Maybe a scheduled task that applies the default values through a reg file .

darry wrote on 2020-06-03, 15:07:

Maybe a scheduled task that applies the default values through a reg file .

I tried something similar earlier today, adding a string to the Run folder in the registry: "regedit.exe /s c:\MIDI-Reset.reg" and it does apply the default value to the registry but TOO LATE. The setting gets read from the registry and applied to the hardware BEFORE anything that's set to run at system startup.

What we'd need to make it work this way is a pure DOS-based program that's capable of updating one individual value in the registry BEFORE Win98 has been initialized, so we could call it from autoexec.bat or something similar. I'm not sure if something like that exists but it's something I'll look into...

Have it run the scheduled task on shut-down instead of start-up.

What about renaming the file of the large sound font with a line in autoexec.bat and rename it back with a script after the loading of Windows?

Kamerat wrote on 2020-06-03, 19:30:

What about renaming the file of the large sound font with a line in autoexec.bat and rename it back with a script after the loading of Windows?

I like that idea .

Kamerat wrote on 2020-06-03, 19:30:

What about renaming the file of the large sound font with a line in autoexec.bat and rename it back with a script after the loading of Windows?

I like that idea too! Of course there are currently fifteen potential soundfonts in my collection to choose from, so it's not quite that simple but after a moment of thought I can adapt for that:
All the soundfonts are in a folder called "sfbank". Create a 2nd folder called "fakebank" with fifteen copies of the default soundfont, each renamed to line up with all the filenames in the real sfbank folder.

In autoexec.bat:

• rename sfbank realbank
• rename fakebank sfbank

In a batch file that auto-runs at Windows startup (but this occurs after any soundfont has been auto-loaded):

• rename sfbank fakebank
• rename realbank sfbank

It's not the most elegant solution, having fifteen extra copies of the same default soundfont file in a dummy directory - but at least the default file is only 34kb so we're not talking about any real waste of storage space. As I write this, it may even be possible for the fakebank folder to be empty... or non-existent! That would still disrupt the auto-loading of the real custom file. The question is whether I can get away with pointing this software to a file that doesn't actually exist without undesirable effects.

I get that it takes a long time to load, but it should not be making an otherwise stable system unstable. Something else is probably going on there.

AngieAndretti wrote on 2020-06-04, 09:17:

I like that idea too! Of course there are currently fifteen potential soundfonts in my collection to choose from, so it's not quite that simple but after a moment of thought I can adapt for that:
All the soundfonts are in a folder called "sfbank". Create a 2nd folder called "fakebank" with fifteen copies of the default soundfont, each renamed to line up with all the filenames in the real sfbank folder.

Don't think too complicated. Just use the file extension instead.

rename *.sf2 *.bak

and:

rename *.bak *.sf2

Doesn't matter which file you actually use in this case.

I see that Windows 98 doesn't support TaksManager running tasks at shutdown.

Better way instead of renaming the files all the time is to run a script to call the registry change and then call the shutdown dialogue.

See here for some more info:
https://msfn.org/board/topic/44186-run-batch- … ts-on-shutdown/