Real MT32, not being 'programmed' - using default sounds

[laffer]

So I finally got the cables and all for my MT32, but I have a problem in that when I start a game, I get no messages on the MT32 display panel and the games use the default MT32 sounds instead, which sounds terrible.

I'm using Vista 64, and the MIDI-USB cable I'm using was recommended for use with the MT32.

It lists two midi options (in addition to the normal GS Wavetable one) -
USB2.0-MIDI
MIDIOUT2 (USB2.0-MIDI)

Regardless of which one I pick, the problem persists.

Has anyone else encountered this issue and somehow managed to correct it?

Thanks!

[Tawmis]

I am sure someone here can help.
(Not me... but someone can I am sure!)

MusicallyInspired or Collector or even Qbix may be able to help you further once they pop on here.

[Collector]

The MT-32 needs to have an MPU-401 compatible output to it. On my Audigy it is called SB Audigy MIDI IO. Where are you getting the information about what MIDI devices your system has? Starting with Vista, Windows no longer has direct access to allow you to select your the device you wish to use. There are still ways to do it. Putzlowitsch's Vista MIDI Mapper is a good choice.

If the problem is not not listing or choosing the right device, check your connections. Be sure that the MIDI out from your adapter is going to the MIDI in of the MT-32. Of course the audio out of the MT-32 must go into to audio in of your soundcard or some kind of amp, but I am assuming that that is not the problem as you stated that the MT-32 does not show any MIDI activity on its display.

[MusicallyInspired]

Collector handled the technical stuff well enough. I'll just bring up some other possiblities. Which games are you playing with the MT-32? Are they setup for for MT-32 music? ("musicDrv = MT32.DRV" in the resource.cfg file etc)

[Collector]

By the way, I just realized that you are the laffer35 that authored the GK2 subtitle patch. Welcome to the Sierra Help Pages.

[laffer]

Thanks for your replies!

I'll clarify something, I wasn't being specific enough regarding some aspects - about the MT32 display.. it does not show any activity while loading games, but once the game is running, it blinks away as the music is being played... only with the standard MT32 sounds, which sounds pretty bad

Also, I have set the games to use MT32.DRV, and I've tried a lot of different games (SQ, KQ, etc).

I've decided to order another MIDI USB cable just to make sure that's not the problem... I'll see if that works, and update this thread.

I found another thread with some guy having what seems to be the exact same issue as me, and he has the same cheap Soundmax soundcard as well... and he reported success after trying another cable, so I'm hoping it'll work for me as well.

The thread in question -
http://queststudios.com/smf/index.php?topic=3042.0

[Collector]

In the mean time, fire up DOSBox. At the command prompt enter

Code: Select all

mixer /listmidi

It will list all of the MIDI devices that DOSBox sees. Post the results here if it is different from you earlier list.

[laffer]

I've actually done that already, and it only lists the crappy default Windows one, and the two I get from using this MIDI-USB cable.

I'm strongly suspecting the cable itself to be the issue now, after reading that thread... so to save myself (and you people trying to help) potentially unnecessary trouble, I've decided to wait until I get the new one and try that out first.

By the way, Collector, I'm still very grateful you took the time to write your installer for the GK2 subtitle patch I wrote subtitles for long ago... I see you've even updated it some times, and worked out most of the little (and the not so little!) kinks... you really changed the patch from being something neat but still quite annoying to use into something that now has very few drawbacks... I really like how it turned out after you fixed it!
It did annoy me quite a bit that after having spent so long writing and placing the subtitles in all those files, that the patch had so many issues that really very much negatively affected several aspects of the games (like not having the various letters read to you out loud... that is quite a thing to be missing!).

By the way, have you had the chance to fully test your latest installer? I'm planning to play through the game again soon, and if needed I'll use the subtitle patch to test if everything is working right, if you haven't already done that.

[Collector]

It does sound like the MIDI adapter, if you are getting no MPU-401 compatible device in the list.

You are welcome about the subtitle patch. I haven't done anything with it in a while. Currently, I am going through the installers to add a couple of features, such as allowing the user to choose a different DOSBox.

[laffer]

Ah I see, so it's a while since you last updated it... I didn't notice the date when reading about your updates, but the most recent changes I had in mind was how you hex edited the game to replace certain Spanish lines into English and such... getting rid of the last signs this patch is based on a patch using a different language.

Little things like that always bugged me a lot but I didn't think there was anything to be done about it.

But - have you tested the patch out thoroughly (played through the entire game to check for issues)? I'd love to give it a good test if needed.

[Collector]

No, I have not done a play through with the patch, though quite a few did with the GOG release. I suspect that if there had been any major issues with it I would have heard. By all means, if you find anything while playing through it, let me know.

[laffer]

Oh, I see.... cool. I was for whatever reason under the impression that you didn't feel it had been tested well enough, probably by reading an older post of yours, related to changes you'd made to the patch that I was unaware of... where I seemingly forgot to check the date on your posts and I guess I assumed this is how you still felt.

By the way though - one thing I can point out right away without even testing out the patch is that some of (probably quite a bit of) the German subtitles have several spelling errors.
I don't know any German, and though I tried using an online dictionary attempting to find the words spoken by typing something as close to what was being said as I could... I quickly got really tired of this, especially since I had saved this for last and I was already a bit burned out after writing all the English subtitles.
So in the end, I ended up just guessing... I figured the German lines were unimportant as they're lines the gamer isn't necessarily meant to understand anyway... only if you happen to know German... so they're not vital to understanding the story.

However, I regret doing it that way now, and if you should bump into German speaking Sierra fans, it would be really cool if someone could go over the German lines and correct them.

--------------------------

Regarding the MT32 problem I'm having - I still haven't received the replacement cable... but I ended up ordering three different ones :p
I figured they're so cheap anyway, I'd rather pay a bit more and have a higher chance of getting at least one cable that will work correctly than having to wait for even more weeks if I got another cable that won't work properly.

It feels a bit like waiting for Christmas as a kid, for some reason I'm more excited about this than mostly anything I can remember in recent times

[Collector]

There are a few people here that know German, but I believe few that are native German speakers. In fact, only one that I know of, but he has not posted much here. It is too bad that you didn't keep a list of the German subtitles that needs translating. But, mightn't it make more sense to translate them into English?

[laffer]

Actually it wouldn't have mattered much if I kept the German lines as some time ago I had a harddrive crash and lost everything, including everything related to this patch.
And a bunch of other stuff, such as plenty of Youtube videos I had recorded, etc... still kicking myself for not making backups... first time something like this has happened to me.

Translating them to English... for some reason that didn't even occur to me, I guess I figured I wouldn't change anything about the game and since the game has these lines spoken in German, I figured they are lines players aren't necessarily supposed to understand.
But I agree, translating them into English is a great idea, I prefer that to having German subtitles now that I think of it.

[laffer]

Well, I got another cable in the mail today, but now I have a different issue -

While the games are loading, I now get an error message on my MT32 display -
"Exc. Checksum Error"

When the game is done loading, the sound is really awful and everything runs very slowly, regardless of cycles.

My guess is I'm really unlucky with these damn cables, seems this one isn't transferring correctly, or something like that?

I've tried slowing down DOSBox to less than 1000 cycles, just in case it was some sort of speed issue, but that doesn't help.

Same error in every game I've tried so far (PQ2,3, KQ4, SQ3...)