----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | THE ARIA SUPPORT LIST VERSION 2.0 | | BY | | DANIEL R. TAURITZ | | 5 APRIL 1994 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- DISCLAIMER: This document is Public Domain and in no way is the author liable for any damage resulting from the use of the information contained in it. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUTHOR RIGHTS: The author reserves all rights to this document. Commercial use of the information contained in it requires explicit permission of the author. Parts of this document may be included in other Public Domain documents so long as the author is acknowledged. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- INDEX ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 - INTRODUCTION 1.0 - Why this list ? 1.1 - What's new ! 2 - AUDIO DRIVERS 2.0 - Audio drivers; what's it got to do with me ? 2.1 - Audio drivers revisited 2.2 - Audio drivers; the ARIA story 2.3 - Tips on tweaking programs to run in ARIA Native Mode 3 - COMPATIBILITY LISTS 3.0 - Audio File Players with ARIA Native Mode support 3.1 - Games that will run in ARIA Native Mode 3.2 - Games still to be tweaked 4 - HOW TO HELP 4.0 - Current problems & investigations 4.1 - What YOU can do to HELP ! (This section includes the author's E-mail address and must be considered the most important paragraph!) Appendix A: Locating ARIA sound drivers Appendix B: Locating ARIA related documents ============================================================================= === 1 - INTRODUCTION === ============================================================================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.0 - Why this list ? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This list is mainly (but not exclusively) of interest to owners of ARIA soundcards. For hardware oriented ARIA information see the ARIA FAQ by the same author. Information on acquiring the ARIA FAQ as well as any other ARIA related document the author is aware of can be found in Appendix B. The ARIA family of soundcards is expanding rapidly and because of the compatibility between the diverse family members via Sierra Semiconductor's ARIA chipset it's attractive for companies to include ARIA Native Mode support. However, this is a fairly recent development and it will take some time before all major companies support ARIA Native Mode; in the mean time, what is to be done with programs not supporting ARIA Native Mode? Multimedia programs tend to be written for MS-Windows, so no problem there. Most games however are written for MS-DOS. These games will almost always support SoundBlaster. ARIA SoundBlaster Emulation Mode is known for it's reliability, but if you have ever heard a game in both modes, you'll surely agree that ARIA Native Mode is very much to be preferred. This issue will be the main concern of this document. One thing one might now want to know is, which MS-DOS programs already support ARIA Native Mode? All programs with ARIA Native Mode support which the author is aware of are listed in paragraphs 3.0 & 3.1. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.1 - What's New ! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, I finally took the time to rewrite the complete document and start making it consistent with the info I received from David Topping which was written by John W. Ratcliff himself! For this major effort I rewarded myself by going to version 2.0 which is definately much more stimulating than going to version 1.3! One major change from version 1.2 is the deletion of all appendices that didn't really belong in this document. They have been included in the ARIA FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) by the same author. The separation of software versus hardware related ARIA issues was neccesary for two reasons. First of all the ARIA Support List is getting to be quite long and expanding the hardware related issues by adding more appendices would make it even longer. Secondly, the hardware related issues were delegated to appendices because this document is supposedly concerned with software support. This meant that hardware related issues were not getting the attention they should. Further I cleaned up paragraph 3.1 & appendix A. The trend seems to be to call the 'John Miles Design AIL drivers' AIL drivers and not MILES drivers, so for the time being I'll adhere to that. Also I think most confusion about the MIDPAK drivers has been cleared up. The major difference between a program using AIL drivers and a program using MIDPAK drivers as I define them, is simply that when using MIDPAK drivers you copy the AIL MIDI driver to a file called 'MIDPAK.ADV'. I also added a new appendix with info on other ARIA related documents, besides ofcourse adding more programs to the support lists! One of the new entries in the audio file players list is the XMI package. Try it, it produces awesome music! You can in the future find the newest versions of the list and the FAQ at the Internet site wuarchive, which can be reached as ftp.wustl.edu. The directory is /pub/MSDOS_UPLOADS/aria. I'm working on a collection of ARIA drivers to be uploaded to this directory. If you have an ARIA related program or document which you think should be included in this directory, then E-mail it (binary files uuencoded) to me for inclusion, assuming they are in the Public Domain (or shareware,giftware,etc. for the fussy people). I probably forgot to mention some people who also contributed material (please forgive me, the amount of mail I receive is no justification, but without doubt the cause of your misfortune, the best way to get mentioned is thus to send me so much useful material, that I just can't forget to mention you!). I didn't receive any new information from YOU concerning the 32-bit Sierra On-Line sound drivers, I'm still waiting. (If YOU are a Sierra On-Line employee, do you need another hint? My E-mail address is at the end of this document!) ============================================================================= === 2 - AUDIO DRIVERS === ============================================================================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.0 - Audio drivers; what's it got to do with me ? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, I guess you could just ignore this document and run a program in ARIA Native Mode when it supported it and otherwise in SoundBlaster Emulation Mode.....but even then there are programs known to cause trouble, so read on! First of all one can find a file called SB199.ZIP on the Diamond BBS which patches the ARIA DSP SoundBlaster emulation code so that the emulation in the games 'Comanche Maximum Overkill' (NovaLogic), 'Protostar' (Tsunami), 'Leather Goddesses of Phobos II' (Infocom), 'Bane of the Cosmic Forge' (SirTech) and 'Crusaders of the Dark Savant' (SirTech) is either fixed or improved. Also, there are some games which have problems with reproducing digital sound; in 'The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes' you don't hear any voices and in 'Kingmaker' (US Gold) the game freezes if you select voices on. Alas, I don't know of any solution for these last two and would welcome suggestions. That was pretty straight forward, wasn't it? The subject SoundBlaster emulation is hereby closed and we enter the realm of ARIA, beware..... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.1 - Audio drivers revisited ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Best of all are, of course, working ARIA Native Mode programs. I say working because some programs claim to support ARIA but don't deliver on their promises. Read this entire document and you'll begin to appreciate what I mean. Let's start with some general contemplation on how programs produce sound. First of all, every time a program is made the sound drivers could be hardcoded in the main program. This would produce compact programs with few support files. On the other hand, if there was a bug in the sound driver code, that driver could not simply be replaced with a fixed one; the main program, which is much bigger, would have to be replaced. Who cares about the size of a patch? Well, if I was using a modem to retrieve the patch from the BBS of the company that made the game I would care a lot! The logical thing to do is to separate the sound drivers from the main program and store them in different files. Programs which don't do this, but hardcode the sound drivers in the main program are almost impossible to adapt for new soundcards and thus not of interest to us. Adaptibility with respect to new soundcards is thus another reason for the separation of the sound drivers from the main program. Companies that use sound driver files tend to standardize them, thus enabling their reuse. In this way companies build up a standard audio driver library. This is very important for us, because adapting games for a new soundcard is only feasible if their sound drivers are standard ones which can be patched with a driver for our soundcard conforming to that standard. If you find a game from a company that uses its own standard audio driver library and that game supports your soundcard, you may try to patch earlier games with that driver. But there are many companies and audio driver libraries do not always evolve in such a way as to be compatible with previous editions. It would be the work of a lifetime to figure out which game to patch with which driver. Luckily there is one final thing to do which fortunately for us more and more companies are doing, and that is to use industry standard audio driver libraries, of which the John Miles Design AIL Audio Drivers Library is the most widespread (to my knowledge). In the rest of this document I'll refer to the ARIA John Miles Design AIL Audio Drivers as AIL drivers. Having companies conform more or less to one standard finally makes it feasible for us to try and patch games without ARIA Native Mode support with ARIA drivers from the standard library. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.2 - Audio drivers; the ARIA story ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- At the moment audio drivers are split up in two groups. The first group consists of music drivers which map MIDI music to a soundcard, either for FM synthesis or wavetable synthesis. Wavetable synthesis is the preferred option and thus of course what an ARIA soundcard does :-). The second group consists of sound drivers which map digital music to the DAC of a soundcard. For the mapping of MIDI there exists as far as I know only one standard music driver, the AIL MIDI driver, which comes in many flavors which are often modified by the companies that use them. For the sound driver mapping two standard drivers are available, the AIL driver, for ARIA called ARIADIG.ADV, and the DIGPAK driver made by John W. Ratcliff, for ARIA called ARIA.COM. The DIGPAK sound drivers are often used in combination with the AIL music drivers. In the cases where modified AIL drivers are used we are out of luck, except when a way is found to replace some of the original AIL drivers with ARIA AIL drivers. This may sound impractical, but it has been done for the Gravis Ultrasound Card for 'Dune II' (Westwood Studios) and for 'Land of Lore: The Throne of Chaos', so it is possible! One company which uses modified AIL drivers is Sierra On-Line (at least, so I've been told), one of the modified ARIA AIL editions is available on the Diamond BBS and works with games in the period 1992-'93, ranging from 'King's Quest VI' to 'Larry Suit Larry VI'. Alas, Sierra On-Line is using new 32-bit modified AIL drivers in their new games, for instance 'Police Quest IV' and an ARIA driver has still to be released to my knowledge. A company which adheres more closely to the AIL library is Maxis. For instance 'SimCity Classic' and 'SimFarm' can be patched without any trouble. And in their newest creation, 'SimCity 2000' there is even native ARIA support using the new 32-bit flat mode ARIA AIL drivers. Assuming they are not modified they could be useful for patching other games in the future! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.3 - Tips on tweaking programs to run in ARIA Native Mode ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Why is nobody reacting to this paragraph? Is it totally unintelligible, or are all of you just lazy and prefer to let me do all the work? After you read this section you have no excuse anymore for not responding, you have been warned! The drivers needed for the tweaking can be located using the information in Appendix A. First of all see if there are *.ADV files, if there are, try replacing for example SBFM.ADV with ARIAXMID.ADV and if present SBDIG.ADV with ARIADIG.ADV. If SBDIG.ADV is not present you should check for SBLASTER.COM, they might be using AIL drivers in combination with DIGPAK drivers. If so, replace SBLASTER.COM with ARIA.COM. If after trying all combinations you could think of you haven't had any success, try replacing SBFM.ADV with ARIATSR.ADV. This is not the prefered method because you then need to use MIDITSR.EXE which takes up memory, but sometimes this is the only driver that will work. If you have success replacing the SoundBlaster drivers you might want to try replacing different drivers till you have found the replacement which gives the best audio quality. The best way of getting tweaking into your fingers is first trying out the programs mentioned in the compatibility list without reading the instructions. Then try some games which have not been mentioned. If you get them to work E-mail me about it of course! And finally try to solve some of the problems mentioned in paragraph 3.2, thus ensuring yourself of an honourable mention in the 'What's new ?' section of the next update! Happy tweaking to you all! ============================================================================= === 3 - COMPATIBILITY LISTS === ============================================================================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.0 - Audio File Players with ARIA Native Mode support ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive name File name Internet location ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- XMI Package xmi.arj archive.epas.utoronto.ca:/pub/pc/ultrasound/game The following info was extracted from 'IBM Mod Players Compared!', a regular posting on comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard from Randy K. Abel. Some of the Internet locations were kindly submitted to me by David Topping. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Program name File name Internet location ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digital Mus Player dmplay99.* ftp.cdrom.com:/pub/os2/incoming Digital Player dpp101.* ? Dual-Mod Player dmp289.* ftp.wustl.edu:/pub/MSDOS_UPLOADS/modplayers MultiPlayer multp300.* ftp.uwp.edu:/pub/msdos/modplayers Prot. Mod Player pmp232.* ? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.1 - Games that will run in ARIA Native Mode ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here following is a list of MS-DOS games and the available ARIA support associated with them. The drivers needed to patch the games indicated which do not have native ARIA support can be located using the information in Appendix A. The instructions for patching the games follows after the list. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- GAME TITLE | ARIA SUPPORT ------------------------------------------|---------------------------------- Darkhalf (Capstone) | 1) Dark Queen of Krynn (SSI) | AIL Darksun (SSI) | Native Destination: Mars! | 5) DinosaurAdventure3D[CD](KnowledgeAdventure) Native (Sound reported too soft) Dune 2 (Westwood Studios) | 6) Fantasy Empires (SSI) | Native FreddyPharkas,FrontierPharmacist (Sierra) | Sierra16 GabrielKnight:TheSinsOfTheFathers(Sierra) | Sierra32 Gateworld v1.70 (Homebrewsoftware) | Native, but they forgot GMx.BNK Gateworld v1.80 (Homebrewsoftware) | ??? Jonny's Quest (Hana Barbera) | 4) Kasparov's Gambit Chess (EA) | Native, but no digital sound..... King's Quest VI (Sierra) | Sierra16 Leisure Suit Larry VI (Sierra) | Sierra16 Master of Orion (MPS) | 7) Metal&Lace:TheBattleOfTheRoboBabes(Megatech)| Native Monopoly Deluxe 1.5 (Virgin) | 2) Pickle Wars | MIDPAK + DIGPAK Police Quest IV (Sierra) | Sierra32 Quater Pole (Microleague) | Native, but they forgot GMx.BNK Quest for Glory III (Sierra) | Sierra16 Rebel Assault [CD-ROM] | Native Return to Zork < v3.2 (Activision) | 3) Return to Zork >= v3.2 (Activision) | Native SealTeam (Electronic Arts) | AIL SimCity 2000 (Maxis) | Native SimCity Classic 2.0 (Maxis) | AIL SimFarm (Maxis) | AIL Space Quest V (Sierra) | Sierra16 Strike Commander | No difference between SB & ARIA ? Terminator Rampage (Bethesda Softworks) | Native The Beverly Hillbillies | MIDPAK + DIGPAK The Black Gate (Ultima 7) | No difference between SB & ARIA ? The Seventh Guest [CD-ROM] | AIL (t7gfix3.zip) Trump Castle III SVGA (Capstone) | MIDPAK + DIGPAK Ultima Underworld; The final Abyss | AIL (The intro freezes) Warlords II | AIL + DIGPAK When Two World War (Impressions) | Native + Aria Listener Support !! World War II | MIDPAK + DIGPAK ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Special tweak instructions ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) Darkhalf: Install the MIDPAK drivers and then execute the following commands, 'COPY IBMBAK.COM SBLASTER.COM' and 'COPY MIDPAK.ADV SBFM.ADV'. Now copy MIDPAK.COM from GateWorld v1.70 over MIDPAK.COM in the Darkhalf directory. The music will now play in ARIA Native Mode, digital sound via the IBM Speaker. 2) Monopoly Deluxe v1.5: In MONOPOLY.BAT set 'mp DIGI=ARIADIG.ADV MIDI=ARIAXMID.ADV SCORE=1' 3) Return to Zork: Copy GMx.BNK to the directory in which RTZ is located and choose in the install program SoundBlaster for music & sound. Then copy ARIAXMID.ADV over DRIVERS\ADLIB.ADV and ARIA.COM over DRIVERS\SBLASTER.COM 4) Jonny's Quest: Copy GMx.BNK to the directory in which Jonny's Quest is located and copy ARIA.COM to DRIVERS\ARIA.COM. Now execute the soundsetup program and select ARIA for Midi & Sound. 5) 'Destination: Mars!': Copy GMx.BNK and MIDITSR.EXE to the directory in which Mission to Mars is located and copy ARIA.COM over SBLASTER.COM. Copy ARIATSR.ADV over SBFM.ADV and if this is the first time you are going to use these new settings, execute 'DEL *.DRV'. Before playing always start by executing 'MIDITSR GMx.BNK. Now you can execute 'MARS' and the first time you are asked for sound settings, select SoundBlaster. 6) Dune 2: Use the GUS Patch 'dune2ail' with ARIATSR.ADV copied over GF1MIDI.ADV. Then add MTx.BNK. Whenever you want to play the game first execute the command 'MIDTSR MTx.BNK'. Note: This only enables MIDI music, digital sound effects and speech still need some tweaking. 7) Master of Orion: Use the GUS Patch 'masterof' with ARIATSR.ADV copied over GF1MIDI.ADV. Then add MTx.BNK. Whenever you want to play the game first execute the command 'MIDTSR MTx.BNK'. Note: This only enables MIDI music, digital sound effects still need some tweaking. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: Exhaustive tests were undertaken by the author using a Diamond Sonic Sound soundcard with 0.5 MB of ROM to verify the information here presented. This doesn't guarantee anything at all! If your ARIA soundcard reacts differently then let me know. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Installing the drivers ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- AIL drivers ----------- 1. Select SoundBlaster (or if not available, AdLib) in the game configuration 2. Copy ARIAXMID.ADV over ADLIB.ADV and SBFM.ADV 3. Copy ARIADIG.ADV over SBDIG.ADV 4. Make sure GMx.BNK (x=1: 0.5 MB ROM; x=2: 1 MB ROM) is in the directory from which you launch the game. MIDPAK drivers -------------- 1. Select SoundBlaster (or if not available, AdLib) in the game configuration 2. Copy ARIAXMID.ADV over ADLIB.ADV, SBFM.ADV and MIDPAK.ADV 3. Make sure GMx.BNK (x=1: 0.5 MB ROM; x=2: 1 MB ROM) is in the directory from which you launch the game. SIERRA drivers -------------- 1. Copy GENARIA.DRV, AUDARIA.DRV, GMxBNK (x=1: 0.5 MB ROM; x=2: 1 MB ROM) and MIDITSR.EXE to the game directory 2. Edit RESOURCE.CFG so it reads GENARIA.DRV for music and AUDARIA for audio 3. In the future before launching the game execute the following statement: 'MIDITSR GMx.BNK', or if memory allows 'LH MIDITSR GMx.BNK'. (It is possible to edit INSTALL.HLP instead of RESOURCE.CFG and add an ARIA entry which you can then select in the future.) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.2 - Games still to be tweaked ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- BattleChess 4000 Freezes after intro music when using MILES drivers, unless you disable the sound effects. Darkhalf How to trick the game into playing digital sound in ARIA Native Mode? Copying the ARIA DIGPAK driver over SBLASTER.COM locks the game up... Discoveries of the Deep (Capstone) How to trick the game into playing digital sound in ARIA Native Mode? Copying the ARIA DIGPAK driver over SBLASTER.COM locks the game up... Dune 2 (Westwood Studios) How to get digital music out of the game? Eye of Beholder III Fails to detect the music hardware and defaults to SoundBlaster emulation when using MILES drivers. Football Pro Why doesn't the combination MIDITSR + Sierra drivers work? Forgotten Realms: Dungeon Hack 4.2.3 (SSI) Looks like MILES/AIL + DIGPAK drivers, but something strange was done... the game locks up at start if tweaked. Lands of Lore There is a GUS Patch, but no ARIA Patch and substituting the ARIA Miles drivers for the GUS Miles drivers doesn't work. Master of Orion How to get digital music out of the game? Monopoly Deluxe v1.5 (Virgin) When the figures are moving on the board there is no digital sound... Sam & Max Hit The Road Besides needing the DIGPAK drivers, the MILES drivers don't seem to have any effect at all. Prophecy of the Shadow Sound hardware not found at startup. Strike Squad (Mindcraft) Only digital sound support, what happened to the music support? The Legend of Kyrandia (Westwood Studios) When using MILES drivers (replacing the MT32MPU.ADV file) the game goes slower and slower till it finally freezes. Tom Landry's Strategy Football When using MILES drivers it freezes during startup. Walls of Rome (Mindcraft) Only digital sound support, what happened to the music support? ============================================================================= === 4 - HOW TO HELP === ============================================================================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.0 - Current problems & investigations ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- a) All the problems mentioned in paragraph 3.2 are under investigation ! b) What's happening with the Sierra On-Line 32-bit ARIA sound drivers ? c) Are there any PD/shareware programs on the Internet using ARIA drivers ? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.1 - What YOU can do to HELP (Presuming you are an ARIA soundcard owner; but why else would you be reading this?) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you know more about one of the problems mentioned in paragraph 4.0 or can add insights not yet included in this document, for example info about other programs or ARIA drivers, then please E-mail the information to: tauritz@stpc.wi.leidenuniv.nl and hopefully it will be included in a most irregular update of this document! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Appendix A: Locating ARIA sound drivers ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- AIL The 16-bit ARIA AIL drivers, called ARIAXMID.ADV & ARIADIG.ADV, can be found, among other places, in t7gfix3.zip which is to be found on the following Internet sites according to various Archies: freebsd.cdrom.com:/.1/cdrom ftp.ccu.edu.tw:/pub/msdos/games/Patches ftp.technion.ac.il:/pub/unsupported/cdrom-info ftp.uwp.edu:/pub/games/uml/Patches ftp.wustl.edu:/systems/ibmpc/ultrasound/game src.doc.ic.ac.uk:/computing/archiving/cdrom/cdrom-archive The 32-bit flat-mode ARIA AIL drivers, called A32ARXM.DLL & A32ARDG.DLL, are included with the games, 'SimCity 2000' (Maxis) and 'Fantasy Empires' (SSI). BETA TSR DRIVERS On the Computer Peripherals BBS (+1 805 499 9646, FYI) one can find a beta driver package for the ViVa Maestro 16 soundcard which includes some of the files mentioned in this appendix and in addition a file called 'ARIATSR.ADV', an ARIA AIL driver which can sometimes be used in conjunction with the program MIDITSR when all other options fail, as for instance is the case with the games 'Mission to Mars', 'Dune 2' and 'Master of Orion'. DIGPAK ARIA.COM can be found included with the following games: Title Company ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kasparov's Gambit Chess Electronic Arts Return to Zork (Version 3.2 and higher) Activision Strike Squad Mindcraft Walls of Rome Mindcraft GENERAL MIDI BANKS GM1.BNK & GM2.BNK should be included with all ARIA soundcards, but just in case, you can find them included with the AIL drivers. SIERRA The 16-bit Sierra drivers can be found, among other places, in fparia.zip, which is to be found on the Diamond BBS. The Diamond BBS can be reached at 408 730-1100 (2400 Baud) and 408 524-9301 (9600+ Baud). The 32-bit Sierra drivers don't exist yet to my knowledge. If they do exist, or you have any info about when they will come into existence, please let me know! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Appendix B: Locating ARIA related documents ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Document | Internet site (Anonymous FTP) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ARIA FAQ by Daniel R. Tauritz | ftp.wustl.edu:/pub/MSDOS_UPLOADS/aria/ | afaq0_1.zip ARIA Support List by Daniel | ftp.wustl.edu:/pub/MSDOS_UPLOADS/aria/ R. Tauritz | alist1_2.zip comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard FAQ | rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet-by-group/comp.sys. | ibm.pc.soundcard/c.s.i.p.s_F ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================================================= === Greetings to all ARIA soundcard owners from === === Daniel R. Tauritz (tauritz@stpc.wi.leidenuniv.nl) === === and hoping to hear from you soon! === =============================================================================