MEINE OHREN!

bimshwel · Post by **bimshwel** » Sat Aug 09, 2003 11:30 am

There isn't a way to raise or lower someone's volume controls using scripts, is there. I don't mean to set it, just change it from what it was at already (but I'll take the former option if it exists and the other doesn't). As with the last time I asked about something no one else had a use for, an explanation is in order.
Yes, so I like those SPC things that zdoom can play the contents of. However, some are very quiet, and others are not. As far as I am aware, it being a format of little importance to most people, no one who can has designed a way to alter SPC internal volumes. So. The external volume must be changed instead. And it would simply be rude for me to tell someone to change it themself everytime I feel some Tim Follin music is appropriate.
I know of plenty of "trick" solutions, but why use trickery if there's a method that's not tricky?

Post by **Kappes Buur** » Sat Aug 09, 2003 11:47 pm

Evil Mittens said: Yes, so I like those SPC things that zdoom can play the contents of.

What are those SPC things?

bimshwel · Post by **bimshwel** » Sun Aug 10, 2003 1:13 pm

Either very quiet or not so much.
Ehhh.
I don't know what the letters stand for, but they're the commonly seen file extension for the music files extracted from SNES games. Now, if you're unfamiliar with that set of letters, I doubt SPC would be of much interest to you. Even if it was, count on me to kill that interest with longwinded posts like this one, and the other one I did before this one. Gun control hasn't worked out so well, so what hope is there for word control?

HotWax · Post by **HotWax** » Sun Aug 10, 2003 5:12 pm

Evil Mittens wrote:As far as I am aware, it being a format of little importance to most people, no one who can has designed a way to alter SPC internal volumes.

That would defeat the whole purpose of the format. SPC files are the raw data ripped straight out of the SNES cart. Any program which plays SPCs essentially emulates the SNES' sound hardware to do so.

bimshwel · Post by **bimshwel** » Mon Aug 11, 2003 9:41 am

Ehhh. I just assumed that because they were capable of having different volumes, that they might do so. As far as their "purpose" goes, I don't think doing this thing which allegedly cannot be done would defeat it.

Regardless of whether that can be done or I just don't know how, it is a volume incrementing script that I seek here, to get around that. Should I assume the same answer applies? (that it can't be done, or no one knows how)

HotWax · Post by **HotWax** » Mon Aug 11, 2003 10:10 am

Evil Mittens wrote:Ehhh. I just assumed that because they were capable of having different volumes, that they might do so. As far as their "purpose" goes, I don't think doing this thing which allegedly cannot be done would defeat it.

Regardless of whether that can be done or I just don't know how, it is a volume incrementing script that I seek here, to get around that. Should I assume the same answer applies? (that it can't be done, or no one knows how)

I just mean that if you modified the contents of an SPC file, it wouldn't be raw data anymore.... it would also break on any of the myriad of programs that can read and play the files back, since they'll assume the new data is part of the raw data. In essense, they'll handle the situation just as the SNES hardware would... by either playing the wrong thing or locking up. (Or in an emulator's case, probably just displaying an error)

Post by **randi** » Mon Aug 11, 2003 5:24 pm

I think SPC files let you specify an amplification level, so maybe you should look into that.

bimshwel · Post by **bimshwel** » Tue Aug 12, 2003 10:14 am

Yesshure. I'd just been using some basic mapinfo or setmusic thing I saw months ago without any mention of a desire to amplify it. I thought I might have been missing something. I'll look into it, as long as it doesn't mind being looked into. I know I would not appreciate being looked into so much by anyone other than a medical professional. So.
I amuse myself, at least.

Post by **randi** » Wed Aug 13, 2003 2:59 pm

Okay, I looked into it, and SPC files can contain an amplification level (which you can set using SNESAmp). However, it gets stored in ID666 tags, which ZDoom currently does not read, so I will need to add support for it, which I will probably do right now since I'm updating it to work with snesapu.dll version 1.01.

Mighty Duck X-treme · Post by **Mighty Duck X-treme** » Wed Aug 13, 2003 7:58 pm

In my humble opinion, an SPC file (I have alot of them in my hard drive) can only be used in ZDoom for personal usage, and should not be distributed along with a wad, as that is technically considered copyrighted material.

bimshwel · Post by **bimshwel** » Fri Aug 15, 2003 3:06 pm

Reading amplificators would also probably trigger the currently ignored obnoxious fade-out timers, but I could easily re-get fresh, untouched files myself. Those are a couple of bytes smaller, not that it means much in the days of high-resolution textures. Bah. But ha ha, something I said possibly has affected the next zdoom version. And I'm probably the only person who'll ever use the effect. I am now 1/256 closer to significance. I think that brings me up to 25/256, which officially prohibits the doom guy from using me as a stair.

And in response to a post which I can only see on the reply screen, to my knowledge, spcs are only as illegal as sound effects taken from films, or midis written to vaguely resemble said films' theme musics, which have been showing up in *.wads since *.wads have been showing up. So. I'm going to take a nap soon.

Hirogen2 · Post by **Hirogen2** » Fri Aug 15, 2003 4:01 pm

So could anybody explain to me what special about those SPC files? WAV files also have "a volume"...

Post by **randi** » Fri Aug 15, 2003 8:08 pm

Evil Mittens wrote:Reading amplificators would also probably trigger the currently ignored obnoxious fade-out timers

No, the two are separate things. I haven't found an SPC that actually has an amplification level set, although I haven't downloaded any in a year and a half or so, so maybe things have changed since then.

bimshwel · Post by **bimshwel** » Sat Aug 16, 2003 10:28 am

Ahhh, good.

SPC files are comparatively small next to wavs. Even set to minimal sound quality (the correct word just now escapes me) all the ones I'd consider using are at least twice as large as wavs, and usually more so.

Does this have one of those "edited by" notifications at the end? I never see them on my own posts, and I know I'm editing them.

HotWax · Post by **HotWax** » Sat Aug 16, 2003 1:10 pm

Hirogen2 wrote:So could anybody explain to me what special about those SPC files? WAV files also have "a volume"...

Think of an SPC file as a midi file made for an SNES. On the original hardware, the game executes a command to play music and points to the chunk of ROM that contains the SPC data, and the sound chip does its thing. Since apps that plays SPC's obviously want to do it faithfully, you essentially get the use of SNES sound hardware when playing SPC's. They obviously don't have the versatility of a WAV file, but at the very least, the file will sound uniform on all systems, as opposed to midi format. They're also much smaller.

The ID6 tag being referred to is an extra chunk attached to the file to store things like long name, etc, similar to MP3. Because most SPC's by their very nature loop endlessly, you can also set a duration, fade-out time and, apparently, amplification level.