Duke Nukem 3D - E1M1 "Stalker" - with Yamaha DB50XG on 1996 PC

[abyeeve]

The drum set is superb but the guitar riffs lack punch. But it is hard to find sample sets where the guitar isn't either weak in power passages or overblown in calm passages

[mystftg]

@abyeeve Actually, there aren't any guitar riffs in this particular track. It really sounds like that on any device, regardless of the guitar samples used.

Try looking for the DB50XG Doom video, which uses the exact same device and sample set, but Doom's E1M1 actually uses the guitar samples.

[BuddhaMaster84]

1996: When fire still looked like fire!

[xan1242]

I had that card in my old,VERY old computer.It was integrated in my motherboard.

[Greeder0]

sounds like your hardware is failing at 3:49

[PnkyDmn13]

After playing some of Duke Nukem Forever and comparing it to Duke 3D, it just reminds me how great DN3D is. While not awful, it is really too bad that DNF couldn't couldn't come anywhere close to this level of fun and quality.

[BigPalookaalt]

I wish I could find the soundfonts that this soundcard uses!

[xan1242]

@BigPalookaalt Actually,there is one very similar one,called "yamaha xg sound set remap",just google for it.There are way better soundfonts than this,like SGM v2.01,but it's huge (about 230 MB,you need atlest 512 MB RAM to have it).

[BigPalookaalt]

@xan1242

thanks man.

the SGM one sounds awesome and the XG one is almost spot on to this one

[Saiyuki204]

what OS does the computer ur playing this on use? Windows 95? Windows 97?

are those OS's rare & unsupported?

[mystftg]

@Saiyuki204 Duke3D is running in MS-DOS 6.22 on this computer.

I also have a heavily modified Windows98SE installed, but I don't use it very often for games.

There is no Windows97 and every Windows version up to 2000 is unsuported.

[theretrogamerno1]

@mystftg does it work on win7?

[TerrorBlack]

Whoa, what happens at 3:50? Why does the music slow down?

[mystftg]

@TerrorBlack I have no Idea, it didn't occur during normal gameplay. Must have happened in the encoding process, but I can't explain it.

[raymangold22]

@mystftg It didn't actually slow down, it just dropped to a lower pitch. I've had some midi equipment that used soundfonts and stuff get confused and lose its proper tuning as well.

[ioctlvoid]

Wow, I have a dedicated P1 233 MHz DOS-computer with an AWE32 (CT3900) with a NEC XR385 daughterboard (DB60XG Rev. B), but it doesn't sound as good as your does.

I have tried both General MIDI and the AWE32 support, what do you use? Have you configured the AWE32 in some particular way? Do you use the expansion RAM on the AWE32? Mine has only 2 MiB, but I don't know how to take advantage of that for a game like Duke3d or Doom.

[mystftg]

@ioctlvoid If you have the XR385 daughterboard and Duke3D is configured for General MIDI you should be all set. I didn't make any modifications that had influence on the music quality in this video, so your system should sound more or less the same as mine. The AWE32 itself doesn't play music in this vid.

I have 2x4MB extension RAM on the AWE32, but they're not used in this video. I mainly use the extra memory for buffering MP3 files in Winamp.

[Sector9NL]

@mystftg is it like a monster pc from 1997?

[mystftg]

@Sector9NL Pretty much, yes. Using mainly hardware from late 96 and early 97. I made some exceptions, but overall the components are pretty authentic.

[Sector9NL]

@mystftg very nice, i was reading your specs looked pretty tight for 1996/1997 era

so it was a game pc back then thats very nice man :)

oldskool never dies!

[R33Racer]

A SECRET PLACE!

[1982FMJ]

i remember the original dos version of duke 3d would sound different if you used the awe32 wavetable settings for soundcard options instead of the awe 16 setting. the high quality mode uses higher quality midi sounds. is there anyway to emulate this sound setting on the pc version for runing on xp

[mystftg]

@1982FMJ This is the original DOS version in the video. The AWE32 had a different sample rom for the MIDI files. That's the idea behind midi and that's how the DB50XG and other devices like the MT32 or SC55 achieve their superior midi sound. Making MIDIs sound better in Windows (XP) should be easy with different midi soundfonts. Don't know how to make it work in duke3d, since I'm working with a DOS PC and the original DOS version of duke3d :)

[ShdwHg]

@mystftg I'd imagine it's simply be a matter of using DOSBox or EDuke32 - both are able to use whatever your MIDI defaults are set to on Windows, so set that to whatever's got the soundfonts loaded, and you're gold.

Also, what happened at 3:48 ? The music/pitch slowed down for some reason. I also noticed the music occasionally plays the first beat of a measure for longer than it generally should.

Still, better than Timidity++ and MIDI Yoke, which leaves pitch bends lingering between songs. :\

[37474748]

could you convert the tracks to flac and send them to me? i really like the sound of your soundcard! :D

[mystftg]

@37474748 Hm, that would take quite a while. I don't have a single track recorded yet. Since I can't just convert them, I need to make individual recordings of each level, manually edit the audio tracks and convert&upload them.

The sound quality won't be that great either, since the AWE32 I'm using as a base for the DB50XG has some nasty humming/buzzing which will be in the FLAC files aswell. Eventually I want to upload videos of each track, but it'll take a while :)

[37474748]

@mystftg dont you have them in MID files? i think i got the MID files?

[zaelie]

I heard my friend playing an Alice In Chains song ages ago and it was obviously what this song was based off. anyone know the song?

[raymarcher]

Wow the music is awesome, can you convert all midi's to this format?

[mystftg]

@raymarcher The midi files aren't actually converted, they're just being played through a different device. All games that support General MIDI can be played with the DB50XG or a different device like the Roland SC-55.

[mystftg]

I wish :)

The BUILD engine actually supports mouselook, but the implementation is somewhat, well, crappy, as the x- and y-axis aren't very responsive and accurate. There is an external device driver for the engine available called "bmouse", which works for Duke3D, ShadowWarrior and Blood. It's still not perfect, but quite playable once you've found the best settings.

You'll have to experiment a little bit, and the y-axis still has issues, though.

[zabijaq123]

@mystftg

Mouselook looks like crap, just like in ZDOOM and other doom clients for multiplayer. John Carmack did know it would look terrible so vertical aim is disabled in D/D2.

First games with almost real 3D were Descent, Terminal velocity and Quake 1.

But all engines doesn't support full up/down look. Descent and TV were probably set in way, that no vertical turning will allow you to look straight up (90 degrees) but for example 89,5degrees and next step is 90,5 degrees.

[zabijaq123]

@zabijaq123

And Quake was limited to some 89,7 degrees. You can easily see that. Just look straight up in Q1,and then try to rotate horisontaly (roof should just rotate around crosshair) and you will see that it's not 90 degrees :D

[mystftg]

@zabijaq123 Vertical aim in Doom wasn't available, because the engine didn't support overlapping sectors, so there was no reason to look up/down. Mouselook in FPS games hadn't been established as the main control scheme.

The reason it looks "like crap", is because of the raycasting technique used in these games. Looking up/down is basically a shifted distortion of the viewpoint.

Descent&TV already had a real 3D environment, but both weren't FPS. Quake was the first FPS with good mouselook in 3D

[concujak]

From what I remember looking up and down was a nightmare (pgup & pddown) did you somehow enable mouselook ? Or are you just really good with the keyboard?

[mystftg]

@concujak The mouselook in Duke3D is terrible, it just doesn't work in raycasting games. I used a small tool that uses the mouse as an external input device and provides better and smoother mouselook, but it's still far from games like Quake or Descent, that had proper 3D and mouselook.