XCOM UFO DEFENSE: No sound out of PC Speaker \ VOGONS

XCOM UFO DEFENSE: No sound out of PC Speaker

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First post, by Charleston

Posted on 2021-07-12, 16:17

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I've been working on our old farm 386's recently, got the main one almost completely cleaned up after sitting in a shop for the last 15-20 years. Changes I've made don't pertain I don't think
(wiped drive after archiving proprietary local to me software "hard disk manager", added an Adlib 8 bit from 1990, an official one, and upgraded to 8mb of dram and 128kb cache with 32kx8 tag)

I swear when I was younger I could hear the sound fx in XCOM without a soundcard (from the pc speaker) and the music through the adlib. This wouldn't be an issue if the sound cues weren't so important in this game (doors opening, alien death noises to ensure you won't get stabbed in the back by a chryssalid, etc)

The manual I have still also states that the game does support a pc speaker so it's throwing me off.

Am I just forgetting something or am I flat out wrong?

As an aside I did purchase a CT2940 as a replacement, although I've always preferred the Adlib sounds. Will the SB16 work in FM mode to give that range of music? I prefer it over the newer stuff.

Reply 1 of 7, by digger

Posted on 2021-07-12, 20:36

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The SB16 by itself does not have wavetable synthesis. XCOM (or UFO as it was known in Europe) will sound practically the same on it as on an AdLib card.

At least on your system, the game supported music at all! I remember being disappointed about the fact that it supported the Gravis Ultrasound only for digital SFX, without any music.

Reply 2 of 7, by Charleston

Posted on 2021-07-12, 20:44

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The music sets an amazing tone in this game but it's really hard to play without sound fx. I'm a bit confused as to how to get the fx going then, guess I'll just have to upgrade the soundcard?

Reply 3 of 7, by Oetker

Posted on 2021-07-12, 20:51

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If the game supports sound card sfx it should be possible to get that to work on the sb16, it's a well supported card. Does the PC speaker work in other games, you could try shareware like Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure.

Reply 4 of 7, by xcomcmdr

Posted on 2021-07-12, 21:02

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Charleston wrote on 2021-07-12, 20:44:

The music sets an amazing tone in this game but it's really hard to play without sound fx. I'm a bit confused as to how to get the fx going then, guess I'll just have to upgrade the soundcard?

The SB16 will work, both for sfx and music.

Reply 5 of 7, by Charleston

Posted on 2021-07-12, 21:11

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Oetker wrote on 2021-07-12, 20:51:

If the game supports sound card sfx it should be possible to get that to work on the sb16, it's a well supported card. Does the PC speaker work in other games, you could try shareware like Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure.

The speaker works fine with everything else, post beeps, commander keen sfx, etc. I swear on my life I was able to hear sfx with an adlib years ago but I think I might just be wrong and the instruction manual is a typo.

xcomcmdr wrote on 2021-07-12, 21:02:

The SB16 will work, both for sfx and music.

I'm fine upgrading to the sb16, as long as it works with fm which it seems to although it's sad that the adlib will have to go. Prefer the fm soundtrack to the other stuff.

Reply 6 of 7, by Oetker

Posted on 2021-07-12, 21:17

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The sb16 is compatible with the adlib for FM sound, but it varies by model if it uses a genuine Yamaha OPL chip or Creative's inferior CQM. If you have enough free ISA slots you can just use both.

Reply 7 of 7, by Charleston

Posted on 2021-07-12, 21:22

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Oetker wrote on 2021-07-12, 21:17:

The sb16 is compatible with the adlib for FM sound, but it varies by model if it uses a genuine Yamaha OPL chip or Creative's inferior CQM. If you have enough free ISA slots you can just use both.

It is not a yamaha. https://www.ebay.com/itm/363463272584

Which is a disappointment now that I think about it, really should have looked into it a bit more before wasting any cash but I guess I can still use this.

I only ever had the original adlib and an awe 64(which I no longer have but might be what I'm thinking of in terms of getting sound fx), what does the Yamaha sound like vs the creative chip? Is it a very noticeable difference or does it just lead to lower quality sound?

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