Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-09-27, 08:06:

5a796d wrote on 2025-09-27, 07:49:

I replaced the Audigy 2 with the SB Live and kept the same drivers.

While these drivers will work on SBLive cards, some of the accompanying Creative utilities will not (e.g. EAX Console, Speaker Setup etc).

I have a slightly different guide for SBLive cards which has fully functional utilities, if those are of interest to you. They mostly come into play if you're using surround speakers or if you want to fine tune EAX settings.

I saw thanks, possibly next time I reinstall I'll make sure to use the right ones

Just so you know, I solved the problems by setting the game to Sound Blaster Pro instead of Sound Blaster 16. Now I have audio on Wolf3D, and GP2 has no more problems. The only one who doesn't want to hear about it is Who Shot Johnny Rock, so I'll use DOSBox.

All this with SB Live and Audigy drivers.

Thanks so much again for your help!

5a796d wrote on 2025-09-27, 06:41:

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-09-27, 06:38:

5a796d wrote on 2025-09-27, 06:25:

Okay, thanks.
As for DOS mode, is there a way to get it to work? I've read various posts and followed all the guides. The card boots up and detects itself perfectly, but it doesn't produce any sound.

You need to run AUDIGY12.EXE each time you boot into pure DOS if using an Audigy 2 or ZS card.

It's mentioned under step 5.9 of this guide.

I did that but it doesn't work, I mean it loads but I have no audio

I had the same issues on a system with onboard sound. As stated in the guide, you should double check, that the ressources necessary are free. This also ist true for the joystick port. If anything is blocked by another device, windows will choose another ressource profile. Changing it in windows does not apply to dos.

5a796d wrote on 2025-09-27, 06:25:

As for DOS mode, is there a way to get it to work? I've read various posts and followed all the guides. The card boots up and detects itself perfectly, but it doesn't produce any sound.

Apparently there's no guarantee that a SB Live/Audigy will work in DOS mode : https://rayer.g6.cz/hardware/asusp5ld.2/serrnmi.txt

This was a reply from Creative, mentioned in this post: https://www.bttr-software.de/forum/forum_entry.php?id=4210 (Do not confuse the SBEMU mentioned there with Crazii's SBEMU application. What's meant there is Creative's SBEINIT.COM driver)

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2020-01-18, 14:29:

under Windows 98SE click Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Information > Hardware Resources and check the IRQ, DMA and I/O sections

I've followed the guide up to the DOS section and my Audigy 2 ZS is working great in 98SE. I/O ports 220, 330 and 388, IRQ 5, DMA 1 and DMA 5 all still say "free" in Hardware Resources, is that normal?

AaronS wrote on 2025-10-17, 00:29:

I've followed the guide up to the DOS section and my Audigy 2 ZS is working great in 98SE. I/O ports 220, 330 and 388, IRQ 5, DMA 1 and DMA 5 all still say "free" in Hardware Resources, is that normal?

Those resources get assigned to the SB16 Emulation device, which is installed in step 5.3.

If you haven't reached that step yet, they should be free.

I noticed you managed to get VXD drivers working for the Audigy 2 S0240, but did you have any luck with WDM drivers? Particularly under 9x? Or do they not exist?

DustyShinigami wrote on Yesterday, 17:30:

I noticed you managed to get VXD drivers working for the Audigy 2 S0240, but did you have any luck with WDM drivers? Particularly under 9x? Or do they not exist?

Regarding the Audigy 2, WDM drivers for that card do exist and can be installed on Win98/ME, but they have subpar compatibility with certain EAX games. Need for Speed: High Stakes and Baldur's Gate 2 are notable examples, and I imagine there could be more. If you look at Creative's documentation from that time, they recommended VxD drivers for gaming and WDM drivers for music creation and other professional tasks. See my post here for more details.

Another reason why this guide focuses solely on VxD drivers is because they are the only ones which offer proper SB16 emulation for running DOS games from within Win9x.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on Yesterday, 17:52:

DustyShinigami wrote on Yesterday, 17:30:

I noticed you managed to get VXD drivers working for the Audigy 2 S0240, but did you have any luck with WDM drivers? Particularly under 9x? Or do they not exist?

Regarding the Audigy 2, WDM drivers for that card do exist and can be installed on Win98/ME, but they have subpar compatibility with certain EAX games. Need for Speed: High Stakes and Baldur's Gate 2 are notable examples, and I imagine there could be more. If you look at Creative's documentation from that time, they recommended VxD drivers for gaming and WDM drivers for music creation and other professional tasks. See my post here for more details.

Another reason why this guide focuses solely on VxD drivers is because they are the only ones which offer proper SB16 emulation for running DOS games from within Win9x.

I see. But yeah, I understand VXD are faster, though I only need an alternative sound card with WDM drivers that require it for redbook audio in various games.

Are there any particular Creative sound cards you'd recommend with good WDM drivers? I take it they're all plagued with some issue or another? I need a PCI sound card that's good with Windows 98, but supports WDM. My VXD sound card is sorted as I have an ISA Yamaha OPL3.

DustyShinigami wrote on Yesterday, 19:47:

I see. But yeah, I understand VXD are faster, though I only need an alternative sound card with WDM drivers that require it for redbook audio in various games.

I assume the analog CD audio cable is already connected to your Yamaha card, so it can't be used for the Audigy?

If so, there is a solution to that which doesn't require WDM drivers. If your CD-ROM drive supports digital audio output (some older ones don't) you could use a 2-pin SPDIF cable to connect it to the CD_SPDIF header on the Audigy 2. This is assuming the card has that header, as some OEM variants omit it. That way, you can have redbook audio on both sound cards, without any issues.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on Yesterday, 19:57:

DustyShinigami wrote on Yesterday, 19:47:

I see. But yeah, I understand VXD are faster, though I only need an alternative sound card with WDM drivers that require it for redbook audio in various games.

I assume the analog CD audio cable is already connected to your Yamaha card, so it can't be used for the Audigy?

If so, there is a solution to that which doesn't require WDM drivers. If your CD-ROM drive supports digital audio output (some older ones don't) you could use a 2-pin SPDIF cable to connect it to the CD_SPDIF header on the Audigy 2. This is assuming the card has that header, as some OEM variants omit it. That way, you can have redbook audio on both sound cards, without any issues.

It was, but it's currently disconnected. It didn't work though when I last tried it. I believe the CD-ROM drive does, though I'm borrowing it from my test setup, so will eventually be getting another one. I'll have to check if it has the CD_SPDIF header. I believe it does though. But cool, if that works, that's great! Thanks. I'll give it a try later and report back. 😁

Joseph_Joestar wrote on Yesterday, 19:57:

DustyShinigami wrote on Yesterday, 19:47:

I see. But yeah, I understand VXD are faster, though I only need an alternative sound card with WDM drivers that require it for redbook audio in various games.

I assume the analog CD audio cable is already connected to your Yamaha card, so it can't be used for the Audigy?

If so, there is a solution to that which doesn't require WDM drivers. If your CD-ROM drive supports digital audio output (some older ones don't) you could use a 2-pin SPDIF cable to connect it to the CD_SPDIF header on the Audigy 2. This is assuming the card has that header, as some OEM variants omit it. That way, you can have redbook audio on both sound cards, without any issues.

Okay, so the card has the CD_SPDIF header, but I don't have a cable. I only have the 3 pin CD to Audio-In cable.

DustyShinigami wrote on Yesterday, 22:45:

Okay, so the card has the CD_SPDIF header, but I don't have a cable. I only have the 3 pin CD to Audio-In cable.

It's a simple 2-pin SPDIF cable. You can buy one, or possibly have someone make it for you. I still have the original one which came with my Audigy. There's a picture of it here, if that helps. But before going down that route, double check if your CD-ROM drive actually supports digital audio playback. If it does, it should have two pins on the back which are labeled as such. I also posted some pics of my drive in the thread linked above.

And lastly, after installing VxD drivers, check if the Audigy has a "CD Digital" slider under Volume Mixer. It may be hidden and muted by default, so you might need to address that. Once properly set up, it should look like this:

So yeah, getting digital CD audio via SPDIF cable is a somewhat involved process, with several possible points of failure. It's still a great solution if all your hardware is fully compliant and working properly. But it can be a bit daunting to set everything up.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on Today, 00:09:

It's a simple 2-pin SPDIF cable. You can buy one, or possibly have someone make it for you. I still have the original one which […]
Show full quote

DustyShinigami wrote on Yesterday, 22:45:

Okay, so the card has the CD_SPDIF header, but I don't have a cable. I only have the 3 pin CD to Audio-In cable.

It's a simple 2-pin SPDIF cable. You can buy one, or possibly have someone make it for you. I still have the original one which came with my Audigy. There's a picture of it here, if that helps. But before going down that route, double check if your CD-ROM drive actually supports digital audio playback. If it does, it should have two pins on the back which are labeled as such. I also posted some pics of my drive in the thread linked above.

And lastly, after installing VxD drivers, check if the Audigy has a "CD Digital" slider under Volume Mixer. It may be hidden and muted by default, so you might need to address that. Once properly set up, it should look like this:

So yeah, getting digital CD audio via SPDIF cable is a somewhat involved process, with several possible points of failure. It's still a great solution if all your hardware is fully compliant and working properly. But it can be a bit daunting to set everything up.

Great. Thanks for the help. I’ll have to look at buying one. I’ll double check if the CD drive has digital audio support. I suspect it probably won’t as it’s part of the original rig I bought, which was from 2001. I think it’s just regular CD audio support. A least that’s something to keep an eye out for when I buy another CD drive.

I guess I also need to find the right VxD drivers for the card. I know some did work, but I’ve forgotten which now. And I think they were very bare bones. No fancy audio managers etc.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on Today, 00:09:

It's a simple 2-pin SPDIF cable. You can buy one, or possibly have someone make it for you. I still have the original one which […]
Show full quote

DustyShinigami wrote on Yesterday, 22:45:

Okay, so the card has the CD_SPDIF header, but I don't have a cable. I only have the 3 pin CD to Audio-In cable.

It's a simple 2-pin SPDIF cable. You can buy one, or possibly have someone make it for you. I still have the original one which came with my Audigy. There's a picture of it here, if that helps. But before going down that route, double check if your CD-ROM drive actually supports digital audio playback. If it does, it should have two pins on the back which are labeled as such. I also posted some pics of my drive in the thread linked above.

And lastly, after installing VxD drivers, check if the Audigy has a "CD Digital" slider under Volume Mixer. It may be hidden and muted by default, so you might need to address that. Once properly set up, it should look like this:

So yeah, getting digital CD audio via SPDIF cable is a somewhat involved process, with several possible points of failure. It's still a great solution if all your hardware is fully compliant and working properly. But it can be a bit daunting to set everything up.

Is there a specific name, or a recommended place, to get one of those SPDIF cables from? Doing a Google/eBay search only seems to give me modern optical ones.

Also, my current CD drive does support it. 😀

DustyShinigami wrote on Today, 09:41:

Is there a specific name, or a recommended place, to get one of those SPDIF cables from? Doing a Google/eBay search only seems to give me modern optical ones.

I can't recommend a specific place for getting one, but if you search eBay for "2 pin SPDIF CD cable" a bunch of them will pop up.

If possible, try to find one with those plastic latches on both connectors. They will securely hold the cable in place, and ensure that it cannot be inserted the wrong way.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on Today, 09:55:

DustyShinigami wrote on Today, 09:41:

Is there a specific name, or a recommended place, to get one of those SPDIF cables from? Doing a Google/eBay search only seems to give me modern optical ones.

I can't recommend a specific place for getting one, but if you search eBay for "2 pin SPDIF CD cable" a bunch of them will pop up.

If possible, try to find one with those plastic latches on both connectors. They will securely hold the cable in place, and ensure that it cannot be inserted the wrong way.

No, sadly, they're all optical my end. 🙁

DustyShinigami wrote on Today, 10:18:

No, sadly, they're all optical my end. 🙁

Could be some location based filtering I guess.

When I type "2 pin SPDIF CD cable" into eBay's search bar, this is literally the first entry that pops up for me. Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with the seller and no clue how good or bad their cables are.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on Today, 10:28:

DustyShinigami wrote on Today, 10:18:

No, sadly, they're all optical my end. 🙁

Could be some location based filtering I guess.

When I type "2 pin SPDIF CD cable" into eBay's search bar, this is literally the first entry that pops up for me. Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with the seller and no clue how good or bad their cables are.

Yeah, it seems to be US listings for some reason. I'm in the UK, so it looks like the filtering is different and no where here seems to be selling any, which is a shame.

EDIT: Oh, wait. It might be because of my VPN. Now that I've disabled it, I have seen these: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/256474137094?_skw= … %3ABFBM3J-fucFm

Would those work? Mind you, they're not listed as SPDIF.

I'm wondering, to be honest, if it would work out cheaper and easier just getting a different sound card. I don't fancy paying the shipping fees from the US for a simple cable. But then if WDM drivers for a different sound card are going to be iffy regardless...