Earthsiege 1 and UltraSound

[GuyFawkesGaming]

I was waiting a while for you to reopen registration so I could ask this question. I was attempting to figure out why Gravis MIDI wouldn't work on Earthsiege or Battledrome but then read in the manual that HMI didn't support it "yet". The latest HMI drivers found here (don't worry, they're freeware) definitely support GUS MIDI, so it seams Sierra planned on updating them eventually. Manually swapping them in place of the originals does in fact add GUS music but there are two problems I've found.

This first only affects Earthsiege. With GUS selected as the MIDI output, PLAYFLIC.EXE hangs when loading movies. You can work around this by using ESCD.EXE to start the game with the slides instead, but who would want to do that?

The second affects both games, presumably because they share the same engine. If you have GUS selected for both digital and MIDI the game hangs when exiting, forcing you to kill DOSBox manually. If GUS is selected for just MIDI or effects this does not happen.

If someone thinks they know a way to patch the executable(s) or know better workarounds that would be great! Earthsiege with Gravis synth tunes would be a dream come true.

[Collector]

Sierra did release a number of after market GUS patches. Don't remember if if they did one for ES or not.

Of course DOSBox needs to be setup for GUS as well. https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=16974

[GuyFawkesGaming]

Already did that, the MIDI does in fact work but there are those issues I mentioned before. I should probably mention that to get it working like I did you should not apply Sierra's official gus fix as that neuters support. Instead I edited SOUNDSET.INI and added gus as an option in the midi device section. After examining other HMI games I had I found that the proper driver id for gus was "a00a" and I gave it a port range of 210 to 260.
You also need a LOADPATS.EXE and a PATCHES.INI. Luckily Battledrome includes them, despite never using them. Copying them to Earthsiege proves they work although some instruments are missing. From my understanding LOADPATS.EXE and PATCHES.INI are just the HMI equivalent to ultramid for DIGPAK/MIDPAK and Miles/AIL. Alot of HMI games don't include their own version which is where a lot of issues come from. https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=24541#p184975

Intriguingly I've also found that the SB16 and PAS16 have their own midi driver id that neither Earthsiege nor Battledrome use: "a009". Haven't tested weather using that will provide better music or not. Also the id "-1" selects no sound card for both digital and midi.

[Collector]

I have not tried to get GUS working in these games, so it looks like you have explored it more than I have.

[GuyFawkesGaming]

Yeah, I think I need to find someone to hex patch it. Its likely theres some offending code somewhere that needs to be changed or removed. I dont have the experence which is why Im asking around.

[GuyFawkesGaming]

Yeah, I think I need to find someone to hex patch it. Its likely theres some offending code somewhere that needs to be changed or removed. I dont have the experence which is why Im asking around.

[Collector]

NRS would be an obvious choice. He some times is on VOGONS.