AGI-MIDI - The Sierra Help Pages

AGI-MIDI version 0.5

Copyright Anders M Olsson, 1998

AGI-MIDI05.zip (ZIP File) [12.0 KB]

This is an experimental patch for Sierra's old AGI games, to make them play three voice music and sound effects via a MIDI synth.

Once the patch has been applied, the game will *require* a MIDI interface to run. Speaker support is removed to make room for MIDI support. So don't try to run a patched game on a computer without proper hardware. There is no check that a MIDI interface is in place. Absent MIDI hardware may cause the computer to hang, or other strange behavior may occur.

AGI-MIDI will output data on MIDI channels 2 through 4, and sound effects (noise track) on MIDI channel 10. This is suitable for Roland MT-32, but other instruments may also work.

You need a Sierra game with an interpreter version 2.911 or above. NOTHING OLDER WILL WORK! To check the version number of your Sierra interpreters, use Jeremy W. Hayes program AGIVER.

If you see more than one line of output from AGIVER, only use the first line. For example:

3.002.102
2.102

This means that you have an AGI-interpreter version 3, so AGI-MIDI should work fine!

Another example:

2.435

That will not work. You need to find a more recent interpreter. If your game does not qualify as version 2.911 or above, please read on.

To apply the patch, simply run the program AGIMIDI.EXE from your game directory. By default, the file AGI will be patched, and no backup is made. IT IS YOUR OWN RESPONSIBILITY TO MAKE A BACKUP COPY OF THE FILE AGI BEFORE PROCEEDING! I will not accept any responsibility for any damage caused by using this program, even if it erases your hard disk. (Not very likely, though!)

If you wish to use other file names than the default, give them as arguments on the command line. Like this:

AGIMIDI [infile] [outfile]

How to configure

After an initial welcome screen, a configuration menu will appear.

There are three things to consider.

First: What kind of MIDI interface do you have, Roland or SoundBlaster? Select Roland if you have an MPU-401 compatible MIDI interface. Select SoundBlaster if you use the MIDI-port on a SoundBlaster or compatible card. Incorrect setting here will most likely cause your game to hang.

Please note that a SoundBlaster card alone will not work. You need an external synth connected to the MIDI interface. (Unless you plan to use MT-32 or GM emulation on an AWE- card - more about that below).
Second: MIDI notes for the noise track. The defaults have been selected to work with an MT-32, so if you have some other synth, you may want to change them. Noise data is always output on MIDI channel 10, which many synthesizers use for rhythm and sound effects.
Third: The init string. The default init string sends program change on channels 2 through 4, selecting the first instrument on each channel. This typically translates to the acoustic piano. You may want to change this after consulting the manual for your synth. Currently, the maximum length of the init string is 26 characters.

Press F10 to save when you are done.

You can run the AGI-MIDI utility again at any time to change the options.

MT-32 or General MIDI emulation on an AWE-card

If you have a SoundBlaster AWE32 or similar card, you may want to try emulating MT-32 or GM by loading the special drivers that came with your card.

IMPORTANT: In this special case only, you must configure AGI-MIDI for Roland, even though the hardware really is a SoundBlaster card!

I also recommend that you thoroughly read the manual for your card. It can sometimes be tricky to get it to work. It is probably not possible to run under Windows at all. Try to boot DOS as cleanly as possible. Unload all resident programs, except the drivers for the sound card. Memory managers (like EMM386 etc.) are likely to cause trouble, and should be removed.

If your game has an unsupported interpreter version:

You can extract a version 2.9xx interpreter from another game! When you apply the patch, a small fix is also applied to disable the detection of game IDs. So a patched version 2.9xx interpreter should happily play any version 2 game without complaining. But please don't try to use a version 2 interpreter with a version 3 game or vice versa! All version 3 games should probably work directly, without substituting the interpreter.

To move the interpreter from one game to another, copy the files:

- SIERRA.COM **
- AGI
- All files ending with .OVL,
- optionally HGC_FONT

** The loader - SIERRA.COM - is sometimes renamed to reflect the name of the game, for example KQ1.COM.

If you don't own any games at all with the correct interpreter versions, you can download any of the files DEMOPACK1.ZIP, DEMOPACK2.ZIP or DEMOPACK3.ZIP from

http://www.ozemail.com.au/~ptrkelly/agi/games/demos.html

and extract the mentioned files from there.

Enjoy! And please let me know if this utility worked for you!

Anders M Olsson
Jaktstigen 37
SE-226 52 Lund
SWEDEN

E-mail: anders.m.olsson@abc.se

This program can be freely distributed and shared as long as no money is involved. Shareware libraries may charge reasonable media and/or handling costs.

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