And as a separate issue - has anyone encountered this with the Win95/98 version of Simon? And found a way to resolve it? I remember getting this back on my first Windows 98 PC, and I think I remember trying to set the colour depth to 256 colours, but that hasn't worked this time, and setting the background to black. Unfortunately, I can't set it to black; just the default blue.

Sometimes it sticks around during the credits as well, but once that all finishes, it goes back to normal

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-11-18, 18:38:

Hmm. Thing is, with Restart in MS-DOS mode, that takes me straight to the command prompt. The shortcut essentially just restarts the whole PC in the same way as if I'd gone to Shutdown > Restart and then does all the memory and drive checking before it reaches the boot menu.

It also runs dosstart.bat and who knows what's in there. If you want to use customized autoexec.bat and config.sys files, it's better to not bother with "Restart in MS-DOS mode".

I'm a bit apprehensive of using the shortcut due to it changing things still.

The changes are temporary. This shortcut should only be used when autoexec.bat and config.sys are blank. The plus side is it doesn't parse dosstart.bat.

I only suggested using it since you were having trouble with normal DOS booting. I personally don't use any of these shortcuts or "Restart in MS-DOS mode" at all.

Either use a restart to DOS method (either the default or a custom shortcut), or straight boot into DOS. Pick one to prevent conflicts.

ISA Yamaha

If you've installed a driver for the yamaha, it might have put things inside dosstart.bat.

Just do a few tests without touching "Restart in MS-DOS mode" and see what happens.

eddman wrote on 2024-11-18, 19:08:

It also runs dosstart.bat and who knows what's in there. If you want to use customized autoexec.bat and config.sys files, it's b […]
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DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-11-18, 18:38:

Hmm. Thing is, with Restart in MS-DOS mode, that takes me straight to the command prompt. The shortcut essentially just restarts the whole PC in the same way as if I'd gone to Shutdown > Restart and then does all the memory and drive checking before it reaches the boot menu.

It also runs dosstart.bat and who knows what's in there. If you want to use customized autoexec.bat and config.sys files, it's better to not bother with "Restart in MS-DOS mode".

I'm a bit apprehensive of using the shortcut due to it changing things still.

The changes are temporary. This shortcut should only be used when autoexec.bat and config.sys are blank. The plus side is it doesn't parse dosstart.bat.

I only suggested using it since you were having trouble with normal DOS booting. I personally don't use any of these shortcuts or "Restart in MS-DOS mode" at all.

Either use a restart to DOS method (either the default or a custom shortcut), or straight boot into DOS. Pick one to prevent conflicts.

ISA Yamaha

If you've installed a driver for the yamaha, it might have put things inside dosstart.bat.

Just do a few tests without touching "Restart in MS-DOS mode" and see what happens.

Okay. I'll feel more comfortable testing some of these things once I've found out how to fix the issue reported by the Device Manager. I suspect that's the cause of these errors that prevent it from working often.

So I've only found one other thread posted on Vogons about the same issue and no one responded to it. I tried disabling the Joysticks as I don't really use those, but that didn't clear the exclamation for the audio device in the Device Manager.

Still no luck with it. If I use the Hardware Troubleshooter it says it’s found some hardware resources it can use, it hangs for a few seconds, the issue/icon disappears, but after hanging for a few more seconds it comes right back again. 😕

At this point, I'd try removing the ISA sound card and see if that helps at all. Do you have any PCI cards, such as hard drive/SCSI controllers installed? Other than that, I can't think what would be using the DMA channels.

EDIT- you may want to try disabling the Yamaha sound card in Device Manager first. When I was using a dual soundcard (Aztech ISA and Soundblaster Live PCI) setup a while ago, I managed to avoid any conflicts by never initialising the PCI card in DOS and always having the ISA card disabled in Windows 98.

sfryers wrote on 2024-11-19, 17:37:

At this point, I'd try removing the ISA sound card and see if that helps at all. Do you have any PCI cards, such as hard drive/SCSI controllers installed? Other than that, I can't think what would be using the DMA channels.

EDIT- you may want to try disabling the Yamaha sound card in Device Manager first. When I was using a dual soundcard (Aztech ISA and Soundblaster Live PCI) setup a while ago, I managed to avoid any conflicts by never initialising the PCI card in DOS and always having the ISA card disabled in Windows 98.

No, no PCI cards or SCSI controllers installed. Not 100% on the latter, but there was originally a PCI network card installed, but I’ve removed that.

But thank you for the suggestion. I’ve disabled the Yamaha device AND the joystick game pad device, and the error icon has gone! Rebooting Windows again - the error didn’t pop up. 😁

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-11-19, 18:01:

But thank you for the suggestion. I’ve disabled the Yamaha device AND the joystick game pad device, and the error icon has gone! Rebooting Windows again - the error didn’t pop up. 😁

Glad to see you're making progress!

sfryers wrote on 2024-11-19, 19:29:

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-11-19, 18:01:

But thank you for the suggestion. I’ve disabled the Yamaha device AND the joystick game pad device, and the error icon has gone! Rebooting Windows again - the error didn’t pop up. 😁

Glad to see you're making progress!

Yep. 😄 And I *think*, though I need to test it again, that if I run the ISO of the game's CD, and boot the game up that way, I think it helps to avoid that garbled looking startup that I showed an image of. It might have just been a coincidence though. But it's faster at booting compared to the CD, so maybe that does help in some way?

My next endevour now is figuring out how to boot CDs from image files in DOS.

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-11-19, 20:04:

My next endevour now is figuring out how to boot CDs from image files in DOS.

For mounting ISO files in DOS, I've found the SHSUCD utility package to be very useful.

sfryers wrote on 2024-11-19, 23:14:

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-11-19, 20:04:

My next endevour now is figuring out how to boot CDs from image files in DOS.

For mounting ISO files in DOS, I've found the SHSUCD utility package to be very useful.

Awesome. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll look into it. 😀

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-11-18, 18:43:

And as a separate issue - has anyone encountered this with the Win95/98 version of Simon? And found a way to resolve it? I remember getting this back on my first Windows 98 PC, and I think I remember trying to set the colour depth to 256 colours, but that hasn't worked this time, and setting the background to black. Unfortunately, I can't set it to black; just the default blue.

Sometimes it sticks around during the credits as well, but once that all finishes, it goes back to normal

I've discovered a workaround for this issue. If I disable DirectDraw or Direct3D in the DirectX Diagnostics Tool, it cures the problem! 😁

i should play that game again, its a classic. i tend to play it every 7 years or so. voice by Chris Barrie is phenomenal.

Joakim wrote on 2024-11-25, 21:20:

i should play that game again, its a classic. i tend to play it every 7 years or so. voice by Chris Barrie is phenomenal.

Same. I've been thinking about it for the past few weeks. Haven't replayed them in a while.

Is it possible to get the SC-55 to work with the original DOS version? The only options it gives are Adlib, Soundblaster, and MT-32. I get why folk have said it was originally designed for the latter. The description does say though to select that music driver if you have an MT-32, LAPC-1, or MPU-401 midi card. I take it a midi card is different to having an ISA card with MPU-401…?
Is there a workaround perhaps? So as to get the sound canvas working with the game in DOS? I can’t even use its MT-32 emulation. I coulda sworn the last time I tried it with my onboard sound, there was a General MIDI option to choose…?

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-12-22, 18:38:

Is it possible to get the SC-55 to work with the original DOS version? The only options it gives are Adlib, Soundblaster, and MT-32. I get why folk have said it was originally designed for the latter. The description does say though to select that music driver if you have an MT-32, LAPC-1, or MPU-401 midi card. I take it a midi card is different to having an ISA card with MPU-401…?
Is there a workaround perhaps? So as to get the sound canvas working with the game in DOS? I can’t even use its MT-32 emulation. I coulda sworn the last time I tried it with my onboard sound, there was a General MIDI option to choose…?

It is possible, Simon the Sorcerer uses MIDPAK/DIGPAK so you can use a plethora of sound devices. The was someone that made a generic genmidi.adv driver. By fiddling with config files you might be able to point the music to whatever ADV driver you desire. I don’t remember exactly how Simon 1 works with config files but I’ll check tomorrow.

carlostex wrote on 2024-12-22, 21:37:

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-12-22, 18:38:

Is it possible to get the SC-55 to work with the original DOS version? The only options it gives are Adlib, Soundblaster, and MT-32. I get why folk have said it was originally designed for the latter. The description does say though to select that music driver if you have an MT-32, LAPC-1, or MPU-401 midi card. I take it a midi card is different to having an ISA card with MPU-401…?
Is there a workaround perhaps? So as to get the sound canvas working with the game in DOS? I can’t even use its MT-32 emulation. I coulda sworn the last time I tried it with my onboard sound, there was a General MIDI option to choose…?

It is possible, Simon the Sorcerer uses MIDPAK/DIGPAK so you can use a plethora of sound devices. The was someone that made a generic genmidi.adv driver. By fiddling with config files you might be able to point the music to whatever ADV driver you desire. I don’t remember exactly how Simon 1 works with config files but I’ll check tomorrow.

Ohh, okay. Interesting. I'll have to see what I can find when I look tomorrow, too. I daresay I won't get very far with it, so I look forward to hearing what you find.

carlostex wrote on 2024-12-22, 21:37:

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-12-22, 18:38:

Is it possible to get the SC-55 to work with the original DOS version? The only options it gives are Adlib, Soundblaster, and MT-32. I get why folk have said it was originally designed for the latter. The description does say though to select that music driver if you have an MT-32, LAPC-1, or MPU-401 midi card. I take it a midi card is different to having an ISA card with MPU-401…?
Is there a workaround perhaps? So as to get the sound canvas working with the game in DOS? I can’t even use its MT-32 emulation. I coulda sworn the last time I tried it with my onboard sound, there was a General MIDI option to choose…?

It is possible, Simon the Sorcerer uses MIDPAK/DIGPAK so you can use a plethora of sound devices. The was someone that made a generic genmidi.adv driver. By fiddling with config files you might be able to point the music to whatever ADV driver you desire. I don’t remember exactly how Simon 1 works with config files but I’ll check tomorrow.

Did you have any luck? I got a bit lost when I checked and wasn't sure what to do or which file to check. ^^;

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-12-29, 15:17:

Did you have any luck? I got a bit lost when I checked and wasn't sure what to do or which file to check. ^^;

Just checked, and weirdly enough seems like this game does not use MIDPAK, which usually accompanies DIGPAK, instead seems to be using something else which seems more akin to LucasArts game drivers. So this game is stuck with those music options.

carlostex wrote on 2024-12-29, 18:06:

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-12-29, 15:17:

Did you have any luck? I got a bit lost when I checked and wasn't sure what to do or which file to check. ^^;

Just checked, and weirdly enough seems like this game does not use MIDPAK, which usually accompanies DIGPAK, instead seems to be using something else which seems more akin to LucasArts game drivers. So this game is stuck with those music options.

Yeah, I suspected as much. It's a bit like BASS - I can't use the Roland sound canvas without losing the speech. It has to have the Sound Blaster option in order to get speech, music and SFX. I think before, when I used my onboard sound, I had the MT32 option enabled, and that was as close as I could get.