Installing the Gravis Ultrasound Max Techie stuff from Alex van Kaam You may think why is this file here? ... Well if you have no soundcard and the Gravis is your first one this isn't for you ... except maybe for the last part of the file which shows some examples on how to set up games. But if you already have a SB card and maybe a Mitsumi FX001D CD-ROM drive then read on ... First however, there isn't much that can go wrong, but if you manage to get something wrong don't hold me responsible, I'm just telling you how I got my system working. The reason why I wanted to keep my SB card is that as good as the Gravis is with wave tables it just doesn't work in its SB department. Why? Well it doesn't use hardware like the SB or SG but it uses a program called SBOS, and 9 out of 10 times it doesn't work. First my old setup: My Sound Galaxy card, a very good Soundblaster clone, was set up like this: Base Address 220 IRQ Port 7 DMA Port 1 My Mitusumi FX001D CD-ROM drive was set up like this: Base Address 300 IRQ Port 5 DMA Port 5 The Gravis Ultrasound Max had the following default settings Base Address 220 (also for SBos) IRQ Port 11 IRQ Port 5 (for SBos) DMA Port 1 DMA Port 1 (for SBos) As you can see there are a few conflicts: 1 The Base Address of the SG and the Gravis and the Gravis SBos are both 220 2 The DMA Port of the SG and the Gravis and the Gravis SBos is 1 3 The IRQ Port of the Gravis SBos and the Mitsumi is 5 4 The Base Address of the Mitsumi comes in conflict with the Gravis when it is emulating a Midi driver, I only found this out after some long hours of trying out everything I knew... 5 Games like Doom don't support the Gravis FX above IRQ 9 so IRQ 11 has to be changed for games like this, if you don't have Doom just use IRQ 11 There are two ways to overcome all these problems, one using your original CD-ROM interface and two by using the Gravis as your CD-ROM interface. Note however that if you use the Gravis as your CD-ROM interface you can't use the hardware driver (MTCDAE.SYS) for your CD-ROM and you must use the software drive (MTCDAS.SYS). note: some addresses/ports have to be changed by jumpers, others by using the program that came with the card, see the manual of each card. Option 1 The Soundgalaxy card must be set to: Base Address 220 IRQ Port 7 DMA Port 1 The Mitsumi interface card must be set to: Base Address 360 IRQ Port 10 DMA Port 5 Gravis Ultrasound Max must be set to: Base Address 240 IRQ Port 11 or 5 IRQ Port 5 (for SBos) DMA Port 3 DMA Port 1 (for SBos) Remember to change the MTMCDAE line in your config.sys file to the new addresses you use. Option 2 Soundgalaxy card must be set to: Base Address 220 IRQ Port 7 DMA Port 1 The Mitsumi interface card must be removed. The Gravis Ultrasound Max must be set to: Base Address 240 IRQ Port 11 or 5 IRQ Port 5 (for SBos) DMA Port 3 DMA Port 1 (for SBos) To set the Gravis Ultrasound Max for the Mitsumi FX001D, JP3 the CD-ROM drive disable jumper must be removed JP13 must be set to 360 by removing all jumpers JP12 must also be removed JP10 and JP11 must also be removed. Remember to remove the MTMCDAE driver and replace it with the MTMCDAS driver set at Address 360 in your config.sys files. Personally I prefer option 1 and using each card for what it is made for, and using the hardware driver for my CD-ROM, however if you don't have a spare slot in your PC and you must remove the CD-ROM interface card, option 2 will work fine. By now you will have used the setup program that installs all the addresses for the Gravis Ultrasound Max, this program will have written some SET lines into you autoexec.bat file. All these lines are correct expect for the SET BLASTER line. The program, thinking you want to use the Gravis SBos, will have changed it to SET BLASTER=A240 I5 D1 T4, change it back to SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 T4 the address of your original SB card. Note: T4 sets the version of your SB card, this could also be another number, check your original autoexec.bat file for the right number. Also every time you run the Gravis setup program it will change the SET BLASTER line back to what it thinks is right. One thing that you can change is the DMA Port of the Gravis, it is now set to 3 and that means 8-bit transfer, if however your motherboard has working 16 DMA ports you can set the DMA port to 7, but I do recommend that you first try out everything by using an 8-bit DMA port, nr 3 in this case, and if everything works you can always change to a 16-bit. Now check if everything works, for the Gravis run 'MIDIDEMO' and for your Soundblaster run a testing program that came with it or a game that is setup for the SB. (don't forget to connect your speakers to both the cards: one to the SB, the other to the Gravis) Note: I personally connected the CD-ROM sound to the Gravis, I then made a wire with a stereo mini plug on one end that went into the Gravis output socket, the other end I connected to the CD-ROM sound input of my Galaxy. This way the CD-ROM sound goes into the Gravis, gets combined with the Gravis sound, both these sounds then go into the Galaxy, and from the Galaxy's output socket comes all three sounds into the speakers and I can control the sound volume with the Galaxy volume control. If you want to do this, do it at your own risk !!! If it all works you can reconfigure your games, if it doesn't re-check everything, if it still doesn't work you will have to do with only one of the two cards. Reconfiguring your games: If your game has Ultrasound in its list just select that. If it doesn't then the best way is the following: Type 'MEGAEM -SBOFF', this loads the midi emulator without SB support, you don't want SB support from the Gravis since you have your own SB Then type 'EMUSET' , this emulates General Midi/SCC1/Sound Canvas Now run the setup program that came with your game and choose your SB for the FX at P:220 I7 D1, now for your music choose General Midi/SCC1/Sound Canvas, if this isn't in the list but Roland MT-32/SCC1 is then first type 'EMUSET -MT' to emulate the Roland MT-32/SCC1. Note: if your game supports both these then try both for the best sound, also if the games asks for an address of the midi card use 330, and always un-install after a game. Now run your game and with some luck it will work, if not try the other emulation mode. This may all look very complicated at first so here is a list of some BATCH files I have for my games: (d:\ is my game drive) Note: SB always stand for my real SB at P220 I7 D1. Always run Megaem with the -SBOFF switch otherwise SBos will send all SB commands from your game to the Gravis. If your game has Gravis Ultrasound in its FX list then of course choose that instead of your SB. *************************************************************** Lands of Lore CD-ROM Music: Soundcanvas, FX: SB, Samples: SB cd d:\lol d: megaem -sboff (loads megaem without SB support) emuset -v14 -m14 (loads the Canvas emulation with volumes at 14) lolcd.exe megaem -u (unloads all drivers) *************************************************************** Ravenloft CD-ROM This is a tricky one, first install as regular SB, then look into the file 'sound.cfg' you will see two names 'a32sbfm.dll' and 'a32sbdg.dll', if so delete both files from the directory. Now rename gusdig32.dll to a32sbdg.dll and gusmid32.dll to a32sbfm.dll. You will also need to run the program loadpats in the rloft dir. Now you can run the game. cd d:\rloft d: loadpats (this program came with rloft and it will load the rloft patches for the Gravis) *************************************************************** World of Xeen Music: Roland MT-32, FX: SB cd d:\xeen d: megaem -sboff emuset -mt -v13 -m13 xeen megaem -u *************************************************************** Doom Music: Gravis, FX: Gravis Doom will use the Gravis for its FX only if the IRQ is below 9, that's why I changed the default setting of IRQ 11 to IRQ 5 otherwise you wouldn't be able to hear the 3-D sound. *************************************************************** The Elder Scrolls - The Arena Music: Gravis, FX: Gravis As you can see there is no need for a batch file since the Arena fully supports the Gravis in its native form. *************************************************************** The 7th Guest CD-ROM Music: Roland MT-32, FX: SB cd d:\t7g d: megaem -sboff emuset -mt -v13 -m13 v ! megaem -u 'v !' runs the 7th Guest straight from this batch file and not the true '7th.bat' file, this way the next line 'megaem -u' will be run after quitting the 7th Guest. *************************************************************** Day of the Tentacle CD-ROM Music: Roland MT-32 at P330, FX: SB cd e:\ e: megaem -sboff emuset -mt dott megaem -u *************************************************************** Betrayal at Krondor Music: Sound Canvas/General Midi, FX: SB cd d:\krondor d: megaem -sboff emuset -v13 -m13 krondor megaem -u *************************************************************** Eye of the Beholder 3 Music: Roland MT-32, FX: SB cd d:\eye3 d: megaem -sboff emuset -mt -v13 -m13 aesop eye start megaem -u 'aesop eye start' is the line that is in the 'eye.bat' file that came with the game, it just runs the game, including it in your own batch file means that after quitting the game the next line will also be executed. *************************************************************** Lemmings 2 CD-ROM Music: Sound Canvas/General Midi, FX: SB cd d:\l2 d: megaem -sboff emuset l2 megaem -u *************************************************************** These are just a few examples, keep trying and you will succeed, the only games that didn't work with me were the Ultima games, U8 just refused to load and U7 only run without a memory manager and MEGAEM needs one to run. And remember, first start an emulating mode and then run the game setup, because some games try to detect the midi card you choose. And after each game always remove the drivers !! FOR WINDOWS USERS, before installing remove your SB drivers from the configuration/drivers section !! And DON'T run Windows when the Gravis is in emulation mode, with emulation mode on (megaem) my system crashed when I wanted to leave Windows and it ruined some files in the Windows dir. And for those who read this and think what a fuss, believe me it is worth it, the sound is perfect, it's like someone playing a real keyboard with your games!!!!! Good luck, and if you need any help you can always contact me. @~Alex sent me a tape with some Gravis sounds on it. All I can say @~is ... wow!! - Sue - o -