GUS Daily Digest Sat, 4 Dec 93 007 Volume 9: Issue 4 Today's Topics: Blake Stone, Doom Dvorak on GUS Epic Pinball Sound FX European Registration (4 msgs) File on Mailserver has errors/doesn't work! Frontpage Sports Football Gabriel Knight, a Sierra protest letter. GUS<->OS/2 2.1 GUS and OS/1 (2 msgs) GUS and OS/2 GUS Daily Digest V9 #3 GUS with SVGA Air Warrior How to reduce Disk space when Sampling Leisure Suit Larry 6 Megaem vs. Ultramid Pistol2 and other patches? SBOS v 2.06 ShadowCaster Syndicate with SB/GUS or SBOS Windows WAV Recording... X-wing pistol patch Standard Info: - Meta-info about the GUS can be found at the end of the Digest. - Before you ask a question, please READ THE FAQ. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 03 Dec 93 20:07:13 EST From: Keith M McIntyre-Ellis <75330.3255@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Blake Stone, Doom Greetings fellow GUSers- Well, today (Dec. 3) Apogee released their eagerly awaited (and two-months advertised as available) follow-up to Wolfenstein: "Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold." What do I think? Great Game! Sound Sucks! Like all Apogee games, Blake Stone supports only SB and Ad Lib. Good news: works just peachy with SBOS ver. 2.08. Look, iD will release DOOM next week (Dec. 10th), and it will have a next-generation game engine AND native GUS support. (It's even rumored to possibly have GUS 3D sound support in the commercial version.) As good as Blake is, with the Ultrawolf patch out there, and then DOOM sounding great on the GUS- AND all this recent and upcoming favorable press on the GUS (Dvorak, no less)- Apogee is not going to look OR SOUND sound so good compared to others. (SimCity 2000 will also be realesed next week with GUS native supprot) We'll see if Apogee et al. realize that the GUS is the future of sound cards... -Keith Keith McIntyre-Ellis, kmellis@santafe,edu OR CIS user # 75330,3255 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 03 Dec 1993 07:18:23 -0600 (CST) From: Hard On The Beaver Subject: Dvorak on GUS | From: IN%"gus-general@dsd.es.com" 3-DEC-1993 02:33:52.83 | Subj: GUS Daily Digest V9 #3 | 16 bit sampling will probably mostly be a marketing gimick in the | months ahead. Really, how many of you out there want to sample at | 16 bits at 44.1K for anything but just "playing around on your | own"? I certainly wouldn't. (Although it would* have been nice) Just because YOU wont doesnt mean someone will! I plan on installing another HD for the purpose of using my Computer as a virtual DAT Machine. So yes I NEED 44.1k 16bit samples !!!! | | So what do I think SOMEONE will come out with soon? | | o Up to 8 meg DRAM based Wavetable Synthesis | using 1 meg SIMS or 1meg x 4 DIPs. At least 1 meg standard. If they do Ill be getting rid of the GUS and going with this. But I love my GUS so GRAVIS! Make that GUS max use SIMMS and expandable to at least 8 meg! | | o Includes Roland GS and MT32 support in HARDWARE. (Hopefully 100% | compatible.) | | o Have it as affordable as the GUS. I'd pay extra... Jacque Bussey U of Arkansas, Little Rock Gus Head! ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 03 Dec 1993 20:28:26 -0200 From: ADALBERTO@VORTEX.UFRGS.BR Subject: Epic Pinball Sound FX Hi Is it normal that Epic Pinball's SFX comes out only from the left speaker while the music comes from both? Jorge P. Vasquez AKA Zorro / Kriptonite ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Dec 93 11:00:11 EET From: aarnio@tele.nokia.fi (Ilari Aarnio) Subject: Re: European Registration >From: Mark Bullen >Subject: European Registration .. >Are there any other Euro-gussers out there who've been receiving update >disks from Gravis? Will Logitech pass on my registration details to Gravis? >Do Logitech distribute the update disks in Europe on behalf of Gravis? .. >My friend's GUS didn't have a registration card in the box, he telephoned >the mail order company that he bought it from and they took his details and >said that they'd register him. He hasn't received any update disks since he >bought his gus in May '93 -- I had to ftp'd the 2.06L disks for him. My registration card was also missing. I sent a photocopy of a registration card, the receipt of purchase and a note explaining why I didn't have the original registration card to Logitech at Switzerland. Just few weeks ago I received my bonus disk. So I guess you can count on Logitech. Ilari Aarnio (aarnio@tele.nokia.fi) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1993 10:18:14 MET-1METDST From: Rene den Hertog Subject: Re: European Registration > Being a `European Customer' I guess that I should send my card to Logitech > in Switzerland, but I'm not sure that I'll get put on Gravis' distribution > list for update disks :-( After buying a GUS in may '93 and registering through Logitech in Switserland I received the 2.06 update packet after five weeks, complete with an apologoy for late delivery. Wasn't necessary for me..... Good work !!!! Also special thanks to all the people who keep the ftp-sites running........THANK YOU VERY MUCH...... Rene den Hertog Erasmus university Rotterdam, the Netherlands denhertog@coh.fgg.eur.nl ------------------------------ Date: Fri Dec 3 11:01:14 1993 From: (Alexander Kerkhove,HTS-E) Subject: European Registration Message-ID: <9312031101.aa23913@htshlo.HZeeland.nl> It's ok to mail your registration card to Logitech in Switserland. I live in Holland and did it my self, altough it took a while I received my Software upgrade disks a few weeks ago. They where send from Switserland but the envelope and every other thing where all directly from Gravis in Canada. So don't hesitate and maio them today.. Alexander. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 03 Dec 1993 10:13:58 GMT From: Clarke Brunt Subject: Re: European Registration I too was worried whether sending my GUS registration card to Logitech in Switzerland (which is what it said for European customers) would do any good. This was back in the early part of 1993. I sent it to Switzerland, but also faxed a copy to Gravis Canada. The result of this was a set of disks from the place I bought it (Optech, in England) without Recording Session etc, followed by full 2.06 direct from Gravis Canada (interspersed with sets that I had ftp'ed!). Could Gravis please reassure us whether posting cards off to Switzerland is still a good idea - you can understand our reservations at sending them off somewhere that seems even further from Canada than we are! ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1993 05:47:12 -0700 (MST) From: "Christopher M Potash" <25636@ef.gc.maricopa.edu> Subject: File on Mailserver has errors/doesn't work! Aaargh! The file on the GUS FTP-Mailserver called OBSESS.ZIP in the gus/demo/ directory has errors and does not work! (Yes I tried PkZipFix but it has no effect) 1) Can somebody please tell me (via email, don't want to waste any Digest space for this after this message) how to get this message to the appropraite people so they can remove this from the Mailserver and/or fix this? 2) Can someone, the person(s) who originally uploaded it or otherwise, please upload a correct and working version of this file and notify me via e-mail of the filename so I can download it? (This file is described as "Black Rain's Obsession demo with Ultrasound support".) Thanks very much in advance to any and all who reply to me via e-mail to part #1 and/or who help with part#2!! God bless, Chris- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- <<>> < From the desk of: Christopher M. Potash aka 25636@ef.gc.maricopa.edu > < "I call heaven and earth today to witness against you; > < I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. > < CHOOSE LIFE, then, that you and your descendants may live" Deut 30:19 > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1993 11:36:54 -0700 (MST) From: Derek the Dweebosaurus Subject: Frontpage Sports Football I managed to get FPS Football (not pro) working with Megaem. Just select Soundblaster for you audio/digitized source. There are no more of those annoying echoes. However, you won't get any music which is too bad but since the music is not part of the actual playing part of the game (it's only in the menus) for me it was a satisfactory trade off. Alternatively you could use Megaem and select Roland/MT-32, but you won't get the digitized sounds. Just make sure you have enough EMS to load Megaem AND FPS because it locked up for me with Megaem until I managed to re-configure to get more EMS. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1993 11:39:48 +0500 (EST) From: Gunnar Swanson Subject: Gabriel Knight, a Sierra protest letter. This is a copy of a letter I sent to Sierra regarding lack of GUS support of Gabriel Knight. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1993 11:23:34 +0500 (EST) From: Gunnar Swanson To: 76004.214@compuserve.com Subject: Gabriel Knight and lack of GUS support! To Whom It May Concern, I am writing to express my extreme disappointment and displeasure with Sierra's decision to change its sound driver engine and exclude support for the Gravis Ultra-Sound. Sierra had gained my respect and admiration for publishing AIL drivers that would make its games backward compatible with the GUS. However, I consider the new sound engine for Gabiel Knight which lacks GUS support a slap in the face to all GUS owners (I was actually considering purchasing Gabriel Knight). How can you expect us to support a company that promises to support GUS owners and then renigs on that promise. Unless the situation regarding GUS support changes in the near furture Sierra will not be seeing any profits made from purchases by me. I hope that Sierra will change its policy regarding the Gravis Ultra-Sound and give us the support that we have been asking for so that we can put Sierra back on the list of our prefered software companies. Thank you for your attention to these concerns. Sincerely, Gunnar Swanson gunnar@gibbs.oit.unc.edu end. ------------------------------ Date: 3 Dec 93 18:43:44 +0100 From: Tom Skoglund Subject: GUS<->OS/2 2.1 Hello ! I have a few questions about GUS <-> OS/2 2.1: - I have a GUS-card with CD-ROM interface (daugther-board) and a Panasonic CR-562B CD-ROM. I wonder if there is support for this setup for OS/2 2.1 ? - I would also like to know when and where I may get GUS-drivers for OS/2. Tom Skoglund E-mail: Toso@oscar.bbb.no ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 03 Dec 93 12:46:22 +0000 From: rds@ukc.ac.uk Subject: Re: GUS and OS/1 >Date: Thu, 2 Dec 1993 09:53:46 -0500 (EST) >From: msciriol@eos.ncsu.edu >Subject: GUS and OS/1 > >Does any one know if the GUS windows drivers will work with the recently >released OS/2 for Windows? I was thinking about installing this, but was >curious if I would lose windows gus support when I did. I haven't had a >chance to look at the manuals for Win/OS2 yet, so if this is an obvious >question please excuse me. > >Thanks! > > - Mike Cirioli No OS/2 for Windows will not work with the GUS Window driver, for the same reasons both OS/2 and WinNT will not work with the GUS Windows driver; that is the GUS Windows driver use a VxD (ultra???.386) Robert P.S. Gravis please release an OS/2 driver, your loosing a lot of potential customers because there are no GUS drivers. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1993 09:20:15 -0800 (PST) From: Mark Harrison Subject: Re: GUS and OS/1 > Date: Thu, 2 Dec 1993 09:53:46 -0500 (EST) > From: msciriol@eos.ncsu.edu > Subject: GUS and OS/1 > > Does any one know if the GUS windows drivers will work with the recently > released OS/2 for Windows? I was thinking about installing this, but was > curious if I would lose windows gus support when I did. I haven't had a > chance to look at the manuals for Win/OS2 yet, so if this is an obvious > question please excuse me. No. The GUS won't work with OS/2 for Windows because it still doesn't support VDX's. We'll just have to wait for someone to write OS/2 drivers. I just don't buy that s*** about Gravis working on them any more. They say that they print the digest each and every day and hang it up in the office. So how come they can't tell us something more than what they said last year. Great, they're working on them. We'll I won't hold my breath. Mark ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Dec 93 8:49:49 CST From: wiegand@void.rtsg.mot.com (Robert Wiegand) Subject: Re: GUS and OS/2 > Does any one know if the GUS windows drivers will work with the recently > released OS/2 for Windows? I was thinking about installing this, but was > curious if I would lose windows gus support when I did. I haven't had a > chance to look at the manuals for Win/OS2 yet, so if this is an obvious > question please excuse me. The GUS Windows drivers will *not* work with OS/2 for Windows. OS/2 for Windows doesn't support the VxD drivers (the same as standard OS/2). ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1993 14:23:37 -0500 From: TOMMYLEE@uhura.trinity.toronto.edu Subject: Re: GUS Daily Digest V9 #3 >Date: Thu, 2 Dec 93 02:28:17 -0800 >From: mbarboni@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (Real Athletes Throw! ) >Subject: Leisure Suit Larry 6 > >Yesterday's Digest mentioned how LSL6 by Sierra was running fine... >how? Did you run the "GUSDRV.COM" program to unpack sierra's gus drivers? It includes Ultramid 1.03 (though I use 1.05) and the sierra gus files. If you used the version of the Sierra drivers found on EPAS, they might be different from the ones that came with the game (though I haven't checked...) >------------- >Date: Thu, 2 Dec 93 16:05:11 -0300 >From: "Scott Giberson" >Subject: uuencoding > >Hello. Is there any program for PC's that removes uuencoding, that is >on the mail server? I have uuexe521.zip, which seems to be encoded, >and I am unable to FTP files at this time. >Any help would be greatly appreciated. You need to get UUEXE521.ZIP. Everything you get through FTPmail (except for text files) will be encoded with this program, since you can't send binary files through email. The best way for you to get this file is to call a local bbs, or get a friend to call one for you. >----------- >Date: Fri, 3 Dec 93 06:20:00 BST >From: b.williams44@genie.geis.com >Subject: Word Of Warning! > >Hello all, > I have a Word of Warning for all GUS owners thinking about buying > Sierra's new game Gabriel Knight "Sins of the Fathers". >DON'T!!!!!!!! I did and Came to find out that almost 2 Months after >Sierra released their version of the GUSAIL Drivers for their games, >that they have changed the sound Drivers for this game from SCI-16 >to SCI-32. So MEGA-EM, SBOS, GUSAIL, none of them now work with this >new game!:( Does Leisure Suit Larry 6 use SCI-32 drivers? If it does, maybe you could copy the gus drivers from this game over to Gabriel Knight. If it doesn't, well, then presumably Sierra is committed to the GUS, and drivers will come out shortly. Damn, I was looking forward to getting this game too... Larry 6 works fine though... Hmm... What was Sierra's internet address again? :) Tommy... ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1993 22:08:03 +1100 (EST) From: Tony Molina Subject: GUS with SVGA Air Warrior Is there anybody out there playing SVGA Air Warrior with a Gravis Ultrasound Card? What has worked best for you, SBOS or better yet have you been able to use the new Megaem (doesn't seem to work here). The latest (beta) of the game 1.13c uses what the programmers call "standard sound drivers", they end in .DLL (A32SBDG.DLL). A hex dump of this file shows the Miles design group copyright messages inside. Replacing the driver with the .ADV drivers and using Ultramid causes the system to crash. I suspect that the version of the Miles drivers that SVGA Air Warrior are 32 bit drivers (SVGA AW is a '386/'486 only program) which may be the reason the GUS .ADV drivers (16 bit only?) won't work with it. I'm currently speaking to the lead programmer of SVGA Air Warrior trying to solve this problem with the GUS. Anybody out there with some Miles driver knowledge who can shed some light on the problem? btw. SVGA Air Warrior is a protected mode program so Megaem cannot be used with it either. Cheers, tony@ariel.unimelb.its.edu.au ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1993 12:33:55 -0600 (CST) From: MBV4741@SUMMA.TAMU.EDU Subject: How to reduce Disk space when Sampling Just A Thought, If Gravis is listning, think about this. I just bought this summer a Sony MiniDisc (If anyone has the cash to drop its great, the wave of the future) and it has an interesting feature. It samples at 16 bits and 44.1 Khz which is CD quality, but it takes up 1/8 the disk space. For 1 minute of music it uses 2.5 MB. Compared to 16 Mb for a CD or the recording software we have now (GoldWave, Windows Recorder (YUCK!), etc.). With compression tachniques we can redu we can reduce the amount of space to 8 Mb, still alot of space. The Reason the MiniDisc uses less space is that it uses a technique called ATRAC. This a phsycoacoustic recording system, that only records the soe sounds we can hear. This cuts down tremendously on the amount of space that is n is needed, thats why one MiniDisc that holds only 145 Mb of music can play almost as long as a regular CD that holds upwards of 630 Mb. ( A side note think about a disk that holds 145 Mb of information that only costs $13, thats the MiniDisc. Bye, Bye 1.44 Mb 3.5 Floppies. The MiniDisc, by the way is only 2.5 inches wide and its a magneto-optical disk.) My point is that Gravis or whoever can develop software that does the same thing as a ATRAC. ATRAC is only a algorithm embedded in the MiniDisc P Player's onboard memory. Whoever develops a decent system first will be rich beyond their dreams(listning Gravis, huh?). To alleviate your concerns the music from the MiniDisc sounds almost as a good as CD, hard to tell the difference. Think about it CD quality music, less wasted Hard disk space, and longer music. Next I'll ask for Optical-Digital inputs and Outputs....... MATT VOSS __________________________________________________________________________ Pickin' Cotton in Dallas Three Straight years, How Sweet it is, Gig'em Ags! And How about those Rockets 15 Straight...... ------------------------------ Date: Fri Dec 3 11:05:55 1993 From: (Alexander Kerkhove,HTS-E) Subject: Leisure Suit Larry 6 Message-ID: <9312031106.aa23992@htshlo.HZeeland.nl> I had the same trouble with larry 6. I forgot to decompress the Audiofiles. There is a file called something like AUDECMP.EXE. Rus this and it starts decompressing the resource.sfx file. It sould be about 3.2 Megs after decompression. Hope it works for you. Alexander ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1993 11:43:00 -0700 (MST) From: Derek the Dweebosaurus Subject: Megaem vs. Ultramid >I posted a question about this about a week ago but got no replies. I >was trying out the new Megaem and Sierra drivers with the demo version >of Freddy Pharkas. Here is where it gets interesting... With Megaem and >SD DAC enabled I got lovely birds tweeting in the background etc. With >the Sierra GUS drivers, all was quiet. Really strange! Any comments? Yeah. I found that with Megaem and SBOS for KQ6 you get a lot of sound effects such as the ocean waves, etc. that you do not get with Ultramid. However, the music with Megaem is kind of bad. Somehow, the notes are not sustained so you get a staccato type xylophone-like music rather than orchestral-like with reverberations, if you understand me at all. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1993 11:41:46 +0500 (EST) From: Gunnar Swanson Subject: Pistol2 and other patches? Fellow GUSers, I was wondering where I might find all of thos patches that people seem to be substituting and how one goes about doing this. Thanks for any assistance. Sincerely, Gunnar Swanson gunnar@gibbs.oit.unc.edu end. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1993 15:43:34 +0500 (EST) From: Gunnar Swanson Subject: SBOS v 2.06 Fellow GUSers, I am looking for SBOS v2.06 does anyone know where I can get a copy. It is the only one that works with X-wing in my machine. Thanx Gunnar Swanson gunnar@gibbs.oit.unc.edu end. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1993 03:42:50 -0600 (CST) From: "Joseph W. Folk" Subject: ShadowCaster Just wondering if anyone has been able to get Shadow Caster to recognize any sound cards when one has both a GUS 1M and SBPro installed? I can get SC to recognize my SBPro, but only when the GUS is physically removed from the machine. (I know some will say, remove the SBPro, but the game supposedly makes use of the stereo...haven't been able to verify that yet.) Anyways - just wondering if anyone has done it. (BTW it uses version 1.8 of the DOS4GW.EXE extender - I have version 1.9 from another game if that will work - guess I should try that [thats what I get for thinking and typing at the same time (g)]) Thanks - Joe Folk ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1993 11:52:04 -0500 (EST) From: "Timothy C. Gion" Subject: Syndicate with SB/GUS or SBOS I just got Syndicate yesterday. I can't seem to get any sound out of the game. When I specify my SB's address and IRQ, the game just locks up the computer. It will work if I don't specify any sound hardware. If I load SBOS and specify the GUS's IRQ and address, the game will load, but I still won't have get any sound. Is there any way to get any sound when I have both cards installed? Also, will that message from the police, "Drop your weapons," be displayed on the screen when you don't specify a sound card? Thanks... Tim Gion AKA / \ University of Delaware - Computer Science -Merdion- E-mail address: \ / gion@strauss.udel.edu ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1993 02:04:55 -0700 (MST) From: Keith McIntyre-ELlis Subject: Windows WAV Recording... This question has popped up on the digest before, but I haven't seen an answer to it yet... I have a strange problem of Windows 3.1 crashing when I attempt to record a sound using *any* sound recorder for Windows. (This includes any program trying to read incoming sounds- such as IN3 voice recognition demo) The result is just a blank screen and I have to do a *hardware reset*! I know that there are several of us with this weird problem- I've seen postings here (at least once on the last few months) and on CompuServe with exactly the same symptons as I've described... Matthew Arbeid (who I've heard has left Gravis?) had no idea what to do about this problem. His suggestion was to re-install Windoze, so I tried that. Well, I just renamed my real Win directory, and installed a minimal installation onto another logical drive. Then added the GUS drivers, and *voila!* it worked. Here's where it gets weird though... I then moved the contents of my old /windows and /windows/system subdirectories to a temporary place fro safe keeping, and copied the contents of the new installations into /windows and /windows/system. Still worked fine. So then I slowly added all the stuff I normally use (Norton Desktop, etc.), and then found it *wouldn't work again*. Seems simple enough, huh? Obviously some conflict... Well, what would you say if I told you that I restored the bare-bones win.ini and system.ini files (thereby setting my configuration to one that worked), and *it still crashed*! Does anybody know what might be causing this?? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1993 11:49:15 -0700 (MST) From: Derek the Dweebosaurus Subject: X-wing pistol patch This may have been asked before, but can anyone tell me in which directory of EPAS the pistol patch for Xwing to make the guns sound better? I looked for hours in the midi and patches directory and could not find it. When I log on through FTP it is very slow so I have to wait a few minutes for each directory to be sent. Which is the exact directory in which I can find it? Thanks a lot ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Dec 93 11:02:31 +0100 From: akerkh%smtp@htshlo.HZeeland.nl ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Dec 93 11:07:33 +0100 From: akerkh%smtp@htshlo.HZeeland.nl ------------------------------ End of GUS Daily Digest V9 #4 ******************************