Ufomod 2 Frequently Asked Questions =================================== This is the official FAQ dedicated to all Ufomod beginners. Please read this file if you really don't understand the supplied documentation, and generally want to know more about the software. Please don't waste my mailbox space with questions that are answered below. I'd like you to read the FAQ first ! Q: What is Ufomod ? A: Ufomod is a high performance module player dedicated to DOS/Win9x based systems. Q1: Who is Ufo ? Q2: I have a friend they call ``UFO``. Is it You ? A: You're possibly on the wrong track. UFO stands for Unidentified Flying Object, which wasn't even seen by humans. But the humans believe the Ufo exist. Well, I can say: it's TRUE. Ufo exists. Its email is ufo303@poczta.onet.pl Q: There are lots of other module players, ex. WinAMP, Sonique, ModPlug, around. What's special in Ufomod ? A: Its engine. Ufomod uses one of the best module engines around, allowing to playback modules as accurately as possible. Besides, it supports 18 different module types (which most of them WinAMP or Sonique don't know). REMEMBER: Ufomod is dedicated to all who want their modules sounding exactly as they were supposed to play. Q: Is MP3 supported ? A: No. Ufo Module Player has no MPEG abilities. Q: What's the recommended hardware to play ? A: The hardware requirements under Windows are always huge ! Although Ufomod plays fine with a P66 under DOS, it may need more CPU power under Win9x. Therefore we recommend the following hardware: Pentium-66 8MB RAM (additional requirements on the Windows side: Pentium-166 16MB RAM). An AC'97 or SBPro compatible sound system is also required, although we recommend SB16 compatible cards like SB64 GOLD or many Avance clones! Q: The sound is getting choppy causing repeats/skips. How to fix this problem ? A: Note, that Ufomod ain't a background player, so serious buffering relies on your hardware/software drivers. You can increase the buffering abilities a bit, by commanding `-m dmabufsize=8192`, but be careful. Q: Is there any workaround for AC'97 compatible cards, to use the 16-bits ? A: No. This is a hardware related problem. 22KHz/8-bit/stereo is the nearest "CD quality" you get out of your circuits. Tip: All SBPro users may try switch to 44KHz/8-bit/mono to achieve the nearest "CD quality" sampling rate. Q: Strange hisses (sounding like heavy quantization)/music skip-ups in the playback. What's the case ? A: First, upgrade to 2.3p2 as soon as possible, since the SB driver source has been modified for the first time since 2.0 ! Second, don't use 8-bit / mono with frequencies lower than 40KHz. All Ufomod versions, starting from 2.0 TEST to the final 2.3 FULL have the same driver bug, causing the sound to garble at MONO 8-BIT output settings. This will be hopefully fixed in future versions. Q: What about slight audible disturbances (clicks/pops) in the output ? A: It depends mainly on the libmikmod project creators, on which Ufomod is based, if the output mixer engine is improved. We don't say it is perfect, some features like volume microamping, are not available. Even the high quality mixer cannot give you the quality you possibly desire. Please be patient. Wait for future releases. Q: AC'97 fits the requirements of Ufomod ? A: Yes, I does. Just make sure you've configured your (guess) PCI card correctly (usually I/O=220 Interrupt=5 DMA=1). NOTE FOR ONBOARD SOUND CHIP USERS: Some of the chips (like CMI9xxx) can cause general interrupt problems, especially under Windows. Be aware. Q: Can the interface of Ufomod be changed ? A: Ufomod is a text-graphics application for DOS and we don't imagine there would be any kind of `skins` or charsets to be choosed from. Besides, it is unnecessary under DOS. Q: How to make Ufomod the so called ,,default player'' under Windows ? A: It is hard, but impossible. It requires Ufomod to be associated with all module extensions in Windows. Use the syntax `ufomod -p /configpath --cleanplaylist -a %1` in the proper action window. Q: About registration... A: Luckily, Ufomod is FREEWARE to You. Q: What is the reason Ufomod has been a DOS program, instead of a Windows application ? A: Ufomod is a tribute to all well DOS users, as well as the Linux community (the Linux port is available, read further). We're not going to develop Ufomod for Windows, because luckily DOS programs can run under Windows, too. And therefore, there can be no support for all DirectSound compatible sound cards. At least, at the moment. Q: Where can I get the Linux version of Ufomod ? A: The Linux version of Ufomod is actually an interface-disabled version of the DOS version. This version is not released due to the simple fact, that libmikmod based players are already available for this platform. Perhaps there is someone who wants to benefit from the positive changes done by us in the current library (read the What's New file for more details). If anyone will be interested, we'll release it. Q: What to do, if Ufomod crashes at startup ? A: Either, you're using Ufomod 2.2 BETA version, which is unstable, or, you've found another bug, of which no program is completely free. We've tested the latest version extensively and the chances for new bugs found are rather low. Therefore, we give some clues: 1. Start Ufomod with `--probeonly`. If it crashes, it means that Ufomod has serious configuration problems with your hardware or software (operating system). 2. Start Ufomod with `--cleandircache`. If it doesn't crash, it means that you've some corrupted or incompatible modules in the browsed directories. Please make a cleanup. 3. Maybe your Config file is corrupted. Delete the Config file from your default directory. If it didn't help, send the detailed report to us (incl. hardware description, logs, bug reproduction schemes etc.) Q: Problems with a certain archive (on directory browsing, extracting).. A: Use archivers recommended by us. Get the latest versions, if possible. Don't use BETA versions! Remember to set up your PATH environment variable correctly to let Ufomod invoke an archiver anytime if needed. Q: What is the problem with ACE archiver for DOS ? A: Version 1.1B contains a bug, which cannot be fixed by Ufomod. It reconstructs the whole directory structure stored in the TEMP environment variable in the current directory anytime when trying to extract a certain module from the archive. Versions 1.1B and 1.2B mustn't be invoked by Ufomod while Windows is running (use `--disable ace`), since they seem to crash/reboot the computer. Q: Is Ufomod POSIX-compatible and what does it mean. A: Ufomod is POSIX-compatible as well as all the other DJGPP-based software. Read the GNU docs for more info on POSIX. Q: Where to get the latest Ufomod ? A: Difficult question. It's really hard to say, because the UfoLogic Systems still lack their authorized web service (btw, this will change soon). Point your web browser to the address: http://come.to/ufomod or send an e-mail to the address: ufo303@poczta.onet.pl to retrieve the latest Ufomod binaries. Again, if you have other questions, please post it to: ufo303@poczta.onet.pl More details may be found in the *REAL* documentation files shipped with Ufomod. Please read it also. [UfoLogic Systems]