound right when played back on a General Midi device. You're usually better off selecting Adlib or Sound Blaster for old games like that.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2020-01-24, 08:04:

With the DOS driver pack installed, you'll get full SB16 support in the Windows 98 DOS prompt as well as in pure DOS that you enter via "Restart in MS-DOS mode". And yes, you will need to initialize the card using "audigy12.exe" every time you boot into pure DOS (but not under Win98).

Think I just found a limitation of these Audigy DOS drivers - you can't get them to load without a memory manager like EMM386 (i.e. Expanded memory), so when I play games like Turrican II which will ONLY run with Extended memory, there's no way to get sound then, correct?

Yes, you need a memory manager to load the Audigy DOS drivers.

This is one of the reasons why I keep my Opti ISA card for pure DOS gaming and only use the Audigy under Win98.