UltiMOD v1.4
UltiMOD is a native Gravis Ultrasound modplayer for OS/2 2.x or OS/2
Warp with MMPM/2 installed.
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0 Contents
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1 Features
2 Installation
3 UltiMOD
4 Ultitext (textmode version of UltiMOD)
5 A few tips to make life easier
6 General Information
7 Questions & Answers
8 Bug Reports
9 How to help improve UltiMOD
10 Standard disclaimer
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1 Features
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- support for:
- 4 channel, 31 and 15 instrument Protracker/Noisetracker modules
- 4 and 8 channel Startracker modules
- 1 - 32 channel Fasttracker 1 modules
- MTM
- S3M
- XM
- ability to play samples inside a modfile at any note.
- low overhead (measured on my Pentium 75 Mhz computer using pulse and cpu tach)
- 1%-2% for 4, 6 and 8 channel modules
- 3%-4% for 16 channel s3m's
(double these numbers for the textmode version of UltiMOD)
- support for songlists. (up to 512 files in one songlist)
- Graphical user interface. (graphical push & volume buttons, slidebar etc)
- Textmode version included with new user interface (and realtime display of
channel data)
- Multithreaded. Two threads for playing modfiles and 1 for the user interface.
This means that you can create your own songlist and save it while UltiMOD
plays one of your modfiles.
- source code & info for device driver communication interface
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2 Installation
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Install Robert Manley's MMPM/2 drivers.
Unzip ultimod.zip and run 'install.cmd' to put UltiMOD on your desktop.
If you like to run ultimod from any directory on your hard disk(s) add
the directory, in which you copied ultimod, to the 'SET HELP =' and
'SET PATH = ' lines in your config.sys.
Load your favourite modfile and fully exploit OS/2's multitasking capabilities
by running it alongside other applications.
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3 UltiMOD
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This document won't explain how UltiMOD works. It's interface is self
explaining by providing you with graphical pushbuttons and simple menu's.
If something isn't clear just press F1 for online help.
UltiMOD accepts one songlist or one or more modfiles as a parameter on
the command line. They can contain wildcards.
NEW FEATURE:
UltiMOD can be run in two modes:
- exclusive mode: no other program can use the GUS while ultimod
is active
- shared mode : OS/2 multimedia applications can use the GUS even
when ultimod is playing a module
Both modes have their advantages and disadvantages.
Limitations in shared mode:
- can't load samples > 256kb
- might run out of memory sooner (while PCM playback uses very little
GUS DRAM, MIDI can use quite a lot)
- can only load modules that use less than the number of
voices (/c: parameter in config.sys) the driver uses minus two.
- always plays back using the number of voices you specified in
config.sys (default 28) This reduces playback quality.
(i.e. in exclusive mode a < 15 channel mods is played back at
44.1 khz; in shared mode always at 22.05 khz (28 voices))
These restrictions don't exist in exclusive mode.
Both PM UltiMOD and ultitext can run in either mode.
Shared mode : add /s on the command line
Exclusive mode : add /e on the command line (default)
If you are a registered user, this setting will be saved in ultimod.ini
for later sessions.
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4 Ultitext (textmode version of UltiMOD)
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The textmode verison of UltiMOD also accepts one songlist or one or more
modfiles as a parameter on the command line. They can also contain wildcards.
Keys: Esc - Quit
-/+ - decrease/increase song speed
PgUp/PgDn - scroll 9 lines up/down
Home/End - scroll to home/end of active window
tab - switch between channel & sample window
cursor up/down - scroll one channel up/down
(red arrow points to the channel position)
Enter - disable or enable channel
cursor left/right - one position back/forward
</> - volume down/up
n - skip to next song in the songlist
Usage: ULTITEXT /vXXX /pYY filename
/vXXX - volume (0-100)
/pXX - panning (right = XX, left = 15 - XX)
/noj - disable backward position jumps in songlist
/e - run in exclusive mode (see above) (default)
/s - run in shared mode (see above)
filename - songlist or modfile
If you're a registered user, Ultitext can also read the settings stored inside
'ultimod.ini'. Just copy the ini-file used by UltiMOD to the directory with
Ultitext.
********************************************************************************
********************************************************************************
From now on UltiMOD stands for both the PM and textmode version. Only
when the two version don't behave identically, a distinction is made between
them.
********************************************************************************
********************************************************************************
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5 A few tips to make life easier
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- To quickly construct songlists you can run UltiMOD as follows:
ultimod d:\mods\*.s3m d:\mods\*.mtm d:\mods\*.mod
By default ultimod saves all these filenames in '########.lst' in the
directory where ultimod is located.
To save this songlist, select file->save songlist. (PM UltiMOD)
Ultitext offers no help, so you must copy the songlist manually.
- When UltiMOD is running, you can launch a second copy of ultimod to
pass (a) new modfile(s) or a songlist to the first one.
- Next.exe is for command line freaks (like me) who don't like switching to
the desktop every time a boring modfile is playing, just to press the next
button.
When executed, next.exe orders UltiMOD so skip to the next song in the
songlist.
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6 General Information
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UltiMOD is shareware and needs to be registered after 30 days of use.
Please see the registration document for more details.
Known problems:
- ultraclicks (although less than before)
- problems with some modules (i.e. inside.s3m)
- Messed up user interface (PM UltiMOD) when you run at 1024x768
using S3 video cards (other cards too?). (video driver or MMPM/2 bug)
Future plans for UltiMOD:
- Implementing (parts of) ultimod as a new multimedia subsystem for
MMPM/2 (so all MMPM/2 applications can play modfiles)
- adding usefull suggestions from users to the program
- more WPS integration
- probably lots more.
Finally I want to thank the beta testers for their extensive testing:
Anssi Saari Olli Mannisto Mark Ruys
John Rohland Samuel Audet Vince Rathbun
Juha Kauppinen Kari Sorsimo Harry Pulley
I hope you will enjoy UltiMOD,
Sander van Leeuwen
Meikoninginlaan 4
2645 NT Delfgauw
the Netherlands
email: s509475@dutiws.twi.tudelft.nl
For the latest updates of UltiMOD and the Manley drivers visit my webpage:
http://www.polsci.wvu.edu/Henry/Sander
or Robert Manley's webpage at: http://www.io.org/~rjm
Greets go to:
- Robert Manley of course 8)
- Timo Maier for the Pascal version of the GUS toolkit
- Culus of Ethos (thanks for your help with UltiMOD for MMPM/2)
- Henry Rieke for providing me with a web page
- Osdorp Posse, Beastie Boys & Jimi Hendrix for making the
countless hours behind my computer more bearable.
- Ajax, the one and only
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7 Questions & Answers
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Q: When I start UltiMOD an error dialog pops up saying it couldn't load the
help manager. What's up?
A: Be sure to have ultimod.exe and ultimod.hlp in one directory.
If you want to run ultimod from other directories, add the directory,
in which ultimod.hlp is located, to the line 'SET HELP =' in your config.sys.
Q: When I try to play a modfile nothing happens or OS/2 crashes.
A: Did you install the MMPM/2 drivers and specify the correct irq/dma/address?
If nothing helps, send me a bug report and we'll try to work it out.
Q: What's wrong when UltiMOD reports it can't open the GUS MMPM/2 driver?
A: You shouldn't have Dos/WinOS2 sessions running that use the GUS or
initialize the GUS in autoexec.bat. Close them and try again.
In exclusive mode MMPM/2 applications should also be closed before
running UltiMOD.
Q: When I try to load a modfile, UltiMOD reports it can't load this file.
A: There are two possibilities: - you don't have enough memory on your GUS
to load all the instruments
- the file you selected isn't a valid modfile
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8 Bug Reports
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If you experience crashes or bugs when you use UltiMOD, please send me mail
(email or snail mail) explaining the problem along with the following filled
in form and your config.sys.
OS/2 version : ______
GUS hardware revision: ___
Codec Daughtercard? : _ (yes, no)
Onboard GUS memory : ____ K
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9 How to help improving UltiMOD
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I and the beta testers try to locate any effect problems with UltiMOD.
Unfortunately we don't have unlimited amounts of time, so it's possible
you have a modfile that UltiMOD doesn't play completely right.
I'd appreciate it when you report these problems to me. Please provide
as much information as possible:
- file (send uuencoded by email or an address of an ftp site)
- pattern and song position where the problem occurs
- description
- if possible position inside pattern, channel and effect
Thanks in advance.
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10 Standard disclaimer
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This software is provided AS IS. No warranty of any kind, expressed or
implied, is granted including any warranties of quality or fitness for
a particular purpose. Under no circumstances will Sander van Leeuwen be held
responsible for any damage that results directly or indirectly from the use of
this product.
