AVI issues

[66684a4257cf2CloudLevi]

Every time I try to play the intro or credits to the game, it crashes.

Well, I searched the problem on Google and found -this-: https://www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=473.0

If you read down enough, you'll notice that Kolya's final suggestion was to check if AVIs worked on his computer at all. I did, and they don't. I open one in Windows Media Player 11 and it crashes instantly in exactly the same way.

I decided to dive into my Videos folder because I've -never- seen that problem on this computer before, and exactly as I suspected...the first episode of Battlestar Galactica plays -fine-. Same format.

So...I've come to the conclusion that these AVIs are corrupt or different from modern AVIs in some way.

Anyone know how I can fix them or where I can find new ones?

[66684a4257eb3CloudLevi]

Turns out the files use a weird little codec that most computers don't have. It's on the disk and I installed it, but it does nothing for WMP and causes the game to simply skip them.

Well, at least I don't have to worry about it crashing.

Still...a -real- fix would be very nice.

[66684a425816bvoodoo47]

well..I'm using ddfix (included in ss2tool)+cccp codec pack, and everything works all the time, and I don't even have to install that weird little codec (indeo).

note that the opinions on what kind of codec combo/fix you should use to get ss2 videos working differ quite a bit, so I'm not telling you to install anything-I'm just saying that this has always worked nicely for me.

[66684a4258344Nameless Voice]

AVI files are just a wrapper, the fact that a video is AVI doesn't really mean anything, it's the codecs used inside the AVI which are important.

Are you running a 64-bit OS?  In which case, Windows Media Player will only use 64-bit codecs, and Indeo is only a 32-bit coedc.

The latest (SVN) builds of FFDShow Tryouts include Indeo 5 support, though it's not enabled by default (you need to activate it in the video codec list).  That should get it working in 64-bit players.  If you want to use that to play the videos in SS2/Thief, you'll need to install both the 64-bit and 32-bit versions, and configure both to handle Indeo 5.

[66684a42586daZylonBane]

Turns out the files use a weird little codec that most computers don't have.

That "weird little codec" (Indeo) was actually one of the most popular video codecs available back in the late 90s.

[66684a4258858Timo]

I solved this nasty problem recently.
I did the following:
I converted all cutscenes (using a prog called Media Converter) into mp4.
Then I turned them back into AVI Format.
This procedure made em 64 bit. No more codec-problems.

[66684a425896bZylonBane]

The above statement is nonsensical. There's no such thing as 64-bit video. You turned them into AVI what? As already pointed out, AVI is just a container format.

[66684a4258addKolya]

Likely Timo converted the videos to a codec he had installed on the system.
They came out as *.MP4 files.
A crude hack that surprisingly works is to simply rename the file extensions to *.AVI in this case.

This has nothing to do with "64bit video" of course.

[66684a4258bf1Timo]

I just converted the files into m4 format and then back to avi using a media converter. I didn't rename the files.
The file info told me it's 64 bit now. That's all.
I don't know much about video formats, all I intended to do was to turn old files into new ones to make them work on my machine.
It worked and I thought, somebody out here could have an interest.

[66684a4258cbfTimo]

....mp4.

[66684a4258dd8Kolya]

Yeah well, they ended up encoded with a codec you have got installed now. Which is fine for you, but since every conversion takes some quality out of the already rather small and low quality source videos, this isn't recommended.

Related: SS2 Videos / Cutscenes Guide

[66684a42590ddZylonBane]

I just converted the files into m4 format and then back to avi using a media converter. I didn't rename the files.
The file info told me it's 64 bit now. That's all.

I repeat, there is no such codec as "64 bit". What specific codec did you convert to when creating the AVI? You can't not know this.

[66684a4259227Valorin]

It's me, Timo...

I used a prog called "Media Converter" and told it to convert the origibal SS2 avi files into mp4 format. Then I made the same program turn them back into avi file format. A child could have done this.
I really didn't mess around with codecs. I started this prog, clicked the files and it did all the work.
Since the Converterprog ist not as old as SS2, the AVIs it created are using newer codecs I think.

@Kolya:
There isn't a notable quality loss. Maybe it's there, but I can't see it.

[66684a4259370Nameless Voice]

You can't encode a video without using some form of codec.  Presumably it just used whatever was at the top of the codec list (maybe ran uncompressed?) as you didn't select on manually.  In any event, there should certainly be no grounds for converting to mp4 first.  Just convert straight from the original .avis to .avis using whatever codec you used the last time.

It's still better to get the original videos playing, however.  As I said, FFDShow will play them.  There's also a project in the works (maybe in the next version of the SS2Tool?) which will make the entire problem moot.