Windows XP: no sound at all.

[Drakan]

Hi,

I would very much appreciate someone helping me out.I know the sound and music in this game was very good.

-i've tried the compatibility wizard under windows 95,98 and still no sound.
- i've tried the VDM sound, i install it, then run the game and still no sound.

can anyone give me a hand ? xnks

 

[thestonesfan]

Strange. VDM sound works for every game I've tried it with, but I can't remember if I've tried Colonization yet. Have you used it with other games?

 

[Drakan]

No never before. I've installed it but i'm not that sure it's working properly. i've probably done it wrong being my first time...ehem....

 

[LLXerxes]

I'm guessing, and have never heard of this colonization game, but I think you didn't install
it all the way...
That was the problem with my Civ one time

 

[Captain Carnage]

are the DMA, IRQ and I/O set up properly?

 

[Chieftess]

Are you sure you have a compatible sound card? I've never played Colonization, but it seems like an older DOS game. What type of sound card do you have? Old games used ones like Sound Blaster, Roland, and the computer 'speaker'.

 

[spycatcher34]

Ive tried VDM with colonization and it works perfectly with my dos version...

 

[Drakan]

are the DMA, IRQ and I/O set up properly?

What the....is all this..?

No, I haven't checked out the sound card. I can play Colonization, so I managed at least to install it properly but it did crash after 20 minutes of playing, hmmm. The game is beautiful and I would really like to play it out properly.

A whole lot of options appear regarding the sound when installing it; trouble is all these sound cards are from almost ten years ago (the sound blaster..). Does this mean that I cannot play with my modern sound card ? What can I do then ?

Spycatchar34: are you playing Colonization with windows XP and have no sound problems or anything ? Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate any help.

 

[Colonel]

You cant fix it mine works that way too, it has something to do with the copatiablity with newer sound cards. I had a friend who knows everything about comps and he couldnt fix it and he spent like 3 hours trying

 

[Captain Carnage]

Try running the Install/Setup program, choose Soundblaster or Soundblaster Pro, set the IRQ as 5, DMA as 1 and I/O address to 220.

That's how I have mine set up and my sound card isn't a Soundblaster, but I still get sound when playing.

 

[spycatcher34]

Spycatchar34: are you playing Colonization with windows XP and have no sound problems or anything ? Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate any help.

I am. I know this may sound dumb, forgive me if you already have done it, but have you tried running the game in compatiability mode?

Edit: Sorry I just reread your first post, honestly I dont know what your problem may be, as I simply installed the game(choose no sound from teh options) configured VDM sound, and put it in compatibility mode and it works perfectly for me.

 

[Drakan]

Thanks Bad Cops and Spycatcher34, i'll follow your advices and try it out.

 

[dalgo]

Quick question - what is VDM sound?

I am also running Colonization under Win XP but with no sound. I did try using DOSBox which is a DOS simulator for running old games and the sound was fine in that but unfortunately I lost the keyboard for some reason and it's a bit of a pain to play just with the mouse. DOSBox is available free at:
http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/information.php?page=0

 

[spycatcher34]

http://ntvdm.cjb.net/

VDMSound is a program that overcomes what has probably been the most exasperating limitation of DOS boxes since Windows NT -- sound support. VDMSound is an open, plug-in oriented platform that emulates an MPU-401 interface (for outputting high-quality MIDI music), a SoundBlaster compatible (SB16, SBPro 2, SB2, SBPro, etc.) implementation (for digital sound effects and FM/AdLib music), as well as a standard game-port interface (for playing games with joystick support). In development are improvements to the existing joystick emulation, and possibly VESA support.

Unlike all the Win9x SoundBlaster ISA 'legacy' drivers available from a variety of PCI soundcard manufacturers, VDMSound is not a mere 'wrapper' or 'bridge' to existing audio hardware. It is a self-contained, 100% software emulation program that is completely independent of your audio hardware type and settings. VDMSound works with any soundcard, and will even work on computers that have no audio hardware at all (for instance, instead of outputting sounds through your soundcard using the standard Windows drivers, VDMSound can easily output them to disk).

VDMSound works on Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000 and Windows XP

 

[Drakan]

Dalgo, do you mind explaining how does Dosbox work. I downloaded it but i'm not sure how to get it to run the CDrom of Colonization. Am I meant to type something in the dos screen to get it to work?

Also how can I save the game. Everytime i try it doesn't allow me to because "there are no slots available", go figure. The game also crashes within the hour of playing in Windows XP. No sound and no sound effects either. What a disaster.

The game seems really cool. Reading the manual makes me even more eager, but I just cannot play like this. I'm sorry i'm not at ease with computers.

 

[dalgo]

There is a comprehensive guide to DOSBox here:
http://vogons.zetafleet.com/viewforum.php?f=39

Colonization is not very stable under XP, unfortunately, but I haven't heard of your save game problem before. You should be shown a screen with 8 save slots and you just select one of them.

 

[Drakan]

Yes I try selecting any of them 8, and a message crops up saying there are no available slots free.

I'll try it over the weekend again and I'll post again. Anyway, thanks for the help.