VOGONS


First post, by grzeszczuk

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Hi,

I think I overdid my retro rig a bit, and I'm having problems with the classic floppy X-Wing release, installed from the original floppies.

At first, I was playing the plain floppy install on a 486 DX2-80 setup, with some OPTI SB clone, Hard MPU and physical MT-32, and everything was just fine with the gameplay (I've finished all practice runs, all historical missions and 2.5 TODs with no glitches nor problems), but with SoundBlaster sound. Using MT-32 and SoundBlaster+Roland setup resulted in sound glitches and MT-32 hanging up and some overflows.
I've read that this is due to the fact that X-Wing was intended not for MT-32, but CM-32L, which has larger instrument bank.

Therefore, I've set up a second rig, based on AMD 5x86-133 run at 160MHz, and this one has CT1790 SB16 + WP32 McCake daughterboard, this time with CM-32L ROMs installed.
For this one, I've used the original game + Imperial Pursuit and B-Wing also installed from the original floppies. Those are confirmed to be error-free (I've checked the CRC with KryoFlux).
Finally, the whole intro sequence works like a charm sound-wise, in Roland+SoundBlaster config, and I really feel the difference between Roland and the ugly and off-tone GM.

But.

The gameplay glitches.

First and foremost, I loose the background music every once in a while. Sometimes it disappears right after I exit the hyperspace. The FX, like gunshots, work fine, but the music is gone.
It reappears when I go back do the game setup (ESC) or Damage Control panel, and back to the game. But then, after some time or events, it disappears again.
The events that I've verified cause the music loss are using numeric keypad to change the view, practically every time I tried. Also changing targets with T key sometimes give that effect.

I've tried different sound setups, namely:
- SoundBlaster + Roland
- Roland only
- SoundBlaster only

And in all the cases, just the music disappears, the FX work ok (I mean, there is still the firing sound, even in the Roland config, I can hear it and see on the McCake Roland display the appropriate instrument activated).

I've tried the SoundBlaster fix from this thread:

Star Wars X-Wing (floppy version) Sound Blaster driver fix
(My CT1790 is configured for 220 (as in the driver hardcode), IRQ7, D1 H5, MIDI at 330).

But it did not change any behaviour. Well, the only thing that happened, is that the whole game froze some time into the mission (which did not happen ever in the history of playing on the older rig, despite the 50+ missions I've flown, sometimes with numerous retakes). However, here the sample is pretty small, so I do not know if the game hanged because of the fix, or just because it is being run on a new machine, hard to tell.

The other thing that I've noticed is that the Historical Mission for B-Wing, namely mission 1 with the CRV Shantipole, it took the CRV a lot of time to actually depart, it was only 0:03 on a mission clock left when she hyped back home, and I feel it was much too late, I suspect there might be other glitches like that that could potentially prevent the completion of some missions - this could be attributed to the speed of the machine.

So, after that TLDR description, a summary:

- Is there any known bug for disappearing music on the SB16 / CT1790 that I should be aware of and is there any fix for that?
- Or maybe the disappearing music happens because of the speed of the rig, and what can I do to prevent it (I've tried downclocking the setup to 133 MHz, but it still happens)
- Is there any fix or method to overcome those timing problems in the missions for the faster rigs? Maybe some TSR that slows down, or anything? I've read that it could be a problem for TOD5 mission 2, but I've not confirmed that yet.

I really like the CM-32L music and would like to finally finish X-Wing with that "perfect" 486 setup I've created, so any help is appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

AB-PB4/5x86-160/32MB/S3Trio64/ZuluSCSI/CT1790+WP32McCake/Gotek/FDD3.5"/USR-Sportster-14k4
Atari 130XE/65816-Rapidus/VXBE/Ultimate1MB/FujiNet/AVG/IdePlus2.0D

Reply 1 of 5, by Dominus

User metadata
Rank DOSBox Moderator
Rank
DOSBox Moderator

*moved the topic to the right forum*

Windows 3.1x guide for DOSBox
60 seconds guide to DOSBox
DOSBox SVN snapshot for macOS (10.4-11.x ppc/intel 32/64bit) notarized for gatekeeper

Reply 2 of 5, by grzeszczuk

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

In the meantime I did some experiments, installed the CD version (1994), and it works better on the platform mentioned.
The Roland+Soundblaster sound config works ok, there is only an occasional hanging note problem (but this is SB16, so I expect this is "normal").

The only problem I got now (assuming that I'll settle with 1994 version, which is ok, as it also has iMuse and supports Roland, and the Tie Fighter engine is a bit smoother and more dynamic) is that the high clock rate of the rig still messes with the mission timer.

The Bonus Historical Mission 6 cannot be completed, as the Calamari does not depart before the mission ends.
I've tried AT-SLOW to slow down the PC (It uses 70h interrupt), but the only effect I got is that the gameplay is more choppy, but it does not seem to fix the problem of the mission clock.

Does anyone have any deeper knowledge on where the problem is with the mission clock, can it be fixed in the game somehow, or externally with the use of some TSR?

AB-PB4/5x86-160/32MB/S3Trio64/ZuluSCSI/CT1790+WP32McCake/Gotek/FDD3.5"/USR-Sportster-14k4
Atari 130XE/65816-Rapidus/VXBE/Ultimate1MB/FujiNet/AVG/IdePlus2.0D

Reply 3 of 5, by gerwin

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
grzeszczuk wrote on 2022-12-12, 06:55:

and this one has CT1790 SB16 + WP32 McCake daughterboard, this time with CM-32L ROMs installed.

I never played X-Wing, but I found that its successor TIE Fighter has midi music that the SB16's MPU cannot handle. IIRC it is most noticeable as delays whenever a midi music track changes. You can test whether things run better and reliable with the OPL/FM music option, if so then you know what caused it.

--> ISA Soundcard Overview // Doom MBF 2.04 // SetMul

Reply 4 of 5, by SScorpio

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
gerwin wrote on 2022-12-14, 21:55:

I never played X-Wing, but I found that its successor TIE Fighter has midi music that the SB16's MPU cannot handle. IIRC it is most noticeable as delays whenever a midi music track changes. You can test whether things run better and reliable with the OPL/FM music option, if so then you know what caused it.

My understanding is that the problem is when you enable 16bit audio and try to use the MPU at the same time. If you change it to 8bit it should work. Supposedly the CD version of X-Wing uses the updated engine from TIE Fighter so it might have the same problem.

There's a speed issue related to capital ships where the faster the PC the less they fire. This might be causing other issues like the one you are seeing. Maybe try moslo or something else. You could also try disabling your CPU Level 1 cache, and even lowering your CPU multiplier.

Reply 5 of 5, by grzeszczuk

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

I've tried lowering the bus speed from 40 to 33, and disabling Level 2 cache, it does not change much.
Disabling Level 1 cache cripples the performance too much, the framerate is unbearable, so this one is not a way go to.

I'll try tomorrow with some more aggressive AT-SLOW settings and will update with the results.

AB-PB4/5x86-160/32MB/S3Trio64/ZuluSCSI/CT1790+WP32McCake/Gotek/FDD3.5"/USR-Sportster-14k4
Atari 130XE/65816-Rapidus/VXBE/Ultimate1MB/FujiNet/AVG/IdePlus2.0D