Hey guys, I recently came across an AWE32 soundfont and installed bassmididriver in order to run it. I was running it to make everquest sound like it did when I played back in the day. It's awesome!

However...


Looking forward to getting that same music in Descent, I decided to boot it up and play. That game had some amazing music for its time with an AWE32. Sadly, it doesn't seem to be working. I've played other random midi sequence files and the driver and soundfont are definitely working correctly. The only thing I can think of is that the GOG installation doesn't use midi sequences.

Does anyone know offhand if the GoG version uses mp3 files for its music? I'd like to fix this!

I've not checked the default GOG installation as I just used it to get hold of all the required data files in order to run Descent 1 and 2 using the DXX-Rebirth source port, which runs the game very faithfully at higher resolutions, widescreen and natively in Windows. Plus it allows much more flexibility with mods and music. I definitely recommend using the DXX-Rebirth source port.

Anyway, for the music, a user named ThugsRook has recorded the music from the various releases of the Descent 1 and 2 games and packaged them so that they can be used with DXX-Rebirth, so maybe you can use these to get the AWE32 style music you've been trying to get working? His music mod files are stored here:

http://www.mediafire.com/folder/02fkf4b3tixx9/ADDONS_-_SOUNDTRACKS

The files are:

D1MAC-CDA.DXA = Descent 1 Mac version CD audio
D1X-D1RSC.DXA = Descent 1 Roland Soundcard audio
D1X-D1SBL.DXA = Descent 1 Soundblaster audio

D2-CDA.DXA = Descent 2 original release CD audio
D2IA-CDA.DXA = Descent 2: Infinte Abyss release CD audio
D2MAC-CDA.DXA = Descent 2 Macintosh release CD audio
D2MAX-CDA.DXA = Descent Maximum (PSX release) CD audio
D2TDC-CDA.DXA = Descent 2 The Definitive Collection release CD audio
D2V-CDA.DXA = Descent 2: Vertigo Series release CD audio
D2X-D2RSC.DXA = Descent 2 Roland Soundcard audio
D2X-D2SBL.DXA = Descent 2 Soundblaster audio

If you choose not to use a music addon within DXX-Rebirth then it plays MIDI music. I imagine that it gets the MIDI music from the DESCENT.HOG and DESCENT2.HOG files.

The GOG version uses DOSBox to play but this can have issues for some users due to emulation speed issues. If the GOG version is playing CD audio via MP3s then you should find somewhere in the GOG installation the MP3 files themselves with a cuesheet file. If this is the case then you might be able to force the game to play the original MIDI music by removing (or commenting out) the IMGMOUNT line in the autoexec lines of the DOSBox conf file that GOG have set up for the game.

GOG has configured Descent to use SB Pro/16 output by default. Go to the installation folder and use the Launch Settings shortcut to get to the settings, then change the Music Card option to General MIDI.

AWE32 is listed but is emulated by DOSBox itself so won't do you're wanting.

EDIT: as for Descent II it will only output MIDI if you disable the CD music in-game. For reference, GOG never changes a game to be pre-recorded but many sound cards are handled internally by DOSBox; for DOSBox MIDI passthrough set a game's setup tool to General MIDI or MPU-401. Roland options also work but many games expect Roland's specific effect handling so the result may not sound quite right (I don't know whether bassmidi is compatible with Roland data).

If a game supports MIDI but defaults to CD/Redbook music you'll need to change that to get MIDI working.

Once you have bassmidi set up, you have to make sure the Descent is setup in its configuration utility to use something like General MIDI for its soundcard. Hopefully you will be able to select the General MIDI for music and another device like the default SB16 for digitized sounds.

Then you have to run DosBOX itself and type in mixer /listmidi at the prompt. This will give you a list of your MIDI devices. There should be a listing for bassmidi. Remember the number and then go to the GOG dosbox configuration file for Descent, someplace in the Descent directory. It will end with a .conf. Look for something like this:

[midi]
mpu401=intelligent
mididevice=win32
midiconfig=1

change the midiconfig line to whatever the number you had for your bassmidi device. If the midiconfig line is not there, type the full line in after the [midi] heading. That should work. This is all from memory and I haven't been able to really check this. I will take some time tomorrow evening to see if it works if this doesn't at least point you in the right direction.

DosBOX usually defaults to using the Windows Wavetable Synth MIDI for its MIDI output regardless of other MIDI devices you may have installed. This will tell DosBOX to use other devices.

Hmm, for me it is always enough that I've selected BASSMIDI driver in BASSMIDI (instead of the MS GS Wavetable Synth), and selected General MIDI/MPU-401/Sound Canvas/SCC-1 in the game sound setup. The the DOSBox game (be it my default DOSBox installation, or a GOG game using DOSBox) uses the BASSMIDI soundfonts. I don't have to tell DOSBox separately to use certain MIDI device.

It works the same way for Roland MT-32 support. If I select the Munt MT-32 driver in BASSMIDI, then all MIDI music (regardless whether it is e.g. General MIDI or MT-32 MIDI music) is played through the Munt driver.

Changing the DOSBox setting may be needed if you intend to use a real MIDI synth, e.g. SC-55. Not sure.

That's also how BASSMIDI works for me. I don't have to separately tell DOSBox to use certain MIDI device than what is there already by default in the dosbox config file.

So two steps:


1. Select in BASSMIDI which MIDI driver you want to use. In my case the options are:
- Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth (obsolete, never need to use)
- BASSMIDI driver (for using the better General MIDI soundfonts, e.g. Chrorium Rev A; used for General MIDI games)
- Munt MT-32 driver (used for Roland MT-32/CM-32L/MT-100/LAPC-1 games)

This decides through which MIDI driver all the MIDI data will be sent from then on, also if the MIDI data is coming from a DOSBox game. Naturally if you try to play General MIDI data through a MT-32 driver, or MT-32 MIDI data through a General MIDI driver (BASSMIDI driver or MS GS Wavetable driver), it will sound all wrong.


2. Tell the DOS game itself to use MIDI (General MIDI or MT-32), by running the game sound config executable (install.exe, soundset.exe or whichever it is for that game; this needs to be done only once per game). This has to match the MIDI driver selection in BASSMIDI.

I suggest again the freeware program "Coolsoft Virtual Midi Synth" too.
It's based on bassmidi, but has more useful features (ex: set soundfonts for all the system, use multiple ones, disable\enable them).
The only requirement is that you must be using the midi mapper in your programs (ex: the old winamp, dosbox )

Sounds nice, albeit I think the freeware BASSMIDI has those same features too. At least I have several soundfonts on it (the lowest one on the BASSMIDI soundfont list is the active one), and they are system wide, ie. all the (General) MIDI music that you play in Windows is played using the soundfont you have as set as the active one in BASSMIDI.

But it is good there are options. Maybe I'll also try out Coolsoft at some point, even though BASSMIDI already does everything I need it for.

EDIT: And just so that there is no miscommunication, with "BASSMIDI" I am referring to this:

https://kode54.net/bassmididrv/

Just making sure that no one thinks I am referring only to the "BASS(MIDI) libraries", on which both Coolsoft Virtual Synth and this "BASSMIDI Driver" are based.

Oh well, I wrote the differences by memory, maybe it has improved, or whatever.
I recall having some problems with BM driver and it had less or worse options.
Just consider the option.

p.s: I've higlighted the word freeware only because, due to its name, it seems like a commercial product, whilst it is not.

Since I don't have BASSMIDI installed yet on my newest laptop, I am now installing Coolsoft synth on it instead. Always open to try out new things.

Not related to the thread's main point, but thanks for posting a link to those music pack downloads, been wanting to get the MAC version of Descent's soundtrack running in DXX-Rebirth for quite some time.

Cool, let us know if you like it! : )

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Oh, those .dxa files are just archives.
I've tried to open D1X-D1SBL.DXA and the music is exactly how I remember it :' )

Yeah, the DXA is just a zip archive but it contains a file to tell DXX-Rebirth what to do with it. In this case I think they contain playlists so that the right tracks play for the corresponding level numbers.

Works fine. I seem to use it pretty much similarly as the BASSMIDI driver on the other PC.

I think the CS synth has some more options, e.g. to tell it to preload the patches into memory completely beforehand. I guess that is why there was a 5 second pause when I started DOSBox (ie. it loads all the soundfonts from the current set into the memory then, and not on need-to-use basis).

Also in CS, if you have lots of different soundfonts available with which you want to swap around, I think it is a bit faster to select the new one to use in CS. In BASSMIDI Driver you move the preferred soundfont to the end of the list, while in CS you apparently select it with a checkbox from the list.

So, in BASSMIDI, if you want to load soundfont that is in the beginning of a list and you have ten other soundfonts below, in BASSMIDI it means ten consecutive mouse clicks to make it the primary one (= in order to move it to the end of the list), while in CS two clicks (uncheck the old soundfont, and check the new one).