Dear folks at GOG,

I would like to know whether your DOSBox versions support alternative midi devices. I have got both an MT-32 (1st gen) and an SC-55 as hardware. However, if I use your pre-configured stuff and edit the config stuff so that my Roland USB MIDI device (to which both of the aforementioned get connected when used) should (normally) be used as a midi device, your versions still use the internal Roland Software General Midi/Synth stuff provided by Windows instead - regardless of what one puts in the config file!

(I gather you are familiar with things like 'mixer /listmidi' ;-).)

O.K., I manage to get round this by turning the EnterGameName_single.conf file you provide into a batch file, modifying it slightly, and then running your games via my 'proper' DOSBox installation but I do not really think that is the point.

Are your DOSBox versions in any way castrated? I mean in such a way that the use of the MS Roland software General Midi/Synth stuff is mandatory? Is this a bug or a feature?

I would be very grateful for a reply :-).

Cheers
Patrick

P.S.: Sorry for forgetting the apostrophe in the topic subject line ;-) - mea culpa

[Update: Looks like it was a GOG config file bug after all - instead of 'midiconfig=" it said 'config=' in the midi section, which unfortunately is wrong. Now things appear to be working. Thanks to the folks at Vogons for finding this. Teaches you to read thing a little more closely.

Update 2: In some cases nevertheless 'config=' works. At the end of the day it is down to trial and error.]

Good for you. GOG uses the settings etc to ensure a given game works on the bulk of customers modern systems (i doubt most will have any midi/roland devices - let alone heard of them).

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. However, I am not 100% sure of that as there have been a few games where my config stuff editing would actually work and if you clicked on the GOG shortcut things would work I wanted them to. However, in a lot of cases it would not despite my doing exactly the same as I would usually do.


Cheers
Patrick

I've been under the impression that GOG generally uses normal DOSBox (with some 3Dfx Voodoo games, possibly a special version that has internal Glide emulation support?), so I'd find it odd you wouldn't be able to get it to run similarly as you can with normal DOSBox.

Are you sure you are editing the correct DOSBox config file inside the GOG game folder? Can you give some example which GOG game you are running, and what exactly you are editing in which config file? Oh, and what Windows version you are using? Not sure if that matters to your issue, but there were some MIDI Mapper etc. changes from XP => Vista/7 => 8.

I have an external CM-32L and I also bought a Roland USB-MIDI port in order to be able to use it with DOSBox games on modern PCs with no ISA cards (for a real MPU-401 interface card), but frankly I've never actually used it because for me Munt + CM-32L ROMs are a good enough substitute (I can't hear much of a difference compared to the real thing), and less hassle too. :)

Hi,

I am fairly sure :-):

mpu401=intelligent
mididevice=win32
midiconfig=3

(taken from my DOSBox config file - doing the same with GOG's stuff tends not to work)

I also have an SB X-Fi PCI Express with two sets of midi stuff (1 and 2 while 0 is the WIndows-own Roland software stuff - No. 3 is my Roland USB MIDI stuff to which I connect my MT-32 and SC-55). As I said, my 'proper' DOSBox installation works fine and does as it is told.

So you see that I know what I am doing reasonably well :-).

I have a fairly large GOG collection. Unfortunately MS decided to throw out the option of selecting your MIDI device of choice via the control panel in Windows 8 and 8.1. This means that the internal Roland General Midi/Synth software stuff is forced - however, selecting your midi stuff manually in applications where that is possible still works and DOSBox is one of those applications.


Cheers
Patrick

As an example, which GOG game did you try it with, and which is the exact config file you edited?

I'm asking as GOG games have several DOSBox config files, e.g. Little Big Adventure:

dosboxLBA.conf
dosboxLBA_settings.conf
dosboxLBA_single.conf

Just so that your edits are not then overwritten by the entries on another config file.

Other than that, currently I have no idea why it wouldn't work similarly on the DOSBox that GOG games use. Ok, there's still the thing that some GOG games might still be using some older DOSBox version, not sure if the config file formatting is the same (ie. the entries you use with your default DOSBox version, should be different for the older DOSBox that some GOG game uses). I recall the formatting sometimes changed with some DOSBox versions.

As a matter of fact, in dosboxLBA.conf it is like this:

[midi]

mpu401=intelligent
device=default
config=

So the device and config entries are not presented similarly as in your example (mididevice, midiconfig). Or do all DOSBox versions consider both of these entries valid?

No. GOG almost always use the official DOSBox builds, only for DOS games with Glide support they use the Daum build (at least I think it's Daum). In neither case is DOSBox "castrated" in any way. And note that DOSBox always uses external MIDI devices (as you can read here). If you can't get a GOG DOS game to use a MIDI device of your choice it's either because you're editing the wrong config file (as you have already noticed) or because the game is configured to use another device (like AdLib, which is internally emulated) for music. While DOSBox is never altered some of GOG's DOS games come without their original configuration programs and may be pre-configured to use AdLib or General MIDI and it is sometimes a bit of a pain in the ass to configure them to use MT-32 emulation (like in case of Wing Commander 1+2 where you have to find the proper settings for the config files on the web).

Hi,

I think I do know how to configure DOSBox and DOS games ;-) (with some games GOG somehow 'forgets' also to include the install programmes). The point is that for some reason GOG's versions in the vast majority of cases refuse to use midi stuff apart from the internal Roland software synth provided with Windows.

However, as I wrote, if I go the way via my 'proper' DOSBox installation things suddenly work they should.

For some strange reason the third line in the following appears to get ignored

mpu401=intelligent
mididevice=win32
midiconfig=3 (0 MS software synth, 1 and 2 the midi stuff of my SB X-Fi, and 3 the Roland USB MIDI thing to which I connect my MT-32 and SC-55)

For example, I have currently got the music from Wing Commander Privateer playing in the background. There also the GOG version launched via the desktop shortcut only runs in MS software midi mode regardless of what I enter under 'midiconfig'. However, through my normal DOSBox installation it works fine. (The SC-55, like the MT-32, has its own display).

Cheers
Patrick

Hi,

The answer is a lot of games :-). (Nostalgia plus credit card ;-)).

For some strange reason line 3 of the following tends to get ignored in GOG's versions while things work fine if I launch games manually through my 'proper' DOSBox installation.

mpu401=intelligent
mididevice=win32
midiconfig=3 (0 MS software synth, 1 and 2 the midi stuff of my SB X-Fi, and 3 the Roland USB MIDI thing to which I connect my MT-32 and SC-55)

For some strange reason this particular line gets ignored.


Cheers
Patrick

He asked for the conf file you edited because it matters. DOSBox from GoG loads several for each game every time it loads if you use their shortcut. So the proper answer is that you are probably not editing the right conf file, and need to investigate further.

Hi,

I always edit the proper config file(s - if there are more...) with all of the DOSBox options. E.g. the first thing I always do is to switch to openglnb (in e.g. direct draw mode the colours look rather washed out by comparison - openglnb is definitely the best) as renderer and 1280x960 as resolution. The midi stuff is further down. If I were editing the wrong file, my graphics setup changes would not work either. So I believe I am editing the right file. Q.E.D. ;-).


Cheers
Patrick

Is that signature automated or do you actually type that in every time you post?

nothing automated

Shit, I was hoping you had a script or something you could give me. :D

You want to annoy the forum automagically now? Psh. In my day we annoyed people the old fashioned way. With a stick. And got our asses beat for it too. :P