First post, by PhaytalError
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I am a big SB16 fan, why? I dunno, I guess I like all it's little quirks, and the "noise" aka hiss, is not noticable on the PC speakers I own [perhaps they filter out noise].
However, lately i've been stumbling over something, and thats OPL3 corruption, it's been plaguing me for days, and only happens in random games and apps and i've been wondering what is it?
Well messing around in the BIOS I remembered a "trick" I did back in 1997 [my motherboard is an ASUS P3B-F v1.04, I had this same model back in 1997], the trick to correcting OPL3 corruption is to enable the "Passive Release" and "Delayed Transaction" options if available in your BIOS, and to increase [the lower the faster, however increasing the number is important to fix ALL OPL3 corruption] the 8-bit I/O Recovery to it's highest number which is 8 BUSCLK, you can set [or leave] 16-bit I/O Recovery to 1 BUSCLK.
So what's going on? Why is this needed? The answer is simple your ISA and PCI devices are in a rut! PCI clock frequencies are much higher (33 MHz) compared to ISA frequencies (16 MHz), and it has to be forced to wait longer (more clock cycles) for the ISA device(s) to "catch up".
Don't even think about using anything below 8 BUSCLK's because it doesn't resolve all issues, for instance using 7 BUSCLK, X-Wing begins corrupting when the Tie Fighters destroy the rebel ship during the opening cinematic.
In other words, 8 BUSCLK is the magic number for ISA sound cards. 😀
I [and you] can now enjoy apps such as AdTracker 2, and games such as X-Wing and more without any hiccups or sound issues. 😁
DOS Gaming System: MS-DOS, AMD K6-III+ 400/ATZ@600Mhz, ASUS P5A v1.04 Motherboard, 32 MB RAM, 17" CRT monitor, Diamond Stealth 64 3000 4mb PCI, SB16 [CT1770], Roland MT-32 & Roland SC-55, 40GB Hard Drive, 3.5" Floppy Drive.