VOGONS


First post, by SpectreVR

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I nabbed an old Gateway from 1999 from a dump and was surprised to see it's perfect. It runs everything very well, but I'm having a very hard time getting that adlib-style music to play (for example, the music from Ultima 6 intro).

I KNOW it works, because I have the shareware version of DOOM playing gun/menu sfx as well as the guitar track during play. This was using MIDI port 330 and SoundBlaster address 220/interrupt 5 settings (as specified in autoexec via the SET BLASTER command).

It has a Creative AudioPCI 1371 as specified in this thread: Ensoniq / Creative AudioPCI

From there I learned:

There is one huge drawback however. This card doesn't have a Yamaha OPL chip. It doesn't have a clone chip either. FM synth is emulated through wavetable / soundfont

and sounds horrible.

So, what are my options? How can I get Yamaha "OPL" sound on this machine? Would booting into real DOS mode fix anything or am I SOL for DOS music?

Additionally, if I did have a working OPL chip, would it work automatically? I'm worried because I'm not even hearing wavetable or soundfont as specified in this thread - it's just SILENT. If it did exist and work, would I need to manually configure stuff? I'm worried because many DOS games don't have an installer that lets you select the sound device. For games without installers, am I SOL for running on Windows 98 or ME? Or is there better hardware detection and emulation in the "boot into DOS" mode that these OSes have?

Reply 1 of 7, by keenmaster486

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You need a different sound card.

If you're lucky your motherboard has an ISA slot, and you can just put in a good old Sound Blaster 16.

World's foremost 486 enjoyer.

Reply 2 of 7, by SpectreVR

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keenmaster486 wrote:

You need a different sound card.

If you're lucky your motherboard has an ISA slot, and you can just put in a good old Sound Blaster 16.

I forgot to add, it actually has 2! So what would I be looking for? Once I buy it, what should I do with the old one? Will I need to install the drivers for it in Windows ME? Will I need to unplug the speakers from the old card and plug it into the new one?

How might I expect this to work with DOS games booted in DOS mode vs windows? Will they need to be manually set up to see this new card?

I found this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Creative-Labs-CT4170 … ED/192868101047

Reply 4 of 7, by SpectreVR

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kolderman wrote:

I thought ME lost the DOS subsystem. How does DOOM work at all?

I just double click the executable. ME has the ability to run DOS applications in-OS as well as boot into DOS once you re-enable the real DOS boot option: https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/real … tch_for_me.html

I have not tried this yet, though. I'll try it tonight if I remember. I'm in the middle of obtaining an IDE to SD adapter so I can more easily copy files to the FAT32 SD using my laptop. It's a hassle right now, even with USB support because of unplugging mouse/kb 🙁

Reply 5 of 7, by Jo22

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SpectreVR wrote:

It has a Creative AudioPCI 1371 as specified in this thread: Ensoniq / Creative AudioPCI

Is it related to the 1370, perhaps ? If so, you may also want to have a quick (really!) look at Why is the Ensoniq 1370 recommended? it's trash!
The AudioPCIs have a nice DAC but are musically not so nice, except for MIDI, of course.
The cards are good for old titles supporting SoundScape or some Amiga MOD trackers, maybe.
https://www.mobygames.com/attribute/sheet/att … ibuteId,77/p,2/

PS: Also check my SoundScape recording of "Crusader No Remorse".
It was played back by using an AudioPCI 3000 through SoundScape emulation.. 😀
Re: Games that sound best with GUS?

Edit: If your games are playing fine so far with the card, except for the music, then you may want to have a look at pure OPL2/OPL3 cards (sample).
They usually need no drivers and in theory could coexist with your old AudioPCI. Before you buy something, however, please double check
if your AudioPCI drivers do really permit disabling of the FM emulation. If so, you can have a low-noise/high-quality OPL3 card in addition to a decent DAC card.
Anyway - I'm speaking under correction here. So please double check. Maybe the other Vogoners here can provide some more tips. 😀

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In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

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Reply 7 of 7, by leileilol

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Jo22 wrote:

The cards are good for old titles supporting SoundScape or some Amiga MOD trackers, maybe.

ES1371-3 loses some of that Soundscape support. Roughly the difference between ES1370 and ES1371 are big changes for AC'97 compliance (like going from 44k to 48k native), and increasing Creative interference 😀

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