Standalone DivX CD: BSPlayer + ffdshow = crash?

Smarties · #1 (**permalink**) 15th April 2005

Hello all,
I have been using BSPlayer for several years and USED to be very active in the forum, but unfortunately had to stop a while ago because of lack of time.
I missed the "ffdshow revolution" (last BSPlayer version I had was still 0.86) and now that I want to use it, I'm stumped...

Problem:
When I want to launch a "standalone CD" (following HWMaker's instructions),
BSPlayer loads the movie but almost immediately causes a Microsoft exception
"BSPlayer.exe has been closed, etc..." and exits. Why?

Background:
I used HWmaker to try and understand how ffdshow is declared, then integrated the resulting files directly into
an existing "pre-burn" CD folder and tried to launch the CD (as a mounted .iso image on a virtual drive).
Before doing that, I uninstalled BSPlayer AND all codecs I had on my computer (to test if the CD is really "standalone").
I replaced all BSPlayer files in the folder with the ones resulting from HWmaker but I am NOT using HWlaunch,
I prefer Compact Disk Autorun(CDA)

Technical information:
* BSplayer version 1.2 Build 817 (February 2005) (only on the CD image, not on HD!)
* Athlon64 2800, ATI Radeon 9700, 1GB RAM DDR-2700, WindowsXP (32bit edition) SP2
* no codecs installed (uninstalled them all, then cleaned the registry)

Folder structure:
[root] contains:
BSPlayer.exe
BSpfilters.dat (for content, see below)
bsrendv2.dll
libavcodec.dll
libmplayer.dll
(several ini files, example see below)
files for CDA autorun (autorun.exe, autorun.inf, autorun.ini) which launches BSPlayer with the command
"BSPlayer.exe [ini file].ini -as[audio stream] -eend -skin=Base"

/Filters contains:
ffdshow.ax
l3codecx.ax

/lang contains:
7 language files (the ones I have subtitles for)

/movie contains:
Mononoke1.avi
Mononoke1.cbf (chapter images made with ChapMaker)

/plugins contains:
oldskin.dll
files for the Winamp plugin "Enhancer 0.17" (dsp_enh.dll + "Enhancer" folder)

/skins contains:
only the files needed for the BASE skin

/subtitles contains:
7 subtitle files in MicroDVD format.

I also have some goodies on CD (trailer, featurette...) in a /goodies folder
and all CDA files (audio, cover...) in a /CDA folder, but those are irrelevant.

Movie-related info:

* video is encoded with DivX 5.21
* audio is CBR MP3 (streams 1 and 2 bitrate 160, stream 3 bitrate 128)
* movie is on 2 CDs (but this is irrelevant as I can't start the first CD)

INI file:
I use 7 ini files, different only in their DefaultSub= line. Example:

[Main]
Version=1.00
NumberCDs=2
CD=1

[Movie]
Title=Princess Mononoke
Directory=Movie
FName=Mononoke1.avi
AudioName1=Japanese
AudioName2=English
AudioName3=French

[Subtitles]
Directory=Subtitles
Sub1=No subtitles|Mononoke_NO.sub
Sub2=Deutsch|Mononoke_DE.sub
Sub3=Fran?§ais|Mononoke_FR.sub
Sub4=Italiano|Mononoke_IT.sub
Sub5=Espa?„ol|Mononoke_ES.sub
Sub6=Polski|Mononoke_PO.sub
Sub7=English|Mononoke_EN.sub
DefaultSub=7

Font=0;Arial;16;1;FFFF00
SubPos=-1
SubDelay=0

[Chapters1]
1=449 1. Opening Credits
2=2747 2. Prince Ashitaka'a Fate
3=23106 3. The Arm Of A Demon
4=26060 4. A New Friend
5=34277 5. The Wolf Gods Attack
6=38529 6. First Sight Of Princess Mononoke
7=42293 7. The Tree Spirits
8=46167 8. A Magical Place
9=52523 9. Returning Home To Iron Town
10=60169 10. The Story Of The Demon Boar
11=65864 11. The Inner Workings Of Iron Town
12=80046 12. San Invades Iron Town
13=97844 13. The Ape Tribe
14=110004 14. The Great Spirit
StartTime=0

[Chapters2]
1=114289 15. The Boars Want A Battle
2=131280 16. Fighting For Iron
3=141711 17. A Warning From The Wolf God
4=152335 18. A Trap Is Set
5=159804 19. Iron Town Is Under Attack
6=168287 20. Many Lives Lost
7=177209 21. Becoming A Demon
8=198324 22. A God, A Demon And A Spirit
9=211707 23. The Great Spirit's Head
10=225849 24. Rejuvenating The Forest
11=231468 25. End Credits
StartTime=114289

[Options]
PanScan=0
FullScreen=1
ExitAtEnd=1
Lang=English
RunHD=0

Note that in effect, I am calling the default subtitle in the .ini file (pity one can't call that parameter in the command line!)
and the default audio stream by launching BSPlayer with the -as[x] switch (as explained above).
I obviously also have these 7 ini files (modified) and BSPlayer files on the second CD but again this is irrelevant for my problem.

Content of bsfilters.dat:

[BSPlayer filter def file]
AddFilter ffdshow.ax,{04FE9017-F873-410E-871E-AB91661A4EF7},FFdshow MPEG-4 Video Decoder
AddFilter l3codecx.ax,{38BE3000-DBF4-11D0-860E-00A024CFEF6D},Fhg MPEG Layer3 decoder

Additional question:
What is the purpose of the following files?
bplay.exe
bspfilters.sam
bsplay.exe
bsplayer.exe.manifest

They are included in the BSPlayer folder upon installation
but according to HWMaker are not necessary to launch as stand-alone...

I guess this post calls for one of the experts ;-)
My opinion is that BSPlayer crashes for improperly loading ffdshow.ax, but I don't know what I did wrong...

Also note that the above setup worked if I did not use the filters. Instead, I had an option to install a codec pack but then I noticed
that BSPlayer would crash with an error about bsrendv2.dll if there wasn't a copy on HD, so the entire thing was pointless :-(
I WANT A CD THAT THE USER CAN JUST POP INTO ANY COMPUTER, AND WATCH THE MOVIE!

Is there any brave soul out there willing to help an "ex-expert turned n00bie" ?
(I feel so embarrassed, I USED to be an expert back in 2001, in the old forum...)

Thanks guys!!
Smarties

---
I must drink beer. Beer is the mind-killer.
Beer is the little drink that brings total oblivion.
I will drink my beer.
I will permit it to pass into me and through me.
And when it has gone through I will turn the one eye to see the bathroom.
Where the beer has gone there will be flushing.
Only the high will remain!

(Freely adapted from The Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear, Frank Herbert, Dune, 1965)

DragonFighter · #2 (**permalink**) 17th April 2005

Oh, hell, that is a really big post! :P

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smarties

I have been using BSPlayer for several years and USED to be very active in the forum, but unfortunately had to stop a while ago because of lack of time.

Yeap, I've lack of time myself. That's why hwmaker project has been stopped for some time now and it stucked in 2.5 buggy version..
However, I'll search the solution for your problem in the next days and if I find something useful, I'll reply here ..

Smarties · #3 (**permalink**) 20th April 2005

DragonFighter, thanks for your reply.

Sorry for the extremely long post, I wanted to make sure that I included everything that was relevant :?

In the meantime, I managed to make things work using the DivX codec instead of ffdshow. So there's no hurry anymore.

My bspfilters.dat now reads:

[BSPlayer filter def file]
AddFilter divxdec.ax,{78766964-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71},DivX Decoder
AddFilter l3codecx.ax,{38BE3000-DBF4-11D0-860E-00A024CFEF6D},Fhg MPEG Layer3 decoder

[Video]
DIVX={78766964-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71},DivX Decoder

[Audio]
0055={38BE3000-DBF4-11D0-860E-00A024CFEF6D},Fhg MPEG Layer3 decoder

I only left the file divx.dll in the main folder and divxdec.ax + l3codecx.ax in the /filters folder. Works fine so far!

This prompts the questions:

1. I still don't understand what was wrong with my ffdshow setup?
2. What is the advantage of using ffdshow.ax over divxdec.ax?