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MPlayer builds for Win98/ME/2k/XP/2k3


RamonUn

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Since quite a long time now (at least 2016), I am doing  MPlayer builds using MinGW, targeting My old Win98SE machine.

http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/news.html

There are a few modifications that are made to the code and then it works just fine. I decided to share those builds now so that everyone can benefit from it.

I mostly use WinXP now, and I still prefer to use my own builds for performance reasons and because I enabled automatic CPU detection which is quite helpful when installing on several computers.

Here is the links with last stable release (1.4) and last build.

MEGA: https://mega.nz/folder/zbJiHIqK#garNgPLQaYp0Tu9bF--MsA

GitHub: https://github.com/RamonUnch/MPlayer-Ringo-builds/releases

In general I recommend the last build because it is usually stable.

I will try to add every few months a new build (whenever I will need it).

Note that the stable builds requires at least an i486

The latest build requires at least an i586 because of latest ffmpeg (I may try to fix that in the future).

This player is very up to date and you will be able to decode any modern h264/265/opus streams etc.

Be sure to check the configuration in mplayer/config (open with notepad or any other text editor)

Whenever I start a new build I will always use the latest mplayer/ffmpeg config so that it all stays updated.

In the future I hope to build GNU TLS for 9x so that you can read HTTPS streams.

I will also need to add CD support someday...

Tell me what you think about it. Keep in mind however that I have very little time to bug-fix and do all of this.

Edited by RamonUn
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Hello, I've briefly tried your latest build using default settings and video playback froze my system after a few seconds just like all other recent builds (which require KerneEx) do. I have to use -vo sdl argument with them for stable video output but your build doesn't have that video mode unfortunately. I have latest sherpya build running OK and capable of playing (some) https streams.
 

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I will add SDL support in next build.

EDIT:

DONE now, have a try with latest version in directory.

I put a version of SDL.dll (I had good experience with it). Maybe you will prefer to try an other version that you know works for you, if you still have troubles.

KernelEx is pretty good but I prefer vanilla programs. And in the future I plan 95 support and NT4 as well.

I am happy because video output is almost twice faster on my computer with SDL... (using SDL_VIDEODRIVER=windib)

Edited by RamonUn
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On 9/28/2020 at 12:46 AM, RamonUn said:

Since quite a long time now (at least 2016), I am doing  MPlayer builds using MinGW, targeting My old Win98SE machine.

http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/news.html

There are a few modifications that are made to the code and then it works just fine. I decided to share those builds now so that everyone can benefit from it.

I mostly use WinXP now, and I still prefer to use my own builds for performance reasons and because I enabled automatic CPU detection which is quite helpful when installing on several computers.

Here is the link to a MEGA folder with last stable release (1.4) and last build.

https://mega.nz/folder/zbJiHIqK#garNgPLQaYp0Tu9bF--MsA

In general I recommend the last build because it is usually stable.

I will try to add every few months a new build (whenever I will need it).

Note that the stable builds requires at least an i486

The latest build requires at least an i586 because of latest ffmpeg (I may try to fix that in the future).

This player is very up to date and you will be able to decode any modern h264/265/opus streams etc.

Be sure to check the configuration in mplayer/config (open with notepad or any other text editor)

Whenever I start a new build I will always use the latest mplayer/ffmpeg config so that it all stays updated.

In the future I hope to build GNU TLS for 9x so that you can read HTTPS streams.

I will also need to add CD support someday...

Tell me what you think about it. Keep in mind however that I have very little time to bug-fix and do all of this.

I am definitely a newbie; I am attempting to launch this program on Windows ME, but the Window immediately closes. What's the issue here?

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16 minutes ago, FantasyAcquiesce said:

I am definitely a newbie; I am attempting to launch this program on Windows ME, but the Window immediately closes. What's the issue here?

This is completely normal, MPlayer has actually no GUI, so when you lunch it without any parameters it instantly quits. You can try to drag&drop video file on the mplayer.exe or invoke from the command line. If it works good enough for you Yo can add MPlayer in your 'Send To...' folder or associate it to your video files so that it opens them on double click.

Because Mplayer has no GUI, you ave to use the Keyboard to navigate in the video (left and right arrows to move forwart/backward 10s) up/down => 1min pageUp/Dwn => 10min, 'Space' or 'p' to pause, 'f' to toggle fullscreen, 'j' to change subtitles, '#' to change audio track, 'ESC' or 'q' to quit, 'o' to cycle through more or less OSD,

Read the Keyboard.txt for more details, you can change those keys with the mplayer/input.conf

You can change general options in mplayer/config (open with notepad), you will want to try several video drivers to check which is the best for you.

If you want to benchmark the video output, find a short video file on your drive and use the flowing command line (in command.com/command prompt):

> mplayer shortTestFile.mp4 -vo XXX -nosound -benchmark

With XXX = directx or direct3d or gl or sdl

-vo stands for 'video output'

At the end MPlayer will display performance details.

Then once you found the one that works best put it in your config file (vo=XXX)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey, I'm a pretty big newbie at this, so I am wondering if it could be possible for you to provide a version with a GUI? The compiled version provided here lacks a skins folder, so I can't simply drag-and-drop one of the available skins on the website.

Edited by FantasyAcquiesce
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This would be pretty cool, However the main GUI you have for Windows is SMPlayer. SMPlayer is only a GUI+MPlayer.

I Tried using SMplayer long ango and stop because the GUI slows everything substentially, however I remember there was an other option and it is named MPUI

http://mpui.sourceforge.net/index.php?page=about

I have not tried it again but I think it was 9x compatible, it is a bit old, I will give it a try when I have time.

Donot say you are a noob, come on, you are an active Win9x user this is pretty rare today, and you do have some talent to be able to use it today.

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6 hours ago, RamonUn said:

This would be pretty cool, However the main GUI you have for Windows is SMPlayer. SMPlayer is only a GUI+MPlayer.

I Tried using SMplayer long ango and stop because the GUI slows everything substentially, however I remember there was an other option and it is named MPUI

http://mpui.sourceforge.net/index.php?page=about

I have not tried it again but I think it was 9x compatible, it is a bit old, I will give it a try when I have time.

Donot say you are a noob, come on, you are an active Win9x user this is pretty rare today, and you do have some talent to be able to use it today.

Trust me, just because I can install Windows 9x on a laptop and setup things, and maybe find the proper softwares, my experience with understanding the architecture or even compiling software is very, very limited. xD 

Also, the site you linked me to confirms it's incompatible with Windows ME...

Edited by FantasyAcquiesce
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Hi @FantasyAcquiesce. Everyone has a preference although the last time i tested with SMPlayer v0.6.7, SMPlayer startup time was 22 seconds vs 4 seconds for MPlayer standalone, huge performance improvement. IMHO once you memorize the relevant keyboard commands the GUI just slows things down and gets in the way. MPlayer standalone runs lean and adding the executable to the right-click 'Send To' context menu makes it easy to launch videos from Windows Explorer.
https://msfn.org/board/topic/177106-running-vanilla-windows-98-in-2020/page/5/?tab=comments#comment-1173033

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4 hours ago, Wunderbar98 said:

IMHO once you memorize the relevant keyboard commands the GUI just slows things down and gets in the way.

I could not agree more, this is why I am not motivated in using GUI in general, even without performance problems.

I even go further and directly associate MPlayer with all Video files, I will give you the .reg files I use soon.

I found an other GUI last night, named MPlayer GUI

https://sourceforge.net/projects/mplayerguiwin/

This one is written in C++ and compile with VC++ 6 without errors or warnngs, MPUI was written in Pascal...

I do not know why those GUI are not working properly under Win98 when they load just fine and can lunch the video but no commands work.

They must be using NT only features to communicate with MPlayer window, and I have no idea of which.

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Here is the reg I use to associate my video files on Win9x

copy/paste into a txt file, edit the path to mplayer.exe (if different) no not forgot to double backslash and backslash before double quotes.

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Video\Shell\Open]
@="MP&layer"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Video\Shell\Open\Command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\MPlayer\\mplayer.exe\" -vf screenshot -priority high \"%1\""


[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Video\Shell\MPlayer Fast]
@="MPlayer &Fast"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Video\Shell\MPlayer Fast\Command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\MPlayer\\mplayer.exe\" -lavdopts \"fast:skiploopfilter=all\" -priority high \"%1\""


[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Video\Shell\MPlayer XFast]
@="MPlayer &XFast"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Video\Shell\MPlayer XFast\Command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\MPlayer\\mplayer.exe\" -lavdopts \"lowres=1:fast:skiploopfilter=all:skipframe=nonref\" -nodouble -priority high \"%1\""

; Uncomment if you want this very special WTF mode (keyframe only)
; This will turn any movie in an audio comics but will b always fast.
    ;[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Video\Shell\MPlayer WTF]
    ;@="MPlayer &WTF"
    ;[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Video\Shell\MPlayer WTF\Command]
    ;@="\"C:\\Program Files\\MPlayer\\mplayer.exe\" -lavdopts \"skipframe=nonkey\" -priority high -really-quiet \"%1\""
    
; Add and remove extensions you want below...
; Backup your registery if you want to be able to revert those changes!!!

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.webm]
@="Video"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.avi]
@="Video"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.flv]
@="Video"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.mpg]
@="Video"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.mpeg]
@="Video"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.wmv]
@="Video"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.mkv]
@="Video"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.ogm]
@="Video"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.ogv]
@="Video"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.mp4]
@="Video"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.m4v]
@="Video"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.mov]
@="Video"

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

RamonUn -

Thanks so much for this -- it's really terrific to have someone keeping software alive for Win9x! Especially something as useful as a media player.

Various MPlayers have been my no-frills right-click "Send-To" targets for as long as i can remember. So it's great to have an up-to-date build!

Much appreciated....

- Doug B.

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  • 1 month later...

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