VOGONS


First post, by RockstarRunner

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Hi,
So I noticed something strange with SSF2T (and this game only as far as i've noticed).

SSF2T V1.6 for DOS
CD version run with MIDI option for music.
Midi being played via DreamBlaster X2 with the Buran sound bank, connected to an Aztech Sound Galaxy Nova 16 Extra 2.

When I normally start the game, the midi instruments seem to be messed up, particularly the drum part in the intro, it seems to have a 'finger slide' sound instead of drum hit.
I recorded a video, where the problem can be heard.
https://youtu.be/hk4eYCj6TnA
In this particular instance where I recorded, the startup intro music sounds correct, as far as I know (rare instance where it seems OK from the start, but normally it is wrong from the start) but the problem can be heard when I go back to the options screen, and then when I play that same piece of music.
Normal intro: https://youtu.be/hk4eYCj6TnA?t=16
Wrong sounds: https://youtu.be/hk4eYCj6TnA?t=67

This 'finger slide' sound shows up in many of the games music tracks after the intro, so it's not just that piece of music.

I have tried sending GM reset through gsplay before starting the game, and that doesn't help.
Also, a clean boot and going straight to the game also gets the problem.
I haven't figured out what specifically I might have done differently on the rare case the sounds were correct.

Reply 1 of 9, by Stretch

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1. Download Roland SCC1 Utilities Disk from vogons drivers.
2. Place scmode.exe in the same folder as SF2TURBO.EXE, or in the MS-DOS path.
3. Run scmode.exe gs before starting the game.

Here is the way I have it set to run in my dosbox.conf as an example:

scmode.exe gs
SSF2T MIDI

Win 11 - Intel i7-1360p - 32 GB - Intel Iris Xe - Sound Blaster G8

Reply 2 of 9, by RockstarRunner

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Thanks! I'll give it a shot.
...
Well, when I run that, it tells me the it cannot find the midi interface.
Is that tool only meant for Roland hardware?

Reply 3 of 9, by Stretch

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The only way I could get the message about not finding the midi interface is disabling mpu401 in dosbox. The Serdashop website mentions the following at DreamBlaster X2 - Serdashop, which may be applicable to you.

Please note: There are some older soundcards with a Waveblaster compatible header but don‘t have an MPU401 interface. Instead there is only the SoundBlaster MIDI standard supported so the games that run with the X2 module are limited. Also you need SoftMPU to emulate the MPU401 interface in this case. Visit http://bjt42.github.io/softmpu/ for further information and a list of compatible games.

Win 11 - Intel i7-1360p - 32 GB - Intel Iris Xe - Sound Blaster G8

Reply 4 of 9, by RockstarRunner

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Hmm, I will see if I can try and find some documentation about the header on this card, but I can say that it plays every other game I've tried, without issue, such as Doom and Duke 3D, and without needing softmpu.
Now that's got me thinking, SSF2T is set to MPU-401 in its settings, as it doesn't have a General Midi option.
From what I've read about my card, it has 'UART MPU-401'.
I think I'm going to try softmpu for this game, to see what happens. --> I tried it with the /OUTPUT:SBMIDI option, and got exactly the same issue with the wrong sounds.

Reply 5 of 9, by Stretch

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You can also try GMGSMT32 in the youtube description that Vogons user Retro Erik posted DreamBlaster X2: The Rise of General Midi, to initialize the DreamBlaster X2 to GM/GS before starting the the game.

Win 11 - Intel i7-1360p - 32 GB - Intel Iris Xe - Sound Blaster G8

Reply 6 of 9, by RockstarRunner

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I've been playing more, and it's very strange, most of the time the music will be fine, then one round will start and the drums are wrong, and then it'll go back to normal the following fight. So it seems it's quite random. Weird.

Reply 7 of 9, by Retroit

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May it requite to reset after each game?

Reply 8 of 9, by RockstarRunner

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Just a bit more clarification:
In the music test, under options, I can go through the different tracks, and usually they play ok, then a track will just play back with wrong percussion instruments, then try a different track and it will play ok, go back to the one that was wrong previously, and now it play correctly, or sometimes not... etc.
It seems like there is just a random chance the percussion instruments are wrong for any track, so doesn't seem to be about setting the gm state before starting, as it varies in game.
This made me suspect it might be a processor speed issue, and I'm now experimenting there, but so far it still seems to go wrong even clocking to 200 mhz and disabling L2 cache...perhaps I need to go hard and try disabling L1 cache as well.

I really like this soundcard/dreamblaster combo, so if I can't solve why SSF2T behaves like this, then I'll just have to live with it, and try to enjoy the funky 'remixes'.
If I do fix this, I bet i'll find myself missing the remix of E. Honda's stage featuring explosions instead of wood block hits.

Last edited by RockstarRunner on 2021-05-21, 07:58. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 9 of 9, by megatron-uk

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This title looks to have been released in ~1995. My guess is that it would have been broadly targeted at higher end 486 systems or low end Pentium (P90 up to possibly P133 - though the latter was only released in 1995) - 200MHz is probably still way too fast. Try lowering the speed as much as possible - timing issues can play havoc with MIDI messaging.

My collection database and technical wiki:
https://www.target-earth.net