Beep boop beep - where are my zzt sounds? (and other ?s)

NOTE: I HATE A LOT OF YOUR ZZT GAMES, SO WATCH OUT!

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Nomad
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Beep boop beep - where are my zzt sounds? (and other ?s)

Post by Nomad »

Hey guys, I know this is probably quite the "newbie" question here, but since I left ZZT 9 years ago I left computers behind me and set out on a lucrative career as an alcoholic derelict, and as such, I didn't have much time to keep up on the advances like "MIDIs" or "I-Phones" or "Soundblasters"

When I loaded up ZZT last night I was confronted with two facts:

1. I couldn't get it to play in fullscreen. I was running ZZT with the ZZTunder program. When I tried to change the properties of the program to "fullscreen" it gave me an error message that said "Fullscreen not available on this system". What the halibut?!?

2. The beeps and boops that I had grown to love and cherish where no longer there. I was left alone in an ascii world devoid of sounds. I understand that ZZT makes its music through the little CPU speakers, and I assume my laptop doesn't have one. But is there a way to make the music come back aside from that?

Thanks for your assistance.
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Schroedingers Cat
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Post by Schroedingers Cat »

Have you tried DOSBox? It plays sounds through the not-pc-speakers.

At least, it does for me on every computer I've installed it on.
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RobertP
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Post by RobertP »

edit: what Schrödinger's cat said.

There are some clones in the making, check out Tyger by dr. Dos and Zap by Saxxon.

Keep on rocking, Nomad.
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Nomad
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Post by Nomad »

Ok I'll try it on DOSbox. ZZT just isn't ZZT without the musics.

Thanks for the help. :keen:
wayward
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Post by wayward »

Posting in this thread about a Dosbox question.

Finally got around to setting it up to play some older ZZT games but I found that it runs zzt pretty slow. Rooms that have an object #cycle 1 flag checking are ridiculously slow.

Any help for how to fix this? Or is it just my computer? (macbook pro running xp through bootcamp)
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Commodore
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Post by Commodore »

does xp run slow on it?
*POW* *CLANK* *PING*
wayward
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Post by wayward »

Commodore wrote:does xp run slow on it?
No, running zzt.exe and uw do it at the correct speed. For some reason there's some lag. I may try downloading the OSX version and see if that goes any better -- though I'd rather not have to switch between OSs to edit and play ZZT games.
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Nixon
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Post by Nixon »

Try increasing the cpu cycles of DosBox. You can do it by holding down control and tapping F12 I think. Or you can edit the DosBox config file to make it run at the best possible speed.
wayward
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Post by wayward »

Nixon wrote:Try increasing the cpu cycles of DosBox. You can do it by holding down control and tapping F12 I think. Or you can edit the DosBox config file to make it run at the best possible speed.
Thanks, I did just that and it fixed a lot of sluggishness. But in rooms that have a lot of checking objects it still slows to a near screeching halt. I even tried it on the mac side of my hard drive and while it runs smoother -- BAM, same freaking slowdown even if I pump up the speed.

Guess I'll just have to live with it. unless a version of .47 runs zzt better.
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superbowl shuffle
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Post by superbowl shuffle »

CTRL+F7 = Decreases frameskip
CTRL+F8 = Increases Frameskip

Maybe this helps?
[size=75:lh51rn9h][b:lh51rn9h]When the 5 o'clock whistle blows, so do I.[/b:lh51rn9h]
[/size:lh51rn9h]
Nixon
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Post by Nixon »

You can try changing the output option in the config file to something else which I have found to work before. I have also edited the priority of it and the cpu cycles are set to max. Here is my config file

Code: Select all

# This is the configurationfile for DOSBox 0.72.
# Lines starting with a # are commentlines.
# They are used to (briefly) document the effect of each option.

[sdl]
# fullscreen -- Start dosbox directly in fullscreen.
# fulldouble -- Use double buffering in fullscreen.
# fullresolution -- What resolution to use for fullscreen: original or fixed size (e.g. 1024x768).
# windowresolution -- Scale the window to this size IF the output device supports hardware scaling.
# output -- What to use for output: surface,overlay,opengl,openglnb,ddraw.
# autolock -- Mouse will automatically lock, if you click on the screen.
# sensitiviy -- Mouse sensitivity.
# waitonerror -- Wait before closing the console if dosbox has an error.
# priority -- Priority levels for dosbox: lowest,lower,normal,higher,highest,pause (when not focussed).
#             Second entry behind the comma is for when dosbox is not focused/minimized.
# mapperfile -- File used to load/save the key/event mappings from.
# usescancodes -- Avoid usage of symkeys, might not work on all operating systems.

fullscreen=false
fulldouble=false
fullresolution=1680x1050
windowresolution=640x480
output=surface
autolock=true
sensitivity=100
waitonerror=true
priority=highest,normal
mapperfile=mapper.txt
usescancodes=true

[dosbox]
# language -- Select another language file.
# memsize -- Amount of memory DOSBox has in megabytes.
# machine -- The type of machine tries to emulate:hercules,cga,tandy,pcjr,vga.
# captures -- Directory where things like wave,midi,screenshot get captured.

language=
machine=svga_s3
captures=capture
memsize=16

[render]
# frameskip -- How many frames DOSBox skips before drawing one.
# aspect -- Do aspect correction, if your output method doesn't support scaling this can slow things down!.
# scaler -- Scaler used to enlarge/enhance low resolution modes.
#           Supported are none,normal2x,normal3x,advmame2x,advmame3x,hq2x,hq3x,
#                         2xsai,super2xsai,supereagle,advinterp2x,advinterp3x,
#                         tv2x,tv3x,rgb2x,rgb3x,scan2x,scan3x.
#           If forced is appended (like scaler=hq2x forced), the scaler will be used
#           even if the result might not be desired.

frameskip=0
aspect=false
scaler=normal2x forced

[cpu]
# core -- CPU Core used in emulation: normal,simple,dynamic,auto.
#         auto switches from normal to dynamic if appropriate.
# cycles -- Amount of instructions DOSBox tries to emulate each millisecond.
#           Setting this value too high results in sound dropouts and lags.
#           You can also let DOSBox guess the correct value by setting it to max.
#           The default setting (auto) switches to max if appropriate.
# cycleup   -- Amount of cycles to increase/decrease with keycombo.
# cycledown    Setting it lower than 100 will be a percentage.

core=auto
cycles=max
cycleup=500
cycledown=20

[mixer]
# nosound -- Enable silent mode, sound is still emulated though.
# rate -- Mixer sample rate, setting any devices higher than this will
#         probably lower their sound quality.
# blocksize -- Mixer block size, larger blocks might help sound stuttering
#              but sound will also be more lagged.
# prebuffer -- How many milliseconds of data to keep on top of the blocksize.

nosound=false
rate=22050
blocksize=2048
prebuffer=10

[midi]
# mpu401      -- Type of MPU-401 to emulate: none, uart or intelligent.
# device      -- Device that will receive the MIDI data from MPU-401.
#                This can be default,alsa,oss,win32,coreaudio,none.
# config      -- Special configuration options for the device. In Windows put
#                the id of the device you want to use. See README for details.

mpu401=intelligent
device=default
config=

[sblaster]
# sbtype -- Type of sblaster to emulate:none,sb1,sb2,sbpro1,sbpro2,sb16.
# sbbase,irq,dma,hdma -- The IO/IRQ/DMA/High DMA address of the soundblaster.
# mixer -- Allow the soundblaster mixer to modify the DOSBox mixer.
# oplmode -- Type of OPL emulation: auto,cms,opl2,dualopl2,opl3.
#            On auto the mode is determined by sblaster type.
#            All OPL modes are 'Adlib', except for CMS.
# oplrate -- Sample rate of OPL music emulation.

sbtype=sb16
sbbase=220
irq=7
dma=1
hdma=5
mixer=true
oplmode=auto
oplrate=22050

[gus]
# gus -- Enable the Gravis Ultrasound emulation.
# gusbase,irq1,irq2,dma1,dma2 -- The IO/IRQ/DMA addresses of the 
#            Gravis Ultrasound. (Same IRQ's and DMA's are OK.)
# gusrate -- Sample rate of Ultrasound emulation.
# ultradir -- Path to Ultrasound directory.  In this directory
#             there should be a MIDI directory that contains
#             the patch files for GUS playback.  Patch sets used
#             with Timidity should work fine.

gus=true
gusrate=22050
gusbase=240
irq1=5
irq2=5
dma1=3
dma2=3
ultradir=C:\ULTRASND

[speaker]
# pcspeaker -- Enable PC-Speaker emulation.
# pcrate -- Sample rate of the PC-Speaker sound generation.
# tandy -- Enable Tandy Sound System emulation (off,on,auto).
#          For auto Tandysound emulation is present only if machine is set to tandy.
# tandyrate -- Sample rate of the Tandy 3-Voice generation.
# disney -- Enable Disney Sound Source emulation. Covox Voice Master and Speech Thing compatible.

pcspeaker=true
pcrate=22050
tandy=auto
tandyrate=22050
disney=true

[joystick]
# joysticktype -- Type of joystick to emulate: auto (default), none,
#                 2axis (supports two joysticks,
#                 4axis (supports one joystick, first joystick used),
#                 4axis_2 (supports one joystick, second joystick used),
#                 fcs (Thrustmaster), ch (CH Flightstick).
#                 none disables joystick emulation.
#                 auto chooses emulation depending on real joystick(s).
# timed -- enable timed intervals for axis. (false is old style behaviour).
# autofire -- continuously fires as long as you keep the button pressed.
# swap34 -- swap the 3rd and the 4th axis. can be useful for certain joysticks.
# buttonwrap -- enable button wrapping at the number of emulated buttons.

joysticktype=auto
timed=true
autofire=false
swap34=false
buttonwrap=true

[serial]
# serial1-4 -- set type of device connected to com port.
#              Can be disabled, dummy, modem, nullmodem, directserial.
#              Additional parameters must be in the same line in the form of
#              parameter:value. Parameter for all types is irq.
#              for directserial: realport (required), rxdelay (optional).
#              for modem: listenport (optional).
#              for nullmodem: server, rxdelay, txdelay, telnet, usedtr,
#                             transparent, port, inhsocket (all optional).
#              Example: serial1=modem listenport:5000

serial1=dummy
serial2=dummy
serial3=disabled
serial4=disabled

[dos]
# xms -- Enable XMS support.
# ems -- Enable EMS support.
# umb -- Enable UMB support.
# keyboardlayout -- Language code of the keyboard layout (or none).

xms=true
ems=true
umb=true
keyboardlayout=none

[ipx]
# ipx -- Enable ipx over UDP/IP emulation.

ipx=false

[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.

Mount C: ZZT\Games\
C:\
The config file is named Dosbox.conf and belongs in the folder that the Dosox .exe is in.
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Quantum P.
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I was annoying 5 years ago.

Post by Quantum P. »

You can slow down ZZT even if you're running ZZT outside of DOSBox:

http://zzt.org/fora/viewtopic.php?t=2229

There's always stuff that will slow ZZT down; it's just more evident on slower machines. I think DOSBox is roughly equivalent to a 586 (Pentium) in speed, but I don't know how recent that is.

One thing I used to try was to save the game, increase game speed, and restore. Can't remember if that helped much, or if it was just superstition.

Out of curiosity, what games are giving you trouble?
wayward
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Re: I was annoying 5 years ago.

Post by wayward »

Quantum P. wrote:Out of curiosity, what games are giving you trouble?
Specifically, the room in Winter immediately to the left after you enter the castle.

I cranked up the cycles a ton and ZZT runs pretty smoothly now -- but that rooms still gives me a lot of trouble. I guess there's just a crap ton going on.
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