VOGONS


First post, by Electronic Genets

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

I need examples of synthesizer music for OPL3 to test my OPL3 emulation. I have wrritten also OPL3 emulator to fully support old formats of music.
I support DRO 2.0, DRO 0.1, DRO N.1 and RAW formats regarding 4-op OPL3 mode.

What games use the 4-op mode?

I tested: altair.dro, aquarius.dro, triumph.dro and it is played correctly but these files don't contain 4-op mode (register 104h is always equal 0).

Author of the DINO-2e OPL2-like emulator.
DINO-2e is not OPL2 emulator.

Reply 2 of 8, by Electronic Genets

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Gmlb256, I created DRO file with DOSBOX 0-74.3. The file doesn't contain any write command 04 and the file sound different after playing it. DosBox probably still sucks. Previously dosbox didn't dump B6-B8 registers in BD mode. So many years have passed and the basic functions of DosBox only work worse.

What sound file for Adlib Tracker 2 contains 4-op music?

Author of the DINO-2e OPL2-like emulator.
DINO-2e is not OPL2 emulator.

Reply 3 of 8, by Gmlb256

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

Those with the A2M and A2T extensions are capable of using OPL3's 4-op mode and several of them are found in the MODULES folder.

Note that I don't know which of those files exactly use it. 😒

Reply 4 of 8, by Electronic Genets

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie
Gmlb256 wrote on 2023-06-18, 13:43:

Those with the A2M and A2T extensions are capable of using OPL3's 4-op mode and several of them are found in the MODULES folder.

Note that I don't know which of those files exactly use it. 😒

Thanks for answer but... how to record OPL3 commands if Ctrl+Alt+F7 mode in last version of DOSBOX is corrupted?
For the moment:
1) I have A2M and A2T files (probably only part of them has 4-op mode, maybe none),
2) I can play these files in DOSBox and dump to WAV file,
3) I cannot save complete DOSBox commands (104h registers is not saved, other bugs present) to test my implementation,
4) I cannot convert A2T and A2M to DRO, RAW or VGM/VGZ format without corruption of data (I need lossless conversion).

Author of the DINO-2e OPL2-like emulator.
DINO-2e is not OPL2 emulator.

Reply 5 of 8, by Electronic Genets

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

I found archive with music ripped from games which uses YMF262 (OPL3) chip.
I know how to decode this format (VGZ and VGM) and after decoding it to DRO 0.1 or RAW I can play it in DOSBox (with use of DROPlay, RDOSPlay etc.). I also handle this format in my player for linux and I can test my implementation of OPL3 emulation.
This method is free of data corruption.

I have many files. Most of them don't use 4-op mode.
Can you please determine which of the 36 games used 4-op mode? Most of these games are unknown to me (apart from DOOM, HEXEN, TETЯIS and Cybersfere).

Author of the DINO-2e OPL2-like emulator.
DINO-2e is not OPL2 emulator.

Reply 6 of 8, by Gmlb256

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
Electronic Genets wrote on 2023-06-19, 06:40:

Can you please determine which of the 36 games used 4-op mode? Most of these games are unknown to me (apart from DOOM, HEXEN, TETЯIS and Cybersfere).

Those that are for "PC/AT" systems can be discarded, they hardly used the OPL3 features (except Cybersphere) and at best, it was only for stereo output. Windows 3.x isn't a game but MIDI drivers for the OPL3 are available, with the capability of using the 4-op mode.

The rest are unknown to me as well.

Reply 7 of 8, by Electronic Genets

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie
Gmlb256 wrote on 2023-06-19, 13:51:

Windows 3.x isn't a game but MIDI drivers for the OPL3 are available, with the capability of using the 4-op mode.

Do you mean "extended" versions of these tracks? First 4 extended versions have 104h set to 0. Cybersphere "04 Level BGM 1.vgz" uses 4-op mode in first channel in high bank (104h = 0x08).

Author of the DINO-2e OPL2-like emulator.
DINO-2e is not OPL2 emulator.

Reply 8 of 8, by Falcosoft

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
Electronic Genets wrote on 2023-06-20, 08:03:
Gmlb256 wrote on 2023-06-19, 13:51:

Windows 3.x isn't a game but MIDI drivers for the OPL3 are available, with the capability of using the 4-op mode.

Do you mean "extended" versions of these tracks?

No. In this context "Extended" means that these Midi files used Midi channels 1-10 during play back, while "Basic" means only Midi channels 13-16 were used.
More info about Microsoft's Extended/Basic Midi file specification:
ftp://wow1.tv/zoltrix/ZoltrixUS_Backup/Multim … und/MMQUEST.HTM

Midi files do not define what kind of OPL mode should be used to play back them. The default Win3.1/Win9x OPL driver uses the 2-op FatMan instrument set. But there are OPL3 drivers that use 4-op instruments. One of them is Voyetra's Super SAPI driver:
https://maloga.dotera.net/guides/pc98/sapi.html

@Edit: After installing a 4-op capable driver and instrument set any Midi files can be used where the Midi programs defined in the Midi file are mapped to 4-op instruments in the driver (e.g. the famous Passport.mid, Canyon.mid etc.)

Website, Youtube
Falcosoft Soundfont Midi Player + Munt VSTi + BassMidi VSTi
VST Midi Driver Midi Mapper
x86 microarchitecture benchmark (MandelX)