Unnecessary "Unable to start CD audio" message

[theleo_ua]

GZDoom 4.3.3 x64
Windows 7 Ultimate x64

Unnecessary "Unable to start CD audio" message


Steps to reproduce:

1) Start GZDoom with hexen.wad iwad
2) Start first map
3) Check console

Expected result: No any "Unable to start CD audio" messages

Actual result: Unnecessary "Unable to start CD audio for track #13, ID 0" message


NOTE: If you cannot reproduce this, then there is a small chance that my gzdoom config is required, so here it is (for any case): https://my.pcloud.com/publink/show?code ... x4T8WmTz6y

[Graf Zahl]

The bigger question should be whether the CD audio player still needs to be retained. IMO this is an obsolete relic better removed entirely.

[theleo_ua]

The bigger question should be whether the CD audio player still needs to be retained. IMO this is an obsolete relic better removed entirely.

Personally I agree with this, but I dont know about other GZDoom users.

Imho:

1) Existing CD audio support can provide problems like "you inserted virtual CD of other game and GZDoom considered it as hexen music and started playing"

2) WAV/FLAC/OGG/MP3 support is enough (so any CD can be grabbed to pk3)

[Enjay]

It's been a very, very long time since I put a CD in my drive to get CD music in any game. Even when it was still quite a current way of doing things, the inconvenience of it usually meant that I didn't do it (unless the CD was also needed for copy protection or something).

In fact, I remember firing up a game to unexpectedly find the music CD that had been sitting in the drive starting up and playing some utterly inappropriate music along with my game far more often than intentionally putting a game music CD in the drive.

I wonder how long it has even been since I had my CD drive open. Not years, probably, but maybe several months.

[Graf Zahl]

Same here - I barely use the drive anymore. The entire CD Audio API has also long been deprecated by Microsoft. I think it's time to retire this code for good.
I don't even play CDs anymore for listening to music, I ripped everything to my harddrive and use music player software to play it, so when a CD gets into my drive it's for copying the music to my collection - and that's it.
Seeing that none of the Build ports which actually support games with CD Audio bothered to do more than supporting Ogg rips this simply seems to be some ancient legacy cruft that serves no purpose anymore. Makes it also easier to streamline the ZMusic interface and remove this stuff once and for all. BTW, this code was written when Windows XP wasn't even a thing!

[Enjay]

I don't even play CDs anymore for listening to music, I ripped everything to my harddrive and use music player software to play it, so when a CD gets into my drive it's for copying the music to my collection - and that's it.

Exactly the same here. Indeed, when I replaced the head unit in a project car I was working on, I specifically went for one that didn't even have a CD drive because I never use them any more. A nice flush USB socket in a discreet place on the dash is a much better fit for my needs.

[Player701]

Fun fact: I remember having a hard time enabling in-game music in a certain source port of Quake II - it had dropped support for CD audio, and the documentation said you had to manually rip the CD audio tracks and convert them to .ogg files. Well, that was a little bit upsetting... considering that Quake II (unlike Hexen) does not have any substitute for CD audio. I eventually did convert the tracks, but it took some time to set up all the tools properly. It would've been easier if they had just kept the CD audio support.

Regarding the issue in question: perhaps it would be better if there were a way to explicitly specify a particular CD drive, or even an ISO image (without requiring to mount it beforehand) to be used as a source of music tracks for the current GZDoom session (either the same or a similar way .wad/.pk3 files are added). I understand this is probably not going to happen, though, since it would likely require too much work for too little gain.

[Graf Zahl]

It's gone now. And surely, in my current car I also use an USB drive for storing my music collection - over 100 CDs all at my disposal at once. Why still use CD, the radio only got a 6-CD-changer.

[Graf Zahl]

Fun fact: I remember having a hard time enabling in-game music in a certain source port of Quake II - it had dropped support for CD audio, and the documentation said you had to manually rip the CD audio tracks and convert them to .ogg files. Well, that was a little bit upsetting... considering that Quake II (unlike Hexen) does not have any substitute for CD audio. I eventually did convert the tracks, but it took some time to set up all the tools properly. It would've been easier if they had just kept the CD audio support.

Nonsense. Ripping a CD is a trivial task - and in the end it's a lot easier to use. Don't forget that the CD Audio API has long been deprecated - you'd be depending on an unsupported and glitchy system component that won't see any updates any,pre.

Regarding the issue in question: perhaps it would be better if there were a way to explicitly specify a particular CD drive, or even an ISO image (without requiring to mount it beforehand) to be used as a source of music tracks for the current GZDoom session (either the same or a similar way .wad/.pk3 files are added). I understand this is probably not going to happen, though, since it would likely require too much work for too little gain.

Yes, this won't happen. ZDoom had CD drive selection for its audio, but it still depends on a deprecated API and is non-functional on non-Windows because no workable API exists.
Sometimes you have to admit that supporting obsolete technologies is not free.
Of the Doom engine games, Hexen is the only one with CD Audio, but the tracks aren't really that great to begin with. These are a lot better and in a ready-to-use format.

[Chris]

Yes, this won't happen. ZDoom had CD drive selection for its audio, but it still depends on a deprecated API and is non-functional on non-Windows because no workable API exists.

The APIs to use on Linux aren't terribly different from Windows, given that they're both designed to interface with the same kind of hardware, but otherwise I'd agree. If it's being a problem, there's not much reason to support direct CD audio when you can use FLAC or Ogg rips. Avoids wear and accidental scratches on the CD by having to constantly handle it, and can maintain perfect quality (FLAC) or nearly-so (Ogg).

[Player701]

Nonsense. Ripping a CD is a trivial task - and in the end it's a lot easier to use.

Well, perhaps it is, but maybe not for everybody. And also note that I had to convert the tracks to OGG afterwards (the program I used could only produce uncompressed WAV files, if I remember right). Of course it would be much easier for me now if I had to do it again for some reason, but I wasn't that experienced back then (it was quite some time ago, don't remember exactly when it happened).

[theleo_ua]

Nonsense. Ripping a CD is a trivial task - and in the end it's a lot easier to use.

Well, perhaps it is, but maybe not for everybody. And also note that I had to convert the tracks to OGG afterwards (the program I used could only produce uncompressed WAV files, if I remember right). Of course it would be much easier for me now if I had to do it again for some reason, but I wasn't that experienced back then (it was quite some time ago, don't remember exactly when it happened).

http://lamexp.sourceforge.net/

[Player701]

Yeah, I remember I had to use something like that.