Yes. I found 486_slow worked best for me at around 85000 to 95000 cpu cycles. It's not perfect, but it's very playable. You have to setup a setup.ini file for soundset to work which GOG left out it seems. It's just text so create a setup.ini file in the game root folder and paste this text into it:

[PROGRAM]
Title = HMI Sound Operating System Setup Utility
Copyright = (C) Copyright 1995 - Human Machine Interfaces Inc. - All Rights Reserved
ConfigFile = hmiset.cfg
DigitalTest = test.wav
MIDITest = test.hmi
MIDIMelodic = melo-ss.bnk
MIDIDrum = drum-ss.bnk
Stereo = Yes
16Bit = Yes
EnableSCSI = Yes

[SYSTEM]
Devices = 1
DigitalPFX = DIGITAL
MIDIPFX = MIDI

# < ID String > = < name >, < ID >, < Port >, < IRQ >, < DMA >, < MIDI Index >
[DIGITAL]
Device000 = No Digital Device , -1 , 0 , 0, 0, 0, No, No
Device001 = Sound Blaster , 0xe000, 0x220, 5, 1, 1, No, No
Device002 = Sound Blaster Pro , 0xe001, 0x220, 5, 1, 1, No, No
Device003 = Sound Blaster 16/AWE32 , 0xe015, 0x220, 5, 1, 1, Yes, Yes
Device004 = Ensoniq SoundScape , 0xe01d, 0x330, -1, 1, 1, Yes, Yes
Device005 = Microsoft Sound System , 0xe00b, 0x530, -1, 1, 1, Yes, Yes
Device006 = Pro Audio Spectrum 16 , 0xe003, 0x388, 7, 1, 1, Yes, Yes
Device007 = Gravis UltraSound , 0xe023, 0x220, 11, 1, 1, Yes, Yes
Device008 = Gravis UltraSound Max , 0xe027, 0x220, 11, 1, 1, Yes, Yes
Device009 = ESS AudioDrive , 0xe019, 0x220, 7, 1, 1, No, No
Device010 = Roland RAP-10 , 0xe021, 0x330, 9, 5, 1, No, No
Device011 = Toptek Golden 16 , 0xe00b, 0x220, 7, 1, 1, Yes, Yes
Device012 = Thunderboard , 0xe000, 0x220, 7, 1, 1, No, No
Device013 = Adlib Gold , 0xe009, 0x388, -1, 1, 1, Yes, Yes
Device014 = NewMedia .WAVJammer , 0xe02b, -1, -1, -1, 1, Yes, Yes
Device015 = I/O Magic Tempo , 0xe02f, 0x38c, 11, -1, 1, Yes, Yes
Device016 = ARIA Chipset , 0xe000, 0x220, 7, 1, 1, No, No
Device017 = Sound Galaxy NX Pro 16 , 0xe000, 0x220, 7, 1, 1, Yes, Yes
Device018 = Reveal FX/32 , 0xe01d, 0x330, -1, 1, 1, Yes, Yes

[DETECTION]
DeviceOrder = 6, 7, 4, 5, 3, 2, 1, 7, 9, 10, 14, 15

# < name >, < ID >, < MIDI Type >
[MIDI]
Device000 = No MIDI Device , -1 , 0
Device001 = MPU-401 , 0xa001, 0
Device002 = Roland Sound Canvas , 0xa001, 0
Device003 = General MIDI , 0xa001, 0
Device004 = Sound Blaster , 0xa002, 1
Device005 = Sound Blaster Pro , 0xa002, 1
Device006 = Sound Blaster 16 , 0xa009, 0
Device007 = Sound Blaster AWE32 , 0xa008, 0
Device008 = Ensoniq SoundScape , 0xa001, 0
Device009 = Microsoft Sound System , 0xa009, 0
Device010 = Pro Audio Spectrum 16 , 0xa009, 0
Device011 = Gravis UltraSound , 0xa00a, 0
Device012 = Gravis UltraSound Max , 0xa00a, 0
Device013 = ESS AudioDrive , 0xa002, 0
Device014 = Roland RAP-10 , 0xa001, 0

# < Default >, < Port >, ....
[MIDISETTINGS]
Device000 = 1, -1
Device001 = 4, 0x300, 0x310, 0x320, 0x330, 0x340, 0x350
Device002 = 4, 0x300, 0x310, 0x320, 0x330, 0x340, 0x350
Device003 = 4, 0x300, 0x310, 0x320, 0x330, 0x340, 0x350
Device004 = 1, 0x388
Device005 = 1, 0x388
Device006 = 1, 0x388
Device007 = 1, 0x620, 0x640, 0x660, 0x680
Device008 = 4, 0x300, 0x310, 0x320, 0x330, 0x340
Device009 = 1, 0x388
Device010 = 1, 0x388
Device011 = 1, 0x220
Device012 = 1, 0x220
Device013 = 1, 0x388
Device014 = 4, 0x300, 0x310, 0x320, 0x330, 0x340

Save it and now you should be able to run soundset.exe within DOSBox for this game. It creates a file called HMISET.INI in the game root folder. Or a shortcut way is to just create a HMISET.INI file in the game root directory and paste this text into it which sets you up for the SB16 card and gives you 16-bit audio, but make sure your dosboxShatteredSteel.conf file has all the audio settings set to 44100 (44khz) instead of the default GOG settings of 22050 (22khz). Here is the SB16 HMISET.INI text:

[DIGITAL]
DeviceName = Sound Blaster 16/AWE32
DeviceIRQ = 7
DeviceDMA = 5
DevicePort = 0x220
DeviceID = 0xe018

[MIDI]
DeviceName = Sound Blaster 16
DevicePort = 0x388
DeviceID = 0xa009

The game does not use MIDI so no use setting up a MPU-401 MIDI device. I just set it for the standard SB16 OPL-3 FM chip.

Attached my modified conf file, but had to name it with an extension of jpg. Just rename it back to dosboxShatteredSteel.conf I am using the latest SVN build of DOSBox as well which currently is 4006. Just throw those files over the old ones in the Shattered Steel DOSBox folder.

http://www.emucr.com/search/label/DOSBox

Also have had some decent success running this game through a frame limiter. If you setup in your conf file output=opengl then this game will pas through a frame limiter properly. So I set the game to about 95000 cpu cycles (like my gameplay fast) and use EVGAs PrecisionX 16 utility and frame limit to about 35FPS. Any slower and the audio starts chopping. Seems I can have fast gameplay with good collision detection this way. Just another fun trick to play with.

Sorry, but your explicit mention of ssteel.exe and nothing else led me to believe you were only examining the data track.

I don't know about "crippled version", but I do believe GOG usually strips down the data track to the bare minimum to save space. The original CD would have contained all the installation files as well, but since the image is only used for the redbook audio, those files aren't needed. It's not the extensions. Most (if not all) of GOG's releases that use redbook audio are named like that, and they work just fine.

Yeah. I knew it probably was not the extensions, but something was not right. Ended up I had messed around so much with the files I just went ahead and reinstalled and started fresh and it worked fine with CD audio tracks in-game. That was a side issue regardless as my main goal was to get this game as close to the original experience from years ago. GOGs conf file was abysmal and the game ran like crap. Now with all my trial and error I've got it humming along quite nicely. Never got to finish this game so it will be fun.

Hey, could you please pass this info to a blue so that GOG could maybe fix at least its config file and restore the music?

I don't have this game, but seeing as GOG has botched up the sound configuration and even removed the obvious means of fixing it, has anyone filed a support ticket? Perhaps they can be bothered to fix it.

In the meanwhile, perhaps the better setup.ini should be posted to the games own forum where it will be easier to find in the future?

The breakdown:

1.) The CD audio tracks DO work after installation. I had a screwed up install and reinstalled.
2.) Yes, for some reason the game only installs with the Sound Blaster Pro (8-bit audio) initialized with no way to change it because setup.ini is missing which will not allow you to run soundset.exe. The game's DOSBox conf file is also set at 22050 (22khz) in all the audio option lines. If you look at the GOG install folder you will see the 16-bit audio files are there mixed in with the 8-bit audio files in the "sound8" folder like in the original release.
3,) The DOSBox conf file is so badly implemented in this GOG release that is basically unplayable out of the box. The game does not emulate well to begin with, but with many adjustments to the conf file you can get it to a VERY playable state. I always upgrade my GOG release DOS games to the latest DOSBox SVN builds just for good measure. I also copy over the SVN build's conf file and rename it to the game's conf filename. I have noticed GOG releases remove many option lines in their conf file.
4.) If you use opengl as the output you can run this game through a frame limiter which I have had decent success with further improving game execution. 35fps seems to be the sweet spot for me. What happens for me is I get the conf file tweaked to near perfect game speed that I like, but collision detection gets a bit wonky. If I lower the CPU cycles then of course framerate suffers especially when the action heats up on screen. So I tried EVGA's PrecisionX 16 (not the new Precision XOC which is for Pascal GPUs) and used its phenomenal frame limiter and set it as low as possible without audio dropout (35fps). PrecisionX 16 works on most NVidia cards. Now I have a zippy game with good collision detection.

That's what I got. Now some will ask what's the diff between just slowing the CPU cycles in the conf file and using a frame limiter. I am not sure and you can ask the devs of DOSBox in the Vogons forums about that, it just worked for me well. I am probably going to try this technique on a few of my old misbehaving DOS games and see what happens. It's kind of like why does the 486_slow cpu type work better than the Pentium_slow cpu type in DOSBox on a Pentium class game. I have no idea, but go with what works. One of my all time favorite Windows mech games, Mechwarrior 3, had very similar issues to this game. Bouncing vehicles like they were on a trampoline where some would fly off the ground and into the sky never to be seen again. Setting PrecisionX 16's frame limiter to 30fps resolved 90% of that game's issues for me and it is allowing me to finish the game up finally after all these years and I am about to dig in to the expansion pack, Pirate's Moon.

So finally got the game CD today. Yeah. So GOG's version has all the files as the original CD except, as I said, you have to create that setup.ini file to run soundset.exe and change the game over to 16-bit audio otherwise the the game starts in 8-bit mode out of the box. I see what they did with their cue/bin files. To save space they included the large install data files and then chopped the bin file down to only the CD audio portion. So the ssteel.gog (bin file) and the ssteel.inst (cue file) are just there to provide the CD audio. Interesting how they did that. The only other thing is to make sure to edit GOG's conf file that I mentioned above and change all the audio to 44100 instead of 22050 to take advantage of you switching to 16-bit audio. Everything should sound a tad crisper and cleaner. Cheers.