Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2023-01-15, 10:05:

The contents of VXD.CAB should be extracted to this folder: […]
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Vanessaira wrote on 2023-01-15, 09:43:

I seem to be stuck at the moment. I am to the part where you install CTZAPXX, but it only has WDM option selected. VXDs are greyed out. I am unsure where you want the VXD.cab file extracted. I extracted it all from the CD to the HDD in C: and made a folder where I put everything together including the CTZAPXX file and everything accompanying that on the CD into one location. I am using real hardware, real CDs etc.

V

The contents of VXD.CAB should be extracted to this folder:

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1C:\AU1\Audio\Drivers\VxD

After that, CTZAPXX.EXE should be able to pick them up during installation. The fully populated folder should look like this:

VxD.jpg

It's weird that Creative decided that VxD drivers were such low priority at that time that they never bothered to decompress the archive on the CD. Not like it was lacking storage space.

Is it specifically looking for the path C:\AU1 or just \audio\drivers etc?

I am installing everything off CDs not virtually.

V

Vanessaira wrote on 2023-01-15, 10:28:

Is it specifically looking for the path C:\AU1 or just \audio\drivers etc?

I am installing everything off CDs not virtually.

V

It can't be done from the CD.

You need to extract the contents of the ISO to your HDD, as instructed by the guide. For simplicity, I recommend using the folder names that I specify in the guide.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2023-01-15, 10:34:

Vanessaira wrote on 2023-01-15, 10:28:

Is it specifically looking for the path C:\AU1 or just \audio\drivers etc?

I am installing everything off CDs not virtually.

V

It can't be done from the CD.

You need to extract the contents of the ISO to your HDD, as instructed by the guide. For simplicity, I recommend using the folder names that I specify in the guide.

Darn. Do I need to do a new Windows install then, since I did the first step from the CD?

V

Vanessaira wrote on 2023-01-15, 10:41:

Darn. Do I need to do a new Windows install then, since I did the first step from the CD?

V

Possibly.

I should mention that this guide really needs to be followed to the letter, if the procedure is to be successful.

So I installed the drivers successfully but the volume is locked on mute, I can't even open advanced properties, and the sound card in the multimedia tab shows up as C000. How can I fix this?
Edit: MIDI Driver, Mixer Driver, Soundfont setting, and Mixer settings failed in Creative Diagnostics. Begin Fix option does nothing.

assortedkingdede wrote on 2023-01-15, 17:49:

So I installed the drivers successfully but the volume is locked on mute, I can't even open advanced properties, and the sound card in the multimedia tab shows up as C000. How can I fix this?
Edit: MIDI Driver, Mixer Driver, Soundfont setting, and Mixer settings failed in Creative Diagnostics. Begin Fix option does nothing.

I've never encountered this kind of error.

Can you check if the sound card shows up correctly under Device Manager or if has an exclamation mark next to it?

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2023-01-15, 18:12:

assortedkingdede wrote on 2023-01-15, 17:49:

So I installed the drivers successfully but the volume is locked on mute, I can't even open advanced properties, and the sound card in the multimedia tab shows up as C000. How can I fix this?
Edit: MIDI Driver, Mixer Driver, Soundfont setting, and Mixer settings failed in Creative Diagnostics. Begin Fix option does nothing.

I've never encountered this kind of error.

Can you check if the sound card shows up correctly under Device Manager or if has an exclamation mark next to it?

The devices were showing up curiously with no SB16. I wonder if it has to do with me using DirectX8.1 instead of 9, if that is the case would DirectX9 break compatibility with some things?

assortedkingdede wrote on 2023-01-15, 18:18:

The devices were showing up curiously with no SB16.

One thing that comes to mind is that there were certain OEM SBLive cards that were made for HP, Dell etc. Some of those need the original drivers from the manufacturer's CD and might not work with this guide. If you happen to have one of those, your best bet would be to search for the original driver CD.

I wonder if it has to do with me using DirectX8.1 instead of 9, if that is the case would DirectX9 break compatibility with some things?

DirectX 9 was officially supported up to version 9.0c on Win98SE. It shouldn't break anything, outside of some versions of the Aureal Vortex 2 drivers.

Well, I was able to get it all setup in Win98SE finally, but it was actually a different culprit that was holding everything up. First I thought that it was the drivers and installing off CD etc. When actually it was the Front Panel being hooked up that was. I have an SB0100 Live! card connected with the Live! Drive front panel and when I would get to the restart portion after installing the CTZAPXX. I would get a black screen with a blinking cursor hang forever and never go forward.

While everything seemed to install. I could only restart in Safe Mode and continued restarting to normal would just result in further black screen hangs. That is when I decided to disconnect the front panel and what do you know. It booted to Windows and played the startup sound no issues. I followed the rest of the steps with no further issues and I am now going to try turning on the onboard sound chips for outside of Windows for the dual setup.

I may also try to track down a Live! CT4760 and see if that has no issues with the front panel and this setup.

V

Vanessaira wrote on 2023-01-18, 06:30:

Well, I was able to get it all setup in Win98SE finally, but it was actually a different culprit that was holding everything up. First I thought that it was the drivers and installing off CD etc. When actually it was the Front Panel being hooked up that was. I have an SB0100 Live! card connected with the Live! Drive front panel and when I would get to the restart portion after installing the CTZAPXX. I would get a black screen with a blinking cursor hang forever and never go forward.

Interesting. I assume that was the original LiveDrive which came with your SB0100? I had an Audigy1 LiveDrive (model SB0010) connected to my own SB0100 and never experienced that issue. Maybe there are some differences between various LiveDrive models?

In any case, if you don't particularly care about soundfonts in DOS games, here's the official SB0100 driver CD which I was using before creating this guide. It's been a while since I last installed it, but from what I remember, it asks if you want VxD or WDM drivers at the beginning of the installation and also checks whether you have a LiveDrive attached or not. Those (VxD) drivers were always rock solid for me, and had no issues other than the aforementioned inability to use soundfonts for DOS games.

Awesome, thank you.

Would I be able to install the SB0100 over the existing install package from your guide?

V

Vanessaira wrote on 2023-01-19, 02:20:

Awesome, thank you.

Would I be able to install the SB0100 over the existing install package from your guide?

V

Sadly, no.

As with all of Creative's stuff, it's always best to do a clean install of the OS before using the drivers. On the plus side, there is no complicated install procedure for that SB0100 CD. It's pretty much Autorun > follow the instructions on the screen and reboot when prompted.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2023-01-19, 03:41:

Vanessaira wrote on 2023-01-19, 02:20:

Awesome, thank you.

Would I be able to install the SB0100 over the existing install package from your guide?

V

Sadly, no.

As with all of Creative's stuff, it's always best to do a clean install of the OS before using the drivers. On the plus side, there is no complicated install procedure for that SB0100 CD. It's pretty much Autorun > follow the instructions on the screen and reboot when prompted.

Installs as is? No need to mix in with your guide and no Audigy 2 stuff?

V

Vanessaira wrote on 2023-01-19, 03:48:

Installs as is? No need to mix in with your guide and no Audigy 2 stuff?

V

Yup, just download the SB0100 image and burn it to a CD and you're good to go.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2023-01-19, 03:53:

Vanessaira wrote on 2023-01-19, 03:48:

Installs as is? No need to mix in with your guide and no Audigy 2 stuff?

V

Yup, just download the SB0100 image and burn it to a CD and you're good to go.

Thank you so much for all of your help.

V

Vanessaira wrote on 2023-01-19, 04:05:

Thank you so much for all of your help.

V

No worries.

Let us know if it works out with that CD.

I've discovered a few issues in some games with the Audigy drivers and an SB0220 card (on this particular PC, I was using the pack that Phil made available):
1. Tomb Raider 4 - The Last Revelation (1999): intermittent missing sounds/music samples in certain cutscenes and sometimes even during gameplay. It's quite tricky to reproduce, as it usually occurs when playing the game for a longer period of time, and the only (temporary) fix that works is to basically restart the game.
2. Nocturne (1999): Windows hangs on shutdown after running this game (even if the game ran for a minute or less).

I've managed to permanently solve these issues by downgrading the drivers to an earlier version from 2002 (the ones available on the SB0220 ISO). After that, all issues were gone and DOS compatibility has not been affected, the SC-55 sound font still works as expected.

Now, it's unclear if this issue occurs on all platforms or not. The PC where I noticed this behavior has the following configuration:
MB: Asus A7V600-X KT600
CPU: AMD Athlon XP Thoroughbred 1700+
RAM: 512 MB
GPU: GeForce 4 Ti 4200
Sound: Creative SB Live 5.1 SB0220
Sound2: Yamaha YMF724F-V (strictly used for DOS, drivers not installed in Windows).

bloodem wrote on 2023-02-27, 09:47:

I've discovered a few issues in some games with the Audigy drivers and an SB0220 card

Interesting. I've updated the install process slightly since Phil made that pack, but it should still function similarly. Basically, I'm now using the Creative utilities from the SB0220 CD while retaining the VxD driver from the Audigy 2 ZS disc. Not sure if it would make any difference, but if you have the time, try it with the instructions from my guide instead of using Phil's version.

I've managed to permanently solve these issues by downgrading the drivers to an earlier version from 2002 (the ones available on the SB0220 ISO). After that, all issues were gone and DOS compatibility has not been affected, the SC-55 sound font still works as expected.

I have tested the VxD drivers from that CD as well, but they crashed for me in several games, including Thief 1&2. I'm guessing each driver version might have a game or two that it doesn't like. Or it could be platform specific, as you say.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2023-02-27, 10:02:

Interesting. I've updated the install process slightly since Phil made that pack, but it should still function similarly. Basically, I'm now using the Creative utilities from the SB0220 CD while retaining the VxD driver from the Audigy 2 ZS disk. Not sure if it would make any difference, but if you have the time, try it with the instructions from my guide instead of using Phil's version.

Just saw it. I will give it a try and report back, but I doubt it will make a difference, since the issue in my case is specifically related to the VXD drivers from the Audigy 2 ZS disk...

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2023-02-27, 10:02:

I have tested the VxD drivers from that CD as well, but they crashed for me in several games, including Thief 1&2. I'm guessing each driver version might have a game or two that it doesn't like. Or it could be platform specific, as you say.

Yeah, it's very likely that this is the case (the newer drivers probably solved the problems in some games and broke compatibility with others). I never played the Thief games (I know, blasphemy! 😁 ), so for me (and the games I play) the SB0220 drivers seem to be the better choice (at least on this PC, which coincidentally is one of my most used retro PCs because it handles such a wide range of games from all eras).

bloodem wrote on 2023-02-27, 10:19:

Just saw it. I will give it a try and report back, but I doubt it will make a difference, since the issue in my case is specifically related to the VXD drivers from the Audigy 2 ZS disk...

I'm not sure if it will help, but the older version of the guide (which Phil based his pack on) didn't use any of the Creative utilities from the ZS disc, other than the SoundFont Manager, since they weren't compatible with SBLive cards. This is just a guess, but maybe the ZS drivers need some of those utilities (e.g. the EAX Control Panel) to work correctly with certain games. That was one of the reasons why I updated the guide to version 2.

I never played the Thief games (I know, blasphemy! 😁 )

Blasphemy! 😁 Granted, the gameplay is not everyone's cup of tea, but I'd give it a shot just for the excellent EAX and surround sound implementation. Especially in the second and third games.