It seems that you're using an outdated browser. Some things may not work as they should (or don't work at all).
We suggest you upgrade newer and better browser like: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer or Opera

×
Community
General discussion (archive)Sound issues in some DOSBox games(29 posts)(29 posts)
(29 posts)
Pages:
1
2
This is my favourite topic
Posted June 24, 2011
I have a few DOS games from GOG where the music and voice-overs are frequently interrupted by stuttering or cracking noises when I run them in DOSBox (e.g. Stonekeep, King's Quest V & VI, Betrayal at Krondor). It's not game-breaking or anything but it definitely takes a lot of enjoyment out of playing (I only run BaK with the music turned off, for example). Is there anything that can be done in order to try and fix this?
No posts in this topic were marked as the solution yet. If you can help, add your reply
Posted June 24, 2011
good question... have this issue with a few games as well :(
Posted June 24, 2011
change a setting in the dosbox config up or down a bit called buffer.
Posted June 24, 2011
I don't have the issue, so I can't check if this works, but if you open the game's dosbox .conf file (just open the folder and search for *.conf and pick the one with dosbox and the game's name). In that file, there's that [Mixer] portion and its settings. There's a description for each of the settings, and the blocksize one says "Mixer block size. Larger blocks might help sound stuttering but will increase sound lag and system drain". I googled for info on it and found a site that says the acceptable values for it are 512, 1024, 2048, 3072, and 4096.

I hope that helps.
Posted June 24, 2011
You might find this helpful:
http://www.gog.com/en/forum/general/connecting_dosbox_powered_gog_games_to_an_external_upgraded_dosbox/post11

Increasing the prebuffer alone tends to work, but the above should give you better sound quality overall.
Posted June 24, 2011
I find that running dos box in a window (Alt-Enter) also helps with crackling sounds for some reason. Are you running the game from an external drive that turns itself off? That might also cause crackling issues as well.
Posted June 24, 2011
Hmm I actually thought it was supposed to be like that, it is old after all :P
I noticed it quite a bit with Gabriel Knight as well.
Posted June 24, 2011
Yep, playing with the prebuffer size can help. Sometimes it also occurs if the number of CPU cycles is set either too low or too high, I believe. If the cycles are set to automatic it can help to change them manually to a fixed number.
Posted June 24, 2011
avatar
Smannesman: Hmm I actually thought it was supposed to be like that, it is old after all :P
I noticed it quite a bit with Gabriel Knight as well.
No, no, no! :P

It also depends on the audio hardware/emulation one is using. Normally for best results from games of this era (late 80s/early 90s) use MT-32 (if you are lucky enough to own one!) or General Midi if you can (though I have had a hard time getting GM working with DosBox, but it is easy on SCUMMVM).
Posted June 24, 2011
I always change the values in the default configs, change the rate to 44100, the blocks to 4096 and the prebuffer to 50. May have the terminology wrong as I don't have a conf file to hand to check, but the default variables are pretty useless.
Posted June 24, 2011
Thanks for your help, everyone!

I tried various suggestions including windowed mode and changing the settings of sblaster and mixer but so far the only one that made a significant difference was setting the cycles to something else than "auto". With the cycles set to 5000 or 7000 the sound runs fine, there's still occasional cracking but only at the start of videos / sounds, not while they're playing. I didn't get a single interrupting noise during the intro. But sadly this setting also slows the game down a bit, loading times are considerably longer and motion isn't as smooth anymore, there's occasional lag now.

It seems as if with DOSBox I only have the choice between two evils ... :(

Maybe I should try to run these games on my P2 166 with Win98 instead? Well, I guess that would be the third evil then. ;)
Post edited June 24, 2011 by Leroux
Posted June 24, 2011
avatar
Leroux: Thanks for your help, everyone!

I tried various suggestions including windowed mode and changing the settings of sblaster and mixer but so far the only one that made a significant difference was setting the cycles to something else than "auto". With the cycles set to 5000 or 7000 the sound runs fine, there's still occasional cracking but only at the start of videos / sounds, not while they're playing. I didn't get a single interrupting noise during the intro. But sadly this setting also slows the game down a bit, loading times are considerably longer and motion isn't as smooth anymore, there's occasional lag now.

It seems as if with DOSBox I only have the choice between two evils ... :(

Maybe I should try to run these games on my P2 166 with Win98 instead? Well, I guess that would be the third evil then. ;)
Increase cycles a bit more, and see where the good sound/good speed sweet spot is.
Posted June 24, 2011
avatar
Leroux: I tried various suggestions including windowed mode and changing the settings of sblaster and mixer but so far the only one that made a significant difference was setting the cycles to something else than "auto". With the cycles set to 5000 or 7000 the sound runs fine, there's still occasional cracking but only at the start of videos / sounds, not while they're playing. I didn't get a single interrupting noise during the intro. But sadly this setting also slows the game down a bit, loading times are considerably longer and motion isn't as smooth anymore, there's occasional lag now.
avatar
GameRager: Increase cycles a bit more, and see where the good sound/good speed sweet spot is.
I tried 8000 and 10.000, to no visible avail. The game still doesn't run as smooth as it used to when cycles were set to auto. How high can you go with the cycles?
Posted June 24, 2011
These settings always fix my sound stuttering issues. Try 'em out.

[mixer]
nosound=false
rate=44100
blocksize=1024
prebuffer=50

[sblaster]
sbtype=sb16
sbbase=220
irq=7
dma=1
hdma=5
sbmixer=true
oplmode=auto
oplemu=default
oplrate=44100
Posted June 24, 2011
avatar
Vagabond: These settings always fix my sound stuttering issues. Try 'em out.

[mixer]
nosound=false
rate=44100
blocksize=1024
prebuffer=50

[sblaster]
sbtype=sb16
sbbase=220
irq=7
dma=1
hdma=5
sbmixer=true
oplmode=auto
oplemu=default
oplrate=44100
Above Dominic998 linked to one of your posts in another thread, so I already tried your settings. Didn't work for me but thanks all the same, it was worth a try! :)
Post edited June 24, 2011 by Leroux
Pages:
1
2
This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussion (archive)Sound issues in some DOSBox games(29 posts)(29 posts)
(29 posts)