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- X-Last-Updated: 1996/08/27
- From: gareth@blades.tcp.co.uk
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- Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU
- Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.misc,comp.answers,news.answers
- Subject: Incompatibility FAQ: Cirrus Video Cards & Creative Sound cards
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- Archive-name: games/incompatibility/cirrus-soundblaster
- Posting-Frequency: Monthly
- Last-Modified: 27 August 1996
- Version: 3.01
- URL: http://www.tcp.co.uk/~blades
-
- Cirrus Logic Video cards and Creative Labs Sound Card Incompatibility FAQ
- =========================================================================
- by Gareth blades (gareth@blades.tcp.co.uk)
-
- The latest version of this ASCII document can be obtained via ftp from
- rtfm.mit.edu as :-
- /pub/usenet/news.answers/games/incompatibility/cirrus-soundblaster
-
- This FAQ is posted monthly to comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.misc, comp.answers,
- and news.answers.
-
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- ========
- CONTENTS
- ========
-
- 1) What is the problem?
- 2) What is the cause?
- 3) What video cards are effected?
- 4) What sound cards are effected?
- 5) How to overcome the problem
- 6) What programs are effected?
-
-
- ===============================================================================================
-
- 1) What is the problem?
- =======================
- This incompatibility causes crackling in the sound during video animations
- in high resolution modes in DOS mode.
-
- The incompatibility also seems to cause the sound card to produce a
- screeching sound when it is being initialised by a particular sound card
- driver. Games that I know use this driver include:-
- Doom (screeches at start and end of game)
- Doom 2 ("")
- Descent ("" and when switching between the map and the game)
- I have not found any way of getting rid of this problem.
-
-
- 2) What is the cause?
- =====================
- There is an incompatibility between some Creative Labs sound cards (the
- SB16 in particular) and Cirrus Logic based video cards.
-
- I have had various reports of non Creative Labs sound cards being effected
- and therefore I suspect the problem is due exclusively to Cirrus Logic
-
- 3) What video cards are effected?
- =================================
- All cirrus logic based video cards are effected. This also includes:-
- Orchid Kelvin 64 (Cirrus Logic 5434)
- Diamond Speedster Pro
- VLB Genoa 8500 (Cirrus Logic 5429)
-
-
- 4) What sound cards are effected?
- =================================
- It seems to be mostly the Creative Labs sound cards which are effected.
- The list below shows other cards which have been reported as having the
- same problem:-
- PAS16
- MediaVision Jazz 16
- GUS ACE
- Ess audio card
-
- 5) How to overcome the problem
- ==============================
-
- I have not found a way of getting rid of the screeching when the sound card
- initialises. The crackling while animations are playing can be got rid of
- though.
-
- To overcome the problem is relatively easy. You simply load a dos based
- VESA driver for the video card. Cirrus have some drivers on their FTP site
- which is ftp.cirrus.com.
-
- I personally use a program called Scitech Display Doctor which is a program
- that can be used for many different video cards. It is small and apparently
- faster than the available Cirrus ones although it is shareware and does nag
- when you run it.
-
- The current version of SDD is 5.2. It costs about $30 to register and
- supports the Vesa 2 standard which means it can make some games run a lot
- faster.
-
- SDD 5.2 can be found at http://www.scitechsoft.com
-
-
- 6) What programs are effected?
- ==============================
- The incompatibility is with the VESA bios on the video card and therefore
- it only effects games which use VESA. This includes all games which run in
- SVGA modes. The following games are known to use VESA.
-
- * = VESA driver only used in high resolution graphics mode
-
-
- The 7th Guest
- * Simcity 2000
- * Theme Park
- * Magic Carpet
- * The Need For Speed
- Fatal Racing
- Nascar Racing
- Star Trek the Next Generation
- * Wing commander 4
- Transport Tycoon
- Transport Tycoon Deluxe
- Links 386 Pro
- Under a Killing Moon
- Command and Conquer
- US Naval Fighters (and sequels)
- * System Shock CD
- * Flight Simulator 5.0
- Mechwarrior 2 (the console screen in particular)
- Warcraft 2
- Tie Fighter
- X-Wing
-
- Since producing this FAQ I have upgraded my system and no longer have a
- Cirrus Logic based video card. Therefore I rely on other peoples
- contributions to update this FAQ.
-
- There are also a new type of game which require a Vesa driver supporting
- the Vesa 2 standard. One such game is the 11th Hour. It comes with its own
- copy of UniVbe to run the game.
-
- --
- ------------------------------------------------------------
- Gareth Blades (home) gareth@blades.tcp.co.uk
- (home) gblades@iee.org
- (work) gblades@as.neag.co.uk
- http://www.tcp.co.uk/~blades/
-