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Advanced Gravis Computer Technology Ltd.
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Copyright (C) 1994 by Advanced Gravis Computer Technology Ltd.
All Rights Reserved
=============================================================================
Audio Interface Libraries 3.0 (AIL 3.0) V3.11
---------------------------------------------
List of files in this package
-----------------------------
ULTRA DIG ........... UltraSound AIL 3.0 digital audio driver (V3.11).
ULTRA MDI ........... UltraSound AIl 3.0 MIDI driver (V3.11).
CUSTOM GUS ........... Optional file to allow Custom Patches to be loaded.
README ........... This file.
Description
-----------
These drivers will allow you to patch games that use the AIL 3.0 drivers
that do not ship with UltraSound drivers.
Note: These drivers will not work with PGA TOUR GOLF 486. There is
a separate patch available for this game. The filename is PGA486US.ZIP.
Installing these drivers into AIL 3.0 games
-------------------------------------------
If you are reading this you have probably already unzipped
all the files into a directory.
Patching games consists of copying the UltraSound drivers over existing
drivers and selecting them in the sound setup utility included with the
game.
Find a game that uses the AIL 3.0 drivers. A partial list is provided at
the end of this README. To determine if a game uses the AIL 3.0 drivers
look for files that end with ".DIG", or ".MDI".
First, you should make a backup of the games current .DIG or .MDI drivers,
just in case something happens. What we will now do is overwrite
some of these files with the Gravis drivers.
A table is provided below with some guidelines on which files you
should overwrite:
COPY FROM COPY TO CONFIGURE THE GAME AS
=================================================
ULTRA.MDI MPU401.MDI General Midi (Music)
ULTRA.DIG SB16.DIG Sound Blaster 16 (Digital)
OR
ULTRA.MDI SBLASTER.MDI Sound Blaster (Music)
ULTRA.DIG SBLASTER.DIG Sound Blaster (Digital)
Once this is done simply run the games setup and select whatever
sound card that you just over wrote with the Gravis drivers.
For example, if you copied over top of the Sound Blaster 16 and General
MIDI drivers then you would configure the game for Sound Blaster 16
(Digital selection) and General MIDI (Music).
You should always select the "Auto-detect" function in configuration menu
if one is available.
That is it. If everything is working correctly you should now be
getting UltraSound support in that game. If not please refer
to the trouble shooting section.
Example - Patching WarCraft:
(Note: Newer versions of WarCraft may support the UltraSound directly.
if this is the case, you can simply overwrite the old ULTRA.DIG
and ULTRA.MDI drivers with these new ones, if you wish.)
This example assumes WarCraft is installed in the directory C:\WARCRAFT
1. Copy the UltraSound MIDI driver over the General Midi in the
WARCRAFT\DRIVERS directory.
COPY ULTRA.MDI C:\WARCRAFT\DRIVERS\MPU401.MDI
2. Copy the UltraSound Digital driver over the Sound Blaster 16 driver
in the WARCRAFT\DRIVERS directory.
COPY ULTRA.DIG C:\WARCRAFT\DRIVERS\SB16.DIG
3. Type SETUP from the WARCRAFT directory.
4. Enter the digitized sound driver menu.
5. Select Sound Blaster 16/AWE32 from them menu.
6. Ignore the error message concerning the BLASTER variable,
and press enter.
7. Select Auto Detect from the port selection menu.
8. Enter the music sound driver menu.
9. Select General Midi from the menu.
10. Select Auto Detect from the port selection menu.
Notes
-----
Any UltraSound TSR's such as SBOS, UltraMID, or Mega-Em, should not be loaded,
as they will conflict with this driver.
If you wish to use custom patches in a game, read the comments
in the included CUSTOM.GUS example file. The CUSTOM.GUS file is completely
optional, and not needed unless you plan on using custom patches.
These drivers are in no way compatible with the AIL 2.x specification.
Known games that use the AIL 3.0 system
---------------------------------------
Game
WarCraft (Tested)
System Shock CD (Untested)
Zephyr (Untested)
Revision History
----------------
V3.11 - Adjusted balance of audio levels between digital and MIDI drivers.
Fixed problem with MIDI driver not saving patch cacheing information
upon driver shutdown in the proper directory in some cases.
V3.10 - Initial release of the native mode UltraSound AIL 3.0 drivers.
Technical notes on the driver
-----------------------------
The MIDI driver implements patch cacheing. It attempts to optimize the amount
of patch cacheing done in a game by keeping track of what instruments are
used throughout the game. When the driver shuts down, it writes out a small
file called <memory size in K>.GUS. This lists all the instruments ever used
while playing the game. When the driver initializes the next time, it
reads this file, and pre-loads all the needed patches. This prevents the
"pausing" that can happen while cacheing patches during the gameplay.
The driver also has one other feature to minimize the amount of patch
cacheing during gameplay. If there was not enough room to load any more
patches needed, the driver will switch to a lower patch loading resolution.
It will only step down one resolution per init-deinit cycle of the driver, so
it may take a few sessions of the game before optimal performance is achieved.
The first step down loads the patches as 8-bit. Then they will be loaded at
half the sampling frequency if there is still not enough room for all of them.
This flag is also stored in the <memory size in K>.GUS file.
Any patch that cannot be loaded will not be heard (no re-mapping is done).
You may experience a lot of notes missing the first time you play a game
on a low memory card (such as 256K). After you quit and play a few more times
the notes should all play (unless the particular midi file uses a great deal
of patches). The driver also loads the patches from low to high patch numbers,
and flushes the patches from high to low patch numbers. In real terms this
means that Melodic patches will get loading precedence over percussion
patches.
The driver gets the list of patches from the ULTRADIR\ultrasnd.ini file, and
looks for the patches in the ULTRADIR\midi directory.
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.
Otherwise, open Device Manager by right-clicking the Start menu and selecting Device Manager.
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.
For more help, visit our Driver Support section for step-by-step videos on how to install drivers for every file type.