X-com 1/ Ufo: Enemy Unknown

[Giga]

:sos: One of my favorite oldies, X-COM! I found it yesterday and rushed to download it, first downloaded XP versions (windows, that is), and it always crashed when going to missions. Then I downloaded DOSBox and the DOS version of X-COM, I did some tweaks following abandonia's guide, and voila! The game works! :) But, biggy biggy, no sound and music at all!! :crybaby: Well, the music and sound are quite relaxing and "exciting" (:P) to hear, and sound is really usefull for knowing certain enemy locations and so on... steps etc... so well, I've tried many of the differente setup combinations X-COM comes with, come the IQ and all that stuff is kind of unknown too me, although I know a "bit" of computers I don't scram with sound boards LOL.

Either way here's the thing:

I got onboard sound; it's on my motherboard.

So, on the setup, I suppose SOME settings should eventually work! But the possible combinations are hundreds if just so...

The options are the following: (sound board selection)

SoundBlaster
SoundBlaster Pro
SoundBlaster 16
UltraSound
ProAudioSpectrum
ProAudioSpectrum 16
and No sound (duh :P)

Then, most of them have sub-options:
Base port, IRQ, DMA and some audio channels.

Then on to the music board;

AdLib/SoundBlaster FM
SoundBlaster AWE 32
Ultrasound
General Midi (I think this's the one choice to take, the drivers I use are windows generic which I downloaded; Via AC'97)
and RolandLapc-1/MT32

Well that's about it, I would appreciate ANY hints or tries to help me, I really wanted to have sound.... :sos:

[Eagle of Fire]

There is a high possibility that the archive been ripped off the music to decrease file size. If this is the case, there is no way to get you to hear the music in game.

Sorry.

[The Fifth Horseman]

It's not a factor in this case, EoF.

Giga: You might feel a little out of your depth, but you already seem to know your way around better than most new people here.
The first thing you need to know is that DosBox does not use your real soundcard parameters for configuring the games. It emulates an older soundcard model, and then the output from the emulated SPU goes to the real one.

Default values for DosBox/VDMSound are:
Sound Blaster 16
IRQ 7
DMA 1
Adress 220

Configure the game to use them.
As for the MIDI configuration, General Midi should work most of the time. I'm pretty sure AdLib/SoundBlaster FM will also do in this case, and SoundBlaster AWE 32 just about might work too.

[Giga]

Thanks for the reply EoF and fifth horseman.
As for the music/audio options, I've tried what you said horseman, and so many other combinations yesterday on just a random guess streak, none of them worked, neither have the default DOSBox settings you told me :( Been googling the subject for a bit but haven't found a way out yet....oh well thanks for the help I'll keep searching for help :P

[The Fifth Horseman]

It just doesn't compute. I've ran Enemy Unknown just yesterday with these settings without any problem.

What's even more puzzling is that my copy never asked for IRQ either.

[Giga]

That's weird... ;/ well thanks for the help, still haven't found an option that works, still trying combinations

[The Fifth Horseman]

Mind showing a screenshot from the setup program, specifically soundcard configuration? I've got a weird hunch about something...

[Giga]

Hey, thanks for keeping to try and help me, anyway I found out something: I've tried three games so fa ron DOSBox, NONE "has" sound! I've checked my dosbox.cfc (something like that ;P) and I checked the sound parameter, seems fine, maybe the problem I have resides in my conf! I don't know much about this, but seems ok...Ill post a screenshot this night.

[The Fifth Horseman]

I've tried three games so fa ron DOSBox, NONE "has" sound! [/b]Weird. Either you are configuring them wrong or there is something weird going on with either your config OR your soundcard/drivers.
I presume the sound works in Windows normally?
You are using Win XP, correct?

maybe the problem I have resides in my conf![/b]
Than please post a copy of your config file. I'll have a look if that may be the cause of your problems.

PS. Apologies if I might be sluggish to reply to your next post - I won't be around during the weekend.

[Giga]

Weird. Either you are configuring them wrong or there is something weird going on with either your config OR your soundcard/drivers.
I presume the sound works in Windows normally?
You are using Win XP, correct?[/b]

Yes, I'm currently using windws XP and my sound works perfectly, except in DOSBox.

Than please post a copy of your config file. I'll have a look if that may be the cause of your problems.
[/b]

I will, thanks for keeping helping me.


[sdl]
# fullscreen -- Start dosbox directly in fullscreen.
# fulldouble -- Use double buffering in fullscreen.
# fullresolution -- What resolution to use for fullscreen: original or fixed size (e.g. 1024x768).
# windowresolution -- Scale the window to this size IF the output device supports hardware scaling.
# output -- What to use for output: surface,overlay,opengl,openglnb,ddraw.
# autolock -- Mouse will automatically lock, if you click on the screen.
# sensitiviy -- Mouse sensitivity.
# waitonerror -- Wait before closing the console if dosbox has an error.
# priority -- Priority levels for dosbox: lowest,lower,normal,higher,highest,pause (when not focussed).
# Second entry behind the comma is for when dosbox is not focused/minimized.
# mapperfile -- File used to load/save the key/event mappings from.
# usescancodes -- Avoid usage of symkeys, might not work on all operating systems.

fullscreen=false
fulldouble=false
fullresolution=original
windowresolution=original
output=surface
autolock=true
sensitivity=100
waitonerror=true
priority=higher,normal
mapperfile=mapper.txt
usescancodes=true

[dosbox]
# language -- Select another language file.
# memsize -- Amount of memory dosbox has in megabytes.
# machine -- The type of machine tries to emulate:hercules,cga,tandy,pcjr,vga.
# captures -- Directory where things like wave,midi,screenshot get captured.

language=
machine=vga
captures=capture
memsize=16

[render]
# frameskip -- How many frames dosbox skips before drawing one.
# aspect -- Do aspect correction, if your output method doesn't support scaling this can slow things down!.
# scaler -- Scaler used to enlarge/enhance low resolution modes.
# Supported are none,normal2x,normal3x,advmame2x,advmame3x,hq2x,hq 3x,
# 2xsai,super2xsai,supereagle,advinterp2x,advinterp3 x,
# tv2x,tv3x,rgb2x,rgb3x,scan2x,scan3x.

frameskip=0
aspect=false
scaler=normal2x

[cpu]
# core -- CPU Core used in emulation: normal,simple,dynamic,auto.
# auto switches from normal to dynamic if appropriate.
# cycles -- Amount of instructions dosbox tries to emulate each millisecond.
# Setting this value too high results in sound dropouts and lags.
# You can also let DOSBox guess the correct value by setting it to max.
# The default setting (auto) switches to max if appropriate.
# cycleup -- Amount of cycles to increase/decrease with keycombo.
# cycledown Setting it lower than 100 will be a percentage.

core=auto
cycles=auto
cycleup=500
cycledown=20

[mixer]
# nosound -- Enable silent mode, sound is still emulated though.
# rate -- Mixer sample rate, setting any devices higher than this will
# probably lower their sound quality.
# blocksize -- Mixer block size, larger blocks might help sound stuttering
# but sound will also be more lagged.
# prebuffer -- How many milliseconds of data to keep on top of the blocksize.

nosound=false
rate=22050
blocksize=2048
prebuffer=10

[midi]
# mpu401 -- Type of MPU-401 to emulate: none, uart or intelligent.
# device -- Device that will receive the MIDI data from MPU-401.
# This can be default,alsa,oss,win32,coreaudio,none.
# config -- Special configuration options for the device. In Windows put
# the id of the device you want to use. See README for details.

mpu401=intelligent
device=default
config=

[sblaster]
# sbtype -- Type of sblaster to emulate:none,sb1,sb2,sbpro1,sbpro2,sb16.
# sbbase,irq,dma,hdma -- The IO/IRQ/DMA/High DMA address of the soundblaster.
# mixer -- Allow the soundblaster mixer to modify the dosbox mixer.
# oplmode -- Type of OPL emulation: auto,cms,opl2,dualopl2,opl3.
# On auto the mode is determined by sblaster type.
# All OPL modes are 'Adlib', except for CMS.
# oplrate -- Sample rate of OPL music emulation.

sbtype=sb16
sbbase=220
irq=7
dma=1
hdma=5
mixer=true
oplmode=auto
oplrate=22050

[gus]
# gus -- Enable the Gravis Ultrasound emulation.
# gusbase,irq1,irq2,dma1,dma2 -- The IO/IRQ/DMA addresses of the
# Gravis Ultrasound. (Same IRQ's and DMA's are OK.)
# gusrate -- Sample rate of Ultrasound emulation.
# ultradir -- Path to Ultrasound directory. In this directory
# there should be a MIDI directory that contains
# the patch files for GUS playback. Patch sets used
# with Timidity should work fine.

gus=true
gusrate=22050
gusbase=240
irq1=5
irq2=5
dma1=3
dma2=3
ultradir=C:\ULTRASND

[speaker]
# pcspeaker -- Enable PC-Speaker emulation.
# pcrate -- Sample rate of the PC-Speaker sound generation.
# tandy -- Enable Tandy Sound System emulation (off,on,auto).
# For auto Tandysound emulation is present only if machine is set to tandy.
# tandyrate -- Sample rate of the Tandy 3-Voice generation.
# disney -- Enable Disney Sound Source emulation.

pcspeaker=true
pcrate=22050
tandy=auto
tandyrate=22050
disney=true

[joystick]
# joysticktype -- Type of joystick to emulate: auto (default), none,
# 2axis (supports two joysticks), 4axis,
# fcs (Thrustmaster), ch (CH Flightstick).
# none disables joystick emulation.
# auto chooses emulation depending on real joystick(s).
# timed -- enable timed intervals for axis. (false is old style behaviour).
# autofire -- continuously fires as long as you keep the button pressed.
# swap34 -- swap the 3rd and the 4th axis. can be useful for certain joysticks.
# buttonwrap -- enable button wrapping at the number of emulated buttons.

joysticktype=auto
timed=true
autofire=false
swap34=false
buttonwrap=true

[serial]
# serial1-4 -- set type of device connected to com port.
# Can be disabled, dummy, modem, nullmodem, directserial.
# Additional parameters must be in the same line in the form of
# parameter:value. Parameter for all types is irq.
# for directserial: realport (required), rxdelay (optional).
# for modem: listenport (optional).
# for nullmodem: server, rxdelay, txdelay, telnet, usedtr,
# transparent, port, inhsocket (all optional).
# Example: serial1=modem listenport:5000

serial1=dummy
serial2=dummy
serial3=disabled
serial4=disabled

[dos]
# xms -- Enable XMS support.
# ems -- Enable EMS support.
# umb -- Enable UMB support.
# keyboardlayout -- Language code of the keyboard layout (or none).

xms=true
ems=true
umb=true
keyboardlayout=none

[ipx]
# ipx -- Enable ipx over UDP/IP emulation.

ipx=false

[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.
mount C C:\DOS
mount D D:\UFO\xcom
D:
cd ufo
cd xcom
full
CLS



PS. Apologies if I might be sluggish to reply to your next post - I won't be around during the weekend.[/b]

LOL, no problem man, I'm the one taking ages to reply ;x

[The Fifth Horseman]

Doesn't seem to be anything out of ordinary.

sbtype=sb16[/b]
You might want to try sbtype=sbpro2 (just in case, because it appears slightly more compatibile).

Other than that, did you try redownloading and reinstalling DosBox? See if the problems still occur with an earlier version.

[Guest]

YAY! Tried DOSBox version 0.65 after trying sbpro2 (which didn't work) and sound's good! Thanks a lot :D

[Giga]

Just a thing though, the game kinda has "LOTS" of exes and bats where the game can initiate from, and now, FULL, the bat I used earlier doesn't work, Instead, I use ufocd... it doesn't matter but can someone explain me why do some DOS games have so many forms of running the game? FULL gets bugged and UFO shows lots of errors and doesn't start, for example, I'm just curious...

[Giga]

LOL, just tried out "ACTUAL" gaming, and well... 0.65 eats a HELL LOT of resources, I can only go so far as 15k cycles without cpu being at 100%, and that's slow as hell! :wallbash: This isn't playable... :sos:

[The Fifth Horseman]

Try changing core=normal to core=dynamic in Dosbox.conf. This will allow you to run the game at higher cycles.

Alternatively, try using VDMSound to run it - VDMS does not offer as extensive emulation as DosBox, but doesn't take up as much of your CPU power either.

YAY! Tried DOSBox version 0.65 after trying sbpro2 (which didn't work) and sound's good! Thanks a lot [/b]
Please make sure to report that issue to the Dosbox development team, complete with details on your hardware and driver versions. It's something they might want to fix by the time of next release.

FULL, the bat I used earlier doesn't work[/b]
That's very odd, it worked for me both in 0.65 and the newer versions, no glitches or anything like that. Did you try getting a different copy of the game to run?

[Guest]

Sorry I explained myself badly, what I meant is that when I reach 15kcycles CPU peaks at 100%... I've reported to the DOSBOX development team the happening. (dosbox.crew@gmail.com)

[The Fifth Horseman]

what I meant is that when I reach 15kcycles CPU peaks at 100%[/b]
Yes, that's exactly how I understood you.
You see, setting Core to Dynamic increases the maximum cycle value your machine can handle. Just try it and find out for yourself.

[Guest]

Oh, ok sorry ll. Anyway, i've just tried VDMsound-it's VERY BUGGY (for me, lots of error and I can't get past 5 secs in games with a BIG VARIETY of errors in all bats/exes... gonna try that cpu thing now

[Giga]

OK, FINALLY! I'll be able to play normally w/ sound :)

I managed to get my BUS from 100 to 133, never bothered to do so... either way now instead of 1200mzh it's 1600mzh and BUS got quite a boost, 266hz now I think... anyway now i can run .65 good with sound only with CPU at 40's :) thanks for help horseman :D