Updated Games Audio Drivers

About sound driver initialization issues. As PCs became faster certain problems arose that were not noticable on the hardware at the time of the games' release. These were the infamous speed bugs that plagued many Sierra games of the era. When selecting SoundBlaster users on faster PCs sometimes would encounter the message:

Unable to initialize your audio hardware

This was a speed issue with the way Sierra's drivers detected the audio hardware on the user's computer. Sierra released a few after market drivers to address initialization issues on faster PCs. You will find thes drivers below. For the games that did not have an updated driver released Sierra had a workaround for these initialization problems on faster PCs. Back when computers came with a Turbo switch that could slow a PC down, Sierra recommended that the user turn off the "Turbo" switch to start the game and allow the game to iniitalize its drivers. After initialization you would turn the Turbo back on. If you have your cycles in DOSBox set too high, you may still encounter this problem. You can mimic the turbo switch solution by lowering your cycles (Ctl+F11) before starting your game. You may raise the cycles back up after the game starts (Ctl+F12).

A fan made DOS utility, GOSiERRA could also patch the original drivers to fix the initialization problem. See the Unable to initialize audio hardware Error Help page for further information.

Note that using the new Sierra installers will automatically update the games to avoid this and other issues.

Updated SoundBlaster Driver (AUDBLAST.DRV):
This updated driver corrects a problem with some SoundBlaster 16 ASP sound cards in which only the first digitized sound effect is heard.

AUDBLAST.DRV (SB16DRV) (ZIP file) [6.25 KB]

It works with the following games:

EcoQuest CD-ROM
King's Quest VI CD-ROM
Laura Bow II CD-ROM
Space Quest IV CD-ROM

To use the new driver, copy AUDBLAST.DRV to the game directory on your hard drive.

Updated SoundBlaster Driver (486SBDRV):
Official updated drivers that have been designed for compatibility with 486 and higher systems, MTBLAST.DRV and SNDBLAST.DRV. This update contains two drivers that have been designed for compatibility with 486 systems. Copy both the MTBLAST.DRV and the SNDBLAST.DRV drivers to each of your game subdirectories.

SoundBlaster Driver Update (486SBDRV) (ZIP file) [8.00 KB]

You may want to rerun the Install program for each game to verify that the selection of either driver is made. At this point, you are ready to boot the game up and enjoy the great sounds from your Sound Blaster card.

This driver will work for the following games:

Hoyle Official Book of Games Volume III
Leisure Suit Larry I Enhanced VGA
Leisure Suit Larry V
Police Quest III
Space Quest I Enhanced VGA

This file will not work with any other Sierra or Dynamix titles. For Space Quest IV, try slowing the system down when you start the game with a slow down utility such as "Turbo" (You can speed it back up once the game is started.)

New SoundBlaster Driver (SBSCI32):
The enclosed file (dacblast.drv) is an updated SoundBlaster driver that will recognize sound cards on I/O addresses other than 220.

SoundBlaster Patch (SBSCI32) (ZIP file) [5.03 KB]

It will work with the following games:

Gabriel Knight
Gabriel Knight CD-ROM
Police Quest: Open Season
Quest for Glory: Shadows of Darkness

For this driver to work properly, you must have the correct SET BLASTER statement in your autoexec.bat file. For more information on this setting, please refer to your sound card documentation.

SoundBlaster Driver (E29PATCH):
This download contains two drivers that have been designed for compatibility with 486 systems. Copy both the MTBLAST.DRV and the SNDBLAST.DRV drivers to each of your game subdirectories.

Updated SoundBlaster Driver (E29PATC) (ZIP file) [8.00 KB]

This driver will work for the following games:

Police Quest III
Space Quest I Enhanced VGA
Leisure Suit Larry I Enhanced VGA
Leisure Suit Larry V
Hoyle III

This file will not work with any other Sierra or Dynamix titles. For King's Quest V choose the AdLib option and the game will sound perfect. For Space Quest IV, try slowing the system down when you start the game by turning off the Turbo button. You can speed it back up once in the game. If you do not have a Turbo button, you will need to choose the AdLib option.

After Market GM Driver (GENMIDI):
This download adds after-market support for General MIDI synthesizers through the GENMIDI.DRV driver and the appropriate patch file (.PAT). This driver will work with the the games listed below.

GENMIDI.ZIP (ZIP file) [15.4 KB]

Includes General Midi Patches for the following games:

EcoQuest 1 - ECO1GM.PAT
Hoyle 3 - HOY3GM.PAT
Leisure Suit Larry 1 Enhanced VGA - LL1_GM.PAT
Leisure Suit Larry 5 - LL5_GM.PAT
Robin Hood: Conquest of the Longbow - ROBNGM.PAT
Space Quest 1 Enhanced VGA - SQ1_GM.PAT
Space Quest 4 - SQ4_GM.PAT
Mixed Up Fairy Tales - TALEGM.PAT

Copy GENMIDI.DRV, GENMIDI.HLP and the appropriate patch file into the game's directory. Rename the patch file to "4.PAT"

Gravis UltraSound Driver (GUSDRV):
These drivers are ONLY for Sierra games that support General MIDI. These drivers are not designed for use with other Sierra games. Future Sierra game releases will contain support for the Gravis Ultrasound Specific instructions for installing the Gravis Ultrasound drivers in future games can be found in the owners manual or README file that come with the game.

Gravis Ultrasound Drivers (GUSDRV) (ZIP file) [201 KB]

The Gravis Ultrasound drivers will work with the following games:

Dagger of Amon RA (CD)
Freddy Pharkas
Hoyle Classic Card Games (VGA)
Island of Dr. Brain
King's Quest VI
Lost Secret of the Rain forest
Pepper's Adventures in Time
Police Quest (VGA)
Slater and Charlie
Space Quest V

IMPORTANT NOTE: These drivers are for Sierra games only. They will not work on Dynamix, Coktel Vision or Bright Star products.

Gravis UltraSound Driver (GUS32):
Updated Gravis Ultrasound Drivers

Gravis UltraSound Driver (GUS32) (ZIP file) [273 KB]

The Gravis Ultrasound drivers will work with the following games:The GRAVIS ULTRASOUND DRIVERS on this disk will work with the
following SIERRA 32 bit games:

Gabriel Knight
Gabriel Knight CD
Leisure Suit Larry 6 CD
Police Quest 4
Quest for Glory 4

These drivers will not work on earlier Sierra games.

Updated SoundBlaster Driver (DACBLAST):
Another Updated SoundBlaster driver. The enclosed driver is an updated SoundBlaster driver that will recognize sound cards on I/O addresses other than 220.

Updated SoundBlaster Driver (DACBLAST) (ZIP file) [4.94 KB]

It will work with the following games:

Gabriel Knight 1 CD-ROM
Police Quest 4: Open Season
Quest for Glory 4: Shadows of Darkness

AWE32 Driver:
An after market driver from Creative Labs & Sierra for the AWE32 for some of Sierra's titles. See readme for supported games.

AWE32 Support Driver (AWESOL) (ZIP file) [45.2 KB]

Sierra MT-32 Driver:
This driver corrects problems with some high-resolution Sierra games that support both MT-32 and DAC playback.

Sierra MT-32 Driver (MT32DRVR) (ZIP file) [846 KB]

Sierra Generic MT Driver (GNRCSND):
This is a "generic" Sierra sound driver by Stuart Goldstein (Sierra On-Line) that will drive any multi-timbre MIDI sound module. Requires a MPU-401 compatible MIDI Interface. Documentation is included.

Sierra Generic MT Driver (GNRCSND) (ZIP file) [1.54 KB]

Disney Sound Source (DISNEY)

Main Sound Utilities Page

You can help keep The Sierra Help Pages alive by helping to defray some of the costs of hosting this site. If it has been of help to you, please consider contributing to help keep it online.
Thank you.

Top