VOGONS


First post, by Zósite K. S.

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Well, I just cannot type here anymore unless I spend a couple of lines to say THANKS to past and current MUNT developers. Yesterday I tried the latest MUNT DOSBox patch and WinMM driver and the progress I've seen there compared to the one I've been using to date (from DOSBox 0.72 SVN) is impressive. Keep it up!! 😁

However, there's a little issue I've found when playing the splendid Ultima VII (yes... AGAIN) and since I've been unable to fix it playing with the DOSBox CONF file nor with the WinDRV settings I'm here asking for some help.

The thing is that using MT-32 Synth (no matter if it's the DOSBox patch or the Win driver for this particular issue) on Ultima VII it tends to slooooow the ingame music whenever it's gonna generate a sound for the first time. IE: Start the game, enter the Fellowship Hall at Trinsic (Fellowship Theme® starts) then just open the sealed chest/eat that apple in your backpack/play head-or-tails with yer coins... and you'll notice the Fellowship Theme lags for a second or so while the sound is being generated. It's always this way unless the sound has been already generated on that play.

So, any clues? Am I the only one with this problem? Could this be related to MUNT not generating a visible waveformcache anymore? Or maybe this is how it's supposed to work after all... Any help will be appreciated. Thanks in advance for your attention. And if anybody needs my CONF file and/or MT32EMU.INI I'd be happy to copy them here.

RSV/VA Zósite Kónstyte Styles/M/FRG Phoenix

Reply 1 of 6, by NewRisingSun

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That's not a MUNT issue. Happens with a real MT-32 as well. It's how the game's music code (in U7STRAX.DRV) is written.

(A real revision 0 MT-32 needs about 40 milliseconds to process a system exclusive message, so most games enforce such a delay. MUNT doesn't need it, but of course the games don't know that. In the case of Ultima VII, you can disable such delays by patching U7STRAX.DRV, replacing the three bytes at position 00F7 with C2 04 00.)

Reply 2 of 6, by Zósite K. S.

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True story!! Thanks a lot for clarifying this for me, NewRisingSun!

The patched U7STRAX.DRV works flawlessly, though now I'm gonna spend some time deciding about using the patched version or rather keep the most pure emulation experience with the original file. 😕

Now if only somebody could fix THIS issue... *sigh* But that is another story and shall be told in another... forum. 😜

RSV/VA Zósite Kónstyte Styles/M/FRG Phoenix

Reply 3 of 6, by h-a-l-9000

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The pause happens on real hardware too.

1+1=10

Reply 4 of 6, by Zósite K. S.

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Well, there're some people who claim that this pause also happens on real hardware while others (post from pianoman72 at that thread I linked before) swear it doesn't.

In my particular case I used to play it on a 486 DX2/66 and I can't remember this annoyance for the life of me. Sadly, I haven't that oldie anymore so I better leave the testing for whover can actually do it. On the other hand I -THINK- you're right and the funny thing is that nobody remember the original mechanics anymore.

Hell!! Now I *DO MISS* my trusty 486 I tell you... 😢

Anyway, you could always post and revive that old thread in order to enlighten people around. 😉

RSV/VA Zósite Kónstyte Styles/M/FRG Phoenix

Reply 5 of 6, by Mau1wurf1977

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Happy to test on some real hardware, but I don't think there is a demo of this game. This has always an issue with helping people here. Sometimes I happen to have the game though 🤣

My website with reviews, demos, drivers, tutorials and more...
My YouTube channel

Reply 6 of 6, by Zósite K. S.

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Thinking about it... (mind you, after 9 years) U7STRAX.DRV is only for U7 - The Black Gate. Does anybody know what is the change to be done for U7 - Serpent Isle to work the same, that is, not paying attention to MT-32 enforced delay? I take the file to be modified in this case is \STATIC\MAINMENU.DRV but I'm not sure; I tried to modify the same offset with the same hex code and the delay is indeed gone, but only on intro and main game menus. I couldn't say it for sure, but it's my impression that in-game delay is still there. Thanks for your help (mind you, after 9 years). ^_^u

RSV/VA Zósite Kónstyte Styles/M/FRG Phoenix