Running MGL Doom on Warp 4

[wsgibson]

I am trying to run MGL Doom on Warp 4 and I am getting the error "Double Buffereing not available!".  The readme doc states that SDD beta38 or later is required.  I am using SNAP 3.1.8 for my graphics driver.  This is a later driver and I am able to get further along than with sddse704.exe.  I have not tried sdd7_b38.zip which is not as new as what I am currently using and I believe that it will require a license.  Perhaps SNAP 3.1.8 does not have the required functionality?  I do have SDDHELP.SYS running.  Anyone know what is necessary in order to have MGL Doom run on Warp 4 in this case?

I can get MGL Doom to run on a demo eComStation CD (I currently do not have a full version yet).

Thanks!
Scott

[ivan]

Scott, I can't answer your question directly because I don't have MGL Doom but from this question and your problems with dialogue boxes it sounds as if you have a very messed up system.

A few questions to get things started. 
What was the fixpak that you last installed?  As far as I can remember 5 was the last official but I have the unofficial 6 on all the workstations here.  There is also the device driver fixpak 3, I seem to remember.
Have you run cleanini, xfix (from xworkplace) or checkini (from wptools) in clean mode and so cleaned out the dross in your ini files?
Last, is there anything else that isn't quite working as it should?  If there is then we need to fix your system before you do much more 

[Dave Yeo]

The last free Warp v4 fixpak was 15 and the last was 17. The last free device driver fixpak was 2 but 1 should be installed first due to a bug IIRC. The 3rd device driver fixpak was non-free/
The kernel should also be updated to 104w level after applying fixpak 15 which brings the system to Warp v4.5
IIRC Scitech requires at least fixpak 5

[wsgibson]

I applied Fixpack 15 (XR_M015) then applied DD 2 (XR_D002).  After this is when I applied  sddse704.exe and then SNAP 3.1.8 which I am currently using.  I then also applied Fixpack 17 (XR_M017).  There were networking fixes that I applied too.  My ver reports as 4.50.  BLDLEVEL on my kernel shows revision 14.97.  I have not made any specific kernel updates other than what might have been applied via a fixpack.  My OS/2 Base Operating system shows version 4.00.0 with a syslevel of XR0M017.

Everything seems to be running fine.  I have network access, sound (Timidity for MIDI), the SciTech GL 3D test examples run very well.  All other applications are running fine (DeScribe, Lotus SmartSuite, IBM Works, X Workplace) as well as Windows, DOS, and the included games.  I have no crashes (except maybe when switching out of a full command prompt screen after using the SciTech tests - which I rarely do).

It is entirely possible I have something messed up.  I tried to apply things in the order that seemed most people did.  The only thing I can think is that when I am installing a fixpack/updates and a newer file is found than the one to be written to disk I cancel the overwrite in order to retain the latest version.  Is that the wrong approach for OS/2 updates?  I have not ran any of the utilities that you have suggested and will check them out.

Thanks!
Scott

[ivan]

Thanks for the correction David re fixpaks - my excuse, it was late at night after a very frustrating long day and I was going on memory

Scott, I have generally allowed the overwrite but just note the file name so I can restore it from backup if necessary as I think all that is checked is the date of the file rather than any internal information.  For example, several of the files in the SNAP video get given dates when they were installed rather than the date they were created so when you go to upgrade they appear to be newer than the update files when in fact they are not.

As I said there could also be a lot of garbage in your ini files that could be removed with advantage - it also reduces the size if the ini files, another advantage.  I do a run of cleanini /c /restart on all the workstations here every Friday evening which removes redundant references to such things as deleted or moved files and so on.

[Dave Yeo]

Wish I could remember what the problem was with the second device driver fixpak 
You should have a more recent kernel though it's probably not related to your Doom problem. It's at http://www.os2site.com/sw/upgrades/kernel/w420050811.zip note that they restrict access to OS/2 browsers so wget etc don't work.

[Ian B Manners]

they restrict access to OS/2 browsers so wget etc don't work.

or ask me via http://www.comkal.net/ for access and I'll send you a reply email

[wsgibson]

I have upgraded my kernel to 14.104 as well as run cleanini, checkini, and xfix to cleanup things.  I do not see any invalid entries anymore.  Thanks for helping with the suggestions.  I am still having the same issue though.  It seems to me that the Doom exe is looking trying to access a GL double buffering call that is not being provided by my current video driver (SNAP 3.1.8 ).  The SNAP 3D OpenGL tests are running very fast with double buffering and no flicker so it seems that my installed video driver should work.  I even installed the IBM OpenGL Gold 1.1.1 thinking that perhaps it had the missing feature that is needed.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!
Scott

[Dave Yeo]

I just tried mgldoom on my Warp 4 fp15 system with snap 3.1.8, build 505 and it seems to run fine, don't see any errors about double buffering.
It's possible that I have leftovers of SDD laying around but I believe I uninstalled it when upgrading to Snap, and since you state it ran under the eCS demo which wouldn't have any sdd laying around...
My snap settings in config.sys are

Code: [Select]

SET VIDEO_DEVICES=VIO_SVGA
SET VIO_SVGA=DEVICE(BVHVGA,BVHSVGA)
DEVICE=E:\OS2\MDOS\VSVGA.SYS
SET GRADD_CHAINS=C1
DEVICE=E:\OS2\GRADD.SYS
DEVICE=E:\OS2\MDOS\VMANWIN.SYS
SET GREEXT=SDDGREXT
SET C1=SDDGRADD
rem SET C1=GENGRADD
DEVICE=E:\OS2\SDDHELP.SYS /Q

other then that I don't know what the problem on your system is.

[ivan]

Scott, if you are going to keep your Warp 4 install I think it would be a good idea to make a backup of the os2 directory and then reinstall fixpak 17 letting it overwrite newer files except the kernel files then re-apply snap 3.1.8 again letting it overwrite files.

I say this because it sounds as if you have parts of the system backleveled and this is causing your problems.

[wsgibson]

Thanks Dave.  That is exactly what I have.  That helps to rule out these settings as the issue.

Ivan, I reapplied fixpack 17 and overwrote everything, reapplied the kernel update, and then also re-installed SNAP 3.1.8 and allowed it to overwrite everything as well.  Still the same issue.

Are there similar tools like strace (or truss - both trace system calls) or ldd (displays library dependencies) for OS/2?  Something like these would allow me to pinpoint the exact problem.

Thanks for the help.  I know it is just a game, but, it is Doom!  :-)

[Dave Yeo]

PMDLL does a decent job of showing library dependencies, nothing jumped out at me when I used it against doom.exe. http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/util/system/pmdll-2.11.zip
The system trace utilities are under OS/2 System --> Problem Determination Tools --> Trace Options with the documentation under Assistance Center --> Trouble Shooting. I've never used them.

[Pete]

Hi Scott

What graphics card is involved? - it would have to be pretty ancient to not have double buffering capability but it looks like SNAP is not finding that capability on the graphics card.

FYI: mglDoom has been running fine here for years; Warp4.50 on (currently eCS2.2), various SNAP builds (currently 3.1., usually ATI graphics cards (recent cards include X300, X800; current card X550) although I seem to recall using several nVidia cards around about Warp4.50 time.

SNAP does include some tools to report and change current settings which may be of help - see the SNAP.PDF file in the \SNAP directory or SNAP desktop folder. I suggest that you use the following command from the \SNAP directory to see what the current configuration is:-

gaoption show > current_options.txt

Check that "Hardware acceleration.... Full" is included in the results.

You may also want to check the results of the following command

gaoption show accel > accel.txt

With my ATI X550 all options are On and Hardware acceleration is Full


If all graphics card settings seem OK then you may have a missing/wrong build support file somewhere...
I guess PMDLL - as mentioned by Dave - is the best tool to discover that. you could also try starting mgldoom from the command line just to see if any errors get reported there.


Regards

Pete

[RobertMauro]

I applied Fixpack 15 (XR_M015) then applied DD 2 (XR_D002).  After this is when I applied  sddse704.exe and then SNAP 3.1.8 which I am currently using.

Along with Ivan's notes (which apply to all of the SNAP/SDD installations that come to mind), you MUST do a SNAP or SDD install in the following fashion in order to have it properly install, as well as in order to have the proper dialog box tabs created for settings and elsewhere:
- SWITCH to generic VGA (ugly as it will be) or some other non GRADD/SNAP/SDD driver
- Reboot
- (Applies only if SDD/SNAP was not OS installed) UNINSTALL SNAP/SDD (again, only if you installed a version not from the install media)
- Reboot
- Install SNAP (and enter the registration key, if you want)
- Reboot
- Change your settings to what you want (screen resolution, multi-head, etc)
- Reboot

Now you're set and should see a better functional SNAP install. Don't forget, in the step in red above, to follow Ivan's instructions for the reasons he stated.

FINAL NOTE:
You may find various functionality in SNAP does not work if you do not have a video card in their "certified" list.

[Andy Willis]

Hi Scott

What graphics card is involved? - it would have to be pretty ancient to not have double buffering capability but it looks like SNAP is not finding that capability on the graphics card.

I was thinking it was possible that his card was too new and therefore running in VBE mode but from the initial post:
"I can get MGL Doom to run on a demo eComStation CD (I currently do not have a full version yet)." Which I presume is running on the same machine says the video card must be supported.