Although my system specs are in my signature, they are as follows:

+ ASUS A7V333 mainboard (VIA KT333)
+ Athlon XP 1800+ (1.2GHz)
+ 512 MB DDR SDRAM
+ GeForce4 Ti4200 64MB DDR Creative
+ Integrated CMI8738 audio on-board (PCI). It has SB emulation for DOS (I mean real DOS, booting from floppy) but it forces SB IRQ on IRQ10 which doesn't work for many games.
+ Whoops. I forgot OS -> WinXP Prof. SP-1

Hmm, that's interesting. Did you enable fixPOPF?

Originally posted by eL_PuSHeR + Under Monopoly, keyboard still works and I can exit to dos via CTRL-Q
+ Under Elvira:MOTD the game just hangs

*heh* Even then, you still have multiple versions.
For Elvira, can we presume you mean this? and not this platform game? Kind of presuming the first, but lots of times the "full title" is used even when it 's not mentioned on the box.

If so, does it work if you configure it use the PC speaker?
Also, have you tryed it with DosBox? (NOTE: Be sure and read the README file that comes with it).

For Monopoly, is it this one from 1989? this one from 1992? or some other version?

I'd be surprised if the 1989 version ran properly outside of DosBox, but the 1992 version should work OK. BTW, you can also try the 1992 version with DosBox as well since it only needs VGA and 286 support.

+ Under Supaplex, Roland and SB music work fine, as soon as you enable SB effects (samples), the game hangs.

It's rare for MobyGames to mention compatibility problems in a game's Technical Specs, so you can bet most other people can't get it working properly either...

Again, try it with DosBox. You will probably have to lower the "cycles" in DosBox for it to be playable.

BTW, if all else fails, these were all available for the Amiga as well, so its emulation is an option.

Thank you very much for your replies. I will try to elaborate further.

- [Snover]: I don't know what is FixPOPF. I will try searching the forum, first.

- [Nicht Sehr Gut]: Forgive me for not giving detailed information about the games. Yes Elvira:MOTD is the RPG/adventure game from Horrorsoft, distributed by Accolade. There is also an AMIGA version which I've already tried but IMHO the PC version is better. I will try the internal speaker thing. I have to say that I tried DosBox a long time ago and it seemed quite bad to me. Maybe it was a real old version. Will try downloading latest version to see it.

The Monopoly game is the 1992 Virgin version called Monopoly Deluxe 1.0 programmed by Juan M. Alvarado.

FixPOPF = 1 was already enabled in the INI config file. I switched it to 0 but to no avail 🙁
Under Elvira as soon as I specify Soundblaster in SETUP.EXE and run the game .bat file the mouse pointer hangs. Anyway, I can use CTRL-C to stop batch-file processing and exitting.
Using ADLIB works but there is still a huge loop when sound samples are played (through the internal speaker). I've found out this must be some case of timing issue, and when SB is selected sound samples still come from the internal speaker. OTOH, SETUP.EXE doesn't have a way to specify PORT, IRQ and DMA settings. I've always hated autodetection.

OK, I gave a shot to DOSBOX and now the three games are playable even if sound quality isn't as better as under VDMsound. Elvira still sounds like crap when playing samples (SB not detected? - playing from Internal Speaker) but at least is playable.

GREAT!

I tried Elvira:MOTD again under DosBox yesterday and now everything is in working orden. Even Beeper and SB samples sound properly. This is odd. I swear I didn't change anything 😀

Originally posted by eL_PuSHeR ... not giving detailed information about the games.

Not a problem. It's just that sometimes titles like Monopoly or "Carmen Sandiego" have re-released multiple times. Just keeping track of the versions is a headache.

...AMIGA version which I've already tried but IMHO the PC version is better.

*boo* *hiss*
Having said that, the programmers for the Amiga version did two naughty things, inserted an ad for an Elvira videotape, and (the big one) made the profoundly bad move of creating of 320x200 display using a 320x256 display mode to match up with PAL specs for people using Amiga's with their TV's. So even if you had a proper monitor, changing the video mode (to NTSC, where it fills the screen) makes it unplayable. *grumble* Hopefully the American version fixed those things (only played with the U.K. version).

I have to say that I tried DosBox a long time ago and it seemed quite bad to me.

Just remember, "the right tool for the right job". For 286 games with speed issues and basic SoundBlaster support...DosBox is king.

For 16-Bit Digital audio 486/Pentium titles, head for VDMSound. Other tools like ScummVM should also be tried when applicable.

Originally posted by eL_PuSHeR FixPOPF = 1 was already enabled in the INI config file. I switched it to 0 but to no avail

I believe he meant the bug that has a "brute force" workaround with VDMSound 2.04

For some titles, you have to go to your game's .VLP shortcut (created by the GUI the first time it's run), get it's properties, click "Advanced", go to the "Troubleshooting" tab, "check" the "Custom Configuration" box and paste the following into the open text area:
[VDMServicesProvider.config]
fixPOPF = 1

It doesn't apply in this case, though.

Under Elvira as soon as I specify Soundblaster in SETUP.EXE and run the game .bat file the mouse pointer hangs. Using ADLIB works but there is still a huge loop when sound samples are played

Didn't experience any of this. Only problem was that MIDI did a fairly dreadful imitation of the original MOD music.

Originally posted by eL_PuSHeR I tried Elvira:MOTD again under DosBox yesterday and now everything is in working order. Even Beeper and SB samples sound properly. This is odd. I swear I didn't change anything

Yeah, right. Be honest. You found and removed a dead squirrel lodged in the crevice by the CPU fan didn't you? Man, I hate it when that happens.