Quick thought. Might not be of any use.

I note that these are the game files of the original DOS version :

It may be possible to manipulate the "*pcm*" files, for example zero-byte or zero-fill some or all of them, to 'hack' the game into 'not being able to play the sounds you don't want'.

If that works, you could then capture a clean non-disrupted version of the intro music from the game itself.

--

Or, much less complicated, just try to source the music, from somewhere like this:
http://www.mirsoft.info/gmb/music_info.php?id_ele=OTgx

It sounds like Amiga MOD style format to me (which has all the instrument samples built into the file), but if you say it's a MIDI then I won't argue.

Hey, thanks for the reply!

I tried messing around with what I figured would be the sound files and the game wouldn't boot. I was going to experiment further but then realized the cutscenes ends sooner than the track, so the end is cut off anyway.

And you're right, those are Amiga music files. They're for the Amiga version, which has totally different music. I've tried that site (and other similar ones) already; most VG music resources only have the Amiga tracks unfortunately.

Space Hulk supports Adlib. Comment out any SET BLASTER / Sound Blaster related configuration. It will probably just poll the Adlib port and give you music and no SFX. Otherwise try to misconfigure the DMA channel temporarily. It should point to a DMA not in use though.

Vanguard3000 wrote on 2021-03-03, 02:49:

Hey, thanks for the reply!

I tried messing around with what I figured would be the sound files and the game wouldn't boot. I was going to experiment further but then realized the cutscenes ends sooner than the track, so the end is cut off anyway.

And you're right, those are Amiga music files. They're for the Amiga version, which has totally different music. I've tried that site (and other similar ones) already; most VG music resources only have the Amiga tracks unfortunately.

In the interests of building upon what you have already done, it would be useful to know what technique you used to obtain the "midi" file you say you have.

Can you not simply play that MIDI file through an OPL3, using for example Falcosoft MIDI Player?

And why is my (probably faulty!) memory telling me the PC version of Space Hulk used Amiga MOD format music? I mean, those basically were the "soundfonts of the era" back then, built into the music file itself.

Rawit wrote on 2021-03-03, 08:38:

Space Hulk supports Adlib. Comment out any SET BLASTER / Sound Blaster related configuration. It will probably just poll the Adlib port and give you music and no SFX. Otherwise try to misconfigure the DMA channel temporarily. It should point to a DMA not in use though.

As I mentioned in another reply (I should have specified this in my main post) the cutscene ends/loops before the music track ends. Because of this, recording directly from the game wouldn't be ideal, even if the sfx could be removed.

Shreddoc wrote on 2021-03-03, 10:38:

In the interests of building upon what you have already done, it would be useful to know what technique you used to obtain the "midi" file you say you have.
Can you not simply play that MIDI file through an OPL3, using for example Falcosoft MIDI Player?
And why is my (probably faulty!) memory telling me the PC version of Space Hulk used Amiga MOD format music? I mean, those basically were the "soundfonts of the era" back then, built into the music file itself.

I had originally asked on Reddit here, and one of the commenters was kind enough to convert it from XMI format using Midiplex. Unfortunately I'm not really familiar with midi formats or conversion; I had tried converting it using various online players and whatnot, but only Cloud player could play it, though it used a generic font and it wouldn't allow me to save the file.

Sorry for my dumbness about all of this. I really appreciate your help so far.

Vanguard3000 wrote on 2021-03-03, 21:36:

As I mentioned in another reply (I should have specified this in my main post) the cutscene ends/loops before the music track en […]
Show full quote

Rawit wrote on 2021-03-03, 08:38:

Space Hulk supports Adlib. Comment out any SET BLASTER / Sound Blaster related configuration. It will probably just poll the Adlib port and give you music and no SFX. Otherwise try to misconfigure the DMA channel temporarily. It should point to a DMA not in use though.

As I mentioned in another reply (I should have specified this in my main post) the cutscene ends/loops before the music track ends. Because of this, recording directly from the game wouldn't be ideal, even if the sfx could be removed.

Shreddoc wrote on 2021-03-03, 10:38:

In the interests of building upon what you have already done, it would be useful to know what technique you used to obtain the "midi" file you say you have.
Can you not simply play that MIDI file through an OPL3, using for example Falcosoft MIDI Player?
And why is my (probably faulty!) memory telling me the PC version of Space Hulk used Amiga MOD format music? I mean, those basically were the "soundfonts of the era" back then, built into the music file itself.

I had originally asked on Reddit here, and one of the commenters was kind enough to convert it from XMI format using Midiplex. Unfortunately I'm not really familiar with midi formats or conversion; I had tried converting it using various online players and whatnot, but only Cloud player could play it, though it used a generic font and it wouldn't allow me to save the file.

Sorry for my dumbness about all of this. I really appreciate your help so far.

You're not dumb! Just learning. As are we all, in life. 😀

For avoidance of confusion or doubt, could you please locate and post a Youtube video of this introduction, one which plays the exact version of music you want to achieve? (edit : don't worry, just noticed the video link in your OP)

If you still have the XMI file you can use this:

PX Player: play MID and XMI files under DOS

You'll need a DOS enviroment though, be it hardware, virtual or DOSbox. The Adlib option should provide you the sound you're after.

Ooh! That worked! Adlib was close but not perfect. I tried a bunch of them and found a few that were pretty good, but I also noticed a MIDI.DRV file in the game files. On a whim I renamed it to MIDI.ADV and used that, and it seemed to work pretty well - it's apparently the "Thunderboard" font/codec/whatever.

Can PX save/convert the file by chance? I'd like to output it as an mp3/wav/ogg/etc. I could try and figure out how to record the speaker output but it seems to be slightly choppy at times.

In any case, thank you both for all the help with this. It's not much but I've been obsessing about this for a while now and it's good to see an end in sight. 😉

Just checked the PX readme's and such, didn't see an option to write to file. I don't know what setup you're using but line-out -> line-in or Virtual Audio Cable could help with recording the output.

I downloaded the Space Hulk demo and found that the instrument files are in the same folder as the MIDI files.

Copy the MID_DIR folder to the PX folder, and rename HULK_AD.MID to SAMPLE.OPL or SAMPLE.AD.

Then, make sure there is a DEFDRV.INI file with sbp2fm or adlib.

HULK_A.MID should sound exactly like it does in-game without the voice-over when played in PX.

Thanks everyone for the help. I used Audacity to record the audio output as it played. It still doesn't sound perfect, but I was able to get it pretty close, and have uploaded it here for anyone interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1clcw2fd50s