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Gravis Ultrasound installation problem

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First post, by manshoonwr

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I've tried to follow different online tutorial to install Gravis Ultrasound for dosbox games, specifically, for SSI Dark Sun - Shattered Lands, and I can't get it to work. I think I might have made a mistake and I can't find a way to correct it now.

I had tried to install the 411 version of GUS and it when I got to the "install for windows" part, it seemed to stall, and so I closed dosbox. Since then I get an error message stating it can't find the card when I try to install any version of the patch! I tried to reset the dosbox options .conf file, uninstall dosbox and delete the appdata file, but I still get the same error message.

Since then I found several tutorials which do not require me to install the patch, simply place the files in a folder and have the options.conf file point to it. This doesn't work either. My .conf file has been modified as follows:

gus=true
gusrate=44100
gusbase=240
gusirq=5
gusdma=3
ultradir=u:\

I've added the line : mount u c:\ULTRASND in the autoexec.bat section, as recommended. The patch files are all in the appropriate folder (c:\ULTRASND)

When I boot dosbox, I can see all command lines activating properly. Also, when I boot the sound config for the game (sound_ds.exe), the menu starts by saying it detected a Gravis Ultrasound card. However, when I try to select it, whether using default values or manually selecting them according the the above settings, I always get an error message saying: "The sound device could not be found at the specified settings".

Also, If I try to run the setup.exe of my ULTRASND folder in dosbox, I get an error message saying: "Setup cannot locate your ultrasound card". It asks if I want to scan for free I/O adresses, and when I do it indicates that the 220, 230 and 240 are unavailable, but 210, 250 and 260 are. I tried changing the gusbase to 260 and manually selecting it in the game's sound setup, but it still won't select the gus sound!

I'm at a loss... I suspect my cold shutdown of dosbox while installing a prior patch might be to blame, seeming as I now can't install the patch without getting an error message. Can anyone help?

Reply 1 of 2, by manshoonwr

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Wow... I "solved" this, but I'm puzzled as to why I can't find any reference to this.

I looked into the game's folder, and found to suspiscious .exe files: Ultramid .exe and gravis.exe. Apparently, using both those commands in that order enables the Gravis Ultrasound card for selection in the sound menu of the game. In any case, it works now.

I won't bother finding another solution, but I'd appreciate if someone could help me add those to commands to my lauch without having to manually re-enter them each time. Can I add those to the autoexec.bat of the dosbox.conf of the game? add commands to the shortcut? what are the correct lines?

Thanks

Reply 2 of 2, by skitters

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You probably already figured it out, but...
Try adding the commands to run ultramid.exe and gravis.exe to the end of your dosbox-0.74.conf (or whatever .conf file you're using for the game). For example, have something like the following at the end of your dosbox-0.74.conf in the [autoexec] section --

mount C C:\dosgames\
C:
cd game
ultramid.exe
gravis.exe
game.exe

You can have a desktop shortcut for the game that points directly to a custom .conf file you made for that game.
Create a desktop shortcut that points to your DOSBox .exe and edit the Target: box
(right-click the shortcut --> Properties --> Shortcut tab).

Target:
"C:\path-to-dosbox\DOSBox.exe" -conf "C:\path-to-your-conf-file\game.conf"

where "path-to-dosbox" and "path-to-your-conf-file" are replaced by whatever the paths are on your computer --
and game.conf is the name of your custom DOSBox configuration file for the game.

To make a custom .conf file, I copy the dosbox-0.74.conf file that's in
C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\DOSBox
to someplace with a shorter path, rename it so I know which game it's for, edit it to suit the game, and it's ready to be used in the desktop shortcut for the game.

I'm sure there are better ways to explain it, but hopefully you get the idea.

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