FangsFirst wrote:

...I could run these bloody build games except IRQ 7 seems to be taken up already.

That shouldn't be relevant as the IRQ in VDMSound is emulated.

IRQ 5 of course results in skippy screwed up sounds.

The SoundBlaster emulation built into WinXP uses IRQ 5. If you're using 5, odds are that's XP's native emulation you're hearing.

Is there anyway to switch what IRQ VDM uses?

Yes. The best way is through the use of the GUI.
Presuming that you've installed v2.04 of VDMSound, then installed Update 1, and the GUI Launchpad (v1.0.0.7), you simply go to your game's .VLP file (created by the GUI LaunchPad), get it's properties (right-click with the mouse or Alt-Enter), click on the SoundBlaster tab, then choose the IRQ. Like I said, IRQ5 is used by XP's native emulation, so 5 may yield unusual results.

BEFORE YOU DO THAT, be aware that there is a bug in the GUI Launchpad that makes the above steps a point moot for BUILD games.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
There is a fixPOPF bug if you are
1) running XP
2) you installed "Update 1" on top of VDMSound v2.04
3) you installed the GUI and
4) if you used the GUI (or the GUI's VLP shortcut) to launch a BUILD game (or certain other games).

Try using the right-click "Run with VDMS" shortcut that does not have the musical note on the game's executable (or batch file).

This bug should be gone in the next version.

well, when I try to use IRQ 7 it says it won't work due to invalid or conflicting IRQ (at least in setup, I believe I tried leaving it anyway and running the games (using duke, shadow warrior, blood) and I THINK there was no sound...

The SoundBlaster emulation built into WinXP uses IRQ 5. If you're using 5, odds are that's XP's native emulation you're hearing.

Yeah I thought so, from looking through old posts here (I was trying to find something on my own for all the random niggling problems, but yeah very few build engine games work as I know you know :)

I'll try the non-music note one then as well if IRQ 7 definitely doesn't seem to work

ahhh running the plain vdm shortcut thing (no note/gui) worked. cool...course that means no networking :\

...Enable Low-level networking, you mean? I haven't played with that yet... hmm...

You may be interested in this, it's supposed to simplify SOME things in the process (except it doesn't use VDMSound):
http://www.netzone.ca.tc/duke/acrsetup/

Unregistered wrote:

... (no note/gui) worked. cool...course that means no networking :\

Well, there is a "brute force" way of getting around the bug. On your game's .VLP shortcut, get it's properties, click "Advanced", go to the "Troubleshooting" tab, "check" the "Custom Configuration" box and paste the following into the open text area:
[VDMServicesProvider.config]
fixPOPF = 1

That should work around the bug for that particular game. Be aware that this seems to cause an additional performance penalty (at least, it does on my PC).

BUILD games are part of the reason I set my PC to dual-boot with Win98.

FangsFirst wrote:

well, when I try to use IRQ 7 it says it won't work due to invalid or conflicting IRQ (at least in setup, I believe I tried leaving it anyway and running the games (using duke, shadow warrior, blood) and I THINK there was no sound...

Yeah I thought so, from looking through old posts here (I was trying to find something on my own for all the random niggling problems, but yeah very few build engine games work as I know you know 😀

I'll try the non-music note one then as well if IRQ 7 definitely doesn't seem to work

why not just switch ur soundblaster IRQ to 7 going though control panel/system/device manager

didn't need to dufman
I think duke can take a performance hit at least, dunno about blood... shadow warrior..eugh. framerates are like I'm trying to play on a 386

Originally posted by Dufman why not just switch ur soundblaster IRQ to 7 going though control panel/system/device manager

XP doesn't allow direct access to the sound hardware, so changing the IRQ of the actual sound card won't help. You have to deal with the emulated sound card.