[Polpolion]

I hope this is related to gaming enough to merit going in the gaming thread


Last weekend my dad gave me this 40gb hard drive that I could do whatever with. I decided to put it into my computer as a DOS drive so I could play really old games (like Commander Keen, OMF, Tyrian, Raptor, Duke Nukem 1+2, etc) with real sound and not just PC sounds. I got DOS working all right and fine, except it doesn't like my sound card. In order to make wasting the 38gb that FAT doesn't like, I must find a sound card emulator or at least something that makes the proper sound. I was on Google for hours looking for something. I saw VDMsound or whatever it was, but I don't think that works on DOS.

Anyone have any suggestions, or should I just screw it and reformat it as NTFS and and use DOSbox + VDMsound or something?


Also, if it helps, my sound card (I'm not even sure if it's a sound card or just something on the motherboard) is:   Intel 82801 BA/BAM AC'97 Audio Controller

[kode]

unless there's some equiv. of vdmsound (i.e. a soundblaster emulator) for use in dos, I'd say you're SOL.

[Shade]

Yep. VDMSound will run many old DOS games under windows though, and with full sound too, so your best bet is probably to go that route. Another option is DosBox, but it generally runs games slower than VDMSound as it does more emulating, so it should only be used if the former does not work. A final option, specific to Lucasarts adventure games, is ScummVM, which will let you play just about any SCUMM based game in windows even going as far back as Maniac Mansion.

I know for a fact that games such as Dune 2, Duke Nukem 3D, the early Ultima and Wing Commander games (including Privateer), the X-Com games, the SSI Gold Box and Eye of the Beholder games, and both X-Wing and Tie Fighter can be made to work perfectly (as in, full sound and music, working keyboard, joystick and mouse, full save game support etc.) on Windows XP using one of the above options. Tends to take some tweaking, but it's doable. And you don't throw 38gb out the window that way either

[CP5670]

Anyone have any suggestions, or should I just screw it and reformat it as NTFS and and use DOSbox + VDMsound or something?

Yeah, there's no point in making it a FAT drive and running native DOS. You won't get sound unless you have an ISA SB16 or AWE32, or an SBLive with ISA emulation support on the motherboard (I use the latter combination on my retro game rig). Use Dosbox instead.

VDMSound is useless in many games. It can't play FM music at the right speed and hasn't been updated for several years. Dosbox, on the other hand, will run almost everything at a good speed except some of the newer protected mode games from around 1995.

[SadisticSid]

Yes, DosBox is the way to go, providing you have ages to play around with the settings (I've found a set which let me play even 640*480 games with no trouble on my Turion-64) to find what emulation options work best.

[Backslash]

Or you could buy a SB 16 PCI.  That's what I did (~$8 on ebay).  Then get the right DOS drivers and you're set.  If you want specifics on that, lemme know.  As an added bonus you end up with a game port for a joystick!

Heh actually your potential setup sounds very similar to mine.  Stupid onboard-sound motherboard, leftover hard drive... became an old game box with 2GB FAT partition, the rest of the 40GB as a FAT32 with Windows 98 SP2.1 (for other old games that don't like XP).  Boy I love playing around in DOS again.  Wringing every last bit of conventional memory out... Speaking of which, might I recommend QHIMEM, QCACHE, and QCDROM. But I better not derail the thread too far

[Polpolion]

Or you could buy a SB 16 PCI.  That's what I did (~$8 on ebay).  Then get the right DOS drivers and you're set.  If you want specifics on that, lemme know.  As an added bonus you end up with a game port for a joystick!

Heh actually your potential setup sounds very similar to mine.  Stupid onboard-sound motherboard, leftover hard drive... became an old game box with 2GB FAT partition, the rest of the 40GB as a FAT32 with Windows 98 SP2.1 (for other old games that don't like XP).  Boy I love playing around in DOS again.  Wringing every last bit of conventional memory out... Speaking of which, might I recommend QHIMEM, QCACHE, and QCDROM. But I better not derail the thread too far

Oh, man! I didn't have to waste that 38gb!! thank you for posting that!

*goes off to format DOS drive back to NTFS, create 38/2gb partitions and reformats the 2gb partition in FAT mode and then re-installs dos.

[jr2]

I used to fiddle around with old DOS setups on old computers, too, but I think I've found a replacement (and I still get to fiddle around with DOS!)
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc/default.mspx
If you have a decent computer, that might do for you... and you can use the 40 gig HDD for your virtual hard disk files...  Virtual PC will emulate DOS (+Win 3.1), Win' 95, Win '98, Win XP, and others... you just need the setup disks.  Of course, if you've already setup your hard disk the way you like it, then don't go changing it.

[Centrixo]

try dosbox. apparently its used for dos games only!, it should work on any machine.

http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/download.php?main=1

its amazing, i can play dos games at a speed that i used to play back on my old 100mhz machines, aswell as you get sound and music.

oppss: i overlooked one major bit of info, its open source like SCP.

[Cyker]

Or you could buy a SB 16 PCI.  That's what I did (~$8 on ebay).  Then get the right DOS drivers and you're set.  If you want specifics on that, lemme know.  As an added bonus you end up with a game port for a joystick!

Does that actually work??!

I always thought PCI sound cards couldn't emulate ISA sound cards with Evil Software Hacks (Like the one that comes with the SB Live! and doesn't work with half the games I tried ), and those weren't particularly stable...

I remember on some mobos there was a special plug from which you could run a ribbon cable to PCI Sound blasters, which would let them function in DOS games, but those 'boards are long dead!

*sigh* That's what killed DOS games you know; The loss of ISA and ISA Sound cards
I wish I had bought that A-Bit Socket A board with its single precious ISA slot. It would fit my AWE-32 PnP so well! (Now that was a card! It's like, a foot long! With RAM sockets!!  )

[Backslash]

Well it worked for me...

I think the important thing was it was just a SB16 and not trying to be more complicated like SBLive.  The SB16 PCI dos drivers worked quite well, no fuss.  If you end up getting it and need help, PM me.

Heh I remember that huge AWE-32 card.  It became a funny contest in my computer which card would be the biggest, between the sound card and the video card upgrades.  Eventually the video card won with the Voodoo 5   ...and then I needed a bigger case with more circulation

[jr2]

Or you could buy a SB 16 PCI.  That's what I did (~$8 on ebay).  Then get the right DOS drivers and you're set.  If you want specifics on that, lemme know.  As an added bonus you end up with a game port for a joystick!

Does that actually work??!

I always thought PCI sound cards couldn't emulate ISA sound cards with Evil Software Hacks (Like the one that comes with the SB Live! and doesn't work with half the games I tried ), and those weren't particularly stable...

I remember on some mobos there was a special plug from which you could run a ribbon cable to PCI Sound blasters, which would let them function in DOS games, but those 'boards are long dead!

*sigh* That's what killed DOS games you know; The loss of ISA and ISA Sound cards
I wish I had bought that A-Bit Socket A board with its single precious ISA slot. It would fit my AWE-32 PnP so well! (Now that was a card! It's like, a foot long! With RAM sockets!!  )

-eh, as long as you use Creative's software, (which I have backed up), yes, they work quite well.  But it's much easier IMO to use Virtual PC, DOSBox, or VDMSound... Let me know if you have a PCI and you need the software.  I have an old computer set up that way, but since getting D2X-XL I stopped using it.