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Author Topic: Song Switching?  (Read 6292 times)
ErekLich
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Song Switching?
« on: December 16, 2002, 09:12:44 pm »

I remember hearing there would be a way to choose what songs to play on a race-by-race basis.  Obvioulsy this isn't implememnted just yet, but is there a way I can do it manually?

1) Is it even possible at this point to get a different music file and put it in place of an old one?
2) If so, what format and name would this have to have, and where exactly would I put it?
3) THANKS!
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Re: Song Switching?
« Reply #1 on: December 16, 2002, 09:33:04 pm »

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I remember hearing there would be a way to choose what songs to play on a race-by-race basis.  Obvioulsy this isn't implememnted just yet, but is there a way I can do it manually?

1) Is it even possible at this point to get a different music file and put it in place of an old one?
2) If so, what format and name would this have to have, and where exactly would I put it?
3) THANKS!


Well to do it manually, I would imagine you just replace the current music files for a race with a new one.  The music files are MOD files.  You can find them in these directories:
\The Ur-Quan Masters\content\comm\RACENAME
I'd recommend renaming or backing up the real MOD files before you replace them with something else.  When you bring in a new MOD file, I imagine if you just rename the file to match exactly, it would work.  I could be wrong.  Try it.  If it doesn't work, tell us, unless one of the UQM developers knows for certain.

Ok, I just tested this by renaming the comandr.mod to comandr.bak and then copying the melnorm.mod over to the comandr directory and renaming it comandr.mod  I restarted the game AND ... it seems to work.  It now sounds like the Melnorme trader at the Earth StarBase.  I love that tune.

-PsiPhi
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ErekLich
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Re: Song Switching?
« Reply #2 on: December 16, 2002, 09:39:32 pm »

is the .mod a file format thing, or can I take a .wma or .mp3 I have and rename it .mod?
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Re: Song Switching?
« Reply #3 on: December 16, 2002, 11:02:04 pm »

.mod (and .xm, .it, .s3m, and others just so you know) are (and based off of) the Amiga module music file.  They're similar to midis except they come with their own samples in the file.  A specialized player is required to play them (though they're pretty easy to find).  They're entirely different files from .mp3's, .wma's, .ogg, and others; those are recordings.  Since the game likely has an internal .mod player to play those mods, renaming an .mp3 file to a .mod file or something similar would probably jack the game all to pieces.
« Last Edit: December 16, 2002, 11:02:45 pm by Arrow » Logged
ErekLich
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Re: Song Switching?
« Reply #4 on: December 17, 2002, 12:12:08 am »

Drat.  I guess I'll just have to wait for them to implement the remixes in-game...

where might I get a program to convert a fiel to a .mod?
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Re: Song Switching?
« Reply #5 on: December 17, 2002, 12:49:30 am »

You can't just do a straight MP3 to MOD conversion.
You could, in theory, convert an MP3 to a MOD, but it's really pointless. You would have to convert the MP3 to a WAV (which would be something like 30 to 50 mB in size) and then create a MOD with the WAV as the only instrument.

It seems to me that the in-game MOD player can't decently play any MODs more advanced than the original ones. I converted some 8-channel XMs with 16-bit samples to MODs and they sounded terrible in the game.
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ErekLich
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Re: Song Switching?
« Reply #6 on: December 17, 2002, 04:56:54 am »

Anyone know how they plan to implement song switching?

will the remixes also be .mod files, or will other formats be supported eventually?
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Re: Song Switching?
« Reply #7 on: December 17, 2002, 07:40:50 am »

The remixes will definitely not be .mod; I'm positive.  More than likely, they'll be .mp3 or .ogg (wanna confirm that norg?).  When it comes, I'm sure they'll code all around player capabilities in the spots .mod's are reserved for right now or else the remixes wouldn't work either, but that basically means you won't be able to switch .mp3's in place of .mods until the final, or whichever version the remixes potentially get plastered on with.
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ErekLich
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Re: Song Switching?
« Reply #8 on: December 17, 2002, 07:44:10 am »

Yay!  Time for the Exultant Caper of Revelation!

I'll just eagerly await the musical parts of this project...

Thanks Norg and all others!
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Re: Song Switching?
« Reply #9 on: December 17, 2002, 09:11:39 pm »

once the remixes are finished, they will be released with the game in the .ogg format, as .ogg is one of those lovely open source options and, therefore, easy to use by the guys doing the port.

as far as i am aware, only one of the remixes has been done as a mod-style format (.XM if i remember correctly) but that may get scrapped and remixed anyway).

converting a .MP3 song to a .MOD song is more like converting an apple to a sombraro.  the two formats are so worlds different from each other it's almost impossible to think of trying to convert them.

mod music was made up by triggering digital samples in sequence at a specified time using a program called a "tracker", whereas .MP3 is pretty much finalized audio compressed.

i'm sure i could come up with a better description than that but i'm sleepy. (:
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Re: Song Switching?
« Reply #10 on: December 17, 2002, 09:59:41 pm »

Silly hunams,

Just drop a file called, say "urquan.ogg" into, say,  "content/comm/urquan" and the game will automagically load an OGG file in deference to a MOD file if one exists.  (this is how the solar system music works already)  If you want it to only load MOD files, run the game with the --pcmusic switch.  No fuss, no muss.

My Ur-Quan now enslave races to the tune of some super-happy Japanese pop.  Really takes the game to a whole new level..  Smiley

If you have no OGG files, just head over to <http://www.vorbis.com/download.psp> and score yourself an encoder.  For all you Win32 fans out there I highly recommend OggDrop, it's about as easy to use as they come..
« Last Edit: December 17, 2002, 10:18:05 pm by Nic. » Logged
ErekLich
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Re: Song Switching?
« Reply #11 on: December 18, 2002, 07:54:50 am »

OggDrop is giving me headaces...

I tried my mp3s and .wmas (yes I use Windows Media player, leave me alone about it!) and they did nothing.  Then Nic. told me it only works on .wav files!  So since I don't have Realplayer to convert them, I decided to test OggDrop before I d/l REalplayer.  So I copy the Androsynth secondary weapon and drop IT onto OggDrop.  What it spits out is a .txt that says this:

C:\Documents and Settings\Eric\Desktop\2\secondary.wav : WAV file is unsupported subformat (must be 44.1kHz/16bit, this is 22.050000/8bit, mono)

HELP!
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Re: Song Switching?
« Reply #12 on: December 18, 2002, 09:46:33 am »

Yeah, OggDrop is basically a cute GUI wrapper around oggenc, which is pretty limited in what it can accept as an input file (namely, 44,100kHz/16-bit/little-endian PCM files) so it's ease-of-use comes with a fairly big caveat..

If you need a more general-purpose editor/converter, take a gander at Audacity; I will personally vouch for it's ability to export MP3 files as WAV and OGG, I have no idea if it can handle WMAs, however..  (don't have any)
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ErekLich
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Re: Song Switching?
« Reply #13 on: December 18, 2002, 10:13:13 am »

Happy days and Jubilation!

Audacity indeed works wonders on mp3s.  Regrettably, it won't work for .wma files, but so it goes.

Anyone know where the "non-conversation" music is at?

i.e. all the conversations are in The UrQuan Masters/content/comm/racename , but where is the rest of the music kept?
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Re: Song Switching?
« Reply #14 on: December 18, 2002, 10:33:02 am »

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Happy days and Jubilation!

Gentle blobbie, please calm yourself.  I act solely out of largesse. Rewards are unneccesary.  Smiley

Quote
Anyone know where the "non-conversation" music is at?

i.e. all the conversations are in The UrQuan Masters/content/comm/racename , but where is the rest of the music kept?

The in-game music (Hyperspace, orbit, etc.) is in content/lbm

Does anybody have an idea what "lbm" stands for?  It looks like a "junk-drawer" directory, so naturally I'm curious as to why it's not called "foo"  Grin
« Last Edit: December 18, 2002, 10:36:10 am by Nic. » Logged
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