Running Privateer in DOS with a SB16 PCI card and still have sound problems...

G

GetCool

Spaceman
So I recently bought a Sound Blaster 16 PCI card to play old DOS games, and it's been working beautifully except for Privateer. I set up the sound as follows (the IRQs and DMAs are correct for my system setup):

Music: General MIDI (If I use SB16 for MIDI the music is terribly unrecognizable); Port 330, IRQ 7

Speech: Sound Blaster 16; Port 220, IRQ 7, DMA 1

With this setup, the MIDI music is generally fine until I get into my ship and launch. Once in space, it gets garbled and slows down, as if it is skipping sound "frames" (for lack of a better analogy). Also, the speech ranges randomly from perfectly normal to horrible static/buzz-sounding. When I talk to people on planets (for example, the bartender), the speech is about 25% okay and 75% static/buzzing. When I am flying in my ship, the speech is 100% static. Also, when I am flying in my ship and I take certain actions that produce non-speech sound effects (such as making selections in the communications menu, or cycling through weapons), there is a 2-3 second delay and the sound effects come out as complete garbage.

How can I remedy this? I thought for sure that a SB16 PCI card would work flawlessly for Privateer, as I am pretty sure I had a SB16 in my old 486 that I used to play Privateer with just fine back in the day (although it was probably an ISA card). Anyone here run Privateer with a SB16?
 
I've been using the this card from like three years from DOS games and ever had any problems. Post your autoexec.bat and config.sys so I can make sure your setup is correct. Without see your configuration I think you need this line in your config.sys.
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE 16384 RAM D=64 FRAME=E000 /I=B000-B7FF
 
Okay, here's my config.sys:
--------------------------------------------------
[menu]
menuitem=win, Boot to Windows
menuitem=dos, Boot to DOS
menudefault=win,5

[win]

[dos]
DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE RAM HIGHSCAN I=B000-B7FF
BUFFERSHIGH=20
FILESHIGH=30
DOS=HIGH,UMB
LASTDRIVE=M
DEVICEHIGH=C:\PROGRA~1\DOSUTIL\CDROM\VIDE-CDD.SYS /D:0001
---------------------------------------------------

and my autoexec.bat:
---------------------------------------------------
@echo off

goto %config%

:win
SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 H7 P330 T6
SET SBPCI=C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\AUDIO\DOSDRV
win
goto end

:dos
PROMPT $P$G
C:\PROGRA~1\DOSUTIL\FIX27\FIX27.COM
SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 H7 P330 T6
SET SBPCI=C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\AUDIO\DOSDRV
C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\AUDIO\DOSDRV\SBINIT.COM
LOADHIGH=C:\PROGRA~1\DOSUTIL\CTMOUSE\CTMOUSE.EXE
LOADHIGH=C:\PROGRA~1\DOSUTIL\CDROM\MSCDEX.EXE /D:0001 /L:D /e
cls
goto end

:end
-------------------------------------------------

Note I have a menu that prompts me to choose between Windows and DOS, so thats what all that branch jazz is (:win, [dos], etc.).

The SB16 works fine with all other games I've tried so I don't uunderstand why it won't work with Privateer. If you notice something wrong in either of the above files please let me know.

Thanks.
 
UPDATE:

I replaced the line:

DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE RAM HIGHSCAN I=B000-B7FF

in my autoexec.bat with the line you suggested:

DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE 16384 RAM D=64 FRAME=E000 /I=B000-B7FF

and I now have fully-functional speech and sound effects (although I can faintly hear pops and scratches every now and then), but the MIDI music still gets very sluggish and crackly once I launch into space. It appears to be a memory issue, but how can I fix it?
 
Do you play with a joystick? I'm one of the few, if not only, people who play with a keyboard (check out the Tarsus cockpit! :)) and apparently, in-flight music slows to about half speed [without a joystick plugged in]. But I personally don't get and pops or crackles (hey, sounds like an ad for Rice Bubbles/Crispies :)) in the sound, but then again, I've only ever played on old ISA cards.
 
GetCool, here the thing. The DOS drivers you are using are not really for SB 16 PCI. They do work but not as good as the original drivers did. First let's try a little troubleshooting. Add a joystick port (J200) to the SET BLASTER

SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 H7 P330 T6 J200

P1 need a joystick port even if you don't plan on using a Joystick.

Now if you still are having problems try using the original drivers. You can get them here.
http://www.vobis.de/bbs/support/brett36/You need these two drivers: sbbasic.exe and ctcmbbs.exe. Read the readme.txt file for istallation instruction.

Here how the autoexec.bat and config.sys sound setting should look.
---autoexec.bat
REM ---SOUND CARD---
SET SOUND=C:\SB16
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H1 P330 T6 J200
SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E
SET CTCM=C:\CTCM
C:\SB16\DIAGNOSE /S /W=C:\WINDOWS
C:\SB16\MIXERSET /P /Q
rem C:\SB16\SB-SOUND /P220 /B8
C:\CTCM\CTCU /S /W=C:\WINDOWS

----config.sys--
DEVICE=C:\CTCM\CTCM.EXE

I also see you are try to write a menu driven batch file. I thought you might like to see mine. I design it to run all my DOS games on a DOS/Win 3.11 machine. What you really should look at is the common stuff and how everything must load in the correct order.

---Config.sys
[common]
DOS=HIGH
DOS=UMB
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV.EXE 1024
rem DEVICE=C:\SDD\UNIVBE.EXE -w
DEVICE=C:\CTCM\CTCM.EXE
SHELL=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM C:\DOS /P
LASTDRIVE=D

[menu]
menudefault=DEFAULT,20
menuitem=ARMADA
menuitem=PRIV1
menuitem=RFIRE
menuitem=ACADEMY
menuitem=RENEGADE
menuitem=STARCON3
menuitem=DEFAULT
menucolor=7,0

[ARMADA]
STACKS=18,256
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE 6144 D=64 FRAME=E000 /I=B000-B7FF RAM
DEVICEHIGH=C:\HXCD-ROM\CDROM.SYS /D:NCI000
FILES=25
BUFFERS=25

[PRIV1]
REM --- By HiSpeed CD-ROM Drive installation program. 6/25/101 ---
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE 16384 RAM D=64 FRAME=E000 /I=B000-B7FF
DEVICEHIGH=C:\HXCD-ROM\CDROM.SYS /D:NCI000
STACKS=18,256
FILES=50
BUFFERS=35

[RFIRE]
REM --- By HiSpeed CD-ROM Drive installation program. 6/25/101 ---
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE 16384 D=64 FRAME=E000 /I=B000-B7FF RAM
DEVICEHIGH=C:\HXCD-ROM\CDROM.SYS /D:NCI000
STACKS=18,256
FILES=50
BUFFERS=35

[ACADEMY]
STACKS=18,256
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE 3072 D=64 FRAME=E000 /I=B000-B7FF RAM
DEVICEHIGH=C:\HXCD-ROM\CDROM.SYS /D:NCI000
FILES=25
BUFFERS=25

[RENEGADE]
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS
FILES=30
BUFFERS=30
DEVICEHIGH=C:\HXCD-ROM\CDROM.SYS /D:NCI000

[STARCON3]
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS
FILES=30
BUFFERS=30
DEVICEHIGH=C:\HXCD-ROM\CDROM.SYS /D:NCI000

[DEFAULT]
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS
DEVICEHIGH=C:\HXCD-ROM\CDROM.SYS /D:NCI000 /DMA /V
FILES=30
BUFFERS=30

--------autoexec.bat------
LH C:\SDD\UNIVBE.EXE -w
ECHO OFF
SET PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\DOS;C:\MOUSE;C:\SB16;C:\CTCM;C:\qtw\bin
SET TEMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
SET TMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
PROMPT $p$g

REM ---SOUND CARD---
SET SOUND=C:\SB16
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H1 P330 T6 J200
SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E
SET CTCM=C:\CTCM
C:\SB16\DIAGNOSE /S /W=C:\WINDOWS
C:\SB16\MIXERSET /P /Q
rem C:\SB16\SB-SOUND /P220 /B8
C:\CTCM\CTCU /S /W=C:\WINDOWS
LH MOUSE /D
LH DOSKEY
SET COMSPEC=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM

if "%config%"=="ARMADA" GOTO ARMADA
if "%config%"=="PRIV1" GOTO PRIV1
if "%config%"=="RFIRE" goto RFIRE
if "%config%"=="ACADEMY" GOTO ACADEMY
if "%config%"=="RENEGADE" GOTO RENEGADE
if "%config%"=="STARCON3" GOTO STARCON3
if "%config%"=="DEFAULT" GOTO DEFAULT

:ARMADA
ECHO ON
LH C:\CDROM\MSCDEX.EXE /D:NCI000 /V
C:
cd Armada
Armada
goto end

:PRIV1
LH C:\CDROM\MSCDEX.EXE /D:NCI000 /V
C:
cd Privater
Priv
goto end

:RFIRE
LH C:\CDROM\MSCDEX.EXE /D:NCI000 /V
C:
CD PRIVATER
RF.BAT
goto end

:ACADEMY
c:
CD EA\WCA
WCA.EXE
goto end

:RENEGADE
LH C:\CDROM\MSCDEX.EXE /D:NCI000 /V
C:
CD RENEGADE
RENEGADE
goto end

:STARCON3
LH C:\CDROM\MSCDEX.EXE /D:NCI000 /V
C:
CD PROGRAMF\ACCOLADE\STARCON3
SC3
goto end

:DEFAULT
REM --- By HiSpeed CD-ROM Drive installation program. 6/25/101 ---
LH C:\CDROM\MSCDEX.EXE /D:NCI000 /V
C:
goto end

:end
ECHO=ON
 
Okay, I tried using the drivers that you linked me to, Johnl12, but I'm having a problem. When I try to run the INSTALL.EXE files, they tell me that I cannot run them in Windows 95 and that they can't continue, even though I'm booting straight into DOS. I'm running Windows 98 on the partition in question, so somehow it's recognizing Win98 as the resident OS. How can I get it to think it's in pure DOS?

So anyway, I decided that I was going to just put all the files from the sbbasic.exe archive into C:\SB16 and all the files from the ctcmbbs.exe archive into C:\CTCM and set up my autoexec.bat and config.sys manually like yours, but my PC won't even load the drivers (it gives me the same error message about running the programs in Windows 95). So I figure I either have two options:

(1) Figure out how to "trick" the sound programs into thinking they are running in pure DOS, or

(2) Blow away my Windows 98 partition and install Windows 3.1 instead.

I'd like to do option 2, as I'm sure it would be easier for me to get games to run, but I'd have a problem. You see, I have Windows XP on my second partition, and if I formatted my first partition it would screw up my boot sector so that WinXP wouldn't boot.

Any ideas what I could try?

Thanks
 
So anyway, I decided that I was going to just put all the files from the sbbasic.exe archive into C:\SB16 and all the files from thectcmbbs.exe archive into C:\CTCM and set up my autoexec.bat and config.sys manually like yours, but my PC won't even load the drivers (it gives me the same error message about running the programs in Windows 95)
Click to expand...
You have the right idea but for the SB16 files you need to read the readme.txt file. It explains which files go where. You need to make two directories.
c:\SB16
c:\SB16\DRV
So read the readme.txt file very carefully. I like to use Windows Find files feature and just copy them to the right location.
 
Okay, I'll try this when I get home (I'm at work now), but I'm not sure that's my only problem. If I put CTCM in my autoexec.bat, upon bootup it gives me the error message that I am attempting to run it in Windows 95. I'm wondering even if I do have all the files in the right places, will the drivers still not load for this reason?

Anyway I'll try what you said later today. Thanks
 
Originally posted by GetCool
Okay, I'll try this when I get home (I'm at work now), but I'm not sure that's my only problem. If I put CTCM in my autoexec.bat, upon bootup it gives me the error message that I am attempting to run it in Windows 95. I'm wondering even if I do have all the files in the right places, will the drivers still not load for this reason?

Anyway I'll try what you said later today. Thanks
Click to expand...
When I was using this card on my Win98 machine I never had a problem.
 
I just re-read your first post and I forget to ask you what OS you are using. For Win9x you also need to get the sbw9xup.exe.
 
Okay now I'm confused... now you say I need the Win9x update, but how will this help me in DOS? Maybe I should explain what I'm doing from the start...

I have both a Sound Blaster Audigy and a Sound Blaster 16 in my machine. I have one partition with Win98 and one with WinXP. WinXP I use for all my main applications, modern games, etc., and Win98 I use for nothing at all (I only installed it so I could have working DOS to play old games). In WinXP, I use only the SB Audigy and have the SB16 disabled. In Win98, I had just the SB16 installed and the SB Audigy disabled (I used the install CD that came with the SB16), but since I started talking to you I uninstalled the SB16 and currently have NO sound card drivers installed in Win98. The reason I did this was because you suggested that I use the older SB16 drivers in DOS, so I wanted to get rid of the DOS drivers that came with the install CD. Since I use Windows 98 for absolutely nothing I don't care about the Windows drivers, only the DOS drivers.

I hope that makes my situation a little clearer. All I want to do is get the old DOS drivers to work in DOS.

I appreciate your help a lot Johnl12 and I hate to drag this thread on, but I'd like to know how you would go about setting up DOS on my machine. Thanks.
 
Getcool, I think we need to backup. Go back to your original drivers. In the Config.sys and this line STACKS=18,256 above the FILES=.
 
Okay, I'm back to the drivers that came with the install CD. My configuration now looks like this:
-----------------------------------
CONFIG.SYS
-----------------------------------
[menu]
menuitem=win, Boot to Windows
menuitem=dos, Boot to DOS
menudefault=win,5

[win]

[dos]
DOS=HIGH
DOS=UMB
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV.EXE 1024
SHELL=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND.COM C:\WINDOWS /P
LASTDRIVE=F
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE 16384 RAM D=64 FRAME=E000 /I=B000-B7FF
DEVICEHIGH=C:\CDROM\VIDE-CDD.SYS /D:0001
STACKS=18,256
FILES=50
BUFFERS=35

-----------------------------------
AUTOEXEC.BAT
-----------------------------------
goto %config%

:win
win
goto end

:dos
SET PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND;C:\CDROM;C:\CTMOUSE;C:\FIX27;C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\AUDIO\DOSDRV
SET TEMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
SET TMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
PROMPT $p$g
C:\FIX27\FIX27.COM
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H1 P330 T6 J200
SET SBPCI=C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\AUDIO\DOSDRV
C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\AUDIO\DOSDRV\SBINIT.COM
LOADHIGH=C:\CTMOUSE\CTMOUSE.EXE
LH DOSKEY
SET COMSPEC=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND.COM
LOADHIGH=C:\CDROM\MSCDEX.EXE /D:0001 /L:D /E
goto end

:end
-----------------------------------

and so far I'm still getting the crackling MIDI music in Privateer (as well as slightly crackling SFX. What would you recommend I do next?
 
Try aranging the config.sys in this order.

DOS=HIGH,UMB
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE 16384 RAM D=64 FRAME=E000 /I=B000-B7FF
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV.EXE 1024
STACKS=18,256
FILESHIGH=50
BUFFERSHIGH=35
DEVICEHIGH=C:\CDROM\VIDE-CDD.SYS /D:0001
SHELL=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND.COM C:\WINDOWS /P
LASTDRIVE=F

What is this for?
C:\FIX27\FIX27.COM
REM it out and see if it helps.
 
I rearranged my config.sys as you suggested and remmed out Fix27 (BTW, Fix27 is a utility that reclaims wasted environment space from TSRs), but I still get the crackling music. Something Wedge009 said back when I started this thread intrigues me -- he said if I am not using a joystick that may be the problem. I may dig up an old joystick and plug it in to the SB16 and see if that helps. Don't know if it will, but it's worth a shot.
 
Hmmm... that page has some interesting info. Apparently some users have resolved crackling and popping noises by disabling 16-bit DMA. I wouldn't want to disable the full duplex capabilities of the card by doing this but it's worth investigating.

Also it talks about some users that fixed this problem by overclocking their FSB or changing voltage settings. I actually already have my FSB overclocked (from 133 to 150MHz) and my DDR voltage up to maximum. Whether or not this is actually causing the problem, however, is what I'd like to know.

Other than that, I could try plugging in a joystick as I said, and if that doesn't work, the only thing left I can think of is to take the SB16 out of my machine and put it in an old DOS/Win3.1 box.

I wish it was easier to get these old games to run. About once a year I attempt to get all my old favorites up and running again and nearly go insane after hours and hours of work end in failure. I thought for sure I'd be able to do it this time, since I opted to buy an SB16 card instead of fooling with SB16 emulation, but apparently not.
 
I know about the joystick thing which is why I gave you a joystick port. I was hoping that would be enough.

Having a DOS box is a wise choice. As you know, as these PCs get more poweriful older games which were design for 386/486 machine won't be able to run on these machines.
 
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