No sound for DOS 6.22 and Windows 9x VMs

[brunocastello]

I did install the required drivers for Sound Blaster 16 with DOS VM and there is no sound. There's also no sound in Windows 98SE VM, with all the devices supported (Ensoniq, SB16 and AC'97). I have drivers for all three, yet no sound is coming out after installing them. I thought it was already implemented when there was given an option to select sound device in VM settings?

Both issues can be seen after a clean install of both operating systems. I have not tried higher than Windows 9x though. Also noticed that the ReactOS VM does not have sound, too.

[osy]

Unfortunately I get the same behavior on QEMU OSX following these instructions: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/QEMU/Windows_98#Virtual_machine_setup

If you can find the right args to get it working on OSX, then I can probably fix it in UTM as well.

[brunocastello]

I just did here a quick install of Windows 98 SE on QEMU. Details:

Host: 2013 rMBP 13-inch, i7, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD, macOS Catalina latest version.
Guest: Windows 98 Second Edition (WinWorldPC ISO).

Procedure: ran on terminal the following commands:
brew install qemu
(after a while waiting for qemu to install...)
cd ~/Downloads
(it's where my ISOs are atm)
qemu-system-i386 -cdrom cdrom.iso -boot order=cd -drive file=w98.cow -m 512 -soundhw sb16 -vga cirrus -net nic,model=pcnet -net user -rtc base=localtime
(this is the command I used to run the install and after a few crashes, I managed to get to the desktop. I heard the Windows start sound and to my pleasure, I also heard the music that comes with the Windows 98 Welcome program. Actually, it was the first time I heard that music (VMware, PCem, DOSBOX-X, none of them played that music, actually).

Meaning that the SB16 drivers were actually installed and detected by Win 98 SE flawlessly.

So, all in all, the current QEMU version available on homebrew, for macOS, which is easier to use and install, can actually play music over SB16.

Details of the command I used to launch:

qemu-system-i386
(machine i386, specifically ideal for Windows 9x, instead of x86_x64. UTM does have the i386 option, too)

-cdrom cdrom.iso
(Windows 98 SE CD-ROM disk)

-boot order=cd
(boot order, it's dc when you install, and cd after install)

-drive file=w98.cow
Image of the hard disk used to install Win 98. It's a 2GB image, just for the proof of concept.

-m 512
RAM: 512MB
-soundhw sb16
SB16 sound card selected

-vga cirrus
most compatible and easier to install video card on QEMU, although not very powerful (I'd rather use a S3 Trio64 or a S3 ViRGE, but both aren't available AFAIK)

-net nic,model=pcnet -net user
(I tried to set up the network, but it actually failed for some reason. Probably because IRQ wasn't set properly - I have not checked it. I wanted to use AMD PCnet network adapter, same as used in UTM which allows me to have networking on Windows 3.11 VM)

-rtc base=localtime
Use host local time.

[osy]

Seems like the latest QEMU is used by MacBrew (5.0.0). Not sure if that makes a difference. Any way you can test 4.2.0?

[brunocastello]

Why? When 5.0.0 works fine... it’s always better to use newer versions. Well, actually I tried to make a new win98 vm but with 8gb instead of 2gb, to accommodate some games, and all my attempts ended in a black screen before reaching the desktop, so no, I really do not want to spend another 3 hours of install attempts, trying to make a VM again for a while. This is why I like UTM, a GUI makes it easier, with a plus side - on iPad, good for travel.

The ReactOS VM you provided in another page does not have sound too. Did you have sound working there on your side?

[osy]

UTM uses 4.2.0 so if it’s a QEMU bug that’s fixed in 5.0.0 then that would explain it.

Anyways I also can’t get Win98 to install on my Mac (stuck on windows splash after installation) so I thought you might have done something different.

ReactOS sound is not working for me on QEMU osx. Same as Windows 98.

[brunocastello]

The one successful install also was stuck on splash screen, so I just restarted it and had luck, I guess. Or maybe it had something to do with a smaller hard disk image. When I got to the desktop, sound was loud and clear. I had never heard the welcome screen app music until last night, in fact I had never heard it before - I was deaf for like 26 years until I had a cochlear implant surgery in 2008. Just recently I did a win 98 install and realised it (the welcome screen music). Sound is actually an important part of these old VMs for me because now I can get to hear all the buzz I couldn’t before when I was a kid.

[osy]

Okay, restarted it and it did boot. But no sound here :(

I see this in the console:

coreaudio: Could not initialize playback
coreaudio: Could not set samplerate 44100
coreaudio: Reason: kAudioDeviceUnsupportedFormatError
coreaudio: Could not initialize playback
coreaudio: Could not set samplerate 44100
coreaudio: Reason: kAudioDeviceUnsupportedFormatError
audio: Failed to create voice `sb16'

[osy]

Okay weird, I changed my audio source to my display (I had headphones) and it works now. So I guess there's some audio output source issue.

[osy]

As expected UTM also works now (in iOS simulator). This is a QEMU/CoreAudio issue. It will have to be fixed post v1.0.

[brunocastello]

Oh, great! Thank you. I'll be waiting with a 98 VM ready to go.

[brunocastello]

While we wait for the sound fix, do you have any tips for improving Windows 98SE performance in an 2018 iPad Pro 12.9-inch? I have a game like FIFA 98 RTWC, which is a bit slow (sometimes stuttering)? I haven't tried other games yet. I was thinking if Windows 95 OSR2 would be better (less resources on background). FIFA 98 is a 3DFX/Glide game, but is playable in software renderer mode. I can't afford a 2020 iPad Pro, yet.