dosbox switching to fullscreen breaks VMS device

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Posts: 8
Joined: 20 Ago 2017 - 18:22
dosbox switching to fullscreen breaks VMS device

Hi,

this one is very odd. When I switch dosbox-0.74 (default config)  to full screen, it breaks virtualmidisynth's output device.
No further output is possible from any other program trying to use the midi device.

virtualmidisynth 2.4  (also with 2.3.x, did not try older versions)  one device configured  / unmodified dosbox version 0.74
windows 10 (1709)   and windows 7

1. install dosbox
2. start dosbox / verify in about dialog that dosbox is connected to VMS device 
3. swith to fullscreen using ALT + ENTER  and than close dosbox  by typing  'exit'

4. start any other program that uses virtualmidisynth. No MIDI music will play. Mixer does show notes being played though
you'll also see number of voices 'played' rapidly increasing to 500  (default VMS config)
see screenshot

5. change output device in options dialog to recover

Attachments (Only registered users)
2018-05-25 15_24_00-CoolSoft VirtualMIDISynth - 2.4.0.png
Posts: 1972
Joined: 25 Mar 2012 - 01:19
Re: dosbox switching to fullscreen breaks VMS device

Have a look here:
https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=32546

It seems very similar to your issue...

Posts: 8
Joined: 20 Ago 2017 - 18:22
Re: dosbox switching to fullscreen breaks VMS device

Digital sound (dosbox) is still ok, only MIDI sound played by VMS is affected.

The problem seems to be Intel Display Audio device (HDMI connection).
It looks like this device is unavailable for a short time or reinitialized if screen resolution changes.
This does not happen using any other Audio device (i.e. head phones )

Changing dosbox option fullresolution to desktop  in dosbox.conf  prevents this.

Now we could argue if this is an Intel driver or bass.dll issue  ;)

Posts: 1972
Joined: 25 Mar 2012 - 01:19
Re: dosbox switching to fullscreen breaks VMS device

I've already opened a thread on Un4seen forum about a very similar issue (related to Windows default device change):
https://www.un4seen.com/forum/?topic=17966.0

Maybe you could also join there and "support" it ;)