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*Warning: This thread means a DEEP dive into 'ye old times!*
Howdy! I'm new here, sorry I could not keep it short. If helped, though, I WILL gladly return the favor when I can.

If the reader knows about ESS Technologies PCI sound cards, or sound cards in general, then any help OR advice/explanation are VERY appreciated! :twisted:

Here's the point:
Since some time, I have decided to set up an old Win9x/DOS machine next to my new WinXP.
I am experiencing difficulties with a ES1938 (/1946?) AudioDrive sound card. It is also known as the ESS Solo-1 1969. (Using legacy VXD driver (not WDM) for DOS games!)

I know about the required files, the emulation setup, and the like. (Pain in the ass, guys, hard to disagree, eh! hehe!) It works, BUT...

Here's the problem:
I cannot understand why it works so bad! Is it the emulation?
-> For instance, I take Bio Menace, an old game by Apogee: I run it, and all sound is perfect. The quality is amazing. (Means the card CAN DO IT... While I had a better one which couldn't... :confused: )
-> Now, I will run Day of the Tentacle, by LucasArts: there is no speech, only subtitles, and the music is worse than with my Creative Sound Blaster PCI128 (which is kickass by the way). And by worse, I mean it! Sounds more like Adlib, my dear God...
(My SB-PCI128 emulates DOS sound very well, but there is trouble with it too. It proves there is speech in that last game, but in every cutscene, after a second it just stops and the cutscene 'hangs' until you skip it. Whoa?! Also there are no subtitles, what the hell...)

Mai questionz, kind people.

- Should I just trash the damn card? Does it suck or what? Is it a low-end? How can I know this about them, in the future? How can sound 'suck'?! I mean, any card can play any sound, right?
- I have searched and found many versions of those MS-DOS initialization files. Tried 'em all.
No good. Fry the damn card goddamnit it still won't work like i want it to. Should I search more, or is it IMPOSSIBLE to emulate it "properly"? Did I miss a setting?
- Maybe a manual/help site you know of could help me with this?
- Finally, is there THE PERFECT legacy card, which plays EVERY GAME, PERFECTLY?
^ Have I guessed the answer to this one: A Sound Blaster 16 or Pro?

What I'd like is to know why my card's behavior is as such, knowing that all cards can play any sound. Bad emulation software caused by the company? Bad DOS driver version? Wrong setting?
Ultimately, what I want is to make my ES1938 to emulate the sound well, at least know if it is possible somehow, then perhaps I'll try to whip out another burst of my 1337-skills.

Thanks!

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Dani AI

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Quick summary and what’s probably happening (short): the ESS ES1938 “Solo‑1” was built to give PCI cards legacy DOS compatibility, but it does that by using PCI-mode DMA and special driver/init code rather than true ISA DMA. That makes it very capable in some games (your Bio Menace result) and fragile in others — compatibility depends on driver mode, motherboard southbridge and how the game expects Sound Blaster hardware. (datasheetarchive.com)

Why Day of the Tentacle sounds wrong or speech is missing: the Solo‑1’s DOS emulation has multiple DMA modes and two driver models (the old VxD/TDMA path many people use under Win9x and the WDM/WBDMA path). On many Intel ICH/VIA chipsets the TDMA mode fails for digital effects or MIDI/FM, so VxD init can give partial results while forcing WBDMA or using a different driver fixes things. In short: it’s almost always an initialization/driver + chipset interaction, not the game file itself. (vogons.org)

Concrete troubleshooting (minimal, practical):

  • Verify you have the CD/talkie edition of Day of the Tentacle (speech was added in the CD “talkie” release). (filfre.net)
  • Work from a clean DOS boot (not Win95/98-boxed DOS) and use the ESS-supplied files: place ESSAUDIO.* and PCISET.EXE in C:\, create the correct C:\ESSAUDIO.INI, and run an ESSINIT/PCISET batch to force WBDMA/PCPCI and an IRQ that doesn’t conflict (try IRQ7 if IRQ5 is flaky). If you need an environment variable, a typical example is:
    SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T3

    Follow the ESSINIT/ESSAUDIO guidance when booting to plain DOS. These exact steps and examples are discussed and tested by retro users. (vogons.org)

If that still fails: the historically safest fallback for “plays every DOS game” is a true Sound Blaster (SB Pro / SB16 family) or using emulator solutions (DOSBox) for guaranteed behavior — SB 16‑style cards were the de facto DOS standard and are the most broadly compatible option. (en.wikipedia.org)

(Reference: this advice is tied to the Solo‑1 quirks reported by many retro users; try the WBDMA/ESSINIT route first before ditching the card.)

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Lawl.
Weird, I can't edit nor delete my own thread.

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