These older Sierra games required an intelligent (real) mode MPU-401 MIDI interface. If you don't have one, then you can use SoftMPU.

jesolo wrote on 2019-12-28, 07:39:

These older Sierra games required an intelligent (real) mode MPU-401 MIDI interface. If you don't have one, then you can use SoftMPU.

SoftMPU is not the solution - I have that installed by default to prevent buffer overflows but my Sound Blaster has a pretty good MPU-401 interface so I haven't really needed it for anything else - most games work fine with MT-32 and those that don't, won't work with SoftMPU except for the buffer overflow error.

Also: I can play all other Sierra games I tried just fine although some needed patched files. There's something odd with LSL3...

Actually, it's because you had SoftMPU installed that you haven't had any issues with your other Sierra games, particularly the older titles that supported the MT-32 (before the General MIDI days). No sound card has an intelligent (real) mode MPU-401 MIDI interface. SoftMPU emulates an intelligent (real) mode MIDI interface to enable you to play games that requires it.

I know that some of those games didn't want to run properly if your sound card's IRQ wasn't set at IRQ7 (I had that issue with my SQ3 version). Also make sure that you have the sound card environment variable (the SET BLASTER environment variable) set correctly in your Autoexec.bat file.
Apart from your CPU, what other hardware do you have installed? What operating system?

I may not have been very clear in my previous post: SoftMPU doesn't fix any games that don't work that I tried, except for buffer overflow ones. I only load SoftMPU by default on my standard boot - for testing games I have a special boot order without SoftMPU since I like to know which games require extra actions.

My Soundblaster is set at IRQ 5 but LSL3 doesn't use sound effects so shouldn't be an issue.

More info: it's a HP Vectra VE 5/75, 16MB of RAM, DOS 6.22 - all pretty standard for a higher-end PC of 1995.

Sound cards: Soundblaster 16 CT2940 (220-5-1-5) (chosen for very good sound quality, no noise - OPL3 model too) + Aztech Multi Media Pro 16V (chosen for very good MPU-401 interface without hanging notes). Aztech MIDI port is set to 330 since this is the default port many games look for. Only the MIDI port is activated to avoid more IRQs being used.

Before this, I used a Soundblaster CT2230 which had the exact same problem with LSL3. I didn't have the hanging note bug there in MIDI, but certain games had a lot of clicking. This was the main reason I changed the setup.

I also have another card on the way since I'd prefer to move back to a single card: the Yamaha Audician 32 Plus which from what I hear, is pretty much the ideal card to have. I'm also interested in getting this card now that I got both a MT-32 and a SC-55:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymQJvwOTM0E

OK I found the solution for my headaches. It's rather simple: the second soundcard received port 330, the first soundcard got port 320 BUT CTCM would replace the SET BLASTER settings behind my back in autoexec.bat. Manually setting 330 after boot up fixed it.

jesolo wrote on 2019-12-28, 09:59:

No sound card has an intelligent (real) mode MPU-401 MIDI interface.

The only sound card that does is the Orpheus that Keropi is making.

jesolo wrote on 2019-12-28, 09:59:

No sound card has an intelligent (real) mode MPU-401 MIDI interface.

So the Roland LAPC-I is no sound card then?

There were thousands of sound cards made, with some like the Innovation SSI-2001 forgotten for decades and only rediscovered a few years ago. Stating that no sound card has an intelligent mode MPU-401 interface is therefore quite overbearing.

derSammler wrote on 2019-12-29, 09:10:

So the Roland LAPC-I is no sound card then?

As all audio is piped over the MPU-401 interface, I consider it a MIDI interface and synthesizer, just like the IMFC. Both were meant to be used static or at most preloaded with custom samples. Most of what I consider as PC sound cards were meant to be driven dynamically by the CPU.

derSammler wrote on 2019-12-29, 09:10:

There were thousands of sound cards made, with some like the Innovation SSI-2001 forgotten for decades and only rediscovered a few years ago. Stating that no sound card has an intelligent mode MPU-401 interface is therefore quite overbearing.

Point taken, although such a card (should it appear) would be an interesting unicorn indeed.

gdjacobs wrote on 2019-12-29, 10:48:

As all audio is piped over the MPU-401 interface, I consider it a MIDI interface and synthesizer, just like the IMFC. Both were […]
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derSammler wrote on 2019-12-29, 09:10:

So the Roland LAPC-I is no sound card then?

As all audio is piped over the MPU-401 interface, I consider it a MIDI interface and synthesizer, just like the IMFC. Both were meant to be used static or at most preloaded with custom samples. Most of what I consider as PC sound cards were meant to be driven dynamically by the CPU.

derSammler wrote on 2019-12-29, 09:10:

There were thousands of sound cards made, with some like the Innovation SSI-2001 forgotten for decades and only rediscovered a few years ago. Stating that no sound card has an intelligent mode MPU-401 interface is therefore quite overbearing.

Point taken, although such a card (should it appear) would be an interesting unicorn indeed.

Basically what gdjacobs stated is what I referring to. Your standard Sound Blaster/Adlib compatible PC sound card.
The Innovation SSI-2001 is quite an interesting card, but it still didn't have any MIDI interface (based on what I can see).