[Glisp]

Okay, I have a quick question. what are xm files? Do they have anything to do with MIDI files per chance. the reason why I'm asking is because none of the articles on the wiki explain it. They don't even offer any links to them either. I swear, you guys just enjoy setting people up for failure don't you? (I'm joking about that last sentence of course. Do you think I'm honestly that stupid to blame you for my own Naivety?)

Sort of off topic:
I've been afraid to ask for rom hacking help because I end up getting the "DO IT YOURSELF!" treatment or I just don't understand what people are trying to say to me. ASM with me is difficult because memorizing the code is difficult because of my short attention span. I want to hack but my ADHD is preventing me from doing so.
Can someone please help me find a method of memorizing code that actually works?

This post has been edited by Glisp: 24 June 2009 - 01:36 PM

[Scarred Sun]

In before half the board jumps on you.

I'm gonna be honest, man—look it up on Wikipedia next time: http://en.wikipedia....XM_(file_format) Basically, XM files are kind of like MIDIs, but they're used with trackers and can handle samples and the like.

[NoNameAtAll]

In before half the board jumps on you.

I'm gonna be honest, man—look it up on Wikipedia next time: http://en.wikipedia....XM_(file_format) Basically, XM files are kind of like MIDIs, but they're used with trackers and can handle samples and the like.

This would work as well, in case one doesn't like Wikipedia.

[Glisp]

Oh shit! *Slaps forhead* I completely forgot about that. Uh...oops... but anyways is there an easy way to convert Midis to XM or do I not need to?

[nineko]

You can convert MIDI files to XM files with Mod Plug Tracker. Though the process isn't painless because XM files are superior and you'll have to fix many things (mainly timing) by hand.

[Glisp]

You can convert MIDI files to XM files with Mod Plug Tracker. Though the process isn't painless because XM files are superior and you'll have to fix many things (mainly timing) by hand.

Where can I get one of these "Mod Plug Trackers"? I'd google it but I'm not sure how consistant the results are or even what I'm looking for exactly.

[nineko]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Mod+Plug+Tracker

This post has been edited by nineko: 24 June 2009 - 01:56 PM

[Spanner]

You could also use mid2xm, though you would have to get things such as instruments yourself. It does a good job converting but it does make the end results an octave up.

[Shibunoa]

Or you use a program called gmid2mod to convert MIDIs to XM. More than 10 years old, but does a pretty good job.
It's command line only though.

This post has been edited by Shibunoa: 24 June 2009 - 02:03 PM

[Glisp]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Mod+Plug+Tracker

I downloaded it. Now what? Do you have any tips to get me started?

[dust hill resident]

Grab some .xm songs and load them into modplug tracker, then watch them play back. Then experiment around, and you'll get the hang of things.

[Glisp]

Yes but what do I need to do to get them to play all the notes in 6 channels? Or is that not needed? Nineko mentioned something about altering them so that they would work. Could someone elaborate if Nineko isn't around, please?

This post has been edited by Glisp: 24 June 2009 - 03:50 PM

[nineko]

I am around, but you should know by now that I'm not too helpful when it comes to things you can try and learn easily by yourself. I'm sorry. Dust Hill Resident got it right, load some XM files and see what they do, I had nobody to teach me how to do that when I wrote xm2smps.

[Krigo]

Nineko's right, just mess around with Mod Plug Tracker's GUI and you'll figure out how to get it working, didn't take me long but I haven't touched Mod Plug Tracker or XM3SMPS for a long time.

[Sik]

I had nobody to teach me how to do that when I wrote xm2smps.

Fast Tracker 2 at least came with the list of effects in the help (albeit it wasn't very descriptive, but enough to start dealing with them).

Though yeah... I gotta dig up that old module tutorial I made some time ago for Chris Senn, explaining how modules work isn't exactly easy to explain (despite the concept is simple) =/ That the GUIs look bloated doesn't help either (don't get me wrong, everything in them is very useful, but to a newbie the GUI of a tracker will look like madness).

If you know how does SMPS work though, well, things are easier. SMPS is a module-like format, albeit very adapted to the Mega Drive hardware (e.g. modules normally use samples, not FM or PSG instruments).