You still need to tell the game itself to use Roland MT-32 as the audio device. So far you have told only DOSBox to use Munt as a MIDI device, in case a DOS game sends DOSBox any MIDI messages. Currently the game is not sending any (MT-32) MIDI messages as it is playing Adlib/Soundblaster sounds instead.

I don't have the GOG version of HoC, but in the original version you must run INSTALL.COM (in DOSBox) in order to select the audio device. Check also the GOG start menu for the game, in case GOG has added a shortcut to run that INSTALL.COM.

As to how run INSTALL.COM in DOSBox, you could e.g. create a new shortcut similar to what the GOG version uses to run the game, but pointing to INSTALL.COM, instead of HOC.EXE. But just in case you can't get that to work or GOG has even removed INSTALL.COM from the game files (hopefully not, but in the past they have unfortunately done that with some games, like Ultima Underworld, removing SETSOUND), here's a workaround that MIGHT work.

Since RESOURCE.CFG configuration file in HoC doesn't seem to be directly editable, I zipped and attached it to this message from my original HoC game.

- Download the attached RESOURCE.JPG file.

- Rename it to RESOURCE.ZIP (you may have to change your Windows settings to show file extensions, by default they are not shown in Windows, stupid Microsoft!)

- Uncompress the ZIP file, you should have RESOURCE.CFG.

- Copy it to where your HoC game is installed, replacing the existing RESOURCE.CFG. It might be a good idea to make a backup copy of the original RESOURCE.CFG, in case this doesn't work.

EDIT: Removed the RESOURCE.CFG file, apparently it is not needed as the GOG version lets you change the audio device yourself.

That worked - it's in 'other' in the GOG Start Menu - thanks :) !

Ok good, so the RESOURCE.CFG is not needed, removing it from my earlier message then...

Good thing that GOG has started adding shortcuts to DOS game configuration utilities. Earlier they did exactly the opposite, even removing the configuration utilities themselves.

Soullifter, can you please tell me where to find the how-to steps that you followed to get MUNT/MT-32 working?

1. Download Munt.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/munt/

2. Install Munt by double-clicking the downloaded installer.

3. Google for "MT-32 CM-32L ROM" to locate the control and PCM ROMs for MT-32 and/or CM-32L, or use your favorite bittorrent site to get them. The files you want are:

MT32_CONTROL.ROM
MT32_PCM.ROM
CM32L_CONTROL.ROM
CM32L_PCM.ROM

Save them somewhere on your PC where you can find them. While you really need only either MT-32 or CM-32L ROMs (two files at least), I suggest getting all four because some games prefer MT-32 ROMs, while other games prefer CM-32L ROMs. Heart of China prefers MT-32 ROMs, but CM-32L ROMs work fine too, a couple of sound effects during the game will play wrong with it but otherwise ok.

4. Run Munt, go to Options => ROM Configuration, and point the "ROM Directory" to where you saved your ROMs. Tick MT32_CONTROL.ROM and MT32_PCM.ROM (since MT-32 ROMs are what you want to use for Heart of China).

Click Ok and close Munt. You need to run Munt only if you want to change the settings, like which ROMs to use. You don't have to run it or have it running in the background if you want some Roland music in games.

5. Go to the directory where you installed Heart of China, I presume something like C:\GOG Games\Heart of China\. Edit the DOSBox config file with Notepad. The file is probably called dosbox<gamename>.conf, for instance dosboxHoC.conf.

Go to the "[midi]" section and find the line "midiconfig", and set it to:

midiconfig=1

This works for most people, but if you have some other (virtual) MIDI devices installed on your system, for instance BASSMIDI, it might be something else, like midiconfig=2. If you want to be sure, check which midi device is listed as "MT-32 Synth Emulator" by using these instructions:

http://gogwiki.com/index.php?title=DOSBox#Roland_MT-32_support

Look specifically for the part "Configuring DOSBox". Note! It seems with some games the line under [midi] is "config", not "midiconfig", I don't know if this depends on the DOSBox version.

6. Change the game itself to use Roland MT-32. With Heart of China, there apparently is a Start Menu shortcut under "Other" to change the audio settings.

Then I think you are done. If the game sounds like in this Youtube-video, you know it is working:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3mEbLxHU88

Don't be alarmed that starting the game takes several seconds longer with Roland sound support, than it takes with Adlib/Soundblaster support. That is because in the beginning of the game, the game uploads modified sound data to the (virtual) MT-32. That is quite normal in Roland MT-32 games, a long pause when you start the game, happens also with a real MT-32/CM-32L.

Thanks for all the help timppu!