Windows 98SE "Immolator" - things to finish

[Offler]

glut32.dll

this api has been developed years ago to ease opengl applications. here is the link,

http://www.opengl.org/resources/libraries/glut/

when i read about its features i realized that many apps are sometimes sufering of its missing, so i added it to my system to test it. really i dont see the difference also on this page you may find info about freeglut variations and methods how to use opengl in skinning engines, windowing and UI at all.

http://www.opengl.org/resources/libraries/windowtoolkits/

also some other tools for opengl.

http://mark.michaelis.net/Blog/OpenGLSuppo...anagedCode.aspx

if it shall help improve functionality or performance i am interested... so have some testing to do on weekend

opengl has still potential even for legacy systems...

Edited February 29, 2008 by Offler

[Offler]

1. TaoFramework

these are parts of opengl, openal and other API libraries combined with .NET Framwork 2.0. they work on my system, they require net2, but apparently they contain quite large amount of bugs which lead framework to crash sometimes.

i am not sure if i would reccomend it because. it works with expample files which are in package, but i really dont know if it affects some games or not.

2 VXD files in VMM32 directory.

i was experimenting with their presence or absence. if they act as 16bit executable or some kind of library. most of these libraries are already included with vmm32.vxd in system directory, so i tried to remove them and see which are really needed and which can work within vmm32.vxd.

i have sucessfully removed these:

configmgm.vxd

ntkern.vxd

qemmfix.vxd

vcomm.vxd

vmcpd.vxd

vmm.vxd

vmouse.vxd

vpicd.vxd

udf.vxd

vfat.vxd

system is working correctly without them, but now it is only in short time to say if this change helped or not.

only these were necessary for system:

ifsmgr.vxd

ios.vxd

but it may vary depending on hw. what are your opinions about this method? practically it will remove some libraries and most work shall be done by vmm32.vxd.

edit:

corrected list

Edited March 2, 2008 by Offler

[alexanrs]

i have sucessfully removed these:

configmgm.vxd

ntkern.vxd

qemmfix.vxd

vcomm.vxd

vmcpd.vxd

vmm.vxd

vmouse.vxd

vpicd.vxd

udf.vxd

vfat.vxd

system is working correctly without them, but now it is only in short time to say if this change helped or not.

Without UDF.VXD you'll probably have issues with UDF-formatted CDs/DVDs

Without VFAT.VXD you'll probably lose file caching, slowing the system down

QEMMFIX.VXD is probably unnecessary, since it is probably related to the DOS 3rd part memory manager QEMM

Without VMOUSE.VXD something must happed to the mouse, and since you stated the system works perfectly I'll assume it is responsible for something like mouse for DOS boxes

Without VCOMM.VXD I assume your COM ports won't work or something like that (at least not being able to access the in DOS boxes?)

[Offler]

ntkern, msmouse, configmgm were listed as a part of driver in device manager. when i removed it it was replaced with vmm32.dll - instantly.

i have tested mouse in command line and it works correctly.

also during boot in mode where i have to confirm execution of all system parts there is a line like this:

"supress *.vxd standard?"

while * marks the name of file... it seems like windows standardly uses vmm32.vxd but when those files are present in directory it will automatically run them to replace vmm32. i ask why, when vmm32.dll is acting as single executable instead of 8 executables.

right now have tested only mouse and it works. i dont use any com device so i cannot say if it acts...

by udf and vfat i am not sure what it does. i dont see slowing down of system. it works same like before.

look here:

http://www.sysopt.com/forum/showthread.php?t=84081

and read the article where is mentione that vfat.vxd is embedded in vmm32.vxd. if it is so i have no trouble without it, but the question is if it is older or newer version...

it is written there that first are loaded vxds from directory, and later the vmm32.vxd. if the driver from directory is loaded first, vmm32.vxd section for this file is ignored...

previosly i tried to import other vxds from cabinets to vmm32 directory. in that case i have seen some errors - mostly related to graphics...

[PassingBy]

Hmmm .....

ntkern, msmouse, configmgm were listed as a part of driver in device manager. when i removed it it was replaced with vmm32.dll - instantly.

VMM32.VXD = all compiled Vxds required by windows during setup or after certain windows updates (ex: win95 osr2 usb update). All unnecessary data in VxDs are removed when it is compiled into vmm32.vxd ... Most of the time updated Vxds are placed in the VMM32 folder without being re-compiled into VMM32.VXD .....

but the question is if it is older or newer version...

Generally, the latest versions will be in VMM32 folder. Removing them will force windows to load the "older" ones in vmm32.vxd .....

it is written there that first are loaded vxds from directory, and later the vmm32.vxd. if the driver from directory is loaded first, vmm32.vxd section for this file is ignored...

This is correct ...

To manually compile vmm32.vxd, go here :

http://www.helpwithwindows.com/techfiles/vmm32.html

I have made my own batch file ... It's in one of my archived storage, if you want it then let me know and I'll look for it ... There's also sample batch archive at http://rosecitydownloads.com/vmm32.zip that can-be/was used with the guide ... mine automated the whole process ...

Rgds

[Offler]

i tried to compile my own new vmm32.vxd but i failed. in one case it worked but the resulted file had 4 mb and causing some behaviour.

i use startup sound as a diagnosis tool. if the sound is clear than booting process is ok, if it is choppy it may indicate trouble in system.

with vxds just erased from vmm32 directory the performance was little bit improved and sound was clear. with self compiled vmm32,vxd the performance was great but the sound at startup was terribly choppy, also the vmm was too large.

the original vmm32.vxd on my system has 930kb. i want to perform separate import of newer vxds while not adding unnecessary files... also newer does not mean automatically better.

edit:

i have isolated the problem. here is the list of unnecessary files for me:

dosnet.vxd

qemmfix.vxd

vmm.vxd

vmm32.vxd

vshare.vxd

vmd.vxd

(i have erased vmm32 directory and added base vmm32vxd from cd and writed down the list of files which are necessary and required)

also if vmm32.vxd is present in vmm32 directory it may cause trouble with compiled file.

then i included ios.vxd and ifsmgr.vxd into vmm32.vxd for compilation and they seem to work. i have to test system performance and stability.

edit:

althought i encountered minor graphical errors and one system crash these can be described as error due overclocking and error of graphic driver. i really have no ideas how to cause crash on this system right now, except some cases which are sure.

Edited March 4, 2008 by Offler

[herbalist]

I've made several attempts to compile an updated VMM32.VXD for my 98SE testbox by following the procedure in the link posted by "PassingBy" without success.

On the first attempt, I made a copy of getvxd.bat that matched the listing in [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\VMM32Files]

and edited out the lines for files for which newer versions existed in the vmm32 folder. 41 files were listed. The VMM32 folder contained newer versions for 12 of them. The WININIT.INI file included the new versions. Ran the batch file and rebooted.

After seeing the message about updating files, I got an error message saying,

VMM32.TMP integrity check failed, recovering.

The system finished booting after which I had all the separate files in the VMM32 folder and the shell for VMM32.VXD in the system folder.

I made several more attempts using fewer of the updated VxDs, thinking that one or more of them couldn't be included in vmm32.vxd, with no success. Same error message. On the last attempt, I extracted all the files listed and attempted to make a copy of the existing VMM32.VDX using only files from the cabs. Same result. Integrity check failed. I've checked and rechecked getvxd.bat and wininit.ini and can't see any errors. All the editing was done using Notepad++. The batch file works fine. I'm at a loss why this won't work.

Rick

[Offler]

check the paths at first. also be sure that vmm32.vxd is not in vmm32 directory. it must be in system directory...

[herbalist]

vmm32.vxd is in the system directory. The batch file replaces my original with the empty. All other vxds are in the system\vmm32 directory.

First few lines copied from getvxd.bat:

@echo off
C:
cd \windows\system
extract /a /y C:\98setup\base4.cab vmm32.vxd
cd \windows\system\vmm32

extract /a /y C:\98setup\base4.cab vdd.vxd
extract /a /y C:\98setup\base4.cab vflatd.vxd

First few lines copied from wininit.ini:

[SetupOptions]
Combine=1

[CombineVxDs]
c:\windows\system\vmm32\vdd.vxd=c:\windows\system\vmm32.vxd
c:\windows\system\vmm32\vflatd.vxd=c:\windows\system\vmm32.vxd

C:\98setup is where 98lite puts all the cabs. Any ideas what I'm missing? If it matters, the setup was done with 98lite, no Internet Explorer or Windows Update, 98SE SP beta 1. Very stripped down OS.

Rick

[Offler]

when combining vxds use new vmm32.vxd. backup your old vmm32.vxd and put in system directory fresh and new from CD (and erase vmm32.tmp. i really dont know if it remains or not during combining)

HTH.

for future discuss this in VXD patcher topic and sory for nonsense, i am little bit tired

Edited March 8, 2008 by Offler

[Offler]

so i have some things to report this early morning

1. GTA III

I was playing the game and in the middle of one mission DVDrom lost the track, or better say it was losing it slowly. The game freezed but system was able to fully recover by CTRL+ALT+DEL and later closing the GTA 3. it took several minutes but i would prefer other behaviour with cdroms... Maybe hw and sw related...

2. IFS for EXT2

Linux filesystem is available for NT based system throught IFS

http://www.fs-driver.org/

seems interesting to me, but this bring us closer to linux at all. i tried the driver with win98 but i was not sucessful. also the inf files are in windows NT signature and i am unable to translate them into chicago...

3. Crashes history...

The system stability is still improving. even serious app crashes can be recovered safely. their occurence is smaller. when i look at crash history on first page i see that major trouble (especially unexpected errors) are quite few.

right now i am running my system for approximately nine hours without reboot. yesterday i tried some critical apps such as oblivion, but the stability was not affected.

4. kernel EX, xp compatibility , wll and other projects

I hope that wll upgrade will be soon here classical wll is really littlebit mystery for me. i cant predict its behaviour. minor things as bios settings or config sys are indirectly affecting its behaviour, and i dont want to use english io.sys and command.com

also i hope that in some time there will be possibility to improve compatibility even for apps which are generating error messages when executed. these are really big problem to me.

[Drugwash]

I hope that wll upgrade will be soon here classical wll is really littlebit mystery for me. i cant predict its behaviour. minor things as bios settings or config sys are indirectly affecting its behaviour, and i dont want to use english io.sys and command.com.

I haven't seen your system specific's IO.SYS and COMMAND.COM attached in the 'WLL fixes...' thread. I intend to create a universal patcher but I need all possible samples so I can find a pattern.

At the moment I have a working WLL, however protection is still not perfect and badly chosen coordinates can lead to a corrupt screen and animation.

Tonight I have also finished first version of a LOGO.SYS patcher - no need to hexedit your bitmap, the tool will do it for you, as elegantly as possible. I'd be happy if you could test them both and offer some much needed feedback.

[Marius '95]

I have lots of problems with resources and network connections. Win98 freezes when I close eMule or any other program that opens a large number of network connections and I encounter more and more programs that do not free resources when no longer needed.

For me, system stability is getting worse every day.

[Offler]

i dont use emule. i think that latest versions were not win98 compliant anymore. i use u*******. No problem at all.

[dencorso]

i dont use emule. i think that latest versions were not win98 compliant anymore. i use u*******. No problem at all.

That's not true. I use eMule v. 0.48a without any problems. Have had it on for over 40h, then closed it and used the system some more, then got a perfect shutdown, twice (usually I don't use the system for much longer than 12h without shutting it down). Now, before I removed ACPI and APM (link), eMule used to cause random crashes in my system. So, if eMule doesn't run well, removing ACPI and APM is a good bet. This is my own experience. Lots of others say its nonsense (read the posts following the one I gave the link to, and you'll see it), but the fact is it solved many obscure problems of stability for me along the years. Sometimes, however, disabling "use IRQ Steering" gets you into trouble, so test if that is necessary in your system (if all goes well with that on, let it be). And, yes, it is common to have this kind of problem with VIA chipsets, but that's not a VIA exclusive problem. Some other chipsets show it too.