Hello,

Sincere apologies if this has been asked in previous topics before, but:

I have struggled with multiple versions of DL and DosBox and haven't managed to get the background music to play (sounds worked). So, before I buy DL here on GOG, I want to make sure that the music plays and the sounds come out all right. Can anyone please confirm this?

I have an older Sony Vaio laptop and Windows 7 Basic (or Home?), but it should really work "everywhere" in case my computer ever craps out, which I think will happen soon (it's from 2006).

Thank you.

Matt

Run the SETUP program found in the root of your DARKLAND directory tree. You can select the Sound configuration settings there. You can match up these settings with those you are using in DOSBox, or vise-versa.

If you are not using DOSBox, such as running directly from the native NT "DOS" shell in Windows then you might need to use the VDMSound driver to get sound working. (https://sourceforge.net/projects/vdmsound/) Using DOSBox is simpler, though.

-mwirkk

So... is there a way to Configure Dosbox in GOG, to select Soundblaster et al? The German version plays the correct music, while the English version is set to PC Speaker or something. Roland or anything would be better.

Yes, there are DOSBox settings for PC Speaker, adLib, SoundBlaster, and Roland support in the DOSBox configuration. If it works in the German version it should in the English as well. As a first step I'd suggest you try comparing your ENU Darklands DOSBox config file(s) with the DEU counterparts to see what sound settings differences there might be between them.

When trying to decide what legacy sound configuration strategy to choose, I would recommend the SoundBlaster + Roland option. Read the README.TXT and README.SND files in the DARKLAND folder for details about the native sound configuration.

Also, for Roland support you might want to see these threads from elsewhere on this GOG Darklands game forum:

https://www.gog.com/forum/darklands/change_midi_settings
https://www.gog.com/forum/wing_commander_series/munt_installation_guide_roland_mt32_cm32l_emulator_for_dosbox_games

You may or may not need to run the Darklands INSTALL.EXE file from inside DOSBox to set sound settings there, but if you do check that you do not set values that would conflict with those already in the game's DOSBox config files. Most of the time I haven't had to do anything at all. Like I said, I think the SoundBlaster+Roland is the best of all sound, but if not then just straight SoundBlaster is next best.

Good luck. Cheers!