Msdos Sound Problems

[Curudan]

I recently installed dune 2 and Elite 3 on my Win 98, they both work fine when i run them in dos mode. Expect one thing: I don't hear any sound at all, Nothing zilch nada.

Oh and i'm no n00b when it comes to dos, been using it off and on for about three years but i've never come across anything like this before.

I remember reading something about this having to do with EMS could this be my problem?

Oh and don't even THINK about suggesting dosbox 'fraid it doesn't stand a snowball's chance in heck running on my old clunker.

see 'ya

[wendymaree]

I used a Win98 OS about 12 months ago. Some games needed to be configured for ems while some older ones didn't use ems.

Here's the entry for the config sys using ems:

rem DOS=SINGLE
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
DOS=HIGH,UMB
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE RAM
devicehigh=C:\BTCCDROM.SYS /D:OEMCD001

Without ems you add the word 'noems' after EMM386.EXE and delete 'RAM'

I remember in Legend Of Kyrandia if there wasn't enough DOS memory that the sound wouldnt work. To free up enough of that memory, you needed to load programs and drivers into high memory in config sig and autoexec.bat.

Here is ye olde autoexec.bat:

SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 T6
SET CTSYN=C:\WINDOWS
C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\SBLIVE\DOSDRV\SBEINIT.COM
LH D:\MOUSE\MOUSE.EXE

[Curudan]

Well i just tried your suggestion, i edited my config.sys file and it sucessfully loaded ems and xms. But i'm still not getting any sound.

Oh and my soundcard is a yamaha ds-xg, if that helps any.

Would it help if i loaded my sound card drivers?... i don't know where they are though.

Oh yeah. and before i edited my config.sys file it was blank does this have any significance?

I'm confused...

[wendymaree]

Yes, you must load the Dos drivers for your sound card if you are to hear sound while playing games in DOS. I'm trying to find this great site which explains all about Dos and the setup for the config.sys and autoexec.bat. Will post a link as soon as I can.

EDIT:

Btw, the drivers for your sound card will be on the CD that came with your card. You just install them onto your hard drive and point the way to their location in the autoexec.bat. This is the line that refers to the location and name of the DOS sound card drivers file in my autoexec.bat:
C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\SBLIVE\DOSDRV\SBEINIT.COM
Usually this line appears automatically when you install the Dos drivers onto your hard drive.

Here is the link to the site with extensive help:
http://www.computerhope.com

and specificially for DOS:
http://www.computerhope.com/msdos.htm

[Curudan]

Duh! why didn't i think of that... oh well.

There is this slight problem though, i've had this computer for about seven years and have not seen the cdrom that came with my sound card for about five.

I think i'll try their web site for the drivers.

[Curudan]

Well i searched around and found a some kind of program that you could posibly call a "driver" but not really, i worked around with it, the setup programs for the two games in question and the link you gave me but was unable to get it to work... oh yeah and when i run the "yamaha dos sound managment utility" it causes bug's to appear in both games in question

Ah well, one effect of all this is i now have a mediocre understanding of the "autoexec.bat" and the "config.sys" files. Oh yeah and also set them to load doskey and ctmouse on startup!

I guess i'll just search around for that elite 3 hack-thing that lets run it in windows and thus give me sound... that is unless you have any more ideas

Thanks anyway for all your help...