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Reply 800 of 1699, by red_avatar

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OK I did the following:

- I did the DOSBOX test like Falcosoft asked and it worked fine after I realized I had to use a non-modified DOSBOX version
- I bought the Roland USB device to make sure it wasn't the device
- I replaced the gameport-to-midi cable (that relied on female-to-female midi connectors) by a Serdashop MIDI device which removes a lot of problems

Basically, everything in-between my old PC and my current one has been replaced and the problem remained: the instruments sounded wrong and I did not get the game's start up message - it seemed the player didn't receive all the data.

Then I decided to try a few more games. I had tried, fruitfully, all Sierra games so decided to try Monkey Island 2 ... and it works! I even get the start up message.

Could it be that all Sierra games absolutely hate a fast PC? The PC I'm running this on, is a Pentium 233 MMX. Testing it on my 486SX makes Space Quest V work so it seems I really was testing with the worst possible games. Boo Sierra for making their games so reliant on CPU speed.

Retro game fanatic.
IBM PS1 386SX25 - 4MB
IBM Aptiva 486SX33 - 8MB - 2GB CF - SB16
IBM PC350 P233MMX - 64MB - 32GB SSD - AWE64 - Voodoo2
PIII600 - 320MB - 480GB SSD - SB Live! - GF4 Ti 4200
i5-2500k - 3GB - SB Audigy 2 - HD 4870

Reply 801 of 1699, by James-F

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Use SETMUL to disable L1 cache and be in the 486 ballpark, I use it for older games too on my P233MMX.
SetMul - Multiplier control for VIA C3 / AMD K6+7+8 Mobile / Cyrix 5x86

setmul l1d  #To disable L1 Cache
setmul l1e #To enable L1 Cache


my important / useful posts are here

Reply 802 of 1699, by red_avatar

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James-F wrote:
Use SETMUL to disable L1 cache and be in the 486 ballpark, I use it for older games too on my P233MMX. SetMul - Multiplier contr […]
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Use SETMUL to disable L1 cache and be in the 486 ballpark, I use it for older games too on my P233MMX.
SetMul - Multiplier control for VIA C3 / AMD K6+7+8 Mobile / Cyrix 5x86

setmul l1d  #To disable L1 Cache
setmul l1e #To enable L1 Cache

Thanks! My 486SX still crashes on Space Quest III and LSL 3 so I think it's still too fast for these systems so this may work.

EDIT: well that failed on my 486. It demands a co-processor. I'll need to find another tool that slows down the PC enough to not crash when running Space Quest III.

Retro game fanatic.
IBM PS1 386SX25 - 4MB
IBM Aptiva 486SX33 - 8MB - 2GB CF - SB16
IBM PC350 P233MMX - 64MB - 32GB SSD - AWE64 - Voodoo2
PIII600 - 320MB - 480GB SSD - SB Live! - GF4 Ti 4200
i5-2500k - 3GB - SB Audigy 2 - HD 4870

Reply 803 of 1699, by gerwin

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red_avatar wrote:

EDIT: well that failed on my 486. It demands a co-processor. I'll need to find another tool that slows down the PC enough to not crash when running Space Quest III.

Maybe Try: CacheOff.
That one is really simple.
I considered compiling SetMul with no-FPU settings before, but I am still in doubt whether or not that is a good idea...

--> ISA Soundcard Overview // Doom MBF 2.04 // SetMul

Reply 804 of 1699, by Falcosoft

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I also have an even more simple DOS utility to enable/disable caches:
http://falcosoft.hu/dos_softwares.html#cache

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Reply 805 of 1699, by appiah4

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gerwin wrote:
Maybe Try: CacheOff. That one is really simple. I considered compiling SetMul with no-FPU settings before, but I am still in d […]
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red_avatar wrote:

EDIT: well that failed on my 486. It demands a co-processor. I'll need to find another tool that slows down the PC enough to not crash when running Space Quest III.

Maybe Try: CacheOff.
That one is really simple.
I considered compiling SetMul with no-FPU settings before, but I am still in doubt whether or not that is a good idea...

Why not? Lots of 486 SX system that wouldn't bind being run as 386s out there I'd think.. I have a U5SX build for example (although it does have turbo functionality, and I don't know if setmul works on umc, but still..)

Retronautics: A digital gallery of my retro computers, hardware and projects.

Reply 806 of 1699, by red_avatar

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gerwin wrote:
Maybe Try: CacheOff. That one is really simple. I considered compiling SetMul with no-FPU settings before, but I am still in d […]
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red_avatar wrote:

EDIT: well that failed on my 486. It demands a co-processor. I'll need to find another tool that slows down the PC enough to not crash when running Space Quest III.

Maybe Try: CacheOff.
That one is really simple.
I considered compiling SetMul with no-FPU settings before, but I am still in doubt whether or not that is a good idea...

Thanks, I'll give that a go!

Retro game fanatic.
IBM PS1 386SX25 - 4MB
IBM Aptiva 486SX33 - 8MB - 2GB CF - SB16
IBM PC350 P233MMX - 64MB - 32GB SSD - AWE64 - Voodoo2
PIII600 - 320MB - 480GB SSD - SB Live! - GF4 Ti 4200
i5-2500k - 3GB - SB Audigy 2 - HD 4870

Reply 807 of 1699, by Falcosoft

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Hi.
There is a new test version for you to try:
http://falcosoft.hu/midiplayer_57_test.zip

New features:
1. Fixed Loop points filter in Event viewer.

2. Added EMIDI style CC 118/119 global loop point support (e.g. some Duke Nukem 3D songs use it).

3. Added Time Signature to main display (lower right corner).

4. Extended Dreamblaster_X2.ins file that includes the new MT-32 compatible bank v.203.
Updated dream soundbank for DreamBlaster X2 and X3M : MT-32 map

5. Added 'Tempo Percent Fixed' option to right click context menu of Tempo track bar. In the last version I have added mus support. But original/ripped Raptor mus files do not use the mus standard 140 Hz timing but 70 Hz ( and there is no way to identify if a mus file is Raptor specific or not). So they are playing at double speed in all players that support mus. In FSMP you can play them at the intended speed if you set the tempo track bar to 50%. But so far you had to do this at the beginning of each song since tempo percent is reset by default when a new song is loaded. With this new option you can force the tempo for many files/a whole session.

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Reply 809 of 1699, by Falcosoft

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Roland User wrote:
Falcosoft Thank you ) But I have question ) as convert SF2 to SFZ lossless ? I not known this software , maybe you known ? Me in […]
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Falcosoft
Thank you )
But I have question ) as convert SF2 to SFZ lossless ? I not known this software , maybe you known ?
Me interest only convert with FLAC compression )

As far as samples are concerned the conversion is lossless if your destination format is PCM or FLAC.
But be aware that one of the biggest difference between SF2 and SFZ is that an SFZ file can only contain the definition of a single instrument. So if you convert a full GM/GS SF2 file to SFZ files all the information about Bank and Preset numbers are lost.
BTW I'm not experienced in converting SF2 to SFZ files so I cannot help you with hints/details.

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Reply 810 of 1699, by Roland User

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Hi ) Falcosoft )
You not right )
If use SF2Packer of BassMIDI and pack SF2 to SF2pack , we have packed soundfont file with all instruments in all MSB / LSB banks )
If now rename this file from SF2pack to SFZ and load in your BASSMIDI SoundFont VST synth , we can use compressed files )
This packer : https://yadi.sk/d/1a3SYWSaGjSC-A
This example what will be after compression : https://yadi.sk/d/yequW-nKuoRNgA
easy load this file and use all banks and instruments )
If you can , please , make compressor SF2 files and include in your BASSMIDI VSTI ) or add SF2Pack support in your BASSMIDI VST )

Reply 811 of 1699, by Falcosoft

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Hi,
Sorry to say but you are wrong and it seems you have no idea about what SFZ format is:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SFZ_(file_format)
A real SFZ is a text file and not a binary one and is fundamentally different from SF2/SF2Pack. Here's a valid SFZ file for you to study:

Filename
B3_bass_guitar.zip
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1.4 MiB
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Fair use/fair dealing exception

By simply renaming compressed SF2 (SF2Pack) format files to .sfz (as you did with your GUS original.sfz) you cannot get a valid SFZ file.
Bassmidi will load your file since it does not decide about file formats by extension but by parsing the file itself. So it can determine that it is a valid SF2 file with compressed samples. You can even rename your file to 'GUS original.xyz' and Bassmidi still can load it. That's the story.

Bassmidi VSTi already supports SF2Pack files if you compress the samples with ogg or mp3 (since these codecs are supported by Bass without any external library) or FLAC (since bassflac.dll is included in the package) . You do not have to rename SF2pack files to anything since in the file select dialog the 4th option is 'All files (*.*)' so you can load files with any extensions.
You can make SF2Pack files with ogg compressed samples by this version of SF2pack:
http://falcosoft.hu/sf2pack_ogg.zip

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Reply 813 of 1699, by Falcosoft

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What do you know? It rather seems you do not even understand even basic things...
As I have said BASSMIDI VST already supports sf2pack files... Have you read what I have written? Even FLAC compressed SF2 files are supported since as you can see Bassflac.dll is included in Bassmidi VSTi's package. You just have to make your FLAC compressed SF2 file and load it to Bassmidi VSTi and it works. What kind of other 'support' you are begging for?
Sometimes I really do not understand you...

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Reply 814 of 1699, by Roland User

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Good )
In list support formats not have SF2Pack , packer packed in SF2Pack and me need select *.* what would see sf2pack files in directories , so I rename sf2pack to sfz so see in file list )
I beg add native sf2pack in file list )

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Reply 815 of 1699, by Falcosoft

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But why have you renamed your file to .sfz (which is a completely different format) when it's actually a valid SF2 file with compressed data? So it would be much more logical to rename it simply to .sf2 since actually it IS an SF2...
Sf2pack is not a better extension name than .sf2 since it does not tell anything about the used compression method either. The used compression can be mp3, ogg, flac, wavpack or anything other.
That's why I used .sfogg extension instead for my custom made ogg compressed SF2 files.
But OK, later I will add sf2pack extension to file select dialog.

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Reply 816 of 1699, by Roland User

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Excuse me for not accuracy
I use SFZ only because if I use extension SF2 , application wich can open SF2 not correct work with compressed ) SFZ usen only BASSMIDI VST Synth ) and not conflicted with other application ) sf2pack correctly work with Awave Studio 10.6 and sf2packer wich use only flac compression
Thanks )

Reply 817 of 1699, by Falcosoft

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OK, I have added SF2Pack format to file select dialog list. You can also Drag&Drop SF2Pack files to main editor dialog.
Also I have added soundfont file info extension to file select dialog. You can see the comments, file and sample size, compression, preset and bank info when you select a soundfont (similar to FSMP's file select dialog).
http://falcosoft.hu/softwares.html#bassmidi_vsti

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