Sierra VGA by United Group International (UGI)
9 of 20 files
united group international
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Last modified Jul 25, 2015 11:03:17 PM
MD5 checksum 257524ca43cbb8e79815818365493bac
Mime type
Download sier_vga.arj
Size 14 kB
1992 September 23
- Text / Game hack
- Stream Cracker, program credits
5 items in the archive
- DIGITAL.CFG
- DIGITAL.DRV
- DIGITAL.HLP
- DIGITAL.RUS
- DIGITAL.ENG
[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