Peter Swinkels wrote on 2026-05-14, 17:49:

Some games apparently store plain *.mid files in their data files: […]
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Some games apparently store plain *.mid files in their data files:

Full Throttle (1995)
Prince of Persia (1990)
Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow & The Flame (1993)
SimLife (1992)
Solid State PINBALL Tristan (1992)
Star Wars: Dark Forces (demo) (1994)

This program can extract them:
https://github.com/PeterSwinkels/MIDI-Extractor/tree/main

thats nothing new, you can open tracker files in OpenMPT, files from that era like unreal tournament

I wonder now if DN3d used MIDI because you can play the music using General MIDI

Yes, DN3D used MIDI, which is why we always use the theme song for Wavetable/soundbank MIDI testing.

I tried importing the files for which I wrote my extractor in OpenMPT as a MIDI library. None of them worked. I probably should have explained this more clearly in my initial post. But:

The program I wrote isn't meant for any specific kind of MIDI library. It should work on any file containing any type of data provided there're any *.mid files embedded somewhere in whatever other data there may be. Basically it scans for the "MThd" signature, interprets the header processes the data track by track ("MTrk") until what should be the end of the MIDI data is reached.

If OpenMPT can already do what my program does, I haven't figured it out yet.

Don't fret. The fact that you actually bothered to look into it and put in the work to learn and make a program puts you above anyone who would razz you for doing it.

Peter Swinkels wrote on 2026-05-15, 08:26:

I tried importing the files for which I wrote my extractor in OpenMPT as a MIDI library. None of them worked. I probably should have explained this more clearly in my initial post. But:

The program I wrote isn't meant for any specific kind of MIDI library. It should work on any file containing any type of data provided there're any *.mid files embedded somewhere in whatever other data there may be. Basically it scans for the "MThd" signature, interprets the header processes the data track by track ("MTrk") until what should be the end of the MIDI data is reached.

If OpenMPT can already do what my program does, I haven't figured it out yet.

What they were talking about is OpenMPT can sift through and load modules contained within the "Unreal Package" format without you needed to open up UnrealEd and export it yourself. (or use UCC's batch export commandlet if present)

OpenMPT also understands some "intermediate" module formats like the one for ASYLUM Sound System (Crusader: No Remorse / No Regret), and Digital Sound Interface Kit. (a lot of indie one person dev MS-DOS games used this one)

"MIDI Libraries" in OpenMPT refer to loading and mapping either a Downloadable Sounds, or Sound Font 2.0 bank so that when you go to import a MIDI as a project file, OpenMPT knows what samples and instrument data to pull into the resulting module.

Hi Peter,

Thanks for all the source code you share. As some who tinkers with various flavors of basic, it's been interesting to examine the projects you have posted.

Related to this project I was thinking - you should add support for MUS files. From what I've read the standard is very similar to MIDI and then you could dump music from any of the Doom engine games/mods. Not that there aren't tools for that already, but it would just add bunch of games to your supported games list.

what twiz11 replied with was just irrelevant "Why did you do this who cares i can do this already" stuff (ut isn't even midi....) and an obvious question that can be answered by 1 second of research. i'd just brush that aside.

my biggest question though... full throttle had MIDIs?!

leileilol wrote on Yesterday, 01:42:

what twiz11 replied with was just irrelevant "Why did you do this who cares i can do this already" stuff (ut isn't even midi....) and an obvious question that can be answered by 1 second of research. i'd just brush that aside.

my biggest question though... full throttle had MIDIs?!

Many games of that era used midi for file size reduction. I'm sorry for my answer it was irrelevant because it's not even a good app that can play midis From data files let alone extract them.

After you extract them what are you going to do with the files? Archive them?

I remember having to extract a bink video file from an executable. All I used was a hex editor and looking for the start and end headers.

BinaryDemon wrote on 2026-05-15, 16:49:

Hi Peter,

Thanks for all the source code you share. As some who tinkers with various flavors of basic, it's been interesting to examine the projects you have posted.

Related to this project I was thinking - you should add support for MUS files. From what I've read the standard is very similar to MIDI and then you could dump music from any of the Doom engine games/mods. Not that there aren't tools for that already, but it would just add bunch of games to your supported games list.

Thank you for your kind words. Like you said there probably are already tools for that. Perhaps I might add such support but not right now.

@RetroGamer4Ever: thank you. 😀

@twiz11: no problem.

leileilol wrote on Yesterday, 01:42:

what twiz11 replied with was just irrelevant "Why did you do this who cares i can do this already" stuff (ut isn't even midi....) and an obvious question that can be answered by 1 second of research. i'd just brush that aside.

my biggest question though... full throttle had MIDIs?!

I always thought Full Throttle was CD-only audio... Was it one of these games that support both midi and CD-Audio? (from the transitional period - e.g. Screamer, Homm2... games that would allow the user to choose between midi music or audio tracks read from the CD)

I did some further investigating for sound files with the *.snd extension. The results are attached to this post.

Grand Prix Circuit, Test Drive 1, and The Cycles have a *.snd file that appears to share the same format. Here's what little I have been able to determine:

Layout:
0x0000: dword - Unknown.
0x0004: word - Sound track count.
0x0006: bytes - A Four byte description for each sound track.
var: dword - Padding.
var: bytes - Presumably the actual sounds themselves.
EDIT:
One file (tdsnd.snd) possibly uses a 16-bit size value for each track.

PS:
Some of these games also store music in *.bin files.

FT was 100% digital audio, but there was no DSP hardware acceleration at the time, so it was primitive digital audio that wasn't as pristine as it would have been a few years later, after DirectSound and MP3s took hold in gaming audio.

Peter Swinkels wrote on 2026-05-14, 17:49:

Some games apparently store plain *.mid files in their data files: […]
Show full quote

Some games apparently store plain *.mid files in their data files:

Full Throttle (1995)
Prince of Persia (1990)
Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow & The Flame (1993)
SimLife (1992)
Solid State PINBALL Tristan (1992)
Star Wars: Dark Forces (demo) (1994)

This program can extract them:
https://github.com/PeterSwinkels/MIDI-Extractor/tree/main

EDIT:
A more detailed explanation can be found in my second post.

So you're actually able to extract MIDI files for Full Throttle? Can you give any more info on this or post a compiled version of the program?

I don't recall ever reading about there being MIDI versions of the FT music.