Intelligent mode

[Amigaz]

Have noticed that in some games the instruments can sound wrong..for example a piano note instead of the sound of a space ship flying by.
This happens on my MT-32, CM-32L and CM-500, hokked up to a 8-bit music quest MPU 401 card, is this caused by an MPU card not supporting "Intelligent mode"?

[Amigaz]

^BUMP^

[endre1952]

Maybe your CPU is too fast. Have you tried disabling the cache?

[Amigaz]

Maybe your CPU is too fast. Have you tried disabling the cache?

We're talking about a 386DX 20mhz PC

[NewRisingSUn]

Many things are possible. If you told us specifically which game you're having problems with, instead of speaking in generalities, we might even be able to tell you if that particular game expects intelligent mode support or not.

[Amigaz]

Many things are possible. If you told us specifically which game you're having problems with, instead of speaking in generalities, we might even be able to tell you if that particular game expects intelligent mode support or not.

Sorry.

Wing Commander 1, Police Quest 3, Indiana Jones & The Fate Of Atlantis, Sam & Max Hit The Road, Hero Quest
Games as the Monkey Island series, Police Quest 2 sound correct
The most heavily affected game is Police Quest 3 which all the notes sound wrong

[MusicallyInspired]

That's odd, I have a 486 DX2 66mhz and PQ3 sounds fine. As well as all my other MT-32 games.

[Great Hierophant]

It sounds like your module is not receiving the sysex commands from games that add new sounds to the MT-32.  However, they do work to the extent that you hear music, even if it is wrong.  As I recall, a real MPU-401 by default will not transmit sysex commands to an external device.  I used a program called mputhru.com, created by our very own NewRisingSUn, to allow a real MPU-401 to transmit sysex to a midi device.  In my case, the device was the LA portion of the LAPC-I.  Ask NRS if he will give you the program, I know it worked on my Music Systems 8-bit MPU-401 compatible (when I owned one.)

[NewRisingSUn]

As I recall, a real MPU-401 by default will not transmit sysex commands to an external device.

That's nonsense. And MPUTHRU has nothing to do with this. MPUTHRU concerns MIDI-THRU, which means sending out to the external MIDI OUT what is received through the external MIDI IN. And MPUTHRU absolutely requires intelligent mode.

Concerning the games:
Wing Commander 1, Police Quest 2, Hero Quest need intelligent mode.
Police Quest 3, Atlantis, Monkey 1&2, Sam&Max all need UART mode only. Therefore, intelligent mode can't be the problem.

You said you had an MT-32. Does the MT-32 display "Excl. buffer overflow" or "Excl. checksum error" when running PQ3? If it's the latter, you have a bus speed issue, not a CPU speed issue.

[Great Hierophant]

Thanks for reminding me what mputhru was used for, thats what I used it for and would not help with this problem.