Command Line Mod PLayer

[killergorilla]

Hi,

I'm looking for a player that will play mod files from the command line and not display the program.

I've tried hippoplayer but I can only get it to play files in a certain order, I want it to play tracks from a dir randomly.

It needs to be small and use little resources as it needs to be run in the background of a menu system.

Any help on this would be VERY handy! (or if you can tell me how to randomise tracks from commandline in hippo player that would be great)

[Severin]

try ptplay, probably on aminet

[killergorilla]

As it was such a popular thread I thought I'd let you know how I got on.

Well after testing about 14 different mod players all of which where pains in the arses to get to run from commandline, pretty much all of them wouldn't allow me to shuffle the tracks without opening the gui which I didn't want to do.

I managed to find APlayer which did allow this but kept chucking out the same "cannot open amigaguide.library" error everytime I ran it from commandline behind my menu (i did have this lib in the correct dir). After snoopdos-ing it from a standard wb install I figured out that I needed to add the file classes/datatypes/amigaguide.datatype, and also add a couple of lines to my startup sequence... namely:

assign > NIL LIBS: sys:classes ADD
C:AddDataTypes QUIET REFRESH

Then I had to add some more libs (commodities, rexxsys and some more) to get it work.

If it would have said that in the amigaguide document (ooh the irony) in the first place I wouldn't have spent ages ripping my hair out (and that's a lot cos I am a gorilla)

End of torturous lesson.

[FromWithin]

Originally Posted by killergorilla

If it would have said that in the amigaguide document (ooh the irony) in the first place I wouldn't have spent ages ripping my hair out (and that's a lot cos I am a gorilla)

End of torturous lesson.

Well it wouldn't say it in the amigaguide because those lines are part of the standard startup-sequence that shouldn't be edited. I think it's reasonable for it to assume that they would be present on any system.

[Bloodwych]

Deliplayer and Eagleplayer have arexx scripts - isn't it possible to use them without opening the GUI? Haven't tried, so you'd have to find out how to use them.

Amigaguide.datatype is already present. The assign classes is in the WB3.0 startup-sequence file already but the adddatatypes command is only default in WB3.1. It's usually used by software or in WB3.0 from CLI to add and read new datatypes recently added.

[killergorilla]

well if a modplayer is designed to be used from commandline then the chances are you might not be using it within workbench anyway so it should really say what files it depends on imo. And besides, I have no idea why it needs amigaguide files because it does not use any guide files at all, it never displays a thing.

[Bloodwych]

I've been looking at WB30 vs WB31 and although the former lacks adddatatypes in the startup-sequence, it seems to perform the command automatically when using the datatypes.lib (hex editor lists this command inside).

WB31 datatype.lib makes no mention of this command and that's why it's in the startup-sequence.

Not very helpful to you KG, just wanted to add to my last post in case anyone can clear up if datatypes are updated automatically in wb30 or the adddatatypes line has to be entered.

Glad you've got whatever you want to work, even if it was a mess on. Believe me, I've been there a few times when adding features to the ClassicWB.

[gary]

Originally Posted by killergorilla

Hi,

I'm looking for a player that will play mod files from the command line and not display the program.

I've tried hippoplayer but I can only get it to play files in a certain order, I want it to play tracks from a dir randomly.

It needs to be small and use little resources as it needs to be run in the background of a menu system.

Any help on this would be VERY handy! (or if you can tell me how to randomise tracks from commandline in hippo player that would be great)

Hippoplayer plays random tracks. Select the random option from the setup options. It also has a timeout. I think the random option is a cyclic button (eg: Play ONCE, FOREVER, RANDOM). Create a playlist, save it, and use hippoplayer <playlist> to play those songs randomly.

The most resouce friendly would be the player that comes with the protracker package as mentioned before (PTPLAY) but you will need to setup your own script to choose a random song. Stick with Hippoplayer unless you want to play some of the more exotic MOD formats.

[killergorilla]

How do I create a playlist?

I've recently discovered that Aplayer is a pain in the arse!

Sorry to sound simple but I fiddled with hippoplayer for ages with no success in creating a playlist. Or do I have have to create them from memacs or a text editor?

[gary]

I don't have an Amiga handy, but try clicking the file open button and selecting multiple files. From memory the playlist was shown underneath the interface and had the usual add/delete options to include more songs. You may have to resort to downloading a full hippoplayerarchive (maybe from Aminet) and reading the instrustions

Hippoplayer will play multiple MODS/samples (and a few other formats) from the command line wiithout bringing up a GUI. I've used it for this purpose. The command line was something like: hippoplayer HIDE <playlist>
And I think you can stop it by: hippoplayer QUIT

The playlist file is just text so you can make your own without using hippoplayer, just be careful to have the first 2 lines as "HipPrg" then blank for it to be recognised properly.

eg:

HiPPrg

mods/crappy/mod.maccarena
mods/annoying/mod.shutuppa-your-face
mdds/pureshit/mod.hampsterdance
mods/homer/mod.rappin-ronny-reagan
mods/homer/mod.its-raining-men

[killergorilla]

Cheers for that, I will give it a shot.

And I did download the hippoplayer archive, I knew that you could use the HIDE and QUIT functions and all that, it's just that (like I said), I couldn't get the darned thing to play a playlist or shuffle.

Thanks again, hope it bloody works this time!

(btw - i like your choice of mod-names, very camp )

[Photon]

"AGREED." (c) Kung Fu Panda / Clint Eastwood.

Was about to compliment that code box Gary

[killergorilla]

Wow, I was just about to dig up this old thread but someone beat me to it!

I've now given hippoplayer a good go, and it does indeed play a playlist in random order if you save out the prefs file and specify a playlist.

Trouble is it always pops up a requestor whenever you try to load a TFMX file (mdat/smpl). This always pops up, even if you choose to 'ignore errors'.

Is there not a simple mod player that can play random tracks without some special "feature" standing in the way?

[Amiga1992]

I would like a simpler commandline modplayer.
I just need it to load ONE mod at a time on request, and quit the player when the mod has reached restart point (or after a bunch of restarts).

Anything like this exists? It would be the background to some graphics...
Perhaps I should start looking for AMOS-like applications liek Blitz Basic (or those demomakers...)

[killergorilla]

from my testing I'm pretty sure there is one that does that.

What formats does it need to support?

[killergorilla]

Right, I've now settled on HippoPlayer despite it's flaws (diplaying the name of TFMX files before playing, displaying a message if a file is unsupported - both in HIDE mode).

Just have to make sure I don't include any files which are not supported (or are TFMX) and put it in the readme for others.

[earok]

Originally Posted by killergorilla

Right, I've now settled on HippoPlayer despite it's flaws (diplaying the name of TFMX files before playing, displaying a message if a file is unsupported - both in HIDE mode).

Just have to make sure I don't include any files which are not supported (or are TFMX) and put it in the readme for others.

I know this is a really old post, but it might be helpful if someone else runs into the same issue (TFMX message popping up in hippoplayer). You can combine MDAT / SMPL files into a single file with this utility.

http://aminet.net/package/mus/misc/TFMX-converter

The merged files are supported by hippoplayer and don't display the popup when loaded.

[killergorilla]

Good to know!

Maybe one day I'll revisit this

[koobo]

If anyone is still interested, I've just recently (in the year 2016) fixed this annoying pop up as requested by a jolly french fellow. Here it is: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...opup-fixed.zip

[daxb]

If I start your hip then I get an software failure (long write to 0). On A1200 3.1 040.