Covox with Prince of Persia?

[robertmo]

Has anyone been able to run Prince of Persia v1.0 with Covox?
I doesn't want to play for me with covox when a type:
prince covox
 

Some information on the different DOS versions of Prince of Persia.
(Press Ctrl-V during gameplay to find out which version you have).

Prince of Persia v1.0 : 1990
Original PC version; Has original color scheme (Level 3 dungeon is dark blue)
No Setup program; uses manual command line parameters:
j (joystick); vga, mcga, tga, ega, hga, herc, cga (graphics);
stdsnd, adlib, covox, gblast, ibmg, sblast, tandy (sound)
Cheat activation code is 'megahit'

Prince of Persia v1.3 : 1992
Same levels, but with new color scheme on some levels (Level 3 dungeon is dark green)
Complete Hardware configuration startup Setup program.
You can specify Graphics Mode, Input Device, Sound Device and Music Synthesizer.
Cheat activation code is 'improved'

Prince of Persia v1.4 : 1993 (from Prince of Persia CD Collection)
Levels and color scheme identical to v1.3 (Level 3 dungeon is dark green)
Limited choice for Hardware configuration startup Setup program.
You can only set Sound Device and Music Synthesizer (PC Speaker, Sound Blaster Pro, Other Drivers).
Cheat activation code is 'improved'

[Great Hierophant]

Which Covox is it talking about, the Speech Thing or the Sound Master, and which Covox are you trying to use it with?  What is "ibmg"?  I wonder if anyone could share the IBM reference card, which should identify these things.

[robertmo]

I use a LPT plug with about 20 resistors soldered together so i guess it is a Speech Thing

This site http://www.popuw.com/problems.html says:

Command line arguments to prince.exe

vga, mcga -> use mcga graphics mode (320*200, 256 colours, vga controller required)
tga -> use tandy graphics (320*200, 16 colours, on tandy machines)
ega -> use ega graphics (320*200, 16 colours, ega or vga controller required)
hga, herc -> use hercules (720*348 [prince uses only 640*200], monochrome, hercules controller)
cga -> use cga (320*200, 4 colours, cga/ega/tandy/vga required)

stdsnd -> Standard PC Internal Speaker
adlib -> Ad Lib card
covox -> Covox Sound Master device
gblast -> Creative Labs Game Blaster
ibmg -> IBM Music Feature Card (?)
sblast -> Sound Blaster / Sound Blaster Pro or compatible
tandy -> Tandy computers with digital sound support / 3-voice music support
(descriptions are from v1.3's setup.exe, some tweaking was required)

bypass -> continue loading even if there isn't enough memory
megahit (in version 1.0) -> enable cheats
improved (in version 1.3 and 1.4) -> enable cheats
draw -> don't buffer screen output (only if cheats enabled)
%d (substitute level number) -> start with selected level (only if cheats enabled)
pack -> store bitmaps compressed (in memory)
unpack -> store bitmaps uncompressed (in memory)
j -> for joystick mode

But i think they are only guessing the meanig of parameters.
I guess we won't know it without the possibility to check with a real card, or with original manual where it was explained.
So has anyone got original manual for Prince of Persia 1 v.1.0?

Great Hierophant: you can at least check pop1 v1.0 with your ibm music feature card to determine whether ibmg parameter is for this card
Oh, and have you got Disney Sound Source or Covox Speech Thing (you said you have one of these but didn't say which one) so you could check that too

Also PoP1 v1.3 setup has "PS/1 (audio/games) Option Card" and PoP2 setup has "IBM PS/1" and both don't have ibm music feature card so i guess ibmg parameter is for IBMgames.
Also PoP1 v1.3 setup and PoP2 setup have Disney Sound Source and don't have Covox Sound Master so I guess covox parameter is for Covox Speech Thing. But this is only guessing.

[Great Hierophant]

I use a LPT plug with about 20 resistors soldered together so i guess it is a Speech Thing

This site http://www.popuw.com/problems.html says:

Command line arguments to prince.exe

vga, mcga -> use mcga graphics mode (320*200, 256 colours, vga controller required)
tga -> use tandy graphics (320*200, 16 colours, on tandy machines)
ega -> use ega graphics (320*200, 16 colours, ega or vga controller required)
hga, herc -> use hercules (720*348 [prince uses only 640*200], monochrome, hercules controller)
cga -> use cga (320*200, 4 colours, cga/ega/tandy/vga required)

stdsnd -> Standard PC Internal Speaker
adlib -> Ad Lib card
covox -> Covox Sound Master device
gblast -> Creative Labs Game Blaster
ibmg -> IBM Music Feature Card (?)
sblast -> Sound Blaster / Sound Blaster Pro or compatible
tandy -> Tandy computers with digital sound support / 3-voice music support
(descriptions are from v1.3's setup.exe, some tweaking was required)

bypass -> continue loading even if there isn't enough memory
megahit (in version 1.0) -> enable cheats
improved (in version 1.3 and 1.4) -> enable cheats
draw -> don't buffer screen output (only if cheats enabled)
%d (substitute level number) -> start with selected level (only if cheats enabled)
pack -> store bitmaps compressed (in memory)
unpack -> store bitmaps uncompressed (in memory)
j -> for joystick mode

But i think they are only guessing the meanig of parameters.
I guess we won't know it without the possibility to check with a real card, or with original manual where it was explained.
So has anyone got original manual for Prince of Persia 1 v.1.0?

Great Hierophant: you can at least check pop1 v1.0 with your ibm music feature card to determine whether ibmg parameter is for this card
Oh, and have you got Disney Sound Source or Covox Speech Thing (you said you have one of these but didn't say which one) so you could check that too

Also PoP1 v1.3 setup has "PS/1 (audio/games) Option Card" and PoP2 setup has "IBM PS/1" and both don't have ibm music feature card so i guess ibmg parameter is for IBMgames.
Also PoP1 v1.3 setup and PoP2 setup have Disney Sound Source and don't have Covox Sound Master so I guess covox parameter is for Covox Speech Thing. But this is only guessing.

Interesting, if PoP actually supports the Music Feature Card, I will have to try it, when I muster the energy to install the thing (I have a very unwieldy setup.)  Also, I have a Disney Sound Source, which should work with all Covox Speech Thing compatible games (I have heard some people claim the Disney is incompatible with Covox, but I have never heard any convincing reason why it should be so.)  The site however says that Covox = Covox Sound Master, so it seems that PoP is using it for music synthesis. 

[Great Hierophant]

I have finally gotten around to trying my IBM Music Feature Card with Prince of Persia v1.0, and I can conclusively say that this card does not support the Music Feature.  Using the parameter "ibmg" gave me either Adlib or PC Speaker sound, depending on whether the Sound Blaster was plugged in.  Also, I saw in the v1.3 executable that ibmg is still included while covox is not, lending further support to the idea that covox is the Covox Sound Master and ibmg is IBM PS/1 Audio Game card.  By 1992, when 1.3 came out, the Covox Sound Master, with its AY8930 synthesis chip, was long forgotten, and the Covox Sound Master II would automatically use the Adlib music and maybe the Sound Blaster digital audio.  Also, the 1.3 version has an mvpas and an mt32 command line option, and there is an option in the setup for the Media Vision Pro Audio Spectrum.  I think at this point we can finally eliminate the possibility that any game may require the IBM Music Feature card for music.  All Sierra games that support it can also be made to work and produce the same sound with a Yamaha FB-01 synthesizer and a Roland MPU-401 midi interface!

[Great Hierophant]

I am certain that the ibmg option for Prince of Persia 1.0 allows you to select the IBM PS/1 Audio Game Card.  However, if you have an Adlib card, you will get Adlib music no matter what in 1.0, not PS/1 Audio music (sounds like Tandy).