Trouble with Wing Commander 3

Normally you won't have any problems with exotic sound cards anymore, because DirectX takes care of everything. In the DOS era though, non-Sound Blaster cards were often a cause of conflicts. Most were "Sound Blaster compatible", but in reality it was usually pretty tricky getting a game to run on one.
 
Well, the fact that it's a 400 isn't the bad thing, it's the whole eMachine thing. Oh well, it was cheap. To be honest, I would love to have an old DOS-only Pentium with a decent (but not too fast) processor speed. Perhaps that would help some of my gaming woes.

So, even though my DOS game is runing from Windows, DirectX has no effect because of the DOS factor? That's unfortunate. Well, I still hope I can get this to work. Otherwise, it's subtitle time!
 
Oh, and another thing, when I restart in MS-DOS mode, it shows my sound card being initialized (I guess that's the right word), as well as my mouse. So, I gather from this that DOS at least recognizes my sound card (and, as I said before, it will play the MIDI sound).
 
That's interesting, 'cause on my Compaq 486, sometimes sound will only work in pure DOS after running Windows, and then rebooting. I suppose that's because I have no sound initialisation in my startup files - it all seems to be internal.
 
Do you mean my config.sys and autoexec.bat? Sorry, I haven't done much tweaking in DOS. I'll go ahead and post those, though, just in case (in just a second).
 
Sorry I didn't post this yesterday, but I started doing something else, and I forgot to post this. Here's my config.sys file (I think). Since I'm not quite sure what you want, I think I'll wait a bit before posting something else. Sorry about my DOS ignorance.

REM [Header]



REM [CD-ROM Drive]
Device=C:\cdrom\oakcdrom.sys /d:gem001

REM [Miscellaneous]

REM [SCSI Controllers]

REM [Display]

REM [Sound, MIDI, or Video Capture Card]

REM [Mouse]
REM ------------------

device = \WINDOWS\COMMAND\ANSI.SYS
 
Yes, the config.sys and autoexec.bat files are what I want. Also dosstart.bat (in the C:\Windows directory).
 
All right, I'll try to get those. Unfortunately, I can't seem to get dosstart or autoexec.bat to run in a DOS window. So much for copy and paste! This may take a while.
 
Okay, I think these are what you want. If not, they still might be useful in some way. At least, I hope so. Here's my dosstart:

MSCDEX Version 2.25
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corp. 1986-1995. All rights reserved.
Drive D: = Driver GEM001 unit 0
Microsoft (R) Mouse Driver Version 9.00
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corp. 1983-1995. All rights reserved.
Mouse Driver Installed
Mouse Port Device enabled

CrystalWare(tm) SoundFusion(tm) Initialization Utility, Version 2.80
Copyright (C) 1998 Crystal Semiconductor Corp. All rights reserved.

Microsoft (R) Windows 98
(C) Copyright Microsoft Corp 1981-1998

C:\>Windows>

And here's my autoexec.bat:

C:\>autoexec.bat //I typed this at the command line
C:\>SETGRIP=C:\GRAVIS\PCSPPro
C:\>REM[Header]
CrystalWare(tm) SoundFusion(tm) Initialization Utility, Version 2.80
Copyright (C) 1998 Crystal Semiconductor Corp. All rights reserved.

Well, there it is. I hope some of this makes sense.

[Edited by Icedagger on 04-09-2001 at 03:26]
 
Sorry about that. Maybe this will help.

autoexec.bat

SET GRIP=C:\GRAVIS\PCGPPro
REM [Header]
@ECHO OFF


REM [CD-ROM Drive]
REM c:\windows\command\mscdex /d:gem001

REM [Miscellaneous]

REM [Display]

REM [Sound, MIDI, or Video Capture Card]

REM [Mouse]

c:\windows\cwcdata\cwcdos.exe
SET PATH=%PATH%;C:\GRAVIS\PCGPPro

dosstart

@ECHO OFF

c:\windows\command\MSCDEX.EXE /D:gem001
c:\mouse\MOUSE.exe

c:\windows\cwcdata\cwcdos.exe

Hopefully I got it right this time. Thanks!
 
Okay, found your sound driver; it's the cwcdos stuff. I noticed the lack of a SET BLASTER line; that may be the cause of your trouble, if that's where your driver gets its settings from. Okay, now I need you to go into Device Manager (Control Panels->System) and find the settings for your sound chip (Input/Output ranges, IRQ settings, etc.). Post that info, and I'll construct new config files for you.
 
Okay, I went to Settings/Control/Panel/Device Manager/Sound, Video and Game Controllers/Crystal SoundFusion game Device/Properties/Resources, and this is what I found (sorry for the long "address," but I wanted to make sure you knew where I was going, just in case I was doing something wrong):

Input/Output: 0220-022F
Input/Output: 0338-038B
Interrupt Request: 05
Direct Memory Access: 01

That's what it says. Is it normal to have two things for I/O? Anyway, I have it on "Use automatic settings." Hopefully this will make sense. Thanks for the help!
 
Okay, here's what you want in your new config files (I suggest making a boot disk or shortcut rather than editing your actual startup files):

Config.sys:

DOS=HIGH,UMB
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE RAM HIGHSCAN
BUFFERSHIGH=99
FILESHIGH=35
DEVICEHIGH=C:\CDROM\OAKCDROM.SYS /D:GEM001

Autoexec.bat:

@ECHO OFF
SET PROMPT=$P$G
SET PATH=C:\;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND;C:\GRAVIS\PCGPPRO
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1
LH C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /D:GEM001 /E
LH C:\MOUSE\MOUSE.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\CWCDATA\CWCDOS.EXE
 
Hmmhh...well, I made a DOS shortcut from Windows (with the parameters you gave me), but I still couldn't get the sound fx to work. The MIDI sound seemed to be running okay in the background, but there was still a constant popping noise, and the video kept cutting out. Oh well, I'll keep trying to make something work. Besides, I think in a way, I would rather play in Windows without sound then play in DOS with sound, due to my USB Sidewinder Joystick. Thanks for the help, though.
 
Hmmhhh...well, here's some unrelated good news. I got WC4 today, and after installing the Windows 95 patch, it seems to run like a charm (although the sound does tend to make the occasional popping scratching sound-not bad enough to detract from the game). Of course, I don't want to play the game until I finish 3. So, I guess I'll just beat it without sound, and hope that someday I can get it to work (or get an older computer).
 
Well, sorry to bring up a mostly dead post, but I thought I would toss out this info on the sound situation. I took WC3 and 4 home with me this past weekend, just to test them on my parent's machine (a Pentium 233 running Windows 95). Well, 3 messed up on the sound tests, just like on my computer, so I set no sound. The game ran fine. Well, then I installed WC4 with no sound (as the setup was totally messing up), but when I played it, it ran with sound, even though I had installed it without (and I never installed the 95 patch either, as I didn't have it). I thought that was interesting, so I went back to 3 and installed with sound, without doing the sound tests, and it runs perfectly with sound. This is all very strange. I just wish I could get 3 to work on my computer using the same method. Oh well, I'll work on it a little tomorrow. I guess the key to getting old WC games to work is having an old, obsolete computer (my parents don't have a SoundBlaster though, although I can't remember which brand they have exactly).
 
Come now, before I clicked this post, it said 416 people had viewed it. Surely someone can think of some brilliant idea (or at least console me in my grief). Oh well, I suppose if nothing else works, I can play it with sound this summer when I go home to my parent's house.
 
'Fraid not; that particular sound chip is rather generic and doesn't get much support. I suspect the SB emulation is simply not up to par.
 
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