Hardware used for testing:
AMD K6-2/300 Processor @ 297MHz
Abit AB-TX5 motherboard
32 MB SD-RAM PC-100
200GB Maxtor HDD
2x 1.44MB 3.5" FDD (one is connected, one is not)
Lite-On DVD Burner
520W ATX PSU
NVidia GeForce MX4000 PCI Video Card
Diamond Multimedia Sonic Impact S70 (ESS Maestro-2 ES1968S - Sound Blaster Pro) PCI Sound Card
RealTek RTL8139 FastEthernet PCI NIC

Software used:
MS-DOS 7.10
bjt42's SoftMPU v1.4
Slowdown utility to tell my system to slow down the machine to a specified speed (eg. 486 24MHz-40MHz, 80% of the CPU speed (approx. 240MHz)) for every game so that the game doesn't go too fast, making it impossible to play the games (I made batch files for every game with the slowdown utility at the beginning of the file (e.g. \slowdown /MHz486:24), the path of the game (e.g. cd wing2\wing2) and the file name (e.g. wc2.exe). And after the game is done playing or after I close it with a key combo (e.g. Alt + X), the slowdown program is removed from the conventional memory (\slowdown /u) to make my computer go back to its normal speed.

Games tested (pass/fail) pass = works with no problems, fail = exc. checksum errors:
TIE Fighter - pass
Secret of Monkey Island - pass
NHL Hockey 95 - fail
A10 Tank Killer v1.5 - pass
Frederik Pohl's Gateway I and II - pass
Earl Weaver's Baseball II - pass
Police Quest I, II, and III - pass
Dark Queen of Krynn - pass
DOOM - pass (have to send a patch file to the Roland MT-32 Rev. 0 with gsplay [plays regular MIDI file and MIDI files with sysex patch files embedded in them] and a file called mtgm.mid to have correct instruments)
Sid Meier's Civilization - pass
Wing Commander II - pass

Thanks for the effort!
Be aware that the very first thing to be checked with each game is that they will not produce sound without loading SoftMPU on any UART interface (like the one your ES1968S)
Earl Weavers Baseball 2 caught my eye as a new addition, but I could launch this game without SoftMPU on my MT-32 hooked to an SB.

Sounds like he's using SoftMPU to prevent buffer overflows with that game, rather than because it needs intelligent mode.

bjt wrote:

Sounds like he's using SoftMPU to prevent buffer overflows with that game, rather than because it needs intelligent mode.

I tested every game with and without the SoftMPU program, and the games work with the SoftMPU and without it, the games would cause an uproar (exc. checksum errors all the way), and NHL Hockey 95 still won't work, even with or without SoftMPU and with or without the /delaysysex option in place and the games do work with or without the delaysysex option.

Is there going to be a release of the program that would work with NHL Hockey 95?

bjwil1991 wrote:

Is there going to be a release of the program that would work with NHL Hockey 95?

I'll take a look. This game might just be sending invalid data to the MT-32, or it might be speed-related.
Does NHL Hockey 95 work OK if you disable your L1 & L2 cache?

bjt wrote:

A-10 Tank Killer 1.0 and Cruise for a Corpse require intelligent mode and work with SoftMPU.
Death Gate and Mechwarrior don't need intelligent mode (at least the versions I have).

Thank you!

bjt wrote:

bjwil1991 wrote:

Is there going to be a release of the program that would work with NHL Hockey 95?

I'll take a look. This game might just be sending invalid data to the MT-32, or it might be speed-related.
Does NHL Hockey 95 work OK if you disable your L1 & L2 cache?

NHL Hockey 95 still won't work with the Roland MT-32 Rev. 0, but when I set the game to use the Sound Blaster card (not the external MIDI), it works. When I disabled both L1 and L2 cache, the game runs, but the Roland MT-32 still gets Exc. Checksum Errors left and right. I think the game must have buggy drivers for the Roland MT-32.

Does this game have a specific MT-32 mode? What happens if you select General MIDI instead?

bjt wrote:

Does this game have a specific MT-32 mode? What happens if you select General MIDI instead?

There is no General MIDI mode in this game unfortunately. It only has just Roland MT-32, Adlib, Sound Blaster, PC Speaker, No sound, and Gravis UltraSound for the sound card (either MIDI, Sound FX, or both). The only mode it has is just plain old MT-32 mode. Others are having the same problem and it's hard to find a solution other than playing NHL Hockey 93-94 since both of them have a Roland MT-32 support. NHL 95 has the support, but the game doesn't want to work with my synthesizer.

I see, that's quite unusual for a 1995 game. I haven't been able to get hold of the game yet but when I do I'll check it out.

bjt wrote:

Also a few sound chipsets left to test: […]
Show full quote

Also a few sound chipsets left to test:

Any ESS ISA chipset
Dream/Atmel SAM9233/SAM9203
C-Media ASC-9308/CMI8328/CMI8330
Avance Logic ALS Series
Logitech SoundManWave (MV JAZZ 16)

In the next 2 weeks i'll be able to test an Avance Logic ALS120 and the CMI8330. I'm a bit curious about the cmi, as you can assign a IRQ just for the MPU.

If SoftMPU works with a Yamaha YMF-719 chip now, is there any possibility that it would work with a 724 or 744? The key difference in these chips is that they use the PCI bus. Can anyone test these with the latest version of SoftMPU?

I confirm that SoftMPU works with Avance Logic ALS120 cards without any problems. Several games tested working fine!

Great stuff 😀 Does the Avance Logic support IRQ 9? Did you try any games that require interrupts?
(list here: http://github.com/bjt42/softmpu/wiki/Compatible-Games)

bjt wrote:

Great stuff 😀 Does the Avance Logic support IRQ 9? Did you try any games that require interrupts?
(list here: http://github.com/bjt42/softmpu/wiki/Compatible-Games)

It does, in fact it sets IRQ9 for MPU-401 by default. Every game i tested does not require interrupt 2/9 though. Sorry.

No probs, thanks for testing it. I have updated the list of compatible sound cards.

Tested and confirmed working (softmpu 1.6) with Sound Blaster AWE64 CT4380 and Roland Mt-32 rev 0
Colonel's Bequest and Jones in the Fast Lane used for test on IBM PS/2 Model 25 w/ Evergreen 486 upgrade board, MS-DOS 6.22.
This is an awesome piece of software!
Thanks for making this!

Thanks for your comments. I didn't think Jones In The Fast Lane required intelligent MPU. Does it work without SoftMPU?

I still haven't managed to test an ISA ESS-based card so if anyone has one handy please give it a go for me 😀

Also any info about Jones In The Fast Lane needing intelligent mode would be appreciated as I don't have the game.

I will try to have a look at Jones tomorrow. I could already dig out my old floppy version late tonight but also loaned a CDROM version with redbook audio tracks for tomorrow for cross checking. I do not believe a word of MobyGames any more; maybe, in the meantime, a hard-core Sierra fan can verify that the CDROM version has indeed no MIDI tracks as claimed...