From: docw@qdeck.com (Doc Williamson)
Subject: Re: Game program hangs DesqView
Organization: Quarterdeck Office Systems, Santa Monica CA
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1992 17:05:15 GMT

In article <757@tdat.teradata.COM> swf@tdat.teradata.com (Stanley Friesen) writes:
>In article <1992Jul22.215824.1051@qdeck.com> docw@qdeck.com (Doc Williamson) writes:
>|In article <682@tdat.teradata.COM> swf@tdat.teradata.com (Stanley Friesen) writes:
>|>Hi, I have found an odd problem with a new game I bought.
>|>When I run it under DesqView (version 2.31, under QEMM 5.11) it hangs
>|>my computer (completely, I have to RESET to get it back).
>|>
>|>The game is Strike Eagle II from MicroProse, ...
>|
>|>Any idea what is going on?  And what can be done about it?
>|>
>|Most game programmers assume that their program will be the only software
>|running on a DOS machine (other then the OS), and tend to take a liberal
>|attitude towards any shortcuts they can devise.
>
>Silly assumption.
We think so too.
>
>|DESQview tends to rely
>|on programs following some of the "rules" of "polite" programming .
>| In particular the things these programs tend to do that are "rude" include
>|directly accessing ROMs (especially the video ROM) instead of using the
>|appropriate interrupt or BIOS call.
>
>O.K.  Now are there any config. options I can set to at least localize this
>to the window in which the game is running?
>
>|Another particular problem with game software under DESQview is that DV has a 
>|maximum "supported" resolution of 640x480x16colors .  Most games try to give
>|you the highest available resolution, and especially if this is 1024x?x? or
>|most hi-res modes in 256 colors, which will tend to lock up DV, especially
>|when you try to rbing up the DV menu.
>
>Well, this is annoying, and could even be the problem, except for one thing:
>
>The program locks up *immediately*, before it has displayed *anything*,

Normally just switching modes doesn't lock up the window, but it could.


>and before I make any attempt to *do* any thing.  Could just switching
>to a hi-res mode and attempting to draw do this?  (Hmm, I seem to remember
>having problems with GIF viewers as well, but nothing quite like this).
>
>|If you set up the game for 640x480x16 it MAY run, but many game routines are
>|timer 
>|sensitive, and since it is only seeing its own window's timer ticks, the
>|response is poor at best.
>
>This game is supposed to adapt itself to the available timer.
>
>Ah well, I will try to use command line options to tell it to use medium-res.
>(annoying, since the main attraction of Strike Eagle II is its realism,
>due to its using VGA properly).
>
>
>Another thing that has sometimes caused problems is games (or other software)
>trying to do fancy sound stuff (my new Compton's Encyclopedia scrambled
>itself when it tried to play a sound bite, but that only locked the one
>window, I could still call up my DV menu and get rid of it).
>-- 
>sarima@teradata.com			(formerly tdatirv!sarima)

Most programs try to produce "realistic" sound by grabbing the timere interrupt
and speeding up the timer FAR beyond the normal clock ticks rate (like 200
times faster).  It is amazing you were able to recover .  Unless sound programs
are set up to address a sound card directly (that operate at these much higher
clock rates) they rarely work under DV.

-- Doc Williamson <support@qdeck.com>


Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.desqview