Moments of Doom - Book now in development!!!

[NeuralStunner]

early doom WADs had the PC speaker versions of all the SFX as seperate files within the wads...downloads doom v1.1 or 1.2 to have a look

Eh? All of them do, even Ultimate DooM and DooM 2.

[Enjay]

Yes, the sound samples in Doom all start with DS and the PC speaker bleeps have the same name but start with DP instead. Hmmm... I wonder, is there a way of playing those bleeps outside the game?

[printz]

Yes, the sound samples in Doom all start with DS and the PC speaker bleeps have the same name but start with DP instead. Hmmm... I wonder, is there a way of playing those bleeps outside the game?

There are specifications on /idgames telling the duration and frequency of each byte. You can program a tool that generates successive square waves based on that and play them as a WAV.

I did make a WAV-to-PCSpeaker converter once and built a WAD with the produced sounds, but they were all very noisy. It was done by analyzing the frequency spectrum of each fixed-length time block and using the dominant frequency to write the byte in the DP* lump. Some effects were recognizable -- the doors made rising and lowering sounds, the Lost Souls made some high-pitched chirps, the Shotgun did make that loading click sound, but others were downright noisy, like most monster death sounds, or even the player pain. The WAD is on another, inaccessible computer right now.

[Gez]

ChocoDoom has emulation code:


I think Eternity has that, too.

There's the specifications here. I've thought about maybe using this to add playback to SLADE 3, but it is not that high a priority.

[Tormentor667]

@Gez - Oh my god this is so fuckin' cool I just had a flashback!

...oh and by the way... get me more screenshots ;D

[Enjay]

ChocoDoom has emulation code:

Oh yes, I forgot about that.

I just had a flashback!

Yeah, me too. All those bleeps were evocative of early PC gaming.

Also, now people who have never experienced anything other than modern game sounds might appreciate just how big a thing it was to get your first sound card. Imagine all games, pretty much, making noises like the one in the video. Then, you get your card and suddenly enemies are shouting at you, guns sound like guns, doors bang etc etc. I got my first PC sound card when Wolfenstein 3D was still the game of the moment and the extra dimension added by the game having proper sampled sound was amazing.

[Gez]

Yeah, me too. All those bleeps were evocative of early PC gaming.

Also, now people who have never experienced anything other than modern game sounds might appreciate just how big a thing it was to get your first sound card. Imagine all games, pretty much, making noises like the one in the video. Then, you get your card and suddenly enemies are shouting at you, guns sound like guns, doors bang etc etc. I got my first PC sound card when Wolfenstein 3D was still the game of the moment and the extra dimension added by the game having proper sampled sound was amazing.

To finish that digression (sorry Torm for the hijack), that's also what made Another World the incredible masterwork it was. The guy made the PC speaker actually play real digitized sounds.

That's what you'd hear even with a PC speaker. Sound quality was a bit lower of course, but it weren't the simplistic beeps and kabloops from every other game out there.

[Nash]

That's what you'd hear even with a PC speaker. Sound quality was a bit lower of course, but it weren't the simplistic beeps and kabloops from every other game out there.

For real? I've never ever heard the PC speaker play polyphonic notes. Not only am I hearing polyphonic notes, I am also hearing frequencies much lower (the bass-like synth thing) than I remember the PC speaker was able to handle.

If the game really managed to play all of that through the PC speaker... well that's just amazing. :O

[wildweasel]

If the game really managed to play all of that through the PC speaker... well that's just amazing. :O

You might have a look at games like Mean Streets which pull off the same thing - or on Ken Silverman's website, where I believe he has a utility that can use the PC speaker to play MP3s.

[Enjay]

Another World was an amazing game at the time - not just because of the sound. Funny thing is, I can't think of another game that really followed in its footsteps.

[Tormentor667]

To finish that digression (sorry Torm for the hijack),

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uwOL4rB-go - 2:03

[Enjay]

OK OK, back on topic.

For me, seeing this scene from Rex's "Darkest Hour" for the first time was quite a moment and really drove home the flexibility that slopes allow.

Spoiler:

[leileilol]

If the game really managed to play all of that through the PC speaker... well that's just amazing. :O

PC Speaker as a PCM playback device isn't amazing (there's even an old Windows 3.1 driver for doing that)


Another World using Adlib's OPL2 for PCM audio is amazing.

[InsanityBringer]

As I recall, Ken Silverman also had put out a utility for playing .MP3s through the PC speaker

Another World using Adlib's OPL2 for PCM audio is amazing.

Now this honestly sounds amazing, heh

[Captain Proof]

@Gez:*sigh* that takes me back. Back when a soundcard was a luxury lol.