Hi Paul!
I've just downloaded it, but vdos32 requires unlocking. Any chance to get working test version of vdos32?
I don't have registered version of Glidos, so maybe that is the reason why I can't use vdos32?

EDIT: oups, ignore it, I've just unlocked Vdos32 succesfully over internet, I'm going to try now.

Paul - the grey background on the VDos32 page is a little to dark for my taste. I had to do a mark-text on the page (which reversed the background to white) for an easier reading experience.

MiniMax wrote:

Paul - the grey background on the VDos32 page is a little to dark for my taste. I had to do a mark-text on the page (which reversed the background to white) for an easier reading experience.

Damn! I had a lighter version, but I couldn't get the colour of the images to match a web colour. May have to rework that then.

My feedback:
1. System: Vista RC2, Athlon64 2800+, 2GB RAM, 6600GT with Forceware 96.85, built-in Realtek ALC'97 sound chip with beta drivers. VDMSound installed (without it the game just crashed at the beginning).

2. software mode - FMVs are very stuttery and jerky (problem with sound), because of that they play in slow motion, gameplay is a little jerky, all sounds are jerky too, they produce echo effect (especially gunshots). No environmental sounds. Only window mode is available.

3. Glidos - FMVs behave the same way as above, gameplay is a little jerky too - low fps, jerky sounds with echo effect. No environmental sounds. Audio-pack works, high-res textures work too, though it looks that AA and anisotropic filtering forced by drivers doesn't work.

Built-in Vista Forceware drivers (earlier than 96.85) caused the game didn't work in OpenGL mode at all, and psvoodoo mode had lots of missing textures.

Just for curiosity, I checked VDos32 with TR1 on Windows XP and it works like a charm - no stuttering at all.

It seems you are on a good way to make it work fine, Paul. 😀

P.S. I don't know how unlocking of VDos32 works - I had to unlock it few times. Did it forget that it was already unlocked?

EDIT: slight update of the above.

Thanks for feedback.

VDMSound: that is so so weird. I can't think of any way in which it could have an effect. In what way did the game crash without VDMSound?

Stuttery jerky: that's worrying. Could be the audio upseting video or vice versa. I've had slow motion at times, but usually been able to get rid of the problem by clicking on the window.

Glidos: were you using fullscreen mode? I find it works better that way, although the FMVs will still be in a Window.

With built in drivers I'd expect OpenGL not to work at all. But I'd hope that psVoodoo would be ok. Were there any errors in the psVoodoo log file?

No environmental sounds: that's expected. There is no redbook support
at the moment.

Unlocking several times: not sure what would cause that. Changes in yout network might do it.

Oh yeah, something worth trying.

Run Setup.exe with VDos32 and select no sound card. Then try running it in software mode.

And as for running under XP, yeah I was hoping that XP users would try it too. In many ways it should be a more reliable way to run TR1, since its not at all relying on display drivers and audio driver providing DOS support. It should look to the OS like any other Windows app.

Glidos wrote:

Run Setup.exe with VDos32 and select no sound card. Then try running it in software mode.

With 'no sound' selected FMVs seem to play OK (no stuttering), the gameplay is still a little jerky (low fps) both in software and Glidos mode, but it seems to be much better than with sound enabled.
It is possible to hear environmental sounds from audio pack, but I have impression that framerate is lower with audiopack enabled.

I used Glidos in fullscreen mode.
FMVs always play in window, and a screen is flickering for a while trying to switch to fullscreen. I got some errors in psvoodoo.log so I attached it below.

With no VDMSound installed Glidos just tried to switch to fulscreen and it froze with blank window.

Meantime I installed the newest version of Realtek sound drivers, but it didn't improve anything. 🙁

Zebius wrote:

I used Glidos in fullscreen mode.
FMVs always play in window, and a screen is flickering for a while trying to switch to fullscreen. I got some errors in psvoodoo.log so I attached it below.

Was that with AA forced on in the drivers. psVoodoo seems to have a problem with AA on nvidia cards.

With AA off or on (in NVidia control panel) it's the same. But as I said AA and AF is not working with Glidos, probably due to early beta drivers (I read somewhere, that AA is not working in many games on Vista due to poor drivers).

Never heard that one. I do have issues with ATI Radeon Vista drivers in Vista so I just switch back to the XP drivers and everything is fine.

When running in software mode and with sound disabled, we are back to the test done with v0.3. Was v0.3 stuttery and slow too, or has there been a degredation in performance?

@DosFreak
I reffered to Nvidia Vista drivers, I never used XP drivers on Vista, because I didn't know it was possible 😉

@Glidos
Performance on VDos32 0.3 was very good - no stuttering at all both in FMVs and the gameplay. However with sound enabled by installer it just crashed at the beginning.

In 0.4 software mode FMVs are stuttering, but gameplay is rather good, it looks that fps are OK, maybe a little jerky (you know - it is a small window and it's not easy to say it definitely).

0.4 and Glidos - I checked framerate in Glidos by Fraps and it is 15-25fps, both with OpenGL and psvoodoo. But sometimes it drops to few fps, making the game unplayable. Fullscreen and window mode have similar stutterings and slowdowns.

Another thing - from time to time I just get very low fps (about 5fps) both in software and Glidos (so I reported low fps yesterday, but it happened today too), but starting it for another time gives better fps (15-25). Strange.

I changed sound card in TR installer to SoundBlaster, but it gives instant crash in VDos32 when trying to start the game.

Zebius wrote:

Performance on VDos32 0.3 was very good - no stuttering at all both in FMVs and the gameplay. However with sound enabled by installer it just crashed at the beginning.

Hopefully that's not a real crash, right? VDos32 opens a dialog showing the reg values, but the main VDos32 dialog doesn't disappear?

Zebius wrote:

In 0.4 software mode FMVs are stuttering, but gameplay is rather good, it looks that fps are OK, maybe a little jerky (you know - it is a small window and it's not easy to say it definitely).

That's with "No Sound card" selected? That's bad: so something in 0.4 is worse than 0.3.

Zebius wrote:

0.4 and Glidos - I checked framerate in Glidos by Fraps and it is 15-25fps, both with OpenGL and psvoodoo. But sometimes it drops to few fps, making the game unplayable. Fullscreen and window mode have similar stutterings and slowdowns.

OpenGL? This is still Vista, yes? All runs ok under XP?

Zebius wrote:

I changed sound card in TR installer to SoundBlaster, but it gives instant crash in VDos32 when trying to start the game.

Hopefully a report dialog from VDos32... still strange though.

Glidos wrote:

Hopefully that's not a real crash, right? VDos32 opens a dialog showing the reg values, but the main VDos32 dialog doesn't disappear?

Yes, correct, screen attached. I had no total system crash with VDos32 nor Glidos yet. Ctrl+Alt+Del works very well on Vista 😉

Glidos wrote:

That's with "No Sound card" selected? That's bad: so something in 0.4 is worse than 0.3.

No, it was tested with sound enabled, so it's not bad.
With no sound (I simply deleted hmiset.cfg, because installer from TR CD in Vista is not installing anything actually, and setup.exe doesn't work correctly too) all seems to be OK, no slowdowns.

Glidos wrote:

OpenGL? This is still Vista, yes? All runs ok under XP?

Yes, still Vista, everything is fine on XP.

Glidos wrote:

Hopefully a report dialog from VDos32... still strange though.

Soon I'll post a screen from VDos32 crash, but first I must switch to XP to make hmiset.cfg with SoundBlaster enabled, 'cause I deleted it.

Ok, so I tested VDos32 0.4 (software mode) with SoundBlaster Pro enabled in hmiset.cfg, and I got crash as before. Screen below.

I checked also CPU usage with 0.3 and 0.4 (software mode) and it is always 100%, sound enabled or disabled makes no difference.

ah yeah. I'd imagine SoundBlaster Pro wouldn't work. I've implented nothing other than what was called when in SB16 mode. Probably not hard to fill in what's missing. I doubt if it will help with the stutters though.

The 100% CPU is expected, but may be relevent to the stuttering. One of the next things I want to try is getting VDos32 to at least give the OS 10% of the CPU. The same thing should should fix the problem that disallows the use of F1 - F4 keys.

I am curious as to why VDos32 was developed. I am currently using the latest version of Glidos and have had no signifigant problems whatever. Was this program initiated to cure certain problems that others have had or what. Just a question that I had on my mind.
Is Glidos supposed to run better with the VDos32?
I feel if it ain't broke don't try to fix it!