From:	"Damian Yerrick" <web DOT poison AT pineight DOT 8m DOT com>
Newsgroups:	comp.games.development.programming.misc,comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject:	Re: A choking start for DPMI
Date:	Fri, 8 Oct 1999 17:17:44 -0500
Organization:	Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
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Ben Davis <ben AT vjpoole DOT freeserve DOT co DOT uk> wrote in message
news:7tj2lg$n15$1 AT news7 DOT svr DOT pol DOT co DOT uk...
> I've written a rather hyperactive game using DJGPP
> and Allegro, in DOS.

Is it as insane as my Insane Game, part of DOSArena?
http://come.to/yerrick

> Naturally it uses DPMI, which involves disk-swapping.
> The trouble is, when the program first starts, it freezes
> as the computer accesses the hard-disk.
> Having already started playing some digitised music,

I assume that by "digitised music" you mean a wave file
that has been tightly compressed by a lossy algorithm.

> it causes the sound to crackle a lot.

Heck, even the lowly DOSArena crackles under Windows
98 on my laptop's sound subsystem.

> I would like to know if there is a way of causing all disk-
> swapping to happen before the game displays any graphics

Not even the "Loading... so get over it" graphic?
set_gfx_mode() should almost always immediately follow
allegro_init() because it gives you a chance to see if the
system even supports graphics, as many environments
(e.g. MSVC) don't support printf().

> or makes any sound. If I need to specify all the
> variables which must be in physical memory,
> then I can do it. However, being new to DPMI and
> especially the function names in DJGPP,

You're also using Allegro. Look up LOCK_FUNCTION()
and LOCK_VARIABLE(). Those are portable shortcuts
to whatever those functions are called on your platform.

> I need some help. Any ideas?
>
> Ben Davis


Try this:

Put an init_foo() function in each of your source files. Have
main() call them; this will load each portion of your program
into memory.  Only play your MP3s after all the init_*()
functions have been called.


Damian Yerrick
http://come.to/yerrick

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