DOS ain't dead

DOS32AWE - RAM wavetable MIDI possible for PM games under DOS (Announce)

posted by Japheth , Germany (South), 05.02.2026, 11:30
(edited by Japheth on 05.02.2026, 11:44)

> Turned out that this is not a problem...¹⁾
> ...
>
> -----------------
> 1): Well, it actually is a problem. AWEUTIL acknowledges the NMI by
> toggling bit 3 of port 61h. Once that is done, the next IRET - which is the
> ...

Ok, finally it works. However, all my previous theories about the reasons are moot - it's a simple DOS/4G(w) bug that may cause a freeze.

This also makes tool AWEMIDI obsolete¹⁾ - except for DESCENT, which still has its peculiar bug of trashing NMI IVT entry; but since DESCENT supports SB AWE32 natively for music, there's perhaps no longer a reason to supply AWEMIDI.

To test:
- download the current github status of HDPMI (and JEMM, if v86-mode is to be tested)
- modify hdpmi32.mak, adding -D?NMISAFE=1
- create the binaries
- run HDPMI32.EXE
- run game binary

-----------------------------------
1) the tool may still be needed/useful for real-mode, patching AWEUTIL in memory. I tested v86-mode only.

---
MS-DOS forever!

Complete thread:

• DOS32AWE - RAM wavetable MIDI possible for PM games under DOS - RayeR, 13.01.2026, 16:43
  • DOS32AWE - RAM wavetable MIDI possible for PM games under DOS - Japheth, 13.01.2026, 19:33
    • DOS32AWE - RAM wavetable MIDI possible for PM games under DOS - RayeR, 13.01.2026, 22:53
      • DOS32AWE - RAM wavetable MIDI possible for PM games under DOS - Japheth, 14.01.2026, 08:49
        • DOS32AWE - RAM wavetable MIDI possible for PM games under DOS - RayeR, 14.01.2026, 16:26
          • DOS32AWE - RAM wavetable MIDI possible for PM games under DOS - Japheth, 14.01.2026, 20:12
            • DOS32AWE - RAM wavetable MIDI possible for PM games under DOS - RayeR, 15.01.2026, 08:17
              • DOS32AWE - RAM wavetable MIDI possible for PM games under DOS - Japheth, 16.01.2026, 04:19
                • DOS32AWE - RAM wavetable MIDI possible for PM games under DOS - RayeR, 17.01.2026, 02:09
                  • DOS32AWE - RAM wavetable MIDI possible for PM games under DOS - Khusraw, 17.01.2026, 07:52
                    • DOS32AWE - RAM wavetable MIDI possible for PM games under DOS - RayeR, 17.01.2026, 15:54
                  • DOS32AWE - RAM wavetable MIDI possible for PM games under DOS - Japheth, 19.01.2026, 12:04
                    • DOS32AWE - RAM wavetable MIDI possible for PM games under DOS - RayeR, 20.01.2026, 01:19
                      • DOS32AWE - RAM wavetable MIDI possible for PM games under DOS - Japheth, 20.01.2026, 08:03
                        • DOS32AWE - RAM wavetable MIDI possible for PM games under DOS - RayeR, 20.01.2026, 13:14
                          • DOS32AWE - RAM wavetable MIDI possible for PM games under DOS - Japheth, 21.01.2026, 21:54
                            • DOS32AWE - RAM wavetable MIDI possible for PM games under DOS - RayeR, 23.01.2026, 18:59
                              • DOS32AWE - RAM wavetable MIDI possible for PM games under DOS - Japheth, 24.01.2026, 09:17
                                • DOS32AWE - RAM wavetable MIDI possible for PM games under DOS - RayeR, 25.01.2026, 07:51
                                  • DOS32AWE - RAM wavetable MIDI possible for PM games under DOS - Japheth, 25.01.2026, 08:47
                                    • DOS32AWE - RAM wavetable MIDI possible for PM games under DOS - RayeR, 26.01.2026, 00:17
                                      • DOS32AWE - RAM wavetable MIDI possible for PM games under DOS - Japheth, 26.01.2026, 03:29
                                        • DOS32AWE - RAM wavetable MIDI possible for PM games under DOS - RayeR, 27.01.2026, 08:47
                                          • DOS32AWE - RAM wavetable MIDI possible for PM games under DOS - Japheth, 27.01.2026, 18:25
                                            • DOS32AWE - RAM wavetable MIDI possible for PM games under DOS - Japheth, 29.01.2026, 19:23
                                              • DOS32AWE - RAM wavetable MIDI possible for PM games under DOS - Japheth, 05.02.2026, 11:30
                                                • DOS32AWE - RAM wavetable MIDI possible for PM games under DOS - RayeR, 12.02.2026, 04:32
                                                  • DOS32AWE - RAM wavetable MIDI possible for PM games under DOS - Japheth, 12.02.2026, 09:59
                                                    • DOS32AWE - RAM wavetable MIDI possible for PM games under DOS - RayeR, 14.02.2026, 05:05
                                                      • DOS32AWE - RAM wavetable MIDI possible for PM games under DOS - Japheth, 17.02.2026, 16:08