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[mmpn]

Hi all,

How i can use binkw32.dll to play bink video on my game?

For Example: BinkStruct BinkOpen(HANDLE mybinkfile,UNIT32 Flags);

for More Info: http://www.multimedia.cx/multimedia-api.txt

Thank's...

[odnorf]

Why do you want to do this?

Bink files are of low quality and (the most important) the use of binkw32.dll in a game is EXPENSIVE.

[metamorphium]

Why do you want to do this?

Bink files are of low quality and (the most important) the use of binkw32.dll in a game is EXPENSIVE.

Excuse me??? What you want to use instead of Bink while Theora is still unusable without xiph making optimizations? Bink is the cheapest
solution to deploy the video in usable quality.

[Mnemonic]

meta: Cheapest compared to what? $6000 isn't exactly indie-friendly price, IMHO.

mmpn: In theory you could write a WME plugin for decoding the Bink video into WME texture, but there are two problems: 1) that way you could only decode video, not sound 2) it would be illegal to use the bink DLL in your product without purchasing license from RAD Game Tools.

[odnorf]

Why do you want to do this?

Bink files are of low quality and (the most important) the use of binkw32.dll in a game is EXPENSIVE.

Excuse me??? What you want to use instead of Bink while Theora is still unusable without xiph making optimizations? Bink is the cheapest
solution to deploy the video in usable quality.

Have you checked for the price for other possibilities?
For divx check here http://www.divx.com/corporate/solutions/request_info.php
Another possibility is Ateme.com which is the company that creates the H264 codec for nero.
You can even contact the xvid team at info@xvid.org to ask for help (according to their faq they can help with hardware licence... so why not with software)

And imo, from what I've seen, Theora has better quality than Bink. It's an ancient codec - just like Theora in that matter but... Check http://www.radgametools.com/bnkhist.htm The only changes they made in years is fixing bugs and add compatibility for various playstation & xbox consoles. The developers are using it only because it's easy to incorporate it in a product & it covers all big game markets (consoles, pcs, macs). But those two reasons are no valid in wme (no multi-platform & theora can't be easier to play and used).

And the use of binkw32.dll is not free even for a free/opensource program. Media Player classic was once using it (if the user had this library) to play bink videos but Gabest (MPC author) got a nice e-mail from Rad Game Tools. Yeah, friendly company.

EDIT: I modified some parts of this post. I hope noone answers at the same time I'm posting 

[metamorphium]

Quality is not an issue. Issue with theora is that video playing rate thanks to non optimized  library drops from 30 to 2 fps and back. It's simply unusable as it's now. None of FMV in destinies works well and that's why we were considering changing to Bink too unless they make theora more optimized (since there was a long silence I don't believe it will be so fast).

Divx was by the time I checked either royalties covered or 15000$ per game. Don't know how it is with other codecs. But basically almost all games using FMV uses Bink and I presume they have a good reason for doing so. I don't buy theories like "stupid developers can't see better possibility". 

[odnorf]

I don't buy theories like "stupid developers can't see better possibility". 

I haven't seen a single game using an optimized ogg vorbis encoder for music/speech. Most of them are using mp3 or some pre 1.0 oggenc.exe build.   So, at least in the matter of music/speech they don't have a clue which makes me wonder about video as well...  Professionals don't know better(tm). 

EDIT: I'm just curious. Have you tried to play those theora files outside of wme? Maybe the problem is with wme impementation and not theora itself. It's just sounds strange because I have tried some theora videos in the last month and I didn't have a problem with them playing outside of wme.

[metamorphium]

I don't buy theories like "stupid developers can't see better possibility". 

I haven't seen a single game using an optimized ogg vorbis encoder for music/speech. Most of them are using mp3 or some pre 1.0 oggenc.exe build.   So, at least in the matter of music/speech they don't have a clue which makes me wonder about video as well...  Professionals don't know better(tm). 

EDIT: I'm just curious. Have you tried to play those theora files outside of wme? Maybe the problem is with wme impementation and not theora itself. It's just sounds strange because I have tried some theora videos in the last month and I didn't have a problem with them playing outside of wme.

The problem with compression is oficially confirmed, Mnemonic has some thread which points to it. You don't play many new games these days don't you?  I actually have very good experience with latest ogg usage in games.

Video stutters outside of WME as well as inside. I think that I will turn to IF games anyway. LOL

[Mnemonic]

This is the thread meta was reffering to: http://lists.xiph.org/pipermail/theora/2005-August/000938.html

[mmpn]

Hi Mnemonic,

If i want use the bink DLL in my product without purchasing license from RAD Game Tools,

How i must do?

[odnorf]

Hi Mnemonic,

If i want use the bink DLL in my product without purchasing license from RAD Game Tools,

How i must do?

I'm afraid you can't do that.  If you want to to use the bink decoder dll then you must purchace it first.