[X3] A tool to fix your directshow codecs (sound problems and performance)

[Rhl]

Well, I do have a slight problem. I've got an Audigy 2 ZS, and I run the game with EAX on... and it just seems to run... kinda slow. I'm playing the main storyline thing and it's like... everything looks fantastic, but it seems other people are running it alot better than I.

AMD Athlon XP 3000+
NForce 2 Ultra Motherboard
ATI Radeon X850 XT Platinum Edition
1 GB of PC3200 DDR400 RAM
Audigy 2 ZS

And my computer is extremely tweaked and tuned so none of that "spyware/viruses/unoptimized" bs. And I saw that and I was wondering... why is it using the EAX.dll from a STAR WARS game? That should be like, illegal. This is the X series, not Star Wars! (Sorry, had to put in a good joke).
I have to wonder if the EAX.dll would mess things up since it's for a completely different game, engine, etc. I'll try renaming it and see if anything changes. The other DLL's are fine though, right?

[arcana75]

I for one think this tool is fantastic! Altho I had status green everywhere except when I attached to X3, then I saw strange things like C library DLLs, AC3 filter, Realmedia Splitter and a Mastroka filter. I lowered the merits for these and they disappeared. I left the non-codec related files tho.

Some feedback... I think ur app works by system hooks?? If so, then u'll need to filter off some apps. These might include mouse drivers/apps that work on the background but also in the game, eg (Logitech drivers, joystick helper apps, etc).

Yet to see any improvement tho but every little bit helps!

[mojo lojo]

how do i know which media player i have?

Also when i try to run the game in the window it just keeps closing with a microsoft error report.

Mojo lojo.

[MadBoris]

I for one think this tool is fantastic! Altho I had status green everywhere except when I attached to X3, then I saw strange things like C library DLLs, AC3 filter, Realmedia Splitter and a Mastroka filter. I lowered the merits for these and they disappeared. I left the non-codec related files tho.

Alot of people have good render graphs but attaching to X3, shows it uses different codecs at times.

Some feedback... I think ur app works by system hooks?? If so, then u'll need to filter off some apps. These might include mouse drivers/apps that work on the background but also in the game, eg (Logitech drivers, joystick helper apps, etc).

Initially, my thinking is, it's good to see everything, because we have no idea about potential conflicting software. For people with stability issues I thought this may provide things to rule out. Eventually, as people provide more feedback I will make an exclusion list that will color code files differently, but still show them.

Yet to see any improvement tho but every little bit helps!

With those 3, I would be hard put to think their isn't improvement. If their was a benchmark that taxed the sound system in X I bet you would probably notice. Some filters are worse than others. Thanks for the feedback.

[MadBoris]

how do i know which media player i have?
Also when i try to run the game in the window it just keeps closing with a microsoft error report.

You can open Windows Media Player and and then click on the 'Help' menu and click 'About'. Probably best to just reinstall Media Player 10.

[nomad2k3]

believe it or not media player classic has greater support of multiple codecs than media player 10...a case of strange but true, anyone that cant install media player 10 might also try vlc player instead

[Vlad the Impaler]

I'm getting the type of problem as dysmal......

I download the DShow Viewer and ran it only to get a "Run-time error '-2147217900 (80040e14)': Unknown". This happens when I click on either "Load the Graph" or on "File Checker" The next time I ran it, my PC just re-booted, although it hasn't re-booted again since.

As you sent dysmal a private message, I've no idea on how to cure this problem.

Thanks

[MadBoris]

As you sent dysmal a private message, I've no idea on how to cure this problem.
Thanks

The problem will be cured shortly, not sure why a couple people are affected by it yet, but I will soon, with your help and Dysmal's. A PM has been sent.

Thx

[nomad2k3]

so egosoft, when are you going to give madboris a job?

[mojo lojo]

Hi gang,

Is it just me or am i doing something wrong.

I have 2 removable hard drives set up on my m/c on removable drive 1
for some reason i cannot run X3 in window mode.
whenever i highlight the box and click start x3 i get an error report saying
"windows has encountered a prblem with X3.EXE & needs to close.
we are sorry for any incoveinience"...etc ...etc.
it then asks if i want to send a report to mircosoft. send or don't send.
when i click don't send X3 just closes down.

On removable drive 2 this does not happen and i can run X3 in windows mode.
My next question is in windowed mode how do you get to close the window and run DShowvewier?
my mouse won't access the desktop. it just dissapears
so i cant run the software to check to see if i have problems.
can anyone help please.

Mojo lojo

[MadBoris]

My next question is in windowed mode how do you get to close the window and run DShowvewier?
my mouse won't access the desktop. it just dissapears
so i cant run the software to check to see if i have problems.
can anyone help please.

For your first question, I don't know, I suggest starting a seperate topic on it.

To be able to switch out of windowed mode you first have to have another program window running to be able to switch to, in this case DShow Viewer. If DShow Viewer is already running just minimize it, start X3 in windowed mode, start a new game fire your weapons then ALt/Tab to DShow Viewer and attach to x3 and click get files.

[Rakeris]

So I decided to give it a try to see if there was any possible problems, and I got quite a lot at first, around 20 or so I want to say, so I downloaded windows media player 10 and that fixed all but 5. But when I try to use DSFmanager they aren't there. (not to big of a surprize) but I had to wonder why would X3 would use those? Or are they running in the background and it picks them up as X3 using them? Or something...

[ external image ]



BTW Great job Mad, I'm sure that program will help a lot of people ^^

[MadBoris]

But when I try to use DSFmanager they aren't there. (not to big of a surprize) but I had to wonder why would X3 would use those? Or are they running in the background and it picks them up as X3 using them? Or something...

The files aren't in DSFMgr because they aren't codecs.
These files either hook into X3 of their own volition or X3 initializes for several other possible reasons.

I have not specifically tested those unimodem files to see their impact but if I were to make an educated guess they are initialized by some hardware. I have those same files, but they don't get initialized with my game, they never have, so I don't know why they do for some people unless it really is just for those that have a dialup modem or a particular serial device. Either way I would try and track down why they get hooked in. Maybe someone else addressed a way to stop them from doing so in this thread.

The course of action is dependant on your current state of issues with the game. If everything is pretty good, stability wise, then I would only focus on the unimodem files. The sssensor.dll is used by several different applications to test whether the screensaver is being used but I don't know why X3 is hooking it.

If you have crashes then it may be a good idea to use some means to stop all files from interacting so that they don't exacerbate the stability problems. Earlier in the thread I think I mentioned a process to stop the language bar from showing up.

Atleast two of them get used with Panda so maybe you have Panda Antivirus installed and running.(sssensor.dll, umdmxfrm.dll). Can you confirm this?

Hope that helps

[Rakeris]

The game playes quite well for the most part, only crashes once in a while, so far maybe 4 times and I've had it for a couple weeks.

I do use a dialup modem.

I'll check back in the tread on the language bar and unimodem files.

Nope, don't have Panda Antivirus. I do use a Sygate firewall though.


Yup, thanks a lot ^^

[Brand-X]

Mad Boris,

I guess you keep up with this thread, so I won't bother you with PM again.

I did the driver cleaner/cab cleaner thing and reinstalled the audio drivers.
Also removed the excess creative junk and just kept the drivers. It seemed to play better and I lasted to 6 deaths before the CTD- but they were very brief battles, perhaps1-2 mins.

I ran your direct show program and it all looked good- a bunch of listings from Nero 6 Ultra- and a couple Quick time ones that I don't know where they came from.

When I hooked to x3 and got files- I only had two enties, the same first two as Dragonslayer- the unimodem ones- serwvdrv.dll, win,sys32,serial wave driver- umdmxfrm.dll, win,sys32,transfer module.
I think these are sound files used by my modem to communicate w/the internet. This is the amazingly cheap modem- Amigo whatever, $7 @ newegg. A winmodem so cheap it doesn't even have it's own tiny little speaker, it hooks in and uses the PC sound system to generate it's tones.
I should spend the extra and get a decent self-contained hardware modem.

So I read in your programs little info window that I should track these down and rename them. Won't that break the modem?

Also, I've been using fsAutoStart to control the background services and programs on this PC. When I run your program and use fs to shut stuff down and launch x3 like I normally do, I got plenty of error messages about services that usually shut down with no problem, so apparently I'm trying to shut down processes that your prog uses to run. Can you tell me what they are, so I can set things to let them run?

Because if I normally use fs and shut stuff down before starting x3, doesn't that affect what x3 can hook into? Shutting down telephony comes to mind re those unimodem entries. And doesn't that also affect the results of directshows scan?

It would seem like I should test using the Windows environment in which I normally play x3, right?

Rob

[N4rF]

This has helped me a TON.

Originally i was like "i'm not reading all this crap." but i did anyways and followed it all up.

The result is an exponential increase in my performance with x3.

Thank you very much MadBoris

[MadBoris]

This has helped me a TON.
Originally i was like "i'm not reading all this crap." but i did anyways and followed it all up.
The result is an exponential increase in my performance with x3.

Hehe, I'm sure many feel that way, but may not say it. LOL
I've been working on some other things, so I will trim the fat and make it easier to intreat soon.

I think people for the most part won't believe what codecs can do in X3 unless they see it for themselves like you did, since you obviously had some poor perfroming ones(as far as the game goes). Hopefully the updates I am making to the application and to the front topic will make it more user friendly in the days ahead.
Thx for the post.

[MadBoris]

A major revision has been made to the initial topic.

For those thinking it would be alot shorter, sorry, I'm still thorough when required.

It is just easier to read and more care was taken to explain things clearer so it should be better overall in eliminating confusion.
It will still require something of people (RTFM).

Hope that makes it smoother for people to follow the instructions, it's new to everybody at one time or another.

[Tracker001]

A major revision has been made to the initial topic.
.

I am on the heals of your post.

Are you just revising your original post.
Or starting a new thread?

And this is deff. a learning curve for me.

Feed the chipmunks , And the black box works

[MadBoris]

To answer our question...
The main first post of this topic has been given a facelift and revised, dated in top left with todays date.

It unfortunately demands people devote a little time to it, to get their heads around it. I really couldn't avoid that.