Chip: Special Sound & MIDI

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Chip: Special Sound & MIDI / Chip-Special_Sound-und-Midi-auf-dem-PC.bin / dostools / cdbox / cd-box.doc < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1993-01-16 | 84.6 KB | 1,826 lines

╒════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ │ Welcome to CD-Box v2.20 - (C) Jeffrey Belt, 1992 │ ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ .CMF/.MDI/.MOD/.MUS/.ROL/.VOC/.WAV player & shell for AdLib/SB - Shareware │ ╘════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛ Quick start: 0. You must have a VGA display (color) and an Adlib or SoundBlaster card (or better) - a hard disk and a mouse are also highly recommended. 1. Create a directory in which you put all CD-BOX.* files, and every music file (.CMF, .MDI, .MOD, .MUS, .ROL, .VOC and .WAV) you can find, either as is or stored in .ARC, .ARJ and/or .ZIP files. Also make sure SBFMDRV.COM, SOUND.COM, PLAY.EXE, SPUTROL.COM or INTUNE.EXE, CT-VOICE.DRV, PLAYFILE.EXE, ARCE.COM, ARJ.EXE and PKUNZIP.EXE (if you don't have them all, do the best you can) are on the PATH (or the SOUND environment variable) somewhere. 2. Type CD-BOX and press Enter (the first time CD-Box is run, the directory scan may take a looooong time, especially if you have many songs - be patient, it will go much faster the second time). 3. Fool around and see what CD-Box can do. If you have trouble, see part V, troubleshooting. If you have players others than those listed above, check out part VI. If you use CD-Box, you have to register it; see part VIII (at the end). If you want more details: * Type CD-BOX/? at the DOS prompt * Read the rest of this document! ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ Acknowledgments AdLib Music Synthetizer Card is a registered trademark of AdLib, Inc. Also, SOUND.COM is copyrighted by AdLib, Inc. SoundBlaster is a registered trademark of Creative Labs, Inc. Also, SBFMDRV.COM and VPLAY.EXE are copyrighted by Creative Labs, Inc. ARCE is copyrighted by Vernon D. Buerg. ARJ is copyrighted by Robert K Jung. PKUNZIP is copyrighted by PKWARE, Inc. ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── CD-Box supports by default the following drivers/players (you are free to change this by reading part IV and editing the CD-BOX.CFG file): .CMF driver: SBFMDRV.COM - Creative Labs, Inc. Bundled with the SoundBlaster card .ROL driver: SOUND.COM - AdLib, Inc. Bundled with the AdLib Music Synthetizer card .ROL player: Sputter's .ROL player (SPUTROL.COM) - Adrienne Cousins/Versaware Part of the Sputter package (SPUT115A.ZIP) Shareware, $25 .MUS player: PLAY.EXE No info on this one - I got it from a FTP server somewhere which IT got from THE TASTE/MG BBS, 718-252-4529, as ADLIBMUS.ZIP. .VOC driver: CT-VOICE.DRV - Creative Labs, Inc. Bundled with the SoundBlaster card .WAV player: PLAYFILE.EXE - works on the PAS-16 only (as far as I know) Bundled with the Pro Audio Spectrum ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Other drivers/players I have found that also work with CD-Box: .ROL driver: SB-SOUND.COM - Creative Labs, Inc. Almost no info on this one .ROL player: InTune v2.50 (INTUNE.EXE) - Doug Brandon (I did have a few problem with intruments but...) Shareware, $20 .VOC player: Creative Disk Voice Playback (VPLAY.EXE) - Creative Labs, Inc. Bundled with the SoundBlaster card ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Drivers/players I have found that don't work with CD-Box: .ROL player: AdLib Command Line .ROL Player 1.2 (PLAYROL.EXE) - Tracy Harton It switches to text mode! "Relaxed" shareware .WAV player: PLANY v0.9 - Bill Neisius Plays .WAV too slowly on my SB... or is it only me? Freeware FTP addresses: saffron.inset.com, nic.funet.fi, snake.mcs.kent.edu ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ TABLE OF CONTENTS ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ Part I: How to use CD-Box Part II: How CD-Box works (including exactly which drivers/players are needed, some FTP addresses, how CD-Box interacts with them...) Part III: Keyboard support Part IV: CD-BOX.CFG, CD-Box's configuration file Part V: Trouble-shooting Part VI: Version history, how you can help, and thanks Part VII: License & absence of warranty Part VIII: Registering CD-Box ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ Compatibility CD-BOX v2.20 IS FULLY COMPATIBLE WITH ALL VERSIONS OF CD-BOX ABOVE 2.00. You can overwrite the old CD-Box files with the new ones, provided the old version is v2.00, v2.01, v2.02, v2.10 v2.11 or v2.12. If you're one of those who still have CD-Box v1.61 or below, CD-Box will ask you to delete the SONGS.DAT file. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ PART I: HOW TO USE CD-BOX ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** What does CD-Box do? ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── CD-Box is, stated simply, a program which plays back music files on the AdLib Music Synthetizer Card and the SoundBlaster card. However, it is also very pretty and fun to use - it runs in 256 colors and can use your mouse. CD-Box's main features: - A pretty interface and fun animation - CDs pop up and down and start and stop spinning, pages scroll... including random events I'll let you discover! - Support for .CMF, .MDI, .MOD, .MUS, .ROL, .VOC and .WAV music/sound files (.CMF, .MOD, .VOC and .WAV files work with SoundBlaster only). These files can also be stored in .ARC, .ARJ and/or .ZIP files to save disk space - CD-Box will find them and play them from the archive (using a RAM drive if you want). .MOD also have volume control and skipping backward and forward within the song. - CD-Box allows you to easily program a selection of songs; it waits for you to select the songs you want to hear before starting to play the first one. - Instead of selecting songs, you can tell CD-Box how long you want the playback to last, and it will automatically select songs for you. You can even do that from the DOS command line (or a batch file), and CD-Box will play the songs, then exit right back to DOS. - CD-Box makes it easy to choose files in which to pick songs - so if you ARJed or ZIPped your songs by category, you can tell CD-Box which categories to use! - No data file to keep to date; bank filenames and song titles can be modified directly from CD-Box, which will save your changes to disk. CD-Box also knows the titles and lengths of numerous songs, and when it encounters unknown songs, can sometimes (it depends on the format) extract data from the files on disk. - CD-Box is able to examine the SOUND environnment variable and of loading drivers and player programs from there if necessary (as any good SoundBlaster software should do). ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── And now, the fun part: how CD-Box works Note that the explanations below, as with most of this documentation, supposes you have a mouse and CD-Box is able to use it. If you use the keyboard, see part III for mouse equivalents. You run it by typing CD-BOX at the DOS prompt. Obvious, really. You are then in... ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** SELECT MODE: to select and play songs ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── - Move between the pages by clicking on the "Rewind" and "Forward" buttons (you can hold down these buttons with the mouse). Pressing the RIGHT mouse button on "Rewind" and "Forward" brings you to the first and last page, respectively. - Select one or more songs to play by clicking on the small button next to the songs' names; they will be played back in the order you selected them. The digital display changes color and displays the total length time of your selection. - Click on "Loop" if you want your selection to be played over and over again. - Click on "Play" to play the songs - you'll be in Play mode (see below). - Clicking on "Random" brings you into Random mode. You can then select the total playing time you wish, by pressing the "Rewind" and "Forward" buttons; pressing the RIGHT mouse button brings up the minimum and maximum playing time, respectively. Once the desired time is displayed on the digital display, click on "Play". CD-Box will randomly select additional songs until the desired time is reached, then play the songs. ****************************************************************************** NOTE: Certain songs may be of unknown length (they were not known to CD-Box and they have never been played yet). When such a song is selected, CD-Box supposes the length is zero. Therefore, if you use the "Random" button and suchs songs are chosen, the actual playing time may be far longer than the playing time you entered (remember in such cases that Esc still works). Of course a way to compute all playing times is to use Random mode and choose the maximum playing time, in which case all songs will be played. ****************************************************************************** - Clicking on "Random" while in Random mode, exits Random mode. - Clicking on the wide "Unselect" button will unselect ALL the songs. - Finally, click on "Eject" to quit. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** PLAY MODE: while songs are being played back ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── - Each song is played in turn, and then de-selected, unless "Loop" is in the down position, in which case they are reselected to be played again later. - Pressing Esc while a song is playing interrupts the current song, and CD-Box starts looking for the next one. If you press Esc between songs, playback stops entirely (songs not yet played remain selected). You've got to press Esc twice quite fast to stop the playback in fast mode (/F, see below). If the buttons have flipped to reveal another set of buttons, you also have access to the real-time clock and the following functions (.CMF, .MOD and .VOC for registered users): - Stop: stops playback entirely (same as pressing Esc between songs). - Skip: interrupts the current song (same as pressing Esc while playing). - Pause/Resume: toggle it once to pause the music, and toggle it again to have it pick up where it left off. - Rem.: if pressed, the digital display shows the time left until the song or the total selection ends (see next button), as far as CD-Box can tell; if not, the digital display shows the time elapsed since the beginning of the song or the total selection. - Total: if pressed, the digital display shows the time elapsed or left (see previous button) for the current song; if not, it shows the time elapsed or left for the whole selection. Got it? Registered version only and .MOD files only: - Volume control: press a button in the colored row to select the volume. Volumes changes are not instantaneous (some .MOD files sometimes sound weird while the volume is being changed). The higher the volume, the better the quality. - Skipping backward/forward within the song: press the button to the left of the volume control or the one to the right. CD-Box will "skip" a little of the song in either way. Trying to skip back the beginning of the song restarts the song, and trying to skip past the end stops it. Play mode switches back to Select mode when playback ends (whether you interrupted it or not). ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** MODIFY MODE: used to modify bank files and song titles ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Click on the wide "Modify..." button to enter Modify mode. All the songs will be unselected, and the row of buttons will flip and reveal another set of buttons. "Rewind" and "Forward" work the same as before. - You can display the song titles, bank files or filename by clicking on one of the three buttons at the right. - If you click on the small button next to a song, a dot cursor will appear and you will be able to modify whatever is displayed, using the keyboard (Backspace, Enter and Escape do the ovious things). Any changes you type in will be automatically saved to disk once you exit CD-Box. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** GOTO MODE: used to jump to a specific title (or filename, see Files mode) ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Click on "Goto...", and an alphabetic set of buttons will appear. From there, simply choose a letter, and CD-Box will "Rewind" or "Forward" directly to the page containing the first song starting by the letter you selected, and flash that song briefly. If no such song exists, CD-Box tries with the next letter, and the next, and may finally give up by giving an error message. When you exit Goto mode, either automatically, or by clicking on "Goto..." a second time, you will be brought back to the same mode you were in before entering Goto mode. Goto is accessible from all modes. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** FILES MODE: to (un)tag files for scanning ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Click on "Files...", and CD-Box will save any changes you have made (bank files, song titles, whatever), and promptly forget all the songs in memory. Files names will then be displayed instead of song titles. These files are NOT the song files themselves, but the files CD-Box scanned to get the songs in memory - the difference is that archive files (.ARC, .ARJ and .ZIP) will be displayed as such, instead of having a separate entry for each file in the archive (as is the case in Modify mode when the "File" button is pressed). All files are selected by default. You can browse through the list using "Rewind" and "Forward" as usual, and "Goto..." a specific filename... and when you click on "Rescan", CD-Box will rescan ONLY the files left selected. Thus, if you left all the files selected, CD-Box will reload all the songs and nothing will be changed. If you unselected them all, CD-Box will load no songs. This serves as a "filter" for the songs displayed in CD-Box, and used by (for instance) Random mode. If your songs are archived by category, switching to Files mode and choosing only certain files will tell CD-Box to display and use only the songs in these categories. If you don't use archives at all, then probably Files mode will not be of much use to you. Note that the files displayed are not all the files in the directory, but rather those that contain songs. Also, if you specified /L at startup, any unplayable files in the directory will not be displayed. And, if you specified file specifications at startup (for instance, CD-BOX *.MOD Z*.ZIP), only the files matching these specifications will be displayed. All this is cumulative, of course. The command line serves as a first filter, and Files mode then enables you to choose the filtered files by hand. Files mode is much simpler to use than to describe, believe me... try it! ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** DEBUG MODE: to have a quick look at CD-Box's startup ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── This is not really a mode in the sense of those described above, but is a command-line parameter important enough to be included here. Typing CD-BOX/D at the DOS prompt: * returns the registration number (if any!); * checks the CD-BOX.CFG file for errors, reporting any, so that you can correct them; * displays, for each driver, player, and archive manager, whether it was found or not; * scans the directory for songs, displaying each song name in turn, so that you may find which song exactly makes CD-Box crash (if any). ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ PART II: GENERAL QUESTIONS ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** How does CD-Box play songs? ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── It depends on the format. As a general rule, there are two possibilities: either it plays them by itself, using its own code (internal support), or it doesn't know how to play this format, and executes an external program (the player), specific to each format. CD-Box currently provides internal support for .CMF, .MOD and .VOC. In greater detail, for each format, CD-Box follows these rules: * If there is a section about this format in CD-BOX.CFG ([<format>]), then CD-Box will provide external support, and: * If there is a "Dual=yes" statement in the section, and CD-Box has internal support for this format, then CD-Box will first try playing such songs using its own routines, and, if this fails (error while loading or whatever), use the external player. * If there is no such statement in the section, then CD-Box will ALWAYS use this player to play the song, using the parameters given in CD-BOX.CFG. * If there is no section on this format in CD-BOX.CFG, then CD-Box will use its internal routines to play the song, if any. CD-Box currently provides internal support for .CMF, .MOD and .VOC files. * In all other cases, CD-Box will NOT play songs of this format (the corresponding pilot light above the song names is grayed). Usually you'll want CD-Box to play songs by itself; it's by far the easiest way, there's no player to install, and you can pause, resume and stop the song using the mouse. However, you would use an external player if: * CD-Box provides no internal support for the corresponding format * Or the sound given by the player you have is better than that of CD-Box, or the player supports a wider range of capabilities (what if you've got the AdLib and have a player which can play .CMF on your card?), so you might want to override CD-Box's routines for that format. Note that even if CD-Box does have internal support for some formats, it may still need the corresponding driver. See right below for details. CD-BOX.CFG, CD-Box's configuration file, is explained in part IV. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** Exactly what programs do I need for each song format? ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── In addition to CD-BOX.EXE (the program) and CD-BOX.CFG (the configuration file), you need songs to play, and a player program in some cases. The default (you can change that, see part IV for details) music playback programs supported by CD-Box and the corresponding song formats are: ┌───────────────┐ │ .ARC archives │ All formats └───────────────┘ You need ARCE.COM, or ARC.EXE if you make a few changes in CD-BOX.CFG (see part IV, and section on archives below). ┌───────────────┐ │ .ARJ archives │ All formats └───────────────┘ You need ARJ.EXE (see section on archives below). ┌─────────────────────────────┐ │ Creative Music Files (.CMF) │ SoundBlaster only └─────────────────────────────┘ You need the sound driver SBFMDRV.COM from Creative Labs, Inc, and it has to be loaded in memory before CD-Box is run. (You can remove it by typing SBFMDRV /U once you exit CD-Box). No other program is necessary, .CMF routines are programmed directly into CD-Box. ┌────────────────────────────────┐ │ Single track MIDI files (.MDI) │ SoundBlaster only? └────────────────────────────────┘ No, I haven't found any player yet, but I know they exist - those of you who are lucky enough to have access to the net should find one! Otherwise, I have hopes of implementing routines in CD-Box itself. ┌────────────────────────┐ │ Amiga MOD files (.MOD) │ SoundBlaster only └────────────────────────┘ You need nothing except lots of memory; CD-Box is linked to internal .MOD playing routines. ┌────────────────────┐ │ Music files (.MUS) │ AdLib & SoundBlaster └────────────────────┘ You need PLAY.EXE. Each .MUS file also needs a .SND bank file, so be sure to put them in the directory too. (ex: AGNES.MUS and AGNES.SND, MULL.MUS and MULL.SND...) Note: .MUS bank files (.SND files) are different from Macintosh raw sound files (.SND extension also) - the former contain instrument data and the latter a complete digitized sound. ┌─────────────────────┐ │ ROLand files (.ROL) │ AdLib & SoundBlaster └─────────────────────┘ You need SPUTROL.COM, and the sound driver SOUND.COM from AdLib, Inc; but you don't have to load it before running CD-Box. SPUTROL will itself load it if necessary, and unload it when done. .ROL files also need at least one .BNK bank file, which usually is STANDARD.BNK. If you have SB-SOUND.COM from Creative Labs, Inc, rename it to SOUND.COM so that SPUTROL can detect it (unless you use another player which properly detects SB-SOUND...) Since many of you asked... ROL2CMF will convert .ROL to .CMF so you can use CD-Box's internal routines instead of SPUTROL. ROL2CMF is widely available on FTP servers, such as saffron.inset.com, directory pub/sound/players. ┌─────────────────────────────────┐ │ SoundBlaster VOiCe files (.VOC) │ SoundBlaster only └─────────────────────────────────┘ You need CT-VOICE.DRV, typically in the \VOC directory behind the SOUND environment variable, but it may be anywhere on the path. .VOC files are digitized sound files and not real music files, so the space taken up on disk can be HUGE. Unregistered users need also VPLAY.EXE to play .VOC files bigger than 100 KB (using dual support, see part IV on how to do that). Registered users can play without any external player .VOC files of any size, as long as it fits in memory - this restriction will completely disappear in the next version (I've got the code, it works, I just want to be ABSOLUTELY sure before I put it in CD-Box). Digitized sounds in other formats (Macintosh .SND, Sun .AU and many others) can be converted to .VOC using various utilities. I use and recommend SOX (maintained by Lance Norskog), available at garbo.uwasa.fi in pc/sound. ┌──────────────────────────────┐ │ Windows 3.1 WAV files (.WAV) │ PAS-16 only (SoundBlaster very soon!) └──────────────────────────────┘ PLAYFILE.EXE, bundled with the PAS-16 (or so I've heard), can play both .VOC and .WAV files on this card. I've found other players that play .WAV on a SoundBlaster, but never perfectly... there MUST be one around somewhere! In any case .WAV routines should be implemented in CD-Box very soon. ┌───────────────┐ │ .ZIP archives │ All formats └───────────────┘ You need PKUNZIP.EXE (see section on archives below). All the song files have to reside in CD-Box's directory; the program files do not have to, but make sure CD-Box has access to them (through a PATH statement for instance). CD-Box also examines the SOUND environnment variable and is able to load drivers and players from there if necessary. To see if CD-Box detects properly your drivers and player programs, type CD-BOX/D at the DOS prompt. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** How do I tell CD-Box to support other drivers/players? ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── If you have a player program that meets the following restrictions: - it can be run in "quiet" mode, i.e. no output of ANY kind while running, no error messages, no nothing. - it does not switch to a specific video mode (for instance, text mode) when run. then CD-Box can support it. Read part IV for how to do that. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** How do I add or remove songs to CD-Box? ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── The song titles displayed in CD-Box depend entirely on the music files in the current directory (either in archives or not). If you want to add songs to CD-Box, simply put them in the current directory. To remove them, delete the files. In other words, CD-Box always reflects the current directory - only the file names are replaced by song titles. The above paragraph is modified by the fact that if you specify file specifications on the command line (for instance, CD-BOX *.ZIP NEW*.*), the song titles will be those found in the specified files only. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** What's all this about .ARC, .ARJ and .ZIP files? ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── CD-Box is able to look into .ARC, .ARJ and .ZIP files (hereafter called "archives") to see if there are any songs there; if it finds any, the corresponding title will appear on the main screen, and the song will be treated just as any other song. This means your songs can be packed in archives in CD-Box's directory to save space; CD-Box will find them anyway. *** When does CD-Box uncompress the songs stored in archives? Unpacking occurs in two cases only: - at startup, if a song found in an archive is not known to CD-Box, it will exploded using the appropriate archiver (ARCE.COM, ARJ.EXE, PKUNZIP.EXE, or whatever you specified in CD-BOX.CFG) so that it can be analyzed. The program will try to extract the most information from the file (title and length in particular); the "Analyzing song" indicator is lit up. When done, CD-Box will remove the unpacked file. - just before playing a song stored in an archive, the small "CD-BOX" on the green reader at the top of the screen lights up and CD-Box invokes the archiver to explode the song file, and the bank file if necessary. When done playing, the unpacked files are removed also. *** Where are files exploded to? Files temporarily extracted from archives files reside on: - the drive/directory specified by the Temp= statement in CD-BOX.CFG; - if Temp= is not specified, the drive/directory specified by the TEMP environnment variable; - if TEMP doesn't exist, to the default drive/directory. Always make sure there's enough room to hold the largest expanded song! Otherwise you'll get an "Unable to explode song" message. *** What programs are necessary to take full advantage of this feature? Any programs capable of extracting files from .ARC, ARJ and/or .ZIP files (typically ARCE.COM, ARJ.EXE and PKUNZIP.EXE, but you might have others). If you don't have the corresponding archive manager, or if it is not reachable through a PATH statement, and if you have archives in CD-Box's directory, the message "Unable to explode song" will appear. CD-Box may also crash at startup. The bottom line: using archives with CD-Box is pretty easy and straightforward. In the case of synthetized music files (.CMF, .MDI, .MUS and .ROL), it also saves an average of 80% of disk space!!! And if you archive your music files by category, you'll better take advantage of Files mode (described in part I). ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** Dual support? What's that? ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── .CMF, .MOD and .VOC files: it means CD-Box can play this format by itself. So you have three choices: * The easiest: just let it play the songs and don't worry about anything else. * If CD-Box won't play this format on your particular computer, you can try overriding its routines by telling it to use an external player (ex: AdLib users might have a .CMF player that works on their card). You simply have to insert the appropriate statements in CD-BOX.CFG. * CD-Box can also use both: try playing the format by itself, and if that fails, use an external player; you have to insert whatever is needed to run the player in CD-BOX.CFG, and add a "dual=yes" statement. See part IV for how to tell CD-Box to use internal, external, or dual support. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** Is there any way I can skip the animation? ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Indeed there is. Type CD-BOX/F at the DOS prompt. You can also skip the title screen, but still have the animation, by pressing a key while CD-Box is loading (before it switches to graphics mode). ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** Are there any shortcuts to make things happen more quickly? ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Try clicking the RIGHT mouse button. For instance, clicking the right mouse button on a song button plays the song immediately, or clicking the right mouse button on the "Rewind" and "Forward" buttons go to the beginning and end of the song index, respectively. But if that's still too slow for you, the /F parameter is even faster, but then you'll skip ALL the animations. Right clicking is not available from the keyboard. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** What does that "XXX duplicate!" message at startup mean? ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── This can only happen if you use archives (.ARC, .ARJ or .ZIP files); it means you have two or more files which have exactly the same filename in the CD-Box directory. CD-Box ignores all duplicate filenames and remembers only the first one found. It's not an error, it's a warning, but it can be annoying. You have the same file twice or more in the directory (one in an archive, another in another archive or simply in the directory). So delete one or rename the other. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** How does CD-Box remember the title and length of songs? ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Files found in the current directory are the ones loaded, and the bank file and title given depend on the following criteria: - If there is a SONGS.DAT file in the directory, and if it contains that song, CD-Box loads the data from it (SONGS.DAT is an external database CD-Box uses to remember songs). - Otherwise, if CD-Box knows that song intrisically (there is another database directly programmed into CD-BOX.EXE), the data is read from there. - If all this fails, then CD-Box tries to make the best possible guesses: + bank file: usually BNK974.BNK, or filename.SND, or none. + song title: extracted from disk (.CMF and .MOD), otherwise same as filename. + length: 0 (unknown), except for .ROL and .VOC files, where the length is computed directly from the file on disk. All this is recorded in CD-Box's external database (SONGS.DAT); if the database doesn't exist, it is created. Any changes you make, and of course the changes in length as computed when playing the song, take over the default values, and are recorded as well. All changes are actually written to disk when you quit CD-Box (Eject). At the time of this writing, CD-Box intrinsically knows about 150 songs, but this number keeps changing. Type CD-BOX/I at the DOS prompt to know exactly how many. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** How can I tell CD-Box to load only the song files my system supports? ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── If you're missing some drivers or player programs, you might want CD-Box to load only the files it can play, instead of loading them all and issuing an error message each time. Give it the /L parameter at startup (CD-BOX /L). Note that in this case CD-Box will also ignore songs in archives if the corresponding archive manager cannot be found. Unplayable songs (i.e. missing driver or player) are grayed when you select them in CD-Box. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** What are the command line parameters? ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── CD-BOX/? gives you a quick summary. Otherwise, here are the details: * filespec: instead of scanning the entire directory, CD-Box will scan only the files matching your file specifications. For instance, if you want CD-Box to load the .MUS and .ROL files only, type CD-BOX *.MUS *.ROL; or if you just got a brand new archive containing new songs called ALLNEW.ZIP, and you want CD-Box to scan only that archive, type CD-BOX ALLNEW.ZIP. An alternative is to use Files mode (see above). The default for filespec is, of course, *.*. * /D: This is a debugging tool which displays: - whether your copy of CD-Box is registered, and to whom; - whether any errors were found in CD-BOX.CFG; - the complete paths to all the drivers and players specified in CD-BOX.CFG, if found; a [I] means the driver/player is necessary for internal support, a [E] means it's for external support, and [D] means it's for external support when internal support fails (dual support). - the complete paths to all supported archive managers, if found; - the name of each file as it is read and analyzed from the directory when CD-Box starts up. I put this because CD-Box almost never checks whether a music file is valid or not before analyzing it (to speed things up). So, if you try to run CD-Box and you get a "CRASH!", try using /D, and chances are you'll spot the file which is invalid. REMOVE THIS FILE FROM THE DIRECTORY! There are a few checking routines to prevent this, however, so you might get an "Invalid .ROL file" message or equivalent. In that case, remove the file too. Duplicate songs are also displayed and reported. * /F: All non-essential animation is skipped, including the title screen, CDs popping up and down, buttons flipping over, .MOD level bars... Use this parameter if CD-Box runs too slowly on your computer, or if you're a little short on memory (you get thrown back to DOS with messages like "Not enough memory to load..." or "VGA Sprite Manager has run out of memory!"). If you don't specify the /F parameter, you can still skip the title screen by pressing a key while CD-Box is loading (before it switches to graphics mode). * /I: Displays how much memory CD-Box detects and reserves for animation purposes, and also how many songs are in the internal and external databases. * /L: Tells CD-Box NOT to load the song formats which cannot be played (i.e. a driver is not loaded or missing or a player program is missing). In other words, CD-Box does not load songs which corresponding pilot light is grayed. This includes archive files; they will not be scanned if the corresponding archive manager cannot be found. * /M: Tells CD-Box not to use a mouse, even if it is able to detect one. This will remove the warning that no mouse is detected if none is present, and also will enable you to use the keyboard without having your mouse wrecking havoc on the screen, if your mouse driver is one of those which CD-Box doesn't like. * /P: Loads CD-Box, plays n minutes of music by switching to Random mode, and then exits back to DOS upon completion of the last song. If Esc is pressed between songs, playback interrupts just as usual, and normal operation is resumed: you can then use the mouse to choose songs, change titles... * /R: Removes the files specified on the command line from the external database (SONGS.DAT). You have to specify the filenames (wildcards accepted), not the song titles. For instance, to remove the files IMPACT7.MOD and all Z*.ROL from SONGS.DAT, you would type CD-BOX /R IMPACT7.MOD Z*.ROL. CD-BOX /R * would delete all the songs in SONGS.DAT - it's easier to erase the file. You shouldn't ever need to use /R, except in extremely rare cases where CD-Box would have fouled up and recorded a song length of 456324875 hours for a specific song... * /V: Displays the contents (filename, bank filename, title and length) of the external database (SONGS.DAT) on the screen, pausing when the screen is full. The songs displayed match the file specifications on the command line - default is * (all). Blank entries in the Bank column indicate the file does not need any bank file (.CMF, .MOD and .VOC), and blank entries in the Length column indicate the length of the song is not known (0). If you want to save this listing to a file, specify a filename, like this: CD-BOX /V=filename Output will be saved to the file filename.TXT. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** I have an AdLib, is there a way I can play the files for SoundBlaster? ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Yes... if you have a player which can do that. CD-Box can't. If you have FTP or News access, ask around, I've heard of an AdLib .CMF player, and of something to make the AdLib play .MODs. Whether they exist, and can be made to run with CD-Box (using CD-BOX.CFG) is another matter. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** Is there anything else I should know about CD-Box? ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Well... there is. There are random animations happening at irregular intervals. If you don't use the /F parameter and are patient, you should see some from time to time. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ PART III: KEYBOARD SUPPORT ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ CD-Box can be used without the mouse entirely, although it was intended from the start to run with a mouse. In fact, versions up to v2.10 (inclusive) required a mouse; it was not optional. I added keyboard support since somehow I have not been able to have routines that support ALL Microsoft compatible mouse drivers out there (the vast majority work but not all). Some random animations lose much of their interest without a mouse; sometimes a gray arrow will appear to simulate the mouse, as in the "lighter" animation. The keyboard is active even with a mouse. What CD-Box does when a key is pressed is find which button to activate, then simulate a left button click. Most buttons can be clicked on by pressing their first letter, the notable exceptions being Rewind and Forward, which are PgUp and PgDn, respectively. The long rectangular button under the main button menu work the same, but with the Alt key held down. The control buttons for .MOD files work with the Ctrl key held down. The exact keys to click on the various buttons are: * SELECT MODE: Play: P Rewind: PgUp Forward: PgDn Loop: L Random: R Eject: E * PLAY MODE: Stop: Esc Skip: S Pause/Resume: P Rem: R Total: T .MOD FILES ONLY: volume control: Ctrl A (min) to Ctrl L (max) skip backward: Ctrl-left skip forward: Ctrl-right * MODIFY MODE: About: A Rewind: PgUp Forward: PgDn File: F Bank: B Title: T * FILES MODE: Rewind: PgUp Forward: PgDn Rescan: R Song buttons: 1 to 8 (1 to 4 in the first column, 5 to 8 in the second) Mode buttons: Files: Alt F Goto: Alt G Modify: Alt M Unselect: Alt U Esc will stop the song being played back, even if the Stop button is not displayed. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ PART IV: CD-BOX.CFG ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** The purpose of CD-BOX.CFG. ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── CD-BOX.CFG is a file in which you can define many of CD-Box's parameters. Mainly, you can specify what driver/player programs to use, and also how to extract songs from archives, and various other things. CD-Box has default values for most of these parameters, but you can override them with CD-BOX.CFG. Two important remarks: * Errors in CD-BOX.CFG are skipped; CD-Box will simply give a warning message at startup and go on anyway. But these errors may hinder CD-Box when extracting or playing songs. A complete error report may be obtained by typing CD-BOX/D. * Programs run as subshells by CD-Box (archivers and player programs) must produce NO OUTPUT OF ANY KIND. The reasons, I think, are obvious (CD-Box runs in VGA and it wouldn't do to have big ugly characters messing up and maybe scrolling the screen each time you play a song). Therefore, make sure the archivers and player programs won't print anything, either using a parameter from the archiver or the player itself (for instance, /Q or -q), or by redirecting output to null, void, nothing, emptiness (> nul). This last solution doesn't always work; check under DOS. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** General syntax ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── * COMMENTS All blank lines and everything after a semicolon (;) are ignored. ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── * PARAMETER SETTINGS Most parameters are set by typing the parameter name, an equal sign (with no space before nor after), and the parameter value. For instance: Temp=D:\ player=PLAY.EXE Case is not important in the parameter name, but it may be in the value; "/q" and "/Q" might not mean the same thing to a player program. CD-Box always preserves case when passing parameters to the programs it runs, except for filenames, which are always in uppercase. ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── * SECTION IDENTIFIERS Some commands like Player=, Parameters=, and so on, need to know which format you're refering to. Special lines like: [ROL] means that the following parameter settings are intended for the .ROL format. You can have a different section for each song format, and each archive format. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** Command reference ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── * SYSTEM PARAMETERS MixingSpeed=n This will set CD-Box's .MOD playing routines to n Hz per second. Lower values will run better on slower computers, while higher values enhance playback quality. Values higher than 22000 Hz don't make much sense since instruments in .MOD files are sampled at a rate of 22 KHz anyway. The default is 15909. This affects .MOD files only. MODDevice=n This set the output device .MODs are played to, n being: 0 PC Speaker (sounds awful under CD-Box) 1 D/A converter on LPT1 2 D/A converter on LPT2 3 D/A converter on LPT3 4 D/A converters on LPT1 and LPT2 (stereo) 5 D/A converters on LPT1 and LPT2 (mono) 7 Soundblaster card 10 Stereo-on-1 card 11 Disney Sound Source on LPT1 12 Disney Sound Source on LPT2 13 Disney Sound Source on LPT3 255 No sound The default is 7 (SoundBlaster). This affects .MOD files only. Temp=path This sets the path on which files extracted from archives temporarily reside. Make sure it's big enough to hold your largest song (and its bank file if necessary). If omitted, the temporary path defaults the current directory (or the directory in your TEMP environment variable). ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── * PARAMETERS FOR ARCHIVERS The only case you should have to insert commands like the following is if you have a different archiver than those I planned to handle .ARC, .ARJ and .ZIP files. I put these commands in for completeness' sake, and just in case the upgrade to an archiver use a different syntax than the previous version (it's very unlikely but you never know). [ARC] archiver=ARCE.COM parameters=$zipfile $files /R /Q > nul This means that the archiver for .ARC files is ARCE.COM, and when you extract the files "ABCD.TXT EFG.MOD" from the "HELLO.ARC" archive, you type at the DOS prompt: ARCE HELLO.ARC ABCD.TXT EFG.MOD /R /Q > nul $zipfile and $files are replaced at runtime by the appropriate names. $zipfile will always be a single filename (the name of the archive itself), while $files is a string of filenames separated by spaces (the names of the files to extract). Note that the "> nul" prevents ARCE from displaying anything on the screen, thereby preserving CD-Box's splendid graphics and stupendous animation (well, maybe I'm overdoing it a little... :-) The same things applies to all other archivers of course. If you use ARC.EXE instead of ARC.COM, insert the following commands: [ARC] archiver=ARC.EXE parameters=x $zipfile $files > nul ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── * EXTERNAL DRIVERS AND PLAYERS The syntax is very similar: [ROL] driver=SOUND.COM player=SPUTROL.COM parameters=$song $bank /Q1 This means that the player necessary to play .ROL files is SPUTROL.COM, and gives the parameters. $song is replaced by the song filename at runtime, and $bank by the bank filename (if any). Moreover, SPUTROL will need to load SOUND.COM, so the statement "driver=SOUND.COM" is given in CD-BOX.CFG so that CD-Box can detect whether it can be found or not, thus whether .ROL files can be played or not. If no driver is needed, omit the Driver= command. Otherwise, if you start a song section, you have to put in a Player= and a Parameters= command. There are three other song format-specific commands: shell=yes Instead of running the player, CD-Box will run a COMMAND.COM that will itself run the player (COMMAND /C player parameters...). The advantage is that if the player is not very well written, COMMAND.COM will try to clean up the mess when shutting down and returning to CD-Box; the drawback is, of course, increased memory usage. Fortunately, such instances are rare, but SPUTROL, for example, leaves files open; when run many times without COMMAND.COM from CD-Box, it decreases the number of available file handles until nothing can be run anymore. dual=yes The simple fact that there is a song section in CD-BOX.CFG disables completely CD-Box's internal support for the corresponding format; it will rely entirely on what you specify as Driver= and Parameters= to play the format. Specifying "dual=yes" re-activates internal support. When encountering a song of the corresponding format, CD-Box will first try to play it using its own routines; if this fails for a specific song, it will switch to external support, using what you put in CD-BOX.CFG. An example of how to use this follows. swap=yes Before running the player, CD-Box will first swap itself and all its data into EMS memory; if not available, into XMS, or a temporary file on the path specified in the TEMP environment variable, or the current directory, in that order. The difference is that instead of gobbling about 250 KB of main memory before running the player, CD-Box will use only about 5 KB, leaving all the rest to the player. An example of how to use this follows. This swapping feature has not been entirely tested - if it doesn't work on your machine, then remove all "swap=yes" statements from CD-BOX.CFG. I included it in this version as a kind of beta-test - it works fine on the computers I've tried. Another example: [MOD] player=MP.COM parameters=-q $song dual=yes swap=yes If CD-Box fails to play a .MOD, it will run (dual=yes) an external player (player=MP.COM) using the given parameters (parameters=...), swapping itself out of main memory first (swap=yes). The explanation: if CD-Box tries to play a huge .MOD that doesn't fit in memory, the internal routines will fail (returning a Out of memory error); CD-Box will then free most of main memory, and run MP.COM, which will have about 600 KB on a 386+ (560 KB on a 286) to load and play the .MOD file. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ PART V: TROUBLE-SHOOTING ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ CRASHES DURING SONG ANALYSIS ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** I get a "Crashed while exploding..." error message ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Run CD-BOX/D. If archive managers are found, then CD-Box will say so... and crash while analyzing files stored in an archive. Try exploding this archive by hand, and see what happens. The problem may be that the temporary drive or directory (Temp= in CD-BOX.CFG, or TEMP in your environnment) is invalid or full. Another solution is to tell CD-Box not to load songs from archives if it cannot explode them; in that case, start CD-Box with the /L parameter. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** CD-Box hangs while "Building file index"! ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── CD-Box was trying to read a corrupted archive (.ARC, .ARJ or .ZIP). Fix the archive or get rid of it! ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** I get a "CRASH!" message while CD-Box analyzes a song ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type CD-BOX/D to find the file that makes CD-Box crash. Then: * If it's while analyzing an uncompressed song, it means the song has an invalid format, and CD-Box crashes when trying to extract meaningful values like song title and song length. Delete that song file! * If it's while opening an archive, the archive may be corrupted. Fix it! ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ REFUSAL TO PLAY CERTAIN SONGS ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** CD-Box displays a "Driver not found" message! ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── .CMF: You're trying to play a .CMF file but haven't loaded the SBFMDRV driver before starting CD-Box. Having SBFMDRV.COM on disk is not enough, it has to be loaded too (you can always unload it afterwards by typing SBFMDRV/U). Note to 386+ users: load it using LOADHIGH SBFMDRV, you'll save memory! Others: The driver specified in the CD-BOX.CFG file could not be found. Either the driver is not on the PATH or SOUND environnment variable, or the driver name is mispelled in the CD-BOX.CFG file. Typing CD-BOX/D at the DOS prompt may help. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** CD-Box displays a "Player program not found" message! ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── You have tried playing a song, and the associated player program was not found (the pilot light at the top should be grayed). Make note of the format causing problems, then run CD-Box with the /D parameter. If the corresponding program is displayed as "not found.", then you can't play these songs, unless: * You get the program and put it in CD-Box's directory, the directory from the SOUND environnment variable, or somewhere on your PATH. * Or you modify the CD-BOX.CFG file to have CD-Box support another player you might have for that format. See part IV for details. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** CD-Box displays a "Don't know how to play" message! ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── There's something wrong in the CD-BOX.CFG file. Either the player= or parameters= command is missing, and both must be present. Since CD-Box supports .CMF, .MOD and .VOC internally, you can also remove the [CMF], [MOD] or [VOC] section in CD-BOX.CFG (if there is one). This way, CD-Box won't try to look for external drivers and/or players, and will use its own code to play the songs. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** CD-Box doesn't play the song, and there is no error message! ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── This should happen only when you use an external player. If CD-Box acts as if it will play a song, but in fact doesn't play it at all, and no error is generated, it's because the player got an error (usually out of memory, but it could be corrupted bank file or something else), but reported none. CD-Box is then fooled into thinking everything was okay. Try playing the song by hand under DOS, and see what happens. If there is no problem, then it's very likely the player ran out of memory - often the case with .MOD files above 250 KB, or with certain complex .ROL files. Add a "swap=yes" statement in the corresponding section in CD-BOX.CFG; CD-Box will swap itself in EMS, XMS or a temporary file, and leave all DOS memory free for your player (using only about 5 KB; without the "swap=yes", CD-Box uses about 250 KB). This swap thing is brand-new, I hope it works for you. Otherwise, freeing DOS memory and loading drivers high on 386+ computers (LOADHIGH SBFMDRV and things like that) is definitely a bonus, but not as drastic as swapping. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** CD-Box displays "Unable to explode song"! ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Three possibilities (at least :-): - CD-Box can't find the archive manager necessary to extract the song from a .ARC, .ARJ or .ZIP archive (run CD-BOX/D to find out). Either make it available to CD-Box, remove any archives containing songs you may have in CD-Box's directory, or run CD-Box with the /L parameter. - There isn't enough room on the temporary drive. - .MUS and .ROL only: there is a second possibility: CD-Box has not found the bank file or could not explode it. Try changing the name of the bank file associated to the song, or if the name is okay, check that it is in the same archive than the song. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ TROUBLE WITH .MOD FILES ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** CD-Box displays "Error loading .MOD"! ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── CD-Box recognizes only 31-instrument .MOD files; you may have .MODs it won't play even though players like ModPlay do. There are two solutions to this: * Use an external player to play .MOD files, either overriding completely CD-Box's routines or using dual support (giving CD-Box a chance to play the song and telling it to use the external player if it can't) * If you have ModEdit (or maybe another .MOD editor), load and save the .MOD files. ModEdit will always save the song as a 31-instrument .MOD, so it will be playable by CD-Box. I have a batch file that does this automatically as soon as I get new .MODs... ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** .MOD files sound terrible! ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Apart from using an external player, you can try changing the "MixingSpeed=" statement in CD-BOX.CFG. The higher the value, the better, but CD-Box's feedback will slow down accordingly while playing .MOD files and might even hang if you specify a value that is too high for your computer. The default is 15909 Hz which should give good results on computers fast enough; 10000 Hz is kind of okay on "slow" machines. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** I don't have enough memory to play .MOD files! ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── If you have ModPlay from Mark Cox, look at the end of part IV for how to play huge .MOD files (up to about 550 KB). ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** Clicking on "Pause" while playback doesn't really pause! ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Well, YOU try pausing a .MOD file without killing it completely. Great fun. No, seriously, if pausing doesn't work, just resume and try pausing again - it works when they aren't too many instruments around. CD-Box has the same pausing problems as ModPlay... no wonder, I use almost the same routines! ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ HARDWARE TROUBLE ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** I get a "VGA Sprite Manager has run out of memory" message! ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── The VGA Sprite Manager is a huge object responsible for animating sprites on the VGA screen, not messing up the background, being able to superpose different sprites on different planes, and preventing flicker. However, it also needs a lot of memory; 64 KB + the sprites to move, so it usually amounts to about 80 - 90 KB. You can check the free memory by clicking on the "About" button. If you don't have enough, use the /F parameter. The animations will be skipped, and the Sprite Manager will not be invoked. But chances are you're too short on memory to play some songs anyway. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** CD-Box returns suddenly to DOS and I get a "CRASH!" message! ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Well, you stumbled on a bug. I left all the checking routines on in CD-Box's code, so that instead of hanging up and forcing you to reboot, it exits to DOS (in most cases). Restart CD-Box and try not to do it again - if you use CD-Box normally, you shouldn't get any bug. It's when you try to insist (for example, a .MOD song might not play because of insufficient memory, so don't try clicking on the song button 10 times to try to play it anyway), that CD-Box crashes. I, of course, am trying to get the number of bugs to an absolute minimum (very close to zero). ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** I get "Not enough memory to..." messages and CD-Box returns to DOS! ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── You have a fatal memory overflow. You have to free more memory; run CD-Box by itself under DOS, not as a shell from another program. You can also try typing CD-BOX /F at the DOS prompt, and if you can get to the main screen, you may be safe... but you may also be too short on memory to play songs anyway. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** I'm not able to play any songs on my sound card! ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── I have a SoundBlaster v1.50 so I'm sure CD-Box runs with this card. Above versions should work, as well as any SoundBlaster compatible card - it runs on the AdLib (.MUS and .ROL), and net users report that it works with the SoundBlaster Pro (version 1 and 2) and the PAS-16. However, a net user reported that it didn't work with his SoundBlaster v1.05. Maybe the use of CD-BOX.CFG can solve this problem, but nothing is guaranteed - I have no way to test that. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** I have trouble with my mouse! ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── YOU SHOULDN'T. Previous versions of CD-Box did have problem with furry creatures, but this version should NOT any more. CD-Box assumes the mouse is 100% Microsoft compatible (200% compatibility or more preferred). Some workarounds are changing the driver, or even changing the clock speed (turbo or non-turbo speed - weird, huh?). If CD-Box definitely cannot swallow your driver, use the keyboard (see part III). Use the /M parameter to remove mouse support entirely and not have the mouse pointer wreck the screen. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** That darn program doesn't work AT ALL! ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Read the license (part VII) if you haven't already done so. I CANNOT GUARANTEE THAT CD-BOX WILL RUN ON YOUR PARTICULAR COMPUTER. Let's be reasonable: I cannot guarantee that this program will work for you. You MUST have a VGA display, a Microsoft compatible mouse, and a lot of free RAM (at least 500 KB, 550 KB better; if you don't have 640K conventional memory, forget it - but then who doesn't these days?). This is the very minimum configuration under which CD-Box will run. If you want to hear the songs, you need an AdLib Music Synthetizer Card or a SoundBlaster card (CD-Box does run, but is of absolutely no use without a music card). And if you have a lot of songs, you need (a little) more memory, too, of course. CD-Box was developed on a 286 up to v2.11, then on a 386, and net users didn't report any problems with their 486s; a 8086 might be slow, though. If you have a 8086, you should try the /F parameter. As far as I know, this program is free of bugs (except for those mentioned above). If you find any, TELL ME in detail! There's no chance of the bug being corrected if I don't know about it! When reporting a bug, please be as precise as possible. What version number of CD-Box are you using? What exactly were you doing when the bug happened? What are the exact symptoms? I received in the past bug reports about mice for CD-Box v2.02 and below, like "my mouse goes crazy" or "doesn't work"... how am I supposed to work on this?!? It was by asking for details that I finally knew that "the yellow mouse seems to be at double the position of the white mouse", and that "random colored points are sprayed around the mouse arrow", and so the trouble was fixed - at least on the machines tested, hopefully on all. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ PART VI: EPILOGUE ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ Version history ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── * v1.00: CD-Box is born * v1.10: Screen packing/unpacking routines shrink the resource file * v1.11: Right mouse button support, /? and /F command-line switches. * v1.20: Increased animation (5 digit display, CD spins) * v1.50: (Major rewrite) Introduction of the expert database (no data file needed), new button set to make changes within CD-Box, scrolling display, /I command line parameter added. * v1.51: Internal programming upgraded with objects! * v1.60: CD-Box keeps growing: - Support for .CMF and .VOC files; increased support for .ROL files, by being able to compute the playing time from the file on disk. - /V parameter added, so you can look into SONGS.DAT, and /P parameter added. At the same time, the internal database has been updated and expanded to 98 songs. - Addition of "Goto" mode, and "cleaning up" of the various buttons, dividing them into three distinct modes with different color themes. - The scrolling display scrolls up instead of left, and the messages stay a while on-screen - makes it much easier to read messages, which is all that display was about in the first place! * v1.61: "Bug" fix: - CD-Box starts checking for some cases of invalid .ROL formats, which made the program crash at startup while analyzing the file. Also, the /D has been added, so you can see which file causes the error, and remove it. - A most subtle bug causing black lines to sometimes appear on the song buttons has been tracked down and DESTROYED. - CD-Box's capacity extended to about 300 songs (I haven't tried more). * v2.00: CD-Box gets better, thanks to the network! (see thanks below) - Support for .MOD files, thanks to Mark J Cox's "quiet" player ModPlay. The drawback: I had to reorganize CD-Box's allocation routines so that they leave enough memory for ModPlay to load large songs (if you have about 570 KB free before you run CD-Box, a 210 KB .MOD file is about the maximum CD-Box can load) - so now CD-Box is again split in two files, CD-BOX.EXE and CD-BOX.RSR. It's no big deal, but... - INTERNAL SUPPORT FOR .CMF files has been added; now the digits display a real-time clock (time elapsed & time left & total time elapsed & left), and you can PAUSE and RESUME the song any time. - A percentage bar displaying time played/time left (which are recomputed at the end of each song if the length of the song just played proved to be longer than CD-Box thought it was) is added. - Some people felt frustrated not being able to move the mouse all over the screen. Okay! In this version, you are able to! - Still more songs added to CD-Box's internal database. - VGA screens updated and much prettier (thanks to advice on subtle light reflections), and random animations added!!! * v2.01: some little glitches fixed, others optimized (duplicates with same names but different extensions are now accepted as two distinct songs). Also, the first version to be released on wide-scale servers in the U.S.A. (SIMTEL and FTP sites supported by the Sound Newsletter). * v2.02: A few improvements & bug fixes - All (or most) 2-button cheese eaters should work well now. - About 30 or 40 KB more free for those huge .MOD files. - A little less runtime errors, and a little more explicit messages. - Sprites as well as screens are shrinked in the resource file, saving 50 KB (out of 220)! Hurray! - Some new animations, find them yourself! * v2.10: Inspired by net feedback... - INTERNAL SUPPORT FOR .MOD files. This, added to the fact that about 30 KB of memory have been freed (despite CD-Box's growing complexity - over 1 Megabyte of sources!), means that monsters like "Flip House" can be played!!! - CD-BOX.CFG file added for maximum flexibility - CD-Box can now support ANY player that can run in "quiet" mode. What's more, if the formats evolve, you can override CD-Box's internal routines with an external player that supports the evolved format. Also, two parameters (.MOD mixing speed and temporary drive redirection) can be controlled from the .CFG file. - The pilot lights across the top (.CMF .MOD etc) are completely off if the corresponding format cannot be played (missing driver or player), so you know whether this format works without having to try and play a song file; in the same vein, unplayable songs are grayed when you select them. Also, /L (and /R) parameters added. - Files... mode added (rather easily to my own surprise - long live OOP!) - A *lot* of other small improvements (including completely rewritten mouse routines)... * v2.11: CD-Box (unfortunately?) changes status and becomes shareware. - keyboard support; CD-Box can run without a mouse altogether. - .MOD controls: volume control, moving within the song, and level bars; also .MOD output redirection added in configuration file. * v2.20: Keeping up to date: - buttons: auto-repeat, shadows, lighted when depressed; improved mouse cursors; .MOD bars are colored; CD-BOX/D gets more readable... - .ARC and .ARJ support added (and ready for all other archive formats too; the archive engine is ready and humming). - .MDI and .WAV external support added; .VOC partial internal support added. - CD-BOX.EXE and CD-BOX.RSR are merged again into CD-BOX.EXE. One less file... but CD-BOX.EXE is much bigger :-) * Other ideas: - MORE INTERNAL SUPPORT for music files, without having to shell to external programs. - Support for any viable format I'll come across (all I need is a quiet player, better yet routines to play the format...) - Windows? - Any more suggestions? I'll always do my best to notify the Editor of the widespread Sound Newsletter that I have a new version of CD-Box available. To date, the Sound Newsletter is published on several Newgroups such as comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard, comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc and rec.games.ibm.pc.misc, and carried by many FTP boards worldwide. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ How you can help with CD-Box ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── I'm interested in sources or linkable object files to play .MDI, .MUS, .ROL or .WAV files, since they allow the mouse to stay in control, the animation to continue, and the timer and percent bar are then displayed as real-time... and of course the user does not have to bother about a player program. If you have Pascal or C sources, or Turbo C .OBJ files that you're willing to share (provided it is legal to do so, i.e. your work, freeware, public domain, shareware, in a book), then write me. If I work them in, I'll acknowledge that in the documentation and in CD-Box itself (the About button). .CMF and .MOD support were obtained in this way. I hope I'll be able to go on supporting CD-Box. I'm currently doing my military service (obligatory in France), and free time so far with access to my computer has been pretty scarce - also I'm hampered by the fact I have no direct access to the net (this version has been sent to Dave Komatsu and he has been the one who uploaded it to the net). This is why your feedback via snail-mail is so important. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ Thanks to... ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── CD-Box would not be the program it is without the help from the following people - thanks to the net! - Anthony Rumble, for his sources in Pascal of .CMF & .VOC routines (distributed as SBUTIL11.EXE). I have made my own librairies for .CMF now, but the critical routines were all supplied by Anthony. Thanks. Now I need routines for all the other formats... - Mark J. Cox for his MODOBJ package which I happily registered, giving CD-Box the opportunity to play great sounding Amiga soundtracks by itself, with a few extra features thrown in (.MOD controls). Mark J Cox is also the author of ModPlay, a terrific freeware .MOD player which I highly recommend; if you don't have it, go GET IT! (The latest version should be at info.brad.uk, in /misc/msdos/mp.) - Victor Langeveld for reporting two bugs in CD-Box v2.01 with enough detail to get them fixed in CD-Box v2.10; my heartest thanks. :-) - Ed Haymore for prompting me to implement the temporary drive redirection, and for the main idea behind file selecting. - Bjorn Karlsen for prompting for keyboard support and volume control. - Thomas Wagner for his public domain EXEC function with memory swap. I've used version 3.1 (August 91) in CD-Box (the "swap=yes" statement in CD-BOX.CFG invokes Thomas' function). Great work, Thomas! - Dave Komatsu, editor of the Sound Newsletter, and Keith Petersen, maintainer of the MSDOS archives at SIMTEL, for having accepted my submission (starting with v2.01)! Also, more thanks to Dave for uploading this version and the previous one as I have not been on the net for some time. - Bruno Deltour for aesthetic remarks; Alain Rousseau for providing me many files from the net when I didn't have access to it; Jean-Francois Moufle for drawing the car (now much reduced) driving across the bottom of the screen at odd times (yes, I did draw all the other graphics, and no, I'm not an artist!); and various friends and relations for their stumbling on (thankfully rare) bugs, helpful comments and encouragement. I hope you enjoy the song New Entertainer in the CDBOX220.ZIP archive - I programmed it myself! It is based, of course, on Scott Joplin's remarkable Entertainer (from the movie whose French title is "L'arnaque", and the English title I don't know), so the credit is his. Off Balance, on the other hand, is entirely mine. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ PART VII: LICENSE & ABSENCE OF WARRANTY ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ The word "software" below refers to the three files CD-BOX.EXE, CD-BOX.DOC and CD-BOX.CFG. You may copy this software as many times as you like, give it to anyone, and distribute it via electronic means. This software may also be distributed in shareware and/or public domain libraries that charge for copying and distributing disks, NOT for the software itself. You may NOT charge or request a donation for a copy of this software, however made; and you may NOT distribute this program and/or documentation with commercial products without handwritten permission from the author. THIS SOFTWARE MAY NOT BE GIVEN AWAY OR DISTRIBUTED WITHOUT ITS DOCUMENTATION; AND NEITHER PROGRAM NOR DOCUMENTATION MAY BE ALTERED IN ANY WAY. CD-Box is delivered "AS IS" with no promise to its performance or fitness for a particular purpose. CD-BOX COMES WITH NO GUARANTEE OF ANY KIND, NOR IS THE AUTHOR LIABLE FOR DAMAGES OF ANY KIND. The person using this software assumes all the risks. You may modify CD-BOX.CFG for your own personal use, but don't distribute the modified version. If you use this software, you must pay the registration fee. The software and documentation are copyrighted (C) Jeffrey Belt 1992. All trademarks and registered names are acknowledged. Do NOT use CD-Box if you do not agree to this license. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ The bottom line ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── CD-BOX IS SHAREWARE. CD-BOX COMES WITH NO WARRANTY. CD-BOX CANNOT BE USED FOR COMMERCIAL GAIN. CD-BOX MUST BE DISTRIBUTED WITH THIS DOCUMENTATION. The above is simply to make sure that: * You can copy and give CD-Box to anyone, and use it without any qualms, once you registered of course :-) * Distributing CD-Box won't make me any trouble - hey, I'm giving it away for peanuts! * This documentation stays with CD-Box; it contains acknowledgements and thanks to people who deserve it. Intellectual property is something many people don't seem to understand. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ PART VIII: REGISTERING CD-BOX CD-BOX IS SHAREWARE. THE REGISTRATION FEE IS $10. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** Rationale: why CD-Box is shareware ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── My reasons for shareware are: - development costs mainly (more than $250 now): I had to register other shareware routines for use in CD-Box; looking for precise info on mice and the sound cards is not cheap in the long run; and neither was access to the net, which was vital for the development of CD-Box (upload and download). Also, since it looks like I'll have to buy a number of development kits for internal support, really big expenses are on the horizon. - maintaining this documentation is one big bore. - most of my time is spent trying to track down bugs for users with exotic configurations, and not for creative development which I like best. Improving CD-Box I do for free (and have done so for more than a year); working on funny mouse drivers, weird VGA cards and tricky sound formats I don't any more, thank you. CD-Box works perfectly on MY machine, so I want it to be worth the trouble to fix it for others. This is why CD-Box is shareware since v2.11. Registration will: - remove the "unregistered copy" messages; - unlock the .MOD controls and enable internal support for .VOC files of more than 100 KB; - help me get even with the costs for continued development. I'm not doing this for money, but I want to stop throwing it away; - increase the priority of bug reports and suggestions for improvement over those of unregistered users; - automatically register you for all future versions of CD-Box I release. I don't want CD-Box to be nagware or crippleware, but I also know that people are more inclined to pay if they get a little something more. I hope I struck the right balance. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** Registering CD-Box ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── CD-Box must be registered for a minimum fee of $10 ($8 raw fee + $1 my answer to you + $1 bank commission). If you send $15 or more, I'll also send you the next version of CD-Box if and when available. If the next version is slow in coming, I'll refund the money if you want to, minus $10 since you'll already have a registration number. Note that all future versions of CD-Box should be available the same way you got this version - so you don't have to send more than $10. See, I'm being frank with you. Registrating CD-Box will remove the "unregistered copy" messages at startup and shutdown and unlock the .MOD controls. US dollars are used for convenience; ANY currency will do, as long as it amounts to the sums given above; take bank commission into account. French users don't have to pay a bank commission, since French Francs is the money I use: the French registration fee is 50 Francs; 65 Francs or more to have the next version mailed when available. Some people who have helped me in the past pointing out bugs and giving useful suggestions (and you know who you are) simply have to write me to get their registration number (that includes all the people I thanked in the "Thanks to..." section above). I'm grateful for the help they gave me. To register, send a check (no cash nor VISA accepted) to: Jeffrey BELT 7 rue de la Garenne 77240 - CESSON FRANCE Checks have to be to the order of Jeffrey Belt. Include a letter, postcard, or any other piece of paper stating: - YOUR FULL NAME (extremely important for the registration number) and the address where the registration instructions should be mailed; - where you got CD-Box (which server, list, BBS, shareware distribution company...), and which version you have (this one is v2.20); - any comments or suggestions you wish to make. In return I'll send you a registration number and tell you how to unlock CD-Box. If you send $15 or more, please state if you want the next version sent on another disk than a 3'1/2 720 KB disk. Don't expect to receive immediately the next version, it may not be ready yet (I've got to program and test this stuff!), but it will be sent to you as soon as it is ready. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ *** Comments or suggestions? ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── To my greatest sorrow I currently have no access to the net, until further notice. I therefore have no e-mail address. But snail mail works, so don't hesitate to write! It's the only way I can get feedback to continue work on this program. ****************************************************************************** *** *** *** I really insist on user feedback. It's been the driving force behind *** *** CD-Box's improvements since it was launched on the net. Now that I'm *** *** no longer on the net, feedback is much more important - I know *** *** snail-mail is more trouble than e-mail, but still! A simple postcard *** *** is enough. And if you wish to write me for comments or suggestions, *** *** you are most WELCOME! *** *** *** *** Jeffrey Belt *** *** 7 rue de la Garenne *** *** 77240 - CESSON *** *** FRANCE *** *** *** ******************************************************************************