There may be too many missing resources from the chipset for it to work on such a modern motherboard. Just a guess.
I should have clarified that I wondered if anyone had the Audigy 2ZS working on Widows 9x and a more modern platform for both general usage and/or Windows' DOS mode.
I consider DOS mode a nice bonus, but I'm mostly interested in getting Sound Fonts and EAX 3.0 working.
I also have a Sound Blaster Live! that works properly (Sounds Fonts and EAX 2.0) on this platform minus the DOS mode.
My fastest "retro" machine that runs DOS/98se is an Intel 945G with a Core 2 Duo. It works fine with any Creative PCI card, Aureal Vortex, and OPL3, but does not support DMA natively on the ISA bus (if you can find one with an ISA slot). I seem to recall that it did not work with any Yamaha XG or ESS Solo-1 PCI cards.
One major caveat is that these motherboards come with PCI-e instead of AGP, which rules out early GeForce on Windows 98.
fosterwj03 wrote on 2023-10-07, 01:01:I should have clarified that I wondered if anyone had the Audigy 2ZS working on Widows 9x and a more modern platform for both general usage and/or Windows' DOS mode.
The latest platform where I was able to install VxD drivers with working DOS support was this LGA775 build which uses the P35 chipset.
Like Kahenraz said, it's possible that later chipsets lack some of the resources / functionality which is needed for this to work.
fosterwj03 wrote on 2023-10-07, 00:03:I'm trying to use a Dell OEM Audigy 2 ZS with a Ivy Bridge / B75 motherboard for Windows 9x. The WDM driver from the CD does not work at all on this system (the driver installs, but the card produces no sound). The VXD drivers appear to work with the card (i.e. the card produces sound), but none of the Creative apps recognize the card. EAX also does not seem to work with the VXD drivers.
Did you modify the driver CD's contents in any way? Apart extracting the VxD cab I mean.
When I was playing with it I tried to trim extra fat off it so I could archive a smaller installer with only the needed driver + software, but I clearly missed something else they needed as the apps woudn't work right even though they installed fine. They work fine when installed from unmodified folder structure.
Thanks everyone for giving this some thought. It could just be a weird incompatibility among the Audigy, the motherboard, and the OS, but I didn't want to give up so fast.
If I install the WDM drivers from the Vogons CD (unmodified) in Windows 9x (I've tested both 98SE and Me so far), the drivers appear to have installed properly in Device Manager (no errors). The card just doesn't initialize to produce any sound. I can install all of the Creative apps from the CD, and the apps start with the WDM drivers. Again, no sound though (media players don't advance during playback).
If I install the VXD drivers per the guide, the drivers install properly in Device Manager with the card initializing at boot. I get stereo sound and software MIDI, but Audigy Synth does not appear as an option in the Multimedia settings. While I can install the Creative apps, they all give a "device not found" error when I try to run them. Games do not allow me to enable EAX support with the VXD drivers. DOS SB emulation also doesn't appear in the Device Manager even after modifying the registry and installing the emulation drivers per the guide.
I've tried moving the card to various slots (the motherboard has 4 PCI slots), and none of them improve the operation of the drivers. The slot closest to the CPU actually causes a conflict with the SATA/AHCI controller.
I'm frustrated because this card does work properly in Windows 2000 using the same installation CD, although I also upgraded the drivers using the most recent download from creative which provided "Digital CD" as an option in the Windows Mixer. I figured this card should work in Windows 9x.
I was wondering if someone out there could post the PCI ID string (including the subsystem ID) for a real SB0350. I looked through the registry, and it appears that the drivers assign "FEATURES" based on the card's PCI ID. Since I have an OEM card, it looks like the registry uses a "CTBAS2.DAT" file to assign features to a generic Audigy, whereas other cards have specific .DAT files. If I knew which .DAT file went to another SB0350 card, I could modify the registry to use the same .DAT file with my card. Just a guess, though.
fosterwj03 wrote on 2023-10-07, 14:22:Since I have an OEM card, it looks like the registry uses a "CTBAS2.DAT" file to assign features to a generic Audigy, whereas other cards have specific .DAT files.
OEM cards (by Dell etc.) sometimes need specific drivers from their manufacturer.
I did mention in the first post that this guide is intended for retail Audigy cards made by Creative Labs. A few people have had success when using the guide with their OEM cards, but that should be considered as the exception, not the norm. Furthermore, OEM cards from different manufacturers might not behave the same way.
I found out, that using the slightly older Install CD ( https://archive.org/details/creativeaudigy2zs ) you won't have to deal with problems with the SB16 emulation driver, it will just install itself and work. This CD is from August 2003, just 3 months older than the one in the first post. It's the version that came in the box with my Audigy 2 ZS back then and I've always used it.
Someone asked about EAX4 support. It wasn't ready at launch and apparently the VXD drivers were never updated to support it. Haven't checked on 98, but on 2000 with the SBAX_WBUP2_LB_2_09_0016.exe update EAX4 works. It was not detected by RightMark with the drivers from the CD I've linked, so I guess the CD from the first post is the "EAX4 updated" one.
GL1zdA wrote on 2023-10-27, 21:49:I found out, that using the slightly older Install CD ( https://archive.org/details/creativeaudigy2zs ) you won't have to deal with problems with the SB16 emulation driver, it will just install itself and work. This CD is from August 2003, just 3 months older than the one in the first post. It's the version that came in the box with my Audigy 2 ZS back then and I've always used it.
Interesting! Thanks for the link, I'll take a look at that driver CD and do some additional testing when time permits.
Someone asked about EAX4 support. It wasn't ready at launch and apparently the VXD drivers were never updated to support it. Haven't checked on 98, but on 2000 with the SBAX_WBUP2_LB_2_09_0016.exe update EAX4 works. It was not detected by RightMark with the drivers from the CD I've linked, so I guess the CD from the first post is the "EAX4 updated" one.
From my investigation here, it does seem that VxD drivers never got the EAX4 update, only the WDM version did. This guide relies on VxD drivers for DOS support and better EAX compatibility with Win9x games, so WDM drivers are a no go.
GL1zdA wrote on 2023-10-27, 21:49:I found out, that using the slightly older Install CD ( https://archive.org/details/creativeaudigy2zs ) you won't have to deal with problems with the SB16 emulation driver, it will just install itself and work. This CD is from August 2003, just 3 months older than the one in the first post. It's the version that came in the box with my Audigy 2 ZS back then and I've always used it.
After a few preliminary tests, I can confirm that the VxD drivers from your CD work better with the Audigy DOS driver pack, and don't require creating a second SB16 emulation device. However, that CD also contains older versions of Creative's utilities, which are buggier than the ones from the newer disc that I'm currently using.
Specifically, the Creative Speaker Settings utility from your CD is unable to properly set a 5.1 speaker configuration. If that configuration is chosen, all sounds only play from the front speakers. The newer version of that utility (from my disc) doesn't have this problem. BTW, it might be possible to install the VxD drivers from your CD, while using the Creative utilities from the newer disc. I'll need to do some more testing with that, but it does look promising.
Now, if only someone could figure out a way to enable the "CD Digital" volume slider on Audigy 2 ZS cards, we would have a complete solution.
I'm about to update this guide to version 3.0. If anyone needs the old 2.1 version of the guide, it will be archived here.
0.0 Disclaimer:
This guide is provided "as is" and free of charge. There is no warranty or support of any kind. By using this guide, you acknowledge and agree that you do so at your sole risk. The author is not liable for any damages and claims arising from the use of this guide.
0.1 Introduction:
To get DOS support on an Audigy2 ZS (model SB0350), you would normally need to install WDM drivers from the CD (which is a lengthy and complicated process, sometimes prone to failure), then run the Creative Driver Utility to install VxD drivers and finally install the DOS support pack. With this guide, that is no longer necessary. You can install VxD drivers right from the start and then proceed with installing DOS support. For reference, by using this guide, you get the following features from your Audigy2 ZS under Windows 98SE:
Note that soundfonts only work when DOS games are running from within Windows 98. If you go to pure DOS (by choosing Start > Shutdown > Restart in MS-DOS mode) then the card will use the (worse sounding) ECW sets instead. To my knowledge, there is no way to use .SF2 based soundfonts in pure DOS with an Audigy 2 ZS.
Before starting the installation you need to determine whether your Audigy2 ZS is made by Dell or by Creative. Dell cards have three, large white stickers on the back side and their serial number contains the string "SB0358". Creative cards don't have those white stickers and their serial number contains the string "SB0350". This guide is aimed at Audigy2 ZS cards made by Creative. I'm not sure whether this method will work on Dell branded cards since I don't own one of those, and they are known to be picky when it comes to driver packs.
1.Hardware and software requirements:
Before proceeding to the next section of this guide, make sure that the following hardware and software requirements are met. If they are not, the driver installation may fail.
1.1 Upon booting up your system, enter the BIOS and disable all COM and LPT ports in order to free up additional resources. If your motherboard has an integrated sound card, network card or any other integrated device that you are not using, disable it in the BIOS as well. Lastly, if you are not using USB, disable that too
1.2 During the driver installation process, the Audigy2 ZS should be the only sound card in your system. Using a second sound card may cause the driver installation to fail
1.3 This guide has only been tested on Windows 98SE. A clean install of Windows 98SE must be performed before attempting the driver installation procedure. Do not use any unofficial "service packs". Only install the drivers for your motherboard and graphics card until you complete all the steps in this guide
1.4 The Audigy2 ZS requires two free IRQs, one for the card itself and a second one for the FireWire port. The values assigned to those IRQs vary from system to system, but they should not be the same as the IRQ assigned to the SB16 emulation device. Additionally, the SB16 emulation device requires three I/O ports, one IRQ and two DMA channels. The default values are: I/O ports 220, 330 and 388, IRQ 5, DMA 1 and DMA 5. If any of those resources are not free, the driver installation may fail. To determine if your system has enough free resources, under Windows 98SE click Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Information > Hardware Resources and check the IRQ, DMA and I/O sections
2. Preparation:
2.1 Download and install 7-Zip version 9.20 for 32-bit Windows (it works fine on Win98)
2.2 Download the Audigy2 ZS driver CD ISO
2.3 Use 7-Zip to extract the contents of the "Audigy_2_ZS_Install_CD.7z" to C:\AU1
2.4 After that, right click on "C:\AU1\Audigy 2 ZS Install CD.iso" > 7-Zip > Extract Here to unpack the contents of the ISO image (it may report some errors with CHM files but that's ok)
2.5 Download the Audigy DOS support package
2.6 Extract the contents of audigy2-dospack.rar to C:\AU2 (note: it appears that this archive was created with a newer version of WinRAR, you may need to unpack it on your modern computer)
3. Windows Driver Installation
3.1 Right click on My Computer > Properties > Device Manager > Sound, video and game controllers. If there is an "Ad Lib Compatible (OPL2)" device present there, right click on it > Remove > Ok
3.2 Run C:\AU1\CTShared\LaunchApp\SysInfo\Setup.exe which will install the Creative System Information utility and update the InstallShield Engine (important later)
3.3 Run C:\AU1\DirectX\dxsetup.exe which will install DirectX 9.0a and restart your computer (if you already have a newer version installed, skip this step)
3.4 Go to C:\AU1\Audio\Drivers\VxD > right click on VxD.cab > 7-Zip > Extract Files > C:\AU1\Audio\Drivers\ (this should populate the existing VxD folder with the files from the CAB)
3.5 Run C:\AU1\Audio\Drivers\CTZAPXX.exe and select "Driver Installation" and "VXD Drivers" then click Ok
3.6 Driver installation will take several minutes, don't interrupt the process until you are prompted to Restart then click Ok
3.7 After the restart, wait until the installer finishes, then go to Start > Settings > Control Panel > Multimedia > Audio > Playback > Advanced Properties > Performance > Sample Rate Conversion Quality > move the slider to "Best"
3.8 Start > Run > sndvol32.exe > Ok. Note that all the volume sliders are currently at 50% which is fairly quiet. You might want to move the sliders to a higher value and also mute any unused inputs
4. Installing Creative Utilities
4.1 Run C:\AU1\Audio\AudioHQ\Setup.exe and install Creative's AudioHQ (if you get an InstallShield Engine error here, repeat step 3.2)
4.2 Run C:\AU1\Audio\EaxCon\Setup.exe and install Creative EAX Console
4.3 Run C:\AU1\Audio\SpkSet\Setup.exe and install Creative Speaker Settings
4.4 Run C:\AU1\Audio\Restore\Setup.exe and install Creative Restore Defaults
4.5 Run C:\AU1\Audio\SurMixer\Setup.exe and install Creative Surround Mixer
4.6 Run C:\AU1\Audio\SFBMgr\Setup.exe and install the SoundFont Bank Manager
4.7 Start > Programs > Creative > Creative Speaker Settings and select the speaker setup that you are using, then click "Channel" in the Speaker Test section (in the screenshot below I'm using 5.1 speakers)
4.8 Start > Programs > Creative > EAX Console > CMSS 3D. I suggest turning CMSS off if you are using speakers and leaving it on if you are using headphones
5. DOS Driver Installation
REGEDIT4[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Creative Tech\Emu10kx\Emulation]"EnableSB16Emulation"=dword:00000001
5.1 Paste the code listed above into Notepad and save it as SB16.txt
5.2 Next, rename SB16.txt to SB16.reg, then double click on that file and answer Yes > Ok when prompted (without this registry change, the SB16 Emulation driver will not install correctly on an Audigy2 ZS card)
5.3 Run C:\AU2\AUDIGY DOS DRIVER\Setup.exe and restart when prompted
5.4 Wait until the Creative SB16 Emulation drivers are fully installed (this may take a few minutes) then restart again when prompted
5.5 When the installer finishes, you will have a non-functional Creative SB16 Emulation device (yellow exclamation mark) in Device Manager. This is expected behavior, in the next step we will add the functional version of the same device
5.6 Start > Settings > Control Panel > Add New Hardware > Next > Next > No, the device isn't in the list > Next > No, I want to select the hardware from a list > Next > Sound video and game controllers > Next > Creative Technology, Ltd. > Creative SB16 Emulation > Next > Finish
5.7 Restart your computer when prompted
5.8 During the boot process you might see a "Config file is incomplete" error. If this happens, restart your computer one more time and it should disappear
If the installation was successful, you should now have the following under Device Manager:
Important: do not remove the Creative SB16 Emulation device with the yellow exclamation mark! Leave both devices as they are, otherwise, your DOS compatibility may cease to function. In addition, if you want to use this card in pure DOS you will need to run C:\AU2\AUDIGY12 PATCH\AUDIGY12.EXE each time you choose Restart in MS-DOS mode. This is only necessary in pure DOS, do not run that executable when playing games from within Win98SE.
Currently, the Audigy 2 ZS is using Creative's default 2 MB soundfont. If you want something that sounds much better, see below.
6. SC-55 Sound Font Installation (optional)
6.1 Download Patch93's SC-55 soundfont and extract the archive contents to C:\AU3
6.2 Download SF Pack and extract the archive contents to C:\AU3
6.3 Run C:\AU3\SFPACK.EXE > Ok > File > Add Files > Files of type: SFPack Files > C:\AU3\SC-55.sfpack > Open
6.4 After that, click File > Go/Stop. Wait for about 30 seconds. Now, if everything worked ok, you should have a SC-55.sf2 file in C:\AU3 (file size should be 45.1 MB)
6.5 Start > Programs > Creative > SoundFont Bank Manager
6.6 Click on "Midi Devices" and use the slider to set SoundFont Cache to slightly more than 50 MB then click Ok
6.7 Click on "Bank" then click on the default soundfont (2GMGSMT) to select it, then click Replace, point to C:\AU3\Sc-55.sf2 wait a few seconds until it loads then click Ok
6.8 Run your favorite DOS game (like Doom for example) and in setup choose General MIDI for music
Listen to the MP3 file attached above to check how Doom sounds on an Audigy2 ZS using this soundfont. For comparison, here's Doom on a real SC-55.
7. Getting MT-32 compatibility in pure DOS (optional)
7.1 Start > Shutdown > Restart in MS-DOS mode
7.2 C:\AU2\AUDIGY~2\AUDIGY12.EXE (this unmutes the card in pure DOS)
7.2 C:\Progra~1\Creative\DOSDrv\sbemixer.exe
7.3 Make sure that the MT-32 option is checked, then click Save and press ESC to exit
7.4 Run your favorite DOS game that supports MT-32 (like Monkey Island for example)
Note that MT-32 emulation doesn't sound too great on this card, but I'm including it for completeness sake. That said, these drivers also allow your Audigy2 ZS to emulate FM Synthesis, should you want that. Of course, this sounds different from a genuine OPL3 chip, but it may still be somewhat usable, depending on the game that you're playing.
Guide updated to version 3.0. Changes in this release:
One last note, the new version of the guide uses a modified driver CD image, which I have temporarily uploaded here.
EDIT: the modified driver CD image is now available on VogonsDrivers as well.
For reference, the modified image combines the VxD drivers from GL1zdA's disc with Creatve's utilities from the newer disc (which was used in the previous versions of this guide) and the DOS drivers and utilities from the Audigy DOS driver pack.
Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2023-11-04, 16:42:Guide updated to version 3.0.
Nice job as always! Just one thing I noticed;
"3.2 Run D:\DirectX\dxsetup.exe which will install DirectX 9.0a and restart your computer (if you already have a newer version installed, skip this step)"
This isn't necessarily required. I don't know what DirectX the driver/utilities need, or is there a minimum requirement at all, but it's not DX9. I'm running them with DirectX 8.1 installed, Creative just updated the DirectX redist to 9.0a on the ZS disc.
So it's not stricly required to update to DirectX 9 if someone would rather keep DX8.1 or possibly even earlier version for reason or another. Severance: Blade of Darkness behaves better with DirectX 8.1 than DX9 for example, I guess the engine is a bit quirky. Just don't know how to rephrase that part, something in the lines of "Tested to work with DirectX 8.1+, update if necessary" or something like that?
Sombrero wrote on 2023-11-04, 18:01:"3.2 Run D:\DirectX\dxsetup.exe which will install DirectX 9.0a and restart your computer (if you already have a newer version installed, skip this step)"
This isn't necessarily required. I don't know what DirectX the driver/utilities need, or is there a minimum requirement at all, but it's not DX9. I'm running them with DirectX 8.1 installed, Creative just updated the DirectX redist to 9.0a on the ZS disc.
Cheers! 😀
I think I may have mentioned it before, but I'm only recommending the use of DX9 because that's what Creative shipped on the Audigy 2 ZS driver CD that this guide is based upon. It's entirely possible that DX9 is not really required by the drivers and/or utilities, but I wanted to play it safe. Of course, people are free to experiment with different DirectX versions based on their gaming needs.
Sweet 😀
For those who did the 2.1 version of the guide and works correctly, is there a real reason to clean everything out and do it the 3.0 way?
gen_angry wrote on 2023-11-05, 02:34:Sweet 😀
For those who did the 2.1 version of the guide and works correctly, is there a real reason to clean everything out and do it the 3.0 way?
Not really. Functionally, there should be no differences between 2.1 and 3.0.
The main change in 3.0 is that you no longer need to add a second SB16 emulation device, so your Device Manager will look a bit cleaner (no exclamation marks). Also, the DOS driver pack now has CheckOS.exe renamed to CheckOS.bak which allows installation under WinME out of the box.
Small update: it appears that adding a second SB16 emulation device might still be needed on Audigy 2 cards (SB0240) but not on Audigy 2 ZS (SB0350).
I've re-added the steps for doing that, but marked them as optional for other Audigy models.
For anyone interested, I got SB0240 working using this guide on Asus P6X58D-E (X58 chipset) with 98SE.
DOS mode works fine as well.
Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2023-11-01, 11:17:After a few preliminary tests, I can confirm that the VxD drivers from your CD work better with the Audigy DOS driver pack, and […]
GL1zdA wrote on 2023-10-27, 21:49:I found out, that using the slightly older Install CD ( https://archive.org/details/creativeaudigy2zs ) you won't have to deal with problems with the SB16 emulation driver, it will just install itself and work. This CD is from August 2003, just 3 months older than the one in the first post. It's the version that came in the box with my Audigy 2 ZS back then and I've always used it.
After a few preliminary tests, I can confirm that the VxD drivers from your CD work better with the Audigy DOS driver pack, and don't require creating a second SB16 emulation device. However, that CD also contains older versions of Creative's utilities, which are buggier than the ones from the newer disc that I'm currently using.
Specifically, the Creative Speaker Settings utility from your CD is unable to properly set a 5.1 speaker configuration. If that configuration is chosen, all sounds only play from the front speakers. The newer version of that utility (from my disc) doesn't have this problem. BTW, it might be possible to install the VxD drivers from your CD, while using the Creative utilities from the newer disc. I'll need to do some more testing with that, but it does look promising.
Now, if only someone could figure out a way to enable the "CD Digital" volume slider on Audigy 2 ZS cards, we would have a complete solution.
The tools can usually be mixed and matched between CDs. I've recently worked a bit on a custom DanielK support pack for my X-Fi and it was relatively ease to add or update some tools as long as they've used the same "setup framework" (Creative changed this during the cards livetime). You can even download updates for the tools and unpack them and some will work without problems (no all unfortunately). I assume you can cook a similar CD for the Audigy, with all the versions you found working best on Windows 98.
