Windows 10 - No music.

[Thulghor]

So I recently upgraded to Windows 10. EQ (after a few hiccups) seems to work fine, but I did notice something was missing. While all the other sounds in the game (ambient, regular noise, NPC noise, and environment sounds) seem to work, music doesn't play. No combat music, no vendor music, nothing. I've tried changing things in my .ini files, I've tried changing my options back and forth. No music.

At this point I'm kinda out of ideas. I've tried different sound card (Razer Megalodon, Creative Soundblaster X-Fi Titanium HD), but that doesn't seem to do it either.

If anyone has any ideas, let me know.

[Seredoc]

Try WinEQ2

Many players use WinEQ2 provided by Lavishsoft, which has fixed Multi CPU/Core issues, crashing problems, and framerate, and is recommended for play.

[Thulghor]

Nah. Thought you had to set up an account and it was full of adware or something? Never had to use it before.

[Seredoc]

You do have to make an account but the free version has the fixes most people need, just use a dummy e-mail for the account and you'll be fine. If you doubt the validity of me claiming it, the quote from Rogean is actually from the getting started guide

No adware

Quoted from Lavishsoft

How much does this cost?
$15 for 90 days, or $50 per year.
WinEQ 2 and EQPlayNice are also available for free, with a limited feature set.

Also just checked the other window's 10 thread(s) and saw this gem

I've been playing on Windows 10 since I started on p99 a month or so ago. I've played on 4 or 5 builds now with very few dramas. In fact, only a single drama, there was no sound on earlier Windows 10 builds. I'm currently running 10240 and still no dramas playing it.

[Zliz]

I read Win 8 and 10 have rewritten the way MIDI works, and all of pre-PoP EQ's music is MIDI-based.

Try the instructions given in this thread:

https://www.project1999.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81207

My own addendum:
The actual instructions one should follow for the setup of the BASSMIDI driver are here:

http://kode54.net/bassmididrv/BASSMI...figuration.htm

If you're on Vista or Windows 7, you will need to use an additional program to setup the driver properly, the section named "Additional Configuration Note for Windows Vista and Windows 7" near the bottom. I used the control panel applet called Putzlowitschs Vista MIDI Mapper linked there.

NOTE: Half way through the thread some guy comes in and says:
ATTENTION WIN8 USERS: after a painstakingly long process, i figured out how to make this work with windows 8. the new version of BASSMIDI will not work! you must get version 1.06 from the following website: https://kode54.net/bassmididrv/archive/

I suspect there aren't a lot of reports of lack of music, since few people play with music turned on. Heck, Kunark was 100% devoid of music, and Velious only has a little.

[Thulghor]

Other than the no music part, the BassMidi drivers seem to work fine on Windows 10. I'll try out this workaround though anyway.

[Thulghor]

Yeah, tried this workaround, didn't fix it. It's not the end of the world for me, it's just the music, but still, it's rather annoying. Hopefully someone figures it out. I'll keep trying some new tricks and see what happens. While I'm loathe to use WinEQ2, I might even give it a shot. Seems it's just Windows 10 being a dick to me.

[nyclin]

As much as I dislike WinEQ2's sales model, it's a pretty good program and it resolves a lot of issues that the stock EQ client has.

Also check out these coupons if you plan on buying it: http://couponfollow.com/site/lavishsoft.com

[Herp]

Only 2 or so zones play music for me on Win7, wish I could find the cause. I think only the zones with an .mp3 file are playing, midis arent.

[Zliz]

Only 2 or so zones play music for me on Win7, wish I could find the cause. I think only the zones with an .mp3 file are playing, midis arent.
Truly old EQ doesn't have any .mp3 music, but some zones that were revamped, like Steamfont, got .mp3 music, so maybe that's why.

I would try what I suggested above, and perhaps try seeing if there is something related to MIDI that you can adjust with your sound card drivers. Also remember that few zones in EQ had zone-wide music; it's mostly atmospheric music in certain places that you go.

[Thulghor]

Think I figured it out. Got the music to play again, but it took a lot of convoluted effort. Apparently Windows 10 and Windows 8 before it, handle MIDI files poorly, and they got rid of something called the "MIDI-Mapper" or something like that.

After doing the BassMIDI Driver thing above, and using Coolsoft Virtual MIDI Synth (http://coolsoft.altervista.org/en/virtualmidisynth), and using Vista MIDI picker, and Vista and Weven MIDI Out Setter (setting them to the BassMIDI Synth drivers, and picking that sound font 1mgm.sf2) it started playing again. Puts up a tray icon now when I start EQ for Coolsoft Virtual MIDI Synth and plays the music correctly.

EQ uses mostly old .xmi files, which seem to only open normally for me in Miles Sound Tools. Thankfully, they play now outside of those tools.

I blame Windows 10. Embrace, Extend, Extinguish.

I hope that helps someone else too.

See also: http://coolsoft.altervista.org/en/blog/2013/03/what-happened-midi-mapper-windows-8

[Ellescer]

I think I finally found a solution to the sound problem. I'm not sure if this will work out for any of you, but it did for me.

Solution

Basically, all I did was right click on the desktop and select personalize. A screen comes up in which you must select Themes and then Advances Sound Settings. Three windows popped up saying they have found a problem; some advanced sound option was causing problems with my sound card and speakers which didn't play the MIDI files correctly I'm guessing. Just click accept, that you do want to revert back to the old settings and "ok" on the last window that comes up. After that I just started up EQ and everything was playing perfectly.

Hopefully this helps some of you on Windows 10.