Roland Sound Canvas VA Software Synthesizer with DOSBox and ScummVM

Finally!

Roland has released a Sound Canvas software synthesizer which faithfully simulates the SC-55, SC-88, SC=88 Pro and SC-8820.

In this video I am showing you how you can use Roland Sound Canvas VA with DOSBox or ScummVM for improved General MIDI music.

Covered are:

- How to install Roland Sound Canvas VA
- How to configure ScummVM with Roland Sound Canvas VA
- How to configure DOSBox with Roland Sound Canvas VA

There are some issues at this point, best to check in this thread, lots of details: http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=46111

This is awesome. No more messing around with synth console. But the price tag is pretty steep for me.
How much does it tax the ram and cpu?

Offtopic : Your voice sounds very very familiar, i couldnt figure it out with whom... its bugging me!

Yes it's great news. Another option we have for playing these old games. Quite expensive, hopefully they will do a sale on day :)

You know what, I didn't check CPU usage. The computer is an i7, so I wouldn't have noticed anything. But I will check and report back tomorrow!

The Tomb Raider Time Machine: 20 years of Tomb Raider on 1 PC

The goal:

1 PC that runs all Tomb Raider games from 1996 to 2016.

It has been 20 years since Tomb Raider launched in 1996. Many of us have good memories playing it on consoles, especially the PlayStation, or on the PC, maybe even with a 3dfx Voodoo card.

So I built a PC and try out all the Tomb Raider games. Will I run into any issues? Will all games work? Let's find out together!

Phil

for old games you just need a virtual machine. it is much easier, you do everything on a computer.
modern cpu and gpu are more than enough for any games... you just need to use a proper Operative System (if the new one does not work).

Your channel is interesting, but I think that building a computer for every video game is much more difficult and expensive than to use a single computer and virtual machines... or DOSbox emulator... or Wine (if you use linux)... or Wineskin (if you use mac).

Maybe it's just me that I do not like tinkering with hardware.

Yea I prefer mucking around with hardware to be honest.

Like I said in the video, I did enjoy doing Tweak Guides for a while, but I'm over companies knowingly selling broken and non-working games and leaving it up to the community to fix things.

Now you don't need to build a computer for every game. I just build a lot for the videos.

With Windows XP all these games just work and it's hassle free.

VM sounds interesting, but how accurate is it? It will introduce new issues, and things such as EAX likely don't work either. And what about cost and setting it all up?

Now if GOG and Steam package the games in a VM, that might be different.

DOSBox is really good. Without it GOG couldn't sell half their games :)

I don't know "how accurate it is" because I not interested at all possible effects... if it works, if I can play it without any visible problem/crash for me it's ok... But usually, the VM, covering the majority of existing hardware (much more than a physical computer today).

Virtual Box it's a free virtual machine program, just download it from the official oracle site. then you just need an iso of the operative system that you want to install (if you can install windows xp on your physical computer you can install it on a virtual machine).
then if you give 2-4GB of RAM, 1-2 core from the cpu, x GB from your SSD/HDD to the virtual machine and you made a shared folder... the VM is done. Really easy to setup if you ask me.

put your games on the shared folder and you can install them on Windows XP (or 7, or 10... if you want you can make a virtual machine with any base os (like linux or mac)).

you cannot have a VM package because VM are just like physical installation... with few difference:
1. you have to share the resources between the base OS and the VM OS... but the hardware in the VM is a generic one so you do not need to get a specific hardware... and since we talk about old games share resources is not a problem.
2. the VM is a file... you can put it in a USB HDD (or a big USB key) and carry your Windows XP virtual machine everywhere.

remember that DOSBox is an emulator not a VM. DOSBox emulate an old hardware with an old OS.... A virtual machine use the physical hardware directly.
when you emulate, for example a playstation, the emulator must create a software PowerPC CPU... when you virtualize, for example windows XP, you just use you x86 (intel or AMD) CPU...

that's why, it is much easier to virtualize than emulate... and that's why In recent years, the VMs got many improvements (while there is not a ps3 emulator... for example... and it's still difficult to emulate a ps2... and you can only emulate android devide because x86 CPU have some Arm CPU parts).

However I assure you that the virtual machine works like a physical machine .... so if you install windows xp on a VM you don't need any doing Tweak Guides or community fix.

Just try one time. Get an iso of windows xp from your CD installation. Get Oracle virtual box. Create a VM (2GB of RAM, 1 core of CPU, 20GB of HDD)... create a shared folder and put one game on it (for example Far Cry 1). Install and Play.
I will try to make a Dos computer (because I am very curious about a Dos original feeling... since my first computer was a windows 95).

just a few... usually I just install games on Wineskin (since I use a mac).
But I tested Tomb Raider Anniversary, hitman 1, Asterix & Obelix XXL2 and The Longest Journey

Ok Wineskin seems to be a wrapper. I think wrappers are the way going forward. Translating between APIs.

but wrappers of wine are created to play on non-Windows System. Also the compatibility is not 100% (for example Asterix & Obelix XXL2 and The Longest Journey cannot work in a wine wrapper).
Sometimes the compatibility is better on Wrappers than on windows (for example Assassin's creed 1 cannot be installed on windows 8, at least when I tried at the time I got many errors) but usually VM have the best compatibility.

10 Roland MT-32 Games #1

In this video I have captured and recorded 10 games that I played as a young snapper. At the time I had a Sound Blaster and always dreamt of how the Roland MT-32 would sound like.

At around 2008 I finally purchased a Roland MT-32 and could listen to these games, but this time with the mighty Roland MT-32 in full action.

In this video you can listen to Wing Commander II, Red Baron, Code Name ICEMAN, Heart of China, Lotus III, Operation Stealth / The Stealth Affair, Monkey Island 2, Willy Beamish and Strike Commander

The 3dfx Voodoo 2 SLI sleeper PC

There is just something special about 3dfx Voodoo II SLI.

1998 technology with amazing performance that can can hold its own against newer graphics cards such as the Voodoo 3, Nvidia Riva TNT 2 or Matrox G400.

In this video I am building a 3dfx Voodoo II SLI slepper PC. Unassuming and innocent looking from the outside, but turn it on and retro gaming goodness will rush through your brain!

You can watch me build this computer and I will also explain the parts I used, such as the motherboard, processor, graphics card and so on.

Installing Windows 98 and drivers is also covered and the Voodoo II SLI graphics cards will get benchmarked in 3DMark 99 MAX, 2000, Unreal, Descent 3, Turok 2, GLQuake, Quake II, Incoming and Expendable.

At the end of the video is gaming footage, thanks to a new VGA capture card I bought!

Enjoy this video!

ScummVM Roland MT-32 General MIDI Tutorial

Want to play Monkey Island or Space Quest, but find DOSBox confusing and building a retro PC too hard?

Then check out ScummVM. They just released a new version with some nice upgrades. It has built-in Roland MT-32 and General MIDI support through SoundFonts and is really easy to use.

I will show you how to set everything up, using games from GOG such as Space Quest, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and Sam and Max Hit the Road.

1600 x 1200 4:3 Retro Gaming

Gaming at 1600 x 1200 represents the ultimate in retro graphical fidelity. It is a resolution that requires hardware that most of us couldn't afford back in the day.

In this video I am showing you why I like this resolution so much, discuss monitor options, challenges and we learn why this resolution is perfect for DOSBox.

Note: When choosing a 1920 x 1200 monitor, make sure it supports 1:1 pixel mapping, aspect ratio control or 4:3 mode. Under XP and with newer graphics cards you can use GPU scaling, but if you're using an older system like a Voodoo 5, the monitor needs to support the 4:3 aspect ratio. The monitor shown in the video, the Samsung S24C450 supports this.

Enjoy this video!