oasis789: How to get CD-quality music with digitized sound effects The version of Betrayal at Krondor on GOG is the CD version 1.02, which includes the redbook audio, which is on by default (along with Sound Blaster for digitized sound effects). However, there are several problems with the redbook audio.
- The tracks are very short and do not loop, so longer combat sequences end up being completely silent
- The tracks do not fade out, making scene transitions jarring
For these reasons, it is better to turn off the CD audio, but that leads us to another
problem:
Most (if not all) of Sierra's SCI1 games have MIDI music and digital sound effects. Depending on the version of the interpreter, this can be supported in several ways. In later SCI1 interpreters (such as Space Quest 5, Police Quest 1, and Conquests of the Longbow) Sierra used separate drivers for music and sound effects. However in earlier interpreters (such as Space Quest 1 and Leisure Suit Larry 5) the logic to handle both music and sound effects were in the same driver.
To receive the best-quality MIDI music, a General MIDI (GM) compatible wavetable synthesizer is recommended over a FM synth. Wavetable synths of the day were the Roland MT-32 (though it was not GM compatible) and the Sound Blaster AWE32 while popular FM synths were the Adlib and Sound Blaster 16. Furthermore, the Sound Blaster series were popularized by thier ability to playback digitized sound effects. Today, all sound cards can playback recorded sounds and nearly all are GM compatible. But back in the day, the only way to do both was to buy an AWE32 (which wasn't available until the mid-90's) or connect an MT-32 to an SB card. Furthermore, the game had to have the correct drivers to support these options.
This is true for Betrayal at Krondor, which like these older games, had a single music/sound driver. So you have to use either the General MIDI driver, or the Sound Blaster driver, but you can't use both simultaneously. The SB16 uses FM synth, which is vastly inferior to MT-32 and GM. So you have a choice between beautiful music or hearing the digitized sound effects (voices, lightning bolts etc).
Furthermore, most people don't have a real MT-32 or SC-55 (though you could buy one on ebay). Most people just have emulation with the default Windows MIDI device, Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth, which is generally inadequate.
Listen to the difference yourself.
The solution:
1. Soundfont Download and install either
Bassmidi or
VirtualMIDISynth. I prefer VirtualMIDISynth. Or you can also use any other Soundfont program (e.g. X-Fi).
Either download a)
Patch93's Roland SC-55 Soundfont V2.2 and unpack using
SFPack to .sf2, or b)
StrikingUAC's soundfont. Configure Bassmidi or VirtualMIDISynth to use it. (There are many alternative soundfonts but this is the best I've found for GM. It's so much better than the default Windows one)
Another alternative is to buy and run
Roland Sound Canvas VA. Pricey and not quite the same as a real Sound Canvas, but sound is subjective and you should use whatever sounds best to you. Hell, if I had the disposable income I'd get a real Sound Canvas, but I'm pretty broke.
Edit: Patch93 mirrored
here.
2. Patch to use both General MIDI and Sound Blaster simultaneously Download NewRisingSun's
patch, krondor.zip. Extract and replace
frp.sx in the Betrayal at Krondor directory.
Download Tikalat's
GM patch, Krondor_GM_reverb.7z. Extract and replace
/CD - 1.02/krondor.exe in the Betrayal at Krondor directory.
Download Tikalat's
GM patch v2, Krondor_GM_reverb_v2.7z. Extract and replace
sx.ovl in the Betrayal at Krondor directory.
Edit: Files mirrored
here. Follow the instructions within.
3. In-game settings Edit
RESOURCE.CFG in the Betrayal at Krondor directory.
Change the line to "soundDrv = GENMIDI.DRV"
Edit
dosboxBAK.conf in the Betrayal at Krondor directory.
Ensure "mididevice=default"
In the main settings, turn off CD audio.
Making sure it works Run the game, and watch the intro credits for the two lightning bolts. You should hear them crisply and distinctly.
At the menu screen, listen to the main theme with and without CD audio activated. There should be little to no difference.
Start a new game. In the chapter one intro, you should hear Haseth's voice as Gorath kills him.
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Now enjoy one of the best games on GOG.com, as it was meant to be played.
This guide is based on the work of
NewRisingSun and Tikalat at Vogons. If you'd like to show your appreciation, head on over to the Vogons thread and say thanks there.
in the Betrayal at Krondor directory.
Start the game and enable "CD music" in the preferences menu.
That´s all.
