Ok I first tried Xeen with the original executable and the NO INSTRUMENT appears whenever I perform certain actions in game. Firing arrows, some spell sounds, etc.. they don't play. When I tried your executable, the game WORKED PERFECTLY. I tried to trip it up by playing whatever sounds I could in the first area of the game, but your fix worked EVERY TIME. I went back to the original executable, and the game immediately began exhibiting the NO INSTRUMENT problem. I went back to your executable a second time, and it once again WORKED PERFECTLY. Thank you!
Now as for Lands of Lore, I first tried my mkII with this game. It did show the NO INSTRUMENT error. I tried the game with my SCC-1 which played the sound effects back just fine just to confirm that this is a capital tone fallback issue. My SCC-1 is based off the original SC-55 which does not exhibit this problem. I then tried your executable.......
....it failed. Sorry, it seems to only work with World of Xeen at this point. I don't know of another game to test this on. These are the only two games I have that I ever came across that have this problem with the capital tone fallback.
I'm here if you want to try anything out. Its obvious you know what you are doing. But it looks like at this point, each game will need its own fix.
Well, if you still get a "no instrument" error message with any game, when using my fix, this means that the game is sending a "Bank Select" message, to select an instrument variation which doesn't even exist on the Roland Sound Canvas MIDI synth you are using.
To fix such problem/mistake, unlike my current fix for the "Might and Magic : World of Xeen" game, which is rather a generic fix in fact, here I would rather need to code a specific solution : it would require scanning absolutely all of the MIDI messages being sent by the game, and when a "Bank Select" message is about to be forwarded by DOSBox, to the MIDI device/synth, it would check if the "Bank Select" message's value is the invalid one causing the trouble, in which case it would either not forward it to the MIDI device/synth or alter the invalid value to the "0" value (to select the capital instrument).
Fortunately, as for the "Lands of Lore : The Throne of Chaos" game (both the floppy disk and CD-ROM versions), you can easily fix the problem without requiring any modification/patch at all.
When you pick up an item or click on the money amount icon, the MIDI synth is supposed to play a sound note using the Harp instrument (instrument number 47), on the channel 14, but for some reason, before sending the "Program Change" (instrument change) message, it's also always sending a "Bank Select" message with a value of "7".
As you can see in the
SC-55 manual (page 68) and in the
SC-55mkII manual (page 85), no instrument variation exist at all, for the Harp instrument (instrument number 47) : then it doesn't make any sense at all, that the game is sending a "Bank Select" message for this instrument.
Now, to fix this problem, you first need to go completely ingame, because the game sends a "GS Reset" SysEx message at the title screen (after the character selection screen), then all you have to do is using the buttons on the panel of your Roland Sound Canvas MIDI synth, to manually set the "Rx Bank Sel" option to "off", for the channel 14 only (it's still needed for the various sound effects played on the other channels).
Once done, there won't be any "no instrument" error message anymore, and the intended Harp instrument will be selected and used, when you pick up an item or click on the money amount icon.
Btw, like my fix for the "Might and Magic : World of Xeen" game, this workaround for the "Lands of Lore : The Throne of Chaos" game is also needed when using either a SC-55mkII, SC-88(Pro), SC-8850 or Virtual Sound Canvas, but if someone really wants to use Virtual Sound Canvas with the "Lands of Lore : The Throne of Chaos" game, despite the music/sound quality of Virtual Sound Canvas is not accurate and not as good as a real Roland Sound Canvas, then since the same checkbox is used to enable/disable receiving both the "Program Change" and the "Bank Select" messages, instead, you have to manually select the Harp instrument (instrument number 47) for the channel 14, using the Virtual Sound Canvas panel.
