Music differences between DOS and Mac version?

Second part of the best game ever made.
Post Reply
Bard
Scholar Scribe
Scholar Scribe
Posts: 2
Joined: September 17th, 2016, 3:55 am

Music differences between DOS and Mac version?

Post by Bard »

Could anyone look into this?
Specifically for the first level that uses the RoofA to RoofD music files.

On the DOS Version RoofA and RoofB are almost identical to RoofC and RoofD with very small changes (added instruments and different end parts)

On the Mac Version those 2 seem to be completely new tracks, you can listen to them in this video
at around 4:08 (which I think might be RoofC) and 4:33 (RoofD, but only the first few seconds of it)



Though those 2 files could also be additions completing the Roof music with RoofE and RoofF.

If either, is it possible to extract those 2 additional Roof music files and add them to the DOS Version of the game so they can be listened to with the Sound Blaster music?
User avatar
Norbert
The Prince of Persia
The Prince of Persia
Posts: 5743
Joined: April 9th, 2009, 10:58 pm

Re: Music differences between DOS and Mac version?

Post by Norbert »

I cannot help you, but I will attach to this post what I believe might be the PoP2 for Mac audio related DAT files.
No idea how to extract music or sounds effects from these DAT files.
Attachments
mac_audio_dat.zip
possibly are PoP2 for Mac audio related DAT files
(2.01 MiB) Downloaded 142 times
David
The Prince of Persia
The Prince of Persia
Posts: 2846
Joined: December 11th, 2008, 9:48 pm
Location: Hungary

Re: Music differences between DOS and Mac version?

Post by David »

And here are the extracted sounds and music, together with the program that extracted them.
Bard wrote:and add them to the DOS Version of the game so they can be listened to with the Sound Blaster music?
You can do that with PR. From your post I suppose you can use it. Is that correct?

Note, however, that PoP2 for DOS and Mac seem to use different assignment of instruments.

EDIT: Scroll down to my next post for the fixed version.
User avatar
Norbert
The Prince of Persia
The Prince of Persia
Posts: 5743
Joined: April 9th, 2009, 10:58 pm

Re: Music differences between DOS and Mac version?

Post by Norbert »

David wrote:And here are the extracted sounds and music, together with the program that extracted them.
Hah, nice; you were waiting for the right moment to post that, weren't you? ;)
Do the WAVs have header ticks, or is that just my imagination?
David
The Prince of Persia
The Prince of Persia
Posts: 2846
Joined: December 11th, 2008, 9:48 pm
Location: Hungary

Re: Music differences between DOS and Mac version?

Post by David »

Norbert wrote:Hah, nice; you were waiting for the right moment to post that, weren't you? ;)
Yeah, actually I had an earlier version of the code around since, like, ... 2007? :shock: ... :lol:

Hm... I seem to have a long "tradition" of making things and then not publishing them.
Either at all, or until someone asks a question for which it's the answer.

Perhaps because it takes some work to make a "just working" program into a "stand-alone publishable" one.

And, there have been cases when I posted something but nobody answered.
Examples from the Unanswered posts page: Making Hercules screenshots look a bit more authentic, Small differences in PoP1 for Mac OS, Swordfight across a chasm, That infamous "floating on air" bug in SNES PoP2.
People probably looked at it, they just didn't have anything to say.
Norbert wrote:Do the WAVs have header ticks, or is that just my imagination?
Whoops, it looks like I didn't cut off the last 8 bytes of the header.
You have good ears! :)
I think I saw this when I was comparing the Mac and DOS waves in a hex-editor, but it seems I didn't really bother about it... :D
(By the way, the sample rates are different: DOS waves use 11000 Hz (or 10500 Hz), Mac waves use 11025 Hz.)

Here is the fixed version:
Attachments
pop2macsnd.zip
(4.07 MiB) Downloaded 158 times
User avatar
Norbert
The Prince of Persia
The Prince of Persia
Posts: 5743
Joined: April 9th, 2009, 10:58 pm

Re: Music differences between DOS and Mac version?

Post by Norbert »

David wrote:People probably looked at it, they just didn't have anything to say.
Hercules, Mac, Game Boy, PoP2 for SNES; maybe it's because these are more obscure/non-mainstream.
Personally, I sometimes simply don't know what to contribute, at least nothing insightful.
A good example is your post here that I thought warranted some kind of reply, but I couldn't come up with something better than "Interesting stuff." ;)
Bard
Scholar Scribe
Scholar Scribe
Posts: 2
Joined: September 17th, 2016, 3:55 am

Re: Music differences between DOS and Mac version?

Post by Bard »

David wrote:And here are the extracted sounds and music, together with the program that extracted them.
Bard wrote:and add them to the DOS Version of the game so they can be listened to with the Sound Blaster music?
You can do that with PR. From your post I suppose you can use it. Is that correct?

Note, however, that PoP2 for DOS and Mac seem to use different assignment of instruments.

EDIT: Scroll down to my next post for the fixed version.
Unfortunately I don't know how to use any of the mod programmes for PoP, but I'll certainly look into it!
My incentive for this thread was to record the PoP2 music to have a full soundtrack video of it on youtube with the glorious sound blaster instrument set, so any extra mac music files should be inculded in it as well.
Even though with the very short tracks for the cave/ruins/temple and the random interchangeable arrangement they are played with, this might be a bit more difficult than just starting the game and standing still while the music plays.
And using DOS based midi players always yield totally different results and are never even close to how the music is played in the game.

Thanks a lot for the music midi files though!!
It seems that they replaced the RoofC and RoofD files with 2 new tracks rather than using the slightly different RC RD ones from the DOS version, after listening through all of the files it seems only those 2 roof tracks (res09794 & res09795) are different.

If that PR programme allows it, it would be nice to include them as RoofE and RooF to be played on the first level.
David
The Prince of Persia
The Prince of Persia
Posts: 2846
Joined: December 11th, 2008, 9:48 pm
Location: Hungary

Re: Music differences between DOS and Mac version?

Post by David »

Bard wrote: Unfortunately I don't know how to use any of the mod programmes for PoP, but I'll certainly look into it!
You can find PR here, along with documents about how to use it: http://www.popot.org/other_useful_tools.php?tool=PR

Ah, I guess you got the separate MIDI files from here: http://popuw.com/files/pop_midi2.zip
Bard wrote: And using DOS based midi players always yield totally different results and are never even close to how the music is played in the game.
That's because PoP2 (and probably most DOS games) uses custom instrument assignments for MIDI.

You're somewhat lucky by the way. I tried a DOS-based MIDI player once, but it did not play anything at all!
Bard wrote: If that PR programme allows it, it would be nice to include them as RoofE and RooF to be played on the first level.
It's easier to replace existing MIDIs with new ones.
Post Reply