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Dosbox recording issue. *Resolved!*

Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2009 6:37 am
by NotSid
I just setup Mercs on DosBox on my new computer (all by myself! Woo! Go me!) and all's fine, I have no problems running the game, firing weapons etc., in fact, the game runs beautifully on the highest resolution setting. It almost brought me to tears, to be honest!

But, all is not well in the world of Mercenaries. As you know, I love making videos of Mercs. I test out how well the game performs while recording, and it performs very well (while under wireframe) in 1024 resolution (wow!). But this is where a weird thing happens. I open the "capture" folder in the dosbox directory, and a message pops up saying "COM Surrogate has stopped working. Windows is checking for a solution to the problem". Needless to say, it never finds one (hence why I'm posting this now!)

Edit: Oh, and I tried actually running the video, and it can run, though sometimes windows media player has to close due to an error.

I am fairly certain it is a codec issue. Perhaps I need to reinstall zmvb? Maybe, but I thought that before I do anything I should get a second opinion, to see if anyone knows how to remedy this. I am running a newly installed Windows Vista machine (just installed it yesterday! Woooot!) so I am assuming it has the most recent service pack. I may have answered my own question here, but better safe than sorry! Thanks for any and all help I get with this!

PS. I know this isn't really a Mercs issue, but there's no DosBox section in the technical help forum. Perhaps that should be added? It would be a help to those struggling with DosBox related issues, and would lead them in the proper direction to ask for assistance. Just a suggestion :)

Re: Dosbox recording issue

Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2009 4:43 pm
by Col.Kell
NotSid wrote:it performs very well (while under wireframe) in 1024 resolution
Mercs has wireframe? mine doesn't :(

Regarding your question though, I'm not sure.

Re: Dosbox recording issue

Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 12:08 am
by NotSid
To get wireframe on mercs, simply add a line in the GAMEKEY.MAP file using notepad.

NEXT_NAVPOINT n
PREV_NAVPOINT SHIFT+n

ENHANCED_VISION w

RADAR_ZOOM_IN x
RADAR_ZOOM_OUT SHIFT+x

That is what mine looks like. Just put the ENHANCED_VISION line in there and you should be good to go. Lasers are invisible while in wireframe, though.

Re: Dosbox recording issue

Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 1:07 pm
by Col.Kell
(/me fists clutches and veins in skull pop out from frustration) I have been without wireframe for a decade now??? And thats all it was???

Thanks :roll:

Re: Dosbox recording issue

Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 2:50 pm
by Sir MMPD Radick
Please note that does not work quite the same on 1.1 there is another method.

Issue resolved! Video posted!

Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 8:28 am
by NotSid
I resolved this issue! :D
Turns out all I had to do was run the zmvb codec installer in administrator mode, now it works just fine! I even recorded and uploaded a new video if anyone wanted to check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbMx1_skrH0

I wasn't able to combine the mw2shell and mw2 videos in Virtualdub, since it said the two video files didn't share a common... whatever it was, I forget exactly, so I was forced to just use Windows Movie Maker. If anyone knows how I can do this using Virtualdub, some help on that would greatly be appreciated!

In the meantime, check out the video and tell me what ya think! By the way, the resolution is 1024, even while recording ;)

Re: Dosbox recording issue. *Resolved!*

Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 9:02 am
by Sir MMPD Radick
simple change the framerate or resize it before combining it.

Re: Dosbox recording issue. *Resolved!*

Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 4:55 pm
by NotSid
How would I change the framerate or resize it?

Edit: Or find out which one I need to do?

Re: Dosbox recording issue. *Resolved!*

Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 11:03 pm
by Sir MMPD Radick
To see the frame rate click Video -> Framerate
Then compare the two videos to make sure they are the same.

If that is the same then it means the resolution is different.. you can check it in the properties of the file or just go to filters -> add -> resize then make the necessary changes after comparing the two files.

Re: Dosbox recording issue. *Resolved!*

Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 1:00 am
by NotSid
Hmm I tried doing both of those things, but it doesn't seem to wanna work. Same error.