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 substitutes the original VBE BIOS of your video board.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 five VBE modes with 8, 15, 16, 24, 32 bits are added.
3 Options
These are the command line options supported:| /l |
| Load in memory the utility |
| /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 isn't supported. This makes the program useless for 16 bit applications.
- The VBE 3.0 standard isn't supported.
- The VBE protect mode interface isn't supported. Anyway, protect 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. It's a limitation of the DPMI support not resolvable.
- If used with CWSDPMI all the XMS memory is allocated. It's a limitation of CWSDPMI. Anyway, the memory is available through the DPMI services.
- It doesn't 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. 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 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 |
