I should be getting a pack of CD-Rs and an external floppy drive today. The idea is to put some USB mass storage drivers onto a floppy to the 98 machine so I can install those and use my pen drive. If that fails, I'll just burn the drivers and software I need to a CD. 😀

If you’ve got oodles of space left on the disc add utility software to it.
I’ve got hirens on disc and usb and you can boot from it when the os fails but you can use it normally too from explorer

Got the external floppy and transferred the USB drivers. I'm now able to use my pen drive to transfer stuff across. 😁

I've run into a slight hitch though. Looks like the drivers I downloaded for the GPU and ISA sound card are wrong. The latter requires an up to date version of Windows, and the former gave me an error about PC ID NVAML.INF.

Is this the right driver for the Yamaha YMF715E-S?

https://www.vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fil … menustate=69,52

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-11-13, 19:29:

Is this the right driver for the Yamaha YMF715E-S?

https://www.vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fil … menustate=69,52

not sure about that one but i may have what you need, last night i was setting up my toshiba satellite 300CDT, i opened it to check for battery leaks and to see if i could spot the yamaha chip, as i wasnt sure if mine actually had an opl3 chip, turns out it does and its a Yamaha 715F-S, win98 installed the drivers for it but those were WDM, so i uninstalled and installed the drivers from my toshiba drivers cd which i think are VxD, the cd is for win95 but the drivers are compatible with win98 and work great, since your chip is an"E" and mine is an "F" they might work for you, theres no installer so you will need to go through control panel to install, either through device manager or add new hardware and point it towards the folder with the drivers.

hope it works for you, and if so enjoy your OPL3 😀

DudeFace wrote on 2024-11-13, 22:39:

not sure about that one but i may have what you need, last night i was setting up my toshiba satellite 300CDT, i opened it to ch […]
Show full quote

not sure about that one but i may have what you need, last night i was setting up my toshiba satellite 300CDT, i opened it to check for battery leaks and to see if i could spot the yamaha chip, as i wasnt sure if mine actually had an opl3 chip, turns out it does and its a Yamaha 715F-S, win98 installed the drivers for it but those were WDM, so i uninstalled and installed the drivers from my toshiba drivers cd which i think are VxD, the cd is for win95 but the drivers are compatible with win98 and work great, since your chip is an"E" and mine is an "F" they might work for you, theres no installer so you will need to go through control panel to install, either through device manager or add new hardware and point it towards the folder with the drivers.

The attachment YAMAHA 715F-S DRIVERS.rar is no longer available

hope it works for you, and if so enjoy your OPL3 😀

The attachment DOOM.jpg is no longer available

Oh cool. Thanks for that. I've downloaded one or two others in the meantime to try out, so if they fail, I'll give this a shot. 😀

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-11-13, 22:49:

DudeFace wrote on 2024-11-13, 22:39:

not sure about that one but i may have what you need, last night i was setting up my toshiba satellite 300CDT, i opened it to ch […]
Show full quote

not sure about that one but i may have what you need, last night i was setting up my toshiba satellite 300CDT, i opened it to check for battery leaks and to see if i could spot the yamaha chip, as i wasnt sure if mine actually had an opl3 chip, turns out it does and its a Yamaha 715F-S, win98 installed the drivers for it but those were WDM, so i uninstalled and installed the drivers from my toshiba drivers cd which i think are VxD, the cd is for win95 but the drivers are compatible with win98 and work great, since your chip is an"E" and mine is an "F" they might work for you, theres no installer so you will need to go through control panel to install, either through device manager or add new hardware and point it towards the folder with the drivers.

The attachment YAMAHA 715F-S DRIVERS.rar is no longer available

hope it works for you, and if so enjoy your OPL3 😀

The attachment DOOM.jpg is no longer available

Oh cool. Thanks for that. I've downloaded one or two others in the meantime to try out, so if they fail, I'll give this a shot. 😀

no worries 😀 definitely give them a go as they're for the 715 chip and they are better than the ones on the win98 cd, also it will give you the OPL3-SAx config in your control panel, it would be interesting to see if they work not just on imbedded chips but also ISA.

You may find it takes a few reinstalls of windows to find the best combination of drivers.

Having a CD with all the drivers is a good idea. Even better is if you have a second partition or hard drive where you can keep both the drivers and windows install files

chinny22 wrote on 2024-11-14, 00:32:

You may find it takes a few reinstalls of windows to find the best combination of drivers.

Having a CD with all the drivers is a good idea. Even better is if you have a second partition or hard drive where you can keep both the drivers and windows install files

Yep, I have a second drive. It's mainly going to be for games, but I can keep all relevant drivers and software stored in a folder, too.

Okay, good news - I've got some Nvidia drivers installed and working. 😁 Only issue is that they're not the 30.8x/9x that were suggested. They're 71.84. Also, they're not digitally signed. The only issue now is the sound. I've tried the two drivers I had, and the one provided by DudeFace, but the system still isn't happy with them. ^^; So the hunt continues...

Also, the version of Daemon Tools I got doesn't work either.

Managed to find some drivers that work. 😁

However. Nothing good ever seems to last... 😒 After installing what was necessary to get Daemon Tools working, I installed it, it asked me to restart, and now the machine won't boot correctly. It calculates the NVRAM and then it becomes stuck on Wait... The HDD LED doesn't appear to be doing anything.

Sorted the issue. I changed the CMOS battery. God only knows how long the original had been in there for.

There's something not right with that sound card though. Both Doom and Gabriel Knight are unable to play General MIDI music. Gabriel Knight's installer says it isn't supported? I was led to believe that model of sound card did?

I take it this is where a daughterboard, such as the Dreamblaster X16GS, would help a great deal? Or should I get a PCI sound card first?

How do you use Daemon Tools to create an image file of a disc? I get the impression it does, but the version I installed on my 98 PC doesn't appear to have that option. Not from what I could see. Only a tool for mounting.

EDIT: Never mind. Just saw Phil’s video and learnt that I need Alcohol 120%. 😀

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-11-14, 16:29:

I take it this is where a daughterboard, such as the Dreamblaster X16GS, would help a great deal? Or should I get a PCI sound card first?

There is no general midi in YMF series ISA cards, only FM. If you want that, you need a daughter board like you said or route the midi signals from mpu-401 port to external midi device such as Roland SC-55 or similar GM module. Another option is a PCI card with midi soundfonts, but I think not all PCI soundcards support MIDI in real DOS (I think Live! does with TSR program), but I’m not well in the loop with this as I don’t use PCI sound in any of my systems I use for DOS, so better let other people chime on this more.

CharlieFoxtrot wrote on 2024-11-15, 08:55:

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-11-14, 16:29:

There is no general midi in YMF series ISA cards, only FM. If you want that, you need a daughter board like you said or route the midi signals from mpu-401 port to external midi device such as Roland SC-55 or similar GM module. Another option is a PCI card with midi soundfonts, but I think not all PCI soundcards support MIDI in real DOS (I think Live! does with TSR program), but I’m not well in the loop with this as I don’t use PCI sound in any of my systems I use for DOS, so better let other people chime on this more.

Okay, thanks for clarifying anyway. My knowledge with sound cards is pretty limited, but I figured because this model I have supports MPU-401, that it supported General MIDI? Or is that more of a port as you say? I'll most likely get one of those daughterboards anyway.

I also noticed in one game that if the Wave and Synth bars were up at maximum there was horrible crackling/distortion when music played from the speakers. I had to turn those down halfway. I'm guessing that's the speakers that might be the problem there?

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-11-15, 13:52:

Okay, thanks for clarifying anyway. My knowledge with sound cards is pretty limited, but I figured because this model I have supports MPU-401, that it supported General MIDI? Or is that more of a port as you say? I'll most likely get one of those daughterboards anyway.

I also noticed in one game that if the Wave and Synth bars were up at maximum there was horrible crackling/distortion when music played from the speakers. I had to turn those down halfway. I'm guessing that's the speakers that might be the problem there?

The sound card ouputs midi signals to midi module through mpu-401 port, it is not an audio output. And basically does the same thing to daughterboard solutions, which are midi modules. It is exactly the same with sound blaster pro, sb16 and similar cards and they don’t have the capability to play midi tunes without modules connected to them. AWE32 and AWE64 have midi emulation through software, but it isn’t that usable at least in DOS.

My suggestion to you is that get your new box running properly, get familiar with it and enjoy some gaming and tinkering with it. You don’t need to add every hardware feature at once and you can plan your next steps at your leisure and find answers and recommendations by searching this forum when it is the time. GM isn’t a requirement to enjoying vintage games and it is pretty much relevant only for a few short years in 90s. And very few people back in the day had the gear for either MT-32 or GM.

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-11-14, 17:38:

How do you use Daemon Tools to create an image file of a disc? I get the impression it does, but the version I installed on my 98 PC doesn't appear to have that option. Not from what I could see. Only a tool for mounting.

EDIT: Never mind. Just saw Phil’s video and learnt that I need Alcohol 120%. 😀

Unfortunately, Alcohol 120% Phil provided doesn’t work for me. 🙁 It installs, but the program just won’t load. It complains again about needing a newer version of Windows.

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-11-16, 16:44:

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-11-14, 17:38:

How do you use Daemon Tools to create an image file of a disc? I get the impression it does, but the version I installed on my 98 PC doesn't appear to have that option. Not from what I could see. Only a tool for mounting.

EDIT: Never mind. Just saw Phil’s video and learnt that I need Alcohol 120%. 😀

Unfortunately, Alcohol 120% Phil provided doesn’t work for me. 🙁 It installs, but the program just won’t load. It complains again about needing a newer version of Windows.

The attachment IMG_3763.jpeg is no longer available

I don't know what Phil's version is, but it is probably for XP and newer and last 98 compatible Alcohol 120 is 1.9.5.something, can't remember the exact version number, so you just need to install some of the older versions.

CharlieFoxtrot wrote on 2024-11-16, 17:12:

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-11-16, 16:44:

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-11-14, 17:38:

How do you use Daemon Tools to create an image file of a disc? I get the impression it does, but the version I installed on my 98 PC doesn't appear to have that option. Not from what I could see. Only a tool for mounting.

EDIT: Never mind. Just saw Phil’s video and learnt that I need Alcohol 120%. 😀

Unfortunately, Alcohol 120% Phil provided doesn’t work for me. 🙁 It installs, but the program just won’t load. It complains again about needing a newer version of Windows.

The attachment IMG_3763.jpeg is no longer available

I don't know what Phil's version is, but it is probably for XP and newer and last 98 compatible Alcohol 120 is 1.9.5.something, can't remember the exact version number, so you just need to install some of the older versions.

Okay, thanks. Didn’t realise that was for XP. The regular Daemon Tools from the same page installed and works fine. But I’ll take a look for an older version.