DustyShinigami wrote on 2025-10-24, 00:01:

EDIT: Phew. False alarm. It was me being stupid. ^^; I'd plugged one of the right speaker cables into Output when it should have been Input 1.

If you haven't already done so, I suggest grabbing the Audigy 2 manual from here. It's in PDF form, so you can put it on your phone or modern PC, and reference it as needed.

There's a ton of useful info there, including port assignments, descriptions of various audio settings, as well as some troubleshooting tips.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-10-24, 03:28:

DustyShinigami wrote on 2025-10-24, 00:01:

EDIT: Phew. False alarm. It was me being stupid. ^^; I'd plugged one of the right speaker cables into Output when it should have been Input 1.

If you haven't already done so, I suggest grabbing the Audigy 2 manual from here. It's in PDF form, so you can put it on your phone or modern PC, and reference it as needed.

There's a ton of useful info there, including port assignments, descriptions of various audio settings, as well as some troubleshooting tips.

Great, thanks. I've already started up a collection of various manuals for retro hardware. 😀

Though I'm still struggling to find a PDF manual for it, just to see if it has SPDIF capabilities, I've just ordered myself a new CD-ROM drive. It wasn't the one I had my eye on initially, but it's very similar. This one is actually a Creative brand CD drive. It's the CD5233e.

So this might be better as a separate topic but I'll ask here first. I have it all setup and running perfect under 98SE with Windows and DOS games. During the DOS installation right before needing to restart I had to edit config.sys and remove the EMM386 line otherwise Windows fails to boot (no error, it just hangs), I also removed the Himem.sys line because I have HimemX instead (I needed this to get the Win98SE installation to launch). However without these I get an error when booting Windows regarding SBEInit.com not initializing because there's no memory manager (EMM386), then Windows starts and all works fine as mentioned, but this obviously stops realmode DOS from having any sound.

Basically I haven't been able to successfully use any kind of EMM386, Jemmex, EMSMagic etc. manager. My system has a lot of RAM (8GB) and ideally I'd rather find a software solution rather than have to swap out memory modules depending on OS I'm using. I know that people use Jemmex for SBEMU on much newer laptops with lots of ram so I should be able to get it to work I hope? I can live with just using DOS under Windows especially since we can use soundfonts, but any ideas what I can try? Currently my config.sys is just

1DOS=HIGH,UMB,AUTO
2DEVICEHIGH=C:\HIMEMX.EXE /MAX=512M
3DEVICE=C:\JEMMEX.EXE

Okay a little bit of progress I guess, I just removed HIMEMX.EXE so its basically just JEMMEX.EXE and no params, now I get this:

Is it possible to install DOS drivers for the Audigy 2 if I have WDM drivers installed in Windows? I did try the driver set from Vogon's library, though they're installed in Windows and it complains that I don't have the vxd drivers on. Are there any drivers that can be installed in native DOS?

DustyShinigami wrote on 2025-11-06, 01:29:

Is it possible to install DOS drivers for the Audigy 2 if I have WDM drivers installed in Windows?

I don't think so.

DustyShinigami wrote on 2025-11-06, 01:29:

Are there any drivers that can be installed in native DOS?

You mean without installing the Windows SB16 emulation component at all? No idea, I never tried that.

AaronS wrote on 2025-11-04, 23:13:

Okay a little bit of progress I guess, I just removed HIMEMX.EXE so its basically just JEMMEX.EXE and no params, now I get this:

Try using the NOEMS switch with EMM386.EXE as described here.

Not sure if that will help though. From your description, that particular system might be too new for DOS drivers to work.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-11-06, 07:06:

AaronS wrote on 2025-11-04, 23:13:

Okay a little bit of progress I guess, I just removed HIMEMX.EXE so its basically just JEMMEX.EXE and no params, now I get this:

Try using the NOEMS switch with EMM386.EXE as described here.

Not sure if that will help though. From your description, that particular system might be too new for DOS drivers to work.

The current jemmex is NOT compatible with SBINIT/SBEINIT - this will be fixed in the next version (https://github.com/Baron-von-Riedesel/Jemm/re … s/tag/v5.86pre2).

The Creative DOS drivers for SB PCI cards do inject their code into the Expanded Memory Manager's address space, into address region 0-3ffffffh (page table 0). Since they also disable paging temporarily, they expect this region to be "identity mapped" ( linear address == physical address ). Additionally, since they allocate XMS memory for their code, they are only satisfied with that XMS block if its address is also within that region. So you proably shouldn't install smartdrv or other XMS memory users in CONFIG.SYS, until the SB drivers have been loaded.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-11-06, 06:52:

I don't think so. […]
Show full quote

DustyShinigami wrote on 2025-11-06, 01:29:

Is it possible to install DOS drivers for the Audigy 2 if I have WDM drivers installed in Windows?

I don't think so.

DustyShinigami wrote on 2025-11-06, 01:29:

Are there any drivers that can be installed in native DOS?

You mean without installing the Windows SB16 emulation component at all? No idea, I never tried that.

Ah. Although I remember being able to for my other motherboard's onboard audio device. That was using WDM drivers in Windows, but it had its own separate DOS drivers. Or a utility I could enable. I downloaded the modified drivers linked in this thread anyway.

Baron von Riedesel wrote on 2025-11-06, 07:56:

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-11-06, 07:06:

AaronS wrote on 2025-11-04, 23:13:

Okay a little bit of progress I guess, I just removed HIMEMX.EXE so its basically just JEMMEX.EXE and no params, now I get this:

Try using the NOEMS switch with EMM386.EXE as described here.

Not sure if that will help though. From your description, that particular system might be too new for DOS drivers to work.

The current jemmex is NOT compatible with SBINIT/SBEINIT - this will be fixed in the next version (https://github.com/Baron-von-Riedesel/Jemm/re … s/tag/v5.86pre2).

The Creative DOS drivers for SB PCI cards do inject their code into the Expanded Memory Manager's address space, into address region 0-3ffffffh (page table 0). Since they also disable paging temporarily, they expect this region to be "identity mapped" ( linear address == physical address ). Additionally, since they allocate XMS memory for their code, they are only satisfied with that XMS block if its address is also within that region. So you proably shouldn't install smartdrv or other XMS memory users in CONFIG.SYS, until the SB drivers have been loaded.

What timing! Although I just tried the pre release and get the same 4 Mbyte message. That said, I'm currently only able to test by going straight to command prompt from Windows startup menu rather than Restart to MSDOS because my keyboard won't work (USB) despite having legacy USB enabled and it working otherwise, I'll need a PS/2 keyboard for the latter although not sure if this is why I get this error. I dunno if this is also why I'm getting IRQ 11 instead of 5 like under Windows.

I came across a post that suggested digital audio can work with vxd drivers...? If so, I take it that only applies to certain cards? If I can get digital audio to work with vxd drivers, I would happily switch from the WDM ones. And especially if that means I can use DOS drivers for it. 😀

DustyShinigami wrote on 2025-11-07, 02:03:

I came across a post that suggested digital audio can work with vxd drivers...? If so, I take it that only applies to certain cards? If I can get digital audio to work with vxd drivers, I would happily switch from the WDM ones. And especially if that means I can use DOS drivers for it. 😀

On Audigy cards, the only way to get digital CD audio with VxD drivers is by using the 2-pin SPDIF cable.

Other sound cards, from manufacturers like Yamaha or CMI, may behave differently. Not sure.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-11-07, 07:11:

DustyShinigami wrote on 2025-11-07, 02:03:

I came across a post that suggested digital audio can work with vxd drivers...? If so, I take it that only applies to certain cards? If I can get digital audio to work with vxd drivers, I would happily switch from the WDM ones. And especially if that means I can use DOS drivers for it. 😀

On Audigy cards, the only way to get digital CD audio with VxD drivers is by using the 2-pin SPDIF cable.

Other sound cards, from manufacturers like Yamaha or CMI, may behave differently. Not sure.

Okay. I'll do an experiment a bit later. I'll make an image of the drive first, remove the WDM drivers and test the VXD. If they don't work then I guess I will be going down the SPDIF route after all. I have a Creative CD-ROM now, so I believe it has the capability. Just need to order those cables. 😀

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

0.0 Disclaimer: […]
Show full quote

0.0 Disclaimer:

This guide is provided "as is" and free of charge. There is no warranty or support of any kind. By using this guide, you acknowledge and agree that you do so at your sole risk. The author is not liable for any damages and claims arising from the use of this guide.

0.1 Introduction:

This guide will help you install VxD drivers for Audigy cards under Windows 98SE or Windows ME, including proper support for DOS gaming. It has been successfully tested on retail Audigy 1 (SB0090), Audigy 2 (SB0240) and Audigy 2 ZS (SB0350) cards. However, it isn't suitable for LX/LE/SE and other cut down versions of Audigy cards, nor will it work on Audigy 4 cards. For reference, by using this guide, you get the following features from your Audigy card under Win9x:

• EAX 1, 2 and 3 support for Win9x games
• Sound Blaster 16 emulation for DOS games
• FM Synthesis emulation for DOS games
• General MIDI emulation for DOS games
• Soundfont support for DOS games running under Windows 98SE/ME

Note that soundfonts only work when DOS games are running from within Windows 98/ME. If you go to pure DOS (by choosing Start > Shutdown > Restart in MS-DOS mode) then the card will use the (worse sounding) ECW sets instead. To my knowledge, there is no way to use .SF2 based soundfonts in pure DOS with an Audigy card.

Before starting the installation you need to determine whether your Audigy is made by Creative (retail version) or by an OEM company such as Dell or HP. For example, Dell Audigy 2 ZS cards have three, large white stickers on the back side and their serial number contains the string "SB0358". Creative cards don't have those white stickers and their serial number contains the string "SB0350". This guide is aimed at retail Audigy cards made by Creative. I'm not sure whether this method will work on OEM cards, since I don't own one of those, and they are known to be picky when it comes to driver packs.

Lastly, this guide and the modified driver pack that it uses are tailored to the US English version of Windows 98SE or Windows ME. Installing these drivers on a non-English system may cause the volume control screen (and possibly other aspects of the OS) to appear in English.

1.Hardware and software requirements:

Before proceeding to the next section of this guide, make sure that the following hardware and software requirements are met. If they are not, the driver installation may fail.

1.1 Certain chipsets have compatibility issues with VxD drivers and Creative's SB16 emulation. If you have a motherboard based on an Nvidia nForce chipset or an Intel ICH10+ chipset, then your system might not be compatible with this guide. Additionally, certain motherboards based on VIA chipsets may have compatibility issues with Audigy 1 cards specifically (Audigy 2 and ZS cards should work fine on VIA chipsets)
1.2 Upon booting up your system, enter the BIOS and disable all COM and LPT ports in order to free up additional resources. If your motherboard has an integrated sound card, network card or any other integrated device that you are not using, disable it in the BIOS as well. Lastly, if you are not using USB, disable that too
1.3 During the driver installation process, the Audigy should be the only sound card in your system. Using a second sound card may cause the driver installation to fail
1.4 This guide has only been tested on Windows 98SE and Windows ME. A clean install of Windows must be performed before attempting the driver installation procedure. Do not use any "unofficial service packs". Only install the drivers for your motherboard and graphics card until you complete all the steps in this guide
1.5 An Audigy card requires two free IRQs, one for the card itself and a second one for the FireWire port. The values assigned to those IRQs vary from system to system, but they should not be the same as the IRQ assigned to the SB16 emulation device. Additionally, the SB16 emulation device requires three I/O ports, one IRQ and two DMA channels. The default values are: I/O ports 220, 330 and 388, IRQ 5, DMA 1 and DMA 5. If any of those resources are not free, the driver installation may fail. To determine if your system has enough free resources, under Windows 98SE click Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Information > Hardware Resources and check the IRQ, DMA and I/O sections

2. Preparation:

2.1 Download the modified Audigy 2 ZS driver CD image, and burn it to a disc
2.2 Place the disc in the CD-ROM drive on your Win98SE/ME machine, and cancel the autorun installer in case it starts
2.3 This guide assumes that your CD-ROM drive resides at D: (default location). If it's using a different letter, simply substitute that letter each time you come across D: in this guide

3. Windows Driver Installation

3.1 Run D:\CTShared\LaunchApp\SysInfo\Setup.exe which will install the Creative System Information utility and update the InstallShield Engine (important later)
3.2 Run D:\DirectX\dxsetup.exe which will install DirectX 9.0a and restart your computer (if you already have a newer version installed, skip this step)
3.3 Run D:\Audio\Drivers\CTZAPXX.exe and select "Driver Installation" and "VXD Drivers" then click Ok
3.4 Driver installation will take several minutes, don't interrupt the process until you are prompted to Restart then click Ok
3.5 After the restart, wait until the installer finishes, then go to Start > Settings > Control Panel > Multimedia > Audio > Playback > Advanced Properties > Performance > Sample Rate Conversion Quality > move the slider to "Best"
3.6 Start > Run > sndvol32.exe > Ok. Note that all the volume sliders are currently at 50% which is fairly quiet. You might want to move the sliders to a higher value and also mute any unused inputs

4. Installing Creative Utilities

4.1 Run D:\Audio\AudioHQ\Setup.exe and install Creative's AudioHQ (if you get an InstallShield Engine error here, repeat step 3.1)
4.2 Run D:\Audio\EaxCon\Setup.exe and install Creative EAX Console
4.3 Run D:\Audio\SpkSet\Setup.exe and install Creative Speaker Settings
4.4 Run D:\Audio\Restore\Setup.exe and install Creative Restore Defaults
4.5 Run D:\Audio\SurMixer\Setup.exe and install Creative Surround Mixer
4.6 Run D:\Audio\SFBMgr\Setup.exe and install the SoundFont Bank Manager
4.7 Start > Programs > Creative > Creative Speaker Settings and select the speaker setup that you are using, then click "Channel" in the Speaker Test section (in the screenshot below I'm using 5.1 speakers)
4.8 Start > Programs > Creative > EAX Console > CMSS 3D. I suggest turning CMSS off if you are using speakers and leaving it on if you are using headphones

The attachment Creative_Utilities.jpg is no longer available

5. DOS Driver Installation

5.1 Run D:\DOSDRV\SB16.REG and answer Yes > Ok when prompted (without this registry change, the SB16 Emulation driver will not install correctly on Audigy 2 ZS cards)
5.2 Run D:\DOSDRV\Setup.exe and restart when prompted
5.3 Wait until the Creative SB16 Emulation drivers are fully installed (this may take a few minutes) then restart again when prompted
5.4 During the boot process you might see a "Config file is incomplete" error. If this happens, restart your computer one more time and it should disappear
5.5 Copy the contents of D:\DOSDRV\AUDIGY12 to C:\AUDIGY12
5.6 On Audigy 2 (SB0240) models, you might get a non-functional Creative SB16 Emulation device (yellow exclamation mark) in Device Manager. If this occurs, follow steps 5.7, 5.8 and 5.9. Otherwise, skip them
5.7 Start > Settings > Control Panel > Add New Hardware > Next > Next > No, the device isn't in the list > Next > No, I want to select the hardware from a list > Next > Sound video and game controllers > Next > Creative Technology, Ltd. > Creative SB16 Emulation > Next > Finish
5.8 Restart your computer when prompted
5.9 Do not remove the Creative SB16 Emulation device with the yellow exclamation mark. Leave both devices as they are, otherwise, your DOS compatibility may cease to function

If the installation was successful, you should now have the following under Device Manager:

The attachment Device_Manager.png is no longer available

Important: if you want to use an Audigy 2 or ZS card in pure DOS you will need to run C:\AUDIGY12\AUDIGY12.EXE each time you choose Restart in MS-DOS mode. This is only necessary in pure DOS, do not run that executable when playing games from within Win98SE/ME. Lastly, this step is not needed for Audigy 1 cards.

6. Using a higher quality soundfont

6.1 Go to the D:\DOSDRV\SF2 folder and copy all the .SF2 files from there to C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM
6.2 Go to the D:\DOSDRV\ECW folder and copy all the .ECW files from there to C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM
6.3 Start > Programs > Creative > SoundFont Bank Manager
6.4 Click on "Bank" then click on the default soundfont (2GMGSMT) to select it, then click Replace, select C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\CT8MGM.SF2 wait a few seconds until it loads then click Ok
6.5 Open C:\WINDOWS\CTSYN.INI in Notepad and change this line: Waveset=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\default.ecw to this: Waveset=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\EAPCI8M.ECW
6.6 Save the changes you just made to CTSYN.INI then restart your computer
6.7 Run your favorite DOS game and in setup choose General MIDI for music

The attachment SFB_Manager.jpg is no longer available

For reference, here's how your games will sound with Creative's CT8MGM soundfont (Audigy and SBLive cards sound identical when the same soundfont is loaded). Essentially, with this step complete, you can now select any soundfont that you like for General MIDI playback in DOS games. For example, if you want to use a soundfont which more closely resembles a Roland Sound Canvas see this post. Alternatively, if you want to play games which use GS instruments, see this post.

7. Getting MT-32 compatibility in pure DOS (optional for Win98SE, not applicable for WinME)

7.1 Start > Shutdown > Restart in MS-DOS mode
7.2 C:\AUDIGY12\AUDIGY12.EXE (this should only be used on Audigy 2 and ZS cards)
7.2 C:\Progra~1\Creative\DOSDrv\sbemixer.exe
7.3 Make sure that the MT-32 option is checked, then click Save and press ESC to exit
7.4 Run your favorite DOS game that supports MT-32 (like Monkey Island for example)

Note that MT-32 emulation doesn't sound too great on this card, but I'm including it for completeness sake. That said, these drivers also allow your Audigy card to emulate FM Synthesis, should you want that. Of course, this sounds different from a genuine OPL3 chip, but it may still be somewhat usable, depending on the game that you're playing.

Unsurprisingly, I'm having some (minor) issues with my installation. I finally got that DuPont cable and hooked up the sound card to the CD-ROM via S/PDIF, and I've been following the guide step-by-step. Installing the System Information gives me an Illegal Operation error every time I try to load it, so I had to uninstall it. After installing the DOS drivers, I keep getting the same message when it loads Windows -

'EMM386 Privileged operation error # ^9 - Detectable EMM386 and Continue (C) or reboot (B) (C) or D)?'

I think I have EMM386 and HIMEM enabled, but it never came up with that before. It also now hangs for ages if I change any folder settings, such as showing hidden files etc. Apart from that, everything seems to be working fine. Music was working in Quake 2. 😀 Just need to work on setting up the DOS drivers etc.

EDIT: Okay, that message has stopped. I did put AUTO after the EMM386 line, so that might have done it. Or setting up the DOS drivers. 😀

Just a shame I have that one SB16 Emulation in the Device Manager with an exclamation. It triggers my OCD. :p

EDIT 2: Also, now that the drivers are all on, the System Information is working without an Illegal Operation. Looks like in my case, it has to be installed at the end. Though most boxes/tabs are blank. It just seems to forever say 'Retrieving System Information'.

DustyShinigami wrote on 2025-11-14, 02:28:

Apart from that, everything seems to be working fine. Music was working in Quake 2. 😀

Good to hear! It seems like you managed to get digital CD audio working via SPDIF cable, so Windows games should be covered now.

Regarding DOS drivers, that can be problematic if you have two sound cards in the system. Such a setup is far beyond the scope of this guide, due to the added complexity.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-11-14, 07:24:

DustyShinigami wrote on 2025-11-14, 02:28:

Apart from that, everything seems to be working fine. Music was working in Quake 2. 😀

Good to hear! It seems like you managed to get digital CD audio working via SPDIF cable, so Windows games should be covered now.

Regarding DOS drivers, that can be problematic if you have two sound cards in the system. Such a setup is far beyond the scope of this guide, due to the added complexity.

I'll have a play around and see what happens anyway. I installed them, and added that registry update, so I just need to test a few games. Might be a case of adding a command in one of my custom BAT files depending on the game. Will also look at adding those additional sound fonts and MT-32 capability. 😀

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

0.0 Disclaimer: […]
Show full quote

0.0 Disclaimer:

This guide is provided "as is" and free of charge. There is no warranty or support of any kind. By using this guide, you acknowledge and agree that you do so at your sole risk. The author is not liable for any damages and claims arising from the use of this guide.

0.1 Introduction:

This guide will help you install VxD drivers for Audigy cards under Windows 98SE or Windows ME, including proper support for DOS gaming. It has been successfully tested on retail Audigy 1 (SB0090), Audigy 2 (SB0240) and Audigy 2 ZS (SB0350) cards. However, it isn't suitable for LX/LE/SE and other cut down versions of Audigy cards, nor will it work on Audigy 4 cards. For reference, by using this guide, you get the following features from your Audigy card under Win9x:

• EAX 1, 2 and 3 support for Win9x games
• Sound Blaster 16 emulation for DOS games
• FM Synthesis emulation for DOS games
• General MIDI emulation for DOS games
• Soundfont support for DOS games running under Windows 98SE/ME

Note that soundfonts only work when DOS games are running from within Windows 98/ME. If you go to pure DOS (by choosing Start > Shutdown > Restart in MS-DOS mode) then the card will use the (worse sounding) ECW sets instead. To my knowledge, there is no way to use .SF2 based soundfonts in pure DOS with an Audigy card.

Before starting the installation you need to determine whether your Audigy is made by Creative (retail version) or by an OEM company such as Dell or HP. For example, Dell Audigy 2 ZS cards have three, large white stickers on the back side and their serial number contains the string "SB0358". Creative cards don't have those white stickers and their serial number contains the string "SB0350". This guide is aimed at retail Audigy cards made by Creative. I'm not sure whether this method will work on OEM cards, since I don't own one of those, and they are known to be picky when it comes to driver packs.

Lastly, this guide and the modified driver pack that it uses are tailored to the US English version of Windows 98SE or Windows ME. Installing these drivers on a non-English system may cause the volume control screen (and possibly other aspects of the OS) to appear in English.

1.Hardware and software requirements:

Before proceeding to the next section of this guide, make sure that the following hardware and software requirements are met. If they are not, the driver installation may fail.

1.1 Certain chipsets have compatibility issues with VxD drivers and Creative's SB16 emulation. If you have a motherboard based on an Nvidia nForce chipset or an Intel ICH10+ chipset, then your system might not be compatible with this guide. Additionally, certain motherboards based on VIA chipsets may have compatibility issues with Audigy 1 cards specifically (Audigy 2 and ZS cards should work fine on VIA chipsets)
1.2 Upon booting up your system, enter the BIOS and disable all COM and LPT ports in order to free up additional resources. If your motherboard has an integrated sound card, network card or any other integrated device that you are not using, disable it in the BIOS as well. Lastly, if you are not using USB, disable that too
1.3 During the driver installation process, the Audigy should be the only sound card in your system. Using a second sound card may cause the driver installation to fail
1.4 This guide has only been tested on Windows 98SE and Windows ME. A clean install of Windows must be performed before attempting the driver installation procedure. Do not use any "unofficial service packs". Only install the drivers for your motherboard and graphics card until you complete all the steps in this guide
1.5 An Audigy card requires two free IRQs, one for the card itself and a second one for the FireWire port. The values assigned to those IRQs vary from system to system, but they should not be the same as the IRQ assigned to the SB16 emulation device. Additionally, the SB16 emulation device requires three I/O ports, one IRQ and two DMA channels. The default values are: I/O ports 220, 330 and 388, IRQ 5, DMA 1 and DMA 5. If any of those resources are not free, the driver installation may fail. To determine if your system has enough free resources, under Windows 98SE click Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Information > Hardware Resources and check the IRQ, DMA and I/O sections

2. Preparation:

2.1 Download the modified Audigy 2 ZS driver CD image, and burn it to a disc
2.2 Place the disc in the CD-ROM drive on your Win98SE/ME machine, and cancel the autorun installer in case it starts
2.3 This guide assumes that your CD-ROM drive resides at D: (default location). If it's using a different letter, simply substitute that letter each time you come across D: in this guide

3. Windows Driver Installation

3.1 Run D:\CTShared\LaunchApp\SysInfo\Setup.exe which will install the Creative System Information utility and update the InstallShield Engine (important later)
3.2 Run D:\DirectX\dxsetup.exe which will install DirectX 9.0a and restart your computer (if you already have a newer version installed, skip this step)
3.3 Run D:\Audio\Drivers\CTZAPXX.exe and select "Driver Installation" and "VXD Drivers" then click Ok
3.4 Driver installation will take several minutes, don't interrupt the process until you are prompted to Restart then click Ok
3.5 After the restart, wait until the installer finishes, then go to Start > Settings > Control Panel > Multimedia > Audio > Playback > Advanced Properties > Performance > Sample Rate Conversion Quality > move the slider to "Best"
3.6 Start > Run > sndvol32.exe > Ok. Note that all the volume sliders are currently at 50% which is fairly quiet. You might want to move the sliders to a higher value and also mute any unused inputs

4. Installing Creative Utilities

4.1 Run D:\Audio\AudioHQ\Setup.exe and install Creative's AudioHQ (if you get an InstallShield Engine error here, repeat step 3.1)
4.2 Run D:\Audio\EaxCon\Setup.exe and install Creative EAX Console
4.3 Run D:\Audio\SpkSet\Setup.exe and install Creative Speaker Settings
4.4 Run D:\Audio\Restore\Setup.exe and install Creative Restore Defaults
4.5 Run D:\Audio\SurMixer\Setup.exe and install Creative Surround Mixer
4.6 Run D:\Audio\SFBMgr\Setup.exe and install the SoundFont Bank Manager
4.7 Start > Programs > Creative > Creative Speaker Settings and select the speaker setup that you are using, then click "Channel" in the Speaker Test section (in the screenshot below I'm using 5.1 speakers)
4.8 Start > Programs > Creative > EAX Console > CMSS 3D. I suggest turning CMSS off if you are using speakers and leaving it on if you are using headphones

The attachment Creative_Utilities.jpg is no longer available

5. DOS Driver Installation

5.1 Run D:\DOSDRV\SB16.REG and answer Yes > Ok when prompted (without this registry change, the SB16 Emulation driver will not install correctly on Audigy 2 ZS cards)
5.2 Run D:\DOSDRV\Setup.exe and restart when prompted
5.3 Wait until the Creative SB16 Emulation drivers are fully installed (this may take a few minutes) then restart again when prompted
5.4 During the boot process you might see a "Config file is incomplete" error. If this happens, restart your computer one more time and it should disappear
5.5 Copy the contents of D:\DOSDRV\AUDIGY12 to C:\AUDIGY12
5.6 On Audigy 2 (SB0240) models, you might get a non-functional Creative SB16 Emulation device (yellow exclamation mark) in Device Manager. If this occurs, follow steps 5.7, 5.8 and 5.9. Otherwise, skip them
5.7 Start > Settings > Control Panel > Add New Hardware > Next > Next > No, the device isn't in the list > Next > No, I want to select the hardware from a list > Next > Sound video and game controllers > Next > Creative Technology, Ltd. > Creative SB16 Emulation > Next > Finish
5.8 Restart your computer when prompted
5.9 Do not remove the Creative SB16 Emulation device with the yellow exclamation mark. Leave both devices as they are, otherwise, your DOS compatibility may cease to function

If the installation was successful, you should now have the following under Device Manager:

The attachment Device_Manager.png is no longer available

Important: if you want to use an Audigy 2 or ZS card in pure DOS you will need to run C:\AUDIGY12\AUDIGY12.EXE each time you choose Restart in MS-DOS mode. This is only necessary in pure DOS, do not run that executable when playing games from within Win98SE/ME. Lastly, this step is not needed for Audigy 1 cards.

6. Using a higher quality soundfont

6.1 Go to the D:\DOSDRV\SF2 folder and copy all the .SF2 files from there to C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM
6.2 Go to the D:\DOSDRV\ECW folder and copy all the .ECW files from there to C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM
6.3 Start > Programs > Creative > SoundFont Bank Manager
6.4 Click on "Bank" then click on the default soundfont (2GMGSMT) to select it, then click Replace, select C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\CT8MGM.SF2 wait a few seconds until it loads then click Ok
6.5 Open C:\WINDOWS\CTSYN.INI in Notepad and change this line: Waveset=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\default.ecw to this: Waveset=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\EAPCI8M.ECW
6.6 Save the changes you just made to CTSYN.INI then restart your computer
6.7 Run your favorite DOS game and in setup choose General MIDI for music

The attachment SFB_Manager.jpg is no longer available

For reference, here's how your games will sound with Creative's CT8MGM soundfont (Audigy and SBLive cards sound identical when the same soundfont is loaded). Essentially, with this step complete, you can now select any soundfont that you like for General MIDI playback in DOS games. For example, if you want to use a soundfont which more closely resembles a Roland Sound Canvas see this post. Alternatively, if you want to play games which use GS instruments, see this post.

7. Getting MT-32 compatibility in pure DOS (optional for Win98SE, not applicable for WinME)

7.1 Start > Shutdown > Restart in MS-DOS mode
7.2 C:\AUDIGY12\AUDIGY12.EXE (this should only be used on Audigy 2 and ZS cards)
7.2 C:\Progra~1\Creative\DOSDrv\sbemixer.exe
7.3 Make sure that the MT-32 option is checked, then click Save and press ESC to exit
7.4 Run your favorite DOS game that supports MT-32 (like Monkey Island for example)

Note that MT-32 emulation doesn't sound too great on this card, but I'm including it for completeness sake. That said, these drivers also allow your Audigy card to emulate FM Synthesis, should you want that. Of course, this sounds different from a genuine OPL3 chip, but it may still be somewhat usable, depending on the game that you're playing.

Did a fresh clean install of 98 the other day and I've noticed after installing the DOS drivers, where it adds some commands into the autoexec.bat and config.sys files, that it's preventing my PC from booting up. The first time I kept getting a BSOD before it could load the desktop. I removed both files and that fixed it. Once I put them back though, the system doesn't even reach the desktop. It just resets itself over and over.

It wouldn't be related to me having a second sound card installed, would it? I know you mentioned it could affect the installation, though I've not run into any problems there.

On a separate note, I did look at seeing if I could disable the COM and LPT ports to free up resources, but I'm not sure if I've found them or what I should change them to. Not sure if these are related to something else.

Also, how exactly do you change the audio ports? I tried each of the executables, and the one that allegedly lets you, doesn't seem to work. Despite putting in the syntax it asks for. Eg: sbeset -a220 -i5. It just keeps telling me it's an invalid switch.

But yeah, the ports it has set are totally wrong. Surely it needs to be 220, not 240? IRQ 5? And MPU-401 330? Not 300.

Also, I tried adding a command to apply the Audigy 12 patch on boot, but Windows still crashes with a BSOD.

DustyShinigami wrote on Today, 00:53:

Also, how exactly do you change the audio ports? I tried each of the executables, and the one that allegedly lets you, doesn't seem to work. Despite putting in the syntax it asks for. Eg: sbeset -a220 -i5. It just keeps telling me it's an invalid switch.

But yeah, the ports it has set are totally wrong. Surely it needs to be 220, not 240? IRQ 5? And MPU-401 330? Not 300.

Also, I tried adding a command to apply the Audigy 12 patch on boot, but Windows still crashes with a BSOD.

You only need to run the dos driver in ms-dos mode/boot to command prompt. You should be able to run it from a batch file while running dos apps. On my p4 based system I have the same problem.

sharangad wrote on Today, 01:00:

DustyShinigami wrote on Today, 00:53:

Also, how exactly do you change the audio ports? I tried each of the executables, and the one that allegedly lets you, doesn't seem to work. Despite putting in the syntax it asks for. Eg: sbeset -a220 -i5. It just keeps telling me it's an invalid switch.

But yeah, the ports it has set are totally wrong. Surely it needs to be 220, not 240? IRQ 5? And MPU-401 330? Not 300.

Also, I tried adding a command to apply the Audigy 12 patch on boot, but Windows still crashes with a BSOD.

You only need to run the dos driver in ms-dos mode/boot to command prompt. You should be able to run it from a batch file while running dos apps. On my p4 based system I have the same problem.

Ahh, I see. But yeah, I plan to load these drivers up for specific games via a BAT file.

What I am wondering though, is it possible to unload a driver when exiting DOS back to Windows? These drivers prevent Windows from loading, so it would be useful to unload them if I decide to exit DOS and return to Windows.