Audio problems are common in the later Sierra DOS SCI games. There's no single fix for all these games. If
there a Windows version you can try it, first.
Problem - Poor Quality / No Sound (Win9x and XP):
The game has no sound or the music is of poor quality.
Solution 1 (preferred):
Play the game in DOSBox. It also will work
with the MT-32 sound module, if you are fortunate to have one.
Solution 2:
Use VDMSound. The game work well with
VDMSound. The sound will be as good as your audio hardware, and as with DOSBox, it works with the MT-32 sound
module.
Solution 3:
Play the game with FreeSCI, a third party Interpreter
for Sierra's early SCI games.
Solution 4 (DOS/Win9x):
Install DOS drivers for your soundcard. Without DOS drivers installed you won't have sound in a DOS window
in Windows 9x. If you can't find DOS drivers for your soundcard, there is an alpha
(developmental) version of VDMS that you can try.
Problem - Unable to initialize your audio hardware:
On starting the game you get the message:
Unable to initialize your audio hardware
Solution 1 (preferred):
Play the game in DOSBox. By playing your
game in DOSBox, you can avoid this and other timer problems. Even the Windows version can be played in DOSBox
if you install Windows 3x in it, first.
Back when computers came with a "Turbo" switch (a sort of speed switch,) Sierra's workaround was
to turn off the Turbo switch to start the game, after which you could turn the Turbo back on. If you have
your cycles in DOSBox set too high, you may still encounter this problem. You can mimic the turbo switch solution
by lowering your cycles (Ctl+F11) before starting your game. You may raise the cycles back up after the game
starts (Ctl+F12).
Solution 2:
Patch the old audio driver with GOSiERRA
or SBSIERRA.
Solution 3:
Use an updated audio
driver.
Solution 4:
Try installing the Windows version.
)
