vetz wrote:

Very helpful! This is what old computer games Let's Play videos are missing, the damn controls and how to play! Please do more 😀 Maybe call the series "How to play?"

You are improving on your videos. If you go back to see your first ones, there is a huge difference to the better!

Thanks 😀

I'll see how these videos develop.

ibm5155 wrote:

Can I mix both? like having the isa sc and pci sc on the same computer? I just hope there's no perforance hit using both cards D: ...

Well, for games from 1995 to 1999, what would be better, get an A3D card or an EAX card? I heard that A3D may make some performance impact on weak cpus 😖, so idk...
I could get a K6-III+ too, but idk, I think I just want to take the best performance with a pentium mmx (Also I would need to get a new bios for support it, since it's a read only bios)

Sure you can use two cards. Under Windows, just disable the ISA card in device manager. And under DOS, just don't load the drivers for the PCI card.

As for EAX and A3D, this is really something on a game per game basis.

Sound Blaster 1.5 Review

This is a review of the Sound Blaster 1.5, a vintage ISA sound card for older 286 and 386 computers. It was my very first sound card ever, I worked during the school holidays to afford it. A very special moment when I first listened to Monkey Island and all the other golden games from that era. Back in those days you couldn't check something out on YouTube. When you got it home and listened to it, that was your very first moment.

Topics covered in this video:

Introduction
Jumpers and connectors
Installing the card
Testing the card
Blaster environment variable
Installing driver disks
CMS / Gameblaster upgrade
OPL2 recording
Digital speech recording
SoftMPU and connecting a Roland MT-32
Summary and conclusion

Drivers on my website: http://www.philscomputerlab.com/sound-blaster-15.html

Drivers on Vogons driver archive: http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/index.php?catid=7

SoftMPU: http://bjt42.github.io/softmpu/

I miss some of your old videos, but I hope you will get to remake them.
How many post-ISA sound cards do you have?

silikone wrote:

I miss some of your old videos, but I hope you will get to remake them.
How many post-ISA sound cards do you have?

I've re-made a ton of the old ones. Anything in particular?

The usual PCI and PCIe cards. Vortex 2, Live!, Audigy, Audigy 2, X-Fi, X-Fi PCIe

Star Wars Tie Fighter (1995) Tweak Guide

This is a Tweak Guide video for Star Wars: Tie Fighter Collector's CD from 1995 from GOG.com. I will be covering the following:

- Fullscreen resolution
- Window resolution
- Output modes
- Scaler
- Aspect ratio for correct 4:3 image
- CPU cycles to avoid turrets not firing issue
- Sample rate for better quality Sound Blaster
- Configuring a MIDI Synth
- Soundfonts
- Changing the game to output General MIDI
- Joystick tweaks for hat and throttle
- DOSBox key mapper
- Using the GOG files to create an installation CD
- Installing and playing the game with the created installation CD

Link for VirtualMIDISynth: http://coolsoft.altervista.org/en/virtualmidisynth

Link to Soundfonts: http://coolsoft.altervista.org/en/virtualmidi … ynth#soundfonts

Thanks Phil! I could have used this last week when I was trying to work out how to mount the .gog file - took me a while to work out it was a .bin, not a .iso. Good times.

Great game that one - sounds good with AWE synths too.

badmojo wrote:

Thanks Phil! I could have used this last week when I was trying to work out how to mount the .gog file - took me a while to work out it was a .bin, not a .iso. Good times.

Great game that one - sounds good with AWE synths too.

Easiest is to check that second conf file, which mounts folder and disc. If the file mounted is very large > ISO image. If it's tiny > BIN / CUE.

Trickier are games, like Tomb Raider, that use BIN / CUE, but have music as MP3 or OGG. Here you need to convert the compressed audio files to WAV first. The burn a mixed mode CD. I've covered all these methods on my website. Some games don't give you an installation CD, so you also need to copy some folders + maybe edit some config files. A very strange one is Battle Isle 3. Gives you the original disc, but play that and you run into the invincible computer opponent copy protection bug. Solution? Copy the cracked executables from the GOG game folder across 😁

philscomputerlab wrote:

Star Wars Tie Fighter (1995) Tweak Guide […]
Show full quote

Star Wars Tie Fighter (1995) Tweak Guide

This is a Tweak Guide video for Star Wars: Tie Fighter Collector's CD from 1995 from GOG.com. I will be covering the following:

- Fullscreen resolution
- Window resolution
- Output modes
- Scaler
- Aspect ratio for correct 4:3 image
- CPU cycles to avoid turrets not firing issue
- Sample rate for better quality Sound Blaster
- Configuring a MIDI Synth
- Soundfonts
- Changing the game to output General MIDI
- Joystick tweaks for hat and throttle
- DOSBox key mapper
- Using the GOG files to create an installation CD
- Installing and playing the game with the created installation CD

Link for VirtualMIDISynth: http://coolsoft.altervista.org/en/virtualmidisynth

Link to Soundfonts: http://coolsoft.altervista.org/en/virtualmidi … ynth#soundfonts

Thanks for this. I had no idea GOG had released the 1995 version -- had to refresh my game list to get it to appear.

I love the wildlife sounds in the background! 😀

Cockatoos going mad. Straya.

SquallStrife wrote:

I love the wildlife sounds in the background! 😀

Cockatoos going mad. Straya.

🤣

Roland MT-32 CM-32L and General MIDI for $50

I am showing how to build a MIDI box for your Retro Gaming PC that will substitute Roland MT-32, CM-32L and General MIDI.

Gateway real Roland MT-32

Frederik Pohl's Gateway with real Roland MT-32 music (No emulator).

Captured on a Pentium 100 MHz, with 64 MB Ram, Sound Blaster AWE64 Gold, Roland MPU-401AT and MS-DOS 7.1 (MS-DOS mode from Windows 98 SE). MT-32 is the MT-32 (Old) model without headphone port.

Gateway 2 Homeworld real Roland MT-32

Gateway 2 Homeworld with real Roland MT-32 music (No emulator).

Captured on a Pentium 100 MHz, with 64 MB Ram, Sound Blaster AWE64 Gold, Roland MPU-401AT and MS-DOS 7.1 (MS-DOS mode from Windows 98 SE). MT-32 is the MT-32 (Old) model without headphone port.

ATX to AT power adapter converter review with -5V

In this video I am reviewing two ATX to AT power adapters. One is cheaper, but does not supply -5V, the other one is more expensive, but has a converter that adds -5V. Some sound cards, like the Roland LAPC-I, Sound Blaster 2 or Pro Audio Spectrum 16 require -5 V.

In the video I'm also showing you what these sound cards sound like if the -5V is missing.

Link to ATX to AT adapter: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ATX-to-AT-PSU-Conv … =item25a70c4b39

and

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-ATX-20-PIN-to- … H-/251312860753

Link to one ATX to AT adapter with -5V support:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ATX-20-PIN-to-AT-P … E-/251025150787

Link to four ATX to AT adapters with -5V support: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/4-PCS-ATX-20-PIN-t … =item3ceaad8777

Building fast Slot 1 Pentium III Retro Gaming PC

In this video I am walking you through building a fast Slot 1 Pentium III Retro Gaming PC. This at Windows 98 SE games, as well […]
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In this video I am walking you through building a fast Slot 1 Pentium III Retro Gaming PC. This at Windows 98 SE games, as well as late MS-DOS games at high resolution.

This is my no means the "ultimate" or "best" Retro Gaming PC. It's just something I put together that works quite well. Every component used, I explain my reasons behind it.

I also walk you through setting up the software, from BIOS settings, partitioning and formatting the hard drive, installing Windows 98 SE and drivers.

Also shown are some popular benchmarks, showing what such a machine is capable of.

What do you guys think? Would you prefer any other parts? Is the system balanced or is there a bottleneck? Any improvements / comments?

Could you perhaps specify what updates you installed from the Unofficial Windows 98SE SP. I had to pause the video to look and it's not really that pleasant. Also, wouldn't something like a Voodoo 5, GeForce 2/3 or Radeon 7500/8500 be more suited for that machine?

Evert wrote:

Could you perhaps specify what updates you installed from the Unofficial Windows 98SE SP. I had to pause the video to look and it's not really that pleasant. Also, wouldn't something like a Voodoo 5, GeForce 2/3 or Radeon 7500/8500 be more suited for that machine?

I mentioned it. The core updates and the option to activate DMA. That's it.

Yes other cards are more suitable. Just wanted a really fast card to see what the machine can do and push 1600 x 1200 resolution 😀

Pentium III Tualatin 1.4 GHz Intel vs VIA Chipset Shootout

In this video we are comparing the top Intel Pentium III-S 1.4 GHz on two motherboards, one with Intel chipset and the other one […]
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In this video we are comparing the top Intel Pentium III-S 1.4 GHz on two motherboards, one with Intel chipset and the other one with VIA chipset. Who will come out on top?

The specifications of the system are:

Intel chipset:

AOpen MX3S-T
Intel Pentium III-S 1.4 GHz
512 MB SDRAM PC133
WD 640 SATA drive with single 60 GB partition
SATA to IDE adapter
IDE DVD-RW
Windows 98 SE
Unofficial Service Pack 3 (Core updated + Enable DMA mode)
Intel 3.20.1008 Chipset driver
DirectX 8.1

VIA chipset:

Gigabyte GA6VTXE
Intel Pentium III-S 1.4 GHz
512 MB SDRAM PC133
WD 640 SATA drive with single 60 GB partition
SATA to IDE adapter
IDE DVD-RW
Windows 98 SE
Unofficial Service Pack 3 (Core updated + Enable DMA mode)
VIA 4in1 443 Chipset Driver
DirectX 8.1

I think you mixed up the chipset drivers in your post - MX3S-T has the Intel chipset and GA-6VTXE the VIA chipset.

idspispopd wrote:

I think you mixed up the chipset drivers in your post - MX3S-T has the Intel chipset and GA-6VTXE the VIA chipset.

Thanks, fixed!

Yamaha Audician 32 Plus YMF718-S Review

In this video I am reviewing the Yamaha Audician 32 Plus with YMF718-S chip. […]
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In this video I am reviewing the Yamaha Audician 32 Plus with YMF718-S chip.

Link to drivers and resources: http://www.philscomputerlab.com/audician-32-plus.html

This video covers a lot of topics:

- Ports and connectors
- Jumpers for line-out
- Wavetable header
- MIDI port
- Driver installation under Windows 9x
- MS-DOS Mode
- 3D Stereo
- Y Station
- General MIDI Soft Synth
- MS-DOS installation
- Changing resources
- DOS mixer
- Compatibility

I really like this card. The Windows drivers are very easy to install, it has a General MIDI Soft Synth that gives you better music for DOS games (when run from within Windows). It's highly compatible with Sound Blaster Pro games, and also has Windows Sound System compatibility.

No hanging note bugs, a MPU401 interface that works under DOS, compatible with SoftMPU. The card is a bit too small for large wavetable headers, and jumpers need to be set for line-out. For OPL3 fans, this is a great card. It's very quiet compared to most Creative sound cards. The config file also needs editing to level out some effects. Great card all in all. Found the FM music a bit too quiet compared to speech, so I had to adjust the mixer settings.

Does anyone else have / use this card? What did you think? Any comments?

Thanks for doing this Phil! It would've been nice to see how it drives a Roland MT-32 / SC-55 / SC-88 through SoftMPU, but other than that, great video.