[Tutorial] Covarr's New FF7Music Tutorial

[Torazo]

Wouldnt it be alot easier to code the music player to loop back to a specific time index in the mp3 so that it sounded like it was continuous?

Yea.

I don't think many people would want to try to tackle a program that can alter midi's or psf's because there would probably be too much coding as well as trial and error to be done in order to get it working and even then it probably wouldn't work the way intended for quite a long time after.

[willis936]

Hey, sorry to but in since this conversation seems to be elsewhere but I'd like to offer up decently trimmed files of the remastered soundtrack.  I'm about 8/23 of the way there and I've been working all night, I'm going to bed then I'll finish in the morning (it's 4 am here  ).

I've been opening the files in audacity, trimming the beginning and end, then testing it in itunes on loop to make sure it sounds right.  If it doesn't I go back and change it until it does.
I've also got bombing mission sounding perfectly.  It's not a great deal to offer, but it saves people a lot of trouble in terms of getting things sounding right using this guide.  I, for one, like the remastered tracks and hate the gaps between loops.  Granted it's not perfect, but I'm pretty sure by the time I'm done it will be as close as I'm going to get.

I've also changed the ob track to the trimmed bombing mission one in the ff7music.ini.  I'd be happy to host this on megaupload when I'm done if I'm allowed (since it's not my work and all).

[Harruzame]

Go Ahead man...You'll be doin everyone here a favor.....especially FinaFanTim... and Torazo would be delighted..

[willis936]

There still seems to be an issue with the buffer, about a half second but still noticeable.

Does anyone know settings in the in_mad.dll and out_wav.dll that make for smooth looping?

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=12EQTC1L

Enjoy.   

[DLPB_]

half a second will be noticible with loops

[willis936]

I know, the mp3s are as trimmed as they'll get.  Configurations that I'm not familiar with will have to be tinkered with to get it to sound perfect.
Not to mention that the loop is back to the beginning instead of a certain point in the song.  To make it right it would take a lot of research to find what loops to where when then the mp3s would also be much larger.

But hey, it's an improvement.

[titeguy3]

It's more than a configuration issue, it's the implementation of FF7Music. I think torazo mentioned earlier that it should fetch the mp3 a second time, then queue it the instant it finishes. Bear in mind that Windows Media Player doesn't even do this.

@Torazo Haha, there's no getting through to you.. alright believe what you want to believe. I won't argue. 

@sl1982 That's actually a decent idea. Of course, again, I've got no evidence that FF7Music doesn't already do that. You never know how something's going to actually work until you try it. Nothing ever happens instantaneously so there would likely still be a minor rewind time, but it might be insignificant, who knows?

[sl1982]

Im not all just looks you know 

[Harruzame]

@willis

This are the REAL trimmed ones?... wow....
Half a second doesn't really matters to me as long as it does the job..

Thanks man!

[Torazo]

I fixed Bombing Mission so that the beginning sounds as it should when it loops. Just a minor change though...

[willis936]

Sorry about that.   
That one was frustrating.

[Harruzame]

Ain't that nice..He fixed it himself...Good for ya...

Keep it goin man!!!!

[Solidwtf2]

Hi there i'm having a bit of a problem with this.I've set it all up but when i run ff7 i get a horrible buzzing noise instead of music.I know the psfs work i played them in winamp to check does anyone have any ideas?Anyone?Help would be very nice.Hello?

[obesebear]

Hi there i'm having a bit of a problem with this.I've set it all up but when i run ff7 i get a horrible buzzing noise instead of music.I know the psfs work i played them in winamp to check does anyone have any ideas?Anyone?Help would be very nice.Hello?

Try here too -->http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=8842.0
If it doesn't fix your problem, make a more specific post about your settings and CPU specs and modifications to the game

[Solidwtf2]

Well now i dont hear any music not even buzzing

My ff7music.cfg
InputPlugin=C:\Program Files (x86)\Square Soft, Inc\Final Fantasy VII2\in_psf.dll
OutputPlugin=C:\Program Files (x86)\Square Soft, Inc\Final Fantasy VII2\out_wave.dll
Volume=255
Pan=0
Profile=psf
Paths=C:\PSF\
ProfileList=psf;mp3;CDtracks
Loop=1
Remember=2
ResumeAfter=aseri2,bat,chu,chu2,fan2,
AutoVol=0
ResumeExclusions=aseri2,bat,chu,chu2,crwin,crlost,fanfare,fan2,
CustomFadeIn=1
CustomFadeOut=1
MidiFadeIn=1
MidiFadeOut=1
ObeyStop=1
LoopFudge=300
PassThru=1
MidiDevice=0
MuteMidi=0
MaxMidi=1
EmulateRamp=1
StopDelay=0
My cpu is an Intel core 2 duo and the only mod i have for ff7 is a custom opengl driver.Sorry if this post is a bit long

[Qudeid]

Hi there,

I don't know what is causing this, but neither Midi plays (even not without FF7Music, see my other post) nor FF7Music with the OSTRemastered.
I thought, since Midi didn't work, I'll give this a try, as the quality is way better anyway.

I must say, I did exactly as it said in the tutorial.

This is what the log of FF7Music gives to me:

Code: [Select]

FTH: (2740): *** Fault tolerant heap shim applied to current process. This is usually due to previous crashes. ***

FTH: (6252): *** Fault tolerant heap shim applied to current process. This is usually due to previous crashes. ***

WM_ACTIVATEAPP

INITIALIZE DD/D3D START

WM_ACTIVATEAPP

WM_ACTIVATEAPP

reading midi file: PRE.mid

PRE.mid

Midi file matched! PRE
CSA6
CSR7
File counterpart 01 - Prelude.mp3
Resolved to D:\Games\FF7Music\OSTRemastered\01 - Prelude.mp3
Playing music
CSA6
CSR7
CSA8
Look for plugin for mp3
Init plugins
Setup input plugin: MAD Plug-in 0.15.1 (beta) (with Unicode support)
Setup output plugin: waveOut output v2.0.2a
Init finished
---------------------------
Prevented from resuming
CSR9
MIDI stop

CSA6
Halting music
CSR7
MIDI stop

CSA6
CSR7
WM_ACTIVATEAPP

WM_ACTIVATEAPP

WM_ACTIVATEAPP

WM_ACTIVATEAPP

MIDI stop

CSA6
CSR7
END UNINITIALIZE DD

WM_ACTIVATEAPP

FTH: (6628): *** Fault tolerant heap shim applied to current process. This is usually due to previous crashes. ***

FTH: (6860): *** Fault tolerant heap shim applied to current process. This is usually due to previous crashes. ***

WM_ACTIVATEAPP

MIDI stop

CSA6
CSR7
WM_ACTIVATEAPP


[Zerohour]

Covarr, I wanted to say Thank You for the amazing tutorial. 

I have been trying to get FF7music to work for 2 days now.
I did it on a fresh install on Windows XP and followed your guide to the letter.

Also, I wanted to know if it would be safe to use a hi res avatar patch now that I got FF7music working.
I really don't want to mess it up after finally getting it to work so I would appreciate it if someone could fill me in.

[Covarr]

Graphics patches should not have any effect on the results of this tutorial.

[Covarr]

Updated for the latest version of Aali's driver. Also, replaced Megaupload link with one hosted by MilesTailsPrower. Thanks!
On a tip, changed some previously Vista/7 steps so that they're for XP as well.

[CCbiss]

Hi, Im new here.

First off, thanks for the detailed tutorial. But I cant for the life of me get it to work. I have followed the tut to the letter, still no luck. I only hear the Midi files.

Do i need a specific version of winamp installed to recognize those input and output libs? (i wouldnt even imagine needing any version of winamp installed)

I have looked thru the forums, and this patch really seems to be working like a charm for everyone else. I dont get it.
I am running 32bit XP SP3 Pro, i currently am running the 1.02 patch, saints high def patch, and the reunion patch. Would any of these conflict? I have yet to try to run the patch on a fresh install. but i was hoping anyone had issues getting this working as well.

I am using the correct plug in, no spaces in path to mp3s, tried compatibility of win98 for ff7.exe,

I am not using the aali custom driver tho, should i be? seemed like an extra.
 (honestly, i have tried every step of this tut multiple times, and i consider myself a competent person!)

Log output from ff7music:

Init patches
Reading ini...
Parsing paths... -currently C:\FF7REMIX
C:\Program Files\Square Soft, Inc.\Final Fantasy VII\ficedula\
.\

File search paths:
   C:\FF7REMIX\
   C:\Program Files\Square Soft, Inc.\Final Fantasy VII\ficedula\
   .\
Files count: 91
Patch init done
----------------------------------------------
WM_ACTIVATEAPP

WM_ACTIVATEAPP


Any help is VERY much appreciated. Thank you


EDIT: I have tried it with WinAmp installed, set all of my audio files to associate with winamp, loaded the directory of my mp3's to winamp, i wasnt sure if any of this was necessary, but i went ahead and tried.

[Covarr]

You don't need winamp installed.

I dunno about the reunion patch, but there's no reason you should be using thesaint's high resolution patch anymore. It's buggy, and there's nothing it does that Aali's driver doesn't do better.

Also, my tutorial relies on Aali's driver to mute the midi music, so it won't work without it.

[CCbiss]

yeah, i figured aali's wasn't necessary. I am able to mute the midi, but of course i just get sound effects. Is there something i can try changing in the plug in configs? looking at the logs, it seems to be at least recognizing the mp3's. I dont know, im pretty lost.

THanks for the reply!

EDIT: I realized i read your post wrong. Sorry. Well, let me try aali's, i have a spare computer so ill try a fresh install with that. Ill post my results.

[CCbiss]

well i got it working:

Clean install (besides v1.02 patch) with aali's opengl driver, however only got it to work with the version 0.7.1bV2, the 0.7.1 didnt work for me. v2 can be found here: http://www.jsgameing.com/downloads/aali_files/ff7_opengl-0.7.1bv2.zip

However, this seems very buggy, perhaps its the fact that im testing it on a poorly spec'd laptop. But i have about a 2 second lag in between new tracks (going from world map to a town)

Also, sometimes two mp3's will play on top of eachother(again, going from world map to a town) Im not sure if there has been a resolution to this, i apologize if there is (im new to this, obviously).

Covarr, you said something about about aali's being better than the saints. How is this really? i cant even adjust resolution (i go in the config, set it to ex. 1280x960, and it doesnt change anything, I also set fps indicator to "yes" which never showed up. Do i need to re register the registry file? (i have been doing so, just curious if this is a needed step) All i did was extract the files from aali,s to my install dir, and run the reg (changing the config to as well)

Anyway, thanks a ton for the support on this, I know everyone is grateful.

[titeguy3]

However, this seems very buggy, perhaps its the fact that im testing it on a poorly spec'd laptop. But i have about a 2 second lag in between new tracks (going from world map to a town)

hrm...lag between tracks in general is normal. click here for a guide on how to get rid of the lag time

Also, sometimes two mp3's will play on top of eachother(again, going from world map to a town)

That's odd, only explanation I can give you on this one is that ff7music has multiple instances running.

[CCbiss]

However, this seems very buggy, perhaps its the fact that im testing it on a poorly spec'd laptop. But i have about a 2 second lag in between new tracks (going from world map to a town)

hrm...lag between tracks in general is normal. click here for a guide on how to get rid of the lag time

Also, sometimes two mp3's will play on top of eachother(again, going from world map to a town)

That's odd, only explanation I can give you on this one is that ff7music has multiple instances running.

You are right about the multiple instances running, I noticed that when trying later. Which is also kinda strange; even if i properly shut the game down via the menu, i have to manually end the ff7.exe process. Not a major issue, just pointing it out.

Anyway, thanks again for all the help. Ill look into the resolution issue (i realized this laptops' max resolution is 1024x768 , most likely part of the reason, although i did try setting it to my native resolution as well). All of you have been of great help! Ill update if i find a solution to the resolution thing, im going to try it on my desktop at home.