| Author |
Message |
Dan Troyka (Dtroyka)
| | Posted on Sunday, June 24, 2001 - 11:37 am: | |
Two requests:
ZoG 3.1 no longer engages relative midi files when a game is opened, even when prompted by an opening-sound. Rather, a piece must be moved before the music starts. In contrast, the midi does play immediately when a variant is opened (but only if there is an opening-sound.)
I would like to see relative midi files played immediately when a game or variant is opened, preferably whether or not prompted by an opening-sound.
Second, it has been my experience that opening Zillions twice will crash the midi-mapper if the music is on for both applications (whether or not it is Zillions default music). This freezes the screen, requires manually closing the midi-mapper, and prevents any application from playing midi files until you reboot.
This has been a constant problem for me (and I assume for anyone who has the music option on). So, if you could, please fix it. |
Jeff Mallett (Jeffm)
| | Posted on Sunday, June 24, 2001 - 12:14 pm: | |
>and I assume for anyone who has the music
>option on
I would assume not. It doesn't happen to me. It sounds like there's a bug in your MIDI/sound drivers, which is a common experience. I would check for newer versions of these. Zillions does not do its own sound processing, but instead relies on very simple calls to the system. |
Dan Troyka (Dtroyka)
| | Posted on Friday, June 29, 2001 - 8:54 pm: | |
The specific problem I have is with the file mmtask.tsk, a core system file that seems to hang the system in a lot of different contexts. According to Microsoft (mmtask support), this file can misbehave depending on the order in which multimedia tasks are opened and closed. I've had this problem on two computers, although both were Dell and probably used the same sound card and drivers. I tried updating the drivers but all that did was screw up my modem.
I'm curious, has anybody else had this problem? |
Jeff Mallett (Jeffm)
| | Posted on Sunday, July 01, 2001 - 1:05 pm: | |
>ZoG 3.1 no longer engages relative midi files
>when a game is opened, even when prompted by an
>opening-sound. Rather, a piece must be moved
>before the music starts.
Hi, I can't duplicate this either. I think perhaps you are fooled by the fact that there is a few second delay before the music starts.
Note that the delay is intentional, so that a) it won't interfere with the opening sound, and b) so you don't get a song continually re-starting as you flip through variants. |
Dan Troyka (Dtroyka)
| | Posted on Sunday, July 01, 2001 - 3:35 pm: | |
I have in mind the local midi files that I include with my zrf packages (I think I'm the only contributor who adds background music). When I open Heaven & Hell Chess in ZoG 1.3.1, for example, the midi music does not start, ever, until a piece is moved. It does start properly when a variant is loaded. This problem of the music not starting does not happen with the default Zillions music, and it did not happen in ZoG 1.3.
If the test you did was with a local midi file please let me know. That's probably the last little push I need to replace my friggin' sound system. |
Jeff Mallett (Jeffm)
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 17, 2001 - 6:04 pm: | |
Ah, *local* MIDI files. I investigated and did find a problem that Zillions won't always find MIDI files stored outside the usual Zillions path. I've corrected this and it will appear in the next update.
Also, this weekend I rewrote all the MIDI code from scratch using a different method in the hope that it will be more compatible with problematic MIDI drivers out there. I can't say for sure whether that will solve the problem for you or not. It should also be more efficient in any case. |
Jeff Mallett (Jeffm)
| | Posted on Friday, December 13, 2002 - 9:15 pm: | |
The version with the MIDI rewrite to fix these incompatibilities (Zillions of Games 2.0) is now released. Regarding version 2, Dan Troyka wrote me,
"the MIDI files now open and close properly on my computer, which I appreciate" |
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