[Salem the Engineer]

So I had recently purchased the "SEGA Genesis & Mega Drive Classics" from Steam. As I was playing Sonic 3 & Knuckles, I started to miss the PC soundtrack that I grew up with (no offense to the Genesis soundtrack). Since this is on PC, I thought it would be very easy to mod. So I wen through the files to find that the games could be files which are a ".pak" format. So I did some research to see what kind of file it is, and based on what I search it seems to be something similar to a ".rar" format, only for games though. So I found and followed this video to see how could I access the file, however when I tried it out, I got an error saying that the file can't be accessed. So what do I do now? Is it even possible to change the soundtrack, or not because the games are emulated?

Hope to get an answer from you guys!

This post has been edited by Salem the Engineer: 04 June 2013 - 05:04 PM

[dsrb]

The games are emulated. The emulation is a Mega Drive. The Mega Drive cannot natively play the music from Sonic & Knuckles Collection, which is in a different format.

But why reinvent the wheel? If you haven't already heard of Sonic 3 Complete, Tiddles literally just released the latest version, which now includes an option to play Megadrive-converted versions of the songs from the PC.

P.S. When titling a thread that exists to ask a question, why not just ask the question in the title? Nothing specific to you, just something I see all the time and can never understand.

This post has been edited by dsrb: 04 June 2013 - 05:18 PM

[SoullessSentinel]

This particular .pak file is likely specific to the collection, and even if it were able to be extracted, there is nothing you can do to replace the music, as you're correct in it being an emulated rom.
The best you could hope for is for somebody to create a rom hack to port the PC version music to an emulated version of Sonic 3, but obviously, due to running on the FM synthesis engine and not general midi, it still won't sound exactly the same as the original PC release.

I'm unsure if there are any patches to run the original PC release on modern machines, but you can download a copy of it from SonAR's Personal Computer section and try your luck.

I'm sorry I can't be more help than this.

EDIT: Ninja'd by dsrb, I wasn't aware Sonic 3 Complete had that option, you should probably go with that.

This post has been edited by SoullessSentinel: 04 June 2013 - 05:22 PM

[Salem the Engineer]

I'd like to thank both you guys for answering my question. It really means a lot, I'm still kinda wanting the General MIDI sound files. But hey, the Sonic 3 Complete ROM will have to do for now.

This post has been edited by Salem the Engineer: 04 June 2013 - 06:18 PM

[dsrb]

Salem the Engineer, on 04 June 2013 - 06:17 PM, said:

I'm still kinda wanting the General MIDI sound files.

First result for Googling sonic knuckles collection midi:
http://www.vgmusic.c....php?f=6&t=5878
And another link from there:
http://www.mirsoft.i...id_ele=MjUyMw==

[MainMemory]

I wonder though, if it could be the same .pak as the newer ports of Sonic Adventure 2 use?

[Salem the Engineer]

dsrb, on 04 June 2013 - 06:28 PM, said:

http://www.vgmusic.c....php?f=6&t=5878
And another link from there:
http://www.mirsoft.i...id_ele=MjUyMw==

That's not in-game :\

Those are just sound files. Thanks anyways.

[dsrb]

You asked for the general MIDI files. Those are the general MIDI files.

Were you implying that you want those exact same files to play during your use of the games on Steam? If that's even possible, it won't be an easy process. You'll have to crack the emulator, hook into it, have an external MIDI player or engine trigger every time the emulator tries to change track, and so on.

Maybe it's possible, and maybe someone else can help, but you might be just as well to save yourself the headache by going straight to the source and just playing S&KC. I'm sure it's easy to acquire, legally or not.

I'm not saying your question is invalid, just that it might not be worth the hassle when at least two simpler options are available.

[Covarr]

MainMemory, on 04 June 2013 - 06:28 PM, said:

I wonder though, if it could be the same .pak as the newer ports of Sonic Adventure 2 use?

Either I'm using PAKtool wrong, or it's not the same.

[Salem the Engineer]

dsrb, on 04 June 2013 - 07:22 PM, said:

You asked for the general MIDI files. Those are the general MIDI files.

Were you implying that you want those exact same files to play during your use of the games on Steam? If that's even possible, it won't be an easy process. You'll have to crack the emulator, hook into it, have an external MIDI player or engine trigger every time the emulator tries to change track, and so on.

Maybe it's possible, and maybe someone else can help, but you might be just as well to save yourself the headache by going straight to the source and just playing S&KC. I'm sure it's easy to acquire, legally or not.

I'm not saying your question is invalid, just that it might not be worth the hassle when at least two simpler options are available.

I do own the original copy for the PC, it's just that it doesn't run very well on Windows 7. Even when I used the crack, it still didn't run properly.

However you have inspired me to build my own version of Sonic 3 & Knuckles, I might even make it widescreen similar to that of Sonic CD HD. I'll first experiment on how the engine I'm using works, then probably make a playable demo of Angel Island Act 1.

[dsrb]

Ah right, I didn't realise it had issues with new versions of Windows. What are the problems?

Anyway, sounds cool! Looking forward to seeing your progress.

[redhotsonic]

Salem the Engineer, on 05 June 2013 - 03:36 AM, said:

I do own the original copy for the PC, it's just that it doesn't run very well on Windows 7. Even when I used the crack, it still didn't run properly.

What edition of Windows 7 do you have? If you have Professional, Ultimate, or Enterprise, you can download (for free) and use "Windows XP mode" for your computer. I have Ultimate, and for some old programs and games that refuse to work on 7, I just load XP mode and use the program on XP like a charm. I haven't tried SK Collection (I don't have it), but chances are it will work.

[MainMemory]

S&K Collection runs perfectly fine on Windows 7, provided you have S3K.ini set up properly.

[Salem the Engineer]

dsrb, on 05 June 2013 - 06:06 AM, said:

Ah right, I didn't realise it had issues with new versions of Windows. What are the problems?

Anyway, sounds cool! Looking forward to seeing your progress.

It will take a long time, but beats sitting around just whining.

As for the PC version I have set up the "S3K.ini" with multiple tries, and it still gave poor frame rates. I'm running Windows 7 Professional, even when using compatibility mode it still didn't change a thing. I've come to the decision to attempt a remake.

[redhotsonic]

Salem the Engineer, on 05 June 2013 - 10:32 AM, said:

I'm running Windows 7 Professional, even when using compatibility mode it still didn't change a thing. I've come to the decision to attempt a remake.

You can try downloading Windows XP mode and see if it works then. Don't get this confused with trying to run the game in compatibility mode.