VOGONS

vgmdos - VGM chiptune player for DOS (286+) [Beta]

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First post, by theelf

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Hi all! I've been building a VGM music player for DOS and wanted to share a beta here to get some feedback before a proper release.

vgmdos plays VGM files using pure software chip emulation through a sb card . Tested and working on a real 286 25MHz, in fact, the target is a 286 machine

Supported systems:

Sega Master System / Game Gear / SG-1000 / ColecoVision / Tandy (SN76489 PSG)
Neo Geo Pocket (T6W28 dual-chip stereo PSG)
MSX (AY8910), with or without Konami SCC wavetable chip (scc VGM really dont work well in a 286 need 386DX+)

Other PSG machines/arcade/systems?¿

The software have

Fullscreen text UI with a directory browser
Reads GD3 tags (song/game/author/system) when available
Autodetects the chip type: by folder name (drop your files in folders named MSX, NGP, etc) or by scanning the VGM commands themselves if theres no hint
A config file (VGMDOS.INI) to set a starting path, toggle VU meters and pick audio quality (8000 to 44100Hz, set 8,16,22,44 default is 16 for 286 is best)
Can also play a whole folder in one go, recursively , using space bar

Is a beta bugs are expected, specially on different hardware than what I tested. Any feedback is very welcome, Im spanish so sorry in advance for my English!

thanks

Last edited by theelf on 2026-08-08, 23:34. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 1 of 2, by theelf

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The attachment 20260809_005716.jpg is no longer available

Hi, uploading a new version. Lots of interesting improvements (i think)

Support for more chips:

* NES and Famicom Disk System
* Game Boy
* PC Engine / TurboGrafx
* WonderSwan
* AY8910 (MSX, ZX Spectrum 128, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST)

Something i really need and use, added COVOX support! Yes, you dont even need a Sound Blaster !

OUTPUT=SB -> Sound Blaster
OUTPUT=L1, L2, L3, L4 -> COVOX on those parallel ports

I also added provisional PicoGUS support for the SN76489 chip, so it can play Game Gear, Master System, Tandy, and other VGM files that use this chipset.

Another new feature is a YM2413 to OPL3 translator for the FM sound used by the Master System FM Unit. To my ears it sounds quite decent.

The file browser can now read song names directly from the GD3 tags, so you dont have to rely only on filenames.

There is also support for a vgm.dir file to provide custom names for directories. I've included an example in the ZIP.

More optimization too. On my 286 25, at 11 kHz all cores run fine using COVOX, and FDS works at 8 kHz.

As always, feedback and testing on different hardware is welcome.

The attachment vgm.zip is no longer available

Reply 2 of 2, by wbahnassi

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Nice, I tried a VGM for F1-Spirit from MSX, and that game uses both SCC and the AY8910 at the same time. Right now it is only playing the AY8910. The SCC sounds are completely dropped.

I see also that people use .VGZ files, which are .VGM compressed with gzip. Any chance these can be supported directly instead of requiring manual decompression ahead of time?

Thanks!

Turbo XT 12MHz, EGA, MFM HDD
Intel 386 DX-33, Speedstar 24X, SB 1.5, 1x CD
Intel 486 DX2-66, CL5428 VLB, SBPro 2, 2x CD
IBM BlueLightning 100MHz, CL5428, SB16, 4x CD
Intel Pentium 90, Matrox Millenium 2, SB16, 4x CD
HP Z400, Xeon 3.46GHz, YMF-744, RTX2060

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