#3 No sound under Betrayal at Krondor

[Anonymous]

I have W2k sp 1, SB Live! p3 650

And it seems that VDMS did not start correctly when
run from autoexec.nt
When starting it generates following messages:
-----cut start------
@I - 02:09:21.220 - MPU401 Controller
MPU401Ctl released
@I - 02:09:21.220 - SB Controller
SBCompatCtl released
@I - 02:09:21.220 - Wave Player
Garbage collector thread cancelled
@I - 02:09:21.220 - Wave Player
WaveOut released
@I - 02:09:21.220 - DMA Transfer Manager
Transfer Manager thread cancelled
@I - 02:09:21.220 - DMA Transfer Manager
TransferMgr released
@I - 02:09:21.220 - MIDI Mapper
MIDIMapper released
@I - 02:09:21.220 - MIDI Player
Garbage collector thread cancelled
@I - 02:09:21.220 - MIDI Player
MIDIOut released
@I - 02:09:21.220 - SysEx Indicator
ActivityLights released
@I - 02:09:21.230 - VDMServicesProvider
VDMServices released
-----cut end------
Also when running from the directory, where VDMS
situated, it says at first that cannot find entrypoint
in DLL and then correctly starts.
I am using VDMS Alpha sp3, all DLL's registered
through the install.bat file

[Nobody/Anonymous]

Logged In: NO

I have changed VDMSoundPath to point to the correct
directory and nothing happens :-(

[Vlad ROMASCANU]

Logged In: YES
user_id=148964

Hello,

Next time please leave your e-mail address or some other
means of identification/contact.

Now, the reason why you get no sound is probably that VDMS
does not start (or starts and exits right away).

Please tell me more about the error you get (the entry-
point error), as this is probably where the problem lies.
Just copy-paste it in here (if it is printed in the console
window), or just reproduce the details if it appears in a
Dialog Box.

BTW, Betrayal at Krondor works fine since VDMS 1.0, so I'm
100% certain we're simply experiencing configuration
problems here. Also, the VDMSoundPath environment variable
is not used in VDMS2 anymore, so what you should do until I
take care of these where-do-I-run-VDMS-from aspects is
launch VDMS manually or from a batch file by first changing
to the VDMS directory, runing DOSDRV.EXE, then changing to
the game directory and running the game (I think B@K also
needs EMS, so in that case just make a .bat file that runs
VDMS then B@K, and associate a .pif file with the .bat for
the memory settings). In any case, "Monty Python" has
almost finished developing a 'launch pad' program that will
take care of all these VDMS details, and you'll be one
click away from running any game (as opposed to messing
around with .nt files, .bat files, or DOS command prompts
at all). :)

Please let me know how it all went so that I can close this
support request.

Vlad.

--

In the log file, @I means "information" (used just for
verbosity/debug purposes, does not mean that anything is
wrong with VDMS), @W means warnings (possible cause for
problems), and @E means error (self-explanatory).
Following the @... code is a time-stamp of the form
hours:minutes:seconds:milliseconds since your system booted
up.

[Nobody/Anonymous]

Logged In: NO

I have tried to use additional .bat file to launch Krondor.
Firstly I change directory to the VDMS and launch dosdrv.
then change directory and launch Krondor. This works.
Ok, but is it possible to add some command line option to
dosdrv to specify .dll's location ?
(It might be useful to launch emulator in autoexec.nt for
DOS applications)

[Vlad ROMASCANU]

Logged In: YES
user_id=148964

Hello again,

You don't really need a command-line options for
specifying .dll's -- all you need for that is add the VDMS
directory to the PATH environment variable. Unfortunately,
what you *do* need (and cannot at this point) specify is
the path to 'the' VDMS.INI file. Unless you have a copy of
a VDMS.INI file in the directory with the game (where you
double-clicked the game's .exe or where the DOS window
started up) VDMS won't find the .INI file. This will be
implemented in the near future.