Windows

Hitman: Codename 47

Edit: I have now solved this problem. If you applied Windows Vista SP-1, or a new version of DirectX 10.1, then you might find that the game's music will not play back correctly anymore, i.e. apart from some weird piano notes in the main menu, everything is silent.

This is because an updated version of the Microsoft Synthesizer introduced a bug that prevents it from correctly loading the DLS soundbanks (instruments) supplied with the game. Therefore, it falls back to the standard GM soundbank of Windows, and music will be broken.

The fix is simply to put an older version of the Microsoft Synthesizer library (dmsynth.dll) in the game's directory (same place where Hitman.exe is located.) I used the version that came with DirectX 9.0c, and it worked fine. However, it's pretty old (2002) and there might be newer versions that work too.

If you don't want to go through the hassle of extracting the file from an old DirectX installer, I already did that for you and uploaded it here:

http://www.4shared.com/file/63015954/d908433e/dmsynth.html

Actually, DirectX 9.0c was the last version before the Vista-exclusive 10 came out. So it should be the newest version available.

Thanks again for this fix!

More on this dll file:

dmsynth.dll v5.3.2600.5512 date April 14 2008 size 103424 bytes (x86)

This came from Windows XP SP3 files. (DMSYNTH.DL_)

This works perfectly, and is the most up-to-date version that worked for me.

This fix is confirmed here, with b192, on Vista SP1, with an Audigy2 ZS (SB0350), with Alchemy off or on.

Again, thanks, for the fix.

And to those engineers at Microsoft who are responsible or ignore this problem, and for this unholy Jihad against legacy software, go die in a fire. I mean it, Microsoft.