MORTALFX (Mortal Kombat Patch for OS/2)

========================================= Martin Kiewitz's MORTAL KOMBAT PATCH v3 ========================================= Released on 2.11.2001 Version 2 - FULL OS/2 - eCS support "OS/2 wins" - "Flawless victory" Written and (c) by Martin Kiewitz Dedicated to Maryse M. and Gerd Kiewitz ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This software is 'e-mail ware'. This means, if you use it, please send me an e-mail or a greeting card. I just want to see, how much people are using it. ============ | FOREWORD | ============ Another one of my favourite games. Mortal Kombat. I released a patch about a week ago, that enabled soundblaster sound. It fixed a driver-bug, which occured on "too-fast" computers. The bug was exactly the same like in Sierra-games. I needed about 10 minutes to find and patch it. Not really hard. In this release, there is another bug-fix, which made the game freeze under any OS sometimes. It was an endless loop waiting for the sb, which is sometimes not responding...that way we get a freeze. OS/2 / eComStation now work *100% FULL* with this patch. I included a separate driver. The problem is that Mortal Kombat uses a 16-bit IRQ handler (for talking with the soundblaster) under DOS4GW, which uses DPMI aka Protected Mode. OS/2 simply doesnt call the 16-bit code, so the driver never knows when a SFX ended aka it's playing only some FX. e.g. you couldn't hear any beatings, screams, etc. :( I patched a lot in it to get it working. I implemented some timing mechanism, which allows the driver again to see, when a SFX is completed. I had to implement some priority mechanism as well, otherwise any saying (Fight, Finish Him/Her, Flawless Victory, etc.) could sometimes not be heard. The complete patching needed about 4-5 hours, which includes about one hour beta-mortal-kombating. "Kiewitz wins" "Fatality" ;-) =============== | PATCH USAGE | =============== Simply execute MORTALFX.exe in your Mortal Kombat directory. You will get asked what driver you want to install (DOS or OS/2). The actual game executable needs a tiny patch as well, so please: DO NOT DISTRIBUTE SBLASTER.DRV, ITS USELESS WITHOUT THE MK.EXE PATCH. MT-32 & Soundblaster driver is *NOT* supported and will never be. Their MT-32 code is also mucked up and the music is not at the correct speed. But perhaps that's only a bug under WinDos <g> Who knows. ================== | KNOWN PROBLEMS | ================== Sometimes one SFX is played back garbled. Don't ask me why. Their driver is actually raping the DMA :) If you lose the whole SFX, just exit the game and the VDM and restart it. This problem should get fixed by using the Generic Soundblaster driver. The problem is also occuring under bare DOS and it has not to do anything with my patch. =========== | CONTACT | =========== There are several ways to contact me. All-time favourite is my e-mail adresse 'kiewitz@fuckMicrosoft.com'. Well, you can use 'martin@kiewitz.de' or 'kiewitz@netlabs.org' as well. OS/2 World has some content of mine. Look at: http://www.os2world.com/games Or you may visit my own private homepage. Surf to: http://www.kiewitz.de ========================== | GREETZ AND DEDICATIONS | ========================== I dedicated MORTALFX to 2 different people. Maryse is a really great (half-french) girl and I like her a lot. Gerd Kiewitz is my father, he died some time ago :( I'll never stop loving him. Now some personal messages: ----------------------------- Akklaim - Nice game you made here...but I hate you for that crappy drivers. Thanx for a messed up evening <g> Crystal Method - Thanx for making great music. I would have gone mad during patching without it. I.B.M. - I hope you will revive OS/2 / eCS to new life somehow. And if it's actually done by Serenity, I'm glad as well :) Enrique Britto - I hope your eGamer software will get freakin' good and get implemented into eCS at a later date. Yes you may include this patch as well ;-) btw. some cheap advertisement: http://www.dosgamesarchive.com/egamer. Kim - Thanx for turning on that secure FTP feature <g> I like it, when I am not able to update Websites. (no, I'm not upset, but please turn that thing off somehow, pleeeeaaaasssseeee). Windows vs. eCS - "eCS wins." - "Flawless victory" - "Fatality" <g> - Martin Kiewitz