Table of index (click to expand)

• CD Audio too loud/can't hear sound effects
• Dosbox-Staging muted in Linux
• HMI setup with GUS
• Lowering a game's volume
• No sound or music at all in any game
• Reversed stereo
• Sound Blaster-specific
• Sound drivers

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CD audio too loud / can't hear sound effects

This is likely caused by the game overriding the Sound Blaster mixer's volume settings. This can be disabled via sbmixer = false. [Reference]

Wipeout (Psygnosis, 1995) is a good example. The best way to configure the game is as follows:

[sblaster]
sbmixer = false

[autoexec]
imgmount D ~/DOS/D/Wipeout/Wipeout.cue -t cdrom
D:
mixer sb 80 cdaudio 70
call WIPEOUT.BAT
exit

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Dosbox-Staging muted in Linux

If using Pipewire for sound in Linux, check the application audio settings to un-mute Dosbox-Staging.

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HMI setup with GUS

Some games relying on HMI (Human-Machine Interface) will fail Gravis UltraSound detection during setup (e.g. The Terminator: Future Shock, Daggerfall, Ripper, Witchaven, etc.) There is a fix provided for the issue in this Vogons thread:

Open SETUP.INI and under [MIDISETTINGS] change the line that contains Device011 to Device011 = 3, 0x220, 0x230, 0x240. This adds more ports to Gravis UltraSound and sets the default port to 240.

Don't run ULTRAMID.EXE! Always run LOADPATS.EXE located in game folder first before running the setup utility or the game. After this the setup utility should automatically detect GUS at port 240.

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Lowering a game's volume

I. Open Dosbox-Staging.

II. At the Dosbox-Staging command prompt, type mixer master 50 and press Enter.

III. Navigate to the game folder and run the game's executable as normal.

Important: 100 is the default volume. Increasing the number increases the volume, while decreasing the number does the opposite. Additionally, to keep the volume setting for later playthroughs, place the mixer master 50 command in the [autoexec] section of dosbox-staging.conf.

Dosbox Wiki: where is dosbox.conf located?

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No sound or music at all in any game

By default, Dosbox-Staging uses the following default hardware values for sound and music:

[sblaster]
sbtype      = sb16
sbbase      = 220
irq         = 7
dma         = 1

[gus]
gus        = false
gusbase    = 240
gusirq     = 5

Note: GUS needs to be configured and enabled first before configuring any game to use it.

To make sure your game's music and sound are working correctly, open Dosbox-Staging, navigate to your game's folder, run your game's setup file, and set the appropriate hardware values for the sound card you want the game to use.

Filenames for this setup file can include, but are not limited to:

CONFIG.BAT
CONFIG.COM
CONFIG.EXE
INSTALL.BAT
INSTALL.COM
INSTALL.EXE
MENU.EXE
SETSOUND.BAT
SETUP.BAT
SETUP.COM
SETUP.EXE
SNDSETUP.EXE
SOUND.BAT
SOUND.COM
SOUND.EXE
SVGASET.EXE

MENU.EXE is the setup file for the 1996 MS-DOS first person shooter Exhumed aka Powerslave.

SNDSETUP.EXE is the dedicated sound and music setup file for the 1994 MS-DOS first person shooter Rise of the Triad: Dark War.

SVGASET.EXE is the dedicated video mode setup file for the 1995 MS-DOS combat flight simulation game Navy Strike.

Also be aware that some games only need Hardware I/O Address, IRQ, and DMA configuration in the game itself without requiring a separate setup file. Check your game's relevant documentation for further information on setup files, especially the game's manual.

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Reversed stereo

The Miles Sound System (MSS), formerly known as Audio Interface Library (AIL) will have reversed stereo by default when using Sound Blaster 16. The Sound Blaster Pro series also suffers from a reversed stereo issue. Many more games besides the ones using the MSS are impacted due to the game developers not understanding the developer documentation correctly or implementing it incorrectly. Thankfully, a workaround has been added to DOSBox Staging.

If the game doesn't have a reverse stereo option that is stored across game sessions, you can create a .BAT batch file like this (preparing games to run with batch files):

MIXER SB REVERSE /NOSHOW
GAME.EXE
MIXER SB STEREO /NOSHOW

This will reverse stereo when the game is running and switch back to stereo once the game has stopped running. This is a well-known issue and will not be fixed, as the Miles Sound System behaves in the opposite way than it should with Sound Blaster 16.

List of DOS games using the Miles Sound System by MobyGames (incomplete).

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Sound Blaster-specific

• Initialization using DMA transfer causes audible 'pop'.
• For 16-bit audio games, default volume is lower than for 8-bit games.

Note

Over 99.5% of DOS games use 8-bit PCM audio making sbtype = sbpro2 perfectly suitable without loss in quality or risking this startup 'pop' side-effect. You only need to set sbtype = sb16 or gus for games that play 16-bit audio. [Reference]

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Sound drivers

Some games do require specific sound drivers to run properly. Therefore, if you're facing an odd behaviour with a particular game or should a game from this list refuse to launch, it's likely you'll need to rely on a specific driver. You can either put the required driver somewhere in your PATH, or you can copy it to the game folder, overwriting the existing driver. Luckily, a Sound Driver pack is also kindly provided here. [Reference]

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