Bypassind DirectX sound

Bypassing DirectX sound

Some sound devices may have problems to use the default sound setting of Four Winds according to which the sound effects are played by using the Windows multimedia sub system, and the background music and the win of the game tune by using the DirectShow sub system (part of DirectX). This may appear e.g. as sudden slowdown of the whole system ( the problem typically continues even if you quit Four Winds and can only be fixed by rebooting the machine).

If you encounter this problem, you can try if bypassing DirectX as the sound system for the background music and win of the game tune helps. When DirectX is bypassed, the same system (Windows multimedia module) is used to handle all sounds (wave files and MIDI files). Note that when DirectX is bypassed, you can only use .MID files (MIDI files) as background music and the win of the game tune. DirectX supports several other formats, as well (e.g., .WAV, .AIF, and .MP3 files). Accordingly, you should disable DirectX sound only if you encounter problems with the default dual sound system. Also, as the problem is caused by an error in ths sound card driver, it is recommended that you first check for an updated driver from your manufacturer's web site and see if that corrects the problem, and use this setting only if nothing else helps.

To bypass DirectX sound (or to enable DirectX sound):

Choose Preferences on the File menu.
Choose General under the User Interface section in the category tree of the Preferences dialog box.
Click the Bypass DirectX sound box to enable or disable this feature.

Note: You must exit Four Winds and start it again before the setting takes effect.