It is something with Windows Media Foundation loading the WMA file. That is what the callstack says. Doing a web search for the HRESULT listed in the exception, I came across references to MF_MEDIA_ENGINE_ERR_SRC_NOT_SUPPORTED. Have you tried playing the WMA on the problem PC on its own? Try to play it through Media Player on that PC.
Ah perhaps, he did say his version of windows is Premium N. So he won’t even have Media Player on the PC!
I (probably) do not have Windows Media Player installed; .WMA plays fine in WinAmp (in_dshow.dll Plugin) and Audacity.
Does SharpDX rely on any PARTICULAR Windows resources to process .wma files?
Sounds are converted to .xnb format, that might be the reason why those work… is there a way to do the same with a background music and play that .xnb as Song ?
Would be interested in what format or content build to make music cross platform friendly.
Music and sounds is not something I have got to yet.
Maybe one day they will add .OGG support. Until then… before I ever think of cross-platform stuff, I have to make sure that it all works on Windows.
I don’t really know why people request MonoGame… doesn’t compile on x86 machines anymore, and the internet is full of frustrating posts about it, while other Frameworks seem so much easier and bug-free-er. Maybe they all want to port their stuff to Xbox later?
The DirectX version of MonoGame uses Windows Media Foundation to play streaming music. This depends on the Media Player framework being installed. I believe Media Player can be installed separately on those systems.
If you don’t want to do that, the other option is to use the OpenGL version of MonoGame (DesktopGL). This uses another approach to play streaming music that does not depend on the Media Player framework being installed.
Windows N miss some codecs.
You need to install the Media Feature Pack.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=16546
I think the problem really was the Media Player and associated stuff. From a clean install, first installed Service Pack 1, then VB libraries 4.6, then tested and it did not work. Then after installing Win7 x86 Media Pack (KB968211), the background music played normally.
My thanks to you all, and especially to @KonajuGames who pointed me in the right direction… 