Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Mancomb Seepgood, Internet Pirate @16bitmanfred.bsky.social · 3h

I'm *this* close to just putting it in the fucking dishwasher

Mancomb Seepgood, Internet Pirate @16bitmanfred.bsky.social · 3h

Doesn't, though. I changed the MIDI playback in Windows settings to ESFM and although the playback program shows moving bars for frequencies that should play, there is nothing visible in the audio settings of Windows or audible.

cqm vs esfm vs opl3. audible defference.

Mancomb Seepgood, Internet Pirate @16bitmanfred.bsky.social · 3h

I the MPU401 and Wavetable portion of the card should be handled by the Dream SAM9407 and I cannot possibly desolder or resolder a chip like that with my tremors.

Mancomb Seepgood, Internet Pirate @16bitmanfred.bsky.social · 3h

noisy, although there are exceptions like Terratec or Guillemot cards that mostly sound great.
Here's a comparison between Yamaha OPL3 (early SB16s), ESFM (ESS) and CQM (later SB16/32/AW):
youtu.be/rXWIx60FKS0

* Phil made video about that:
youtu.be/-lXZBeNIlg4

YouTube video by theALFEST

youtu.be

Mancomb Seepgood, Internet Pirate @16bitmanfred.bsky.social · 3h

Compatibility of the chipset is outstanding, the additional functions of ESFM are amazing* and some people prefer the sound of ESFM over genuine Yamaha OPL3. Unlike SB cards, these are also bug free.
But most cards with ESFM chipsets sported cheap components that made the card as a whole 1/2

Mancomb Seepgood, Internet Pirate @16bitmanfred.bsky.social · 3h

Just cleaned it very thoroughly with IPA, did not change anything.

Mancomb Seepgood, Internet Pirate @16bitmanfred.bsky.social · 3h

Sadly it's the same for both line out and speaker out.
After installing the drivers I also get this message that the MIDI/Wave portion might be absent or need a driver installation, although I already used the original CD.

Mancomb Seepgood, Internet Pirate @16bitmanfred.bsky.social · 6h

This is a good port actually, I wonder if I can remap the controls but it's definitely fine for some mobile Nazi killing.

1 6

Mancomb Seepgood, Internet Pirate @16bitmanfred.bsky.social · 10h

Weird.
The card clearly does something since it gets warm, but NOTHING outputs.
Even when I switch MIDI to ESFM, still no luck from playing a MIDI file (or basic Windows sounds anyway).
I finally had the sound card of my dreams, it can't end like this 😭

Mancomb Seepgood, Internet Pirate @16bitmanfred.bsky.social · 10h

In a desperate troubleshooting attempt, I looked at the ESS and dream chips' legs with my phone's macro function but could not find legs touching each other.
Magnification's not strong enough to tell if they're still fully soldered.
Chips get warm, but not suspiciously hot.
No sound on any channel.

2 3

Mancomb Seepgood, Internet Pirate @16bitmanfred.bsky.social · 10h

Oh and I should probably add that this is on a 100% clean Windows 98 SE install, no other software or drivers installed.

Mancomb Seepgood, Internet Pirate @16bitmanfred.bsky.social · 10h

Before taking the card out, touching the chips and putting it back in, there was no error message regarding the MPU-401, but the sound was missing all the same.

Mancomb Seepgood, Internet Pirate @16bitmanfred.bsky.social · 10h

In a desperate troubleshooting attempt, I looked at the ESS and dream chips' legs with my phone's macro function but could not find legs touching each other.
Magnification's not strong enough to tell if they're still fully soldered.
Chips get warm, but not suspiciously hot.
No sound on any channel.

3 3

Mancomb Seepgood, Internet Pirate @16bitmanfred.bsky.social · 12h

Lifehack: have twice the fried food and beer on Saturday while also enjoying Quest 64 and Codeine, then sleep through Sunday and your weekend calories are still fine.

Mancomb Seepgood, Internet Pirate @16bitmanfred.bsky.social · 15h

Slept over it, will contact the guy now.
It has HDMI, VGA, component, composite, SCART, Antenna, can read files from USB and has a VESA mount, all in that tiny package!
Might not be the greatest in terms of reaction time, but will surely do for RPGs and adventures.

2

Mancomb Seepgood, Internet Pirate @16bitmanfred.bsky.social · 18h

That is a damn fine board for DOS + Win 98 builds. AGP graphics card but still two ISA slots, likely works with a VIA C3 out of the box? Sign me up!

Mancomb Seepgood, Internet Pirate @16bitmanfred.bsky.social · 23h

Anyone using ChatGPT should just ask me instead.
Yeah I take longer to respond but I am hallucinating less than monthly and I run on biodegradable fuels (meat and cola, mostly).

Mancomb Seepgood, Internet Pirate @16bitmanfred.bsky.social · 23h

Damn, this 15€ Tokai LTL-1406CK 13.5" TV is mighty tempting.
Just look at all these inputs!

Mancomb Seepgood, Internet Pirate @16bitmanfred.bsky.social · 1d

But why are there no savegames?
The PS1 had memory cards from day 1.
Were the files to big? Then maybe just saves between missions that would not need to save the complete state of a mission?
But if you choose a password system make it buttons, not alphanumeric that has to be entered via controller.

2

Mancomb Seepgood, Internet Pirate @16bitmanfred.bsky.social · 1d

The easiest solution would've been to have a button pause the game action while you're still able to issue commands (that would then be executed when you resume), or if the game had the option to slow down game time like the PC has.
There's no way to make the same actions per minute as with a mouse.