Re: Wave sound missing

Did you check your sound control panel? Have you by any chance muted the wave output?

Hello Minimax and thank you for the reply. It's one of the few times I write into a forum nad it results very optimistic receiving answer to my questions 😀

Wave output on the sound control panel is activated for sure. Also t think that if not I wouldn't hear any sound at all, it isn't? At least, can't get he sound of the rest of games or media playing.

I supusse you refer to the typical volume control, don't you? General volume, Wave, CD Player, Line in, etc.

If you refer to that wave volume control, in fact yes, it's activated 😀

Drakon wrote:

I supusse you refer to the typical volume control, don't you? General volume, Wave, CD Player, Line in, etc.

Yep. Had to try the simple solution first.

So, you can get the game/sound-setup to recognise the virtual SoundBlaster device created by VDMSound when you tell VDMSound to use Window's Wave device for output? Which IRQ's and DMA channels do it see?

If you change the assignments in VDMSound (e.g. from IRQ 5 to 7), do the game see the change?

What happens if you leave the game settings like that (thinking that it has a SoundBlaster), and reconfigure VDMSound to use Direct Sound instead of the Wave device? Do the game try to re-detect the sound hardware when you start it? I would hope it would blindly go with whatever worked the last time...

Drakon wrote:

DosBox emulator makes the game go with sound but IT GOES TO SLOWLY so i prefer use VDMSound if there is a solution for this.

Try reading this: http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php? … eDemandingGames

Discussions about Syndicate, another Bullfrog game, and VDMSound:

http://gamebird.dk/games/community2.php/?gid=470
http://gamebird.dk/games/community2.php/?gid=469

Checck the options for starting the game with specific values for the SoundBlaster setup (main /c0 /iirq5 /idma1 /iio220).

Since Genewars is from the same publisher, there is a chance the same options work there.

Also - try the file-copying trick mentioned if you can.

Hello again! thanks a lot for the DOSBox link. At least, now the game works more or less fine under this emulator, referring to the game speed.
The only problem is the Sound stuttering: I had to resize the buffer block to 8192. So the stuttering problem is solved but the sound is some lagged 🙁.

I'm going to post you the VDMS logs resulted from execute the Sound Setup program for each Output mode, maybe these can give you a hint of what's the problem with the game or my configuration for VDMsound:

Output Device: Micrososft mapping (Wave):

@I - 00:36:04.625 - VDMServicesProvider
Created DOS process (0x051b, 'D:\WINDOWS\system32\KB16.COM')
@I - 00:36:04.688 - VDMServicesProvider
Created DOS process (0x0699, 'C:\GENEWARS\INST.EXE')
@I - 00:36:04.688 - VDMServicesProvider
Created DOS process (0x11ab, 'D:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\COMMAND.COM')
@I - 00:36:04.740 - VDMServicesProvider
Created DOS process (0x1283, 'C:\GENEWARS\DOS4GW.EXE')
@I - 00:36:07.794 - SBController
DSP reset - reinitializing DSP
@W - 00:36:07.794 - SBController
Attempted to read from write-only port (IN 0x226)
@W - 00:36:07.794 - SBController
Attempted to read from write-only port (IN 0x226)
(...) This Warning is almost everytime repeated
@W - 00:36:07.795 - SBController
Attempted to read from write-only port (IN 0x226)
PCM
@I - 00:36:07.801 - SBController
HandleAfterTransfer: Interrupting (16-bit, x2) after 4ms, 4 bytes
(terminal count)
@I - 00:36:07.802 - SBController
IRQ acknowledged (16-bit)
@I - 00:36:07.805 - SBWavePlayer
Wave-out device opened (handle = 0x0208dc68)
@I - 00:36:12.195 - SBController
DSP reset - reinitializing DSP
@W - 00:36:12.196 - SBController
Attempted to read from write-only port (IN 0x226)
@W - 00:36:12.196 - SBController
Attempted to read from write-only port (IN 0x226)
(...)
@W - 00:36:12.198 - SBController
Attempted to read from write-only port (IN 0x226)
@I - 00:36:12.198 - SBController
DSP reset - reinitializing DSP
@W - 00:36:12.199 - SBController
Attempted to read from write-only port (IN 0x226)
@W - 00:36:12.199 - SBController
Attempted to read from write-only port (IN 0x226)
(...)
@W - 00:36:12.201 - SBController
Attempted to read from write-only port (IN 0x226)
@I - 00:36:12.201 - SBController
startTransfer: Starting DMA transfer (playback) on ch. 5
(single-cycle, 1 samples/block): 16-bit stereo 22050Hz, signed PCM
@I - 00:36:12.201 - SBController
HandleAfterTransfer: Interrupting (16-bit, x2) after 0ms, 4 bytes
(terminal count)
@I - 00:36:12.201 - SBController
IRQ acknowledged (16-bit)
(I think after this point emulated card sound has been correctly detected and then there is an error when try to do the typical sound testing, i mean, when the sound has to be outtput)
@I - 00:36:13.144 - SBController
startTransfer: Starting DMA transfer (playback) on ch. 5 (auto-init,
1024 samples/block): 16-bit mono 22050Hz, signed PCM
@I - 00:36:13.144 - SBWavePlayer
Wave-out device closed (handle = 0x0208dc68)
@I - 00:36:13.147 - SBWavePlayer
Wave-out device opened (handle = 0x0208dc68)
@E - 00:36:13.147 - SBWavePlayer
waveOutWrite(0x0208dc68, 02DE55E8, 32) on device -1 ('Microsoft Sound Assigner'): 0x00000001 - Error externo no definido.
@W - 00:36:13.190 - SBController
HandleTransfer: DMA updates too infrequent (unable to keep up with
desired transfer rate), requesting boost
@E - 00:36:13.190 - SBWavePlayer
waveOutWrite(0x0208dc68, 02DE55E8, 32) on device -1 ('Microsoft Sound Assigner'): 0x00000001 - Undefinded external Error.
@I - 00:36:13.191 - SBController
HandleAfterTransfer: Interrupting (16-bit, x1) after 48ms, 2048 bytes
@I - 00:36:13.191 - SBController
IRQ acknowledged (16-bit)
@I - 00:36:13.191 - DMATransferManager
Boosting DMA processing rate by 30.0% at DMA handler's request
(period decreased from 15.00ms to 11.54ms), post-boost recovery rate
updated to 0.116%
@E - 00:36:13.203 - SBWavePlayer
waveOutWrite(0x0208dc68, 02DE55E8, 32) on device -1 ('Asignador de
sonido de Microsof'): 0x00000001 - Undefinded External Error.
@E - 00:36:13.214 - SBWavePlayer
waveOutWrite(0x0208dc68, 02DE55E8, 32) on device -1 ('Asignador de
sonido de Microsof'): 0x00000001 - Undefinded External Error.
@E - 00:36:13.226 - SBWavePlayer
waveOutWrite(0x0208dc68, 02DE55E8, 32) on device -1 ('Asignador de
sonido de Microsof'): 0x00000001 - Undefinded External Error.
@E - 00:36:13.239 - SBWavePlayer
waveOutWrite(0x0208dc68, 02DE55E8, 32) on device -1 ('Asignador de
sonido de Microsof'): 0x00000001 - Undefinded External Error.
@I - 00:36:13.239 - SBController
HandleAfterTransfer: Interrupting (16-bit, x1) after 96ms, 4096 bytes
(terminal count)
@I - 00:36:13.239 - SBController
IRQ acknowledged (16-bit)
@E - 00:36:13.251 - SBWavePlayer
waveOutWrite(0x0208dc68, 02DE55E8, 32) on device -1 (''Microsoft Sound Assigner'): 0x00000001 - Undefinded External Error.
@E - 00:36:13.263 - SBWavePlayer
waveOutWrite(0x0208dc68, 02DE55E8, 32) on device -1
(...)
@I - 00:36:15.478 - SBController
IRQ acknowledged (16-bit)
@I - 00:36:15.478 - SBController
pauseTransfer: DMA transfer paused (ch. 5)
@I - 00:36:16.285 - DMATransferManager
DMA processing rate recovered to its normal value (upper bound =
15ms, last period = 15.00ms, current period = 15.00ms
@I - 00:36:16.611 - SBController
DSP reset - reinitializing DSP
@W - 00:36:16.613 - SBController
Attempted to read from write-only port (IN 0x226)
@W - 00:36:16.613 - SBController
Attempted to read from write-only port (IN 0x226)
(...)
@W - 00:36:16.615 - SBController
Attempted to read from write-only port (IN 0x226)
@I - 00:36:16.620 - VDMServicesProvider
Terminated DOS process (0x1283)
@I - 00:36:16.622 - VDMServicesProvider
Terminated DOS process (0x11ab)
@I - 00:36:16.623 - VDMServicesProvider
Terminated DOS process (0x0699)
@I - 00:36:16.624 - VDMServicesProvider
NTVDM.EXE DOS emulation suspended
@I - 00:36:18.569 - SBController
SBCompatCtl released
@I - 00:36:18.571 - SBWavePlayer
Wave-out device closed (handle = 0x0208dc68)
@I - 00:36:18.571 - SBWavePlayer
Garbage collector thread cancelled
@I - 00:36:18.571 - SBWavePlayer
WaveOut released
@I - 00:36:18.572 - DMATransferManager
Transfer Manager thread cancelled
@I - 00:36:18.572 - DMATransferManager
TransferMgr released
@I - 00:36:18.573 - VDMServicesProvider
VDMServices released

Sorry Drakon - I am just a normal, lowly user who occasionally have used VDMSound - I have no idea how to interprete those logs.

One thing for you to try, is to find an old, fairly simple game that

1) can be run with VDMSound
2) uses SoundBlaster

Then see if you can get the simple game to work with DirectSound and Wave. If you can, then it is fair to assume that the VDMSound/Windows integration is working correctly. If not, then the problem with the simple game must be solved before you try to tackle Genewars.

Or you can hope that someone more knowledgeable about VDMSound reads this thread.

Very insteresting the information on the Syndicate Wars (another great game which I have a lot of fun) forum. I'm going to try the copy main folder to data folder trick although it doesnt seems to have much sense.

Thank you again! 😀

And if all VDMS tries fail, maybe you can tell me how to avoid the stuttering sound when playing under DOSBox 1.63. (without lagging too much the game)

I'm right with you about these points. Anyway you had been of great help for me on searching for other options/solutions.
The DOSBox information you linked has helped me to play more or less fine to the game, and also with sound as i wanted 😀
So thanks a lot, again. By the way... know something about the question of avoiding sound stuttering without lagging the sound because setting the mixer buffer blocks larger?

Thanks! 😉

Drakon wrote:

By the way... know something about the question of avoiding sound stuttering without lagging the sound because setting the mixer buffer blocks larger?

Try starting a new thread in the DOSBox/Games sub-forum (but try the Search function before you ask - maybe the question has been asked - and answered - before).