30fps patch for base i76

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GuyFawkesGaming
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Re: 30fps patch for base i76

Post by GuyFawkesGaming »

KIV 6051 [SH] wrote: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.
Well of course it would be a bad idea to force the patch on people, I think he meant more of making it an add-on to patch III much like the nitro 30 fps patch is. Also, I haven't noticed any choppiness, but then I also have a relatively fast card.
KIV 6051 [SH] wrote: 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.
I didn't know gog added patch III! Then again I disabled auto updates, so it could have been something added recently. Still, I think it would be a good idea for all future multiplayer and fps patches to come with the cd check pre disabled and cutscenes folder set to HDD. I wouldn't worry about the music crack, you can add a readme explaining how to map music to the wrapper via hex for us gog users. Also, I've read some versions of the wrapper support ogg, so that's something to look at if the quality bothers you.
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Re: 30fps patch for base i76

Post by Speed Demon »

Tried copying winmm.dll into the interstate folder and renaming it as suggested. Didn't work unfortunately, it attempts to start the game but crashes right back to desktop. The Fraps fps lock seems to work for now, you just have to remember to delete the videos every couple missions. Considering the music glitch you guys are talking about I'm rather glad that framerate is the only major concern with a cd install. I would still like to see it fixed, so anything I can do testing wise to help i"m up for. I dont have a GOG copy but perhaps the fix lies within untouched code from a traditional install.
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Re: 30fps patch for base i76

Post by GuyFawkesGaming »

Odd, I tried that on mine and it worked fine (just no music). Perhaps like immi said, you also need the Visual C++ runtime dlls. Also have you tried the wrapper? There's also another wrapper I found on github, I'll link it in a little.

Oh, and immi, after doing more research I found that the API used is actually called the Windows Multimedia Extension, or WinMM/MME for short. MCI was actually the predecessor to WinMM, so you were close.
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Re: 30fps patch for base i76

Post by GuyFawkesGaming »

I found three wrappers actually. OGG-WinMM, which I think is the same (Windows 10 patched) wrapper I linked before, only on github. _inmm.dll, uses mp3 so it might actually be the same wrapper used by the GOG version. And WinMM.Net which is a C# implementation.
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Re: 30fps patch for base i76

Post by Speed Demon »

Well i feel dumb. I was renaming the winmm.dll from my own system not the patched one. Still didnt work but new error message, apparently libvorbisfile-3.dll is needed. As for the wrappers, im not entirely sure i need one. I run regular i76 on my winxp system which also runs it in d3d without any extra software. If one has a framerate limiter perhaps i can get 24fps in 3dfx,
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Re: 30fps patch for base i76

Post by GuyFawkesGaming »

What? The "patched" WinMM dll *is* a wrapper, just modified to work correctly on Windows 10 (apparently the original incarnation of the wrapper has issues and the original dev abandoned the project). Copy all the included dll to the interstate directory then rename WinMM to Win32, problem solved.Copying the system WinMM should also work, but if it doesn't using a wrapper, even without the proper ogg music rips, might be an easy quick fix.
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Re: 30fps patch for base i76

Post by Speed Demon »

alright after achieving more than 3 hours sleep in a night i was able to see where i went wrong and got it running. Oddly enough it actually runs at 21fps, and software mode only. Doesn't matter if I open the exe directly or through the splash, with or without the -d3d or -glide target extension. The fps drop is cool to see working, but its quite a jump back to software mode.
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Re: 30fps patch for base i76

Post by immi »

KIV 6051 [SH] wrote: 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.
rest assured I have no intention (nor the means) to take that away from you :)

interesting note about the music looping instead of going to the next track, I actually didn't notice that.
But if GOG really is just using the wrapper that @GuyFawkesGaming linked to than that might be fixable ...


@Speed Demon
booted up windows to test this and I also see the framerate fluctuating somewhere between 21-23fps. Seems the frame delay code is working too good :p
That might explain the choppy feeling that KIV 6051 mentioned.

weirdly running the game on linux+wine I get smooth 24fps ...
though I guess windows and linux have enough differences wrt timing & scheduling to explain that.

not sure why you only get software mode working

@GuyFawkesGaming
yeah wasn't really sure what the official name was. MS always comes up with so many names :p
to be specific: it uses the mciSendCommand() from inside winmm.dll

side note:
is the windowed mode working for anybody ? when starting with -gdi parameter ?
it just drops back to the desktop for me.
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Re: 30fps patch for base i76

Post by Lightfoot »

I haven't been able to trick I'76 or Nitro to run in a window for a couple of OS's now...and kind of like playing in vector ray, it may be a lost art. :(
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GuyFawkesGaming
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Re: 30fps patch for base i76

Post by GuyFawkesGaming »

Assuming you're talking about software windowed mode, if you can find a way to crack the launcher, splash.exe, you can chose the option through there.
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Re: 30fps patch for base i76

Post by Lightfoot »

Um...not sure what you're getting at, Guy...

The -gdi switch puts the game in a window without having to "crack" anything, it just doesn't work...
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Re: 30fps patch for base i76

Post by GuyFawkesGaming »

Splash.exe, it has an option for windowed mode when in software, though now that I think about it, considering that the D3D and Voodoo option just send the -d3d and -glide parameters to i76.exe, it likely just sends the -gdi parameter. I mentioned cracking it because even in the GOG version it retains a disk check. Rather than giving you the option to run the game, it asks if you want to install it instead.
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Re: 30fps patch for base i76

Post by Lightfoot »

For $4 more than GoG you can own the real thing and avoid the whole "No CD" and missing music issues...

I'76 on eBay

...just sayin'.

:roll:

PS - All SPLASH.EXE does is pass the "command line" switches to I76.EXE/NITRO.EXE but I think you figured that out.
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Re: 30fps patch for base i76

Post by GuyFawkesGaming »

Already got 'em mate, just bought it from GOG to avoid the regedit bullshit. Do I regret? Maybe in some ways. I'd upload pics but it keeps telling me files too large.

I don't have nitro though. Also you can't use the retail version in wine (like what immi's doing) without disabling the check first.
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Re: 30fps patch for base i76

Post by Lightfoot »

Uh...what "regedit bullshit"?

I think you may have gotten a bunch of bad tips from someone regarding how I'76 and Nitro "need" to be setup.

There are people here that can still murder map installations (with clear instructions)...no one edits the registry.

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