30fps patch for base i76

[GuyFawkesGaming]

After doing a ton of searching for solution, finding some that (sort of) worked, finding some that didn't work, and some that were just click bait trash, I found a fix for the base i76 game's fps problem. A linux/wine user hacked this executable much like our own for nitro. It worked for him, it worked for me. I hope it works for you. here you go, enjoy!

The post where I found this can be found here.

[Speed Demon]

Just got the old windows xp dell working again so I'll have to give this a shot. Its been years since I've done the trip, miss the poem button

[Lightfoot]

A couple notable notes here:

He's released a 25fps patch for both I'76 and Nitro Pack...

However, the magic number is 24fps (so you may still experience some issues with flamers) *AND* he ported the unpatched NITRO.EXE so you won't be able to use it in conjunction with Patch III.

Super cool that other people are doing work but it would be super cooler if they'd bother to do a little research before diving in...

***

A quick inspection indicates that the version of NITRO.EXE in his ZIP is *NOT* the one provided from the installation disk but rather the GOG installer version and may have compatibility issues with Patch III.

I'll have to look at the I76.EXE now, too...stand by.

Caveat empteur!

[Speed Demon]

I ended up downloading the 25fps version as well that night but unfortunately neither actually worked. Both seem to require a dll file I either don't have or have in the wrong spot. Perhaps because its the GOG version as you said LF and not the real versions I have installed off the disc. On the plus side, with the winxp dell working again I can play the I76 trip again in d3d without any extra software at all. Still runs at 60fps so there are issues but hey, its something. Might just stick to recording my single player with fraps, locking the framerate at 24 and deleting the vid after each mission, the hd in the dell isn't that big.

[GuyFawkesGaming]

However, the magic number is 24fps (so you may still experience some issues with flamers) *AND* he ported the unpatched NITRO.EXE so you won't be able to use it in conjunction with Patch III.

Super cool that other people are doing work but it would be super cooler if they'd bother to do a little research before diving in...

Sorry that's kind of my fault, I was the one who was in contact with him and did the testing.
Still......I does greatly improve performance.

I ended up downloading the 25fps version as well that night but unfortunately neither actually worked. Both seem to require a dll file I either don't have or have in the wrong spot.

Works perfectly on the GOG version (I have Windows 10). Considering that that version is considered more "up to date", and offers conveniences like the lack of a dick check, I wonder if it's possible to convert an original install into a GOG equivalent?

[GuyFawkesGaming]

*Disk check! Fucking DISK CHECK! FUCK YOU AUTO-CORRECT!

[immi]

Super cool that other people are doing work but it would be super cooler if they'd bother to do a little research before diving in...

research takes time
remember my patch started out as a patch for the base game, for which nothing existed yet.
porting it to Nitro turned out to be super easy, since the code is very similar. just adjusting some offsets ...

I still would like to merge this with the patched Nitro.exe from here. (or merge the stuff from this PatchIII into my patch). so that's still on the todo list. But as you noted, the GOG version is a bit different than the version from the disc.
so i'll have to do some more digging to find out how to make that happen.

and you know how it is with these hobby projects that you do in your spare time ... time is always too short
for now this a good first step (for GOG users). Would be silly not to publish it now, while i'm doing more research.

thx for the pointer with the 24fps being the magic number. I'm going to give this a try.

A quick inspection indicates that the version of NITRO.EXE in his ZIP is *NOT* the one provided from the installation disk but rather the GOG installer version

hmm, the readme here clearly states that it is from the GOG release.
but from reading Speed Demon's post, I might put up a stronger warning that it doesn't work for the disc version.

[Wayek]

gotta admit that we're mainly Nitro guys around here .. lol .. but if you can get ram-2-kill working again like in base I76, now that would be something!

[GuyFawkesGaming]

I'm curious as to what GOG did to make their version different other than a cd crack? I know I've posted this before, but according to this old thread, although the cd check can be disabled and, through hex, the path/drive the game searches for the cutscenes can be changed, It still requires a cd mounted for music playback. What did GOG do to enable the music? It's worth noting that my GOG version does have some MS Visual C++ dll libs in the installation folder, perhaps they were the ones Speed Demon needed?

[immi]

the game originally uses the good old MCI api from winmm.dll to play the sound from the CD.
GOG ripped the soundtrack from the CD, converted it to mp3 and put it into the music/ folder. They then changed the nitro.exe to import their custom built win32.dll instead of winmm.dll . When the win32.dll receives the MCI commands to play some music track from the CD, it instead plays the corresponding mp3 file from the music/ directory. (The win32.dll also needs the msvc*90.dll files which you find in the GOG releases.)

That's why Speed Demon saw the missing dll error message, because the disc version obviously is lacking these files from the GOG release.

We'll probably just have to live with the fact that we need one patched exe for the disc release and one for the GOG release.

[Lightfoot]

...or we could have someone with the GOG version ZIP the missing DLL up, post a link to it and see if we can make it fly?

[GuyFawkesGaming]

Thanks for the info immi. Been wandering for days and nights how gog accomplished what they did. I agree with light that we should upload it, making separate versions is just too much of a pain in the ass. Lets hope gog does't throw a fit.

It is worth noting though that gog's fix does't appear to be fool proof, just look at this. I myself have an unrelated issue, in game music seams to play over the cutscenes. Nevermind that the cutscenes already have their own music.

[GuyFawkesGaming]

Might not even need to upload. Googling the MCI API lead me to this, it's a patched version of the dll for ol' X-Wing. Rename to win32.dll and it should (in theory) work.

[GuyFawkesGaming]

Quick update: apparently the source code to the library GOG uses is available here. Also, you can get around the missing dll error by copying the system winmm.dll to the interstate directory and renaming it to win32.

[KIV 6051 [SH]]

I still would like to merge this with the patched Nitro.exe from here. (or merge the stuff from this PatchIII into my patch). so that's still on the todo list. But as you noted, the GOG version is a bit different than the version from the disc.
so i'll have to do some more digging to find out how to make that happen.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to advise against this. I think I speak for a substantial amount of the community when I say that I really appreciate what you did to make the game work correctly, as it certainly saved my hide when I was using an eleven year old intel video card to play the game. I did notice however that the 30 fps patch seems to make the game feel ever so slightly choppy. One way to tell is to make sharp turns in third person view. For the most part it's unnoticeable, thankfully, but playing the game now with nvidia profile inspector, using the battlezone parameters + a 24 fps limit, the game somehow feels smoother, like film vs. video tape. I guess what I'm getting at is the community certainly needs this patch, but some may prefer to use their own method for frame rate capping.

It is worth noting though that gog's fix does't appear to be fool proof, just look at this. I myself have an unrelated issue, in game music seams to play over the cutscenes. Nevermind that the cutscenes already have their own music.

Aside from the music hacks it looks like the only other thing the gog version (at least the one I downloaded) has is nitro patch III already incorporated. I hope they do some more work on the music since even though it technically works I noticed some other issues:

The music files are mp3s, which are a notoriously lossy format. Sure they're 320kbps, but mp3 encoders simply cannot properly handle long notes nor long pauses. It's the same principle behind saving 16 color screen shots as jpgs; it doesn't take an expert to notice the flaws in the media. I certainly appreciate the effort to get away from the CD requirement, but for music that has been listed as one of the top ten best video game soundtracks of all time, a lossless audio format would have been a better choice.

The music still seems to play when you have it switched off in the settings: the music can actually be switched off, however you'll hear about a half second of music every so often, as if it were still playing it but silently and becoming audible when the track starts over.

The music played is the same track on loop: the only difference is the looped track played depends on the map you're playing. The original version of the game did start different tracks on different maps, but they were never looped. Instead, the next track would be played and the CD would be played on loop, not the individual tracks. The only exception was the menu music (which was originally Ovum Bisquit, then Activision screwed it up in one of their patches [v1.083 iirc] and now it's Mission Code B.F.A.M., and has been ever since). It's one thing for the menu music to be looped, but for in-game it gets old fast.