WC3 Sound Problems

U

Unregistered

Guest
I've read some of the other threads here that deal with this issue, but haven't found a definitive answer.

I've had problems setting up Wing Commander 3 to run on my computer. First of all, I can't play it in full DOS mode, because if Windows isn't running, my computer doesn't know it's got a CD drive. So I have to play it in a Dos Window (I'm on Win98SE).

Second, (and I know this is a big part of the problem from one of the thread I read here) I don't have a sound card, I've got a sound chip.

Am I out of luck if I want to play the game with sound? I've been able to get the music working consistently, but I've had problems with the sound effects part. It took me forever to get it to work at all, and when I did it only lasted for about an hour. Then the sound effects quit and I was back to music only.

Any ideas?
 
Have you really tried configuring your CD-ROM to work in DOS mode? You have to make some autoexec.bat and config.sys adjustments, for instance...
 
No, I haven't tried, because I don't have a clue what to do. That kind of stuff is beyond me without detailed, step by step directions to follow. I know nothing about this aspect of computers. When something's wrong in Windows, I can usually fix it without help. But when it comes to DOS, well, that's before my time, really. If it doesn't automatically install and configure itself, I'm probably screwed unless someone else can help me. Like Warcraft II and Transport Tycoon. I got both of those working easily enough, although I have the same problem with TT that I do with WC3. Music, but no sound effects.
 
Well, just post your autoexec.bat and config.sys here and I´ll point out what you have to fix on them.
 
Don't I need to create a boot disk or something to use first? I'd rather not make changes if it's going to apply for everything; I just want to be able to use the needed settings when I want to play the game.

That said, here's the contents of those two files.

Autoexec.bat contains ONLY the following line, not a thing else.

del c:\windows\win386.swp

I put that there to force the creation of a new swap file each time the computer starts up, which has resulted in a bit better gameplay with certain games since Windows can't defrag the swap file without an outside utility which I don't have. Deleting it solves that issue.

Config.sys doesn't contain anything at all. It's completely empty.
 
The swap file is supposed to speed up your Windows, but if it works well without it, fine.

If you don´t want to mess with your drive c:´s autoexec and config, you can make that bootdisk. This thread has instructions on how to make one for Priv and they can be applied for running WC3 too. Come back here if you run into any trouble making the bootdisk.

Edit: oh, well, you will run into trouble if you´re not a DOS expert. So here we go :) :

1. Make a boot disk (startup disk) from the Control Panel.
2. In the notepad, create two files named autoexec.bat and config.sys and place them in your bootdisk. If they are not there yet, copy the following files to your bootdisk:
himem.sys
emm386.exe
mscdex.exe
<your cd-rom driver> (should be something like cdd.sys or sbcd.sys)

Type the following lines for each file in the notepad:

Config.sys

device=himem.sys
device=emm386.exe ram 16384 i=b000-b7ff
dos=high,umb
files=30
buffers=30
devicehigh=cdd.sys /d:mscd001 (is my CD-rom driver, replace with yours )


Autoexec.bat
@echo off
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 T4
lh=mscdex.exe /d:mscd001
lh=c:\PCIAUD\SETAUDIO ( this is my Sound card Driver replace with yours)
Lh=c:\<path>\mouse.exe
 
Starkey said:
The swap file is supposed to speed up your Windows, but if it works well without it, fine.
Click to expand...

You misunderstand. :) If you have Windows set to use a Swap File (which I do) then Windows looks for the swap file each time it starts up. If it doesn't find one, it creates a brand new one. That's what that line is for, it forces the creation of a new swap file.

A number of people I know, including myself, had problems with several games that were solved by forcing the deletion of swap files. The reason (at least according to a supposedly tech-savvy friend) is that swap files, if never deleted, tend to become very fragmented beasts, and Windows' built in defragmenter doesn't touch them. There are utilities that will defrag your swap file while doing a regular system defrag, but not everyone has those utilities. So deleting the swap file solves the problem, because the newly generated swap file will have minimal fragmentation, especially if you defragment your hard drive regularly.

As to the rest, thanks for the help, I'll give it a try next time I have time to try running the game. Do you happen to have any suggestions for what settings I should choose when trying to configure the game's sound?
 
Thanks for the info on the swap file :)

About the sound setup, the best advice is: start it as simple as possible. So start up with music and sound effects on "Regular Sound Blaster". If it works, try SB Pro, then 16, until you find the most "advanced" setup that works. Switch to a better card only if the worse works. If SB Pro fails, you won´t get a SB 16 setting to work.

The best Sound FX setting is SB 16 and the best music setting is General MIDI.

(Of course, I need to know first which sound card do you have, but since 99% of them are SB compatible...)
 
As I indicated in my first post, I've got a Sound Chip instead of an actual sound card. I know from other threads here that this will probably cause me problems, but I don't know yet if there's any way around it. I'm hoping there is, because as I mentioned before, I DID manage to get both the music and the sound effects working for a while, roughly an hour, but after that the sound effects quit and just the music worked. I really hope I don't end up being forced to play with just the music. Silent videos is kind of disheartening.

Someday hopefully I'll be able to afford an actual sound card, but at the moment I have ZERO spare cash for that sort of thing. What little money I have is currently being used to pay the bills and keep me fed. :)
 
I don't know if it helps at all, but according to the Device Manager, my sound chip is the following:

VIA AC'97 Audio Controller (WDM)

I assume it came with the motherboard, but I don't know that for a fact because I didn't build the computer.
 
Unregistered said:
As I indicated in my first post, I've got a Sound Chip instead of an actual sound card.
Click to expand...

:( I didn´t see that.... But you can get really cheap old Sound Blasters at Ebay. Try setting WC3 up as "regular sound blaster" (enter WC3 -i in the "Run" button) and see if it works under Windows.
 
Question: How do I know what settings to use? The only one I know is the IRQ (10), because I was able to find that in Device Manager. But things like DMA, Port, etc, how do I know what settings to use for those?
 
Starkey said:
Your sound card IRQ is probably not 10.
Click to expand...

According to Device Manager it is, and it's interesting to note that I managed to get the sound effects working in Transport Tycoon by changing it to that setting.

If it's not 10, then what is the first line in the Resources tab of my sound chip's Properties referring to? Have I misunderstood? Does IRQ not stand for Interrupt Request?
 
Right, but if your sound chip emulates SoundBlaster, it might be using IRQ 5 or 7, which are the default SB IRQs...

But go ahead and try IRQ 5, 7, or 10, one of them is the one.
 
Starkey said:
<your cd-rom driver> (should be something like cdd.sys or sbcd.sys)
Click to expand...

Okay, according to Device Manager, my CD Drive doesn't have or require a driver. In trying to find one, it tells me it's using the file mscdrom.inf

Does that present a problem?

I tried going to Creative's website to attempt to download a driver for it, but I can't get into their support page, I get an error that I can't get past. (one of those endless boxes asking me if I want to debug it, clicking No just brings it back)
 
Okay, this is getting aggravating. Since I couldn't get into Creative's Support website, I managed to find their Tech Support number elsewehre and called that. He told me that they wouldn't have the driver for my CD drive, I'd have to get that from the manufacturer of my motherboard!? I'm quickly getting confused....
 
More questions from me...

For my Autoexec.bat file, you mentioned these two lines:

lh=c:\PCIAUD\SETAUDIO ( this is my Sound card Driver replace with yours)
Lh=c:\<path>\mouse.exe

Well, for the first, am I supposed to direct it to the specific driver file? I'm only uncertain because yours didn't end with an extension. And for the second, I did a search and mouse.exe doesn't appear anywhere on my computer. Were you referring to a specific file or a generic mouse driver, and if the latter, why exe? Aren't drivers all .sys or .drv files? (this is why I asked about my computer thinking the driver for my CD drive is mscdrom.inf)

And back to that CD driver, creating the boot disk did put the generic CD driver file, Oakcdrom.sys on the bootdisk. Should I just use that?

Sorry for all the questions, but I finally got around to trying to follow your suggestions today and I quickly started feeling very stupid... :(
 
Unregistered said:
For my Autoexec.bat file, you mentioned these two lines:
lh=c:\PCIAUD\SETAUDIO ( this is my Sound card Driver replace with yours)
Lh=c:\<path>\mouse.exe
Well, for the first, am I supposed to direct it to the specific driver file? I'm only uncertain because yours didn't end with an extension.
Click to expand...

DOS defaults to .bat .com .exe (in that order IIRC) if no extension is given and you try to start a file.

Unregistered said:
And for the second, I did a search and mouse.exe doesn't appear anywhere on my computer. Were you referring to a specific file or a generic mouse driver, and if the latter, why exe? Aren't drivers all .sys or .drv files?
Click to expand...

Mouse drivers can either be loaded in the config.sys or in the autoexec.bat.
The first category is usually named mouse.sys and is loaded by
devicehigh=c:\<path>\mouse.sys
The other drivers are usually named mouse.exe and are loaded either in the autoexec.bat
Lh=c:\<path>\mouse.exe or by just tying mouse in the proper directory.
I haven't seen mouse.sys style drivers for some while however. They seem to have been abandoned. If you got a Serial or PS2 mouse (or in other words a non USB mouse) usually any generic mousedriver should do. Try the ones on the CIC download page that I 'donated' to them. Those are the ones I use.

Unregistered said:
(this is why I asked about my computer thinking the driver for my CD drive is mscdrom.inf)
Click to expand...

Don't confuse windows and DOS drivers. Also technically .inf is never a driver. It just tells windows where to look for the driver.

Unregistered said:
And back to that CD driver, creating the boot disk did put the generic CD driver file, Oakcdrom.sys on the bootdisk. Should I just use that?
Click to expand...

If it works then use it (look if you see any error message). 99% of CD (and DVD) drives should work with one of the 3 generic drivers (OAK/Mitsumi, PANASONIC or SONY). Probably 95% will work with the OAK drivers.
Note that you also need to use mscdex in your autoexec.bat to assign a drive letter to the drive however!

Unregistered said:
Since I couldn't get into Creative's Support website, I managed to find their Tech Support number elsewehre and called that. He told me that they wouldn't have the driver for my CD drive, I'd have to get that from the manufacturer of my motherboard!? I'm quickly getting confused....
Click to expand...

Bullshit. That is plain and simple misinformation. Not that I am surprised. Creative is famouse for aweful drivers. Also try to call them and ask if any of ther PCI soundcards work in DOS. They'll say no even if the SHIP drivers for it with the cards...
 
Sound problem

Hi, Unregistered! We are from Russia, Sorry for our english. We try to solve our probem with sound in Wing Commander III under Win 98 SE which sound like your problem. May be our solution will be interesting for you until now (sorry ;-) . Our problem was because of DirectX 9. We check in DXDiag (program in DirectX 9) tab Sound (translate from Russia Win) and move bar to Base (translate from Russia Win) in the Apparat acceleration (translate from Russia Win). Equally well!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top