Request: Make bbMPEG tab configurable

[daxab]

@dvd2svcd

One of the things I like the most about DVD2SVCD is that you can configure it. In addition to the finalize tab -- very cool -- you can also modify the tools called at various steps -- very very cool. So, for instance, I have an app that I run in the image creation tab that modifies the .xml file (deletes the PBC block, as has been discussed at length elsewhere) and then calls vcdxbuild as usual. Works like a charm.

I was going to play with modifying the bbMPEG tab too, when DVD2SVCD complained and wouldn't let me do it. You can change the program in that tab, but apparently it must point to something named RunBBMPEG.exe.

Any reason for this restriction? I'm guessing it's so people don't inadvertently point it to bbMPEG itself, which won't work because it needs to be run within the RunBBMPEG app. Would you consider relaxing this restriction?

[Linux]

One solution is to make a wrapper app that is named RunBBMPEG.exe that exectutes what you want.

I made one because RunBBMPEG crashed every time the mux was done for me. I discoverd that when i executed RunBBMPEG in a debugger wrapper(strace from cygwin) it did not crash. So my wrapper executes the debugger that starts RunBBMPEG which does it's job.

I wrote my wrapper in C and compiled it in cygwin.

By the way, my debugger did not actually work since it are only able to debug program that are compiled in the cygwin enviroment.

[daxab]

Yes, good idea. I will do that. I still want to run RunBBMPEG (the standard version), I just want to preprocess the .ini file a little first.

[daxab]

Well, I tried it and it doesn't work. DVD2SVCD (1.0.6 build 2 pre 1) complains:

You are using the wrong version of bbMPEG.dll. Please download the proper version from...

[Linux]

Did you repeat all the parameters sent to runbbmpeg on the command line?

[daxab]

Okay, I copied the bbMPEG.dll file into the directory of my replacement executable, and now it's willing to execute my program.

Yes, I am giving the real RunBBMPEG all the parameters it got -- which is just one, the .ini file.

Now what it does is stop when the real RunBBMPEG is run, seeming to wait for user input. I think I'm going to give up at this point unless I hear something from dvd2svcd.

[daxab]

Update: I take it back! The bbMPEG tag is actually perfectly customizable as it stands. You just need to be careful how you do it. Once again I am impressed with the flexibility of this program. Kudos to dvd2svcd.

Here are my tips based on my experiments getting a replacement RunbbMPEG to work. I'm sure dvd2svcd could clarify this, but I think this is mostly correct:[list=1]
The replacement program must be named "RunbbMPEG.exe".
The program should call the real RunbbMPEG.exe after it finished doing what it has to do. I don't know if this is strictly necessary, but it's certainly a relatively straightforward way to do things. Otherwise you have to mimic the operation of RunbbMPEG.
The directory where the program is located should contain an exact copy of the file "bbMPEG.dll" found in the C:/Program Files/DVD2SVCD/bbMPEG directory. This point is usually moot because...
The best place for the replacement program might be the C:/Program Files/DVD2SVCD/bbMPEG directory. The reason for this is that DVD2SVCD creates a .ini file in the directory where RunbbMPEG is located. If this location is changed, things may not work. It's probably possible to get them to work by judicious copying of the .ini file, but an easier approach is to just reside in the place where DVD2SVCD expects. For this to work you'll need to rename or relocate the real RunbbMPEG.exe, and then call the renamed/relocated file.
Finally, there are two bbMPEG .ini files involved in the mux&cut step: "default.ini", created in the C:\Program Files\DVD2SVCD\bbMPEG directory, and "bbMPEG Movie Settings.ini", created in the target directory. I don't know the exact relation between these two, but if you're going to get into this you need to pay attention to both of these (I think).
[/list=1]Why would you want to do any of this anyway? Only if you have some special requirements for how the muxing is done. For >99% of users DVD2SVCD will mux perfectly right out of the box.