Need help with Awe64 in DOS CTSB16.SYS - invalid "/BLASTER=A:XXX"ARGUMENT
Kurt Wyco
I need some help. I bought a Sound Blaster Awe64 ISA PnP card off someone for
older DOS games. Windows works fine with the card. And I was able to get the
DOS Diagnose.exe utility to play all of the test music and sounds in DOS.
Here's what happening:
CTCM.exe (creative DOS PnP manager for the soundblaster card) - loads okay
CTCU.EXE (supposed to have something to do with the setup of the PnP manager,
I believe) - gives me an error, saying the program can't be run in Win95, when
actually it is in full DOS mode (pressing F8 for command prompt bootup only. I
don't think this file is important, as long as the CTCM.exe is loaded okay.
AWEUTIL won't load without CTCM.exe)
AWEUTIL.com - loads okay, no errors
CTMMSYS.SYS (sound card driver that loads as a TSR along with STSB16.SYS) -
loads okay, no errors, shows up in the mem/c/p listing as loaded
CTSB16.SYS - gives me an error, which is what I'm trying to figure. It doesn't
show up as loaded in mem/c/p
I am trying to get the DOS sound drivers to work, but am running into some
trouble.
Here is the problem: When the config.sys is loading all the sound drivers,
everything loads okay, EXCEPT for CTSB16.SYS, giving me the error
invalid "/BLASTER=A:XXX"ARGUMENT
I have no idea what can be causing this. Anyone has any ideas? Has anyone
been able to get Win98 to run any of the AWE cards okay in full DOS mode
(pressing F8 at boot up to boot to command prompt only)? Or Win95, for that
matter? Any solutions?
Here is a sample of my autoexec.bat and config.sys
[Config.sys]
DEVICE=C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND\DRV\CTMMSYS.SYS
DEVICE=C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND\DRV\CTSB16.SYS /UNIT=0 /BLASTER=A:220 I:5
D:1 H:5 /WIN95
[Autoexec.bat]
c:\ctcm\ctcm.exe
c:\CTCM\CTCU /S /W=c:\WINDOWS
C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND\AWEUTIL.COM
Kurt Wyco
Rotes Sapiens
>Got it to work after messing around with the command switches and settings.
>>System is an Athlon 750 MHz, 384 megs ram, Win98
>>I need some help. I bought a Sound Blaster Awe64 ISA PnP card off someone for
>>older DOS games. Windows works fine with the card. And I was able to get the
>>DOS Diagnose.exe utility to play all of the test music and sounds in DOS.
>>Here's what happening:
I used to use a SB16 set up the same way.
>>CTCM.exe (creative DOS PnP manager for the soundblaster card) - loads okay
>>CTCU.EXE (supposed to have something to do with the setup of the PnP manager,
On some computers you don't need these programs if the BIOS does Plug
and Play. Although you probably have BIOS Plug and Play support
turned off by OS supports Plug and Play to make W98 do it.
>>I believe) - gives me an error, saying the program can't be run in Win95, when
>>actually it is in full DOS mode (pressing F8 for command prompt bootup only. I
>>don't think this file is important, as long as the CTCM.exe is loaded okay.
>>AWEUTIL won't load without CTCM.exe)
>>AWEUTIL.com - loads okay, no errors
>>CTMMSYS.SYS (sound card driver that loads as a TSR along with STSB16.SYS) -
>>loads okay, no errors, shows up in the mem/c/p listing as loaded
>>CTSB16.SYS - gives me an error, which is what I'm trying to figure. It doesn't
>>show up as loaded in mem/c/p
You can usually do without files like CTMMSYS.SYS, STSB16.SYS and
CTSB16.SYS. Most dos games access the soundcard directly.
>>I am trying to get the DOS sound drivers to work, but am running into some
>>trouble.
>>Here is the problem: When the config.sys is loading all the sound drivers,
>>everything loads okay, EXCEPT for CTSB16.SYS, giving me the error
>>invalid "/BLASTER=A:XXX"ARGUMENT
>>I have no idea what can be causing this. Anyone has any ideas? Has anyone
>>been able to get Win98 to run any of the AWE cards okay in full DOS mode
>>(pressing F8 at boot up to boot to command prompt only)? Or Win95, for that
>>matter? Any solutions?
>>Here is a sample of my autoexec.bat and config.sys
>>[Config.sys]
>>DEVICE=C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND\DRV\CTMMSYS.SYS
>>DEVICE=C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND\DRV\CTSB16.SYS /UNIT=0 /BLASTER=A:220 I:5
>>D:1 H:5 /WIN95
>>[Autoexec.bat]
>>c:\ctcm\ctcm.exe
>>c:\CTCM\CTCU /S /W=c:\WINDOWS
>>C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\CTSND\AWEUTIL.COM
You got it working, not the first time the manual was wrong or had
undocumented functions.
Sig:
To be or not to be is true - G. Boole
kurt wyco
>You can usually do without files like CTMMSYS.SYS, STSB16.SYS and
>CTSB16.SYS. Most dos games access the soundcard directly.
================================
Cool, thanks. I'm happy to report that the AWE64 card works fine with all my
DOS games.
The one file that is necessary for me to hear any music at all is the
aweutil.com file. It needs to be loaded, or I do not hear music or sound
(for both wavetable synthesis MIDI music and legacy sound blaster FM
synthesis music in games).
Also, for aweutil.com to work in my system, the CTCM.exe file (DOS PnP
manager) has to be loaded. Yeah, the AWE64 card I have is an ISA PnP
version.
Though, admittedly, the wavetable synthesis in games does not sound "all
that" to me. I'm talking about the AWE64's wavetable synthesis emulation
music. I found myself preferring, and switching back to regular sound
blaster FM synthesis coz it sounded better to me. The wavetable emulation
sounded tacky to me. And I couldn't ever get Roland emulation to work with
any of my games that supported Roland.
I remember back in the early 90's, I was kinda you then, I was at my local
CompUSA and heard Wing Commander 2 running on a 486 machine. And the music
was incredible to me. It sounded like a real orchestra to me, and I think it
was running on a Roland setup. So, when I had my on copy of Wing Commander 2
running on a Pro Audio Spectrum 16, using sound blaster emulation, it SO
paled in comparison.
kurt wyco
news:vul2tqm...@corp.supernews.com:
Cool, I was trying the DOS game Rise of the Triad with my soundcard today
(12-25-03), and the music in the game was replaced by Christmas music.
Caught me totally off-guard, but what a pleasant surprise. And the level
loading screen showed Taradino with a Santa hat on him. Hehe. Nice
hidden easter egg.
kurt wyco
> In article <lv6kuv09u6m7pmcdh...@4ax.com>, Rotes Sapiens
> <r...@redplanet.mars.org.cy> wrote:
>
>>You can usually do without files like CTMMSYS.SYS, STSB16.SYS and
>>CTSB16.SYS. Most dos games access the soundcard directly.
>
> ================================
> The one file that is necessary for me to hear any music at all is the
> aweutil.com file. It needs to be loaded, or I do not hear music or
> sound (for both wavetable synthesis MIDI music and legacy sound
> blaster FM synthesis music in games).
==================================
Correction: The sound effects will play fine without loading aweutil.com,
but the music will not play. Aweutil.com is necessary for the music.
Rotes Sapiens
>In article <lv6kuv09u6m7pmcdh...@4ax.com>, Rotes Sapiens <r...@redplanet.mars.org.cy> wrote:
>>You can usually do without files like CTMMSYS.SYS, STSB16.SYS and
>>CTSB16.SYS. Most dos games access the soundcard directly.
>Cool, thanks. I'm happy to report that the AWE64 card works fine with all my
>DOS games.
>The one file that is necessary for me to hear any music at all is the
>aweutil.com file. It needs to be loaded, or I do not hear music or sound
>(for both wavetable synthesis MIDI music and legacy sound blaster FM
>synthesis music in games).
>Also, for aweutil.com to work in my system, the CTCM.exe file (DOS PnP
>manager) has to be loaded. Yeah, the AWE64 card I have is an ISA PnP
>version.
>Though, admittedly, the wavetable synthesis in games does not sound "all
>that" to me. I'm talking about the AWE64's wavetable synthesis emulation
>music. I found myself preferring, and switching back to regular sound
>blaster FM synthesis coz it sounded better to me. The wavetable emulation
>sounded tacky to me.
I've never been impressed by wavetable synthesis. It's a recording of
an instrument that has been digitised, processed and compressed. The
FM synthesis sound is created as it is played.
> And I couldn't ever get Roland emulation to work with
>any of my games that supported Roland.
Most won't work unless you have a MIDI synth plugged into the MIDI
port (gameport) on the soundcard.
>I remember back in the early 90's, I was kinda you then, I was at my local
>CompUSA and heard Wing Commander 2 running on a 486 machine. And the music
>was incredible to me. It sounded like a real orchestra to me, and I think it
>was running on a Roland setup. So, when I had my on copy of Wing Commander 2
>running on a Pro Audio Spectrum 16, using sound blaster emulation, it SO
>paled in comparison.
I've found that a reasonable hifi system or large speakers plugged
into the soundcard can make a big difference. Explosions just don't
sound the same on $20 speakers that have 2 inch speaker cones inside
them. As speaker size increase they can output more power with better
quality and higher efficiency. I also avoid electrostatic speakers,
they have good treble (high frequency) reponse but their bass (low
frequency, explosions etc) reponse is poor. The speakers that use a
copper wire coil and magnet are usually better than electrostatic
speakers and cheaper too.