When running my games under XP, the games are slow to load. The problem appears to be that the midi file (the music for the game) is taking a long time to load. It takes approximately 5 seconds or so to load on XP computers. On a Windows 98 computer, however, it loads instantaneously.

I've used the same routines (the mciSendString stuff) for years; the problem just cropped up when I began using them on a XP computer. This has been going on with my games for a long time. I kept hoping I would run across something on this, but I haven't seen anything.

Anyone have any idea what the problem could be?

XP Sucks?

Nah, I dunno, I just wanted to say that :D

I haven't used Midi much lately (used to a bunch tho), but I think XP will load instrument files based on the midi file...which could take a few seconds to load and initialize. This is probably a Midi option (set via the control panel applet).

I'm not positive about this, but it might be worth looking into.
-Scorpio

This CodeProject Article (http://www.codeproject.com/audio/mididemocp.asp) says:
Known bugs in Windows NT, 2000 and XP:
On Windows NT, 2000 and XP the first note of a Midi song is omitted in playing if the song does not begin with a rest of at least a quarter note !! (The Midi sample-files added to the download all begin with a rest)
On Windows NT, 2000 and XP the mciSendString("open...") command is extremely slow
Only on Windows XP mciSendString("open...") gives a stupid error message if the Midi device is occupied by another application. (MCIERR_SEQ_NOMIDIPRESENT instead of MCIERR_SEQ_PORT_INUSE) mciGetErrorString() translates this to "No Midi hardware available or no drivers installed" !!
Not much help I know, but it's a recognized problem.

Originally posted by Wayward
Not much help I know, but it's a recognized problem.

Actually that was very helpful. Thx.

Originally posted by Wayward
On Windows NT, 2000 and XP the mciSendString("open...") command is extremely slow.

Is there a workaround for this. A function that XP likes better?

What's the difference in using the MIDI Stream API and the MCI functions? I've always used the MCI functions, but does XP work better with the MIDI Stream functions?

I'm going to go ahead and try the MIDI Stream API to see if I get better results. I found some information on Microsoft's site, but it doesn't go into any detail. Does anyone know a good online tutorial or sample code? Or a good book?

Using MCI to play MIDI files is bullshit. Much easier to use DirectMusic (Plus they sound the same on every comp, you can specify your own DLS bank, and can loop them without a hickup)

Any disadvantages to using DirectMusic? Everyone seems to like DirectSound, but I tried using it a while back and the wav files were slow to load.

Are there any problems with Direct Music?