VOGONS


First post, by SkyHawk

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So I'm trying to record the music from Master of Orion, and I'm having some vexing troubles.

Overall, this game works much like I remember it working. But certain pieces of music, seemingly semi-randomly, appear to miss or hang up on certain notes.

The angry Klackon music is most notable so far. The GNN music seems to miss a good number of notes, but doesn't seem to have hanging notes problems.

Win10/64, Rev00 mt-32, Roland UM-1G USB MIDI interface. DOSBox 0.74-3, 10,000 cycles [I've tried other cycle counts too, basically no difference]. mpu401=uart or intelligent, no difference.

At this point I'm basically looking for a larger sample size. Can someone try this game on real hardware and see if it does the same thing? If someone has a modern USB MIDI setup similar to mine, can you try and see if you get the same behavior?

Is this a DOSBox problem, a MIDI interface problem, a configuration problem, or actual correct [buggy] operation of the original game? I have no idea, and it's driving me insane.

Reply 1 of 11, by CrossBow777

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How would I go about specifically testing the music in question for you? I've got a rev 0 MT-32 running off my Roland UMone-mk2 adapter with basically the same settings in Dosbox ECE on my setup.

g883j7-2.png
Midi Modules: MT-32 (OLD), MT-200, MT-300, MT-90S, MT-90U, SD-20

Reply 2 of 11, by SkyHawk

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Probably the easiest way would be to get the game to play the angry Klackon music for a few minutes, and listen for any notes that sound incorrect or hang. Alternatively, listen to the GNN music for a few minutes, and see if all the chimes are playing or if some are missing.

I can supply a savegame to help if needed. I could also create an audio capture of the [what I believe to be] incorrect result I'm currently getting.

edit: This is of course, assuming you have a copy of Master of Orion. If not, that would be a problem.

Reply 3 of 11, by CrossBow777

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Yes I have the game installed for use in DosBox. Though I rarely play it so sending me the save file would likely be best for me to quickly hear it and record if needed.

g883j7-2.png
Midi Modules: MT-32 (OLD), MT-200, MT-300, MT-90S, MT-90U, SD-20

Reply 4 of 11, by SkyHawk

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https://www.dropbox.com/s/n08o4humzcax4hq/SAVE4.GAM?dl=0

Just hit next turn, and when the shooting starts move the fleet in and blow up the Klackon garrison ships. Don't shoot at the planet or you'll kill them all.

That should reliably provoke the Angry Klackon music. For the GNN music, just blow up the planet, which will extinct the Klackons.

Reply 6 of 11, by Dominus

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But please let us know your findings, we'd still like to know 😉

Windows 3.1x guide for DOSBox
60 seconds guide to DOSBox
DOSBox SVN snapshot for macOS (10.4-11.x ppc/intel 32/64bit) notarized for gatekeeper

Reply 7 of 11, by CrossBow777

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Dominus wrote:

But please let us know your findings, we'd still like to know 😉

Could be a while because the OP has a newer version of the game than I have and I'm unable to load up his save files on my current setup to test this.

g883j7-2.png
Midi Modules: MT-32 (OLD), MT-200, MT-300, MT-90S, MT-90U, SD-20

Reply 9 of 11, by SkyHawk

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Delaysysex made no difference. This is during playback, not initialization, so I don't think this is a Sysex issue.

I hunted down an older copy of the game, and it isn't helping much.

The older version seems to screw up a bit less often than the newer version, but it is still screwing up. I'm seriously wondering if this is actually original behavior though. I'd need someone to test on bare metal to rule that out.

Reply 10 of 11, by gdjacobs

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Qbix wrote:

OP might want to try the delaysysex option

I must be tired. I read that as "delaysex" and wondered if SOFTMPU had a marriage option.

All hail the Great Capacitor Brand Finder

Reply 11 of 11, by SkyHawk

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And for today's necromantic trick, a response to my own thread!

Now that I'm running MoO against MUNT with 96 partials, it's pretty plainly obvious that the GNN music (and some other compositions in the game) drastically exceeds the 32 partials that the real hardware has. I'm guessing CM-32L derivatives sound less obvious than the MT-32 is about dropping notes.