2.0.0 Sound Board Operating System Notes. =========================================  2.1 Installing SBOS  2.2 SBOS V1.22  2.3 SBOS options for specific games 2.1.0 Installing SBOS --------------------- ================================================================ UltraSound and SBOS do a very good job of emulating the Sound Blaster audio card. However, since it is a software solution to a hardware problem, the emulation is not perfect. The UltraSound WILL NOT sound EXACTLY like an Ad Lib or a Sound Blaster. Very rarely will the results be unacceptable. Most commercially available applications, including those directly from Creative Labs, will run OK. Most 'shareware' type applications will also be OK, but it is much more difficult to test them, so there might be a higher percentage that do not operate properly. If possible, we will attempt to fix any of these problems in future releases of the SBOS software. See the readme.txt file in the SBOS directory for more information. ================================================================ Many applications do not use Direct Memory Access (DMA) to do their digital audio. They may either use polled I/O or the PC's timer to do their output timing. Both are VERY taxing on the PC and can severely degrade the performance of SBOS. A 16 MHz 386 or better PC may be necessary to get decent performance. Applications that were ported from the AMIGA and use the 'modplay' method of playing digital audio MIGHT have performance problems. Removing any expanded/extended memory drivers (if possible) may also improve performance. There are several applications that require SBOS (Sound Board Operating System) to run in a non-default mode to correctly emulate other sound boards. This is because these particular applications implemented the audio in slightly different ways. The vast majority of applications run in the default mode perfectly. Here is a list of the known applications that require a different option to run correctly. 2.2.0 SBOS V1.30 ----------------  2.2.1 Installation notes  2.2.2 About this new SBOS version...  2.2.3 A Note on SBOSDRV.SYS... 2.2.1 Installation notes First make a backup copy of the current version of SBOS software on your system. it can be found in your \ULTRASND\SBOS directory. Copy these files to a floppy disk or to another subdirectory. Copy or extract the new files for the SBOS program to your \ULTRASND\SBOS directory. This will overwrite all the files that need to be updated. *** IMPORTANT *** also delete SBOS.BAT, SBOSDRV.EXE and LOADSBOS.EXE from your \ULTRASND directory if copies are present there, and replace with the new versions from this update. 2.2.2 About this new SBOS version... This new SBOS V1.30 maintenance update replaces all previous version SBOS. Testing on various software confirms improvements in digital sound and fewer configuration difficulties, plus the benefits of a .SYS driver for use with some CD ROM software or memory configurations. 2.2.3 A Note on SBOSDRV.SYS... The new sbosdrv.sys driver (v1.30) is loaded from the config.sys file and uses the entire untrasnd environment string as its parameter. eg: device=sbosdrv.sys ultrasnd=220,7,7,11,7 where 220 is the base port. 7 and 7 are the DMA channel (in/out) 7 is the P.C.M. (MIDI) IRQ 11 is the GF1 IRQ The user should remember to type SBOS at the DOS prompt to re-load the driver for any audio to be heard. 2.3.0 SBOS options for specific games -------------------------------------  2.3.1 Option #1 (-o1)  2.3.2 Option #2 (-o2)  2.3.3 Option #3 (-o3)  2.3.4 Option X3 (-x3)  2.3.5 Option X2 (-x2)  2.3.6 CD ROM Applications  2.3.7 Vectdemo  2.3.8 AST computers.  2.3.9 GX2 (Galactix)  2.3.10 Unsupported applications:  2.3.11 New parameter: 2.3.1 Option #1 (-o1) - Prince of Persia - Where in the World is Carmen SanDiego? - Leather Godesses of Phobos II - Links386 2.3.2 Option #2 (-o2) - Pga Golf The following games need -o2 ONLY for versions of SBOS prior to version 1.20 - Any Ibis Software applications - Castle Von Wolfenstein (Wolfenstein 3-D) - Dune - Kings Quest 5 (CD-ROM & EMS versions) - Earl Weaver Baseball II 2.3.3 Option #3 (-o3) - F-15 Strike Eagle II 2.3.4 Option X3 (-x3) - Siege - Blaster Master (bmaster) 2.3.5 Option X2 (-x2) - Links 386 (and turn off background sounds) Links386 also requires option -o1 2.3.6 CD ROM Applications - Strange Deadfellows requires the GF1 and MIDI interupts to be the same. To do this rerun the SETUP program. - Lemmings - use Lemmings' -x mode when choosing the PC type. 2.3.7 Vectdemo Requires that IRQ #2 is used. Make sure that the last parameter in ULTRASND is 2. Make sure that BLASTER uses IRQ 2 also. This must be done BEFORE sbos is loaded. If SBOS is already loaded with an incorrect IRQ, unloadit & re-load it with IRQ2. After loading the demo, you MUST go thru its install. There is an uninitialized pointer that blows SBOS out of the water if you do not go thru the install. All you need to do is select a type of computer and the go run the demo. 2.3.8 AST computers. SOME, not all, AST computers have a problem with our SBOS emulation. If SBOS does not run on yours, try running the game(s) with the -o2 option. 2.3.9 GX2 (Galactix) Use option -o3. This will only work for the FM stuff. No digital audio will work. 2.3.10 Unsupported applications: (Both of these options corrupt PC memory in such a way that SBOS is unable to run. Maybe these problems will be fixed future releases of these applications and the SBOS will work.) - Hare Raising Havoc (Roger Rabbit) - JetFighter II Some computers have their DRAM parity disabled. SBOS will not work properly with this. Re-enable the parity check in you BIOS setup. 2.3.11 New parameters: -p Turns OFF the "SBOS installed" audio message when loadsbos is run. -Cxx This allows your to specify a different control vector to be specified. Some applications require 7E which is the default for sbosdrv & loadsbos. The range is from 7A to 7F. The 'SBOS installed' message can be customized by specifying a file to play followed by the playback rate, in the sbos.cfg file. SBOS supports Sound Blaster's compressed data (ADPCM) formats. No drivers from Creative Labs (such as ct-voice.drv) or Ad Lib (such as sound.exe) are supplied with the UltraSound card. If an application requires any and you do not already have them, the application will NOT run. You must obtain them from some other source. Even though it is not usually necessary, it may be a good idea to re-load SBOS before you run each Sound Blaster game. It would be very easy to do this with a batch file. IF an application runs that uses the UltraSound, SBOS will re-load its patches as the application exits. This means that you should be able to run SoundBlaster compatible programs and real UltraSound applications without having to re-load SBOS.