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View Full Version : Another music format...



Rydia
12-24-2004, 12:20 AM
I was wondering if two more file formats could be added to ZC/ZQ. Them being .usf (N64) and .gsf (Gameboy Advance). They could be added to the quest like midis, and the filesize of the quest wouldn't suffer because the files are 2KB and below. They would be nice additions to it I think.

*b*
12-24-2004, 12:24 AM
yeah, that would be a good addition. I would love to use the Minish Cap's music in ZQuest

Dart Zaidyer
12-24-2004, 07:43 PM
Wow, they're really that small?
Curious, I've never heard of these formats before...

I think the trouble lies in coding a playback emulator for Allegro. Even the SPC playback has problems right now, and I can't begin to imagine how many ways one can bug up an N64 or GBA playback engine.

fatcatfan
12-25-2004, 08:44 PM
If sound system emulator code for those formats is available in portable C/C++ format, then adding it would be fairly easy. Doesn't mean it'd happen.

Ganonator
12-26-2004, 07:16 PM
I'm curious, fcf. Does sound modulation use multiple threading? Playing a sound would block the process if run conventionally.

(programming question)

fatcatfan
12-27-2004, 09:46 AM
Allegro takes care of the "threading" of sound output. Offhand, I'm not certain if it is true threading or just part of the main loop that calls an "update sound" routine every frame. Our part of the sound code *is* the sort that polls and updates each frame, but I'm not sure what Allegro does with it from there.

Dart Zaidyer
12-27-2004, 04:16 PM
What does Allegro play the sound through in the Windows version? My motherboard's onboard sound has a serious problem with whatever it is, because it will cut out and refuse to play any more sound through that particular channel if I play ZC long enough. This effectively mutes everything but midi and the occasional program that somehow uses a completely different channel, which is not vulnerable to this glitch.
This happens to me with various other programs, such as Jedi Knight, so it's not just ZC.



Anyway, in reference to the usf/gsf idea, it seems that you need a "library" file for each game in order for the music file to work. That's how they get to be 1 or 2 kb... The rest of the data is stored in the library, which can easily be 600 kb to 1 meg. I suppose you could divide it up... The usf/gsf could be part of the quest, and the library file would work much like Alt. Music does now.