-opl3 and- phase don't work?

I have an authentic Sound Blaster 16 in my awesome 90s gaming rig.However, the- opl3 and- phase switches don't do a damn thing. I was told by the doom FAQ that those switches were for stereo sound and better voices for opl3 chips, but I can't tell a difference. I know my rig is capable of stereo, I use Adlib Tracker II and know left and right panning work just as they should. But why is Doom not seeing it?

Any suggestions? I have tried every setup switch I know.

The differences are quite subtle, but IIRC the DOOM FAQ mentioned that they could be enabled via command line parameters, as well as by using an environment variable (e.g. as "SET" command).

Because of that, for years, all of my DOOM batch files included both of them:

SET DMXOPTION=-opl3-phase
DOOM.EXE -opl3 -phase

One thing that you can easily hear the stereo OPL effect in is the D_E1M1 tune from DOOM 1's first level. First, do a "SET DMXOPTION=" (without anything else on that line), and then start DOOM normally (with no command line paramters).

Start a new game, and have a listen to D_E1M1.

Exit the game, "SET DMXOPTION=-opl3-phase", and start DOOM "DOOM.EXE -opl3 -phase".

Start a new game, and have a listen to D_E1M1... you should hear a noticeable difference :)

For the "-phase" part, IIRC you could only really hear the difference well by playing/listening through headphones.

Anyhow, like I said, the differences were quite subtle.

P.S. It even works when DOOM is run under DOSBox (I just tested the OPL command) :)

...for some reason, this isn't working. Ia there anything in setup I can check? Notes still cut off in the guitar solo in D_Runnin...

Csonicgo said:

...for some reason, this isn't working. Ia there anything in setup I can check?

I dunno... for the OPL thing, you must select "Sound Blaster" for the music (of course).

Oh. The FAQ said only the PAS16 worked with that switch.

I could never get them to work on an SBPro2. When I finally upgraded to an SB16 a couple of years ago (when a friend gave me his box o' computer parts that included at least one SB16 and a couple AWE32 variants) I finally got stereo music. From what I remember I just set the environment variable (no command-line switches) with "SET DMXOPTION=-opl3"...

Still isn't working. I suppose it is because I have one of the later SB16s?

Perhaps some models don't support it, but it works for me on a Sound Blaster 32 and did so previously on a Sound Blaster 16 model and a cheaper Sound Blaster 16 value. At least -opl3 works. I think -phase does as well, but since I generally use speakers, I don't notice much of a difference. The -opl3 effect is very evident, with some instruments starting on one side in various DOOM tracks.

The parameters are enabled only as environment variables. My DOS consoles for DOOM use a batch file (in that field that allows you to automatically run a batch with a DOS shortcut) that includes the line set dmxoption=-opl3-phase.

Cool, I didn't know vanilla Doom had those command line parameters! I hope I'm not missing anything.

myk said:

The -opl3 effect is very evident, with some instruments starting on one side in various DOOM tracks.

Yeah, the panning is fairly easy to hear, as it's all hard panned (left or right).

myk said:

Perhaps some models don't support it

That could very well be it. I've had several (older) breeds of the SB16 and AWE32, and it worked on all of them. I've also had various SB and SBPro sound cards, but I don't even remember if I tried it with those.


BTW, the phase effect was pretty neat (although, like stated previously, headphones are recommended to hear it). What it did was to invert one of the channels (phase inversion), which results in a surround-sound(y) type of effect.

Would loading creative 's drivers for DOS cause this to not work? There might be a conflict.

Edit: jesus! Nothing makes it work. Since I HAVE an actual Sound Blaster 16, I will have to place the blame on DMX. THANKS PAUL RADEK

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/14696120/2011-06-01%2010.40.59_Birmingham_Alabama_US-1.jpg

Here is my DMX output from- devparm. Anyone here that is getting it to work, please post yours.

I recall I never managed to get those options to work -or the very least, the result didn't exactly blow me away. I still don't get why the PAS16 was mentioned specifically in the FAQ, either.

Csonicgo said:

Would loading creative 's drivers for DOS cause this to not work? There might be a conflict.

I don't think that would cause any problems. IIRC, back when I had an SB16 in DOS, I had several of the CLI drivers loaded in.

Csonicgo said:

Here is my DMX output from- devparm. Anyone here that is getting it to work, please post yours.

Under DOSBox (which works for the effects), it looks the same:

I_StartupSound
I_StartupSound: Hope you hear a pop.
I_StartupTimer()
cfg p=0x220, i=5, d=1
SB_Detect returned p=0x220,i=5,d=1
Adlib
  Music device #2 & dmxCode=2
  Sfx device #3 & dmxCode=8
  calling DMX_Init
  DMX_Init() returned 10
D_CheckNetGame: Checking network game status.
startskill 2  deathmatch: 0  startmap: 1  startepisode: 1
player 1 of 1 (1 nodes)
S_Init: Setting up sound.
HU_Init: Setting up heads up display.
ST_Init: Init status bar.

...odd. well, im going to have a few beers and try again. Cdoom has opl3 support but the mouse control is totally broken. :P. It is most likely DMX acting up.

BTW, FWIW I uploaded a few example MP3s here:

http://www.cmoo.com/snor/weeds/DOOM/DOOM_DMXOption_OPL3_Disabled.mp3
http://www.cmoo.com/snor/weeds/DOOM/DOOM_DMXOption_OPL3_Enabled.mp3

http://www.cmoo.com/snor/weeds/DOOM/DOOM_DMXOption_Phase_Disabled.mp3
http://www.cmoo.com/snor/weeds/DOOM/DOOM_DMXOption_Phase_Enabled.mp3

I recorded them from DOOM1 running under DOSBox, but IIRC that is exactly how it used to sound years sback on my old DOS/SB16 and DOS/AWE32 rigs.

For the "DOOM_DMXOption_Phase_Enabled.mp3" MP3, the effect is quite subtle... you'll be able to hear the effect better through headphones, but it can also be heard through standard stereo PC speakers.

This is the sound related part of my startup screens:

I_StartupSound
I_StartupTimer()
SB isn't responding at p=0x280, i=5, d=5
  calling DMX_Init

Doom's detection is failing but DMX must be finding the Sound Blaster by itself because sound and music works fine, even using "Sound Blaster" instead of "AWE" as the music, as I told the CFG. (I should fix that to get any sound in full DOS, though, because I get it only in Windows, but I don't really have a reason to use full DOS unless playing v1.1 or v1.0.)

By the way, I've never used the parameters on the executable, just the environment variable. I believe the FAQ is mistaken about using them as Doom parameters. The official documentation just mentions the environment variable, in any case. DMX in Doom must do the rest once those are enabled, when really supported.

myk said:

By the way, I've never used the parameters on the executable, just the environment variable. I believe the FAQ is mistaken about using them as Doom parameters. The official documentation just mentions the environment variable, in any case.

I now remember something along those lines as well. My memory was hazy as to why all of my batch files used both the environment variables as well as the command line parameters, but I'm thinking that it was the confusion between the various FAQs and docs.

In that case, DMX isn't seeing the SET environment variables. That is my theory, anyway.

Csonicgo said:

In that case, DMX isn't seeing the SET environment variables. That is my theory, anyway.

Just to ensure that the envrionment variable is actually being set under your OS, you could try simply typing "SET" from the DOS prompt.

If the "SET DMXOPTION=-opl3-phase" is being set/recognized by your OS, you'll see something like:

BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 T6
PATH=C:\;C:\DOS;C:\FED;GM_RESET;C:\NC;C:\NE;C:\NU;C:\PATH;C:\PKZIP;C:\TEMP
TEMP=C:\TEMP
DMXOPTION=-opl3-phase

Of course, you prolly already knew that, but I'm out of other ideas.

That reminds me, do Doom and/or DMX use the BLASTER environment variable in any way, or do they just rely on what's in the config file?

That's simple, guys. This feature just disabled in DOOM engine v1.7a and up because of sound engine changes. It works in DOOM/DOOM II up to 1.7 and all other DOOM engine based games.

Aleksej, are you referring to BLASTER or the environment variable parameters? Version 1.9 certainly supports these parameters, as it's using the effects on my system. If you haven't managed to get them to work on your Sound Blaster cards, it is possibly due to the same issue Csonicgo is having, which may be that some SB models don't support it.

CODOR said:
That reminds me, do Doom and/or DMX use the BLASTER environment variable in any way, or do they just rely on what's in the config file?

It's required for DOS, but if Windows (9x) provides access to sound separately and sound is working, that will work. That is what I think is happening on my computer, so on the same system I get Doom sounds and music in Windows 98 proper but not if I reboot to its DOS 7, where I have not set the variable.