gytaka wrote on 2022-11-02, 17:45:

Thank you for your fast reply! I have only started to get to know DxWnd, but have not encountered a solution yet. Nevertheless, […]
Show full quote

BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2022-11-02, 07:15:

Cd audio, controlled using MCI, is broken since Win Vista. Consider using DxWnd or ogg-winmm or such to fix the cd audio playback.

The SFX level can be connected to MIDI, I have to check the game...

Please consider making new threads for such issues, as it is likely it will get closed for being too old.

Thank you for your fast reply! I have only started to get to know DxWnd, but have not encountered a solution yet. Nevertheless, the program is excellent. In the "export" folder I did not find the settings for motor.exe (game launching exe), thus I am trying the settings individually.

Thank you for the suggestion, I will open a new thread here or at the discussion of the site https://sourceforge.net/projects/dxwnd/.

If you have any other suggestions, I would gladly take it. I have the original CD with music cdfs soundtracks and I am using the motor.exe version a3.1. (it works only with this version, no other)

Have a nice day,
George

I could look into it in a day or two...

BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2022-11-03, 19:18:

I could look into it in a day or two...

Thank you very much, I am looking forward to your suggestions!

Should we continue the discussion here in this thread or rather open a new one concentrating on my own problems?

gytaka wrote on 2022-11-04, 11:49:

BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2022-11-03, 19:18:

I could look into it in a day or two...

Thank you very much, I am looking forward to your suggestions!

Should we continue the discussion here in this thread or rather open a new one concentrating on my own problems?

So yes I got the game, and I was able to get a few things to fix but I didn't find a direct solution to your problem.

First of all, let's confirm we are on the right track:

• Retail CD
• No patches installed. The bottom right corner says a2.2
• Game is installed using OTVDM (to install a game using OTVDM, install OTVDM first [check the github] and then set the autorun program to Win95 compatibility mode and launch InstallShield from there)
• The game is from Digital Illusions.
• No-CD isn't used.

Normally, the Sound Effects and the CD audio volume slider does the same thing (on new Windows versions), decrease the overall volume. With DxWnd, it was possible to make the CD audio volume decrease the volume for CD audio only. The Sound Effects volume decreased the overall volume.

BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2022-11-04, 16:37:

First of all, let's confirm we are on the right track:

First of all, thank you for your patience.

Answering your questions:
1. Yes, I have a retail CD. I made a ccd image of this (together with *.img and *.sub files). This is what I'm using right now, for simplicity reasons.
2. I don't know of any patch that I would have installed, although there are several editions on the internet, as well as from the game (as far as I know, there is a US, an EU and a "Creative" - product companion - retail version). My Motor.exe is version a3.1, not a2.2.
3. The game was successfully installed under the virtual XP operating system, then I simply ported it to the "host" system (win 10 professional, 22H2). It is running there, under a native system.
4. Yes, the game is developed by Digital Illusions CE AB and distributed by Gremlin Interactive Ltd (1998).
5. I don't use no-cd patch.

What I have achieved so far:
- The graphics of the game was stabilized with Dege's dgVoodoo2 wrapper and I have no problems with that at the moment (I would gladly send you the *.cfg file upon your request).
- My problem is concentrated on the volume of the sound. In the game, the application reads the songs from a CD. The SFX - I think it's connected to MIDI - sounds (for example the main menu sound, the volume of the cars in the game, the sounds of the effects) cannot be changed independently of the CD.
- I am looking for a solution to separate the two channels (CD independent volume control and SFX independent volume control).
- Would it be a good idea to try the a3d-live (http://www.worknd.ru/), Aureal 3d emulator? It is quite confusing that the ingame SFX sounds can only be adjusted together with the volume of the cd.

In order to solve the issue, I have also joined a closed Facebook group called Motorhead (game), where they pressed an executable version into a simple install (of course, this also requires an original CD or Image file at startup). I can send it to you for viewing. This version is almost good and using a3d-live; however, the volume is pre-set and cannot be changed from the ingame option menu, only the pre-set volume is possible for both CD and SFX.

My main goal is to set the two volumes independently (preferably from the Game menu).

Please let me know if I can provide you with any more information or help.
Thank you in advance,
George

gytaka wrote on 2022-11-06, 20:55:

- My problem is concentrated on the volume of the sound. In the game, the application reads the songs from a CD. The SFX - I thi […]
Show full quote

- My problem is concentrated on the volume of the sound. In the game, the application reads the songs from a CD. The SFX - I think it's connected to MIDI - sounds (for example the main menu sound, the volume of the cars in the game, the sounds of the effects) cannot be changed independently of the CD.
- I am looking for a solution to separate the two channels (CD independent volume control and SFX independent volume control).
- Would it be a good idea to try the a3d-live (http://www.worknd.ru/), Aureal 3d emulator? It is quite confusing that the ingame SFX sounds can only be adjusted together with the volume of the cd.

My main goal is to set the two volumes independently (preferably from the Game menu).

In fact, DxWnd can separate the two volumes but with a catch: changing the SFX volume will change the CD audio volume too. This is because the SFX volume actually went on wave channels, and DxWnd only changes the CD volume sent nowadays through the wave channel (it used to send through the CD channel before Win Vista), so if SFX volume (wave channel) is at 50% and CD audio is at 50%, you will hear 50% of 50% cd audio volume.

For now I can't test this because for some absurd reason, the volume sliders have stopped working for me, they change nothing; but when I reported they worked, so I know what should change. Regarding the A3D emulator, I could test it in a few hours, I will edit this post or reply if you have seen this message.

Is it okay?

BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2022-11-07, 03:36:

In fact, DxWnd can separate the two volumes but with a catch: changing the SFX volume will change the CD audio volume too. This is because the SFX volume actually went on wave channels, and DxWnd only changes the CD volume sent nowadays through the wave channel (it used to send through the CD channel before Win Vista), so if SFX volume (wave channel) is at 50% and CD audio is at 50%, you will hear 50% of 50% cd audio volume.

For now I can't test this because for some absurd reason, the volume sliders have stopped working for me, they change nothing; but when I reported they worked, so I know what should change. Regarding the A3D emulator, I could test it in a few hours, I will edit this post or reply if you have seen this message.

Is it okay?

Yes thank you. If you need the install files from the closed Facebook group (where they are experimenting with the a3d emulator), I will gladly send them to you.
(The volumes are actually preset here -20-25% SFX, 100% CD , but you can't set them independently, no option to change it.)

gytaka wrote on 2022-11-07, 04:24:

BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2022-11-07, 03:36:

In fact, DxWnd can separate the two volumes but with a catch: changing the SFX volume will change the CD audio volume too. This is because the SFX volume actually went on wave channels, and DxWnd only changes the CD volume sent nowadays through the wave channel (it used to send through the CD channel before Win Vista), so if SFX volume (wave channel) is at 50% and CD audio is at 50%, you will hear 50% of 50% cd audio volume.

For now I can't test this because for some absurd reason, the volume sliders have stopped working for me, they change nothing; but when I reported they worked, so I know what should change. Regarding the A3D emulator, I could test it in a few hours, I will edit this post or reply if you have seen this message.

Is it okay?

Yes thank you. If you need the install files from the closed Facebook group (where they are experimenting with the a3d emulator), I will gladly send them to you.
(The volumes are actually preset here -20-25% SFX, 100% CD , but you can't set them independently, no option to change it.)

The problem where I wasn't able to use the volume sliders comes from the fact, I used a "mobile phone wired headphone", one that goes into the headphone jack. Once I reverted to my USB headphone, the problem doesn't happen; I even disabled all sound devices in the Sound Control Panel but it was same. But anyways...

Regarding the DxWnd part you should do the following:

1. First get DxWnd. The latest version is 2.05.89 and is available on SourceForge.
2. When you open DxWnd, you should enable Expert mode from the Options list in Menu bar. This ensures better customization of settings.
3. Right click anywhere on DxWnd interface and click Add.
4. When the new window opens, press the '...' beside the Path:\ setting and navigate to your 'motor.exe'.
5. Now go to the CDaudio tab and enable either of Play from CD, Use audio files or Rip CD audio. This give DxWnd CD audio control. [More information regarding what to select in the end]
6. Enable 'Emulate CD mixer' from the same tab. This will ensure CD audio is changeable.
7. Go to the Hook tab and change injection mode to 'Inject DLL', to ensure every function is hooked properly.
8. Click OK, in the right end of the window. The profile gets created.
9. If you have dgVoodoo2 or DDrawCompat or WineD3D or any such wrappers, for testing purposes and verification, I recommend removing them. I know there are things that dgVoodoo2 fixes and DxWnd hasn't, but for avoiding any conflicts I say so.
10. Double-click the entry in the DxWnd control panel, the game will most likely launch in a window.
11. If everything is fine, you should go the Sound settings and try the volume sliders.

Regarding the choice between Play from CD, Use audio files and Rip CD audio, the latter two is recommended. The first option, directly runs the CD audio from the disc using IOCTL, but many IOCTL commands are illegal now so there are a lot of cases where it can't handle CD audio properly. However if you find everything is okay, you may use it; keep in mind that the CD audio is slightly delayed with this option.

The Use audio files option reads the music files from a folder named 'Music' in the same directory level as 'motor.exe' and the files are named 'tracknn.fmt' where 'nn' are integers greater than or equal to '02' and '.fmt.' is the file extension: 'flac', '.wav', '.ogg', '.mp3' are supported. You have to extract the audio using some application such as Windows Media Player. After extraction, you will likely get files 'Track01.xxx', 'Track02.xxx',...; change them to 'track02.xxx', 'track03.xxx' and so on.

If you want an easier route, the Rip CD audio setting will automatically extract the audio files for you in the right path and launch the game. If you have track files in the Music folder already (already extracted by DxWnd or put by you), you should change the Rip CD audio option to Use audio files, else you will always get an annoying but harmeless "Can't overwrite tracks" prompt before launch.

Regarding the A3D part, you could share them to me. I had checked A3D-Live 3 years back for GTA3 and it didn't work fine then, let's see what happens now. I remember I reverted to using A3D Alchemy (not the Alchemy for EAX) that was discovered out of nowhere in VOGONS. Technically, there should not be difference in volume sliders by using A3D Live, it's just that the sound may feel different.