A plugin to change the music?

[Amon_Knives]

I was wondering while reading some of these threads, that I wonder if it is possible to create a plugin so you can change the music like retexturing can change the textures. Like for Zelda OOT, ever since it cam out, hundreds of symphonies have created orchestrated music from that game and it would be awsome to make it add to the whole high of the game. Mind you, it should only be used for good (no rob zombie in Mario 64 :yucky: ).

 

[Kid A]

no rob zombie in Mario 64

Why not??? . It would be a great such a plugin with thouse features.

 

[optimus$prime]

changing the music would be great
there is a soundtrack cd of zelda oot which is played by an orchestra

sounds excellent :bouncy:

http://www.altpop.com/stc/reviews/lozooths.htm

 

[cloudscapes]

Probably not possible.
I think it uses a combination of MOD and MIDI. It's not as simple as expecting a full MP3 or WAV track to play.

 

[Amon_Knives]

but we can dream.

 

[M Cubed]

I've never understood why it was so difficult for the person to play the sound file on their PC WHILE playing the rom.....

 

[Amon_Knives]

I've never understood why it was so difficult for the person to play the sound file on their PC WHILE playing the rom.....

Would you want to start John Cena's music on windows media player every time his ring entrance came on?

 

[JMPIV4]

But think it needs to be in the game code already.
Could Still disable music/sound and load an external file and played through plugin.

 

[optimus$prime]

Probably not possible.
I think it uses a combination of MOD and MIDI. It's not as simple as expecting a full MP3 or WAV track to play.

but it's also possible to use 32bit png for color indexed bmps.

there is a doom port called jdoom (doomsday engine) where you can use oggs instead of original midi

 

[Kamran]

"there is a doom port called jdoom (doomsday engine) where you can use oggs instead of original midi"

Yes, you're right. But that was only possible because Doom source code was released to public. With the source code in hand, a programmer can disable, change or replace entire original resources with completely new ones. Or rewrite some parts of code to support an entirely new sound / graphics format. Changing music / sounds for a N64 game might not be that easy without having the source code for that particular game.

But I still don't believe it's impossible. Some games make use of streaming music (MP3, Bad Fur Day) instead of sequenced music (MIDI, Super Mario 64). There might just be a way to play external tracks instead of original ones.

 

[rpg]

it actually wouldn't be that hard. all you would have to do is catch the BGM sound calls and trigger the respecting external audio file to play. It may be a little difficult for games that use crossfades such as during a decisive battle in Zelda, but for a talented programmer who knows the N64 audio subsystem it shouldn't be hard.

 

[Sage Of Time]

Probably not possible.
I think it uses a combination of MOD and MIDI. It's not as simple as expecting a full MP3 or WAV track to play.

Actually, a lot of N64 titles used WAV and MP3 format for their music.
Not to say a plugin for this would be any easier, but still.

 

[DeathFox007]

Who knows, maybe in a year or two it might become real. The concept behind the new graphic plugin was discussed years ago but it wasnt until now that it became a reality. Or Jabo might return and surprise us w/ a new sound plugin w/c does this

 

[spork9]

why is this in the hires section?

 

[Amon_Knives]

why is this in the hires section?

Do you see a better section for this? It basically follows the same basics this hires section started as. Change one thing and make it another. Maybe if they ever make a plugin that can do this , it will have it's own section.

 

[jdsony]

It's a neat idea but would be difficult. A much easier solution would be to replace the samples with better ones. Most of the N64 games use a midi style format with all the samples contained within the rom (some games use full recorded music such as twisted edge snowboarding, SF Rush, 1080 snowboarding, Tony Hawk etc.). Any of the really good games use midi style music. Conker in fact uses MP3 just for the voices and the RARE games would be a nightmare to replace the music with WAV/MP3's because of all the subtle changes and variations that happen through each area.

It would be much more difficult to replace the audio samples and still remain faithful to the game but it would be fun. One of my favorite things about the N64 was the audio. Lot's of people complained about the N64 having Sh***y audio which was true for some of the games but others could really shine and fit the mood of the game much better than most Playstation games. A large number of Playstation games also used samples for the games but the quality wasn't always up to par and I'm not sure the reason behind that. Not having a dedicated sound chip was the main drawback for the system and is probably the reason why not all the games had good sound. The GBA has the same problem and forces the developer to balance graphics and sound a lot more than they should have to.

 

[jdsony]

Actually another cool thing would be to actually edit the music's code. Some of this doesn't fit in with the emulator's purpose of emulating a game correctly but it opens new doors to changing games much like has been going on with NES/SNES games for years. The one nice thing about the retexture project is that it doesn't make any changes to the ROM which is great because we don't end up with hundreds of hacked roms.


Now how long until we get a Mario 64 with some extra polygons between his legs?

 

[isantop]

Maybe taking a different approach would be prudent.

What if there were a plugin that routed all MIDI signals from a MIDI game like Zelda to the OS's default MIDI playback device? Since this (seems like it) is as simple as replacing textures stored on the hard drive, just more CPU intensive. This would allow users to play the MIDI audio back through their soundcard or softsynth, and allow them to use a different sound font for the instruments, thus potentially vastly increasing the quality of games with MIDI -based audio (I would guess about 40-60% of the N64 game library) while indeed remaining true to the original game.

I could see there being problems with CPU usage, especially if the user is using a softsynth, but it seems technically possible.

Mind you, I don't have any experience with ROM/Emu hacking, I'm just good at playing games and using MIDI.

 

[Thommo]

This is the ultimate issue isn't it, once something becomes plausible the talk of change comes into play....Mario with an added in penis (lol but god no) and rob zombie music in Mario 64....stuff that obviously doesn't fit anywhere at all and is just included for the sake of it....now I'm all for this fabled "music changer plugin" but only if it is used properly....like for exampled cleaned up and orchestrated versions of the original music...basically only if it does for the audio what texture plugin and packs do for the graphics.

I believe in theory it should be more than possible (and feasible) to do this plugin as if it's possible to do it for the graphics then why not the audio equivalent ? It's basically the same principle.....

 

[mode7]

look here

http://www.emutalk.net/showthread.php?t=47252

well, I didn't contacted him, I was too busy with my other work - but if you are so much interested, perhaps he could help,