Sierra VGA   by United Group International (UGI)

[by: Stream Cracker//UGi] [UGi Release] Hi everybuddy! Well, guys, and now, I'm glad to present you my little stuff, one tiny drop in extremely large ocean of different software and small pool of good software. I hope, you'll like it. I know, some of you have been looking for this driver lot of time. You are going to run any game what you'll see and enjoy... But hold the horses - first of all, you must... I know what you can think: "oh,shit,no,not again". Yeah, you are right. First of all, we shall do the installation. I hope you have original non-modified archive. In this case, you can see four files inside archive: digital.drv - yeah, this is a driver digital.hlp - this is a help for Sierra INSTALL program digital.cfg - fucked configuration file (real troublemaker!) digital.eng - you are reading this shit now Ok, let's go. Step 1: Copy all files to game dir (You are capable to do it, I guess ;-) Step 2: Run SIERRA INSTALL and choose "Digital sound for Covox or Speaker" in "Sound configuration" menu. Note: if you are playing one from last Sierra products and you've been asked twice - about Sound and Speech drivers, you MUST set speech driver off (choose "No Speech Card"), otherwise, I can't give you any guaranties. I think, in most cases you computer will just freeze. Step 3: Boring configuration setup. (I hate this). Let's look closely. How to prepare configuration file ═════════════════════════════════ Look inside file "digital.cfg". There are lot of shit like speed=fast The last word of this file is "end". There are no empty lines and extra spaces (especially around "="). Comment lines are beginning from ";". Here is list of all commands (if command is not writen in configuration file, default value (written uppercase here) will be used). device={SPEAKER,covox,covox#} Select output device. Default is speaker (Oh no! Real shit!) Another option is Covox Speech Thing (True DAC) on LPT# (default is LPT1, of course). Look at example: "device=covox" mean covox on LPT1, "device=covox3" - covox on LPT3, etc. Port number must be set in BIOS variables. speed={FAST,slow} Determining speed of you computer and sound quality. I have AT386/DX/20Mhz (this is my home computer, I prefer to work on 486's :-) and "speed=fast" is Ok. But some poor men, who still own VEEEEERRRRRY slow AT's, can select "speed=slow". Yea, you are right again. Sound isn't good in this case... lock21={yes,NO} I don't know exactly what is it (joke :-), but I'll try to explain. When this option is set to YES, timer interrupts will be DISABLED during disk I/O (in other words, inside INT 21). I making a lot of work in timer handler and sometimes it can'be done when CPU working deep inside INT 21 (No, no! There are not a problem with DOS reentracy!) The result is simple - computer freezes in the most intresting places (but may be not - it depend from DOS version, loaded residents, time of day, weather in Antarctic, position of Saturn, etc, etc... :-). Setting "lock21=yes" can help to solve this problem, but sound will "wait" or "float" (stay at single frequency for any time). It's not good for me, for instance. If you don't know what to do - write "lock21=no" and forget about this. single={YES,no} Select driver type. If yout game have one driver for speech and sound (look at INSTALL - you'll see one sound submenu) - you must write "single=yes". If you have different drivers (look at INSTALL - there are two submenus, for music and speech) - you must write "single=no". There are no any differences during play, this is a problem just with exit to Dos. If you choose incorrect parametr, you computer will lockup after exit to Dos - that's all troubles. Not so much, yeah? If you don't know what to do - write anything and run game. If computer freeze after exit to Dos - write another option. No problemo. end This is a end of configuration file and your troubles. Here is a sample of configuration file: device=covox speed=fast lock21=no single=no end Increasing sound quality ════════════════════════ a) turn on superbass on you stereo (so you have one? (I'm talking about superbass)). Many cheap stereos and amplifiers working very bad with low-frequency sounds. b) you hear lot of crackles during disk i/o - sure, this is a big problem. You can't win here - you can just decrease noise using any disk cache program. Of course, you shouldn't use any EMS emulator like EMM386 or QEMM. HIMEM.SYS will be enough. c) make as much as possible free memory. Remove ram-resident programs, load dos high (use HIMEM.SYS), tell game to "use extra computer memory". If game runs out of memory, it try to move some data to expanded/extened memory, or load them from disk (like "virtual memory system"). This process producing clicks and crackles. For example, 580000 bytes of free memory will NOT enough for high-quality sound, but 600000 bytes looking good. Known and unknown bugs ══════════════════════ First of all, I shall say: No need to crack or patch this driver in any way! There are no user-servicable parts inside! Bug : This is a shit, I don't like it at all Answer : What can I do... Solution: Buy Sound Blaster. Bug : Suddently, after 10-15 minutes of play, mouse cursor will start to working a little strange - cutting a pieces of screen, leaving a "tails", etc. I can restart and game and all will Ok for another 10-15 minutes. Answer : You have a litte incorrect mouse driver. Solution: Try to find another mouse driver or another version. Bug : Lot of noise during play (not during disk i/o) Answer : a) you have a EMS emulator (EMM386, QEMM) installed b) you have a new version of Sierra Interpetator (scidhuv.exe) or screen driver Solution: a) remove EMS emulator from your CONFIG.SYS file. You can use HIMEM.SYS (you still can load DOS high in this case) b) try to contact me and get a new version of this program Bug : In King Quest V, game freezes while loading another screen (especially in desert) Answer : This is a logical bug deep inside Sierra Interpretator. Solution: Try don't move mouse while screen is loading. It can help. How to find a author? ═════════════════════ I'm a very hard-to-reach person. You can write netmail to: Stream Cracker//UGi FidoNet: (2:5020/60.10) EliteNet (not:known/yet) or contact any UGi site That's all folks! Revision List: October, 1991 - first beta version, for personal use only July, 1992 - ready-to-use program and dox August, 20, 1992 - added support for games with color cursor Septempber, 5, 1992 - some minor changes in interrupt disabling