ZC 2.10 and 2.50 - No sound on Win98SE

[Edmond Dantes]

So I tried to install and run these versions of ZC on a Win98SE computer, and both ran fine--just, no sound or music.

I saw another thread about this, but in THAT thread the problem was volume. THAT IS NOT THE CASE WITH MY PROBLEM. I checked the Allegro.log file and it outright states that the sound initialization failed and no sound driver was loaded.

I can't believe that its just a Windows98 problem, considering 2.10 has a DOS version and if it were the OS, the game wouldn't run at all, not run crippled.

So anyone have any advice that I could try?

Thanks in advance.

[Tamamo]

First: It's not the 90's update your fucking OS already. :p
Second: I need to put on some pants, go find me some.
Third: Try playing a midi file, if that works it's probably an allegro issue.

[Edmond Dantes]

1. Not my computer, actually trying to install it to play at my dad's. Since the game otherwise works fine I doubt the OS is the problem.
2. Can't help ya there.
3. Like I said, I've already seen the suggestions about playing wav or midi files or adjusting volume, but its not that. Every other program on this system plays sound just fine. Also the allegro.log file in both ZC version's directories outright says that the sound driver didn't load, so yeah its definitely an allegro issue.

[CJC]

Mero, stop making bad first impressions! 0_0

I don't know for sure what the problem is as I'm not one of the programming staff, but it seems odd that Allegro would have compatibility issues since it is supposed to be backwards compatible to 1996, at least according to its official documentation. Maybe Saffith or Gleeok knows what's happening here.

[SUCCESSOR]

Weren't there work arounds for this stuff back in the olden days? I remember having a wacky time getting ZC to work in Win98. Have you tried compatibility options? Updating DirectX? ... spinning in your computer chair til you are dzzy then trying again?

[Gleeok]

Welp, I looked but I don't know what's going on there. Unfortunately you're the first person to have this problem so there's no additional info on 'what went wrong' that prints to allegro.log.

Do you have a sound driver installed?


[edit] On the off chance that allegro prints anything useful; could you open up the allegro.log file and see if there's any hint as to why this happens?

[Edmond Dantes]

Weren't there work arounds for this stuff back in the olden days? I remember having a wacky time getting ZC to work in Win98. Have you tried compatibility options? Updating DirectX? ... spinning in your computer chair til you are dzzy then trying again?

What's the highest DirectX that 98SE can go? It's got 8.1 on there already. 98se also doesn't have compatibility mode, except for DOS, and I'm trying to use the Windows version.

I actually spun a chair so hard it broke once. I don't wanna repeat that experience ;)

Gleeok - I'll try a few other things and save the allegro.log for each time to see what it says, then I'll post it here.

[Chris Miller]

98SE can use up to DirectX 9.0c.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=34429

[Gleeok]

allegro uses mostly legacy DirectX (DX3-7) anyway since it's a 1999-ish c library.

[Tamamo]

What Soundcard does your computer do use. Chances are Allegro and less likely DirectX might not even Support it.

[Edmond Dantes]

Gleeok and Mero - This comp has a Soundblaster 16. Old card, but its gotten a lot of good mileage (even very late Windows 98 games like Half-Life and Red Faction are fine with it)

Hard to believe that ZC is working fine on a Windows 7 laptop and not the comp it sounds like it was designed for.

[Tamamo]

Ah Good ole Soundblaster. I had a Soundblaster 16 almost 2 decades ago I think lol. Try running the DOS version as this use to be a DOS program.

Fun fact I had this same problem back when ZC got ported to windows. Had to stick with the dos version.

[Chris Miller]

This is a long shot, but try running agsetup.exe to configure the sound card for DOS. That ought to work in 98 as well.

Just unzip that into your 2.10 folder and run it.
http://www.mediafire.com/download/tlvteh6yht2i7i2/agsetup.zip

[Edmond Dantes]

I'm surprised it took me this long to think of this, but:


First: It's not the 90's update your fucking OS already. :p

Isn't that a little like saying "It's not 1987 anymore, you should be playing Skyward Sword"? :P

Anyway, I tried using the agsetup program. Also tried installing Direct X 9. Neither helped. So the only thing was using the DOS version of 2.10. That's not quite perfect either tho--particularly, I tried running the quest "The Longest Journey" and for some reason, when the quest starts up, a pair of tones play and then I can't make Link move... but I can call down the item menu. This doesn't happen with the built-in quest, and another quest by the same author (a remake of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link) has the same two-tones but after a second, Link can move, tho it seems like he gets momentarily paralyzed on each screen.

Doesn't happen when I play ZC 2.50 on my laptop, so it seems like I'm confined to doing so. That kinda sucks, but then this desktop has so many other games it can play that the laptop can't, I guess it balances out.

[Tamamo]

Quote Originally Posted by Mero View Post
First: It's not the 90's update your fucking OS already. :p
Isn't that a little like saying "It's not 1987 anymore, you should be playing Skyward Sword"?

That was a joke... I happen to like the 90s.
RUNNING IN THE 90S LOL!

Yes as I thought, it's your soundcard and your sol.

[Edmond Dantes]

That was a joke... I happen to like the 90s.

Me too, but not as much as the 80s.

Oh well, I guess ZC will be the killer app for my laptop, since otherwise I have no games for it I wouldn't rather play on a desktop.