MrFlibble Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Not long ago I've configured DOSBox for Gravis Ultrasound emulation (which allows for high-quality synthesized music), and while browsing for possibly useful files, I found a very old unofficial patch that added GUS support to Dune II. Unfortunately, that patch does not work well with DOSBox, but the principle behind it allowed me to make a suitable replacement. The simple trick behind the patch is that the setup programme tells Dune II which drivers and sound files to use, so replacing certain drivers with GUS drivers does the job. For the patch, I replaced the Sound Blaster driver with the GUS digital driver, and the MT-32 driver with the GUS MIDI driver. That way, you can use the Sound Blaster Pro for SB emulation if you want to, and you can still select Sound Canvas (which replaces the Tandy 3 voice option) too, although it is recommended that you use the original Dune II setup and sound files if you want Sound Canvas-synthesized music. Download Dune 2 Gravis Ultrasound Patch (Download link courtesy of Nyerguds) To install the patch, simply extract the following files into your Dune II directory, overwriting the old files when necessary (it is advised that you make a back-up copy of the old files first): DUNE2G.BAT DUNE.CFG SETUP.EXE SETUPENG.DIP SOUND.PAK The DUNE.CFG file is already configured to use Gravis Ultrasound for sound effects, speech and synthesized music, so if you do not want to change this, simply run DUNE2G.BAT to play Dune II with GUS music and sounds. For more information, refer to the patch readme file supplied in the package. NOTE: It is assumed that you already have DOSBox installed and configured to emulate Gravis Ultrasound. If that is not the case, please refer to the information concerning Gravis Ultrasound emulation in DOSBox Wiki: http://dosbox.com/wiki/Sound#Gravis_Ultrasound For general information about DOSBox, visit their home page: http://dosbox.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrFlibble Posted February 24, 2011 Author Share Posted February 24, 2011 Also note that for the BAT file to work properly, you need to make sure that the path to your Ultrasound drivers and patch files (default is C:\ULTRASND) is included in the PATH variable in DOSBox's [autoexec] section. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyerguds Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 There's a way around that, simply by making the batch file run "%ultradir%\ultramid". I adapted the batch file, and uploaded the whole pack here:nyerguds.arsaneus-design.com/dune/dune2patch/d2_gus_patch.rarFor simplicity's sake I also uploaded the GUS driver files into the dune2patch/ folder :)Anyway, this is definitely the way of playing Dune II... the music is stunning :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrFlibble Posted February 25, 2011 Author Share Posted February 25, 2011 There's a way around that, simply by making the batch file run "%ultradir%\ultramid".That didn't work for me for some reason... (DOSBox v0.74 official build) So I just copied a BAT file for running GUS that was supplied with Blackthorne demo :) (only changed it a bit to load 16-bit patches for highest quality I adapted the batch file, and uploaded the whole pack here:nyerguds.arsaneus-design.com/dune/dune2patch/d2_gus_patch.rarFor simplicity's sake I also uploaded the GUS driver files into the dune2patch/ folder :)Cool, thanks! I've updated the first post accordingly.Anyway, this is definitely the way of playing Dune II... the music is stunning :DAbsolutely! :D BTW, I've started to look for better alternatives to Windows MIDI emulation after I stumbled upon this site:http://sc55.duke4.net/It's a collection of high-quality music packs for various DOS games like Descent, Duke Nukem 3D and Rise of the Triad, recorded on a real Roland Sound Canvas. The quality is just amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyerguds Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 I use DOSBox 0.73, and it worked perfectly... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrFlibble Posted February 26, 2011 Author Share Posted February 26, 2011 I've heard v0.74 introduced some minor bugs, but then again, I could've been doing something wrong too :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyerguds Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 Wooah, that site has Shadow Warrior music in FLAC! Awesome :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrFlibble Posted February 26, 2011 Author Share Posted February 26, 2011 Your batch file works perfectly, thanks a lot again! :DWooah, that site has Shadow Warrior music in FLAC! Awesome :DPity there seem to be no high-quality versions of the two extra MIDI tracks that were found in the leaked beta version (they're also included in the SWP source port). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyerguds Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Small question... in the setup, what exactly should I choose for GUS music? I want to record them, so I want to disable everything besides the music itself. Your explanation on that wasn't exactly clear. What's the difference between Gravis Ultrasound and Ultrasound MIDI for the music? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrFlibble Posted March 2, 2011 Author Share Posted March 2, 2011 Small question... in the setup, what exactly should I choose for GUS music? I want to record them, so I want to disable everything besides the music itself.Heh, I had the same idea, but haven't got enough free time for that ATM :) What's the difference between Gravis Ultrasound and Ultrasound MIDI for the music?Gravis Ultrasound is the digital sound driver, and selecting it for music will yield roughly the same result as Sound Blaster. Ultrasound (MIDI), as the name suggests, is the Ultrasound MIDI driver (both drivers can be found in the ULTRAMID folder BTW), which is responsible for sample-based synthesized music, so you should basically select that. Using Gravis Ultrasound for speech and SFX is purely optional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyerguds Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Ah, I see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stranger Mr. Hand Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 I've tried the GUS patch and it works great, except that I can't seem to turn it off to revert to the original MIDI music. Here's my copy, exported from DBGL: <link snipped> ~MrFlibble Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrFlibble Posted June 24, 2018 Author Share Posted June 24, 2018 Just replace the SOUND.PAK file with the original unmodified one. Also please don't post links like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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