bertrammatrix wrote on 2024-08-29, 02:17:

Has anyone else with an ESS ran into this? Is there a workaround? Searching online yields exactly 1 thread with this problem and no answer.

Quit the game to DOS, then run it again. Sound will work the second time you start it.

EDIT - that works for the original Transport Tycoon. I donn't have the Deluxe edition, but if it's the DOS release, the same workaround might apply.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2024-08-29, 03:06:

bertrammatrix wrote on 2024-08-29, 02:17:

Has anyone else with an ESS ran into this? Is there a workaround? Searching online yields exactly 1 thread with this problem and no answer.

Quit the game to DOS, then run it again. Sound will work the second time you start it.

EDIT - that works for the original Transport Tycoon. I donn't have the Deluxe edition, but if it's the DOS release, the same workaround might apply.

Thanks. I was hoping it was that easy, but unfortunately it didn't work.

It does however further confirm that there is something up with how Tycoon works with ESS cards, assuming your card is also an ESS of course

bertrammatrix wrote on 2024-08-29, 15:41:

Thanks. I was hoping it was that easy, but unfortunately it didn't work.

It does however further confirm that there is something up with how Tycoon works with ESS cards, assuming your card is also an ESS of course

I had this occur with my ESS 1868F but also with a few other SBPro compatible cards from other manufacturers.

Just to confirm, are you running the game from pure DOS (e.g. Shutdown > Restart in MS-DOS mode) or from within the Win98 command prompt? The workaround I mentioned earlier only works in pure DOS. But again, I have the non-Deluxe version, which might behave differently.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2024-08-29, 16:19:

bertrammatrix wrote on 2024-08-29, 15:41:

Thanks. I was hoping it was that easy, but unfortunately it didn't work.

It does however further confirm that there is something up with how Tycoon works with ESS cards, assuming your card is also an ESS of course

I had this occur with my ESS 1868F but also with a few other SBPro compatible cards from other manufacturers.

Just to confirm, are you running the game from pure DOS (e.g. Shutdown > Restart in MS-DOS mode) or from within the Win98 command prompt? The workaround I mentioned earlier only works in pure DOS. But again, I have the non-Deluxe version, which might behave differently.

Interesting.... no, I had been running it under windows, typically I have zero problems. Haven't used pure dos for a game in ages.

So I tried...THERE WAS SOUND!

BUT! Unfortunately the game was extremely laggy, and froze 5 seconds after playing the first sound effects 😮

One step forward, two steps back

If you're running it under windows anyway, why not play the windows version?

jmarsh wrote on 2024-08-30, 16:49:

If you're running it under windows anyway, why not play the windows version?

Ironically, the windows version has comparatively poor sound effects that seem to be mono, also I don't think they are produced by FM.

Also the windows version is not optimized very well - my 5x86 based system struggles with it, whereas it runs the dos version and other more demanding games just fine

bertrammatrix wrote on 2024-08-30, 16:22:

Unfortunately the game was extremely laggy, and froze 5 seconds after playing the first sound effects 😮

This looks like the symptom of a wrong sound IRQ. The card may be configured differently under pure DOS compared to under Windows, which (necessarily) virtualises access to the sound card. Check and re-run the sound setup for the game.

jtchip wrote on 2024-09-02, 23:15:

bertrammatrix wrote on 2024-08-30, 16:22:

Unfortunately the game was extremely laggy, and froze 5 seconds after playing the first sound effects 😮

This looks like the symptom of a wrong sound IRQ. The card may be configured differently under pure DOS compared to under Windows, which (necessarily) virtualises access to the sound card. Check and re-run the sound setup for the game.

Sadly, even after a lot more time spent I was unable to fix this issue. Moved card IRQ's around and re ran setup to no avail. As pure dos isn't my target anyway I gave up and am using a YMF card now with no issues (really I am able to use ANY sb clone I have -opti,ymf,aztec- and not have this problem).

I'd still like to know what the deal is even if I can't fix it- I don't think it's an IRQ/DMA issue under windows, as the sounds "are" there, albeit at close to zero volume (the game sound volume slider is still able to turn them down to nothing). To me it seems like the soundcard is muting that particular output from the mixer on the analog side (I've tried to unmute everything in the windows audio controls) OR misinterpreting the game's volume slider setting somehow, ie instead of a 0-99 volume only giving 0-1 range.