Privateer and the SB AWE64

E

Ethan Duerichen

Spaceman
Yes, it's a Privateer problem again...

Not too long ago, I got a Sound Blaster AWE64 Gold and a Roland LAPC-I for my computer and I've been fishing through my older games playing them mostly to hear the difference in sound using General MIDI, instead of AdLib. Privateer has been giving me trouble though.

Before, Privateer wouldn't even start; it would just reboot the computer. So I read up on previous threads on this site for what's been done in the past. Following those instructions, this is my current setup.

CONFIG.SYS

DOS=HIGH,UMB,NOAUTO
DEVICEhigh=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
devicehigh=c:\windows\emm386.exe RAM 16384 /I=B000-B7FF
devicehigh=c:\windows\ifshlp.sys
devicehigh=c:\windows\setver.exe
STACKS=18,256
FILESHIGH=25
BUFFERSHIGH=25
SHELL=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND.COM C:\WINDOWS /P
Lastdrive=Z


AUTOEXEC.BAT

@echo off
path c:\windows\command
SET SOUND=C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND
SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E MODE:0
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 E620 T6
loadhigh=c:\windows\ctcm.exe
loadhigh=C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND\AWEUTIL.com /EM:GM /key-
c:\mixerset /MA:220 /VO:255 /MI:255 /LI:255 /TR:225 /BA:245

With this setup, I get mixed results. Sometimes, the intro will play for a second, including music, and then either the game and music will freeze, or the computer restarts. Other times, it will freeze or reboot as soon as the first note is played. It sounds like a conflict, but I've tried physically removing my LAPC-I and it makes no difference. It shouldn't matter anyway, since the LAPC-I is set on 300h. If anybody can help me with this, I'd greatly appreciate it.

I also have been working on a roundabout method to this problem. I have my LAPC-I and AWE64's MIDI ports connected for MIDI recording. I've actually had games playing music perfectly looped through the LAPC-I and out the AWE64. However, to do that I've needed some program running in the background using MIDI Thru on the AWE64. So far, the only programs that can do this are for Windows. If anyone knows of some DOS program that can do this, then that can also get Privateer to work with the AWE64. Privateer works just fine with the LAPC-I, except the music sounds terrible since it doesn't use a General MIDI Instrument set and it only uses Channels 1-8 and 10, not all 16 MIDI channels.
 
Ethan, first from your other post I am assuming you are trying to run P1 in Win9x. Just forget that idea. Better men than you or me have tried and fail. You need to use a bootdisk and play it in "Real DOS Mode". If you don't know how to make one let me know and I'll help you.

I've been researching your sound card and I think this will work.

---------AUTOEXEC.BAT--------

SET PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND;C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND;
SET TEMP=C:\TEMP
SET TMP=C:\TEMP
PROMPT $p$g

REM ----- Sound Card----
REM SET CTCM=C:\WINDOWS
REM LH C:\WINDOWS\CTCM.EXE
SET SOUND=C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND
REM SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E MODE:0
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 E620 T6 J200
LH C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND\AWEUTIL.COM /S
C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND\MIXERSET /P /Q

REM --- CD-ROM Drive ---

REM --- Mouse-----

SET COMSPEC=C:\windows\COMMAND.COM


-------CONFIG.SYS------------
DOS=HIGH,UMB
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE 16384 RAM D=64 FRAME=E000 /I=B000-B7FF
STACKS=18,256
FILESHIGH=50
BUFFERSHIGH=35

REM --- CD-ROM DRIVE ---

SHELL=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND.COM C:\WINDOWS /P
LASTDRIVE=F

--------
First, in the autoexec.bat you need to fix these four lines below. The way this site is setup you can't post long lines. It breaks them up. Make sure each line is one line.

SET PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND;C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND;

SET SOUND=C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND

LH C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND\AWEUTIL.COM /S

C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND\MIXERSET /P /Q

The LASTDRIVE= is suppose to be the last drive letter in "MY Computer". Z is way to high; that a network letter and you're wasting memory using the wrong letter. You also need a mouse driver in the autoexec.bat. I am assuming you are using the floppy version of P1 which is why you don't have CD-ROM drivers. That's o'kay. Also, if you are not loading your CD-ROM in DOS than you don't need to count it for the LASTDRIVE=.

I'm not sure if you need the ctcm.exe so let's try it without.

Also, while using the bootdisk try the DIAGNOSE to see if the get sound under DOS.
 
Yeah, I guessed that getting P1 to work in Windows was a lost cause. I just thought it might be worth another try.

Anyway, with this thread, yes, I've been working with this in "Real-DOS." Instead of a bootdisk, I just changed my AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS in drive C: to what you saw before and on bootup pressed F8 and chose Command Prompt only. Same thing as a bootdisk. Also, drive Z: is my CD-ROM drive. I was having trouble keeping a constant drive letter for the CD-ROM, because I had 4 hard drives, before I got my 20 gig. So, for fun, I gave the CD-ROM the letter Z: and I left it like that. But yeah, for this purpose I gave it LASTDRIVE=F. I'm not using the CD-ROM drive because I copied the TRE files to my hard drive to make it quicker. As for a mouse driver, I just left it out until I could get this part to work.

Unfortunately, though, your setup didn't work. First of all, I do need CTCM. The Sound Blaster AWE64 Gold is a Plug-and-Play device only in Windows. In DOS, it uses CTCM to activate it in DOS. Without it, AWEUTIL just gives me the error "AWE32 initialization failed."

Second, AWEUTIL /S only initializes the FM synthesis (AdLib) and the native AWE32 wavetable port (620h). It does not turn on the MPU-401 emulation port (330h) which is what I'd need to use General MIDI in Privateer. Sure with AWEUTIL /S, Privateer now runs, but there's no music. That would only work with the AdLib/Soundblaster music option, or if Privateer supported the AWE32 (620h) directly. The /S command also doesn't leave AWEUTIL resident in memory. It needs to be resident to translate the MIDI data from the General MIDI port (330h) to the AWE32 wavetable port (620h). Otherwise, any game I try just crashes.

But even with the changes, (CTCM and AWEUTIL /EM:GM), it still gives me the same problems as before. DIAGNOSE and other games that use General MIDI, including WC Armada, work fine. If only I could get my MIDI Thru connection to work in DOS, that would work instead.
 
use this bootdisk, should work for sblive and older cards.

read the instructions first it needs a little file moving, coz the sb16 emulation driver is looking for a file called default.ecw when it tries to load the driver. so do a search on windows for this file.
and move it to a folder c:\sb\, create this folder coz you wont have it. that is the path on the sb emulation config so you can change it if you want, just dont forget to change it on the sb config file as well.

here's the link for the bootdisk, instructions included.

http://www.geocities.com/faustino909/bootdisk.html

i used this for privateer 2 running on XP and xcom apocalypse
this bootdisk is completely independent from the winXP. the sound driver is on the floppy itself.

i also disabled QEMM so make sure to use EMM manager instead.
( i didnt have space on the floppy ehe)
 
I think you've plugged your bootdisk enough already. ;)

Besides, getting the original Privateer to work on today's computers are, more often than not, much harder than simply following a set of instructions, especially when it was used on P2.
 
um i just wanna know if the damn thing works on other systems other than mine, mainly because im not quite sure wat made it work:)
 
Sorry Faust, the bootdisk didn't work either. Actually, my SB AWE64 Gold is an ISA card, not PCI, so the SB16 Emulation Driver on the bootdisk didn't work. I just loaded CTCM and AWEUTIL /EM:GM afterward, but I got the same result as before.
 
Ethan, post your email address. I have some P1 patch files that I found four years ago. They may help. I play the game with SB16 settings becuase I like the sound more them MIDI.

Oh' you do has a joystick hook up? P1 needs a joystick. This maybe the your problem. The sound and game play works better with it. That's the way the game was design.
 
Ethan, I just need to ask this question. You are aware that you need to type "install" within c:\privater to configure the sound settings for the game? And you need to do this while in DOS mode and not in windows.
 
Yes, I do have a joystick hooked up, and yes, I did run the Install program while I'm in Real-DOS, not Windows and in c:\privater.

My email address is ethanpd@hotmail.com. I hope the patch files aren't bigger than 1 MB, otherwise Hotmail might not give them to me. Thank you.
 
Ethan, why must you have midi? Why not use "aweutil /s" and set the music/search to SB 16. I try it both ways and feel it sounds better that way.

The only thing I can think of is P1 doesn't like the way your sound card handles midi. I have a SB16 PCI card and it likes it both ways.
 
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