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First post, by Robhalfordfan

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hello all, i have noticed there is slight issue with playing with music set to soundblaster in dos 6.22

when you start game and get ea logo jumping thing and the screen fades to gray and the music should start but it hangs and doesn't and only way to quit is to reset the pc.

if have the music set to nothing it works no issues, just no music

i have found that when using windows for workgroups 3.11, plays everytime no problem, music, fx etc (when you have DMABufferSize set in system.ini)

i have using a soundblaster 16 CT2830 in my dos rig (full specs here - My Socket 3 Build (DOS/WIN311))

when i did use a soundblaster pro 2 CT1600, there no issues in dos with music but i stopped using it because it slowing down performance in windows and the pc overall because of the clock chip @14mhz

just wondering what is causing the issue in real dos and no issues in windows

Reply 1 of 5, by konc

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Try Martin Kiewitz's HOLMESFiX (a patch that addresses sound problems) to see if it helps.
The txt file in the archive also describes why it might be working from within windows

Filename
holmesfix.zip
File size
28.86 KiB
Downloads
76 downloads
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception

Reply 2 of 5, by Robhalfordfan

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konc wrote on 2023-04-06, 11:54:

Try Martin Kiewitz's HOLMESFiX (a patch that addresses sound problems) to see if it helps.
The txt file in the archive also describes why it might be working from within windows

holmesfix.zip

i will give a try and see if works and also will try with and without ems

reading the txt file, i am guessing why it works within windows is something do with IRQ-routine and maybe windows reroutes it as dos doesn't, maybe

Reply 3 of 5, by Xanxi

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This game seems very finicky about the sound setup.

I have tried to setup the game with several soundcards and MT32, including Vibra16 CQM, MK8330 and Audician32.
No way to have music with the Vibra16 or Vibra16+MT32 but sound works, no way to have anything with Audician32, MT32 only works with MK8330 and no sound.
I will also try the patch but i think it was meant for another issue.

I have read that this game's music and sound setup also gives a hard time with DosBox.

Reply 4 of 5, by Robhalfordfan

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Xanxi wrote on 2023-04-06, 12:30:
This game seems very finicky about the sound setup. […]
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This game seems very finicky about the sound setup.

I have tried to setup the game with several soundcards and MT32, including Vibra16 CQM, MK8330 and Audician32.
No way to have music with the Vibra16 or Vibra16+MT32 but sound works, no way to have anything with Audician32, MT32 only works with MK8330 and no sound.
I will also try the patch but i think it was meant for another issue.

I have read that this game's music and sound setup also gives a hard time with DosBox.

it does seem to very finicky about sound but if it is using sb pro 2 - it work no problem but sb16 doesn't work in dos mode but in windows it works

i dont have an mt-32 to try and can't remember if adlib does the same

Reply 5 of 5, by Robhalfordfan

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The HOLMESFIX above doesn't work as it says something about cfg file every time you start the game after applying patch and doesn't matter if you set the setting with install.exe

i have tried these options in real DOS:

NOTE - Adlib/Tandy SL,TL,RL/Tandy TX,EX,HX,SX Options are greyed out for me

Music - soundblaster
Digital - soundblaster
NOPE

Music - Soundblaster
Digital - none
WORKS

Music - None
Digital - Soundblaster
NOPE

Music - Roland MT-32
Digital - Soundblaster
NOPE

NOTE - no different with expanded memory or extended memory enabled

But I have a configuration made with no ems or xms enabled and just basic soundblaster line in autoexec.bat and mouse and it works with both music and digital set to soundblaster