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Master484 · 04 March 2017, 12:13

Just loaded the new mods to Octamed 4, and they sound really good and high quality. And they seem to use just 2 channels, which leaves 2 channels free for sound effects, which is great.

And the size is now better. Using 350 KB for music is OK I think. And if the whole song is about 1 MB, then even that could be OK for a 2 MB Chip + 1 MB Fast configuration. Although I'm not sure how much RAM the graphics and other stuff are going to take in their final form. And all the bitmaps and display buffers have to fit into Chip RAM also.

But maybe if the game code would go to Fast RAM, then we could use 1 MB for graphics and the other 1 MB for music and sound effects. So maybe level music + a shorter boss music loop + sound effects could fit into 1 MB ? If so, then I believe the whole thing could fit into the 2 MB of chip RAM.

And of course one mid-level loading break is acceptable; the boss battle would be the best place for that and quite many games load before boss battles. So the boss music + boss graphics could be loaded separately, and this would mean 1 MB free for level music + sounds, and the other 1 MB for level graphics.

And the Smack My Bitch Up song sounds great, it's better than Worlds On Fire I think.

---

Also I noticed something about the default Blitz Mod commands; Blitz seems to play all MOD songs at maximum speed, and there is no way to change the speed. This is why all MOD files sound so strange in Blitz.

Because when I loaded the MODs in Octamed 4, and tried to change the song speed to maximum, it sounded exactly the same as when playing it from Blitz.

But luckily Blitz has the "MED module" commands too, which work fine, although they only work for Octamed MED modules. And then there are those external libraries too, although I've never used them.

---

Also about the song used in Xenon 2, the actual full song only plays in the title screen, and I believe it takes almost all space on disk 1, and most of the RAM too. Because when game starts you have to insert disk 2, and the song that plays during the game is a shortened and simplified "loop version" of the full song. That's the only way the song + all the graphics could fit into the 1 MB they had back then. And even then every level is actually divided into two parts, with a loading break between the parts, but this loading was "hidden" because they put the "weapons shop" between the two level parts.

04 March 2017, 12:13	#36
Master484 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2015 Location: Vaasa, Finland Posts: 525	Just loaded the new mods to Octamed 4, and they sound really good and high quality. And they seem to use just 2 channels, which leaves 2 channels free for sound effects, which is great. And the size is now better. Using 350 KB for music is OK I think. And if the whole song is about 1 MB, then even that could be OK for a 2 MB Chip + 1 MB Fast configuration. Although I'm not sure how much RAM the graphics and other stuff are going to take in their final form. And all the bitmaps and display buffers have to fit into Chip RAM also. But maybe if the game code would go to Fast RAM, then we could use 1 MB for graphics and the other 1 MB for music and sound effects. So maybe level music + a shorter boss music loop + sound effects could fit into 1 MB ? If so, then I believe the whole thing could fit into the 2 MB of chip RAM. And of course one mid-level loading break is acceptable; the boss battle would be the best place for that and quite many games load before boss battles. So the boss music + boss graphics could be loaded separately, and this would mean 1 MB free for level music + sounds, and the other 1 MB for level graphics. And the Smack My Bitch Up song sounds great, it's better than Worlds On Fire I think. --- Also I noticed something about the default Blitz Mod commands; Blitz seems to play all MOD songs at maximum speed, and there is no way to change the speed. This is why all MOD files sound so strange in Blitz. Because when I loaded the MODs in Octamed 4, and tried to change the song speed to maximum, it sounded exactly the same as when playing it from Blitz. But luckily Blitz has the "MED module" commands too, which work fine, although they only work for Octamed MED modules. And then there are those external libraries too, although I've never used them. --- Also about the song used in Xenon 2, the actual full song only plays in the title screen, and I believe it takes almost all space on disk 1, and most of the RAM too. Because when game starts you have to insert disk 2, and the song that plays during the game is a shortened and simplified "loop version" of the full song. That's the only way the song + all the graphics could fit into the 1 MB they had back then. And even then every level is actually divided into two parts, with a loading break between the parts, but this loading was "hidden" because they put the "weapons shop" between the two level parts.