OS/2 Shareware BBS: 14 Text/14-Text.zip/sb16b.zip/SB16B.TXT

Text File | 1993-08-28 | 10KB | 198 lines

Sound Blaster 16 and ASP tips:  updated 08/24/93

Here are some tips on how I got the Sound Blaster 16ASP working correctly
under MMPM/2, DOS, and WinOS2:

(1) Install MMPM/2.
    If you can avoid IRQ 10, do so.  I've seen too many people have problems
    go away after trying an IRQ other than 10.

(2) Reboot system.

On some systems, digital sounds have the beginning of the sound cut off.
Some short sounds don't play at all.

Solution:
In CONFIG.SYS, when MMPM/2 is installed, the following driver stmt is added:
DEVICE=D:\MMOS2\SB16D2.SYS 1 1 5 5 220 8 /N:SBAud1$

                                       ^
Change the buffer parameter -----------^  to 2 - new statement will be:
DEVICE=D:\MMOS2\SB16D2.SYS 1 1 5 5 220 2 /N:SBAud1$

By the way, the README that ships with OS/2 2.1's MMPM/2 does not properly
document the format of the SB16D2.SYS statement.  Here's the order of
the parameters on SB16D2.SYS:

DEVICE=D:\MMOS2\SB16D2.SYS boardnumber 8-bitDMA 16-BitDMA IRQ IOaddr Bufsize
(If you only have one soundcard, then boardnumber will be 1)


WinOS2:

(3) Go into WinOS2 Full Screen, Control Panel, Drivers and remove all WinOS2
    drivers except the following ones:

    MIDI Mapper
    Timer
    [MCI] MIDI Sequencer
    [MCI] Sound

    Repeat. DO NOT remove the above drivers, but remove all other ones.

    Note:  If you know with 100% certainty that a driver is not sound
           related, then it's probably ok if you don't remove it.  If
           you're not sure, then remove it.

(4) Install the SB16 DOS software onto your hard drive.
    From a DOS Full Screen on A: drive, insert the SB16 Disk 1, and type:
    A:INSTALL <ENTER>
    This will install the SB16 DOS and Windows software onto your hard drive.
    When the prompt comes up and asks where the Windows directory is, be
    sure and type in C:\OS2\MDOS\WINOS2 (or D: if your OS2 drive is D:)

(5) Here's where I'm not sure about the difference between a SB16 and a
    SB16ASP.  With a SB16ASP, a statement gets added to CONFIG.SYS:
    DEVICE=C:\SB16\DRV\ASP.SYS /P:220
    Remove ASP.SYS from CONFIG.SYS.  I believe for a plain Sound Blaster 16
    the driver is CSP.SYS.  In that case, remove it from CONFIG.SYS.
    Then, in your WinOS2 sessions ONLY, place the ASP.SYS or CSP.SYS
    (if you have this driver) driver statement into the DOS_DEVICE DOS
    Settings.  Make sure you get the parameters exactly as they were put
    in your CONFIG.SYS. I have found that regular DOS sessions don't need
    ASP.SYS, however WinOS2 sessions do in order to load the SB16 drivers.

(6) Reboot your system.

(7) Run WinOS2 Full Screen.  The SB16 Windows Driver setup will automatically
    run assuming you correctly told the earlier driver install where WinOS2
    was.  If not, from WinOS2 Full Screen, run C:\SB16\WINSETUP.EXE.
    End your WinOS2 session.

(8) Restart WinOS2 Full Screen.  At this point, it is very possible that you
    may get WINSHELD errors because the Voyetra FM Synthesis driver that got
    loaded in step 6 is very unfriendly to WinOS2.  On some systems, it may
    cause a WINSHELD error 50% or more of the time when starting WinOS2.
    If the WINSHELD error occurs,  press ALT-ESC to get back to the OS/2
    desktop, and CLOSE the WinOS2 Full Screen Session and repeat step 8
    until WinOS2 Full Screen comes up without the WINSHELD error.

(9) Go into Control Panel, Drivers, and highlight the Voyetra Sound Blaster
    FM Driver.  Select REMOVE, the YES, then RESTART.  You should no longer
    get the WINSHELD errors.

(10) If you have a WAVEBLASTER, all that is necessary now is to go to the
    Midi Mapper and select SB16 Ext MIDI.  If you DON'T have a WAVEBLASTER,
    then you must find a suitable FM Synthesis driver to replace the Voyetra
    one deleted above.  A file called SBW31.EXE on the Creative Labs BBS
    at 405-742-6660 (they moved the BBS mid August) has a suitable FM
    driver.  America Online also has this file.  I understand it's here on
    Compuserve also, but I don't know where.  Obtain this file, extract
    it into a temporary directory.  Then, go into WinOS2 Full Screen,
    Control Panel, Drivers, and select ADD.  Highlight the
    Unlisted or Updated Driver. Select OK.  Type in the drive and directory
    of where you extracted SBW31.EXE.  Click OK.  Highlight the
    Creative Sound Blaster - MIDI Synthesizer and select OK.  Select the
    appropriate address, then select RESTART.
    Go to Control Panel, MIDI MAPPER, and select SB All FM.  The description
    says OPL2 Chip, so I'm not sure if you're losing the functionality of
    the OPL3 or not.  I wish someone could explain that part to me.  In any
    event, your MIDI Jukebox player WILL work.

(11) Another alternative is to try the FMSYN.ZIP in the SSFORUM.  According
     to Steve Davies (76040,466), it works very well as a replacement to
     the FM drivers provided by Creative Labs.  Thanks Steve.  The README
     that comes as part of FMSYN.ZIP has good instructions for installation.


DOS Game problems:
Some DOS games such as Wolfenstein 3D, and Carmen Sandiego contain both
digital sounds as well as MIDI music.  Under OS/2 with a SB16, and possibly
other SB type cards, the synthesizer chip does not get initialized properly
and these games fail to produce the MIDI music and MIDI sound effects.
The workaround to this is to run the PLAYMIDI.EXE program that comes with
the SB16 to play a short MIDI song in the SAME DOS session as you are going
to be playing the game in.  An easy way to do this is to create a BATCH file
that runs PLAYMIDI.EXE to play a short MID song prior to executing your game.
Remember, in order to run PLAYMIDI, you must first run SBMIDI to load the
DOS FM driver.  You may want to remove this driver with SBMIDI /U prior to
running your game if conventional ram is a problem.
Here's a .BAT file that works:

----
C:\SB16\SBMIDI
C:\SB16\PLAYMIDI\PLAYMIDI C:\SB16\PLAYMIDI\JAZZ.MID
C:\SB16\SBMIDI /U
CALL wolf.bat            ;REM or any .BAT file
----

As soon as the MIDI file begins to play, you can interrupt it with the
ESC key and your game will come up and it should have functional MIDI.
Here's an explanation of this problem as described by Joe Nord of IBM:

Wolf3d (and some other games and programs) were written to use the OPL2 FM
chips.  The SB16 and SB16ASP (and Pro) have the OPL3 chips.  For backward
compatibility, the card powers up in OPL2 compatibility mode.  By the time
Wolf gets ahold of the card, the OS/2 PDD has already put the card in OPL3
state.  Wolf tries to program the FM chips, don't work --> NO MIDI.  A fix
is in test but no plans have been made regarding shipping an updated driver.



POTENTIAL WINOS2 GOTCHAS:
Some people have seamless WinOS2 apps running on their desktop all the time.
If they then run another WinOS2 session which starts it's own WinOS2 kernel,
then since the WinOS2 app that is already running has loaded the WinOS2
sound drivers, the next WinOS2 app is not going to load.  If that app is
seamless, it's going to give you the pretty little busy clock and go
dormant.  In that case, press ALT-ESC to get rid of the little annoying
clock.  You will need some kind of utility such as KILLEM, which can be
found in the OS2USER forum to kill the offending WinOS2 app when it locks
up in this manner.  Use OS/2's PSTAT command to find out which process id
to kill with KILLEM.  To keep this from happening, see the comments on
AUDIOVDD.SYS below.



AUDIOVDD.SYS:
I have come to the conclusion that it is best to comment this little guy out.
Supposedly, it serves as kind of a traffic cop to keep apps from being able
to access the sound card if it is in use.  However, it causes me more grief
than good.  For instance, in order to run ANY WinOS2 application, that means
that the WinOS2 sound drivers are going to be loaded, and AUDIOVDD.SYS is
going to keep any other subsequent application from producing sound. Even
if your WinOS2 app does not produce sound, no other application is going to
be able to produce sound until you end ALL WinOS2 apps.  If you comment out
AUDIOVDD.SYS, then get a WinOS2 app running that does not produce sound, you
will still be able to get sound from any additional WinOS2 seamless app that
you may wish to run.  Even MMPM/2 will be able to produce sound when a
WinOS2 application is loaded.  However, there can be drawbacks to commenting
out AUDIOVDD.SYS.  If for instance, you have more than one WinOS2 application
running, and then cause a native OS/2 sound to occur (MMPM/2 sound), your
WinOS2 sound is no longer going to work until you end all of the original
WinOS2 applications.  As soon as you end those WinOS2 sessions, all is back
to normal.  You may have to experiment to determine whether it is beneficial
to you to have AUDIOVDD.SYS commented out.


THINGS TO AVOID:
(1)  Certain portions of the TESTSB16.EXE program from Creative Labs will
     hang the DOS session it is running in.  It cannot be killed and will
     remain active until OS/2 is cycled.

(2)  The PRO_ORG.EXE program does not work under OS/2.
(3)  If you try to put a Gravis Ultrasound and a Sound Blaster 16 or ASP in
     the same machine, have fun.  I spent weeks trying to do this.  There is
     a way to get the two to co-exist in a DOS environment, but I have yet to
     find a way to keep the GUS from interfering with the SB16's use of DMA 1
     while running OS/2.  I have to load and unload one of the GUS drivers
     under true DOS just to free DMA 1 from the GUS, then boot OS/2.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Terry Roller

Compuserve     : 74640,2713
America Online : TDRoller
Prodigy        : FDWJ91A
OS2B BS         : IL76622