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Topics - Goku7

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1
OK, so I recently started playing FF8pc again (my fiance finally gave me my pc version discs back after she bought the ps1 version), and now I find out that something's seriously borked:

The .SGT files are not looping properly.  At all.  Instead of looping where they are supposed to, they are all looping from the start of the song.

So I figured, OK, maybe the loop point itself was changed or erased during whatever edits I made in DirectMusic Producer.  Checking the files in DMP indicated that the loop point data is intact -- but the problem seems to have spread beyond FF8, as every time I hit play in the program, it starts from the beginning of the song.  Something, somewhere is telling it to ignore the current timestamp/position indicator and start from the beginning.  As far as I know, no such option is set in the program.

As someone who has a decent amount of experience using .sgt files and DirectMusic, I declare that I AM STUMPED. :?
My Specs:

P4 1.5Ghz
512 MB DDR RAM
Win98SE
3Dfx Voodoo5 5500 AGP
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
Maxi-Sound Fortissimo (Hardware XG-MIDI chip, uses YMF744 chipset)
DirectX 9.0c (with the Nov. 2007 minor update)

Reinstalling DX9 doesn't seem to fix the problem.  I'm considering reinstalling an earlier DX version (Probably 8.0/8.1), but I have a feeling that that may not work, as DirectMusic hasn't really gone through that many changes since DX8.

2
Man, it's been a long, LONG time since I've actually released something. :lol:

Linkage here: The AWEsome Patch (Size:87.1kb)

Anyway, this is my first FF7-releated MIDI release.  It is aimed at those who have SF2-compatible soundcards and are having stability issues with FF7music that they can't seem to fix.  It is also somewhat inspired by this thread here, in which Zaphod77 began an attempt at fixing some of the sequencing errors in the MIDI files.  In fact, this release builds on some of the work he did in that thread, and I give him credit for the files of his that I incorporated in this patch.

What it does
As the name implies, its an update for the midi files in the AWE.lgp file, that fixes the midi files there to sound more like the PSFs by using more intelligent sample choices from the game's FF7.sf2 file, as well as other notation tricks and fixes. 8-)  Loop point data is intact as well, so they will loop seamlessly.

Which files are updated
This is a short, but good, list for a first release.  Fighting, Still More Fighting, Victory Fanfare, J E N O V A, Electric de Chocobo and Under the Rotting Pizza have been updated in this version.  Future releases will attempt to fix more songs, should they need to be fixed.  I have the PSFs, so doing A/B comparisons isn't a problem.   :-D

How to install it
The MIDI files included in the zip file are for those who want to patch the awe.lgp file manually using LGP Tools, and the .exe file is the autopatcher for those to just want to point/click/install/play.  They also serve as a handy way of previewing the new midi data without installing the patch.  Just make sure to load FF7.sf2 into bank 1 (not bank 0) of your soundfont device before playing.  Also, be sure to go into the MIDI tab in the config program and select "SoundFont MIDI (AWE32/64)" under "MIDI Data", in order to make sure you're using the new data.

Using the EAX Preset
I've included a tweaked version of Samuel's FF8 EA Preset, that should be compatible with Audigy2 cards.  Unless I've fundamentally misunderstood how to export EAX presets, then this should work.  Do the following to use it:

1. On the EAX tab, click ENABLE AUDIO EFFECTS, if EAX sounds are currently off.

2. Click CUSTOM, then click EDIT.

3. A new window should appear.  Click the IMPORT ENVIRONMENT icon, go to where you extracted "PSX Reverb.aup" to, and select it.

4. The new Environment setting should now be added to the selectable list of custom effects.  Close the window and click CUSTOM (or to ENVIRONMENT and then back to CUSTOM to refresh the list), and PSX Reverb should now be listed.  Select it and enjoy!

Questions, Comments, Suggestions?
As this is a first release, I'm eager to hear some feedback.  Try it out and let me know what you think.

Also, I have no webhosting of my own, so I'm currently doing the ghetto thing and putting it on Mirex' Public Trashbin (No offense to Mirex of course.  :-P)  Anyone who is willing to put up a mirror of this is welcome to, just let me know that you are so I can update the links in this post.

3
General Discussion / FF5 + Satriani =This!
« on: 2007-06-05 16:50:37 »
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01wPCacTWZk

 :-o :-D

Based on this + some of his other stuff, I'd say give this man a recording contract. NOW!

4
Alrighty, here's what happens when you actually bother to kick yourself in the arse to go and update something. :wink:

Demo mp3 alert!
OLD VERSION :|

NEW VERSION :-D

As you can tell, I've just gone over the FF9 boss theme a bit (yet, its STILL not perfect - so its still being tweaked).....anyway, questions?  Comments?  Death threats over why the hell I haven't made ANY new public releases of stuff in the past 3 years? :roll:

5
This is a train of thought I had earliear today on the subject.  Now, seeing as how I've only read about the crashes and never experienced them myself, I'm guessing I may have missed a few facets of these inexplicable bugs, and in that case, point 'em out.  Or, if you think you see a promising angle on a feasible solution/explanation, point it out. :P

Now, to begin:

We know the usual suspects for movie scene crashes -- improper codecs, bad/corrupt CDs, bad/corrupt optical drives, etc. These standard solutions sometimes don't work, and its frustrating when that happens.

And the more I think about it, the more I suspect that the Cosmo observatory, Junon Elevator, and (in roastbeefsally's case) Cloud's Mind crash scenes when the normal solutions have proven to be ineffective, are manifesting due to some incompatibility between the video card drivers, XP, and the way DX5 handled scenes with both 3D models and an FMV playing simultaneously.  Think about it for a second -- nearly every major movie crash scene has an instance of in-game models being drawn on top of the movie. Direct3D and DirectShow routines are more or less being run simultaneously.

It's as if DirectShow5 and Direct3D5 are fighting for primary (and possibly exclusive) control of the primarly drawing surface, or are trying to cooperate in a way that uses the hardware at a level which the newer WinNT kernal forbids (think along the lines of old-school techniques like Direct Hardware Access that are no-no for windows NT).

Now, there may be another angle -- from what I've seen, very little PC games these days try to use movie playback as a background to render 3D objects on top of, let alone animate them.  If anything, its either movie playback, or 3D rendering, but not both simultaneously.  Perhaps graphics driver programmers, upon following the trend away from simultaneous movie playback + 3D rendering scenario's in games, have decided to phase out a significant amount of support for doing it?

And then, finally, there's the whole thing about DX5 code being looked on as uber-legacy programming from the modern driver-developer's perspective these days.  I highly doubt that they are concerned with keeping 100% support for old DX5 programming routines, so their drivers may have acculmulated an FF7-killing bug here or there that may be indirectly caused by whatever generic legacy support for DX5 routines they have programmed in. :roll:

6
Ok, so far I've really only looked through xg.lgp, but I think it's safe to assume these two files are in the other MIDI datasets as well (ygm, AWE, and MIDI.lgp).

Yes, I'm well aware that comical.mid is unused, and that practically NOBODY has any idea why they kept it in there.  That file, though, is not what I'm talking about.

It's these two files:  "fin.mid" (file 33), and "oa.mid" (file 58).

Ok, the first one -- "fin.mid".  It appears to be the musical score from the ending FMV, in MIDI format.  As we know, the PC version has the score from the PSX version built-in to the audio track of the PC FMV version.  So it begs the question:  WHY?  It's redundant!  :P

Same thing with the first minute or so of "oa.mid", before it jumps into the bombing mission music.  The first part of it is the MIDI version of the musical accompaniment of the opening FMV.  Again, it's practically never used or heard in-game, though the latter part of it is -- it IS definitely the bombing music track file that is used in the beginning, as opposed to it just using ob.mid (which is just the bombing mission music -- this track, I believe, is used for the rest of the times in the game when this music plays).

I would imagine that the first part of oa.mid is actually played simultaneously with the FMV, just muted.  Then, with some accurate timing, they fade in the already-playing MIDI file (via the program's internal volume control, I'm guessing), right as the FMV's backround music ends, giving you a nearly seemless transition from FMV audio track to in-game MIDI track.

Regardless, that still doesn't explain fin.mid's existance -- the song in its entirety is already part of the FMV's audio.  So....any ideas?

7
Sure, call me crazy for this (especially since Yamaha sells an XP-compatible version of the XG50), but I think we have the tools to actually pull off an actual WinXP patch that could be applied directly to the S-YXG70 install, without forcing you to buy the synth all over again.

As you may or may not know, the S-YXG70 contains two engines: the XG20 and the XG50 engiine.  Because of this, there are undoubtably several program/driver files that the XP-compatible XG50 shares with the XG70.  It may be possible to use either Dag's Patchmaker Program, or just a straight rip of the XP-compatible XG50 files, to overwrite the XG70's files and allow the XG70 to work under WinXP, when its set to "XGSoft" mode.

Now, I would suggest that we use Dag's patching program to do this, as this way the patch could not be classified as "pirating" the software.  In addition, since it would only change the existing files of a synth you did LEGALLY acquire when you bought FF7pc, it could be considered a 3rd-party update and not software pirating...I think.  Plus, the way things currently are, Yamaha is essentially doing extortion (sp?) by forcing those people who own the XG70 to buy their software ALL. OVER. AGAIN.  That in itself is reason enough for me to at least try to do this.

IF this works, I also think we oughta put this patch on the FF7 section of the FFSF Project site.

Now, I don't know if the reason why the XG70 won't work in XP is because of registry settings or some other thing that is unrelated to the program/driver files, but if it is, then by all means tell me.

You should also note that if this works, the XG20 mode should still be non-functional in XP, as only the XG50-specific files would be affected.

8
Forgive me if I've already mentioned this before, but I believe I have finally hit upon the best solution to fix the current problem our FF8config program has with ffaddon files that are compressed using WinRAR 3.0 and above, without needing to update the actual RAR compression code currently used in the config program.....or constantly falling back to older versions of WinRAR for making compatible files.

As far as I know, the current version of the FF9 mod (version 2.1 for Samuel's DLS) on the FFSF site is the only one suffering from the problem. Specific information on the problem was posted several months ago by me in this thread, for those of you who don't know what happened.

My solution is this: we don't necessarily have to code the actual algorithim into the config -- Why not recode the program to instead use self-extracting rar files as the .ffaddon format, and have the program make calls to run the exe part of the self-extracting file?

In theory, this would eliminate the need to update the program to deal with the newer algorithms, because the self-extractor would already have the newer code in it.  It would allow the config program to install ffaddon files regardless of what version of WinRAR made it, and should be forward-compatible for some time.

Of course, we wouldn't want the config to simply check to see if the file is an executable and blindly run it :roll:.  Now, I'm guessing that self-extracting archives (both of the .zip and .rar formats) contain some information in the file header that identify the program as a self-extracting archive.  Assuming I'm right, we could then have the program read the file header, and if it does not indicate that it is a .rar self-extracting archive, then return an error saying it is not an .ffaddon file, or a corrupt one.

So, coders, what do you think?  Fice? Dag?  Anyone with delphi experience? :D

9
Yes, I can finally put that question to rest.  For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about: I'm refering to the overdriven Guitar Sample used in my Rev2 DLS update for FF8.  Previously, I thought it was simply a public domain sample, as I found it floating around on the internet, with no apparent documentation telling me who owned the copyright for it.  As such, I have always said that I don't own the sample, nor do I take credit for its creation (well, other than conversion to DLS format...but that is a minor thing).

Until now.  I can finally give credit for where it came from.  Of all things, it's actually a squaresoft sample!  Lucky me.

I was going thru the PSF archieve for Chrono Cross, and apparently, the same exact sample is being used in "Etude1.psf" and "Etude2.psf", as well as the "226A-Magical Dreamers.psf" and "226B-Magical Dreamers.psf" files in Chrono Cross (aka Magical Dreamers -- "The Wind, Stars, and waves").  You can tell by the feedback characteristics (just like in the Rev2 DLS, only certain keys produce a slow feedback as the note is sustained), and the overall tone of the sample.  Though, it appears the existing sample I have is missing some stuff in comparison to the Chrono Cross version....ironically, it sounds like it has correct samples for the higher octaves (that "wah" sound in Magical Dreamers B, to be specific).

Needless to say, this caught me by surprise....its still awesome though.

A quick way to compare to yourself (assuming you have the PSF archieve ready for comparison purposes):

Magical Dreamers test MIDI from Vgmusic.com

-edit-
erm...I accidentally clicked submit too soon.

Anyway, using Winamp 2.7x or higher (but not Winamp3), load the Rev2-patched DLS up and play the linked MIDI file, and compare the guitar to the one used in the PSF.  Practically identical harmonics-wise, eh?

2nd Edit

I needed to get a little more specific on the file names.

10
As most of you already know, I was WAAAY overdue for any sort of video card upgrade, considering up until recently I had a P4 1.5Ghz coupled with a 3Dfx Voodoo3 2000 PCI card.

What do I have now, you ask?  Take a wild guess.  :P

It's a V5 5500 AGP, which I snagged off ebay for approximately $52 (U.S. currency).

*notices that everyone in the room is giving him the teenage "eye roll"*

Yes, I'm aware it's no match for anything past the GF2Ultra era, and by no means am I claiming that it CAN compare to, say, the DX9 compliant cards of today....But I still wanted to get one of these v5's ever since I found out 3Dfx got bought out and that stores in my area just about dropped their supply of them over a cliff or something in the wake of 3Dfx's demise.

And, I still do a fair amount of PSX emulation, in addition to playing UT and a few other glide games, but I wanted to get past the rather annoying low-res texture limitation the V3 imposed on the D3D and OpenGL games I played with it, so the V5 was kinda the natural choice for me....haven't tested FF7 or FF8's performance with it yet, mainly because I've been busy testing all my other games first, mainly the ones that are capable of using high-res/compressed textures, since my V3 was incapable of doing S3TC textures as well.

Although, I can't help but feel bad for the position my sound card is in, now.  You see, the V5 5500 is a dual-chip configuration, and uses two fans to keep 'em cool....and unfortunately, they're blowing the hot air right onto my sound card, I think.  But hey, I freed up a PCI slot, so that's gotta count for something! :P

11
As you may (or may not, if you haven't gone thru the "Techpapers" section of the FFSF site) know, the .ffaddon files are basically ".rar" files with the extention changed to .ffaddon.  With the release of the newer versions of WinRAR, any .FFAddon files made with them will not be handled correctly by the config program.

Case in point:  The problem iceydamo is having when he tries to use the configurator to install the latest version of the FF9mod, due to the fact that the ffaddon file it uses was created using the newest release of WinRAR.

See this thread for what I'm talking about.

The newer WinRAR apparantly uses a compression algrithim that is different enough to prompt older versions of the WinRAR decompressor code to dismiss the files as "corrupted".  Note that I said that the older versions of WinRAR only think the files in the .rar archive are corrupt, for some reason the folder structure of archives made with the newer version will still be "extracted"; only they'll be empty directories.

These are EXACTLY the same symptoms that iceydamo is experiencing with trying to get the configurator to "install" the ffaddon file.

Now, how to fix it?  I'm not sure, but perhaps it's simply as easy as updating the addon.dll file by taking one of the dll files from the new version of the WinRAR decompressor and overwriting the existing addon.dll with it...

Either way, something needs to be done.  I do want to say that the newer version of the WinRAR program can handle archives made by older versions of the program just fine, so those members who still are using the older versions of WinRAR could continue to make working .ffaddon files if we update the program to accept the newer version's way of compressing things.

-edit-
Stupid typos. :P

12
Archive / FF9 Mod Version 2.1 released for Samuel's DLS!
« on: 2003-06-21 04:18:13 »
Yes, it's that time of the year again.  Or something. :P

I finally stopped being crowded with real life (and stopped being lazy for a while. :D), and am proud to release Version 2.1 for Samuel's DLS.  The corresponding update for the Original DLS/Rev2 version of the mod is still pending some serious deliberation over whether or not I should just let the FF9 Boss theme use the Orchestral Drum set (it may be that I need to use it more out of necessity than for sample quality....the cymbal length on it just isn't quite as long as I would like the sample to have).

Anyway, this is a rather small update, however it is also a much needed one.  The main change, as I you can probably guess, is that the percussion track in the FF9 Boss Theme is now tons more accurate to the PSX version.  You know the real irony of this?  A non-orchestral drum set turned out to make it sound closer to the PSX version than the others.....Samuel's DLS still surprises me from time to time.

Oh, and one last thing: from last I checked, Aaron has apparantly updated the link but not the news page, so don't be fooled, it IS available....and I might as well point out that the mp3 preview hasn't been updated either, so don't base you're impression on it from that, lol.

Ok, that's the end of my monologue. :P  Now go and get it!  :D  Where?

Final Fantasy SoundFont Project -- Soundfonts/Downloads section

-edit-
Dumb old me forgot to post the all-important linkage. :roll:  I guess I forgot about the newcomers that have joined the Forums since I last released an update for it. :P

13
Somehow, somewhere, someone just leaked the 3Dfx driver source code! :o

Yeah, I downloaded it, a whopping 40MB COMPRESSED, supposedly it contains the source code for 3Dfx D3D, OpenGL and the (already open-sourced) Glide drivers.

However, the key word here is SUPPOSEDLY.  I don't know enough about source code to verify if this is the real deal or not, so basically, if this doesn't violate the forum rules, I would like to post a link so that some of you who are more educated in understanding this stuff can tell me if its "legit" (not legally, but whether or not this is just a huge hoax.), but that is all.

Yes, of course the people of X-3Dfx are claiming it is the real thing, but as people here have mentioned, they may not be as objective because that forum is more or less geared for 3Dfx people anyway.

So, this is mainly a curiousity of whether or not its real, and I'm not trying to blatantly post "illegal" material...besides, IIRC, not many other people here have 3Dfx cards (hence the idea that you guys'll be more "objective" in verifying this), so its not like you'll actually find a use for this, other than answering my question, lol.

Linkage here: 3Dfx Source Code?

A lot of the stuff in there appears to be for Glide, though I have reason to believe the D3D stuff is tucked away in the "Hal" folder.

Note to Mods: I will understand if you deem that this should be deleted, however for the purposes of answering my question I would like you to wait long enough for its legitimate-ness to be confirmed/denied, (assuming you are allowed to do that, like I said I'm not sure if this is violating forum rules) after that I won't have a problem with taking the link off.

 - edit by Alhexx -
Corrected that link url :D

14
Linkage to the thread on the FFOnline Forums here:

http://forums.ffonline.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19750

<edit>
For those of you having problems with the FFOnline forums and can't get to the thread, here's the direct link to the file:

"Throwing a Gauntlet at the Feet of Death"  <---(Title as shown in that thread)

</edit>

Anyway, just like they way The Extreme is, this is rather slow for the first minute, in the same way Uematsu designed The Extreme, so don't be fooled.

And if it sounds this good in MIDI format....I can only imagine how good it would sound if he was to get his hands on using some soundfonts for this....

Freakin' amazing, if you want my opinion....

15
General Discussion / Hey, Braxus finally did an FF7 mp3!!
« on: 2003-03-07 01:42:11 »
That's right, the same Braxus of the VGMusic forums that did those incredibly awesome FF6 remixes, has finally used his talent on the FF7 soundtrack.

Get your linkage here! :P (size: approx. 5.79MB)

Oh, and did I mention that in particular its Aeris theme? :rolleyes:  And for that matter, this isn't heavy metal either, so don't worry about the possibility of that ruining it.....

Yes, this is probably what you guys have been waiting for.  Your ears will thank you for it later, I suspect. :P

16
Braxus comes out with another rock-style take on the OST.

This time around, he's given the song "Jonny C Bad" the rock treatment:

FF6:Jonny C Bad--Rock arrangement (Size:2.2mb)

For those of you who don't remember the original song, its that drums 'n' piano style song that's rather upbeat, and I think it was used in some bar scenes in the game, but I can't remember for certain.

However, if you've got that bonus audio CD that came with FF Anthology, then "Jonny C Bad" is track 17.

I for one think that the beginning could use a little more work, however, the guitar riffs at the end of the song are really cool.

And yes, he did the song on his Yamaha MU2000 external synth, so it is MIDI, believe it or not (trust me, the ending riffs make it hard to believe).

Cool, no?

17
First, let's set the scene here.  After coming up with enough willpower to actually use my computer instead of playing Metroid Prime, I decide to download and install DirectX 9.  Why?  I dunno.  Considering I'm already screwed in driver support because D3D8.1 totally fails on my 3Dfx Voodoo3 2k PCI card, I figured I'd at least benefit from any enhancements or optimizations that are in D3D7 and in the DirectSound and DirectMusic areas.

After letting it install, I fire up the good ol' "dxdiag" program, to see what new stuff it sports.  As Aaron has mentioned to me in another thread, the most noticible difference they've done is ask you whether or not you want Dxdiag to see if your Audio and Video drivers are  WHQL signed.  Just for the heck of it, I clicked "Yes", and it does its check and starts up like normal.

But ya'll already know that stuff. :roll:  So I'll cut to the chase:

I'm getting some interesting behaviour in the "Display" and "DirectMusic" tabs of DxDiag.  First off, when I ran the D3D7-interface test, I think I broke some speed records for my card, as I just saw it render at like 4000 FPS.  On a Voodoo3 PCI. :P  Of course, there's not much to render in that test, since it only consists of a textured, spinning cube, but its funny as heck to watch it cause screen tearing as it goes so fast.

Next up, is the D3D8/8.1-interface test.  Naturally, it fails.

Then, it throws me a curve ball.  It passes the D3D9-interface test, and is giving me similar speeds in rendering compared to the D3D7 test.  Yes, reality seems to be having an "off day". :P

I've yet to test any of the newer DirectX games yet; I'm gonna try out Star Trek: Armada 2, as it takes the role of being "Acid Test for Hardware D3D8-compatibility".

As if that wasn't enough of a shock, when I go to test the DirectMusic interface on the Microsoft Synth, after I click the test button, the program locks up.  After "End Task"-ing it, Win98SE gives me the first BSOD I've seen in 3-5 months. -_-

At any rate, things now look a bit more promising in my V3 2k PCI's future. :D

18
Ok, this might be slightly redundant, but everyone probably hasn't been keeping track of the "Aaron's Server and FFSF" thread, so they might have missed the memo, so to speak. :P

Also, I figured that it would probably be better for feedback about this to be in a new thread (namely, this one) instead of in the "Aaron's Server" thread, where it would be off-topic.

Ok, on to the official announcement.  The Revision2 DLS update is FINALLY RELEASED!  And while I'm at it, the Improved Tracks patch, version 2.1, is also released!  However, the main description in my section on the download page hasn't been updated (I'm supposed to write it, but now my dad is getting power crazy and is threating to cut off my access to my computer, and therefore the internet if I do the slightest thing wrong.  Ack.), but the news page and all the download links are updated.

Now, remember, this is the first ever work I've done on the DLS side of things, so feedback is definitely wanted.  Also, The aim of this DLS is a compromise between download size (in recognition of you modem users out there who'd otherwise have to attempt the 29mb download of Samuel's DLS), and instrument quality.  I have replaced 2 (count 'em, TWO) samples in this DLS, the Overdriven Guitar and the French Horn.  Everything else is from the Original DLS, including the drums.  But, don't underestimate the effect on song quality these samples have.

However, simply just downloading and installing the Revision2 update won't fully utilize the potential of the update.  This is where the Improved Tracks v2.1 patch comes in.  The majority of the patch is optimized to take advantage of the new samples whenever possible while attempting to not stray too far from the PSX OST.  You'd probably see a big difference in how often the new samples are used in v2.1 compared to v2.02/v2.02a.  However, everything is still backward (or forward? :P) compatible with each other.

Note, though, that there may be a few volume issues on the FF9 mod with the overdriven guitar sample in the ending solo of the FF9 battle theme, since that hasn't been updated and the volume settings are assuming its using the relatively quieter Original DLS sample.

One last thing, of the greatest importance.  I've mentioned this before, but to give the Improved Tracks patch something to warrent people to use it in some places over the Samuel's DLS, I have "written" a new choir track in Griever's Theme (The Legendary Beast), that was "inspired" (for lack of a better word) by the strings tracks in the song.  If nothing else, I ask that you post feedback about that in the thread.

Ok, that's it!  Go get em, boys!  (er.........and girls, too!) :P

-edit-
Ack, I just come back from being held up at a doctor appointment and then being forced to watch some sports movie, and now I find out that in my haste to write about the release of the DLS, I forget to provide the link?

Geez, I must be losin' it! :roll:

Anyway, here's the short link.  It's actually the regular FFSF redirector URL that we've always used:

http://ffsf.cjb.net/

19
Incidentally, Nubuo Uematsu+too many Metallica songs=The mp3. (file size: approx. 4.7mb)

Ok, for those of you who remember the FF6 boss battle mp3 remix he (Braxus, of VGmusic.com fame) did that I posted the link to, I've got some fresh meat for you to sink your ears into.

He recently got a new Yamaha MU2000 XG hardware external synth, and of course, with him having what seems to be a fetish for the FF6 boss battle theme (he's done like 5 or 6 different remixes), he's done another one.

It sounds totally different than the last one, but it is still hardcore rock style.

For those of you in disbelief, YES, that is a synthesizer.  No actual guitar recording or soundfonts involved. :P

-edit-
Changed the first line to something that, needless to say, could be an appropriate description. :P

20
Archive / Hell Just Froze Over!!
« on: 2002-10-12 00:58:18 »
Why, you ask?

Because, the latest version of the Improved Tracks Patch AND the "Revision2" DLS are now FINALIZED!! :D

They have been checked out and are good to go.

But, alas, I've hit a snag.  I simply do NOT have the time tonight to e-mail it to Samuel (who usually gives the install package a once-over to make sure I've got it set right), due to a social event I am planning to attend tonight.

So, while the patch(es) are not online yet, this is to let you know, it is complete!

Therefore, over the course of the next few days, I'll give everything another check ('cause I've got the sneaking suspicion in the back of my mind that I've missed a few things, .ini-file-wise), e-mail it to Samuel, and I'll need you guys to see what we can do in the event that the main site is offline due to Ficedula's server being turned off (read: mirror download server duty).

And, of course, we'll need to update the Usefull Links Thread, and, most importantly (at least to me, lol) I need FEEDBACK on the work I've done.  It's the only way the next version gets better, eh?

21
Ok, I was busy field testing the nearly-complete new version of the Improved Tracks in conjunction with the Revision 2 DLS (by the way, it's EXTREMELY close to final release.....I just gotta nail down some volume bugs in the victory fanfare and I think it'll be ready for prime time.  I mean it this time!! :D), in the area when you're in the dream sequence when Laguna's in Winhill.  I stopped into one of the houses and the most peculiar thing catches my eye.

There's a REAL WORLD MAP ON THE WALL!!  No, not of their world.  OURS!!  You can clearly see Africa, Russia, the Americas, etc....What the heck is it doing there?!

-edit-
For those of you in disbelief, I've got a Screenshot of it, located here, curteousy of Mirex's upload script that he let me use.

You can see the map to the left of Laguna's head in the shot.

22
That's right, for some reason one of my games, Star Trek:Bridge Commander, now thinks that my Voodoo3 PCI is capable of Hardware Transform and Lighting.  I can get a screen shot of the config screen showing what I'm talking about, but I've got no hosting for it.

Anyway, now you may be asking why it has it to begin with.  Well, in truth, I don't have that ability.  However, most newer 3Dfx driver sets have an option called "Geometry Assist", that only appears if you have a P3 or higher CPU.  With the option enabled, it uses the SSE instructions of the P3 or P4 (and in the case of Amd processors, it'll use 3DNow! Instructions if the cpu supports them), to process the TnL a little more efficiently than straight Software-based TnL.

Anyway, as a side effect, the driver winds up reporting the V3 as capable of HW TnL, 'cause the Geometry Assist is trying to emulate that hardware ability as best as it can.  As I said earlier, one game has already been fooled.

But regardless of whether or not its actually working, its still funny to see the game report Hardware TnL on a card that came out a good year or two before the GeForce (which, as you know, was the first card to truly have Hardware TnL.) 256 chipset.

23
I'm finally proud to present the new Choir Version of "The Legendary Beast" that will be in the next Improved Tracks patch!

Anyway, here it is:
The Legendary Beast (Choir Version)

And, finally, while we're at it, I'm right now in the middle of uploading what "The Extreme" sounds like when you use the upcoming Revision2 DLS update.

Ahem, uh here's the link:
The Extreme

Oh, and as you can tell, I had to cut out the beginning of "The Extreme" in the mp3 recording because of size constraints.  Well, not really constraints, but because I didn't wanna sit there and upload a gazillion megs, even on a dsl line! :P

-edit-
The links have been updated, thanks to Aaron and his hosting.  They're the same links found in Aaron's post farther down on the thread.  You should probably do the "Save Target As..." thing he was saying, since clicking on it gave me "garbage" as well.  Again, you should change the extention in the "Save As..." box to ".mp3", since for some reason it thinks it's a link to a HTML file.

(Second edit) Doh!  Spelling errors!

24
Archive / "Revision2" DLS update preview!
« on: 2002-05-20 02:23:59 »
While I was busy doing an mp3 for a guy over at the VGMusic Forums, I realized that I could be nice and give you guys a link over to that mp3, because it is a recording of one of his songs played back using none other than the up-and-coming Revision2 DLS update!

This little preview will give you a taste of the new Overdrive Guitar Sample that I've been drooling about for the past month or so.  Yes, this is the same guitar sample that will be used in the next Improved Tracks version of The Extreme!  Here's the link:

http://www.vgmusic.com/forums/files/94555-Unspeakable_Evil.mp3
(note: Size is about 851kb)

In case you wanted a little backstory on what the song is supposed to be about, here's the explaination, curteousy of the VGMusic forums:

Quote from: Manaman, from the VGMusic.com Forums
Yet again, another song for Moon's game. (Shiv and I are getting closer and closer to finishing all of the music!) The only problem with this piece is that Moon hasn't heard it yet...heh heh. He didn't even know I had decided to sequence this song!...but I think he'll like it. For those of you who remember "At the Mercy of the Shadows", which was sort of the theme for the main leigon of enemies, this is the theme for the leader of this legion, Lady Iida. I tried to make it as evil and badass as possible, with the usage of the church bell, Church Organ, and...electric guitar! heh heh...you just have to hear it. Enjoy!


-edit-
Opps, I forgot to mention that the drum set used is not from the Revision2 DLS.  Winamp automatically pulled it from the GM.dls file.

25
General Discussion / Idea for the remake
« on: 2002-05-11 20:57:44 »
Considering the small progress that has been made in deciphering the animations of characters, I was thinkin' it would be cool if you came up with taunt animations for the individual characters, and figure out clever ways of incorporating them during battle scenes.

Now, obviously the point at which the remake staff could do this is still far off AFAIK, but I figured I might as well get my idea out there.

I've already got a taunt concept for yuffie:  Being a slightly hyper and bratty teenager, she'd start to do some show-off taunt, but then she slips and falls (comic anime style falling), because she still hasn't quite yet mastered the art of being a quick-and-nimble ninja.

So, whad'dya think? 8)

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