Well, there's LOTS that has apparently changed between 2.7.1 and 2.7.2, but the effect of these changes is that G-Force Gold 2.7.2 completely fails to install (and run) correctly under Win98SE.
(1) New installer addes RealPlayer to the list of supported players for which the G-Force plugin can be installed. I unchecked it.
(2) Resulting installed G-Force program directory is [incorrectly?] now c:\Program Files\Soundspectrum\G-Force instead of where it has always been before... c:\Program Files\Winamp\Plugins\G-Force.
However the new 2.7.2 vis_G-Force.dll is placed in c:\Program Files\Winamp\Plugins as before.
Also, there is a c:\Windows\G-Force directory built which shows a version.txt indicating 2.7.1.
My guess is that the DLL tries to launch the plugin, but can't find the files where it expects to find them, or finds the wrong version number. Hence failure to start.
(3) When I get into Winamp (2.81) Preferences, Plugin Visualization I see G-Force 2.7.1 listed instead of the expected 2.7.2, or simply the "G-Force" item (with no version number) that shows up in WinXP implementation. Is this from version.txt? Anyway, it's wrong.
(4) Apparently, there was no new 2.7.2 PREFS file built into c:\Windows as the old 2.7.1 file is still there.
(5) I uninstalled G-Force Gold 2.7.2 (or at least went through the uninstall process), and then re-installed 2.7.1. Sure enough, things now once again work perfectly... including using my pre-existing customized PREFS file (which clearly had not been replaced by any 2.7.2 version).
===>> TOTAL FAILURE of 2.7.2 install in Win98SE environment!
G-Force Gold 2.7.2 TOTALLY BROKEN ON WIN98SE!
Moderators: BTT, andy55, b.dwall, juxtiphi
i kinda guess your in love with windows 98SE as if your not, why are you still on it ?
Without sounding like a salesman for bill gates, i think you should be running XP buy now.
The memory protection is a god send even though macs have had this for years.
If i get a chance i'll set up one of my old drives as 98se and see what happens
Without sounding like a salesman for bill gates, i think you should be running XP buy now.
The memory protection is a god send even though macs have had this for years.
If i get a chance i'll set up one of my old drives as 98se and see what happens
I DO run XP, as well as 98SE, on each of the two machines on my home network. Each machine has 4 hard drives, divided into 11 partitions. 98SE is on C and XP is on M on both machines.
I run XP 99.9% of the time on both machines. However some of my hardware and applications are not compatible with XP, and the software vendors have either disappeared or abandoned the product. Hence my need to continue to have 98SE available, as these products are important to me and I have no interest in paying for any possible "modern" replacement (which may not give me the quality or features I currently have with the older products).
For one example, I make my MP3 files using Fraunhofer's "professional command-line MP3 Encoder" v3.1 which was purchased for much money in 1999. In my opinion this encoder still produces the best sounding MP3 result (although it uses 100% CPU and runs slowly, a downside which has become less of an issue with newer faster CPUs). I produce at bitrate 192000 and quality 9. Unfortunately, the program only runs successfully in a 98 DOS command-prompt window, and fails to run successfully in an XP DOS command-prompt window.
I've tried a number of other MP3 encoders as alternatives, as well as OGG at various quality levels, and still feel that the Fraunhofer MP3ENC31 result is the best.
==> I boot to 98SE when I want to make new MP3 files from newly purchased CDs.
For a second example, I have a Pinnacle DC30+ video capture card on one machine, supported beautifully by Pinnacle drivers and Adobe Premiere 5. The flexibility (both audio and video) provided by this hardware/software combination gives me wonderful high quality "raw" M-JPEG AVI files, except that none of this runs under XP. And Pinnacle no longer supports this hardware/software.
Then, I produce high quality MPEG-2 "finished products" (progressive scan, non-interlaced) MPG files using Ligos LSX-MPEG Encoder 3.5 (from their Suite 2.0), which is no longer supported or sold by Ligos. This product also does not run properly under XP.
I continue to use this video capture hardware/software product array because I find the flexibility and results far superior to that obtained using the effective but simple and inflexible "recorder" feature that comes from ATI Multimedia Center in support of my ATI 9800 Pro and ATI TV Wonder Pro cards which are also on the same machine.
==> I boot to 98SE when I want to make an AVI/MPG video clip, captured from line-input to my ATI TV Wonder Pro card from something recorded on my S-VHS VCRs.
Hence my need to retain 98SE for these isolated but vital needs.
But back to the main point... I believe that this 2.7.2 first release of G-Force which uses a new \Program Files\SoundSpectrum\G-Force location instead of placing it inside of \Program Files\Winamp\Plugins\G-Force is the root of the problem. This new architecture works successfully in XP but apparently Andy has messed up something in the 98SE world.
There have been similar install issues in the past, where something was broken for 98 but ran under XP, and he's immediately fixed it and released a new version. I'm sure after the holidays he will take a look at the code and make the necessary repair.
I run XP 99.9% of the time on both machines. However some of my hardware and applications are not compatible with XP, and the software vendors have either disappeared or abandoned the product. Hence my need to continue to have 98SE available, as these products are important to me and I have no interest in paying for any possible "modern" replacement (which may not give me the quality or features I currently have with the older products).
For one example, I make my MP3 files using Fraunhofer's "professional command-line MP3 Encoder" v3.1 which was purchased for much money in 1999. In my opinion this encoder still produces the best sounding MP3 result (although it uses 100% CPU and runs slowly, a downside which has become less of an issue with newer faster CPUs). I produce at bitrate 192000 and quality 9. Unfortunately, the program only runs successfully in a 98 DOS command-prompt window, and fails to run successfully in an XP DOS command-prompt window.
I've tried a number of other MP3 encoders as alternatives, as well as OGG at various quality levels, and still feel that the Fraunhofer MP3ENC31 result is the best.
==> I boot to 98SE when I want to make new MP3 files from newly purchased CDs.
For a second example, I have a Pinnacle DC30+ video capture card on one machine, supported beautifully by Pinnacle drivers and Adobe Premiere 5. The flexibility (both audio and video) provided by this hardware/software combination gives me wonderful high quality "raw" M-JPEG AVI files, except that none of this runs under XP. And Pinnacle no longer supports this hardware/software.
Then, I produce high quality MPEG-2 "finished products" (progressive scan, non-interlaced) MPG files using Ligos LSX-MPEG Encoder 3.5 (from their Suite 2.0), which is no longer supported or sold by Ligos. This product also does not run properly under XP.
I continue to use this video capture hardware/software product array because I find the flexibility and results far superior to that obtained using the effective but simple and inflexible "recorder" feature that comes from ATI Multimedia Center in support of my ATI 9800 Pro and ATI TV Wonder Pro cards which are also on the same machine.
==> I boot to 98SE when I want to make an AVI/MPG video clip, captured from line-input to my ATI TV Wonder Pro card from something recorded on my S-VHS VCRs.
Hence my need to retain 98SE for these isolated but vital needs.
But back to the main point... I believe that this 2.7.2 first release of G-Force which uses a new \Program Files\SoundSpectrum\G-Force location instead of placing it inside of \Program Files\Winamp\Plugins\G-Force is the root of the problem. This new architecture works successfully in XP but apparently Andy has messed up something in the 98SE world.
There have been similar install issues in the past, where something was broken for 98 but ran under XP, and he's immediately fixed it and released a new version. I'm sure after the holidays he will take a look at the code and make the necessary repair.
dude...
have you ever thought of trying to run your programs in "compatibility mode"? you can go back as far as Win 95! there's no reason to run the ancient 98se anymore! to do this, right click on the icon (to your old program [install it on Windows XP]), select Properties, click the Compatibility tab, & you should see the option there. i can't guarantee that it will work, but it's definitely worth a shot. good luck!
Compatibility mode was suggested to me several years ago. I tried it (as best I could) and it never worked.
As for MP3ENC31, it's not actually installed as a program. It's run directly from a command line prompt. Hence compatibility mode doesn't really apply.
As far as the Ligos MPEG encoder, the program actually runs fine under XP except that it always stops encoding after 1000 frames... as if it were running in some kind of trial-mode, even though I have entered its registration key and it should be fully-featured. Compatibility mode doesn't come into play here... there's clearly some registry issue which is failing to tell the program it is fully licensed.
As far as video capture via the Pinnacle DC-30+ under XP there has been much discussion over the past few years among Pinnacle users regarding this problem. Many attempts at hacks and other workarounds have been tried, and none have been successful. The fact is, plain and simple, that this card and software will not run under XP.
Look... I don't mind having 98SE available.
But that still doesn't resolve the real G-Force Gold 2.7.2 problem, which is that it simply does not install and/or run under 98SE... presumably a still-supported platform. And there's no question in my mind it has something to do with the new 2.7.2 program location of \Program Files\SoundSpectrum\G-Force instead of \Program Files\Winamp\Plugins\G-Force as it has always been up until now. Andy will have to fix this when he gets a chance.
As for MP3ENC31, it's not actually installed as a program. It's run directly from a command line prompt. Hence compatibility mode doesn't really apply.
As far as the Ligos MPEG encoder, the program actually runs fine under XP except that it always stops encoding after 1000 frames... as if it were running in some kind of trial-mode, even though I have entered its registration key and it should be fully-featured. Compatibility mode doesn't come into play here... there's clearly some registry issue which is failing to tell the program it is fully licensed.
As far as video capture via the Pinnacle DC-30+ under XP there has been much discussion over the past few years among Pinnacle users regarding this problem. Many attempts at hacks and other workarounds have been tried, and none have been successful. The fact is, plain and simple, that this card and software will not run under XP.
Look... I don't mind having 98SE available.
But that still doesn't resolve the real G-Force Gold 2.7.2 problem, which is that it simply does not install and/or run under 98SE... presumably a still-supported platform. And there's no question in my mind it has something to do with the new 2.7.2 program location of \Program Files\SoundSpectrum\G-Force instead of \Program Files\Winamp\Plugins\G-Force as it has always been up until now. Andy will have to fix this when he gets a chance.
Re: G-Force Gold 2.7.2 TOTALLY BROKEN ON WIN98SE!
Are you saying that you don't 'have realplayer installed on your system? My guess is that you probably did at one point and RealPlayer failed to clean itself up afterwords. Please let me know.dsperber wrote: (1) New installer addes RealPlayer to the list of supported players for which the G-Force plugin can be installed. I unchecked it.
What you described is the correct install footprint of GF 272 (that version.txt file is just a leftover from 271). GF has a single, shared install folder that all the plugin DLLs use.dsperber wrote: (2) Resulting installed G-Force program directory is [incorrectly?] now c:\Program Files\Soundspectrum\G-Force instead of where it has always been before... c:\Program Files\Winamp\Plugins\G-Force.
However the new 2.7.2 vis_G-Force.dll is placed in c:\Program Files\Winamp\Plugins as before.
Also, there is a c:\Windows\G-Force directory built which shows a version.txt indicating 2.7.1.
I've investigated the problem and learned that a low-level file call that I made in 272 had an issue under Win9X. After some painful dealings installing Win98 (Win98 ate my partition table and I had to rebuild *all* my partitions from scratch), I've reproduced the problem and I should be ready to test a fix soon. In the future, you should just email me with a problem like that (rather than posting it here).
I'm not sure what's going on there, but when we get you up and running, just delete all the GF stuff out of your winamp plugins folder and run the installer fresh.dsperber wrote: (3) When I get into Winamp (2.81) Preferences, Plugin Visualization I see G-Force 2.7.1 listed instead of the expected 2.7.2, or simply the "G-Force" item (with no version number) that shows up in WinXP implementation. Is this from version.txt? Anyway, it's wrong.
Andy
Re: G-Force Gold 2.7.2 TOTALLY BROKEN ON WIN98SE!
Oh... no, I do have RealPlayer installed. I just don't use it to play most of my music, and I didn't actually want G-Force to be active when I really am using RP (e.g. to listen to AirAmericaRadio).andy55 wrote:Are you saying that you don't 'have realplayer installed on your system? My guess is that you probably did at one point and RealPlayer failed to clean itself up afterwords. Please let me know.dsperber wrote: (1) New installer added RealPlayer to the list of supported players for which the G-Force plugin can be installed. I unchecked it.
Thank you very much. I look forward to the correction being posted.andy55 wrote:I've investigated the problem and learned that a low-level file call that I made in 272 had an issue under Win9X. After some painful dealings installing Win98 (Win98 ate my partition table and I had to rebuild *all* my partitions from scratch), I've reproduced the problem and I should be ready to test a fix soon. In the future, you should just email me with a problem like that (rather than posting it here).