Static with SB PCI 128 music

Starkey

Starkey

Avenging Rooster
Hi there!

I am having some problems lately with my SoundBlaster PCI 128 in DOS, specifically with WC1, WC2 and Priv1.

All of a sudden, the MUSIC in these games became slow and with static. The sound effects are normal. It is a really weird thing, because the tunes sometimes play slower and in the next second they play at a normal rate, then slower again, always with static and squeaking noises. It used to work fine until a few days ago.

I usually set my Priv1 music to General Midi, and it used to work fine. After the problem started, I tried to change it to SoundBlaster but it only got worse.

In WC1 and 2 I tried AdLib and SoundBlaster settings but both have that same problem. I had a little better result with a Roland MT32 setting (my card supports all those configurations) but still not close to normality.

In Windows (98) I am not having this kind of problems. It does not seem to be any IRQ conflict and I have not tried other DOS games yet.

I know this is a very specific problem, but any help is appreciated. The music in this games have become annoying because of this problem so I had to turn it off.

I hope I made it clear. Thanks in advance.
 
I think the drivers are fine, since I didn´t change them and they are working well. It could be a hardware problem or something interfering with the drivers.

I´ve contacted Creative Labs and they gave me the following answer:

On each boot up, the PCI sound card is configured jointly by the system BIOS and Windows 95/98. This information is then passed to the sound card's DOS software for use under a restart into MS-DOS mode.

Without all of this information, the DOS software will not work properly for the sound card. As a result, the Creative PCI soundcard must first be booted into Windows 95/98 and then restarted into MS-DOS Mode before any DOS software is able to recognize the card. The card is not supported when booting straight to a DOS prompt, only when restarting Windows 95/98 in MS-DOS Mode. For this reason, Windows 3.1 is not a supported operating system for the Creative PCI sound card.

The support guy goes on suggesting some new configurations. Well, their answer is WRONG, because I was able to boot straight to DOS and play the games for 2-3 months before the music started to lose quality.

I tried all of Creative suggestions but they only messed up my computer, eventually shutting down my soundcard, so I had to restore the original drivers/configs. I suspect the guy gave me support for the SB Live! and not for my card, for what I am preparing a *proper* answer.
 
I seem to have the same problem with my SB Vibra card. SoundBlaster Vibra 128, which I think is the Asian variation of PCI128. Same symptoms with Starkey's.

Midi sounds a bit strange and distorted in true Dos mode. I even tried to run Star Control II in Full Dos mode, and instead the sound was too weird.
 
I would call Creative if I could, but their phone support is valid only in the U.S.
I will post my autoexec and config here later so maybe anyone has an idea.
 
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