Getting MIDI in DOS/W98 Dosbox? \ VOGONS

Getting MIDI in DOS/W98 Dosbox?

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First post, by DNSDies

Posted on 2014-07-25, 20:31

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I'm trying to get a Thinkpad X20 together for some early windows/late DOS games, and I've run into a snag with getting some Sierra games to work the way I want.

The X20 has a Crystal Semiconductor CS4281 sound chip, which works in DOS, but gives TERRIBLE OPL emulation with chirpy tinny percussion notes, but the WSS (Port 388) FM Wavetable is very nice.

If I start Windows 98 with the VXD Drivers (from the Lenovo website), I get SB DAC working fine in DOS.
If I then change the drivers over to the WDM Win98SE drivers, I KEEP the SB audio, and Windows will enable the FM Wavetable stuff on MIDI, resulting in wonderful music.

Is there any way to get this effect without swapping and re-swapping drivers after each restart?

Here's the datasheet on the chip, if it helps:
http://ecee.colorado.edu/~siewerts/ecen/hardw … ecoder_Spec.pdf

Reply 1 of 7, by collector

Posted on 2014-07-25, 20:37

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Windows 9x is not supported by DOSBox. In addition this forum is for DOS games, not DOSBox. DOSBox questions should be posted in DOSBox forum.

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Reply 2 of 7, by leileilol

Posted on 2014-07-26, 02:45

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You should be able to use Hal9000's Megabuild for OPL passthrough capability in Windows 98. PIII 600MHz should be enough for many games out there, but definitely not for the 'late' ones through emulation.

collector wrote:

In addition this forum is for DOS games, not DOSBox.

Actually he's trying to use a retro laptop for both native gameplay and emulation, and the specs are rather nice for this purpose (in theory)

long live PCem

Reply 3 of 7, by collector

Posted on 2014-07-26, 06:22

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He did have DOSBox in his title, but if he is trying to get old hardware working and non game specific it should be in Marvin.

The Sierra Help Pages -- New Sierra Game Installers -- Sierra Game Patches -- New Non-Sierra Game Installers

Reply 4 of 7, by DNSDies

Posted on 2014-07-26, 07:02

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it's "game specific" in that it's an attempt to get General Midi in Quest for Glory 4 in Win98 on real hardware in the windows 98 "dos box" (not DOSBOX, the emulator).

Reply 5 of 7, by Mau1wurf1977

Posted on 2014-07-26, 07:17

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On the Thinkpad website, are there drivers for DOS as well? I mean proper DOS, not for Windows.

Because running a DOS game from within Windows is not the best way of doing things 😀

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Reply 6 of 7, by DNSDies

Posted on 2014-07-26, 07:37

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there is , and there isn't.

There's a Windows 95 VxD driver that also installs a DOS driver. It works, mostly, but I can't use the midi device on Address 388.

Reply 7 of 7, by Mau1wurf1977

Posted on 2014-07-26, 07:46

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Cool. And these DOS drivers, did you play around with them in MS-DOS mode as well? Are there INI or other configuration files that might have options?

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