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Reply 40 of 57, by ruthan

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Ok have tested 130+ games, in find ~20 not working (described in Not working games for now section of first post) with Yamaha SB emulation, could someone pleas retest someone them too and tell if has same problems?
Pleas add info about used MB.
X58/i865/V880 - Yamaha7x4/AurealV1/2 pure Dos7.1- compatibility list/research/ultim. drivers configs, WIP- gurus needed

Im old goal oriented goatman, i care about facts and freedom, not about egos+prejudices. Hoarding=sickness. If you want respect, gain it by your behavior. I hate stupid SW limits, SW=virtual world, everything should be possible if you have enough raw HW.

Reply 41 of 57, by j^aws

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ruthan wrote:

Ok have tested 130+ games, in find ~20 not working (described in Not working games for now section of first post) with Yamaha SB emulation, could someone pleas retest someone them too and tell if has same problems?
Pleas add info about used MB.
X58/i865/V880 - Yamaha7x4/AurealV1/2 pure Dos7.1- compatibility list/research/ultim. drivers configs, WIP- gurus needed

You aren't using SB-Link with your choice of motherboard and chipset?

If you are using DSDMA instead, then it's very hit and miss when it comes to fully working sound. If CPU slowdown doesn't work, then try slowdown with some form of CPU cache still present.

Another option is to run the games, if possible, within a Windows DOS session (not referring to DOS BOX emulation). The success rate can vary with the driver version for your YMF7X4.

Reply 42 of 57, by agent_x007

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j^aws wrote:

You aren't using SB-Link with your choice of motherboard and chipset?

He's using X58/ICH10R combo 😀

157143230295.png

Reply 43 of 57, by ruthan

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j^aws wrote:

If you are using DSDMA instead, then it's very hit and miss when it comes to fully working sound. If CPU slowdown doesn't work, then try slowdown with some form of CPU cache still present.
Another option is to run the games, if possible, within a Windows DOS session (not referring to DOS BOX emulation). The success rate can vary with the driver version for your YMF7X4.

We are now much deeper in problem so i almost know what im doing 😀 Its much better than hit and miss, wer are at 80%+ compatibility ratio and it could be even better.. with some help. Now i need input form other people with Yamahas and especially with older chipset to say, if my problems are Yamaha specific or too new machine specific.. There would be both of them. After that it would be interesting to test problematic games on X58 Aureal Vortex 2 machine, to slow how much better Aureal Vortex 2 is for such machine.. There some limits of Yamahas because of need of EMS mode, Aureal has no such limitation.

Im old goal oriented goatman, i care about facts and freedom, not about egos+prejudices. Hoarding=sickness. If you want respect, gain it by your behavior. I hate stupid SW limits, SW=virtual world, everything should be possible if you have enough raw HW.

Reply 44 of 57, by j^aws

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ruthan wrote:
j^aws wrote:

If you are using DSDMA instead, then it's very hit and miss when it comes to fully working sound. If CPU slowdown doesn't work, then try slowdown with some form of CPU cache still present.
Another option is to run the games, if possible, within a Windows DOS session (not referring to DOS BOX emulation). The success rate can vary with the driver version for your YMF7X4.

We are now much deeper in problem so i almost know what im doing 😀 Its much better than hit and miss, wer are at 80%+ compatibility ratio and it could be even better.. with some help. Now i need input form other people with Yamahas and especially with older chipset to say, if my problems are Yamaha specific or too new machine specific.. There would be both of them. After that it would be interesting to test problematic games on X58 Aureal Vortex 2 machine, to slow how much better Aureal Vortex 2 is for such machine.. There some limits of Yamahas because of need of EMS mode, Aureal has no such limitation.

If you are getting around 80+% compatibility with X58 then that's pretty good without using SB-Link. The only game I couldn't get working with a 440BX setup and using slowdown tricks with an Ezra CPU was Quarantine. I've put that game on the back burner for further investigation. So to compare with SB-LINK, I was getting 99+% compatibility.

BTW, I'm not a fan of how the Aureal Vortex sounds with FM in DOS; it is rather unpleasant sounding.

Reply 45 of 57, by ruthan

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j^aws wrote:

The only game I couldn't get working with a 440BX setup and using slowdown tricks with an Ezra CPU was Quarantine.

For 80 %+ we of course new some slowdown utils, but after initial investigation, its just one command better game start or you just create batch for starting the game.. Other annoying think si that i would say 5 for 100, working only with specific SB IRQ settings, im using by default IRQ5, but some needs IRQ7, et least with Yamaha DSDMA.exe

I've put that game on the back burner for further investigation. So to compare with SB-LINK, I was getting 99+% compatibility.

With that nforce3 board? I would say that when some people talk about compatibility there are using much higher number that is reality, look at my list of problematic games, there were games like Civilization 1 which had unfixable problem (without patching binaries) even on P3 450 and similar machines. I really curious if game from my problematic list would work on Core 2 Duo games which are quite few of people using as best retro PC.. i dont yet my Core 2 duo, but its not best one for compatibility - no ISA and Geforce 6600 a PCI Creative sound card.

BTW, I'm not a fan of how the Aureal Vortex sounds with FM in DOS; it is rather unpleasant sounding.

I dont heard Aureal yet, but how to say it?, im not used on too much good pure Dos PC games sound - lots of samples are very small and low quality and even with Yamaha for music you can connect some external general midi. Unless someone will code something to fix Yamahas compatibility problems, Aureal is only choice and it needs to be only better than pc speaker and Adlib:)

Im old goal oriented goatman, i care about facts and freedom, not about egos+prejudices. Hoarding=sickness. If you want respect, gain it by your behavior. I hate stupid SW limits, SW=virtual world, everything should be possible if you have enough raw HW.

Reply 46 of 57, by biessea

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Hey there, I just got a Yamaha ymf724f-v but I cannot properly work on windows xp nor Dos. It seems that on my Nforce 2 chipset I cannot configure properly the gameport. Why this happens? What card I can run through dos and windows xp (separate dual boot hard disks) expecially to enamble gameport and play with my beautiful Quickshot cloche?

Computer lover since 1992.
Love retro-computing, retro-gaming, high-end systems and all about computer-tech.
Love beer, too.

Reply 47 of 57, by ruthan

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Nforce is not good for compatibility:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cvhr6 … K4l0/edit#gid=0

Im old goal oriented goatman, i care about facts and freedom, not about egos+prejudices. Hoarding=sickness. If you want respect, gain it by your behavior. I hate stupid SW limits, SW=virtual world, everything should be possible if you have enough raw HW.

Reply 48 of 57, by Kamerat

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biessea wrote:

Hey there, I just got a Yamaha ymf724f-v but I cannot properly work on windows xp nor Dos. It seems that on my Nforce 2 chipset I cannot configure properly the gameport. Why this happens? What card I can run through dos and windows xp (separate dual boot hard disks) expecially to enamble gameport and play with my beautiful Quickshot cloche?

Having a quick test with a YMF744 card on my Abit NF7-S V1.2 (nForce2). Unfortunately it seems like you can't access the legacy ports of the YMF744 on this setup.

DOS Sound Blaster compatibility: PCI sound cards vs. PCI chipsets
YouTube channel

Reply 49 of 57, by biessea

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Kamerat wrote:
biessea wrote:

Hey there, I just got a Yamaha ymf724f-v but I cannot properly work on windows xp nor Dos. It seems that on my Nforce 2 chipset I cannot configure properly the gameport. Why this happens? What card I can run through dos and windows xp (separate dual boot hard disks) expecially to enamble gameport and play with my beautiful Quickshot cloche?

Having a quick test with a YMF744 card on my Abit NF7-S V1.2 (nForce2). Unfortunately it seems like you can't access the legacy ports of the YMF744 on this setup.

OMG, this Abit seems to be the problem.

I try with an Asus A7N8X Deluxe, that have gameport, and I hope that something change.

For Windows I can use the integrated audio card, but for DOS I have to use the Yamaha, how can i do?

Computer lover since 1992.
Love retro-computing, retro-gaming, high-end systems and all about computer-tech.
Love beer, too.

Reply 50 of 57, by DesktopDynamite

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Hello,

After googling and searching luckily I have stumbled on this post! I have the exact same Yamaha card I believe as the original OP of this thread.

My PIII rig specs:
Asus P3B-F v1.04 440BX slot 1 [[this is the 2x ISAs variant]
512MB RAM
**Intel PIII 500Mhz Katmai
Voodoo 3 2000 PCI
Nvidia GeForce 4200 TI 128MB AGP
Windows 98SE and MS-DOS 6.22 onto 2x SD2IDE adapter cards to switch between these.

Had the Creative 64 AWE value CT4520 but due to I'm not happy with how it sounds I decided to remove it completely and jump on to this SB-Link bandwagon and tempting to use just the Yamaha card alone.

Yesterday I have just soldered pin headers to the mobo for the SB-Link and tested some games under Windows98 restarted in DOS mode using Phils MS-DOS starter pack.

Please excuse my questions here, as I come from the Amiga world era, and most of the stuff is new to me.

Games tested;
Oscar in which I had issues of no in game music when I had both Creative and Yamaha installed together, now OK.
Soccer Kid: this I had no success due to no sound and no sfx, even when I choose both in it's setup. [But checking this post here, it might be that I was always running the command "setupds" and never did run the "setupds /s"]
Doofus: OK
Death Rally: This one is tricky to run, or it launches without any sound or launches with sound but stops after few seconds after the "G Interplay" screen. Seems this is a difficult one to run, there are many posts about it and others suggested to try the Windows version instead [no network version]

Other games currently installed and to be tested;
Jazz JackRabbit
Hocus Pocus
Mortal Kombat II
Nicky Boom
One Must Fall

Again, I need to familiar myself with the MS-DOS starter pack options.

**Regarding the Asus mobo and PIII 500Mhz, what is the most efficient way to slow it down ?

What I have tried so far is;
Changing the speed of CPU from BIOS from 500Mhz to 333Mhz in the BIOS
I have also tried disabling both CPU level 1 and level 2 cache from BIOS, am I doing correct ?

Thanks in advance!

Last edited by DesktopDynamite on 2023-05-07, 16:44. Edited 2 times in total.

Reply 51 of 57, by DesktopDynamite

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So today I have installed a multi USB 2.0 PCI adapter (VIA chipset) in which I had to change and fiddle with IRQ settings due to BSODs.. Anyway managed to get it running and sharing some experiments and results..

CPU speed reverted back to 500Mhz.

All these launched under Windows98SE restarted in MS-DOS mode with Phil's MS-DOS starter pack (option 4- expanded memory plus mouse support)

Games tested so far:
Oscar
Death Rally
Doofus

All above games were launched under Launchbox MS-DOS special edition front-end (this makes it a lot easier for me due to like I mentioned I used to have an Amiga back in the day).

Reply 52 of 57, by DesktopDynamite

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Testing continues;

The Lion King
Doom
Mortal Kombat II
One Must Fall
Hocus Pocus
Monkey Island 1 & 2

Reply 53 of 57, by j^aws

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DesktopDynamite wrote on 2023-05-06, 09:44:
Testing continues; […]
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Testing continues;

The Lion King
Doom
Mortal Kombat II
One Must Fall
Hocus Pocus
Monkey Island 1 & 2

Hey, good luck with all the testing!

Never completed all my testing, but I managed to make every game work, except one (think I mentioned it earlier in the thread). Was thinking of trying different DOS Extenders as an option but never got around to it.

Reply 54 of 57, by DesktopDynamite

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j^aws wrote on 2023-05-07, 10:54:
DesktopDynamite wrote on 2023-05-06, 09:44:
Testing continues; […]
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Testing continues;

The Lion King
Doom
Mortal Kombat II
One Must Fall
Hocus Pocus
Monkey Island 1 & 2

Hey, good luck with all the testing!

Never completed all my testing, but I managed to make every game work, except one (think I mentioned it earlier in the thread). Was thinking of trying different DOS Extenders as an option but never got around to it.

Thanks!

So did you compile any list of compatible games, cause I cannot find it if so, maybe on another thread ?

Reply 55 of 57, by j^aws

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DesktopDynamite wrote on 2023-05-11, 17:12:

Thanks!

So did you compile any list of compatible games, cause I cannot find it if so, maybe on another thread ?

It is actually easier to make a list of *in*-compatible, which consists of this:

- Quarantine

The system I used in the OP is very flexible with CPU slowdown (VIA Ezra-T); besides switching L1 caches on/off, I can use other CPU parameters to achieve slowdown whilst keeping cache enabled by using SetMul. Which is important as a games sound may not work properly with cache disabled. I chose tricky games to test that are usually renowned to give trouble besides popular games, and every game tested worked. Some needed slowdown, for example.

Reply 56 of 57, by DesktopDynamite

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j^aws wrote on 2023-05-11, 23:48:
It is actually easier to make a list of *in*-compatible, which consists of this: […]
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DesktopDynamite wrote on 2023-05-11, 17:12:

Thanks!

So did you compile any list of compatible games, cause I cannot find it if so, maybe on another thread ?

It is actually easier to make a list of *in*-compatible, which consists of this:

- Quarantine

The system I used in the OP is very flexible with CPU slowdown (VIA Ezra-T); besides switching L1 caches on/off, I can use other CPU parameters to achieve slowdown whilst keeping cache enabled by using SetMul. Which is important as a games sound may not work properly with cache disabled. I chose tricky games to test that are usually renowned to give trouble besides popular games, and every game tested worked. Some needed slowdown, for example.

Oh, totally understand, agree 😀

Reply 57 of 57, by DesktopDynamite

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OK,

So anyone did try the game called "Risky Woods" by EA [1992] ?

Unfortunately I cannot get music in this one... I am trying to find the actual manual