Documentation of the AdvanceCAB vbe32 utility.
1 Synopsis
vbe32 [/l] [/c CONFIG]
2 Description
The `vbe32` utility is a 32 bit TSR (Terminate Stay Resident) VBE BIOS that completely replaces the original VBE BIOS of your video board.
It allows you 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 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 modes. For every modeline five VBE modes with 8, 15, 16, 24 and 32 bits are added.
3 Options
These are the command line options supported:
| /l |
| Load the utility in memory |
| /c CONFIG |
| Use an arbitrary configuration file |
4 Cards
The program supports all the `svgaline` drivers listed in the `carddos.txt` file.
5 Limitations
- The VBE 1.2 standard is not supported. This makes the program useless for 16 bit applications.
- The VBE 3.0 standard is not supported.
- The VBE protected mode interface is not supported. However, protected mode programs should be able to use the VBE real mode interface.
- It uses a lot of conventional memory. Approx 200 kbyte.
- It cannot be unloaded. This is a limitation of the DPMI support and cannot be resolved.
- If used with CWSDPMI all the XMS memory is allocated. This is a limitation of CWSDPMI. However, the memory remains available through the DPMI services.
- It does not work in Windows NT/2000/XP.
6 Application Problems
Some applications are able to use only some common resolutions like 320x240, 400x300, 512x384, 640x480 and 800x600. Other resolutions may be completely ignored or crash the application.
Other 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 Tests
Doom Legacy with a GeForce 2 board (http://www.newdoom.com/doomlegacy/)
Duke Nukem 3D with a GeForce 2 board
8 Examples
Load it:
vbe32 /l |
Load it with an arbitrary configuration file:
vbe32 /l /c c:\cab\myconf.rc |
9 Bugs
The configuration file is checked only for the `device_video_modeline` options. All the other options are ignored.
