Music Problems in HOMM2 with Windows 7

[BelgarathMTH]

I just installed HOMM2 Gold on my new Windows 7 computer, and everything is working fine except for the sound, specifically the music tracks.

The terrain music rarely plays, the battle music plays one time and then stops, the enemy turn music doesn't play, lots of other music tracks don't play when I know they should.

The only thing that doesn't seem to be affected is castle themes, although those tracks are so long that I haven't tested to see if they will loop properly.

Does anyone know of a patch or any kind of fix or workaround to make the sound work properly? It is really bothering me that I can't play HOMM2 with proper music - the music is one of the main reasons I love to play HOMM.

Thanks.

[BelgarathMTH]

Edit: I just found the solution to my problem. (Yay, yay!!!)

I want to post it in case anybody else is having the same problem.

I went to Control Panel, Devices and Sounds.

There, I discovered that I have something called "RealTek Audio HD".

Under the settings for that sound card, I found a drop down menu of dozens of sound quality settings, and mine was set for "32-bit DVD quality, 24000 khz."

I turned that down to "16-bit CD quality, 12000 khz."

Voila, all HOMM2 sound is working perfectly. Interestingly, it has improved the sound over my whole computer - every sound is louder, clearer, and more robust. I haven't tested it with a contemporary game like HOMM5 yet, but I'll let you know how that goes if anyone is interested.

Again, thanks.

[GreatEmerald]

Hmm, interesting... I have similar issues with MM8, GrayFace's patch enables us to loop music, yet it doesn't loop correctly here even if it's set correctly... But unfortunately it doesn't seem to work in my case.

[BelgarathMTH]

Hmm, interesting... I have similar issues with MM8, GrayFace's patch enables us to loop music, yet it doesn't loop correctly here even if it's set correctly... But unfortunately it doesn't seem to work in my case.

Emerald, I feel your pain. I spoke too soon in my edit. No matter what I set my sound card for, HOMM2 refuses to loop the music tracks. Also, there is a significant delay before any music track begins, a noticably longer delay than on any of my older computers.

Also, I hear a "hiccup" noise every time the program attempts to loop.

I am still looking for a solution to this from anyone who knows one.

[BMJedi]

sigh. bump.

I've come back to homm2 after all this time, and still have this problem. Can't anyone *please* tell me how to make the music loop as it should on contemporary computers?

BTW, I think this same problem exists on just about every NWC game as run on today's computers.