SoundFX 2000 is THE sound card emulator for DOS programs run under NT.
Copyright (C)1998,2001 Software Systems Consultants.

Requirements
============

You will need:
- Pentium P90 or better.
- Windows 2000 or NT4.0 (SP3 or later).
- A sound card with appropriate drivers.  NB you must install the sound card
drivers under NT and verify that they are functional before using the
emulator.

Recommended:
To achieve maximum compatibility and best performance for older programs using
FM music it is recommended that a sound card with true hardware FM synthesis
(i.e. Adlib compatibility) is used, such as a SB16, AWE32 etc.  PCI cards like
the SBLive do not have FM synthesiser hardware and in these cases Adlib
emulation will be necessary, so a minimum PII 350 is recommended.


Installation
============

If you have a self extracting WinZip archive (.exe) file then double click it
to expand the files into a new empty directory.  If you have a ZIP archive then
use WinZip or similar to extract the files.

Logon to an account with Administative privilege and double click the file
'setup.exe'. This will install sound support for ALL 16-bit applications
(including Win16 ones) and will set default preferences in the registry.  The
SoundFX control panel will then be opened to enable customisation of the sound
card emulation and runtime options.


Removal
=======

Open the control panel, open Add/Remove Programs, select SoundFX from the list
box and press Add/Remove.  Note that the SoundFX control panel will not be
deleted until after the system is re-booted.


Upgrades
========

The evaluation version of SoundFX is time limited to 3 minutes per instance. To
order the release version, which provides games port emulation, AWE32 support
and significantly improved performance contact:

Software Systems Consultants
Tel: +44 1223 862391
e-mail: soundfx@softsystem.co.uk

Check at www.softsystem.co.uk for release dates.


Release History
===============
2.04	07-Jun-05
        Increased FM envelope event buffer from 32 to 512 events
	Added XP to setup.exe installation failure message.
	DSP returns version 4.0d instead of 4.20 for AWE32
	DSP output timing accuracy improved.
	Support for Tyrian.
	Process creation callback doesn't re-init DSP emulation
	Improved detection of unauthorised patches.

2.03	18-Apr-03
        Setup warns 'OS not supported' if run on '9x.
	Add VdmFix reg key.  !0 to enable XP NTVDM IRQ workaround.
        Fix bug with 16-bit unsigned samples
        Increased FM emulator Kon event queue

2.02	23-Feb-01
	DMA auto-init base register reload fixed.
	DirectSound buffer cooling off pool to workaround
	IDirectSoundBuffer_Release exceptions.
	Revised control panel.
	Much more extensive help file.
	More aggressive optimisations in release build.

2.01	23-May-00
	SoundFX.sys now delays for longer after a write to the FM synth.  This
	ensures hardware timings are not violated in Win2000 which no longer
	delays after port writes.
	The Adlib emulator is now tolerant of misaligned DirectSound buffers.
	This prevents the assertion that occurred with some sample rates and
	sound card drivers.

2.00	24-Mar-00
	Added Adlib emulation.
	Added MIDI input.
	All PCM sound output now uses DirectSound.

1.09	18-Feb-00
        Added SoundBlaster MIDI mode (non MPU401) output support.
	Added DSP wave input.  For the moment all data is silent.
	Added DSP 0xe3 command.
        Added joystick support to the eval version.
	On exit FM synth properly reset to OPL2 mode.
        In eval version, MIDI output warns of bad data but doesn't assert.
	Fix single cycle DMA bug for Dune2.

1.08	18-Jun-99
	Added AWE32 support in soundfx.sys driver.
	FM synth now uses soundfx.sys driver under Win2000.
	Setup checks for administrative privilege.
	ldsbvdd.com sets BLASTER EV from info read from sbvdd.dll.
	Control panel updated for AWE32 support.
	Revised shutdown handling ensures all resources  are released even on
	forced quit.  This fixes a problem with the MIDI driver which could
	leave the device open after a forced quit and prevent further use until
	a reboot.


1.07	29-Apr-99
	Added games port emulation.

1.06	26-Mar-99
	Included support for DSP 0xFA command for SBPro2.
	Added control panel.
	Added setup program.
	Fix de-install bug in INF file causing VDD registry value to be
	deleted.

1.05    15-Nov-98
	Initialisation without registry entries fixed.

1.04    03-Nov-98
	Fixed problem with DSP continue command. Wolf3d now works.
	Improved compatibility in DSP command set.  Xwing now works.
	New method of displaying warning dialogs if devices in use

1.03 	31-Oct-98
	Added configuration from registry.
	Added DSP direct output mode.
	Added nominal support for DMA input for app's that check for this.
	Revised DMA engine reduces overhead permitting 16-bit stereo @ 44kHz on
	PPro200 in release build.
	Reduced DMA output latency for apps that cancel sound part way thru.
	Added -B switch to ldsbvdd.com to set max output latency.
	Deferred device opening until needed to reduce resource usage in
	non-sound apps
	Added .INF file for simple installation

1.02	19-Oct-98
	Added ADPCM support
	Much greater compatibility

1.01	5-Oct-98
	Initial release