Some games don't detect SB II Compatible sound card \ VOGONS

Some games don't detect SB II Compatible sound card

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First post, by andreja6

Posted on 2017-11-13, 02:25

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I've recently gotten an ESS Audiodrive 1868F sound card, and it has been functioning beautifully as a SB Pro II clone, with the minor issue of some games not even detecting SB compatibility...

Games such as Titus the fox and Ultima 6 don't play any music from the sound card but the PC Speaker (Ultima 6 always plays sound through that speaker).
However games like The Incredible Machine with known problems detecting sound blasters, detects and works fine with the Audiodrive.

I don't plan on replacing it, because when it works (which is 99.9% of the time), it sounds perfect. I had a Sound Blaster Live! with SB emulation, and that was so horrible it put me off creative sound cards that have anything to do with emulation (even SB16's that don't specify a true OPL3 chip)

Reply 1 of 10, by BitWrangler

Posted on 2017-11-13, 03:18

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Played Titus on a few machines, though not recently, and TBH I can't remember it using anything other than the speaker on any of them... or having a setup to select sound card.

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 2 of 10, by andreja6

Posted on 2017-11-13, 03:43

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BitWrangler wrote:
Played Titus on a few machines, though not recently, and TBH I can't remember it using anything other than the speaker on any of them... or having a setup to select sound card.

Apparently it has a dreaded Auto detect which which many couldn't get working. Shame

Reply 3 of 10, by badmojo

Posted on 2017-11-13, 04:18

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I could be wrong but I think some auto detection routines are impact by the speed of the machine? Those are some pretty old games - what are the rest of your specs?

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Reply 4 of 10, by andreja6

Posted on 2017-11-13, 04:49

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badmojo wrote:
I could be wrong but I think some auto detection routines are impact by the speed of the machine? Those are some pretty old games - what are the rest of your specs?

I would not be surprised at all, It's a Pentium II 400Mhz with a VooDoo3, 640MB PC100 RAM and an Intel BX440 Chip-set, And sure enough when I ran it using a slowdown utility, Sound Blaster sound!
However can't say the same for Ultima 6...
Is there any other work-around other than using a slowdown utility? I've been using them for Lotus III, and they are relatively inaccurate

Reply 5 of 10, by Cyberdyne

Posted on 2017-11-13, 07:07

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I usually use a Pentium 2/3, and use CPUCACHE Disabled for older games. It works perfectly.
I really do not need moslow or some other elaborate TSR slow down program.
And yes, many games have problems with sound detecting and playback in fast computers.

I am aroused about any X86 motherboard that has full functional ISA slot. I think i have problem. Not really into that original (Turbo) XT,286,386 and CGA/EGA stuff. So just a DOS nut.
PS. If I upload RAR, it is a 16-bit DOS RAR Version 2.50.

Reply 6 of 10, by 640K!enough

Posted on 2017-11-13, 19:33

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Sometimes, it also helps to set 8- and 16-bit I/O recovery time as high as they will go on such systems, assuming you have such a setting. Try experimenting with different values to see if it helps.

Reply 7 of 10, by Phreeze

Posted on 2017-11-16, 13:38

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have you configured it on IRQ7 ? so games only try to detect the SB on irq7, especially older games when 7 was the standard and not 5

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Reply 8 of 10, by Cyberdyne

Posted on 2017-11-16, 13:51

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Ok and few games only work in sound blaster pro mode, it the T is set to 4 not 5 as some sources sugest.

Hocus Pocus comes to mind.

Reply 9 of 10, by BitWrangler

Posted on 2017-11-16, 14:05

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Yah, I've come across that, game ignores T5 or T6 but will work with it set to T4

(BLASTER environment variable for ppl having trouble following.)

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 10 of 10, by andreja6

Posted on 2017-11-16, 17:11

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BitWrangler wrote:
Yah, I've come across that, game ignores T5 or T6 but will work with it set to T4

(BLASTER environment variable for ppl having trouble following.)

I have a T4 card, and have set it to T4... still happens 😒

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