Crash history
Not maintained at this time

Info
Immolator project is a betatest project. My goal is to test some applications and settings on windows 98SE to provide information for other users about some features which are still available on Windows 98Se. Minor part contains test of several hardware devices.

Software which is linked from here has been sucessfully tested on my system and seems functional. If it needs additional software upgrades it is mentioned there.

Update
This post will contain full list of software and will include all settings which have been sucessfully tested, and if possible it will contain Link to tested software.


FEATURES
- classical os functions - files managing (OS + Total Commander http://www.ghisler.com/
- image editing and creation (Photoshop 7.0, still no Freeware replacement available)
- image viewing (Faststone viewer, http://www.faststone.org/
- sound editing, capturing and creation (Audacity - http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
- sound playing (MPC - http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Media_...er_Classic.htm
- Analog Video Capturing (ATV2000 - ATI VIVO, Pinnacle 300i - http://www.mikecrash.com/index.php?name=Downloads
- Digital TV Viewing and Capturing (ProgDVB, Pinnacle 300i - http://www.progdvb.com/download_progdvb.html - at the bottom version 4.85.3. KEX required)
- Video editing and creation - Virtual DUB ( http://www.virtualdub.org/ )
- Video Playing (MPC)
- teletext (atv2000 - Not functional anymore, ProgDVB - Functional, needs settings)
- internet browsing (Opera 10 - http://www.opera.com/
- mail and instant messaging via web (webicq, web email client)
- Voice communication (Ventrilo, Teamspeak)
- text and document creation (Open Office)
- Gaming (depending on HW - games seems to be most problematic types of apps. many bugs which are not possible to fix and there is no replacement for them )

Realtime multimedia processing provided by apps:
- realtime shader filtering for video (MPC: deinterlacing, color correction, embossing...)
- realtime video filtering (FFD video: actually used only for decoding)
- realtime Sound filtering (AC3 Filter: channel settings if you have generic card - http://ac3filter.net/ )
- realtime video compression (during capture) Xvid04102002-1 (640x480xRGB24 fps25 - up to 6 hours/single file depending on quality)
- subtitle filter (DirectVobSub 2.23 - http://www.free-codecs.com/download/vobsub.htm
- Reccomended Xvid/DivX video decoder - Koepi's Xvid - ( http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Koepi_XviD.htm )

Multimedia processing provided by hardware:
- Hardware Mpeg Decompression - clvsd.ax - Part of Cyberlink DVD player 6.0
- Hardware AC3 Sound decompression - Creative sound card in my case
- realtime Sound filtering (Creative Surround mixer if you have creative card)


Features not available or not completed:
- NTFS/other filesystem support, best bootable
- currently available: Winternals NTFS Driver for Win98. Works but slow and buggy.

Unused hardware capabilities
- Video conferencing (app missing)

Supported formats
- "long list of file types for media"
- HD *720 at 30fps for this cpu
- all word and office documents
- DVD, CD, Floppy, USB 2.0, Firewire400 (800 planned)
- cinematic sound (5.1/ac3/ASIO)
- FAT12, FAT16, FAT32 and NTFS drivers (not bootable, with poor performance)
- files up to 4gb.
- ATA, Parallel SCSI
- some SATA adapters
- SPDIF

Currently unsupported
- Blu-Ray
- Files larger than 4 gb
- USB 3.0
- PCI-E
- Some SATA adapters, SAS
- Lightscribe feature

I have been working pretty hard last two years on my home PC, on HW and SW level. I want to thank all you guys which have created all unofficial updates and patches. After all there are few things which a fail to fix, so all you guys can take it as bugreport

Complete list of System updates installed as follows:
- Internet Explorer 6
- home made system.ini
- Exuberant Service Pack nSP1 (Slovak)
- home made system.ini
- VCRedist 2005 + manual install of critical DLLs
- Mdac
- NetFramework 2.0 (http://www.filehippo.com/download_dotnet_framework_2/496/)
- DirectX 9.0c (first edition - http://www.filehippo.com/download_directx/168/)
- DirectX 9.0c (nov 2007 - it seems to be last version - http://www.filehippo.com/download_directx/3345/)
- Windows Media Player 9
- kernel upgrade for 4gb files
- Kernel EX 0.4.0
- WLL logo (removed, maybe forever)
- Revolutions Pack 9.0 (some bugs still persist)
- VCRedist 2005+ SP1

Manually upgraded/added files:
- msvcp70.dll
- msvcr70.dll
- msvcp71.dll
- msvcr71.dll

bugs already fixed/features added:
- support for XP programs
- improved system stability
- improved compatibilty
- improved performance
- support for 4gb files
- Aspi Layer
- support for 137+ gb disks
- skinning, explorer bug fixed - lock taskbar (Revolutions pack 9.0)
- "not Enough memory" fix with maxfilecache=32768
- Video decoding (FDDShow filter)
- Wll trouble (wll removed)
- browsing (Opera)

Demanded features:
- WinME driver handling (ntkern.vxd, mmdevldr etc)
- ability to install win2k drivers (Signature:winNT, not only signature Chicago)

if those three errors shall be fixed this system will be flawless (until i find another problems ) I dont want to use other upgrade packs, i am looking for standalone solutions (as was uberskin), and i dont want to change hw. In some cases i might be willing to change programs...

Current Buglist

1. Video Conferencing troubles (mostly driver based, partially app based)
- linein/mic
- graphical errors in video output - hw or driver is not able to handle all the "on/off" correctly
- WDM driver of VIVO only partially usable (not working with all apps)

2. Window spam >> memory consumption >> system crash
- partially can be fixed with instances managing in apps
- design trouble deeper in system
- partially fixed or supressed. Window spam now gives error "not enough memory to run application" instead of crashing - solved by maxfilecache=32768 or less. does not help with IE.

3. Gaming
- very individual. Games designed as XP only can run flawlessly, althought games designed for all systems are crashing constantly. This is not a system problem.

4. List of minor system bugs:
- cursor visible in 3d generated windows (games, video - fixable with mouse cage, but little bit strange solution, caused by DirectX9)
- Oblivon starts too long (can be fixed when opengl32.dll is replaced before oblivion starts and later restored)
Studio)
- civilization II cannot start (reason unknown)
- nfs4 cannot start (reason unknown)
- app cannot start "newer version of windows expected" - common os check which does not refer to the reality that updated windows can run most XP apps correctly. Can be fixed thorought system?
- system not fully localized (nor english, nor slovak)
- unsolved implementation of 16bit vfwwdm capturing device
- unsolved automatical close for MPC when video/audio ends
- unsolved automatical minimize to icon for audio playing
- when driver is sucessfully installed and system requests reboot dont answer "yes". system shalll hang... Dont reboot from applet - reboot from start menu.
- CDplaying with MPC not working. Bug connected with Win98 version

Planned non crucial upgrades:
- creating "immolator" theme including loadimage, closing image, sounds, cursor and icon pack.. jeez


This is not a upgrade pack, i am only common user which is customizing its own system, but i believe my example can help us all to fix some things.

edit:
Since the bug and crash log was not maintained for some months i removed it. This topic will be updated as soon as possible and in some time i will add more usable apps and solutions here (mostly regarding to multimedia and internet browsing)

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Dont use IE!

As a Web Developer, IE is a NIGHTMARE! Just use some other browser -- once you get it working, it'll be faster, standerds complient, and even better looking.

And HOW do you LIVE without tabs?!?

Video player problems solved.

Reason: l3codec is more sensitive to overclocking as other applications which i have available - even more as 3d engines. Quite strange, but good to now. I added voltage to CPU and did test (play 105 videos without crash). System has passed...

to icefireicefire:
i have my own reasons why to use it - mostly old java. i use webicq and i will use it for a while, but it is not very compatible with newer java plugins for other browsers. Also i hope that OC problem solved will stabilize the system - question is how much it shall affect IE...

also i tried to fix logo problem - still no effect.

I'm not sure I even understand that you have a problem here but it sounds like to me that if your tray opens you are BSOD locked up. I'm also not sure that your ASPI layer is to blame there but what I wanted to contribute is this much:

I have found that any ASPI layer other than 4.60 is NOT for 98 and always leads to the making of many coasters from my blank CDs. I don't know how and I don't know why, I just know. Good luck.

I use Adaptec ASPI v4.7.1 and I had no problems.

2. SlimBrowser
3. GOM Player

Instead of WebICQ you may wanna try Miranda IM (see my signature) - in a few days, as the main server is down currently.

browsing:
ie is still being measured after voltage correction, and i watch if any trouble shall occur but it seem to work good now.

Aspi:
aspi which i use is in nSP 2.1, and it works correctly. newest aspi was not good one (prey was not running, while it has not detected aspi)

cdrom:
i mean - if you put out CD while it is playing media from it you will get BSOD. it is quite normal, and it does not freeze computer. but some people dont like idea when computer in this situation acts like this. for me its not a problem because i keep my cd rom clean and i am not so stupid to open CD door while it is playing.

some users just want classical window for this kind of situation.

Logo:
for buggy behaviour (gui was not booting) removed.

I use Adaptec ASPI v4.71.2, for a long time already, and I never had any problems because of it.

The BSOD on ejecting a removable storage medium with files open is, the normal behaviour (i.e.: "by design"). It's not a bug and patching CDTSD.VxD to override it will entail data loss sooner or later. I strongly advise against it.

Miranda didnt worked here. i don know why.

Also i have added features list to inform about which features are available for win98 and which i am planning.

Minor Bug:
If using any DX9 program it will pop up the mouse pointer on screen. While using older interface this error does not occur. Also present in WinXP - linked with DX9.

Miranda works on Win95 to Vista. Most likely, your network configuration is special and Miranda needs to be manually configured to match it. Please go to Options > Network and set any proxy details if needed, then go to Options > Network > ICQ and make sure login server and port settings are correct. If for some reason the default port is blocked (by LAN admin, ISP or similar), try setting it to port 80.

Also there's a Miranda plug-in for the meBeam video networking, which may fill in the gap in video conferencing (I'm not sure if it can do conferencing, but you may try it).
There's also the MirandaComm2 plug-in that can do 1-on-1 audio-video chat with another Miranda user that also has that plug-in installed. Unfortunately, the Addons page is down currently, as well as the Wiki.

For more details, you're welcome to join the Miranda forums, which are operational currently.
(apologies for going slightly off-topic)

May I suggest FastStone Image Viewer for image viewing/editing? Works just fine here. And FlashGet as download manager, Screamer Radio for on-line radio (although there's a Miranda plug-in for that too ).

well. miranda does not work at all. it means that if i run it nothing happens.
*fixed*

i am going to test it.

Progress:
SmartBrowser - First browser that has passed all my requirements at all. i hope it will help to fix all errors that plagued IE.
Miranda - ICQ works, but without plugins i cannot see if the videoconferencing is possible. i shall wait for a while.
GOM - MPC, with FDDfilters do all what i want so i am not going to replace it.
Faststone - freeware, which looks and works like famous ACDSEE. i can recomend it, but it cannot replace Adobe Photoshop...

Video Conferencing - errors, and problems
i have tried some audio conferencing tools - TeamSpeak and Ventrilo. Ventrilo seems to be better for me, but other people online are experiencing some issues with lags.

Also videoconferencing. i was able to set TV tuner as main video source. Quite funny sending TV to internet using common tools as skype... since TV tuner is not much suitable (it needs special control panel - tv tuner app, which may conflict with other apps) i was able to run VIVO included with my graphics card (S-Video or Composite signal input). The driver is not much good, but one trick alo worked - i used old 16bit VFW driver interface which is not so conflicting.

Video:
www.mebeam.com/miranda

With video or audio conferencing tools i experienced one same error - they are picking up the "Line IN" by default and ignoring "Mic" input. this is quite bad because "Line in" is used by TV tuner and its input is controlled by this way. Mic can be controlled separately. In many cases those apps do not offer possibility to chage this setting.

one of the solutions is to swap the channels - input microphone to "line in" and capture tvtuner sound from "mic". this can be done only because my old TV tuner has outer sound lineout. in other cases it can mess up the sound.

Since actual Windows installation has one error i decided to make another reinstall to fix USB problem. USB was not functional and there was no reason of this state - only one. It seems that "PNP OSs:ON" must be set in Bios during installation process or usb shall not be functional. quite strange.

After this kind of installation i realized that i have one new and functional device - Microsoft TV/Video connection. In previous installations this driver was not active. Also i found one strange difference which is making trouble...

http://slayershrine.wz.cz/wdm.gif

on the right side is new installation which has correctly loaded WDM driver. On the left side is old installation which has installed older 16bit VFW driver. Althought WDM capturing device is correct it makes some trouble.

WDM driver for ATI Rage Theather chip is not able to work as a webcam (i can plug there classic analog cam), because at initialization program shall freeze. for this reason i used 16bit VFW driver which picked up the ATI device and pushed the video stream thru older, but more compatible driver. This solution made ATI Rage Theather usable for me as a video conferencing tool.

Right now i am looking for WDM driver which can work better with conferencing apps, but if i shall fail how can be WDM interface uninstalled and VfW installed, or if possible i want to use them both.

Hello there Offler. I just want to ask...you used the word "immolator" in the name of your project. Does this mean your patch functions in the same way as "wine" does with linux?

Also, does your patch work with "Gameguard?" I just asked this since the KernelEx project seem to be in limbo right now since Xeno has already said that he coudn't continue with its development because of his busy sched.

Interesting discussion, here.

This project sounds very similar to mine (GNUWin) and to JackHammer, so I suggest you to keep an eye on them too.

GNUWin idea is hosted @ Windows Projects Community, but you need to be registered and logged to access it (unfortunally), so here's a quote:



I still hope to see some kind of collaboration between our projects in the future...

Immolator is not a standalone project. it stands on many project which are available all over the Internet. Most of them are here, rest is scattered all over.

Its purpose is to show how many features can be performed with Windows98 (9x) and also help users to find some very good apps to resolve system errors which they may find. Also all projects and system modifications here are compatible between them, but only if they are installed in correct order. These upgrades and modifications are picked up to improve stability and compatibility while not affecting backward compatibility with other formats or apps.

Also i still see here some bugs which i want to have fixed on my system, and as i hope it will provide feedback or inspiration to some wiseguys on this forum

also i am planning to add here some tricks how to work some apps better (mostly tv tuner related)...

the system which i am trying to build is intended for most widest compatibility and for this reason i pick up only those upgrades which are mostly based on dos7, win9x files and all possible upgrades which has MS released. I dont want to rebuild the system completely, i want to put it to its highest level possible.

(therefore i dont use now wll, uberskin or renovatio, since i have experienced incompatibility with some apps)

But i will appreciate any help, and i hope my solutions and experience shall be useful for other users/project builders

Try IconTweaker, then !

Icon Tweaker tested - interesting tool, but my system still miss 32bit icons so most of icons used were little bit crushed:

SEARCH FOR NTFS (ntfs like) FILESYSTEM

Current solution available: WinInternals NTFS Driver for win98
Buggy and not bootable.

Examining: NTFS-3G ( look in wikipedia)

Some links/info in this thread:
http://www.msfn.org/board/NTFS-support-Win...ME-t110814.html

jaclaz

Report:
- Slimbrowser passed all test for required period and causes no errors.
- Miranda does not passed the tests. sometimes its icons are frozen and incoming messages are not shown.
- Faststone passed.
- suitable videoconferencing tool still not found

Which version did you test? There's 0.7.3 stable release, 0.7.4 Release Candidate and 0.8.x alpha (development) series.

Then, the behavior on incoming messages can be tweaked more or less, depending on the active messaging plug-in (SRMM, Scriver, tabSRMM, nConvers++). If you want the message window to automatically pop up when receiving a message, you'll have to go to Options > Message sessions (name may vary) > Messaging and mark 'Automatically pop up the window when' and the respective status modes (your status) when it should do that. This works for SRMM and Scriver. The other two have different GUIs, but options should be pretty much similar.

If you join the forums and read/search around a bit, you'll find much more than you'll ever need to know.

it was 0.7.3 stable release. i pickup mostly stable versions because i want test only last releases if possible.

Also i dont want message windows to popup. i just want an icon shown in taskbar. i tried some settings but overally miranda was making trouble. minor trouble but when i respond after one hour while still being online...

i shall see and test next stable release, but miranda makes sense for me if it shall be able to communicate with webcam - as an conferencing tool.

Where did u find it ?

here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;displaylang=en

opengl32.dll seems to be newer than other versions i encountered. glu32.dll is older that in win98se package/nsp1... other files are not interesting.

Package dont install itself - its selfextractor. only file you need is opengl32.dll. Seems to be little bit optimized. i have measured one fps + in some tests and few percents overally.

sry bad link

Sorry but this version is not newer than that included version in SP2 & 3. Only date is different from Win95 OpenGL 1.1 update, link, which is dated as 1996.

i have checked it out and you are right.

the last version which i have available (from NSP 2.1) is 4.1.1381.7035 dated 7.1.2001. i wonder why have they put that version there with that date... i shall recheck the performance of these files in 3d test. if the old one will be more effective i shall use it.

updated minor bug section

I wonder if you'd be interested in the DM2 project features...

mostly i am interested in applications of this types:

Editors and viewers for:
- text (open office)
- audio (cooledit 2000)
- video (mpc, virtualdub)
- web (slimbrowser, and plain notepad, sometimes frontpage)
- images (photoshop, faststone)

Applications for communication:
- web browser (included as web in previous section)
- instant messaging tool (for icq or whatever)
- audio communication tool (for gamers or other purposes)
- video communication tool (mebeam activex works quite good, but only in web browser)

Hardware related applications
- all disk tools
- all drivers
- special tools for scanners, tv and radio tuners which are needed for their function

Windows upgrades which may help fix some issues and bugs:
- uberskin fix toolbar locking
- all service packs and other system modules such as framework, mdac, IE6...

Upgrades such as:
- wll
- 32bit icons
- transparent icons
- localisations
are partially in my interest, but if they cause trouble (and they cause trouble right now) i really don want use them

Applications as:
- total commander
are parts of user interface which i personally need.

DM2 maybe shall be able to solve trouble with MPC and icon creating, but these are just minor trouble in user interface of MPC. mostly i need only to click once instead of installing any tool

right now i am looking for freeware replacement for Adobe Photoshop 5.5, since this old version does not support 32bi BMP and it is quite bad because i cannot read most bmps used for skinning, but i can create skins compatible with 16bit and lower graphic devices.

all of the apps must be able to work with different types of hardware

i have recently tested new Tv Tuner Leadtek DTV2000h. This one is hybrid (analog+digital+fm). Althought manufacturer says that the driver is available only to WindowXP and higher. it is truth only in half.

analog tuner works normally. the driver comply to the WDM standards.

audio capture does not work. driver comply to wdm partially - as with KX audio driver. it needs windows ME. i have here NTkern.vxd from year 2001 but mmdevldr.vxd is from year 1999. this is possibly the reason.

digital DVB-T driver has not been installed yet. its INF file is in Win2k format so i am trying to rewrite it.


Also i have analyzed *.sys files with dependency walker. they needed ntoskrnl.exe and hal.dll. so i have installed them into System directory. it doesnt seem that it has helped the driver to work better but dependency walker shows that they are being used.

for these reasons i have taken a look at my win2k cd and at winME cd to extract needed files. i found them, but i failed to find mmdevldr in winME cd and on intenet i found only very old version.

therefore i think that could be some place for standalone driver handling update (althought i have not tested all available upgrade packs)

edit: if possible send me mmdevldr from winME here or on mail mir-@post"dot"cz

glut32.dll

this api has been developed years ago to ease opengl applications. here is the link,
http://www.opengl.org/resources/libraries/glut/

when i read about its features i realized that many apps are sometimes sufering of its missing, so i added it to my system to test it. really i dont see the difference also on this page you may find info about freeglut variations and methods how to use opengl in skinning engines, windowing and UI at all.

http://www.opengl.org/resources/libraries/windowtoolkits/


also some other tools for opengl.

http://mark.michaelis.net/Blog/OpenGLSuppo...anagedCode.aspx

if it shall help improve functionality or performance i am interested... so have some testing to do on weekend

opengl has still potential even for legacy systems...

1. TaoFramework
these are parts of opengl, openal and other API libraries combined with .NET Framwork 2.0. they work on my system, they require net2, but apparently they contain quite large amount of bugs which lead framework to crash sometimes.

i am not sure if i would reccomend it because. it works with expample files which are in package, but i really dont know if it affects some games or not.

2 VXD files in VMM32 directory.
i was experimenting with their presence or absence. if they act as 16bit executable or some kind of library. most of these libraries are already included with vmm32.vxd in system directory, so i tried to remove them and see which are really needed and which can work within vmm32.vxd.

i have sucessfully removed these:
configmgm.vxd
ntkern.vxd
qemmfix.vxd
vcomm.vxd
vmcpd.vxd
vmm.vxd
vmouse.vxd
vpicd.vxd
udf.vxd
vfat.vxd

system is working correctly without them, but now it is only in short time to say if this change helped or not.

only these were necessary for system:
ifsmgr.vxd
ios.vxd

but it may vary depending on hw. what are your opinions about this method? practically it will remove some libraries and most work shall be done by vmm32.vxd.

edit:
corrected list

Without UDF.VXD you'll probably have issues with UDF-formatted CDs/DVDs
Without VFAT.VXD you'll probably lose file caching, slowing the system down
QEMMFIX.VXD is probably unnecessary, since it is probably related to the DOS 3rd part memory manager QEMM
Without VMOUSE.VXD something must happed to the mouse, and since you stated the system works perfectly I'll assume it is responsible for something like mouse for DOS boxes
Without VCOMM.VXD I assume your COM ports won't work or something like that (at least not being able to access the in DOS boxes?)

ntkern, msmouse, configmgm were listed as a part of driver in device manager. when i removed it it was replaced with vmm32.dll - instantly.

i have tested mouse in command line and it works correctly.

also during boot in mode where i have to confirm execution of all system parts there is a line like this:
"supress *.vxd standard?"

while * marks the name of file... it seems like windows standardly uses vmm32.vxd but when those files are present in directory it will automatically run them to replace vmm32. i ask why, when vmm32.dll is acting as single executable instead of 8 executables.

right now have tested only mouse and it works. i dont use any com device so i cannot say if it acts...

by udf and vfat i am not sure what it does. i dont see slowing down of system. it works same like before.

look here:
http://www.sysopt.com/forum/showthread.php?t=84081

and read the article where is mentione that vfat.vxd is embedded in vmm32.vxd. if it is so i have no trouble without it, but the question is if it is older or newer version...

it is written there that first are loaded vxds from directory, and later the vmm32.vxd. if the driver from directory is loaded first, vmm32.vxd section for this file is ignored...

previosly i tried to import other vxds from cabinets to vmm32 directory. in that case i have seen some errors - mostly related to graphics...

Hmmm .....



VMM32.VXD = all compiled Vxds required by windows during setup or after certain windows updates (ex: win95 osr2 usb update). All unnecessary data in VxDs are removed when it is compiled into vmm32.vxd ... Most of the time updated Vxds are placed in the VMM32 folder without being re-compiled into VMM32.VXD .....


Generally, the latest versions will be in VMM32 folder. Removing them will force windows to load the "older" ones in vmm32.vxd .....


This is correct ...

To manually compile vmm32.vxd, go here :
http://www.helpwithwindows.com/techfiles/vmm32.html

I have made my own batch file ... It's in one of my archived storage, if you want it then let me know and I'll look for it ... There's also sample batch archive at http://rosecitydownloads.com/vmm32.zip that can-be/was used with the guide ... mine automated the whole process ...

Rgds

i tried to compile my own new vmm32.vxd but i failed. in one case it worked but the resulted file had 4 mb and causing some behaviour.

i use startup sound as a diagnosis tool. if the sound is clear than booting process is ok, if it is choppy it may indicate trouble in system.

with vxds just erased from vmm32 directory the performance was little bit improved and sound was clear. with self compiled vmm32,vxd the performance was great but the sound at startup was terribly choppy, also the vmm was too large.

the original vmm32.vxd on my system has 930kb. i want to perform separate import of newer vxds while not adding unnecessary files... also newer does not mean automatically better.

edit:
i have isolated the problem. here is the list of unnecessary files for me:
dosnet.vxd
qemmfix.vxd
vmm.vxd
vmm32.vxd
vshare.vxd
vmd.vxd

(i have erased vmm32 directory and added base vmm32vxd from cd and writed down the list of files which are necessary and required)

also if vmm32.vxd is present in vmm32 directory it may cause trouble with compiled file.

then i included ios.vxd and ifsmgr.vxd into vmm32.vxd for compilation and they seem to work. i have to test system performance and stability.

edit:
althought i encountered minor graphical errors and one system crash these can be described as error due overclocking and error of graphic driver. i really have no ideas how to cause crash on this system right now, except some cases which are sure.

I've made several attempts to compile an updated VMM32.VXD for my 98SE testbox by following the procedure in the link posted by "PassingBy" without success.

On the first attempt, I made a copy of getvxd.bat that matched the listing in [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\VMM32Files]
and edited out the lines for files for which newer versions existed in the vmm32 folder. 41 files were listed. The VMM32 folder contained newer versions for 12 of them. The WININIT.INI file included the new versions. Ran the batch file and rebooted.
After seeing the message about updating files, I got an error message saying,

VMM32.TMP integrity check failed, recovering.

The system finished booting after which I had all the separate files in the VMM32 folder and the shell for VMM32.VXD in the system folder.

I made several more attempts using fewer of the updated VxDs, thinking that one or more of them couldn't be included in vmm32.vxd, with no success. Same error message. On the last attempt, I extracted all the files listed and attempted to make a copy of the existing VMM32.VDX using only files from the cabs. Same result. Integrity check failed. I've checked and rechecked getvxd.bat and wininit.ini and can't see any errors. All the editing was done using Notepad++. The batch file works fine. I'm at a loss why this won't work.
Rick

check the paths at first. also be sure that vmm32.vxd is not in vmm32 directory. it must be in system directory...

vmm32.vxd is in the system directory. The batch file replaces my original with the empty. All other vxds are in the system\vmm32 directory.

First few lines copied from getvxd.bat:


First few lines copied from wininit.ini:

C:\98setup is where 98lite puts all the cabs. Any ideas what I'm missing? If it matters, the setup was done with 98lite, no Internet Explorer or Windows Update, 98SE SP beta 1. Very stripped down OS.
Rick

when combining vxds use new vmm32.vxd. backup your old vmm32.vxd and put in system directory fresh and new from CD (and erase vmm32.tmp. i really dont know if it remains or not during combining)

HTH.

for future discuss this in VXD patcher topic and sory for nonsense, i am little bit tired

so i have some things to report this early morning

1. GTA III
I was playing the game and in the middle of one mission DVDrom lost the track, or better say it was losing it slowly. The game freezed but system was able to fully recover by CTRL+ALT+DEL and later closing the GTA 3. it took several minutes but i would prefer other behaviour with cdroms... Maybe hw and sw related...

2. IFS for EXT2
Linux filesystem is available for NT based system throught IFS

http://www.fs-driver.org/

seems interesting to me, but this bring us closer to linux at all. i tried the driver with win98 but i was not sucessful. also the inf files are in windows NT signature and i am unable to translate them into chicago...

3. Crashes history...
The system stability is still improving. even serious app crashes can be recovered safely. their occurence is smaller. when i look at crash history on first page i see that major trouble (especially unexpected errors) are quite few.

right now i am running my system for approximately nine hours without reboot. yesterday i tried some critical apps such as oblivion, but the stability was not affected.

4. kernel EX, xp compatibility , wll and other projects
I hope that wll upgrade will be soon here classical wll is really littlebit mystery for me. i cant predict its behaviour. minor things as bios settings or config sys are indirectly affecting its behaviour, and i dont want to use english io.sys and command.com

also i hope that in some time there will be possibility to improve compatibility even for apps which are generating error messages when executed. these are really big problem to me.

I haven't seen your system specific's IO.SYS and COMMAND.COM attached in the 'WLL fixes...' thread. I intend to create a universal patcher but I need all possible samples so I can find a pattern.

At the moment I have a working WLL, however protection is still not perfect and badly chosen coordinates can lead to a corrupt screen and animation.

Tonight I have also finished first version of a LOGO.SYS patcher - no need to hexedit your bitmap, the tool will do it for you, as elegantly as possible. I'd be happy if you could test them both and offer some much needed feedback.

I have lots of problems with resources and network connections. Win98 freezes when I close eMule or any other program that opens a large number of network connections and I encounter more and more programs that do not free resources when no longer needed.
For me, system stability is getting worse every day.

i dont use emule. i think that latest versions were not win98 compliant anymore. i use u*******. No problem at all.

That's not true. I use eMule v. 0.48a without any problems. Have had it on for over 40h, then closed it and used the system some more, then got a perfect shutdown, twice (usually I don't use the system for much longer than 12h without shutting it down). Now, before I removed ACPI and APM (link), eMule used to cause random crashes in my system. So, if eMule doesn't run well, removing ACPI and APM is a good bet. This is my own experience. Lots of others say its nonsense (read the posts following the one I gave the link to, and you'll see it), but the fact is it solved many obscure problems of stability for me along the years. Sometimes, however, disabling "use IRQ Steering" gets you into trouble, so test if that is necessary in your system (if all goes well with that on, let it be). And, yes, it is common to have this kind of problem with VIA chipsets, but that's not a VIA exclusive problem. Some other chipsets show it too.

i have via chipset... it works perfectly

in this case try to follow win upgrades as i have installed them - look at first page... take care on drivers...

This happens to me too, especially after I 'optimized' the network connection with TZ Connection Booster and TCP Optimizer. And yes, I do have a VIA chipset myself on this mobo.

But I found a not-so-elegant solution to work this around: I disconnect eMule, start SysInternals' TCPView, quickly select all connections and shut them down forcibly. There will be some new connections in the mean time, but the system can manage them gracefully. And so I avoid the BSOD.

Otherwise eMule works just fine in Win98, just needs MSLU.

IIRC, I also posted in the eMule board about this issue. Ornis sent a newsletter to translators around X-Mas or so (I'm maintaining Romanian translation in official eMule), saying there will be a new version soon, but nothing showed up since.

That's exactly how I close eMule.

But there's the other problem, with resources. eMule consumes a lot of resources and if some other program has a leak, the system will quickly crash.
Some time ago I encountered a resource problem in OUT_KS.DLL (a kernel streaming plugin for Winamp). I wrote a message to author and he found the bug: an object was deleted but the resources were not released.
It seems that WinXP automatically released those resources when the object was deleted, but Win9x did not. I'm not a programmer and I may be wrong.

About helping the system be more stable:
I like Win9x because CTRL+ALT+DEL really stops every running program. (In WinNT, programs continue to run.) Is it possible to modify this behavior and allow ONE program to run? That program could be an antivirus or some advanced task manager.

i dont like tcp or other internet optimizers. i never measured any better performance when these apps were used. instead of that i bought intel lan card . its driver and bundled software is much better as other products i met.

I've seen Intel LAN drivers. They indeed have a lot of settings available, more than the average Joe would ever be able to handle. However, I believe them as being about the same settings that these optimizers are tweaking, for NICs that do not have a GUI for user-customizable options.

At first run after a vanilla Windows setup, TZ Connection Booster will show all options as 'have not been set', which means the drivers go for some default values or they're not even initialized. The program offers the default values, which can be manually altered by knowledgeable users.

What this program doesn't do is set TTL to a user-defined value and that is why I use TCP Optimizer after it. It will set TTL to 64 and also other settings that I never bothered to check for, as long as everything went just fine after the tweaks. In fact, my connection might just be too slow for the values I've chosen.

As a matter of fact, eMule is the most stable application I've used. Compared to my browser that eats 35-40% of the resources and a fully customized Miranda IM that eats about the same, eMule is a mere child. Apart from the exit issue, I haven't seen it crash since a few versions ago.



Apologies, we're going off-topic already.