If you select "Soundblaster" in the game's setup (and there is no separate option for music) then the game will most likely use the FM capabilities of the emulated SoundBlaster for music. 🆙

Now, what do you mean by "the emulator did not like that"?

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V.

If you select "Soundblaster" in the game's setup (and there is no separate option for music) then the game will most likely use the FM capabilities of the emulated SoundBlaster for music.

Does this mean I only have to emulate the soundblaster, or do I need to emulate MIDI also? If so, how do I know what device/settings to set the MIDI to?

The soundblaster settings alone are only outputting sound, and not music.

"Now, what do you mean by "the emulator did not like that"?

If I emulate both soundblaster and MIDI using the same device/settings, I get an error:

"An emulation module attempted to take ownership of ports that were already hooked by another module"

Am I doing something wrong?

I assume you are using LuanchPad

dave26 wrote:

If I emulate both soundblaster and MIDI using the same device/settings, I get an error:

"An emulation module attempted to take ownership of ports that were already hooked by another module"

Am I doing something wrong?

Yes, you modified some settings (in VDMS.INI or Launchpad). Do not touch those settings, theya re fine (use the defaults). Leava everything (MIDI, AdLib, SB) enabled and on their defaults ports -- the game will figure everything out by itself.

V.

Ok, I tried keeping everything on the default ports etc. An in-game error message comes up telling me I've chosen the wrong soundcard. Yet when I disable MIDI and Adlib (and keep SB), I am able to bypass this message, and the sound works, but the music still doesn't.

The sound is set up in a separate exe in the same folder, called Install.exe

It doesn't matter what I set it to and emulate, I can't get the music to work.

Could you do me a really big favour and look at it yourself?, coz its hard to explain.

Do you have a link to a demo?

Ugh, Vlad, stop giving the customers bad advice. 😉

Leave everything in LAUNCHPAD as it is by default, and then make sure the GAME has these settings (eg. don't let the stupid thing try to auto-detect):

Sound Address: 220h
IRQ: 7
DMA 8-bit: 1
DMA 16-bit : 5 [if it doesn't ask you specifically, use 1 for the DMA!]

Music Address: 388h *or* 330h (330h is for General MIDI, 338h is for AdLib/SB)
IRQ: 2 (for General MIDI only)

If this doesn't solve the problem, well, I dunno.

hmm.. I'm confused about what to do. The sound and music do not have separate settings (only the sound does), and using the defaults still brings up the "wrong sound card" error in the game.

Maybe you could take a look for me? Please?

-dave-

Hi, Dave,
I'll take a look at the game. In the meantime, are you using LaunchPad or not?
V.

Thanks vladr, I really appreciate that =)

and yes, I am using LaunchPad

Thanks again,

Sorta on-topic:
The Asterix & Obelix arcade game, by Konami, is quite nice... and playable in MAME...
http://www.mame.dk/gameinfo/asterix/

Unregistered wrote:

My problem is that there is not a separate sound and music device selection, which is confusing. The sound and music could not both be played through the same device with the same settings (the emulator did not like that),...

The games audio options are these:
1 Sound Blaster
2 Sound Blaster Pro
3 Sound Blaster 16
4 Sound Blaster Awe 32
5 Adlib Gold
6 Gravis Ultrasound
7 No sound card

Whatever you choose will play both sound effects and music.
(Except maybe the Adlib, which may be music only).

The configuration options are as follows:
Edit Base Address 220
Edit IRQ Number 5
Edit DMA Channel 1
(the Adlib has a single address only)

This will cover both music and sound effects. The only oddity is that there's no option for the FM address. IIRC, that would be 388, and it's consistent across the SoundBlaster lineup.

When I tested with VDMSound, it refused to run; insistenting that I had chosen the wrong soundcard. I noticed that it always said this regardless of my choice (except for "no sound card").
[I always matched the settings to those of VDMSound's]

Try running setup with the following choices:
1 Sound Blaster
and the following settings:
Edit Base Address 220
Edit IRQ Number 5
Edit DMA Channel 1

Then run this without VDMSound (delete or move the VDMSound shortcut). This should cause it to use XP's built-in emulation. When I tested this I only got a few, sporadic sounds and no music at all.

Forgot to ask, why not use the Windows executable?

Nicht Sehr Gut wrote:

Then run this without VDMSound (delete or move the VDMSound shortcut). This should cause it to use XP's built-in emulation. When I tested this I only got a few, sporadic sounds and no music at all.

Whenever a game works *without* VDMSound then it must also work with VDMSound *if* you apply "Update 1" from http://vdmsound.sourceforge.net/files/VDMSoun … 0.4.update1.zip , which is especially true if we are talking a DOS4GW game. What probably happens is that the game suffers from the CLI problem, so the update should fix it.

To apply "Update 1" simply download (link above) and extract into the VDMSound directory (e.g. "C:\Program Files\VDMSound"), ovewriting when prompted. Then "Run with VDMS" the INSTALL program using VDMSound's default settings, and choose SB16 on port 220, IRQ7 and DMA1 in INSTALL. Save the configuration, then "Run with DVMS" OBELIX.EXE (also using the default settings) and hopefully the soundcard will be detected.

V.

Unregistered wrote:

Whenever a game works *without* VDMSound then it must also work with VDMSound *if* you apply "Update 1"...

Vlad, Vlad, Vlad. You forget how "magic" things can happen on PC...and not in a good way. This was a full install, with the update applied, and the GUI installed. If look back at my earlier post you'll see it refused to run with VDMSound. (After your post I went back to double-check. No change).

The only audio option that worked with VDMSound was "No Sound". I got snippets of audio from XP and that's it.

To apply "Update 1" simply download (link above) and extract into the VDMSound directory... "...

Geez, Vlad. It's ME. Remember? The "we need a new all-in-one foolproof install for people who keep skipping the installation steps" guy. Heh. You must be a natural born "support guy".

...and choose SB16 on port 220, IRQ7 and DMA1 in INSTALL. Save the configuration, then "Run with VDMS" OBELIX.EXE (also using the default settings) and hopefully the soundcard will be detected.

Double and triple checked this. Nothing worked for me.

I spotted a Windows executable in the archive, so I gave it a whirl on my 98SE partition. Ran flawlessly. Background music, sound effects, all the graphic sizing options. Everything ran just like it's supposed to, with no pre-configuration (well, the screen has to be in a 256-color mode for it to run).

Apparently the windows executable is what's using the MIDI files, as the same tunes sound different when you change MIDI libraries (Also, there's no MIDI option for the DOS version).

Now for the bad news. I can't get the Windows version to run properly on the XP side. I ran it with all the compatibility modes switched on: Windows 95 mode, 256 colors, 640x480 mode, and no visual themes.

Unfortunately, something's causing a drawing/sizing problem with the game window (the Windows version won't run in a fullscreen mode apparently). I can't see anything within the game window, including the option buttons (Windows-based menus are fine).

Also, the game window seems to have near-infinite height. Took lots of manual resizing just to find the bottom. Even then it wouldn't let me move it.

BTW, this title proves that compatibility mode does indeed "do things" as the game seems to run properly (although not visibly), but will crash instantly with a memory protection error if you don't run it in compatibility mode for Windows 95 or 98.

No solution yet. Unless, of course, you dual-boot.

I couldn't even get THAT far with Windows 2000. Has anyone tried running it with a French codepage?

I can't get the Windows version to run properly on the XP side. I ran it with all the compatibility modes switched on: Windows 95 mode, 256 colors, 640x480 mode, and no visual themes.

I ran into this problem too =(

If you run my VDMSound shortcut called "SoundBlaster Alone" and set the device in Install.exe to Sound Blaster (Standard) with all the default settings, you can get perfect sound in XP. It's really strange though, because the VDMSound emulates a SoundBlaster 16, yet it makes the sound work correctly with SoundBlaster (Standard) settings. If I try to set the device to SoundBlaster 16 in Install.exe, the sound stops working. Wierd yeah?

So now I have the sound, music and game all working individually. Dammit =(

I'll just take this opportunity to thank everyone who has contributed so far. Although we haven't found a solution, its comforting to know that people are trying =)

Thanks again,
-dave-

I downloaded the update and ran Obelix.exe with the defaults. I can get music now, but no sound. Will this nightmare never end? 🙄

The music is average, but I think if I tweak the settings a bit, it can be improved. As for sound and music together, maybe the game just doesn't like me very much 😉

[Update]
Well this has really thrown me. The music only works when I choose the first "Run with VDMS" option (without the visual interface). If I choose the visual one and even if I don't change any settings, the music doesn't work, for some reason. Does the update only apply to the non-visual VDMS? If so, how can I tweak the settings?

[Update (again)]
Ok, I've now got sound and music working together. They need some tweaking, because the different sections of midi are out of sync, and the sound sometimes makes a cracking sound.

Here's what I did:

Install.exe
Device = Sound Blaster 16
IRQ = 7
DMA = 1

Then I just chose the first "Run with VDMS" option, with the update applied.

I'm going to try and mess around with the Install.exe settings until I can get better sound. But I really am confused about tweaking VDMS settings with the update applied. (See Above)

Thanks,
-dave-

The update applies to both "Run with VDMS"'s.
You did the right thing in install.exe, so at least the game is properly configured now.
"Run with VDMS" without the interface should be the same as the "Run with VDMS" with the interface using the default settings. I think the only difference is that the one with the graphical interface has, by default, better AdLib quality (44kHz vs. 11kHz). So if you erase all VDMSound shortcuts in the game's directory (just to make sure) then "Run with VDMS" with the graphical interface "OBELIX.EXE" and choose the default settings everything should be OK.

Edit: for the heck of it, install the GUS emulator from http://listen.to/gusemu/ and see how the game sounds with Gravis UltraSound emulation. 😀

V.