Heroes of Might and Magic II - Page 14

meynaf · 06 September 2021, 09:03

First ensure you have AGA active. Else screen won't open.
Then your error message indicates something wrong with SMK replay. Check you have all relevant files. See readme in the game archive (mine). Also check you don't have zero sized files in anim dir.

lifeschool · 07 September 2021, 00:59

Thanks a lot for your help.

You are right, the Abandonware version has the following Zero sized files in Anim:

GOOD08
GOOD08W
H2INTRO
SGOOD08
SH2INTRO

I used the DisableSMK and SkipIntro switches and the game works perfect on AGA and also PPC with RTG.

I tried to find: http://meynaf.free.fr/tmp/homm2-gold-smk.lzx but it no longer exists. But I found it here:

http://meynaf.free.fr/pr/homm2-gold-smk.lzx

The intro now works thanks to these files.

Thanks a lot.

slingshot · 06 August 2022, 12:05

I just discovered this great conversion (never too late...)
Only two questions:
- Is it possible to use 31kHz mode, like multiscan production instead of interlace?
- For c2p, the Akiko hardware couldn't be used? It's there on WinUAE and Minimig FPGA machines.

meynaf · 06 August 2022, 12:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by slingshot

- Is it possible to use 31kHz mode, like multiscan production instead of interlace?

It is in theory possible, but these modes eat a lot of DMA bandwidth and the game would crawl.

Quote:

Originally Posted by slingshot

- For c2p, the Akiko hardware couldn't be used? It's there on WinUAE and Minimig FPGA machines.

If you have a cpu that's fast enough to run the game, Akiko is probably too slow in comparison.
On Winuae you'd be better off by enabling JIT and max speed.

slingshot · 06 August 2022, 13:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by meynaf

It is in theory possible, but these modes eat a lot of DMA bandwidth and the game would crawl.

True, maybe it'll be unusable.

Quote:

If you have a cpu that's fast enough to run the game, Akiko is probably too slow in comparison.
On Winuae you'd be better off by enabling JIT and max speed.

The problem is that the Minimig's CPU is not fast enough (on the MiST board at least), and I know Akiko does wonders with DoomAttack (in 320x240 only, but without that, it's unusable even in low-res).

meynaf · 06 August 2022, 14:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by slingshot

The problem is that the Minimig's CPU is not fast enough (on the MiST board at least), and I know Akiko does wonders with DoomAttack (in 320x240 only, but without that, it's unusable even in low-res).

Contrary to Doom-like games, the c2p does not play a major role in HOMM2 because the screen is updated only for parts that have really changed. So yes, maybe it would make things slightly better but that wouldn't be enough if your cpu already can't handle DoomAttack (a 030/50 handles it pretty well from what i've read but is the bare minimum for HOMM2) -- IOW wasted efforts. Sorry.

slingshot · 06 August 2022, 15:39

Understood, thanks for your work anyway!

saimon69 · 07 August 2022, 21:50

By the way the PT61 replay routine might fix the music play problem with sound fx at the same time, but not the "play from where i left" one - considered the idle of this project on eight years are you available to a build with replaceable music so that we can put the partial tunes i have then replace it once are finished? That would be a motivator for me to get rid of this too

meynaf · 08 August 2022, 08:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by saimon69

By the way the PT61 replay routine might fix the music play problem with sound fx at the same time, but not the "play from where i left" one - considered the idle of this project on eight years are you available to a build with replaceable music so that we can put the partial tunes i have then replace it once are finished? That would be a motivator for me to get rid of this too

Sound fx uses several channels - i found out even two are not enough - so switching replay routines isn't gonna fix this by magic. Attempts to fix this on your side will not help, unless of course you do single channel music...

Yes i can do a build with replaceable music. But what for ? Current musics do not sound close enough to original ones, even those considered as finished.
That seems too much work for a place holder (the whole audio system has to be altered).

Size of musics is of little importance to me. Quality is what counts !
But if loading times are an issue for you, the best you can do in this area is to use a common set of samples.
Then these samples would be loaded at startup and only the song would load when switching musics.

saimon69 · 09 August 2022, 20:45

It takes time to fix stuff: Mountain of Fire in example had quirky instruments, but with better strings sound like the real one - that does affect RAM space though so is a delicate balance - go at 12:37 if youtube does not point automatically
(by the way got some thumbs up by Romero itself in facebook)

[ Show youtube player ]

lukzer · 23 August 2022, 18:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by meynaf

Contrary to Doom-like games, the c2p does not play a major role in HOMM2 because the screen is updated only for parts that have really changed. So yes, maybe it would make things slightly better but that wouldn't be enough if your cpu already can't handle DoomAttack (a 030/50 handles it pretty well from what i've read but is the bare minimum for HOMM2) -- IOW wasted efforts. Sorry.

is there a chance for RTG versions?

meynaf · 23 August 2022, 20:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by lukzer

is there a chance for RTG versions?

It's somewhere on the list.

meynaf · 13 October 2022, 08:43

New version is available !
It is labelled 0.7. Always same place for downloading.

Most important change is the addition of protracker replay ability. To activate it, setup midi replay in game prefs screen.
Files are located at (relative to base game dir) : mus/protracker/**.mod where ** means music number and is 02-04 (combat), 05-10 (castle), 11/13-15/17-18 (terrain), 42-43 (menu) - this is the original xmi list, others may exist, i don't know. If some file is not found, nothing plays.
There is no mixing of music and sfx for now (i skipped the tough part

) : whenever a music runs, sfx is turned off. When music is active but nothing plays for whatever reason, sfx will play normally.
I will not personnally release any music files (but others can if they want) until some music work can be considered as finished. Musicians know what to do now.

Other important thing is optimization and bugfixing of the smack player.
On fast machines (like uae in max speed) all anims should play perfectly now. It's not as easy as it looks ; software such as vlc or mpc-hc can play smk files, but these can contain two audio tracks (homm2 ones do, smk itself can have up to 7 !) and only one will be played... where the game should of course play them all (and now does).
In addition, the game often plays two smk simultaneously, sometimes with little variations...
Biggest difference is background music in campaign anims ; you will rediscover them.
Beware : the good08 files are now used. Previously that was never played. If you don't have them, better don't click on bottom-left button after selecting misson 8...

For other changes, see history.

And always remember : I don't have original game sources !
So i do what i can do, not necessarily what is asked for.
It's what's in the code that directs the changes. I understand things part by part, often by rewriting them.
So you will see unimportant things done, and important things not done. Sorry.
Things such as RTG (now on top of todo list) also have the problem that i don't really know how to do them. If someone wants to help in this area, just tell.

Oh, and of course if some guy wants to "take over" : ask before, next time. Even if all you want is to perform some small change.

saimon69 · 14 October 2022, 23:33

Am preparing another mod pack with the musics to be put in the zone

saimon69 · 18 October 2022, 17:53

You can find most of the musics that i made here in AMP, but will add more once they are more finalized
Amiga Music Preservation - JMD

meynaf · 18 October 2022, 20:06

I've just upped the (otherwise zero-sized) GOOD08 anims in my archive containing the missing smk anims for the gold edition, english version kindly given to me by DamienD. So you can get them back and have all anims regardless of your data files version.

kempy · 23 October 2022, 13:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by saimon69

You can find most of the musics that i made here in AMP, but will add more once they are more finalized
Amiga Music Preservation - JMD

Thanks for this music modules. Could you name them with correct numbers recognized by amiga homm2 port #?.mod? Thanks.

vulture · 23 October 2022, 19:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by kempy

Thanks for this music modules. Could you name them with correct numbers recognized by amiga homm2 port #?.mod? Thanks.

DamienD asked me to post this:

I took a look at the HoMMII CD Audio tracks and tried to match up JMD's MOD files.

See attached spreadsheet.

Hopefully they are correct, there are some MOD files that I couldn't work out what they are for.

Best if JMD verifies though...

saimon69 · 23 October 2022, 22:21

Am reviewing most of the musics so to have it loop and optimized a bit; hope to release a better music pack soon - will also add more tunes once are finished - this is giving me more fuel to continue the project!

saimon69 · 24 October 2022, 04:12

So am trying to set the game to run in WinUAE and so far i have no music; did rename the musics according to the spreadsheet, did set midi (bring the audio to 1 every time) ; my winuae is old so cannot add more than 8 meg fast and set 68040 as cpu. Sound effects work, game is darn slow but what concerns me is the lack of mod music.
I found the gold edition for DOS and used those files.

09 August 2022, 20:45	#270
saimon69 J.M.D - Bedroom Musician Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: los angeles,ca Posts: 3,539	It takes time to fix stuff: Mountain of Fire in example had quirky instruments, but with better strings sound like the real one - that does affect RAM space though so is a delicate balance - go at 12:37 if youtube does not point automatically (by the way got some thumbs up by Romero itself in facebook) [ Show youtube player ] Last edited by saimon69; 09 August 2022 at 20:51.

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06 September 2021, 09:03	#261
meynaf son of 68k Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Lyon / France Age: 51 Posts: 5,323	First ensure you have AGA active. Else screen won't open. Then your error message indicates something wrong with SMK replay. Check you have all relevant files. See readme in the game archive (mine). Also check you don't have zero sized files in anim dir.

07 September 2021, 00:59	#262
lifeschool Local Moderator Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Lancashire, UK Age: 48 Posts: 1,601	Thanks a lot for your help. You are right, the Abandonware version has the following Zero sized files in Anim: GOOD08 GOOD08W H2INTRO SGOOD08 SH2INTRO I used the DisableSMK and SkipIntro switches and the game works perfect on AGA and also PPC with RTG. I tried to find: http://meynaf.free.fr/tmp/homm2-gold-smk.lzx but it no longer exists. But I found it here: http://meynaf.free.fr/pr/homm2-gold-smk.lzx The intro now works thanks to these files. Thanks a lot.

06 August 2022, 12:05	#263
slingshot Registered User Join Date: Nov 2019 Location: Budapest/Hungary Posts: 20	I just discovered this great conversion (never too late...) Only two questions: - Is it possible to use 31kHz mode, like multiscan production instead of interlace? - For c2p, the Akiko hardware couldn't be used? It's there on WinUAE and Minimig FPGA machines.

06 August 2022, 15:39	#267
slingshot Registered User Join Date: Nov 2019 Location: Budapest/Hungary Posts: 20	Understood, thanks for your work anyway!

07 August 2022, 21:50	#268
saimon69 J.M.D - Bedroom Musician Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: los angeles,ca Posts: 3,539	By the way the PT61 replay routine might fix the music play problem with sound fx at the same time, but not the "play from where i left" one - considered the idle of this project on eight years are you available to a build with replaceable music so that we can put the partial tunes i have then replace it once are finished? That would be a motivator for me to get rid of this too

13 October 2022, 08:43	#273
meynaf son of 68k Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Lyon / France Age: 51 Posts: 5,323	New version is available ! It is labelled 0.7. Always same place for downloading. Most important change is the addition of protracker replay ability. To activate it, setup midi replay in game prefs screen. Files are located at (relative to base game dir) : mus/protracker/.mod where means music number and is 02-04 (combat), 05-10 (castle), 11/13-15/17-18 (terrain), 42-43 (menu) - this is the original xmi list, others may exist, i don't know. If some file is not found, nothing plays. There is no mixing of music and sfx for now (i skipped the tough part ) : whenever a music runs, sfx is turned off. When music is active but nothing plays for whatever reason, sfx will play normally. I will not personnally release any music files (but others can if they want) until some music work can be considered as finished. Musicians know what to do now. Other important thing is optimization and bugfixing of the smack player. On fast machines (like uae in max speed) all anims should play perfectly now. It's not as easy as it looks ; software such as vlc or mpc-hc can play smk files, but these can contain two audio tracks (homm2 ones do, smk itself can have up to 7 !) and only one will be played... where the game should of course play them all (and now does). In addition, the game often plays two smk simultaneously, sometimes with little variations... Biggest difference is background music in campaign anims ; you will rediscover them. Beware : the good08 files are now used. Previously that was never played. If you don't have them, better don't click on bottom-left button after selecting misson 8... For other changes, see history. And always remember : I don't have original game sources ! So i do what i can do, not necessarily what is asked for. It's what's in the code that directs the changes. I understand things part by part, often by rewriting them. So you will see unimportant things done, and important things not done. Sorry. Things such as RTG (now on top of todo list) also have the problem that i don't really know how to do them. If someone wants to help in this area, just tell. Oh, and of course if some guy wants to "take over" : ask before, next time. Even if all you want is to perform some small change.

14 October 2022, 23:33	#274
saimon69 J.M.D - Bedroom Musician Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: los angeles,ca Posts: 3,539	Am preparing another mod pack with the musics to be put in the zone

18 October 2022, 17:53	#275
saimon69 J.M.D - Bedroom Musician Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: los angeles,ca Posts: 3,539	You can find most of the musics that i made here in AMP, but will add more once they are more finalized Amiga Music Preservation - JMD

18 October 2022, 20:06	#276
meynaf son of 68k Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Lyon / France Age: 51 Posts: 5,323	I've just upped the (otherwise zero-sized) GOOD08 anims in my archive containing the missing smk anims for the gold edition, english version kindly given to me by DamienD. So you can get them back and have all anims regardless of your data files version.

23 October 2022, 22:21	#279
saimon69 J.M.D - Bedroom Musician Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: los angeles,ca Posts: 3,539	Am reviewing most of the musics so to have it loop and optimized a bit; hope to release a better music pack soon - will also add more tunes once are finished - this is giving me more fuel to continue the project!

24 October 2022, 04:12	#280
saimon69 J.M.D - Bedroom Musician Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: los angeles,ca Posts: 3,539	So am trying to set the game to run in WinUAE and so far i have no music; did rename the musics according to the spreadsheet, did set midi (bring the audio to 1 every time) ; my winuae is old so cannot add more than 8 meg fast and set 68040 as cpu. Sound effects work, game is darn slow but what concerns me is the lack of mod music. I found the gold edition for DOS and used those files.

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