Originally posted by dundas61 How do you get the sound working for Age of Rifles on a Windows XP (preferably using VDMSound) ?(I've got everything else working ok - many thanks to the various Age of Rifles thread contributors here!

I have to admit I'm not sure I'm understanding you.
"I've got everything else working ok" means what?
Everything else but audio in "Age of Rifles"?
All other games but AoR are working in XP?

Presuming you've read the previous posts on AoR, you know it has various problems. These problems become worse when you try to run it on an NT OS.

Here's basically what I've figured out:

On my Celeron II-566 System with Win98 and XP:
On the Windows 98 side, everything ran properly and stable within Windows 98.

On the XP side, it ran the SMK intro (at proper speed) in silence (should play audio track from CD).
After intro, CD music seems to play fine. In-game "menu" music seems fine, CD-Music during game-play is "whacked". Seems like everything causes problems with the music, just dragging a path for soldiers to follow seems to cause the CD to "thrash" between audio tracks. This, apparently, is processor-related.

Native XP emulation is similar, except the audio quality is worse.

On my Celeron4-1.7GHz Dual-Boot Win98SE/XP:
The "thrashing" of audio doesn't occur here. Apparently streaming the CD-audio, audio emulation, and running the game on XP is too much for a 566MHz PC.

Here are the "issues" with AoR:
If your video card doesn't support LFB-mode VESA in 2000/XP, you will have problems starting the game at all. I have to use NOLFB.COM for my GeForce3 to get a display.

Outside of running it Win98, I have yet to see the intro play properly. Not a big issue, just a minor note.

You must have low-level CD-ROM support.
You may or may not be able to get CD-audio using NT's MSCDEX.
(NOTE: AoR really want to use the MSCDX223.EXE that's included on the CD)
From SSI's old board:

"Specific Problems: (CD ROM)

If you get the message, "Can't Access CD-ROM" you will probably need to upgrade your version of MSCDEX. Age of Rifles won't run with any version older than 2.22."

That, of course, isn't possible with an NT OS, but it explains why operation can be "flaky" outside of DOS/Win9x).
If "Low-level CD-ROM support" doesn't give you CD-audio with VDMSound. Try installing and using SAPUCDEX.

Place the files in your Windows "system32" directory. To use it with your GUI Launchpad: Right-click the "Properties" of the game's VLP file, click Advanced and choose the "DOS Environment" tab and type SAPUCDEX into the AUTOEXEC.BAT box. Click OK twice. On the 566 Celeron, I had to use SAPUCDEX get audio on the intro. On the 1.7 machine, I didn't. Go figure.

The mouse will be slow...
I can live with it, others can't... Not sure if/which mouse "fix" is appropriate. Like I said, it's tolerable.

The most significant thing is this:
"Age of Rifles" has no tolerance for more than one CD-ROM drive.
Despite what was said earlier, it has no problem with the letter that identifies the CD...it just won't tolerate more than one.

If you have more than one drive it will generate a message like this at startup:
Cd functions will be disabled...
Bank loaded.
CD-ROM identified as drive H:

It will also cause all audio to be disabled. This is regardless of what OS you're using.

The only way I know around this is to disable all other CD/DVD drives. In XP, you should be able to do that without rebooting.

When it runs properly it will generate a message like this at startup:
Bank loaded.
CD-ROM identified as drive H:

While you're at it, you should probably upgrade your AoR with the last unofficial patch:
ftp://ftp.militarygameronline.com/pub/AgeofRi … 3_universal.zip

Many thanks for your comprehensive reply. You've certainly given me a few ideas to try (although I've already updated AoR to the latest version).
Am I right in thinking that the "lastdrive" command would be best for disabling my second CD drive ?

Originally posted by dundas61 Am I right in thinking that the "lastdrive" command would be best for disabling my second CD drive ?

No. It must be disabled at the OS-level. That means the device must be disabled in the "Device Manager". Otherwise, be prepared for silence.

Start -->Settings --> Control Panel --> System -->Hardware --> Device Manager -->DVD/CD-ROM Drives

(That is presuming the Control Panel is set to use "Classic View")

Many thanks, Nicht Sehr Gut !
Yes, disabling the DVD drive fixed all my "Age of Rifles" sound problems immediately. And what a difference it makes - the sound effects and music pieces are truly awesome, considering the age of the game ! There is stll the occasional "chopping" you mentioned, but that disappears if you periodically stop moving the mouse and let the game catch up with you.
So let battle commence, what with several hundred scenarios still available to download off the internet !

Originally posted by dundas61 Yes, disabling the DVD drive fixed all my "Age of Rifles" sound problems immediately.

Like I said, which drive you leave active is not a major concern, but you must only leave one drive active...

There is still the occasional "chopping" you mentioned, but that disappears if you periodically stop moving the mouse and let the game catch up with you.

Tweaking, or using 8 bit drivers might help...

But for the most part,...there was much rejoicing. yea.