Home Page Forums Other Emulator Message Boards Audio Overload XA format support request

Hi,
Now surely there are perhaps still numerous video game music formats out there that aren't supported by AO, but if it's possible, I'm requesting that the XA format be added to the list of supported game music formats.
I was surfing around for PSF's for the game RayStorm; no luck, but I found a site that had offered "streams" instead of PSFs for the game. I was thinking that it meant that the files in the archive contained something like mp3s or waves; Instead I as I was previewing what I was about to unzip, I was greeted with a large list of files with the ".XA" extension.
From what I gather, this format has been used as an alternative PlayStation game music format. If memory serves correct, I believe I've heard that Megaman X4 (and/or perhaps the whole "X" series itself) was another game that used this format for its music.
If it's possible, can you please work on adding support to this format for AO. If for any reason it can't/won't be done, I'll understand; I've never been fond of using FLAC for media...

That'll be a Belmont question.

VGMStream which we have integrated in the last verisons supports it, it's just a matter of passing .XA files to it.

So VGMStream's library is integrated into AOwin32.exe (yes for the record I'm using the Windows version)?

As giddy as I am to try out this soundtrack with this rare format, for some reason AO doesn't want to open, because "the application configuration is incorrect".

After multiple re-installs, still nothing. I'll going to go see what happens on the Mac side...

There is a sticky post in this very forum on how to resolve that issue. Click here.

Great, the application program now works, unfortunately the files cannot seem to be read by AO (Mac or Win). Maybe I'm missing a step somewhere?

You're missing the step where the AO engine decides to pass .XA files to VGMStream. The released versions do not do that.

Hehe. We should really do an update Belmont - has been quite a long time. I've had a page of info on my desk for months on how to make ORC sound authentic; I should try to find time to code it...

Authentic .ORC? Would love to hear that

Holy jesus. I just wrote a quick implementation it in about ten minutes, and it worked first time. Sounds funky!

Wow, that sounds pretty awesome for 1984 hardware!

Define "pass".

I've even tried downloading VGMStream libs, but they all appear to have .dll issues.

/headache

Lemme try again then.

1) AO has VGMStream integrated into it
2) AO only passes file types I've personally tested to that internal VGMStream; it rejects all others that AO's normal engines can't handle
3) I have not personally tested XA, so the released versions of AO reject it

Bottom line: you cannot play XA in AO until we release a new version.

The original hardware probably didn't render the sound wave at 44.1. However my instinct is not to drop the quality down; the tones are right which is what really matters.

Thanks for clearing that up guys, and good luck!

Richard, that is awesome!
Would you please share your ORC replayer code!?

Why?

I'm not completely averse to sharing it, but what I would say is that it's not that hard to implement yourself... plus my code has some fairly major issues with it still.

If we can get Yoyofr to put it in the next Modizer I'd be all for that, but fixing the issues with it first is probably a good idea

(Modizer is an iOS app that plays about 200 different formats, including a few provided by AOSDK. It can download files directly, and has built-in search for HVSC (.sid) and ModLand (a whole bunch of tracker formats). .psf2 is too slow even on my shiny new 4th Gen iPod Touch though - I guess it's just fast enough on an iPhone 4).

R. Belmont, modizer rules indeed!
I helped betatest it even. I'd love to see ORC support in it too.

Richard, why? So others can use it to make plugins.
I'd love to see a plugin for Tunenet for AmigaOS4, that's why.

Honestly? The only thing keeping me from feeling that I completely wasted the dollar I spent on Modizer is the fact that the dollar went to support a fellow retro enthusiast. Modizer has severe usability issues to the point that I refuse to use it until they're either rectified or someone can tell me what I'm doing wrong. All I want is to do the following, but for all of its fantastic playback options, it seems unable to give me what I want. Here is what I want:

1. I search for a module.
2. Modizer returns a list of modules that match my search.
3. I tap on a module in order to play it and see if I like it.
4. I tap on the module and select "Add to Playlist", because I want to add it to my playlist if I like it.
5. I return to step 1, and keep doing steps 1-4 until I have a nicely-sized playlist of modules I want to listen to.

Instead, here is what happens:

1. I search for a module.
2. Modizer returns a list of module that match my search.
3. I tap on a module in order to play it and see if I like it.
4. Modizer creates a completely new playlist.
5. I get angry at Modizer and stop using it.

ETA: Basically I want Modizer to act like Rhapsody for constructing playlists, not like Retard-y

Uhh, you know there's a playlist editor, right?

I realize this, and what you're proposing is that I basically just search, preview, search, preview, and so on until I have downloaded all of the songs that I want, and then add them in one go to the playlist. The thing is, it downloads every song that I preview, so when I go to create the playlist I ultimately have to sort through modules I don't want and remember which ones I do want. That's annoying.

Completely OT, but it's getting infuriating: Can someone PLEASE explain to me how to make it so that I can search for a track in Modizer and preview it WITHOUT obliterating the entire playlist I'm building? I am completely unable to actually construct a playlist with Modizer right now. I can't figure it out. Help.

hi there, perhaps I'm replying too late, but here is a tip :
modizer allows to rate your songs, from 0 to 5 stars. All songs with at least 1 star will be available in the "favorites" song list, displayed under the "browser" screen.
So what you could do is just listen to the files you are downloading and put at least 1 star if you want to keep them.
Then to listen to your playlist just go the the "favorites" list and click on any song, it will launch the whole list starting from the song you choose.

Regarding XA and other streamed format I think I will include them in modizer sooner or later, perhaps in v1.3 since v1.2 is in final stage