A Fix to the Audio Problems when running the DOS via XP

[Brent15]

I'm just getting back into Master of Orion 2 and have followed some of the superb advice offered by Lord Brazen and others online. I have, however, had to work thru some of the many issues of running this game on a newer system.

The following was found in Lord Brazen's Guide to Installing Master of Orion II v1.40 on Win XP:

NOTE: Some soundcards and sound drivers do not support DOS mode sound in XP. For some you may need to run a TSR or enable Sound Blaster compatability in the BIOS. Most AC97 cards will work well. Also, the game music may have clicking or static with some cards. I do not know any fix for this (try turning down the music volume in the game).

After experiencing this first hand and searching hi and low for a fix I found one and feel this community is the best place to post it.

Just do a search for VDMSound 2.10.

It comes with an excellent guide and I have completely eradicated the annoying background crackles. It took some playing with the settings but it was well worth it. I am not in any way affiliated with the designers and I am not sure what support, if any, you would get from them directly.

Many thanks to Lord Brazen for his work on Master of Orion and the others who have\do contribute directly or indirectly.

[Retsia]

I downloaded the software and installed it in Program Files. But then what? How do I run the program? What set-up pattern did you use to fix the sound problem?

[Brent15]

Here is a guide to the software which you will probably find more helpful:

http://vogons.zetafleet.com/viewtopic.php?t=2389

Good luck. Below are the settings that worked for me.

Creative Labs Sound Blaster or 100% compatible
IQ_ADDR 220h
IRQ 5
DMA_8_BIT 1
MMA_16_BIT -1

You can also note that I had to use SETSOUND in the ORION2 folder, which was not recommended in Lord Brazens guide. (not sure why)

[KevituZ]

Is this also possible with dosbox? Because my dosbox sound clicks.

[Yxklyx]

Here is a guide to the software which you will probably find more helpful:

http://vogons.zetafleet.com/viewtopic.php?t=2389

Good luck. Below are the settings that worked for me.

Creative Labs Sound Blaster or 100% compatible
IQ_ADDR 220h
IRQ 5
DMA_8_BIT 1
MMA_16_BIT -1

You can also note that I had to use SETSOUND in the ORION2 folder, which was not recommended in Lord Brazens guide. (not sure why)

This is all MUCH more complex than what I did. Assuming game is installed in c:\games\orion2:

1. Install vdms
2. Create batch file #1 called go.bat (or whatever name you want):

"%VDMSPath%\VDMSRun.bat" c:\games\orion2\go2.bat

3. Create batch file #2 called go2.bat (or whatever name):

c:\games\orion2\orion2v140.exe /skipintro

4. Create Windows Shortcut to batch file #1:
5. That's it.

Add multiple options to go2.bat as desired. Both batch file were created in c:\games\orion2 - not sure if their location matters.