VOGONS


DOS32AWE - DOS/4G compatible DOS Extender with Sound Blaster AWEUTIL MIDI synthesizer support for Protected mode,VIASB

Topic actions

  • This topic is locked. You cannot reply or edit posts.

Reply 120 of 286, by georgel

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
Kamerat wrote on 2021-09-22, 17:13:
georgel wrote on 2021-09-22, 16:42:

What is the crash type? System freeze? Reboot? Screen corruption? I don't have such problem. Will try now changing configuration to reproduce it. Warcraft 2X RETAIL v1.3 is what I see when game exits. The WAR2.EXE is 900539 bytes long. Do you experience the problem with the same version?

System freeze, sometimes you can do an ALT+CTRL+DEL to reboot, sometimes you have to hit the reset switch. This is v1.0.

Also tried v1.3 now and it dosn't seem to have this issue. Haven't done any extended testing yet, but I can jump between all the Orc levels without any crashes. Thank you for the suggestion.

You are welcome. Very interesting. Will search for warcraft V1.0 but since the later version (V1.3) is equal or better as a game the problem now is more of a "scientific" nature and could even be a game's general bug when using MIDI under DOS. Which sound banks do you recommend for AWEUTIL?

Last edited by georgel on 2021-09-23, 21:12. Edited 2 times in total.

Reply 121 of 286, by Kamerat

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
georgel wrote on 2021-09-22, 17:18:

Which sound banks do you recommend for AWEUTIL?

I use the fantagm2.sbk bank, requires 8MB sample ram. You can also try out the user.sbk (AWE 2 Mb GM bank) bank if you need one that fits 2MB. Unfortunately the numbers of .skb banks are very lacking compared to the .sf2 ones.

UPDATE: Tested Sim City 2000 from here xxx and worked like a charm with its MIDI output and DOS32AWE V1.5

Still freezes with this version using DOS32AWE v1.5 on my system after making the city view full screen and zoom in afterwards.

And on to something different:

Tried Duke Nukem 3D v1.5 on my CT3620 and noticed it suffer from the hanging note bug running DOS32AWE/AWEUTIL just like over the physical MPU-401 interface. FixMPU didn't plat very nice with the DOS32AWE/AWEUTIL combo. The CT3670 I used for the initial testing doesn't suffer from the hanging note bug.

Made a compatibility chart, only open for commenting for now.

I did try out Transport Tycoon Deluxe with AWEUTIL which can't use DOS32AWE as it uses the TNT DOS Extender. It does start and the music plays but when it tries to access the hard drive the game crashes.

DOS Sound Blaster compatibility: PCI sound cards vs. PCI chipsets
YouTube channel

Reply 122 of 286, by Gmlb256

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
Kamerat wrote on 2021-09-23, 18:19:

Tried Duke Nukem 3D v1.5 on my CT3620 and noticed it suffer from the hanging note bug running DOS32AWE/AWEUTIL just like over the physical MPU-401 interface. FixMPU didn't plat very nice with the DOS32AWE/AWEUTIL combo. The CT3670 I used for the initial testing doesn't suffer from the hanging note bug.

Very unusual that there are hanging notes with the EMU8K MIDI emulation, does this also happens on Windows? One normally gets stuttering on Build based games if using the real MPU-401 interface (on SB16/AWE cards that doesn't have the hanging note bug) and SB16 on the same card.

Kamerat wrote on 2021-09-23, 18:19:

Thanks for the DOS32AWE compatibility chart! 👍

You could test the DOS game Abuse which uses the DOS/4GW extender and it worked fine in my case.

VIA C3 Nehemiah 1.2A @ 1.46 GHz | ASUS P2-99 | 256 MB PC133 SDRAM | GeForce3 Ti 200 64 MB | Voodoo2 12 MB | SBLive! | AWE64 | SBPro2 | GUS

Reply 124 of 286, by Gmlb256

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

More new games which I did try with DOS32AWE 1.6:

  • Rise of the Triad 1.3: This games uses an old version of the Apogee Sound System and works fine.
  • Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri (at least the demo version which is D1.01): Crashes/freezes just seconds after the briefing screen.
  • Extreme Assault version E 1.2.2: Worked fine so far. Note that DOS/32A doesn't support loading GLIDE2X.OVL for the 3Dfx version.

Kamerat, the version of DOS32AWE that I tested Abuse was v1.3.

VIA C3 Nehemiah 1.2A @ 1.46 GHz | ASUS P2-99 | 256 MB PC133 SDRAM | GeForce3 Ti 200 64 MB | Voodoo2 12 MB | SBLive! | AWE64 | SBPro2 | GUS

Reply 125 of 286, by georgel

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
Gmlb256 wrote on 2021-09-24, 02:41:

More new games which I did try with DOS32AWE 1.6:

  • Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri (at least the demo version which is D1.01): Crashes/freezes just seconds after the briefing screen.

Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri works perfectly!

Since this game runs and consists of multiple executable files bound with DOS4/GW you must edit all BAT files that do start them and run DOS32AWE in the beginning of all lines in corresponding batch files that run executable files. For example you have to edit TNDEMO.BAT, and _TN.BAT, and SETUP.BAT. As long as you see the logo of DOS/4GW flashing on screen during game loading process you still have executable files that are not run under DOS32AWE. If you need help with editing of your batch files just ask.

What is the problem with GLIDE2X.OVL?

Reply 126 of 286, by Gmlb256

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
georgel wrote on 2021-09-24, 05:23:

Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri works perfectly!

Since this game runs and consists of multiple executable files bound with DOS4/GW you must edit all BAT files that do start them and run DOS32AWE in the beginning of all lines in corresponding batch files that run executable files. For example you have to edit TNDEMO.BAT, and _TN.BAT, and SETUP.BAT. As long as you see the logo of DOS/4GW flashing on screen during game loading process you still have executable files that are not run under DOS32AWE. If you need help with editing of your batch files just ask.

Ok, will try again editing all batch files.

georgel wrote on 2021-09-24, 05:23:

What is the problem with GLIDE2X.OVL?

It will crash just before the game opens with DOS/32A, but running it with DOS/4GW extender doesn't.

VIA C3 Nehemiah 1.2A @ 1.46 GHz | ASUS P2-99 | 256 MB PC133 SDRAM | GeForce3 Ti 200 64 MB | Voodoo2 12 MB | SBLive! | AWE64 | SBPro2 | GUS

Reply 127 of 286, by Kamerat

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
georgel wrote on 2021-09-23, 21:14:

New version 1.6 released addressing Sim City 200o issue -- the download link is in the first message.

It's much harder to crash the game now, but if you maximize the city view then the tool menu graphics get corrupted and the game crashes after messing around a bit.

Here's the error message I got on one of the crashes:

DOS32AWE run-time (6001): exception 0Dh
Identity: general protection fault at 0838:0011D513
DOS32AWE run-time (6001): exception 0Dh
Identity: general protection fault at 0000:00000916

DOS Sound Blaster compatibility: PCI sound cards vs. PCI chipsets
YouTube channel

Reply 128 of 286, by georgel

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

There is a bug with memory allocation services provided by DOS32/A which probably affects other software too. Investigating the issue...

Is GLIDE2X.OVL part of the original Assault game installation , or is it a third party library?

Last edited by georgel on 2021-10-05, 13:15. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 129 of 286, by Kamerat

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
georgel wrote on 2021-09-24, 19:41:

This game most likely has some bug and writes to unallocated RAM which DOS32/A detects and cannot bear. I have suppressed that check in V1.6 but will restore in the next release since disregarding it is of no help. Reversing the game may help in getting more details about it some day and make some fix. WIll be interesting to try other DOS/4G alternative extenders and how SC2000 behaves with them.

Funny thing this only happens if city view is maximized, if I only resize it to fit the screen then the game seems to run fine.

DOS Sound Blaster compatibility: PCI sound cards vs. PCI chipsets
YouTube channel

Reply 130 of 286, by digger

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
georgel wrote on 2021-09-24, 19:41:

This game most likely has some bug and writes to unallocated RAM which DOS32/A detects and cannot bear. I have suppressed that check in V1.6 but will restore in the next release since disregarding it is of no help. Reversing the game may help in getting more details about it some day and make some fix. WIll be interesting to try other DOS/4G alternative extenders and how SC2000 behaves with them.

The CauseWay DOS extender is also open source, and can apparently also be used as a drop-in replacement for DOS/4GW. Perhaps that would be a good alternative to try here?

Reply 131 of 286, by Gmlb256

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
georgel wrote on 2021-09-24, 19:41:

Is GLIDE2X.OVL part of the original Assault game installation , or is it a third party library?

It's a third party library from 3Dfx for Voodoo cards. Extreme Assault includes that file for the Voodoo Graphics, but on patch 1.2.3 it gets removed from the game directory for Voodoo2 support.

VIA C3 Nehemiah 1.2A @ 1.46 GHz | ASUS P2-99 | 256 MB PC133 SDRAM | GeForce3 Ti 200 64 MB | Voodoo2 12 MB | SBLive! | AWE64 | SBPro2 | GUS

Reply 132 of 286, by georgel

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
digger wrote on 2021-09-24, 23:48:
georgel wrote on 2021-09-24, 19:41:

This game most likely has some bug and writes to unallocated RAM which DOS32/A detects and cannot bear. I have suppressed that check in V1.6 but will restore in the next release since disregarding it is of no help. Reversing the game may help in getting more details about it some day and make some fix. WIll be interesting to try other DOS/4G alternative extenders and how SC2000 behaves with them.

The CauseWay DOS extender is also open source, and can apparently also be used as a drop-in replacement for DOS/4GW. Perhaps that would be a good alternative to try here?

Multiple times you promote this here. Maybe you are experienced enough with it. Would you point to the executable / runtime file of this extender within that stack of files in the archive you provided link to?

Reply 133 of 286, by Gmlb256

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
georgel wrote on 2021-09-24, 05:23:

Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri works perfectly!

Since this game runs and consists of multiple executable files bound with DOS4/GW you must edit all BAT files that do start them and run DOS32AWE in the beginning of all lines in corresponding batch files that run executable files. For example you have to edit TNDEMO.BAT, and _TN.BAT, and SETUP.BAT. As long as you see the logo of DOS/4GW flashing on screen during game loading process you still have executable files that are not run under DOS32AWE. If you need help with editing of your batch files just ask.

Are you sure? This time I tried the CD demo version of that game which is D2.00 and it has the same problems with DOS32AWE 1.6. This also happens with normal DOS/32A extender (not using AWEUTIL for this one).

You must select "Sound Blaster AWE32" for sound and "General MIDI" for music, I even edited the batch files to make sure.

Edit: Terra Nova has custom samples (FF.SBK) when you select "Sound Blaster AWE32" for music, so DOS32AWE would not be probably needed in this case.

Last edited by Gmlb256 on 2021-09-25, 01:47. Edited 2 times in total.

VIA C3 Nehemiah 1.2A @ 1.46 GHz | ASUS P2-99 | 256 MB PC133 SDRAM | GeForce3 Ti 200 64 MB | Voodoo2 12 MB | SBLive! | AWE64 | SBPro2 | GUS

Reply 134 of 286, by georgel

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
Gmlb256 wrote on 2021-09-25, 01:11:
georgel wrote on 2021-09-24, 05:23:

Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri works perfectly!

Since this game runs and consists of multiple executable files bound with DOS4/GW you must edit all BAT files that do start them and run DOS32AWE in the beginning of all lines in corresponding batch files that run executable files. For example you have to edit TNDEMO.BAT, and _TN.BAT, and SETUP.BAT. As long as you see the logo of DOS/4GW flashing on screen during game loading process you still have executable files that are not run under DOS32AWE. If you need help with editing of your batch files just ask.

Are you sure? This time I tried the CD demo version of that game which is D2.00 and it has the same problems with DOS32AWE 1.6. This also happens with normal DOS/32A extender (not using AWEUTIL for this one).

You must select "Sound Blaster AWE32" for sound and "General MIDI" for music, I even edited the batch files to make sure.

Yes, I am sure and I did it. Please note that these BAT files are mostly duplicated and are present at two locations -- the installed directory and in the installation directory. If you are unsure which BAT file is in fact executed upon start of the game I'd suggest you to mirror both copies of each BAT file. I also see CD Demo Version title on one of the screens. I remember one of the BAT files in the installation directory was read-only - I had to alter its attributes in order to edit it. My "CD" is actually another directory on the HDD.

Reply 135 of 286, by Gmlb256

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
Gmlb256 wrote on 2021-09-25, 01:11:

Edit: Terra Nova has custom samples (FF.SBK) when you select "Sound Blaster AWE32" for music, so DOS32AWE would not be probably needed in this case.

Replaced FF.SBK by renaming another SBK soundfont and it worked fine without DOS32AWE. It will take some time to load larger soundfonts such as FANTAGM2.SBK during startup.

VIA C3 Nehemiah 1.2A @ 1.46 GHz | ASUS P2-99 | 256 MB PC133 SDRAM | GeForce3 Ti 200 64 MB | Voodoo2 12 MB | SBLive! | AWE64 | SBPro2 | GUS

Reply 136 of 286, by georgel

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
Gmlb256 wrote on 2021-09-25, 16:04:
Gmlb256 wrote on 2021-09-25, 01:11:

Edit: Terra Nova has custom samples (FF.SBK) when you select "Sound Blaster AWE32" for music, so DOS32AWE would not be probably needed in this case.

Replaced FF.SBK by renaming another SBK soundfont and it worked fine without DOS32AWE. It will take some time to load larger soundfonts such as FANTAGM2.SBK during startup.

Well, that's another approach if it's too complicated to edit some 3 batch files...

Reply 137 of 286, by Gmlb256

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

The issue with DOS/32A happens exactly when I start moving around.

I managed to display the console output that I get with DOS32AWE into a text file by using the following command. Yes I have edited the 3 batch files and is not that complicated.

TNDEMO.BAT > OUTPUT.TXT

And this is what OUTPUT.TXT shows.

DOS32AWE run-time (6001): exception 00h
Identity: integer division by zero at 0838:00A5A41D
Unrelocated crash address 1:0010580D
Module name: "C:\TN\CD.ROM\TERANOVA\__ff.exe", ProcessId=0000
========================================================================APP/32=
EFLAGS = 00010216 [00000010.00010110] CS:[EIP] = F7 FB 8B 54 24 18 89 3C 24 EB
EAX = 5BF40000 ESI = FFEED768 DR6 = FFFF0FF0 SS:[ESP+00] = 000005AF
EBX = 000000B3 EDI = 000000B3 CR0 = 00000011 SS:[ESP+04] = 00B7C323
ECX = 0012E52C EBP = FFFDAF37 CR2 = 00000000 SS:[ESP+08] = 003FC000
EDX = FFFFFF86 ESP = 00B742B8 CR3 = 00000000 SS:[ESP+0C] = FFC04000
CS: = 0838 Base=00000000 Limit=000FFFFF Gr=PAGE Seg=CODE/32bit Type=5 Acc=DF9B
DS: = 0828 Base=00000000 Limit=000FFFFF Gr=PAGE Seg=DATA/32bit Type=1 Acc=DF93
ES: = 0828 Base=00000000 Limit=000FFFFF Gr=PAGE Seg=DATA/32bit Type=1 Acc=DF93
SS: = 0828 Base=00000000 Limit=000FFFFF Gr=PAGE Seg=DATA/32bit Type=1 Acc=DF93
FS: = 0840 Base=00000000 Limit=000FFFFF Gr=PAGE Seg=DATA/32bit Type=1 Acc=DF93
GS: = 0820 Base=E0000000 Limit=000007FF Gr=PAGE Seg=DATA/16bit Type=1 Acc=9093

VIA C3 Nehemiah 1.2A @ 1.46 GHz | ASUS P2-99 | 256 MB PC133 SDRAM | GeForce3 Ti 200 64 MB | Voodoo2 12 MB | SBLive! | AWE64 | SBPro2 | GUS

Reply 138 of 286, by georgel

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

Yes, confirmed the game is not compatible with the DOS32/A at all but this is not sound related. Good you found a solution to replace its MIDI synth bank. By the way is its original bank good or is it maybe the same as one of the AWEUTIL's three default SBKs?

Last edited by georgel on 2021-09-26, 08:14. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 139 of 286, by Gmlb256

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
georgel wrote on 2021-09-25, 18:33:

By the way is its original bank good or is it maybe the same as one of the AWEUTIL's three default SBKs?

No, I checked FF.SBK and it has a decent amount of modified instruments (internally it says TerraNova GM) for a file that is almost 500KB. SYNTHGS.SBK is larger than FF.SBK and the other default SBK used for AWEUTIL are much smaller.

VIA C3 Nehemiah 1.2A @ 1.46 GHz | ASUS P2-99 | 256 MB PC133 SDRAM | GeForce3 Ti 200 64 MB | Voodoo2 12 MB | SBLive! | AWE64 | SBPro2 | GUS