Codec installation mystery.

[tedsmith]

This might be a curly one!
I downloaded the latest Windows Media Player9 and installed it in a WIN98 machine on the internet. It automatically found a codec on the internet by itself to enable it to play MPG4. I included it in my VB6 application. This works fine.

When I made a setup-distrubution disk of the application to install on another computer that is not on the internet, everything worked except it wont play MPG4 files (because the extra codec apparently wasnt automatically included in the distribution disk)

My problem now is how do I identify this extra codec file to include in my distribution disk so I can install it on another machine that is not on the net? How will the new player recognise or find this codec and how do I get it to install the codec? Is there another reason why it wont work?
Any ideas?

 

[TomKane]

Are you using the package and deployment wizard to create your setup disk? - it's usually able to identify dependencies

 

[tedsmith]

yes but it only said that the WMP.DLL file had no dependency info. no mention of the codec file.
How do you identify the codec anyway as it doesnt seem to change the DLL file.

the DLL file doesnt contain all the info for the player,
Windows Media Player has to be installed seperately as well but I cant see anything that looks like a codec file, Maybe it ends up in system?

 

[TomKane]

I suppose that's a start - you may have to look at this from the bottom up - it may be that to get the extra bits you need an additional installation may be required - if you track down this dll to the directory structure that it's in are thre any readme fiels that talk about how to install this stuff on your PC?

 

[Morc]

Hi, a program that can identify codecs is called GSpot and can be downloaded free on the internet from a number of different sites, just do a search for "gspot codec" and you'll find a lot of sites where it can be downloaded. GSpot can tell you information about which codecs you have installed on your system. It also lets you open files, such as your mpeg4 file and tells you which codecs are required in order to play the file.

 

[tedsmith]

Thanks Morc,
Once I have identified what codec I need, how do I install it on a computer that contains my VB application and WMP9 BUT is NOT on the internet? I want to transfer it by disk.

 

[Morc]

Hi, not too sure about how you would deploy it with the actual application, maybe with a batch file, but in GSpot you can find the path of where the codec is installed, ususally system32, and then copy the necessary files onto a disk. The codecs are usually .dll files. You could then copy these from the disk into the new PC's system32 file.
I'm not to up on .dlls but when I've tried installing an application at work and it asks for a .dll that is missing I usually just copy it from a working machine and paste it in the necessary folder and the installation then works.
Hope this helps.

 

[tedsmith]

It doesnt ask for anything and you just cant have only the dll or codec file or whatever in the conputer. The player has to know it needs the file and look for it when it attempts to play the movie.
Very annoying!