UESP Forums

Purpose of this thread

I've created this thread mainly for people who already know the ins and outs of MIDI, and who are already using different SoundFonts
to make Arena sound better. If you belong to this category, skip the tutorial below and use this thread to recommend your favourite SoundFonts!

For those who are abashed by this apparent possibility...

Tutorial!

A little background and terminology

Old games like TES Arena play background music by using MIDI files. These files do not contain actual music or sound,
but they contain "instructions" for a MIDI device, which then uses sound banks (which "hold" the actual tones) to output sound*.
There are hardware MIDI devices, but on computers there are also software (virtual) MIDI devices

Windows ships with a default virtual (software) MIDI synthesizer called the GM WaveTable Synth to make the computer able to output
any MIDI sound, such as requested by DOSBox when it reads the MIDI files that come with TES Arena.
It sound very basic and there are much better alternatives if you're willing to learn a bit! So read on if you're interested...

*Simplified explanation

Installing a better virtual MIDI device
NOTE: If you have a Creative sound card, skip this section!

A popular alternative to Windows' default MIDI synthesizer is BASSMIDI. I've no experience with it myself, but anyway you can find a full website
dedicated to it (with download links and installation instructions) on kode54 dot net(sorry, no privileges to post URLs yet...)


Using a Creative Card

I own a Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi titanium PCIe, which has its own hardware MIDI synthesizer on board.
If you have a Creative sound card yourself, chances are you do not need a software MIDI device like BASSMIDI.
To check if it is true:

1. Launch DOSBox without launching Arena**
2. Type MIXER /LISTMIDI and hit enter
3. Look for values like "SB X-Fi synth A". Found it? You're good to go!

You will need "Creative SoundFont Bank Manager" later on, so Google this and install the application.

In the meantime, also right-click the volume icon in your system tray (where the clock is) and click playback devices.
Select "Speakers", click the properties button and go to the "levels" tab. Un-mute MIDI Synth and set the volume to 100%.

Managing SoundFonts

You need to find SoundFont files (ending on .SF2) which define actual tones for various instruments.
You can find plenty of these on the internet! Use these files with BASSMIDI or the Creative app mentioned above.
This will determine how the actual MIDI output will sound! Many SoundFont files sound different.

DOSBox configuration

Last step! Find your DosBox.conf file, either under where DosBox is installed or where Arena is installed.
Open it with a basic text editor such as notepad.

Look for the following section:


And change "midiconfig=" to "midiconfig=1". Use the device ID that you require! You can find this by launching DosBox (not launching Arena)**
and typing: MIXER /LISTMIDI and hitting enter. Find BASSMIDI or your creative card's number and place it in the config after "midiconfig="

Save the file, launch Arena, and if you've done everything right, you should now be able to enjoy better music!!

**Launching DosBox without Arena

Depending on your installation, Arena will launch automatically whenever you launch DosBox... to circumvene this, find the section in DoxBox.conf that looks like this:

(may be slightly different!)

Simply remove the line that says "Exit". Then, launch Arena as normal and select "Exit" or "Drop to DOS" from the main menu.
Re-add the line when you're done (or leave it off if you prefer for some reason.)

Final notes

I trust everyone who has enough interest in fiddling with these things, to also have enough computer knowledge
and experience to look up extra information if they become stuck with the tutorial.

If, however, you really can't find a solution to any problem you might encounter, or it doesn't work when you're finished,
feel free to post a question. Please try to be as specific as possible; say what you've managed to get to work and also what doesn't work yet.

Good luck!! And don't forget to discuss your favourite SoundFonts here!