[problem - solution] Dune in DosBox without Sound - What to do?

[Hauptillusionator]

Recently i dug out one of my favourite games, dune. I had no problem to run it in dosbox, but the sound didn't work. I wasted 3 hours with setup configuration, internet research, etc...

Then, by accident, i found in a downloaded dune version another .bat file, which included different parameters than the original dune.bat. And suddenly the sound worked. I thought I should post it here, maybe smbdy is struggeling with that too.

Edit dune.bat like following:

@echo off

logo

duneprg GER VGA SDB2207 EMS 386

logo: displaying the cryo logo at the beginning, you can delete this line if you want to.

duneprg: this is real dune game program

GER: parameter for german language (ENG for english)

VGA: parameter for VGA Graphics

SDB2207: i don't know exactly what this means, but you have to write this parameter to hear the sound! (soundblaster)

EMS: Using expanded memory

386: Using a 386 or better (i'm not sure about that)

You'll maybe have to load the soundblaster driver in dosbox. (You'd better read the dosbox instructions, following settings work at my computer, but maybe not on yours):

SET BLASTER = A220 I7 D1

I have to admit that I don't understand everything I wrote down here, but finally dune worked fine in my language with sound!

Have fun!

[MrFlibble]

SDB2207: i don't know exactly what this means, but you have to write this parameter to hear the sound! (soundblaster)

<...>

You'll maybe have to load the soundblaster driver in dosbox. (You'd better read the dosbox instructions, following settings work at my computer, but maybe not on yours):

SET BLASTER = A220 I7 D1

Well, all this means that Sound Blaster IO address is 220, IRQ is 7 and DMA is 1, which are the default DOSBox settings.

[Hauptillusionator]

mhm, now that makes sense... :)

thanks!

[Hans]

Thank you so much for your quick solution - This should be the nr 1 google page for dosbox sound problems with dune 1.

Again, kudos to you.

[christo]

I have no sounds in Dune 1 too, but I use mt32. An emulator:

https://github.com/sergm/munt_devel/downloads

First I thought I downloaded a no-sound version of Dune, but I see this problem could be common. Any tips? I used install.exe to change the sound settings but without success.

[MrFlibble]

IIRC you need original MT-32 BIOS ROMs for MUNT to function (I think you need to have original MT-32 hardware to obtain a BIOS ROM).

[christo]

IIRC you need original MT-32 BIOS ROMs for MUNT to function (I think you need to have original MT-32 hardware to obtain a BIOS ROM).

It's working properly. Made this video with that:

Just dont know how to fill this line if I want mt32:

duneprg GER VGA SDB2207 EMS 386

MT32 is not appropriate of course.

[MrFlibble]

Here's what DOSBox Wiki says about the use of MUNT:

Munt is an open source project that aims to emulate the MT-32 hardware by way of a Windows XP WDM driver. Using it, however, requires a copy of the original ROM images from a Roland MT-32, and these are not included with the download. Installation notes are provided within the distribution archive.

Well, I assume you have that one, otherwise DOSBox just uses its internal MT-32 emulation (lower quality)

Anyhow, IIRC Dune should have a sound device configuration programme that allows to set up the sound in the game. Have you tried that?

[dvernius]

Recently i dug out one of my favourite games, dune. I had no problem to run it in dosbox, but the sound didn't work. I wasted 3 hours with setup configuration, internet research, etc...

Then, by accident, i found in a downloaded dune version another .bat file, which included different parameters than the original dune.bat. And suddenly the sound worked. I thought I should post it here, maybe smbdy is struggeling with that too.

Edit dune.bat like following:

@echo off

logo

duneprg GER VGA SDB2207 EMS 386

logo: displaying the cryo logo at the beginning, you can delete this line if you want to.

duneprg: this is real dune game program

GER: parameter for german language (ENG for english)

VGA: parameter for VGA Graphics

SDB2207: i don't know exactly what this means, but you have to write this parameter to hear the sound! (soundblaster)

EMS: Using expanded memory

386: Using a 386 or better (i'm not sure about that)

You'll maybe have to load the soundblaster driver in dosbox. (You'd better read the dosbox instructions, following settings work at my computer, but maybe not on yours):

SET BLASTER = A220 I7 D1

I have to admit that I don't understand everything I wrote down here, but finally dune worked fine in my language with sound!

Have fun!

Thank you so much! This was really useful to recreate an old and great experience!

More people like you are needed!

[Dalinar]

Hi

I've recently got the game working on DOS box and followed the information above; I have music but no voice sounds... I'm sure the game had voice actors for the characters in the game.

Can anyone shed any light please?

Cheers

[Andrew]

It is possible the version on Dune you have doesn't come with voice sounds? I think that happened in a certain version to save on download size? Happens on other older games. I'm not sure.

[Mr. Wizard]

I got the sound to work like this:

Install Dune in LaunchBox as normal by only installing to hard drive. DO NOT DO AUTOMATIC CONFIGURATION! Before the next step which is to find the startup file go to the Dune.bat file and edit it like this:

@echo off
logo
SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 H5 T6
duneprg ENG VGA SDB2227 EMS 386

Save the file (overwrite)

Next go back to LaunchBox and when asking for the startup file (it will default to DUNEPRG.EXE, change that to Dune.bat

Finish that wizard and TADA, you will have sound!!

[Panther]

any idea why dune 2 in dosbox slows down a bit? when there are more units on the map and you try to fast to move them forward? it feels like a slight lag. how to fix this?

[Cm_blast]

23 hours ago, Panther said:

any idea why dune 2 in dosbox slows down a bit? when there are more units on the map and you try to fast to move them forward? it feels like a slight lag. how to fix this?

Increse the cycles on dosbox. if you are using the regular-oficial one (DOSBox 0.74 I think it is), press Control+F12. You can do it ingame withouth any issues. Increase the cycles to 10.000 or around that, it hasn't to be exactly that number and I don't remember exactly the number, is all about checking, increase to 10.000 and it won't slowdown. Later, if you are into mission 7-8 or so and the game still slowdown you can increase to 15.000 or any value you consider good speed. Control+F11 reduce the number.

There is the other non-oficial dosbox that has an option "maximize cycles" which will increase the cycles on his own to the max depending on the game so you don't need to manually do it (although you can still can).

There is also the in-game speed, but switching from "normal" to "fastests" don't change that much, it is only slighly faster and deviators will become useless as the deviating time is going to be drastically reduced, also sonic tanks are affected, so just try first the cycles, and if that doesn't feel good enough, you can do both things, increasing cycles and in-game speed.