FORTE VFX1 Windows 95 Direct Input Drivers CONTENTS 1........... BETA Version I, Release notes. 2........... BETA Version II, Release notes. 3........... BETA Version III, Release notes. 4........... BETA Version IV, Release notes. !!!! NOTE !!!! This is a BETA release. For the latest VFX1 Drivers contact Forte Technologies at: Internet address: support(at)fortevr.com World Wide Web: www.fortevr.com Support Hot Line (9am - 5pm EST) (716) 427-8604 Installation: To install these drivers, copy VFX9513 into your VFX1 directory. Run the VFXW9513 self-extracting EXE in this directory. Then, from the W95 control panel, select Add/Remove Hardware. Do not allow W95 to automatically scan your system. Manually pick the directory you expanded the files into. Then select the proper IRQ and baseport for your VIP card. Next, select the Joystick configuration from the Control Panel. Map the VFX1 HEADGEAR and the CyberPuck to a joystick each. The VFX1CFG.EXE program will need an icon to be made as well (see your Win95 documentation for instructions). Note that you will be overwriting VRMOUSE.COM and SETVFX1.EXE from your VFX1 HEADGEAR driver software. You should have the VFX1.COM driver running in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file for the W95 drivers to function properly. Included on the install disk: FORTE.inf..... The inf file to allow installation into the windows environment via the control panel. FORTE.vxd..... The main driver VxD to operate the VIP interface card on a selected Port/Irq. VFX1.vxd...... The VxD that reads the VFX1 headset data from FORTE.vxd and sends it to the Direct Input interface. PUCK.vxd...... The VxD that reads the CyberPucks data from FORTE.vxd and sends it to the Direct Input interface. VFX1CFG.exe... The Configuration/Control application. This app. allows the user to Adjust the yaw,pitch,rolls axis of the headset. README.TXT.... To configure MechWarrior 2 simply Pick either device and assign to axis via the Cockpit controls section in MechII. To configure the application FURY3 the CyberPuck must be select as the primary Joystick. **** Be carefull to follow the text when calibrating. Note1: The Install procedure should install all three VxD's required to get data from the puck and/or the Headset. Once loaded and assigned to JOYSTICKS via the control panel install/run the VFX1CFG.exe procedure on the floppy disk to your desktop. This application will allow you to adjust the settings for the axis of the HELEMET. No adjustments should be made to the axis (EVER). All axis are considered to be 0 - 65535 being equal to -179 - 180 degrees. 32768 is the zero position for all axis. This will always be true. NO CONFIGURATION SHOULD EVER BE REQUIRED. BETA Release Version 0.0 (3/12/96) First BETA version. BETA Release II Version 1.1 (4/15/96) As of this release the following changes/bug fixes have been incorporated into the driver. o There was a bug in the vfx1cfg.exe application in which the index for an assigned HMD when not found was causing an application error. o The vfx1cfg.exe app. now includes the ability to select the HMD to configure. This works by asking for each joystickid assigned to an HMD if this is the HMD to be configured. o To get the version number for any given release of the win95 drivers the user needs to see the About dialog box in the VFX1cfg.exe application. o Addition of functions to support the storing / retreival of the zero set values as well as all other parameters such that upon reboot of windows the registry will be read and the proper values stored. This prevents having to reconfigure after every reboot. o There was an init bug in the startup/config function in the FORTE.vxd. This bug would only show up when the VIP hardware did not init. properly. Bug has been fixed. o Updated the internall init function to download the current F3 file. o Fixed the windows DOS Box video problem. The Video mode was not being identified corectly. o Updated the FORTE.VxD driver to the proper VxD ID number. o Updated the Access.bus init. process to include the most rescent copy of the vfx1.com driver. This corrected bugs with detecting devices after powerup. Items to be incorporated in the next release, and currently being worked on o VFX1.com compatible mode. either via vfx1.com or implementing the vfx1.com functions internally within the win95 drivers. o Fix the Cancel button in the vfx1cfg.exe application to resort to the configuration prior to any config changes. BETA Release III Version 1.2 (4/26/96) ************************************************************************** NOTE: **** The Windows 95 drivers will now support DOS box apps. **** NOTE: **** The 2.0 VFX1 DOS software driver is now required for the Windows 95 environment to run properly. **** ************************************************************************** Since our last release the following Items are incorporated/fixed/changed to fit the requirements of the current version. o The video syncing and mode control is now removed and left up to the VFX1.com driver. The software hooks to identify mode changes where not working properly across DOS boxes as well as windows apps. o A bug was identified such that after a software reboot of windows the forte.vxd would not detect the devices properly; thereby, no tracking would be available for either the cyberpuck or the VFX1. This problem is now corrected. o In order for the Video Functions to be supported in both windows and DOS boxes (with protected mode apps. running) we determined the VFX1.com driver would be required. However, in order for the VFX1.com interface functions (INT 33 software calls) to be supported in the DOS boxes or in DOS mode the VxD driver would have to hook it. Therefore, we resolved all of the above problems by incorporating both solutions. Thereby requiring the VFX1.com driver to be loaded. The above fixes should allow a DOS box to be running a DOS VFX1 application with windows running a windows application supporting Direct Input. o The vrmouse.com driver has an update to allow it to function in a Win 95 DOS box. The update is now included in this release. This modification does not effect it's performance in the DOS Version and will be available in the next release of the VFX1 DOS software. You will need to copy over your current version of vrmouse.com in the VFX1 install directory on your harddrive. o The keyboard injection process is now filtered up to the Windows forte.vxd driver. There the keystuffing should function on any P.C. running windows. o A modification has been made to the SETVFX1.exe application to allow it to run from a windows DOS Box. This update has been included with this release and should show up in future DOS releases for the VFX1. You will need to copy the version on the windows install disk into your VFX1 install directory. BETA Release IV Version 1.3 (5/24/96) ************************************************************************** NOTE: **** The Windows 95 drivers will now support DOS box apps. **** NOTE: **** The 2.03 VFX1 DOS software driver is now required for the Windows 95 environment to run properly. **** See FORTE's Online services for an update. ************************************************************************** Since our last release: o The installation/forte.inf file will now automatically put the configuration application on the windows desktop. o The VFX1.com driver should now support DOOM for win 95. A new video mode was incorporated. The VFX1.com driver will no longer reset the headset to mono mode when a mono mode is detected. This will allow the user to Select the Force Stereo mode to run applications in stereo mode, (Ex. HAVOC) Be sure you have updated your DOS install to the latest version 2.03 o The Configuration application has had modifications to show the P.O.V.Point of view field. as well as offer the ability to flip the axes. -> The CANCEL Button has been fixed to resort some of the parameters to their original settings. -> A Calibration Button has been added to allow the execution of the Setvfx1 utility directly from windows. -> A Joystick Emulation button has been added which works as follows: The Headsets Yaw and Pitch will be calculated as changes from the last position and reported to the application as such. Also you can now turn on the Puck by laying it on it's side and pressing the third button. This will activate the puck's X and Y positions and will also be summed into the Joysticks returned X and Y values. Note : Their are several constants that are currently fixed in the driver to convert the Headsets Yaw and Pitch values. the constants may be adjustable in future releases. -> Also the Sensitivity settings are now displayed as percentages 0 - 100. o There was a modification to the FORTE.inf file to allow the forte.vxd to pass back info. on the P.O.V. field. o The BasePort and Interrupt selection is now forced when the Forte.vxd driver is loaded. They are both based on the VIPPORT environment string. The vfx1cfg.exe configuration application will now run during any reboot to windows and check the status of the Forte.vxd driver. Any error will be sent to the user via a message box. If no errors the system will run as usuall. There may be a button in the future to disable it's message boxes if they are not critical. o When running Mech Warrior II for windows 95 the configuration utility seems to complain when the first device does not have buttons assigned to it. Therefore, when setting up the joysticks in the joystick Icon in the control panel. Assign the CyberPuck to joystick 1, and the Headgear to joystick 2. This seems to make MWII not complain. o The following VFX1.com Interface functions are NOT supported: <+,- C> - This is the video on/off switch. <-m#> - This is the power saver time setting. This could be supported in the future via a slider in the configuration tool. o FORTE Is planning an installation procedure that will only involve a setup.exe/autorun program. This will hopefully clean up the installation / Removall process.Download Driver Pack
After your driver has been downloaded, follow these simple steps to install it.
Expand the archive file (if the download file is in zip or rar format).
If the expanded file has an .exe extension, double click it and follow the installation instructions.
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Find the device and model you want to update in the device list.
Double-click on it to open the Properties dialog box.
From the Properties dialog box, select the Driver tab.
Click the Update Driver button, then follow the instructions.
Very important: You must reboot your system to ensure that any driver updates have taken effect.
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