Software Support > DOS/WinCab
DOSCab + pure DOS + SB Live
2012:
DOSCab looks great to me,but so far I only have experience of WinCab, read on for the reasons.
I have a Win98SE machine that I run in 'pure' DOS (v7.1) mode, and use with AdvanceMenu + AdvanceMame and an arcade cabinet with a 'standard resolution' (15.72kHz) monitor. It is a Celeron system with a SoundBlaster Live PCI soundcard. Sound works perfectly in AdvanceMAME and AdvanceMenu. I use the SBLive.zip DOS drivers from this page: http://easymamecab.mameworld.net/html/snddosdr.htm.
I am using DOSCab/WinCab Jukebox 3.0 Beta 4 from Chris' web site. WinCab works fine (in Win98SE of course), but when I start up DOSCab (in pure DOS then) it indexes, and loads up the first song OK and then it just keeps silent and stays at '0:00' played time forever. It still responds to keypresses to queue more songs though.
Posts in this forum indicate that this is likely a soundcard driver issue, but please note that the sound is working without any problems in the Advance* programs in the same pure DOS environment.
Is there anyone who has managed to set up DOSCab in a pure DOS environment with a SoundBlaster Live card? Do you have any tips on what drivers to use? Is there some way to make DOSCab use another sound driver that could work better?
The Advance* programs are able to use SEAL (MAME modified version), Allegro and vsyncmame sound drivers. http://advancemame.sourceforge.net/doc-advdev.html#2 http://advancemame.sourceforge.net/doc-advdev.html#5 http://www.talula.demon.co.uk/allegro/ http://vsynchmame.mameworld.net/
If it helps I could see which driver Advance* is actually using, and post SBESET configuration information and environment parameter settings etc.
Chris:
--- Quote from: 2012 on November 22, 2004, 04:36:54 am ---Is there anyone who has managed to set up DOSCab in a pure DOS environment with a SoundBlaster Live card? Do you have any tips on what drivers to use? Is there some way to make DOSCab use another sound driver that could work better?
--- End quote ---
Is it possible that the sound card settings do not match the SET BLASTER line? TRy REM'ing out the SET BLASTER line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT and let the jukebox try to autodetect the settings...
--Chris
RacerX:
I'm running almost the exact same setup, but with a different sound card. I had the same problem with mine, and here is what I found.
First some background. I set up my machine to boot to pure DOS. I changed my autoexec.bat file to load up my sound drivers, set the volume on the sound card, then run DOSCab. Everything worked great. Then I went into Windows to move some files around. Well, when I rebooted, all of a sudden, DOSCab was acting exactly as you describe. When I looked at my autoexec.bat file, Windows had changed it. >:( It had put the sound driver commands at the *end* of the file. So DOSCab was running before the drivers were loading. I fixed the autoexec.bat file and changed its properties to Read Only. I haven't had the problem since. ;D
This probably isn't exactly your issue, but someone else might stumble onto it like I did, so I thought I would post it.
2012:
No, the problem is not the BLASTER variable. *tested*
No, the problem is not the loading order. *tested*
I actually fear that it is not possible to use SB Live with Allegro under pure DOS. :'(
More information for those interested...
The relevant parts of autoexec.bat:
--- Code: ---SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330
SET CTSYN=C:\DOSDRV
C:\DOSDRV\SBEINIT.COM
--- End code ---
C:\DOSDRV\CTSYN.INI:
--- Code: ---[ctsyn.drv]
OPLPort=388
MPUPort=330
SBPort=220
SBIRQ=5
SBDMALO=1
SBDMAHI=5
SBEnable=true
JOYEnable=true
Waveset=C:\DOSDRV\default.ecw
PCIPort=0
PCIIRQ=0
JOYPort=200
[SBEINIT]
CONFIG=SBESET.CFG
[SBESET.CFG]
SBPORT=220
MPUPORT=330
SBIRQ=5
SBDMALO=1
SBDMAHI=5
OPLPORT=388
SBENABLE=TRUE
JOYPORT=200
JOYENABLE=TRUE
WAVESET=C:\DOSDRV\DEFAULT.ECW
PCIPORT=0
PCIIRQ=0
--- End code ---
Log from AdvanceMAME's ADVS tool (sound working fine, seems to be using SEAL library):
--- Code: ---os: sys DOS
os: compiler unknown
os: compiled little endian system
os: clock estimate 2.43259e+09
os: clock estimate 2.44749e+09
os: clock estimate 2.44753e+09
os: clock estimate 2.44753e+09
os: clock estimate 2.44753e+09
os: clock estimate 2.44754e+09
os: clock estimate 2.44754e+09
os: select clock 2.44753e+09 (err 0.614805%)
os: allegro_init()
mixer: mixer_init(rate:44100, nchannel:1, ndivider:1, buffer:0.2, latency:0.1)
sound:seal: soundb_seal_init(id:65535, rate:44100, stereo:1, buffer_time:0.1)
sound:seal: ping 1
sound:seal: soundcard 1:Sound Blaster 16 at 16-bit stereo 44100 Hz
sound: select driver seal
sound:seal: soundb_seal_start(silecen_time:0.1)
sound:seal: soundb_seal_start current 24, buffered 4386
sound:seal: soundb_seal_volume(volume:1)
mixer: skip ID3 header 2308
s: shutdown
mixer: mixer_done()
sound:seal: soundb_seal_stop()
sound:seal: soundb_seal_done()
s: the end
--- End code ---
The last lines of JBDEBUG.LOG with log setting of 5 (no sound, stuck at 0:00 of first song, exiting was my doing with Esc):
--- Code: ---MAIN: About to set titlestrips...
MAIN: Starting GUI...
Trying to load c:/ocremix\SONIC~41.MP3...
LOADER: Loaded 5019568 bytes for file
Starting song Sonic & Knuckles Deep Damp Sandcastle OC ReMix, type 1
DOSCab Jukebox 3.0b4 Exited
--- End code ---
Chris:
I'l like to write a test progam for you, but my machine is still suffering from a dead hard drive. However, since the jukebox uses Allegro for sound, we can use the Allegro setup program to try to figure this out. You can get it from http://webpages.charter.net/celamantia/jukebox/setup.zip. UnZip it to your jukebox folder and run setupdos.exe. Go to the Sound section and run the test; it'll probably fail. From here, you can try tinkering with different drivers and settings to see if you can find a better match. If you get a working version, save it and you will have an allegro.cfg file in that directory. Copy the [Sound] section to jukebox.ini and see if that helps.
SBLive is one of those tricky cards because it is not actually soundblaster compatible; it uses a compatibility driver to look like a sound card.
Hey... does your motherboard have a built-in sound chip? If it does, look in the BIOS for a way to turn off its soundbalster compatibility mode... the jukebox could be detecting it instead of the compatibility driver...
I'll try to be more useful once I have a working computer again...
--Chris
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version