The GUS Daily Digest Thursday, 7 December 1995 Volume 26 : Number 006 Today's Topics: RE: Warcraft Patch Caching Soundblaster & GUS re:7th guest too loud RE: SBOSMAX? Re: The GUS Daily Digest V25 #34 settlers(serf city?) sound problem RE: Patch Caching Re: AHA -1510 Pro Patches Lite with 512KB GUS Warcraft & Nascar & FTP Re: Soundblaster & GUS Re: Patch Caching Re: Emulation Re: The GUS Daily Digest V26 #5 Solution to CD audio control problems for GUS v.< 3.7 Warcraft II Re: Warcraft RE: How to find bad DRAM chips!? joystick problems...again Warcraft and Gus, Sb and GUS Re: Warcraft Re: The GUS Daily Digest V26 #5 Re: The GUS Daily Digest V26 #5 maxpats vs. pplt; patch caching; maxsbos; gus & sb Re: The GUS Daily Digest V26 #5 Re: Warcraft maxpats vs. pplt; patch caching; maxsbos; gus & sb Undeliverable Message Undeliverable Message Undeliverable Message Undeliverable Message Software Upgrade on older GUS cards. GUS RAM RE: SBOSMAX? Pro Patches Lite - problem solved Standard Info: - Meta-info about the GUS can be found at the end of the Digest. - Before you ask a question, please READ THE FAQ. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Gestur Vidarsson Date: Tue, 5 Dec 95 09:10:30 GMT Subject: RE: Warcraft >From: Jarrod Loewen >Date: Mon, 4 Dec 1995 11:17:12 -0600 (CST) >Subject: Warcraft > >Hello. The GLIST says Warcraft has native support using 32 bit AIL drivers. >I figured as much out myself, but the game refuses to run complaining it can't >find the sound hardware. Doesn't a SB hardware check negate the purpose of >these drivers? Anyway, can anyone tell me how to fool this game into seeing >a sound bastard on my system? The readme file that came with my version of the AIL drivers (I think it is the latest), states exactly how you should install the drivers for Warcraft! Take care, Gestur ------------------------------ From: The Crazy GUSer Date: Tue, 5 Dec 1995 11:07:42 +0000 (CUT) Subject: Patch Caching On Mon, 4 Dec 1995, Cuthalion / Sliced Bread wrote: > With most hardware, patch caching does nothing - all of the >samples are in ROM or are FM generated. You can just, out of the blue, >say "Play a bagpipe" and it will. To be compliant with whatever standard >there is, programmes must implement patch caching, but since 95% of the >time (that is an EXTREMELY generous figure - it's probably closer to 99%) >they'll work just fine without it, and so they have other things to >implement that seem more important than adhering to a standard strictly >when it makes no functional difference that they can tell. - --- First of all, a note: My English level is not very good, so... - --- is it caching, catching, cacheing, or what? :) What I tried to say is that the Windows driver should load the patches when it needed them. I don't mean that every program should use patch caching (If I was a Windows programmer I would probably not use it). And, when I say Windows driver I also say MegaEm or UltraMid, for example. When I use any programming lang. to say "Play 'striving.mid'", there should be a driver that could say... "Well, I've got the piano and the bass, but I need that drum... Let's put that banjo away 'cause it's oldest one in my list". I think it's not so hard to program, is it? Firmado/Signed: Javier Prieto Martinez (prietom%galileo.fie@cs.us.es) Yep. I'm Spanish, so... Sorry 'bout my English :) ------------------------------ From: Dewi Daniels Date: Tue, 5 Dec 95 09:30:04 GMT Subject: Soundblaster & GUS > I currently have a GUS card in my PC. I also have access to (read that > uninstalled) a Sound Blaster card (right now I forget which flavor of SB it > is. Does it matter?). > > Would my life really be simpler if I used both cards? How much aggrivaton and > grief is it to configure both cards? Is this spelled out anywhere? Am I > increasing or decreasing my problems of compatability (or incompatibility)? > Is this worth the effort? > The SB/GUS combination is highly recommended. I've got a GUS and an SB (mono 8-bit) clone. They work very well together. The SB gets some kind out of sound out of anything, whilst the GUS gives me the best quality sound for applications that support it. Install the SB at the factory default of base address 220, IRQ 7 (or 5) and DMA 1 (a lot of lazy programmers seem to hardcode the SB at this address). Then configure the GUS around that (GUS support tends to me much more flexible), say base address 240, IRQ 11, DMA 5. You won't be able to use SBOS, but then you won't need to. You can still use MegaEm to provide MT32/GM music whilst using the SB to provide digital sound effects. In fact, with version 2.xx of MegaEm, you could even use the GUS for SB sound effects *instead* of the SB (the GUS sounds better than an SB, but is less compatible with some games). Dewi Daniels ------------------------------ From: "christopher (c.r.a.) ashby" Date: Tue, 5 Dec 1995 05:52:00 -0500 Subject: re:7th guest too loud In message "The GUS Daily Digest V26 #5", you write: > I'm trying to get the sound to work a little better in 7th Guest. > The CD sound is fine, but it is a little too loud and drowns out the > voices. The voices also tend to be a bit cracky. > > I've used both the ail drivers and mega-em sussesfully, but both > exhibit these similar problems. > > Any help would be much apreciated, > > > Mike Mainville > Ottawa, Ontario, Canada > mmainville@iosphere.net > I had this problem too, and finally after searching through the gusmax manuals and trying different things I discoverd that the music volume on ultramid can be controlled with a switch. It ranges from 0-127. I find that about 95 is fine but you may want it a bit quieter. Set up the game with the AIL drivers (not mega-em, it sounds really bad compared to the AIL drivers). load ultramid using the swtich eg. ultramid -m95 this lowers the volume of the music but the digital sound stays the same volume. If it is still too loud try a lower number. Chris ------------------------------ From: Okan Tuncer Date: Tue, 05 Dec 95 12:27:00 PST Subject: RE: SBOSMAX? > > "SBOSMAX" is sometimes mentioned, yet what is it? I have a GUS MAX and it > came with just "SBOS" - are they the same? > It is a special version of SBOS for MAX only. It uses extra hw in MAX which is not available in plain GUS. Before changing my motherboard and losing NMI, I found that SBOSMAX was superior over SBOS. I believe SBOSMAX is now included in new 411 install. Okan Tuncer AT&T Turkey ------------------------------ From: Okan Tuncer Date: Tue, 05 Dec 95 12:35:00 PST Subject: Re: The GUS Daily Digest V25 #34 Paul writes > > I currently have a GUS card in my PC. I also have access to (read that > uninstalled) a Sound Blaster card (right now I forget which flavor of SB it > is. Does it matter?). > > Would my life really be simpler if I used both cards? How much aggrivaton and > grief is it to configure both cards? Is this spelled out anywhere? Am I > increasing or decreasing my problems of compatability (or incompatibility)? > Is this worth the effort? > > Paul > I have my GUSMAX with SB16 side by side without any problems. I setup GUS first at DMA=3,3 IRQ=7, SBIRQ=15(dummy), Mem=210 then SB16 at DMA=1,5 IRQ=5, Mem=220. This config works ok, but the only problem I had was I was unable to upgrade to 4.11 install. The installation program failed completely. Okan Tuncer AT&T Turkey ------------------------------ From: "christopher (c.r.a.) ashby" Date: Tue, 5 Dec 1995 05:58:00 -0500 Subject: settlers(serf city?) sound problem I bought the Settlers a few days ago and it is a bitch to get working with the GUS (I think this may be called Serf City in some palces). Anyway the readme file say to select the GUS with music and sound switched off and then run ULTRASND.BAT to set up the GUS drivers. Then run loadpats before playing the game. However there is no ULTRASND.BAT with the game, and no emulation works except shitty SBOS with no digital sound. Does anyone know how to get this game working with the GUSMAX? it's a pain in the arse. Chris, belfast northern ireland uk ------------------------------ From: Okan Tuncer Date: Tue, 05 Dec 95 13:29:00 PST Subject: RE: Patch Caching Javier Prieto Martinez writes > > What I tried to say is that the Windows driver should load the patches > when it needed them. I don't agree (IMHO). Windows driver only provides the devices (in and out) to send and receive MIDI messages. It is the application which opens the file and searches through it to find the patches needed. In fact you can send MIDI messages without having a file at all. An example is the PIANO using which you can send MIDI messages from your keyboard. Okan Tuncer AT&T Turkey ------------------------------ From: "molina" Date: Tue, 5 Dec 1995 12:52:07 +0000 Subject: Re: AHA -1510 > >From: "Miguel Molina" > >Well, I have a problem with these cards. If i try to install both cards, > >aspi2dos.sys doesn't install. I've tried to change settings, but I get > >the same results. Now my settings are: > > Ultrasound : port 220, irq 11, sb irq 15, dma 1 > > Adaptec : port 140, irq 12, dma 0 > > Try to put your Adaptec in IRQ 11 & DMA 5 (it's the common way to use them) > and your GUS to some other ones (as IRQ 7 & DMA 6). I have a GUS and an > Adaptec with aspi2dos.sys driver too and I haven't any problem with that > configuration. First, thank you. Yes, I agree, I think it's a DMA problem but....Why?. I have set all possible DMA channels on my GUS, and it didn't work. And remember, my AHA1510 doesn't have a BIOS, so, Could someone tell me how to change this setting on the SCSI card ?. Once again, sorry about my english (I'm spanish too) Mike ------------------------------ From: Eero R{s{nen Date: Tue, 5 Dec 1995 15:39:35 +0200 Subject: Pro Patches Lite with 512KB GUS If you are planning to use Pro Patches Lite with 512 KB GUS, you will have some problems at least with games that use Loadpats (is that Ail 32bit ?). This is because some of the patches just cannot be loaded as 22KHz 8-bit !! You will be hearing weird crackling noise instead of the instrument. I noticed this when I played 7. level of shareware version of Descent. At least the triangle (both??) sounds can't be loaded as 22KHz 8-bit. You won't have this kind of problems with 1024 GUS because patches are loaded as 44KHz 8-bit by default. I really don't know the cause of this...but I have a theory: Some of the patches (like triangle sounds) are too bright to be interpolated to 8-bit 22KHz without problems. Earlier, before the first release of PPLT, I had a problem that also caused broken sound. It affected only to drums and it got fixed by saving all drum sounds as '16-bit unsigned'...I don't know why, but it worked...:) So, if knows a way how to load each sound as 22KHz 8-bit and then play it with different pitches, please let me know. I could make a mode into Patmenu that could be used to temporarily remove those patches. Eero - author of Pro Patches Lite ------------------------------ From: Dominic Winter <63142015@mmu.ac.uk> Date: Tue, 5 Dec 1995 13:54:42 GMT Subject: Warcraft & Nascar & FTP > Hello. The GLIST says Warcraft has native support using 32 bit AIL drivers. > I figured as much out myself, but the game refuses to run complaining it can't > find the sound hardware. Well to answer that one, there is a patch freely available for the game that gives it native gus support, which worked great on my machine. Now my own problem, If I use the gus support on the latest version of nascar with the extra tracks etc.. my joystick is a bitch to calibrate, it seems to be swirling all over the joint. This is of course with the joystick in the Gus j port. Now, if I set the game up in SB mode and use my SB clone for sound, I don't get any hassle from the calibration routine at all. This seems to happen on Indycar and Indycar 2 also. My gus is a rev 3.7 and my joystick is a Quickshot Skymaster. Oh and one more thing, I used to get all the new gravis stuff from ftp.luth.se, they had a mirror of epas, but they don't any more. It seems to be impossible to get into epas at all, so does anybody know where there is a good (and fast from the uk) mirror of epas in europe? BTW imperial college (src.doc.ic.ac.uk) doesn't mirror the submit directory, and I really want the new Pro pats stuff everybody's talking about. Thanks Dom|------------------------------------| | DOOM is LIFE - Klik Klak KABOOM! | |------------------------------------| | Dominic Winter 63142015@mmu.ac.uk | | Manchester Metropolitan University | | England | |------------------------------------| ------------------------------ From: Dewi Daniels Date: Tue, 5 Dec 95 13:27:11 GMT Subject: Re: Soundblaster & GUS > Dewi, thanks for the info re: the sound cards. Do I need to connect the GUS > and SB together some way? Where would I connect the speakers? No problem. Just connect the line out from the SB into the line in on the GUS, then run "ultrinit -l -o" before you use the SB. That way, both sound cards can share the same pair of speakers. Dewi Daniels ------------------------------ From: Cuthalion / Sliced Bread Date: Tue, 5 Dec 1995 10:39:31 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re: Patch Caching On Tue, 5 Dec 1995, The Crazy GUSer wrote: > On Mon, 4 Dec 1995, Cuthalion / Sliced Bread wrote: > > > With most hardware, patch caching does nothing - all of the > >samples are in ROM or are FM generated. You can just, out of the blue, > >say "Play a bagpipe" and it will. To be compliant with whatever standard > >there is, programmes must implement patch caching, but since 95% of the > >time (that is an EXTREMELY generous figure - it's probably closer to 99%) > >they'll work just fine without it, and so they have other things to > >implement that seem more important than adhering to a standard strictly > >when it makes no functional difference that they can tell. > --- First of all, a note: My English level is not very good, so... > --- is it caching, catching, cacheing, or what? :) > Well, if you check my spelling, you'll see I believe caching is the correct spelling. > What I tried to say is that the Windows driver should load the patches > when it needed them. I don't mean that every program should use patch > caching (If I was a Windows programmer I would probably not use it). > And, when I say Windows driver I also say MegaEm or UltraMid, for example. > When I use any programming lang. to say "Play 'striving.mid'", there should > be a driver that could say... "Well, I've got the piano and the bass, but > I need that drum... Let's put that banjo away 'cause it's oldest one in > my list". I think it's not so hard to program, is it? When do you know that you need the piano and the bass? Are you waiting until the note-on? In that case, you don't have time to open the file and read it in and load it into GUSRAM. The drivers don't know what instruments will be played in a given file unless the player which loaded the file tells them, which is patch caching. (I am about 75% certain about this.) > Firmado/Signed: Javier Prieto Martinez (prietom%galileo.fie@cs.us.es) > Yep. I'm Spanish, so... Sorry 'bout my English :) What's wrong with your english? I often see more glaring errors in emails written by Americans. /*********************************************************************** * Jesse Morris * cuth@gryphon.ccs.brandeis.edu * jrmorris@macalstr.edu * **************** Cuthalion / Sliced Bread ************************* \*********************************/ ------------------------------ From: John Johnson Date: Tue, 5 Dec 1995 10:28:33 -0600 Subject: Re: Emulation Yossi wrote: >Dan, you're WAY wrong. Emulation can often improve on the original. Take >a fast PowerPC doing a 486, for example. There's no x86 code in it but it >still outruns the 486 it's emulating. The GUS uses wavetable and AI to >replace FM sounds with wavetable (SBOSMAX) - it sounds better, it's in >stereo, it's 44KHz, and I don't know who told you it's slower, 'cause it Yossi, you are a great source for information, but on this, I'm afraid, you are wrong. A PowerPC processor can not outperform a 486 in emulation. In fact, a 100MHz 604 processor running an x86 emulator looks like about a 33MHz 486. In almost every case, emulation of one architecture by another is slower. You are correct, though, about SBOS sounding better than an SB, due to the GUS using wavetable. I just thought I'd clarify the processor emulation, though. Regards, John - --*** ***-- -** * -* ***** -* **** **** John A. Johnson, N5NHH jaj@dal.mcd.mot.com Sr. Systems Engineer "If it ain't broke, Motorola Computer Group Phone: (214) 888-3029 don't fix it - engineers Dallas, Texas Fax..: (214) 247-6860 excepted, of course!" ------------------------------ From: Yossi Oren Date: Tue, 05 Dec 95 18:45:32 +0200 Subject: Re: The GUS Daily Digest V26 #5 Javier, what's the GUS 3CD? Is this a bundle? How much did it cost you? When you're using MT32 emulation, you have to make sure you mean MT32 and not SCC1. See, the Roland MT-32 is not GM-compatible. What this means is that while the drum sounds are quite properly matched, the instrument definitions arfe completely swapped around. Using MegaEm, select either General MIDI or MT-32, according to the type of support you've chosen. Patch caching is good when you know what's going to be played, but rather useless if you're composing on the fly or if the game keeps its sound hidden in an internal format and just sends note-ons. The HMI drivers try to get over this problem in games by learning what instruments the game uses and preloading them when it's run. Composers are in a bigger problem - unless they specifically plan for a GUS, patch caching is very difficult. Dewi, you're right about the MT32. To elaborate a bit, the MT32 used a unique synth called a linear-additive synth (I THINK, it's abberviated LA anyway). The idea behind the LA synth was something like sampling the attack and synthing the sustain. Yes, it could be programmed and it's damn hard to emulate. X-Wing is a good example, another one is Civ. Note that you get a piano when you click you mouse out of bounds. Anyway, the problem Javier probably described was a case of using SCC-1 emulation for an MT-32 game or the other way around. About game-specific patch sets - Gravis has released a freeware utility called logmidi, which scans a set of files for MIDI-looking contents (it can also find multiple MIDIs in a resource file) and churns out an Ultramid-compatible ..INI file. Takes out most of the guesswork, but it still helps editing the file and moving patches from oft-used MIDIs up the list. Find it at GUS sites worldwide, I don't have to say this, do I? Peter, Maxpats are OK, but less polished than ProPatches Lite. Some patches are very off-tune and some lack information. When I installed MaxPats on my system, PlayMIDI ceased to work and Windows MIDI stopped giving me vibratos and tremolos. Still, it's a good download if only for the guitar section. Jarrod, to run Warcraft (I assume this is WC2, right?) you have to download a patch. Called wc2gus or wcgusfix or something like that, it includes an update to the AIL files and to a bit of the game as well. You may also need to run LOADPATS before you play. John, SBOSMAX is a 1MB version of SBOS, and since the library's 4 times as big you can think about what happens to the quality. It's downloadable, but you could also try MegaEm 3.06b, which has a 1MB set and SB FM support as well. Perhaps it's the same support, I wouldn't know (no MAX!). A good thing about SBOSMAX is that it uses your streaming codec for effect playback. It's more compatible that way since it doesn't have to do that much footwork. Paul,plug in your SB. It'll help you get support. If you want more info, just read back issues or check out the SB-GUS FAQ on the archives. This has been dwelt upon AT GREAT LENGTH. Seeya! Yossi. lioren1@weizmann.weizmann.ac.il / Visit . Currently serving somewhere in / Politically correct my ass. the Israeli Defense Forces. / Get a GUS. - --------( "ObKibo" )--------- ------------------------------ From: Stephen Whittam Date: Tue, 5 Dec 1995 13:21:20 -0500 (EST) Subject: Solution to CD audio control problems for GUS v.< 3.7 Recently I purchased a Hitachi quad speed CD-rom drive at a computer=20 show and, to my dismay, found that the audio cable they gave me did not=20 fit the connector on the back of the drive(internal). The cable did=20 however fit on my GUS. So my solution was to make a hybrid CD audio=20 cable that went from the GUS internal connector to the external headphone= =20 output of the drive. As a delightful side effect, I now have a volume=20 control capabilities via my drive's external volume control. To make the= =20 cable you get a cheapo 1/8th inch stereo audio cable and splice it into=20 your CD audio wire. The important thing here is to connect the ground=20 conductors correctly. The ground wire will be the fatter wire in the CD=20 audio cable and in the 1/8th inch cable it will probably be serving as=20 shielding and be uninsulted. Once that conection is made just conect the= =20 two signal wires. It really doesn't matter which signal wire goes to=20 because you can just flip the connector at the GUS end if you find stereo= =20 cues to be reversed. Next you run the cable out to the external audio=20 connection on the CDrom drive. I have an empty drive bay so i cut a=20 notch out of the bay cover and ran the wire though the notch(it is=20 important for it to be a notch in the edge as opposed to a hole in the=20 middle, this way it doesn't have to be large enough to admit the passage=20 of the plug and only has to accomodate the thickness of the wire). Now=20 those of you with the 3.4 or earlier can control the cd's volume. =20 _____ --=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D-- ~~T~~ | Inspired Music Email:Whittam@pluto.njcc.com |~~ \ / /\ = =20 I | Chaos Graphics | =C4 Y |--| __|__*|____* Video |__ | | |=20 ------------------------------ From: Ted Ching Date: Tue, 5 Dec 1995 11:30:03 -0800 (PST) Subject: Warcraft II Yes! This is the game of the year. And whats more, it supports GUS, and the MIDI (in particular) sounds great! The GUS is even the #3 on the list when choosing a soundcard. More titles like this one will bring the GUS to mainstream. Get this game ------------------------------ From: Ted Ching Date: Tue, 5 Dec 1995 11:32:03 -0800 (PST) Subject: Re: Warcraft On Mon, 4 Dec 1995, Jarrod Loewen wrote: > Hello. The GLIST says Warcraft has native support using 32 bit AIL drivers. > I figured as much out myself, but the game refuses to run complaining it can't > find the sound hardware. Doesn't a SB hardware check negate the purpose of > these drivers? Anyway, can anyone tell me how to fool this game into seeing > a sound bastard on my system? who cares? Get Warcraft 2. Full native GUS support, and it sounds GOOD! Comparable to the SCC-1. ------------------------------ From: "Bryan S. Maher" Date: Tue, 5 Dec 1995 14:18:09 -0800 Subject: RE: How to find bad DRAM chips!? ... >I know at least one of my DRAM chips is bad. It fails the DRAM test in >the soundcard's setup program. ... >So I got 2 new chips and it passed the test with them installed. But >then about a day or 2 later, I noticed some MIDI files sounded very >"crackly". I ran the DRAM test, and it failed. > >So I tried replacing a different pair of chips. It passed the test. I >ran it many times, and it passed. The next day. . . . it failed! Every >time! ... >Does anbody have any suggestions or possible causes for the problem? Don't attempt this in your own backyard! I had this same problem and it was the DRAM controller on my GUS MAX. Call Gravis, or email them. Explain your problem. If it is still in warrantee, they will fix. Mine has worked great ever since. Good Luck Bryan Maher ------------------------------ From: cf834@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Juan O. Pizarro) Date: Tue, 5 Dec 1995 19:46:50 -0500 Subject: joystick problems...again Hello gus'ers, I noticed that when I'm playing any game that use digital sound the joystick became unstable, with a tendency to the left. I not figured out how to fix it. I change the GUS' base address from 220 to 240, and also tried the game port of the IO board that was disable. The FAQ didn't say anything about this problem. Any idea? Here's some info: 486 DX2 80 AMD VLB GUS r3.4 1MB / 4.11 disk set Gravis gamepad ultrajoy 8 ultrasnd=220,3,7,11,5 BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T1 IDE CD-ROM 2x Thank you - -- Juan O. Pizarro Where is Dayanara Torres? Computer Science Where is Dayanara Torres? University of Puerto Rico Where is Dayanara Torres? cf834@cleveland.freenet.edu Where is Dayanara Torres? ------------------------------ From: ricky@creative.lt.flashnet.it Date: Wed, 06 Dec 95 03:00:44 EST Subject: Warcraft and Gus, Sb and GUS Hi all.. >From: Jarrod Loewen >Date: Mon, 4 Dec 1995 11:17:12 -0600 (CST) >Subject: Warcraft >Hello. The GLIST says Warcraft has native support using 32 bit AIL drivers. >I figured as much out myself, but the game refuses to run complaining it can't >find the sound hardware. Doesn't a SB hardware check negate the purpose of >these drivers? Anyway, can anyone tell me how to fool this game into seeing >a sound bastard on my system? > >Thanks, >- --jarrod. Warcraft supports the GUS in native mode.. All you need is a fix to upgrade the game.. I don't remember where I found it , but if you want I can FTP somewhere or Email it to you... >From: PaulSS1259@aol.com >Date: Mon, 4 Dec 1995 13:01:17 -0500 >Subject: Re: The GUS Daily Digest V25 #34 >I currently have a GUS card in my PC. I also have access to (read that >uninstalled) a Sound Blaster card (right now I forget which flavor of SB it >is. Does it matter?). >Would my life really be simpler if I used both cards? How much aggrivaton and >grief is it to configure both cards? Is this spelled out anywhere? Am I >increasing or decreasing my problems of compatability (or incompatibility)? >Is this worth the effort? >All suggestions greatly appreciated..... >Thanks.... >Paul I use my 3.74 Gus with a Sound Bastard PRO (????) 2 . It's very simple to let the two cards coexist. I switched the gus to 210,6,6,7,15 so that I can use the GF1 irq at less then 7 while leaving the irq 5 free for the SB, and the base address at 210 so that I can keep the SB at 220. In my opinion, just to be trouble-free, you should keep the SB at default settings and modify the GUS settings.. In the first time using an original SB was great for removing the GUS Sb emulation problems, but now it's almost a nonsense. I keep it just for a pair of games (like Indycar or Superkarts) that need the SB to work. Bye, Ricky ------------------------------ From: Ted Ching Date: Tue, 5 Dec 1995 23:17:06 -0800 (PST) Subject: Re: Warcraft On Tue, 5 Dec 1995, Jarrod Loewen wrote: > > Get Warcraft 2. Full native GUS support, and it sounds GOOD! > > Comparable to the SCC-1. > > > because I don't have $70 to blow on a new game everytime I get frustrated > trying play an old one. I already *have* warcraft and it'd be nice to actually > see the game. > > I don't mean to be rude but I can do without flippant comments like this. hehe... sorry, i guess i was a little excited because Warcraft 2 absolutely eclipses the first one- and I just finished my finals. You'll be happy to know that WC1 has native GUS support, you just need to upgrade your version to 1.2 (i think). WC2 works perfectly with the GUS out of the box (wow!) And when you select "GUS", it says "Yer sound cahd works puhfectly!" in a cool English accent. Those are words from heaven for us GUSers, who may be accustomed to fiddling with drivers & such, but trust me, you'll get over it soon :) ------------------------------ From: "Stephen Thomas Brindle" Date: Tue, 5 Dec 1995 18:53:26 -0800 Subject: Re: The GUS Daily Digest V26 #5 > From: owner-gus-general-digest@apollo.COSC.GOV > Date: Tue, 5 Dec 1995 00:06:05 -0800 > To: gus-general-digest@apollo.COSC.GOV > Subject: The GUS Daily Digest V26 #5 > Reply-to: gus-general@apollo.COSC.GOV > From: johnr@citenet.net (JOHN) > Date: Mon, 04 Dec 1995 12:31:21 -0600 > Subject: SBOSMAX? > > "SBOSMAX" is sometimes mentioned, yet what is it? I have a GUS MAX and it > came with just "SBOS" - are they the same? > > ------------------------------ No. SBOSMAX is an enhanced version of SBOS that works ONLY (or at least BEST) on a GUS MAX. It comes with the v4.11 software (available on most GUS sites). The original version (serparately) is available at http://wuarchive.wustl.edu/systems/ibmpc/ultrasound/gravis/patch/maxsbos.zip ------------------------------ From: "Stephen Thomas Brindle" Date: Tue, 5 Dec 1995 18:53:26 -0800 Subject: Re: The GUS Daily Digest V26 #5 > From: owner-gus-general-digest@apollo.COSC.GOV > Date: Tue, 5 Dec 1995 00:06:05 -0800 > To: gus-general-digest@apollo.COSC.GOV > Subject: The GUS Daily Digest V26 #5 > Reply-to: gus-general@apollo.COSC.GOV > From: johnr@citenet.net (JOHN) > Date: Mon, 04 Dec 1995 12:31:21 -0600 > Subject: SBOSMAX? > > "SBOSMAX" is sometimes mentioned, yet what is it? I have a GUS MAX and it > came with just "SBOS" - are they the same? > > ------------------------------ No. SBOSMAX is an enhanced version of SBOS that works ONLY (or at least BEST) on a GUS MAX. It comes with the v4.11 software (available on most GUS sites). The original version (serparately) is available at http://wuarchive.wustl.edu/systems/ibmpc/ultrasound/gravis/patch/maxsbos.zip ------------------------------ From: Harry C Pulley IV Date: Wed, 6 Dec 1995 07:02:56 -0500 (EST) Subject: maxpats vs. pplt; patch caching; maxsbos; gus & sb I have found that while many of the maxpats are better for using playmidi or windows MIDI apps, the size is usually too large for game use. pplt seems to give almost the same sound quality (the same or better on many instruments) while taking up much less RAM. I too wish that more sound drivers had some way to patch cache with the GUS rather than just loading a bunch for the whole game at startup. Games which use ultramid instead of megaem or loadpats can do this so other games could also load patches on the fly, I'm sure. I wouldn't mind a small delay so as to greatly improve sound quality. Being able to load 94 instruments with loadpats sounds pretty good until you see how many instruments are still not being loaded in. I guess an Interweave based card can, for the most part, alleviate this problem by having 8 or more megs of RAM so as to be able to load every single instrument at once. So perhaps this is one of the many times in the computer industry where new hardware is used to solve an old software problem... maxsbos is _not_ the same as sbos; not even close. sbos uses at most 256K (or less) of patch RAM while maxsbos can use up to the full 1024K. Also, for SB emulation (as opposed to FM which the patches are used for) the MAX card can directly play samples without having to load them into the card's RAM. The regular GUS must first load all samples into RAM, and then play them from there. The MAX uses its CODEC to directly play (or record) up to 48KHz playback. Thus, the MAX can have a meg full of patches while at the same time do FX. megaem 3+ will also take advantage of this, I think. There are plans (well, there were anyways, both maxsbos and megaem 3+ are still beta) for a version of sbos which will use more patch RAM but which also works on older GUS cards. As for GUS and SB at the same time: I feel this is the best way to go. I've had a Sound Commander Pro card (sort of clone of SB 1.5 and SBPro) beside my GUS MAX for most of its life. I find that SB emulation doesn't work in 100% of games. There is nothing more annoying than not getting full sound FX in a game. I have a few games which I use the SB instead of the GUS because they only have FX which sound noisier but better on a real SB. I also use the SB for Win-OS/2 since solid GUS support for Windows programs under OS/2 is not yet available. Harry <:-{} hcpiv@snowhite.cis.uoguelph.ca http://shakti.cis.uoguelph.ca/~harry \ Compuserve: 103203,211 Mind/Matter==Communication/Transportation Real programmers don't drink Zima.Read Melissa Scott's Trouble_and_Her_Friends !@#$%^&*()-+=\|/? This message released to the PUBLIC DOMAIN ?/|\=+-)(*&^%$#@! ------------------------------ From: "Stephen Thomas Brindle" Date: Tue, 5 Dec 1995 18:53:26 -0800 Subject: Re: The GUS Daily Digest V26 #5 > From: owner-gus-general-digest@apollo.COSC.GOV > Date: Tue, 5 Dec 1995 00:06:05 -0800 > To: gus-general-digest@apollo.COSC.GOV > Subject: The GUS Daily Digest V26 #5 > Reply-to: gus-general@apollo.COSC.GOV > From: johnr@citenet.net (JOHN) > Date: Mon, 04 Dec 1995 12:31:21 -0600 > Subject: SBOSMAX? > > "SBOSMAX" is sometimes mentioned, yet what is it? I have a GUS MAX and it > came with just "SBOS" - are they the same? > > ------------------------------ No. SBOSMAX is an enhanced version of SBOS that works ONLY (or at least BEST) on a GUS MAX. It comes with the v4.11 software (available on most GUS sites). The original version (serparately) is available at http://wuarchive.wustl.edu/systems/ibmpc/ultrasound/gravis/patch/maxsbos.zip ------------------------------ From: Ted Ching Date: Tue, 5 Dec 1995 23:17:06 -0800 (PST) Subject: Re: Warcraft On Tue, 5 Dec 1995, Jarrod Loewen wrote: > > Get Warcraft 2. Full native GUS support, and it sounds GOOD! > > Comparable to the SCC-1. > > > because I don't have $70 to blow on a new game everytime I get frustrated > trying play an old one. I already *have* warcraft and it'd be nice to actually > see the game. > > I don't mean to be rude but I can do without flippant comments like this. hehe... sorry, i guess i was a little excited because Warcraft 2 absolutely eclipses the first one- and I just finished my finals. You'll be happy to know that WC1 has native GUS support, you just need to upgrade your version to 1.2 (i think). WC2 works perfectly with the GUS out of the box (wow!) And when you select "GUS", it says "Yer sound cahd works puhfectly!" in a cool English accent. Those are words from heaven for us GUSers, who may be accustomed to fiddling with drivers & such, but trust me, you'll get over it soon :) ------------------------------ From: Harry C Pulley IV Date: Wed, 6 Dec 1995 07:02:56 -0500 (EST) Subject: maxpats vs. pplt; patch caching; maxsbos; gus & sb I have found that while many of the maxpats are better for using playmidi or windows MIDI apps, the size is usually too large for game use. pplt seems to give almost the same sound quality (the same or better on many instruments) while taking up much less RAM. I too wish that more sound drivers had some way to patch cache with the GUS rather than just loading a bunch for the whole game at startup. Games which use ultramid instead of megaem or loadpats can do this so other games could also load patches on the fly, I'm sure. I wouldn't mind a small delay so as to greatly improve sound quality. Being able to load 94 instruments with loadpats sounds pretty good until you see how many instruments are still not being loaded in. I guess an Interweave based card can, for the most part, alleviate this problem by having 8 or more megs of RAM so as to be able to load every single instrument at once. So perhaps this is one of the many times in the computer industry where new hardware is used to solve an old software problem... maxsbos is _not_ the same as sbos; not even close. sbos uses at most 256K (or less) of patch RAM while maxsbos can use up to the full 1024K. Also, for SB emulation (as opposed to FM which the patches are used for) the MAX card can directly play samples without having to load them into the card's RAM. The regular GUS must first load all samples into RAM, and then play them from there. The MAX uses its CODEC to directly play (or record) up to 48KHz playback. Thus, the MAX can have a meg full of patches while at the same time do FX. megaem 3+ will also take advantage of this, I think. There are plans (well, there were anyways, both maxsbos and megaem 3+ are still beta) for a version of sbos which will use more patch RAM but which also works on older GUS cards. As for GUS and SB at the same time: I feel this is the best way to go. I've had a Sound Commander Pro card (sort of clone of SB 1.5 and SBPro) beside my GUS MAX for most of its life. I find that SB emulation doesn't work in 100% of games. There is nothing more annoying than not getting full sound FX in a game. I have a few games which I use the SB instead of the GUS because they only have FX which sound noisier but better on a real SB. I also use the SB for Win-OS/2 since solid GUS support for Windows programs under OS/2 is not yet available. Harry <:-{} hcpiv@snowhite.cis.uoguelph.ca http://shakti.cis.uoguelph.ca/~harry \ Compuserve: 103203,211 Mind/Matter==Communication/Transportation Real programmers don't drink Zima.Read Melissa Scott's Trouble_and_Her_Friends !@#$%^&*()-+=\|/? This message released to the PUBLIC DOMAIN ?/|\=+-)(*&^%$#@! ------------------------------ From: Date: Wed, 6 Dec 95 14:31:00 EST Subject: Undeliverable Message To: Cc: Subject: The GUS Daily Digest V25 #33 Message not delivered to recipients below. Press F1 for help with VNM error codes. VNM3043: Willie Fields@HQ_AFRES_SCP@ROBINS VNM3043 -- MAILBOX IS FULL The message cannot be delivered because the recipient's mailbox contains the maximum number of messages, as set by the system administrator. The recipient must delete some messages before any other messages can be delivered. The maximum message limit for a user's mailbox is 10,000. The default message limit is 1000 messages. Administrators can set message limits using the Mailbox Settings function available in the Manage User menu (MUSER). When a user's mailbox reaches the limit, the user must delete some of the messages before the mailbox can accept any more incoming messages. UNDEFINED The original message was larger than the viewing area. It cannot be displayed as is. Therefore, it has been stored in the file `mail.txt'. Please view this file in order to read the message. Thank you. ------------------------------ From: Date: Wed, 6 Dec 95 14:25:38 EST Subject: Undeliverable Message To: Cc: Subject: The GUS Daily Digest V25 #32 Message not delivered to recipients below. Press F1 for help with VNM error codes. VNM3036: Willie Fields@HQ_AFRES_SCP@ROBINS VNM3036 -- RETRY PERIOD EXPIRED If a user sends a message with an undeliverable address, Mail keeps trying to deliver the message for a time period specified by the message expiration time. If the message cannot be delivered within that period, the sender receives a notice of undeliverable mail with this error code. Check the address on the message, and make any necessary corrections. If the address appears to be correct, verify that the connections to the recipient's mail service are working properly and that the recipient's group still exists. UNDEFINED The original message was larger than the viewing area. It cannot be displayed as is. Therefore, it has been stored in the file `mail.txt'. Please view this file in order to read the message. Thank you. ------------------------------ From: Date: Wed, 6 Dec 95 14:25:38 EST Subject: Undeliverable Message To: Cc: Subject: The GUS Daily Digest V25 #32 Message not delivered to recipients below. Press F1 for help with VNM error codes. VNM3036: Willie Fields@HQ_AFRES_SCP@ROBINS VNM3036 -- RETRY PERIOD EXPIRED If a user sends a message with an undeliverable address, Mail keeps trying to deliver the message for a time period specified by the message expiration time. If the message cannot be delivered within that period, the sender receives a notice of undeliverable mail with this error code. Check the address on the message, and make any necessary corrections. If the address appears to be correct, verify that the connections to the recipient's mail service are working properly and that the recipient's group still exists. UNDEFINED The original message was larger than the viewing area. It cannot be displayed as is. Therefore, it has been stored in the file `mail.txt'. Please view this file in order to read the message. Thank you. ------------------------------ From: Date: Wed, 6 Dec 95 14:26:00 EST Subject: Undeliverable Message To: Cc: Subject: The GUS Daily Digest V25 #31 Message not delivered to recipients below. Press F1 for help with VNM error codes. VNM3036: Willie Fields@HQ_AFRES_SCP@ROBINS VNM3036 -- RETRY PERIOD EXPIRED If a user sends a message with an undeliverable address, Mail keeps trying to deliver the message for a time period specified by the message expiration time. If the message cannot be delivered within that period, the sender receives a notice of undeliverable mail with this error code. Check the address on the message, and make any necessary corrections. If the address appears to be correct, verify that the connections to the recipient's mail service are working properly and that the recipient's group still exists. UNDEFINED The original message was larger than the viewing area. It cannot be displayed as is. Therefore, it has been stored in the file `mail.txt'. Please view this file in order to read the message. Thank you. ------------------------------ From: PHIL WHALEY Date: Fri, 1 Dec 1995 10:35:38 +0000 Subject: Software Upgrade on older GUS cards. As a new subscriber to the digest I am not sure if this has been addressed before, I cannot find an answer in any FAQ. I have an early release GUS (excuse my feeble attempt at guessing version numbers - I know that it is critical to the problem) V1.97??? - - I cannot install the latest version of the GUS software - 4.11 I think - Anyway - basically my old card (not the INITIAL GUS) cannot be detected by any install software from gravis over version 3.59 (which I am currently using) Is there a work around/an explanation/a name of somebody at GRAVIS I can dismember? Hope somebody can throw some light on this one. ,///, ( o o ) +----------.oooO--(_)--Oooo.---------+ | | | mfzpw@granby.ccc.nottingham.ac.uk | | | | Purveyor of fine stolen sig's. | | .oooO | | ( ) Oooo. | +------------\ (----( )------------+ \_) ) / (_/ ------------------------------ From: Jimmy Wan Date: Wed, 6 Dec 1995 17:43:45 -0500 (EST) Subject: GUS RAM In case anyone is interested, The Memory Liquidators are offering the GUS Max and I believe Ace 512K upgrade for a pretty good price. The 512K DRAM, (256x16 SOJ) is selling for $26. For shipping to Michigan, that's another $5 for UPS ground. BTW, I am in no way associated with "The Memory Liquidators". Their phone number is 1-800-718-7755. They are in the December 95 Computer Shopper on page 776... Jimmy Wan University of Michigan-Computer Engineering Turtle Beach Maui Page http://www-personal.umich.edu/~vecna/maui.html ------------------------------ From: "Peter C. Chien Jr." Date: Wed, 6 Dec 1995 15:59:31 -0800 (PST) Subject: RE: SBOSMAX? You can use MAXSBOS for regular GUS to, if it has at least 512k memory. The music will work, but the sfx won't, because they rely on the CODEC found on the MAX. Does anyone know if MAXSBOS would work on a GUS outfitted with the 16-bit recording daughterboard (which has the CODEC)? --Caephus On Tue, 5 Dec 1995, Okan Tuncer wrote: > > > > > > "SBOSMAX" is sometimes mentioned, yet what is it? I have a GUS MAX and it > > came with just "SBOS" - are they the same? > > > It is a special version of SBOS for MAX only. It uses extra hw in MAX which > is not available in plain GUS. Before changing my motherboard and losing > NMI, I found that SBOSMAX was superior over SBOS. I believe SBOSMAX is now > included in new 411 install. > > Okan Tuncer > AT&T Turkey > ------------------------------ From: Eero R{s{nen Date: Wed, 6 Dec 1995 21:58:44 +0200 Subject: Pro Patches Lite - problem solved I noted earlier about problem that occured when some of the PPLT patches are loaded as 8-bit 22KHz...some of the patches just don't work that way. OK. I noticed that this affected also to MegaEm3 patch set, so I just had to fix it. I made two midi files which played all melodic patches and drums one by one. This way I could determine which patches were messed up in MegaEm 3.xx emulation. I made changes to "qpats.ini" file, so that original versions of the messed up patches were restored and I rebuilded the bank file. So, now the MegaEm 3.xx emulation should work pretty well. I have the rebuilded bank file and the fixed .ini file for 512 KB gus. If someone wants them, please email me. I am getting pretty tired of this updating stuff, especially if no one downloads the files. Eero - author of the Pro Patches Lite ------------------------------ End of The GUS Daily Digest V26 #6 ********************************** To post to tomorrow's digest: To (un)subscribe or get help: To contact a human (last resort): FTP Sites Archive Directories --------- ------------------- Main N.American Site: ftp.orst.edu pub/packages/gravis wuarchive.wustl.edu systems/ibmpc/ultrasound Main Asian Site: nctuccca.edu.tw PC/ultrasound Main European Site: src.doc.ic.ac.uk packages/ultrasound ftp.pwr.wroc.pl pub/ultrasound Main Australian Site: ftp.mpx.com.au /ultrasound/general /ultrasound/submit South African Site: ftp.sun.ac.za /pub/packages/ultrasound Submissions: archive.epas.utoronto.ca pub/pc/ultrasound/submit Newly Validated Files: archive.epas.utoronto.ca pub/pc/ultrasound Mirrors: garbo.uwasa.fi mirror/ultrasound ftp.st.nepean.uws.edu.au pc/ultrasound ftp.luth.se pub/msdos/ultrasound Gopher Sites Menu directory ------------ -------------- Main Site: src.doc.ic.ac.uk packages/ultrasound WWW Pages --------- Main Site: http://www.xmission.com/~grue/gus.html Main European Site: http://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/packages/ultrasound/ Main Australian Site: http://ftp.mpx.com.au/archive/ultrasound/general/ http://ftp.mpx.com.au/archive/ultrasound/submit/ http://ftp.mpx.com.au/gravis.html Mirrors: http://www.st.nepean.uws.edu.au/pub/pc/ultrasound/ GUS Digest Archives: http://gpu.srv.ualberta.ca/~itam/digest.html http://www.student.adelaide.edu.au/~godfathr/gus/gus.html MailServer For Archive Access: Email to Hints: - Get the FAQ from the FTP sites or the request server. - Mail to for info about other GUS related mailing lists (programmers, musicians, etc.).