VDMSound -- does it work?

[GHackmann 0]

I tried VDMSound (see NT Compatible front page) but it doesn't work on my PC. I tried a couple of games that are listed on the compatibility page (KQ4 and Willy Beamish) as working and they locked up (though Windows kept going). I also tried using MAME (which, when I disable sound, works with Win2K on my computer) but it said it couldn't find my sound card. I set the BLASTER variable to the appropriate values and also tried using different SB16 settings (IRQ 5, DMA 3) but to no avail. Has anyone gotten this to work, or is it a hoax?

 

Pertinent system specs:

 

Win2K Pro retail (not SP1)

AMD Athlon 750 (@ 100 x 7.5)

Abit KA7-100

128 MB PC133 SDRAM (@ 133)

SB Live!

CL Annihilator Pro DDR (@ 120/300)

[CM 1]

Yes! It work!

 

I tried Kings Quest IV with VDMSound. There was no sound in Adlib mode but after I changed the configuration to Roland MT32 everything works fine.

 

The soundtrack is much better on a real MT32 soundmodule but hey... atlast sound in DOS games and without limits like SoundFX NT.

 

Btw the MT32 emulation of VDMSound is much better that SoundFX NT

 

I used a Soundblaster Live! Player 1024 with the buildin basic drivers.

[GHackmann 0]

Hmm . . . that's odd, because I used the very same program (KQ4) with the same sound settings (MT-32), same sound card (SB Live!), and same OS (Win2K) and it didn't work. Do you mind telling me what switches you used to get it to work? Or your BLASTER settings (if any)?

[SHS 0]

He useing buildin basic drivers & not Win2k LW2.2 that maybe it dosen't work for us.

Yup I to am haveing problem as well

as you can see it no go for me

------------------------------------------

VDMSound DOS loader ver. 1.00 (Jul 04 2000)

Copyright © Vlad ROMASCANU 2000. All rights reserved.

Loading c:\util\vdms\VDMSound.dll... Failure (reason = 1, Could not load

"c:\util\vdms\VDMSound.dll" - DLL not found or DLL entrypoint error) Failed

-------------------------------------------

So I send off e-mail to the programer

CM what commnad line did you use ?.

[CM 1]

Quote:

Do you mind telling me what switches you used to get it to work? Or your BLASTER settings (if any)?

None. I just opened the command prompt and typed:

c:
cd vdm (VDMSound is in c:\vdm on my machine)
and
drv (to start the driver)

VDMSound DOS loader ver. 1.00 (Jul 04 2000)
Copyright © Vlad ROMASCANU 2000. All rights reserved.
Loading VDMSound.dll...
VDMSound VDD module ver. 1.00 (Jul 4 2000) Review version
Copyright © Vlad ROMASCANU 2000. All rights reserved.
Loaded (hVDD = 0x01)
Success

Maybe you problems are caused by Liveware?

[vladr 0]

Hi,

No, it's no hoax.

I already talked to SHS. To play on the safe side, delete the environment variable VDMSoundPath (just type "set VDMSoundPath=", without the quotes), change directory to where both the .exe and the .dll lie, and run drv.exe. This is what CM seems to have done (he/she? didn't bother with the environment variable at all).

 

If this still doesn't work, then pls. let me know. I'm setting up a FAQ page on the site anyway. I can tell you I've tried this program on at least 5 different systems, with NT4 and 2000, different hardware, and processor speeds, etc., and didn't have any problems, so it has to be some small thing. BTW, at this stage the type of hardware doesn't matter at all. And VDMSound is not loaded until you see "Success" -- if you don't see it then your games won't work.

 

Vlad.

[vladr 0]

OK, FAQ page is up, also contains a couple of things to do in order to isolate any problems one might have.

 

If you still have trouble, _send_ _me_ _an_ _e-mail_ (ntvdm@hotmail.com) in which I can see what happened (e.g. if you followed the FAQ and typed "set VDMSoundPath" and something printed out, it would help if I could see all that). After all, it's only a review version, so review it!

 

Vlad.