CivDOS Additional Sound Drivers

[hornpipe2]

From the Apolyton site, for those who haven't seen it. These add additional sound drivers to CIV making the "other" option for sound useful. The primary benefit is supporting OPL3 cards like Soundblaster 16... meaning STEREO SOUND for our beloved game (!). We also get Generic MIDI, which DOSBox could route to an external synthesizer for MIDI music playback.

This file was downloaded from the Microprose BBS. The following is the file README.SND from this archive:


New sound drivers for Civilization

Due to the continued popularity of MicroProse's best seller, Civilization, your friends in the MPS Sound Department have created new sound drivers to support the latest sound cards.

Support is added for all OPL-3 based FM cards (Pro Audio Spectrum Plus, 16, Studio; Sound Blaster Pro, 16, 16ASP, AWE32; AdLib/Cardinal Gold; Microsoft Windows Sound System; and all compatibles) and for any General MIDI card or external synth via a standard MPU-401 type MIDI interface. The General MIDI driver is optimized for the Roland SCC-1, but works well on any GM device.


Installation

First unzip this archive to your mps\civ directory, then run 'SOUND' (in the Civ directory) to specify your card's type and address. As you run Civ, when it asks you what sound card you are using, select #6, Custom sound driver. Enjoy!


Included Files

SOUND.EXE - sound install program
PSOUND.CVL - Pro cards (OPL-3) driver
GSOUND.CVL - General MIDI sound driver
CONFIG.SND - sound card configuration file
README.SND - this file


MPS Sound Department - April, 1994

 

[SWY]

Wow, nice. I'm going to try it out this weekend.
Does it sound any different?

 

[hornpipe2]

The stereo sound isn't a whole lot different, I mostly noticed it after completing a building: the little echoing sounds also pan around a bit for a neat effect.

I haven't tried the MIDI output yet. I assume the sound would only be as good as your synth : )

I did have an idea that one could connect MIDI-out to a sequencer program, and then record the MIDI output from the game to .mid files for later playback...

 

[SWY]

I think DosBOX even has a MIDI recording option.

Edit: Yes, Ctrl+Alt+8 (default) - http://www.dosbox.com/wiki/Special_Keys

 

[Renergy]

Wonderful, just wonderful... really stereo, starting from the intro music. also the instruments sound a bit different (and better)

edit: Once again - this is superb!