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PrBoom-Plus, ver. 2.5.1.4

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InsanityBringer said:

This worked well on XP, but Vista and 7 removed that feature from the mixer, resulting in a strange bug where adjusting midi volume in SDL apps also affects sound



This was one of the most idiotic things Microsoft ever did. On my system the default MIDI playback is so quiet that it's totally useless. I can't play any game using system MIDI for music playback anymore with music.

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InsanityBringer said:

{MIDI volume slider} ...Vista and 7 removed that feature from the mixer...

Thats not strictly true it just works differently.

The audio stack under Vista/7 is light years ahead of any other operating system at this point.

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Under Vista/7 how the MIDI volume is controlled depends on what method you are using for playback. If you are using the software synth you have per-application control over the volume. However if you are using a hardware synth then by definition you can't have per application control unless provided by an interface layer in your audio driver (AFAIK none do this outside of studio/recording level hardware).

FWIW, the problem is the way SDL interfaces with Win32.

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So again, what's so great about a system where I can't set the master volume? The software synth is absolutely useless for me.

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I'm using Timidity with EAWPats normally when listening to MIDI music. But that doesn't help me with some software that insists on using the SW synth. I simply can't use that software because the volume is too low and I can't change it without screwing up everything else.

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Graf Zahl said:

So again, what's so great about a system where I can't set the master volume? The software synth is absolutely useless for me.

Thats just it, you're not supposed to be changing the master volume. The master volume is there for the users, not applications.

The real problem is that the audio libraries and some drivers haven't yet caught up.

Go read the docs on the new audio stack if you don't believe me but the architecture really is infinitely better.

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DaniJ said:

Thats just it, you're not supposed to be changing the master volume. The master volume is there for the users, not applications.



I *am* the user! The master volume for MIDI has been misconfigured and is far too low. And I have no idea how to change it.

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A map I'm making is giving gggmork a signal 11 error and closes when he idclevs to it in prboom plus 2.5.0.3, but I can run it fine in prboom 2.5.0.3 (not plus, GL or anything). This happened before for a map I diced into 2 parts and I think the first part works for him now, but now the second one is acting up. He said he had similar problems for insane gazebo's sunder (I think, that or time of death's maps) so it's probably a similar issue. He gives his PC specs in my thread in wads/mods. If you guys could give me an idea of what to fix so it'd work for him in prboom (and possibly quite a few others, idk) it'd be great.

Here's the wad, there's still a bunch of random stuff in it right now which is why the size is kinda big ... it's MAP28.
http://wadhost.fathax.com/files/AB.A42DiCe-11-14.zip

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Graf Zahl said:

I *am* the user! The master volume for MIDI has been misconfigured and is far too low. And I have no idea how to change it.

When the topic was brought up it was about applications changing MIDI volume hence my post (but if you really do want to change the master volume see here: http://blogs.msdn.com/larryosterman/archive/2007/03/06/how-do-i-change-the-master-volume-in-windows-vista.aspx (though I urge you not to do it)).

I would bet that the reason your MIDI is so low is because some audio library decided it would be really helpful to change it. Most likely it was attempting to use the old Mixer interface...

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I do not use Vista/7, but I have this link in my email

Before I continue talking about that, (you probably already know this), In Vista 32/64, there's no built in MIDI mapper, so you have to download a 3rd party midi mapper in order to switch from the standard
generic Microsoft GS Softsynth to your own synth. I use this program to switch MIDI synth in Vista:
http://akkordwechsel.de/15-windows-vista-und-der-midi-mapper


Probably it has some info for you

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Far down in the comments list I found confirmation that Microsoft are indeed idiots: There is no way to control MIDI separately from WAV under Vista, rendering the software synth useless.

entryway said:

I do not use Vista/7, but I have this link in my email

Probably it has some info for you


This just confirms another suspicion I has: For some reason the MIDI playback in Vista doesn't appear to be well tested. So yeah, better make sure that your app supports an alternative if it can play MIDI...

Even FMOD with the same DLS sounds sounds better than what Vista provides.

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ArmouredBlood said:

A map I'm making is giving gggmork a signal 11 error and closes when he idclevs to it in prboom plus 2.5.0.3, but I can run it fine in prboom 2.5.0.3 (not plus, GL or anything).

That's because of zero REJECT.

2.5.0.4 @ 2009-Oct-08
[-] Fixed a crash on wads with incomplete REJECT table. (introduced in 2.5.0.2)



ZenNode 'fixes' this problem, but upgrading to 2.5.0.5 is a better way.

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Graf Zahl said:

There is no way to control MIDI separately from WAV under Vista, rendering the software synth useless.

My interpretation is this:
The general idea is that the volumes of each sample that is passed to the device at the other side of the audio endpoint is the responsibility of *your* application (or the library that you are using). In other words, the sample volumes are properties of the sound stage not the audio endpoint.

Therefore, to control the MIDI volume it has to be set pre-mix, before it gets anywhere near an audio endpoint (which is what the new volume mixer is blending the output from).

So. This means you either synth the MIDI yourself or you use a playback library.

The problem as I understand it is that this means the majority of the existing audio libraries require substantial redesigning (i.e., integrate MIDI playback). However I must state that IMO this is long overdue.

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My view on this thing is:

This is utterly idiotic and retarded. It breaks every playback software that's out there that came before and you just don't design a system like that! Even on the highest settings in most players the MIDI volume is still far too low - and don't even think about players that are supposed to handle playlists that mix MIDI with other formats. I'd constantly had to change the volume because no player in existence has different volume controls for different formats.

And if it failed for me (utterly, I may say as I can't use the SW synth) it failed for others, too. And if it fails it's bad. Period.

I don't care about the technical reasons behind this. A technically sound but useless implementation is still useless. It wouldn't have cost much to add another processing stage to the MIDI player that would have allowed setting its master volume independently of the rest.

This whole thing just shows that M$ didn't really care about something as 'outdated' as MIDI. It just had to be there for completeness - but nobody ever made sure it wa usable.

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entryway said:

That's because of zero REJECT.

ZenNode 'fixes' this problem, but upgrading to 2.5.0.5 is a better way.


Ah thanks, I forgot to mention I was using zdbsp as my nodebuilder since zennode failed to build the old undiced version once, and think I put it on fast-no reject. I'll see if mork can play it now and suggest upgrading too ;)

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Graf Zahl said:

This whole thing just shows that M$ didn't really care about something as 'outdated' as MIDI.

Why should they care about MIDI playback? Why not delegate the task to libraries built on the Win API? Makes perfect sense to me.

FWIW I do agree with you to a degree but I also think that it was the right decision for the OS.

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DaniJ said:

Why should they care about MIDI playback? Why not delegate the task to libraries built on the Win API? Makes perfect sense to me.



As long as it's a system component it should be treated as such. Applications depend on this stuff working properly.

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I'll move the crash discussion from the Hell Ground topic to here because apparently it isn't about the wad alone. In fact I got the same crash in doom2.wad map01, and I found an easy way to reproduce it: Use IDFA to get rocket launcher and shoot yourself without IDDQD for a few times and eventually you should get the crash. The crash can happen at other times too, but for some reason the rocket launcher trick seems to be the fastest way to cause it.

Here's my cfg and Watson log.

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I'm finding it completely impossible to run PRB+ in software mode in fullscreen. As soon as it launches it CTD's with the good ol' "I_SignalHandler: Exiting on signal: signal 11" shite.

I'm running XP SP2, Intel dual-core 3.4GHz CPU, 2GB RAM and an nVidia GF8800GT. Any ideas?

EDIT: Make that "I can't run it in software mode at all..."

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Jodwin said:

Yeah, looks like it. :)

I think it is critical and prboom+ should be rereleased, right? Even if it happens only with few resolutions and only with software rendering.

2.5.0.4 is also affected by this bug.

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I see a status bar glitch, look at the numbers:


By myk_helnyte at 2009-11-17

I'm using GLBoom+ v2.5.0.6 beta in software mode at 320x200. Just in case, I tried the three rendering modes for the status bar and menus and they all have the same issue. I've seen the same visual glitch in Doom (and compatibles) if you align a status bar graphic too much downwards. It's not erasing the lower and right-hand pixel lines properly when they change. The face is also affected.

Also, I was watching Anima's first HG demo and when he was crushed in the flesh section his plasma gun produced a HOM:



Is that an engine rendering bug? It might be from the way the crushers are made in the WAD because it doesn't happen in normal slow crushers such as in E2M2, but maybe it's a visual glitch from Boom that you might want to get rid of by default.

By the way, doesn't the way the bits fields in HG's DEHACKED lump are written, with spaces between the + signs, ruin the expected behavior under Boom compatibility?

Another current PrBoom+ bug: Cheat codes with required variables, such as IDCLEVxx, IDMUSxx and IDBEHOLDx, do not work.

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Could someone please tell me how to disable mouse button move forward ? I would like to know if I can just use the mouse buttons for Fire and Use only. Currently, the forward movement is stuck to a mouse button, which I do not want.

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