Problem with "Bink Video" games and Win 98

[sriram]

I have a P4 2.4c,512 MB DDR RAM,GeForce FX 5200 128MB,80 GB 7200 HD and I dual boot with Win 98 SE and Win XP Prof.
I've recently formatted my HD and freshly installed 98 and XP.My problem is that the videos in games that use "Bink Video",like Prince of Pesia Sands of Time,are jerky and wont play smoothly.This problem is only with win 98.I dont face this problem on XP.Also,before formatting,I didnt face this problem with 98 either.I have installed the 53.04 forceware on win 98 and the 53.03 on XP and have DirectX 9b on both OSes.The videos in Games that dont use Bink(like Warcraft) run fine..its only with bink..on win 98.
Is thare anything I can do to get the video play smoothly without any jerks ?

Thanks

[DigitalDD]

hmm its been awhile but by anychance do you use gamevoice? if you do I know there are some issues with creative labs sound cards if the recording default is set to the what you hear option. I had this problem when i was trying gmaevoice out. I didn't like it i much prefer Ventrilo

[Wiggo]

Did ya load the missin' .vxd files for 98? :?:

[sriram]

No,I havent used GameVoice...BTW,I have an Intel 865
Motherboard with onboard 5.1 sound(SoundMAX)...
About the missing .vxd files...I dont think my problem is related to it..cause I havent got those files before formatting(and my games ran fine then)..

BTW,I forgot to mention this - the levels in *all* games take longer to load in Win 98...than in XP.For example, paricular level in Prince of Persia takes just 5 secs to load in WinXP..but the same level takes 25-30 secs to load on win 98..Its the same with other games like NFS Underground,NOLF 2.
I've defragmented all the drives and terminate unnecessary apps and free-up RAM with RAMBooster before starting a game (as I alwas do)..but still I'm facing this problem..

[Beefy]

One question - Why Windows 98 still?

[Yawgm0th]

Follow the link Wiggo gave you. There's a good chance the missing .vxd files are your problem. I had many problems similar before he gave me that link a few months ago. Since then, I have had few problems with 98SE and I prefer it over XP for most games (I dual-boot). I had very few blue screens on a system that would get them almost every time I booted into 98. The missing .vxd files are a problem on all 98 systems that haven't been fixed. If your problem isn't bad drivers. then it's problably the missing .vxd files. If you want a really stable 98, replace those files (they're on the 98 CD), install a replacement shell such as Aston, and update all your drivers. I haven't had a blue screen since I installed Aston (or any problem, for that matter).

Beefy: Just for reference, 98\98SE can be much better for gaming than XP if probably set up. Even on newer hardware. (didn't we have a big discussion about this a while ago?)
:blah:

[Beefy]

I thought the fact that the games actually work properly in XP would dissolve that argument, in this case...

[sriram]

Thabks guys,
I've tried the vxds..no difference.
BTW Beefy,Yawgm0th is right about 98...infact I use 98 just for playing games!(I use XP for my 3D,2D Animation work)

BTW,I use Cacheman(v5.5)...I dont remeber the settings I had before formatting(I forgot to save my profile)...and I think my current Cacheman settings werent the same as my previous ones...
Could someone tell me the best Cacheman settings for my config..I think this should fix my problem(slow loading times)...

Also the sound(music) jitters while loading levels in "Noone Lives Forever 2"...this hasnt happened before my format..

[Wiggo]

I've always thought that if properly setup right that there is very little difference between the 2 oses (other than memory management) but yes I do prefer SE over XP for gaming (but then I've had this out with others when XP 1st arrived and just put it down that a lot of ppl just couldn't setup SE right).

[Yawgm0th]

You could try one of the pre-designed profiles. Try the games one, and if it still doesn't work, try the ones for fixing stability problems for system with > 512 MB of RAM (even though you only have 512). That's probably not it, though. Update your drivers for everything. Go get drivers for your mobo, your video card, everything. If they aren't designed specifically for 9x then they might not be good. One problem with gaming on 98 using newer hardware is that the drivers for 9x OSs aren't good.

And BTW, are you sure you installed the .vxd files? I went through nearly every device in task manager looking for devices with missing drivers. You'll have to pull them out of cabs on your Windows 98 CD. Took me quite a while to do. There are a few that will fix most of your problems but searching through the 98 cabs (or extracting them all at once and searching -- faster) for the rare ones is worth your time, even if it doesn't fix your problem (which it might).

[sriram]

:D Found the solution atlast!
It was the DMA setting for the hard-disk..I forgot to re-enable it after installing 98(The DMA setting will be turned-off by default in win 98 and it will be on by default in XP..thats the reason why I havent faced the problem in XP).Now the video playback smooth again and no more jery frame-rates and sounds.
I found the solution while browsing through the UBI's POP SOT Forums..someone had the same problem as I had..
I hope this helps others who might have a similar problem.

PS: I've replaced all the missing .vxd files(went through all the devices in the Device Manager)..but I dont see any visible difference in performance..maybe I'll have fewer crashes..anyway it was something that I never knew before..Thanks for the info :)

Anyway thanks a lot guys..TweakTown Rulez!:cheers: