Advance Projects - AdvanceCAB VBE DOS Utility Documentation

Documentation of the AdvanceCAB vbe utility.

AdvanceCAB VBE 16bit BIOS Wrapper For DOS

1 Synopsis

vbe [/l] [/u] [/c CONFIG]

2 Description

The `vbe' utility is a TSR (Terminate Stay Resident) VBE BIOS wrapper. It isn't a complete VBE BIOS. It requires an existing and working VBE BIOS.

It allow to set an arbitrary video mode list with the favorite modes which work best with your video hardware without any restrictions in size and frequencies.

With this utility you can play all the DOS games that use the standard VESA VBE services with your PC Monitor, TV and Arcade Monitor.

At the startup the configuration file `vbe.rc', created with the utility `vbev', is read and all the modelines present are activated. The format of this configuration file is specified in the document `advv.txt'.

These are some example rc files:

ntsc.rc NTSC TV.

pal.rc PAL TV.

standard.rc Arcade Standard Resolution (15 kHz).

medium.rc Arcade Medium Resolution (25 kHz).

extended.rc Arcade Extended Resolution (16.5 kHz).

pcvga.rc VGA PC Monitor.

pcsvga60.rc SVGA PC Multisync Monitor.

All the modelines present in the configuration files are used to create the list of available VBE mode. For every modeline three VBE modes with 8, 15, 16 bits are added.

3 Options

These are the command line options supported:

Load in memory the utility

Unload the utility

/c CONFIG

Use an arbitrary configuration file

4 Cards

The program supports only some of the `vbeline' drivers listed in the `carddos.txt' file.

Some of these drivers require that you in advance load the `Scitech Display Doctor' (SDD) program to work correctly.

The available drivers are :

vbeline/auto Auto detection.

vbeline/3dfx 3dfx Banshee, Voodoo3, Voodoo5

vbeline/cirrus Cirrus Logic (with SDD) GD542?, GD5428, GD543?

vbeline/s3 S3 (with SDD) ViRGE, Vision 866, Vision 964, Trio32, Trio64, Trio64V+, Aurora64V+, Trio64UV+, ViRGE/VX, 868, 928, 864, 964, 968, Trio64 V2/DX, Trio64V2, ViRGE/DX, ViRGE/GX, ViRGE/GX2

vbeline/sis SiS 6326, 620, 530, 300, 630, 540

vbeline/savage S3 Savage 3D, Savage 3DM, Savage 4

vbeline/neomagic NeoMagic MagicGraph 128 (NM2070), 128V (NM2090), 128ZV (NM2093), 128ZV+ (NM2097), 128XD (NM2160), MagicMedia 256AV (NM2200), 256ZX (NM2360), 256XL+ (NM2380)

vbeline/trident Trident (without SDD) TGUI 9320, TGUI 9420, TGUI 9440, TGUI 9660, Providia 9682, Providia 9685, Cyber 9397, Cyber 9397/DVD, Cyber 9385, Cyber 9385-1, Cyber 9382, Cyber 9388, Cyber 9397, Cyber 939A/DVD, Cyber 9520, Cyber 9525/DVD, Cyber 9540, 3DImage975, 3DImage985, CyberBlade/i7, CyberBlade/DSTN/i7, CyberBlade/i1, CyberBlade/DSTN/i1, Blade3D, Blade3D/T64

vbeline/vbe3 Any video boards with a VBE3 BIOS which is also VGA compatible at registers level. Generally a recent board should have a VBE3 BIOS.

5 Limitations

AdvanceVBE isn't a complete VBE 2.0 bios. It requires an existing and working VBE BIOS. Specifically you can get the VBE 2.0 services, like the linear frame buffer, only if the preexistent BIOS supports them. Eventually, before loading AdvanceVBE, you can load a software BIOS like the `Scitech Display Doctor' or similar.

The 24 and 32 bit depths are not supported.

6 Application Problems

Some applications are able to use only some common resolutions like 320x240, 400x300, 512x384 and 640x480. Others resolutions may be completely ignored or crash the application.

Others applications may get in trouble if the list of available VBE modes contains duplicate resolutions or is too big. Add only the best modelines and avoid duplicates.

7 Use In Windows

The `vbe' utility is tested and working in Windows 98 with a S3 board. You should only load the SDD utility (if required) and the `vbe' utility in the `autoexec.bat'.

Note that the Windows 16 bit HiColor modes are truly 15 bit VBE modes. So you should create some 15 bits modes in the `vbe.rc'.

Windows notices only the video modes of size 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768 and 1280x1024. Any other mode is ignored.

8 Tests

Doom Legacy with the `s3' driver (http://www.newdoom.com/doomlegacy/)
Duke Nukem 3D with the `s3' driver
Quake 1.0 with the `s3' driver
Windows 98 SE with the `s3' driver

9 Examples

Load it:

vbe /l

Load it with an arbitrary configuration file:

vbe /l /c c:\cab\myconf.rc

Unload it:

vbe /u

You can force a specific vbeline driver adding the `device_video vbeline/DRIVER' option in your configuration file.

For example :

device_video vbeline/vbe3

10 Bugs

The configuration file is checked only for the `device_video_modeline' and `device_video' options. All the other options are ignored.