Last time I've checked, GOG had botched the SETUP files to UW and UW2 and you cannot change the default. That default is set so that the sound effects use MIDI. Meaning, you hear a Piano when you walk! It's ridiculous.

To fix, use a plain text editor like Notepad. Find your UW.CFG file. Hand edit it and change the settings like so:

3 -1 -1 -1 sound
1 -1 -1 -1 speech

What are you supposed to hear when you walk?!
Thanks for the info!

You should hear footsteps.

The default sound has two alternating "piano" notes for footsteps as you walk and run. Monsters also have their "ping" sounds, which is different for slithering, crawling and flying beasts. The Roland version has more realistic walking sound effect and MUCH better music, so editing the file is worthwhile.

It's been a while, but if I remember right you can instead install Munt Sound Emulator and search for a ROM file online (like either CM32L_PCM or MT32_PCM).

Then I think the default settings are fine and you end up with better audio quality.

Might also be worth adding that there's a "Ultima Patcher" you can find online that also has an option related to the MT32 ROMs, though I don't remember if that alone will solve the problem (probably sill need to find the ROMs online).

I think that Ultima Patcher also changes it to use Doxbox SVN-Daum which can solve problems some might have with the mouse cursor and lets you resize the window as you desire which I really like.




Also incase anyone's interested, I made some changes to the Dosbox .conf file for Anvil of Dawn to change the way it looks, and I think it also looked nice when applied to Underworld 1.

I attached a screenshot and I think these were the settings I used in the .conf, presuming I'm not missing or forgetting any, which I might well be, since it was so long ago. Though it's something worth messing with yourself anyway to get a look which you like.

dosboxULTIMA1.conf changes...

output=openglnb
machine=svga_s3
scaler=advmame3x

thx for the fix those midi sounds were driving me nuts and ruining my uw1 nostalgia vibe XD

x2... the music is very wrong with GoG defaults. The default instrument set might offer more realistic-sounding instruments, but you lose a lot of the what the original developers intended you to hear in the music and sound effects.

Thanks for sharing the optimal config settings. I can confirm this is the original sound :)

I wonder how many more years can gog go without fixing this? Maybe they want to go a solid decade.

THANK YOU! I didn't remember how the music was supposed to sound and was playing it with the settings GOG version had. With the piano footsteps and all :D I just thought it's funny but didn't know it was wrong.

Now the game sound very nice and soundeffects are what they're supposed to be. To be fair though, I really liked one of the background music variations with the messed up instruments, it sounded really cool with those long bass notes and electronic sounds :D

Thank You!!! I also thought that the silly piano walking sounds are normal... Couldn't really get immersed in the game, until I applied your fix :)