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Admin: pack is at http://www.smspower.org/Music/Shanghai-SMS

----

Here is the VGM pack for this great board game, for the SN76489 PSG chip. I'll release the FM version as soon as possible.

Enjoy!!

Hi,

I started adding it to the site and notice a few things:

* It's better to avoid non-ASCII characters in filenames for compatibility
* Your text file was full of tabs :) and contained filenames, not titles
* The looping tracks don't actually loop!

The first two are easy enough to fix, the last is fixable (just re-trim the files with looping enabled) but I thought I ought to let you do it as I may not notice if it causes any issues.

Maxim wrote

Hi,

I started adding it to the site and notice a few things:

* It's better to avoid non-ASCII characters in filenames for compatibility
* Your text file was full of tabs :) and contained filenames, not titles
* The looping tracks don't actually loop!

The first two are easy enough to fix, the last is fixable (just re-trim the files with looping enabled) but I thought I ought to let you do it as I may not notice if it causes any issues.

Oh, sorry about the bugs. I did it the best I could, but it's difficult to cut the VGM in the very exact moment the loop begins (it's quite easier with WAV files). Please, correct everything you think is incorrect: you have more experience with these issues.

Perhaps the FM pack happens to be plagged with the same bugs...

It seems the VGMs are not trimmed accurately enough for it to sound right if I just loop them as-is. I also noticed that there is a song missing - there are 9 tracks available using the memory trigger from http://www.smspower.org/Development/MemoryHacks . So I may need to re-rip them :(

Maxim wrote

It seems the VGMs are not trimmed accurately enough for it to sound right if I just loop them as-is. I also noticed that there is a song missing - there are 9 tracks available using the memory trigger from http://www.smspower.org/Development/MemoryHacks . So I may need to re-rip them :(

Didn't know about the rest of the tunes! I just ripped every possible song that I could hear while playing. I can re-rip the game songs with Meka again, recording way more music, and give the rips to you, in order you can trim it right. But I don't know how to reach the hidden track, I'm not experienced with that.

Now I'm planning to rip the songs from Arcade Smash Hits: could you help me with the trimming, and look for hidden tracks, too?

I spent a little time this morning ripping as so:

1. Make a savestate at a point where there is silence and the game will not do anything on its own
2. Start logging
3. Trigger the songs from the memory editor and then speed up emulation until I can hear the loop (can be tricky, but just play it for longer if unsure)
4. Load the savestate when the song is done or has repeated a bit
5. Repeat for each song
6. Use vgm_sptd to split the big VGM into each part
7. Use vgmlpfnd on each one to find loops
8. Use vgm_trim to trim the looped ones

Then I just need to tag them, but I'm not so able to identify the missing track or to confirm that the trimmed songs sound right (apart from by comparing to the original big VGM).

This should all work on Arcade Smash Hits but I suspect it will be much harder to trigger as it's a European-developed game.

Ok, I've attached some tests I've done following your instructions. Please, check out if they are correct.

I've found the VGM Tools on this thread, since there are no traces of them on the Music section of the forum:

http://www.smspower.org/forums/12441-VGMTools

I couldn't figure out how to use the splitter, so I just found the loop and trimmed with the programs you mentioned: I think the tunes loop accurate now.

Tell me what you think, and thank you for your help!

Shanghai - Loop Tests (FM).zip (8.9 KB)

The loop tests sound OK to me.

I managed to get the PSG pack almost done and then realised I'd ripped it all at 50Hz :( so I shall do it again and upload the parts as a demonstration...

Step 1: I got into the game and used the trigger (DE04) to stop the music by writing FF, followed by 90 to trigger a sound effect which cleared out the crackling noise it was making.
Step 2: I saved the state
Step 3: I started logging a VGM, then triggered music 81
Step 4: For each music, wait for it to end or wait for it to loop a bit, then load the savestate to stop it
Step 5: Repeat for all tracks until they run out/become SFX - in this case they start to repeat at 8A
Step 6: stop logging

Result is attached.

Shanghai-01.zip (12.89 KB)

Step 7: use vgm_sptd to split it based on the silences which are present in the data. I used the default (blanK) split time. Result is attached.

split.zip (16.04 KB)

Step 8: On to vgmlpfnd and vgm_trim.

I run it against the first track with default values for everything and I get this:

VGM Loop Finder
---------------

File Name: Shanghai-01_01.vgm
Step Size (default: 1):
Minimum Number of matching Commands (default: 1024):
Start Pos (default: 0 - auto):

Counting Commands ... 2711
Reading Commands ... Done.
Source Block Block Copy Copy Information
Start Time Start Time Cmds Time
0 00:00.00 ! 476280 00:10.80 1649 00:16.72
Done.

The "!" tells me that it has found a perfect loop, starting at 0 and going up to sample 476280, then repeating for the whole file. So let's trim it.

VGM Trimmer
-----------

File Name: Shanghai-01_01.vgm
Start Sample (in Samples): 0
Loop Sample (in Samples): -1
End Sample (in Samples): 476280

Shanghai-01_01_trimmed.vgm written.

The trick here is to use -1 to indicate a loop from sample 0.

Next I optimize it with vgm_cmp and tag it - here I broke down and used VGMTool :) Result is attached.

Shanghai - 01 - Title Screen.zip (666 B)

Repeat this for other tracks. Some have "f" loops, some have "e" because I cut them a bit short, some have (!) and then extra loops because I didn't cut them short enough, some have no loops at all.

#8 is a bit tricky because it has some crackling at the end of the file. This needs to be removed, either by trimming it a bit shorter.

Thank you very much for the Tutorial! I hope I can do good rips in my future packs.

By the way: I managed to avoid the SFX sounds in Shanghai by just simply pausing (not with F12, just the simple Pause!) on Meka 0.80, and let the tunes keep on repeating. I wonder if that is a bug, since there is a cheat in Shanghai that involves pausing and it doesn't work within Meka (it works with Kega Fusion, for example).

I didn't try pausing. The cheat does work in Meka - I just made some screenshots here: http://www.smspower.org/Cheats/Shanghai-SMS

Edit: my packs above were still wrong - my savestate was taken at PAL timings then recorded as NTSC... and this game does compensate so the results were faster than they should be. There's also one track with a sustained note at the end which gets incorrectly split...

Corrected pack is now posted.

The technique above doesn't work properly for the FM pack - there is sometimes some missing percussion due to some missing chip writes. So it may need to be ripped more carefully.

Thank you for the release! :D

Author	Message
Ron_Stard Joined: 01 Apr 2008 Posts: 198 Location: Spain	[VGM Pack] Shanghai (PSG) Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2018 7:20 pm
Ron_Stard Joined: 01 Apr 2008 Posts: 198 Location: Spain	Admin: pack is at http://www.smspower.org/Music/Shanghai-SMS ---- Here is the VGM pack for this great board game, for the SN76489 PSG chip. I'll release the FM version as soon as possible. Enjoy!!

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14939 Location: London	Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2018 10:05 am
	Hi, I started adding it to the site and notice a few things: * It's better to avoid non-ASCII characters in filenames for compatibility * Your text file was full of tabs :) and contained filenames, not titles * The looping tracks don't actually loop! The first two are easy enough to fix, the last is fixable (just re-trim the files with looping enabled) but I thought I ought to let you do it as I may not notice if it causes any issues.

Ron_Stard Joined: 01 Apr 2008 Posts: 198 Location: Spain	Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2018 2:33 pm
Ron_Stard Joined: 01 Apr 2008 Posts: 198 Location: Spain	Maxim wrote Hi, I started adding it to the site and notice a few things: * It's better to avoid non-ASCII characters in filenames for compatibility * Your text file was full of tabs :) and contained filenames, not titles * The looping tracks don't actually loop! The first two are easy enough to fix, the last is fixable (just re-trim the files with looping enabled) but I thought I ought to let you do it as I may not notice if it causes any issues. Oh, sorry about the bugs. I did it the best I could, but it's difficult to cut the VGM in the very exact moment the loop begins (it's quite easier with WAV files). Please, correct everything you think is incorrect: you have more experience with these issues. Perhaps the FM pack happens to be plagged with the same bugs...

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14939 Location: London	Posted: Fri Nov 16, 2018 10:34 am
	It seems the VGMs are not trimmed accurately enough for it to sound right if I just loop them as-is. I also noticed that there is a song missing - there are 9 tracks available using the memory trigger from http://www.smspower.org/Development/MemoryHacks . So I may need to re-rip them :(

Ron_Stard Joined: 01 Apr 2008 Posts: 198 Location: Spain	Posted: Fri Nov 16, 2018 10:41 am
Ron_Stard Joined: 01 Apr 2008 Posts: 198 Location: Spain	Maxim wrote It seems the VGMs are not trimmed accurately enough for it to sound right if I just loop them as-is. I also noticed that there is a song missing - there are 9 tracks available using the memory trigger from http://www.smspower.org/Development/MemoryHacks . So I may need to re-rip them :( Didn't know about the rest of the tunes! I just ripped every possible song that I could hear while playing. I can re-rip the game songs with Meka again, recording way more music, and give the rips to you, in order you can trim it right. But I don't know how to reach the hidden track, I'm not experienced with that. Now I'm planning to rip the songs from Arcade Smash Hits: could you help me with the trimming, and look for hidden tracks, too?

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14939 Location: London	Posted: Fri Nov 16, 2018 12:35 pm
	I spent a little time this morning ripping as so: 1. Make a savestate at a point where there is silence and the game will not do anything on its own 2. Start logging 3. Trigger the songs from the memory editor and then speed up emulation until I can hear the loop (can be tricky, but just play it for longer if unsure) 4. Load the savestate when the song is done or has repeated a bit 5. Repeat for each song 6. Use vgm_sptd to split the big VGM into each part 7. Use vgmlpfnd on each one to find loops 8. Use vgm_trim to trim the looped ones Then I just need to tag them, but I'm not so able to identify the missing track or to confirm that the trimmed songs sound right (apart from by comparing to the original big VGM). This should all work on Arcade Smash Hits but I suspect it will be much harder to trigger as it's a European-developed game.

Ron_Stard Joined: 01 Apr 2008 Posts: 198 Location: Spain	Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2018 4:23 pm
Ron_Stard Joined: 01 Apr 2008 Posts: 198 Location: Spain	Ok, I've attached some tests I've done following your instructions. Please, check out if they are correct. I've found the VGM Tools on this thread, since there are no traces of them on the Music section of the forum: http://www.smspower.org/forums/12441-VGMTools I couldn't figure out how to use the splitter, so I just found the loop and trimmed with the programs you mentioned: I think the tunes loop accurate now. Tell me what you think, and thank you for your help! Shanghai - Loop Tests (FM).zip (8.9 KB)

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14939 Location: London	Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2018 7:31 pm
	The loop tests sound OK to me. I managed to get the PSG pack almost done and then realised I'd ripped it all at 50Hz :( so I shall do it again and upload the parts as a demonstration...

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14939 Location: London	Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2018 7:39 pm Last edited by Maxim on Mon Nov 19, 2018 7:41 pm; edited 1 time in total
	Step 1: I got into the game and used the trigger (DE04) to stop the music by writing FF, followed by 90 to trigger a sound effect which cleared out the crackling noise it was making. Step 2: I saved the state Step 3: I started logging a VGM, then triggered music 81 Step 4: For each music, wait for it to end or wait for it to loop a bit, then load the savestate to stop it Step 5: Repeat for all tracks until they run out/become SFX - in this case they start to repeat at 8A Step 6: stop logging Result is attached. Shanghai-01.zip (12.89 KB)

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14939 Location: London	Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2018 7:41 pm
	Step 7: use vgm_sptd to split it based on the silences which are present in the data. I used the default (blanK) split time. Result is attached. split.zip (16.04 KB)

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14939 Location: London	Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2018 7:51 pm
	Step 8: On to vgmlpfnd and vgm_trim. I run it against the first track with default values for everything and I get this: VGM Loop Finder --------------- File Name: Shanghai-01_01.vgm Step Size (default: 1): Minimum Number of matching Commands (default: 1024): Start Pos (default: 0 - auto): Counting Commands ... 2711 Reading Commands ... Done. Source Block Block Copy Copy Information Start Time Start Time Cmds Time 0 00:00.00 ! 476280 00:10.80 1649 00:16.72 Done. The "!" tells me that it has found a perfect loop, starting at 0 and going up to sample 476280, then repeating for the whole file. So let's trim it. VGM Trimmer ----------- File Name: Shanghai-01_01.vgm Start Sample (in Samples): 0 Loop Sample (in Samples): -1 End Sample (in Samples): 476280 Shanghai-01_01_trimmed.vgm written. The trick here is to use -1 to indicate a loop from sample 0. Next I optimize it with vgm_cmp and tag it - here I broke down and used VGMTool :) Result is attached. Shanghai - 01 - Title Screen.zip (666 B)

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14939 Location: London	Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2018 7:57 pm
	Repeat this for other tracks. Some have "f" loops, some have "e" because I cut them a bit short, some have (!) and then extra loops because I didn't cut them short enough, some have no loops at all. #8 is a bit tricky because it has some crackling at the end of the file. This needs to be removed, either by trimming it a bit shorter.

Ron_Stard Joined: 01 Apr 2008 Posts: 198 Location: Spain	Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2018 2:41 pm
Ron_Stard Joined: 01 Apr 2008 Posts: 198 Location: Spain	Thank you very much for the Tutorial! I hope I can do good rips in my future packs. By the way: I managed to avoid the SFX sounds in Shanghai by just simply pausing (not with F12, just the simple Pause!) on Meka 0.80, and let the tunes keep on repeating. I wonder if that is a bug, since there is a cheat in Shanghai that involves pausing and it doesn't work within Meka (it works with Kega Fusion, for example).

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14939 Location: London	Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2018 6:52 pm
	I didn't try pausing. The cheat does work in Meka - I just made some screenshots here: http://www.smspower.org/Cheats/Shanghai-SMS Edit: my packs above were still wrong - my savestate was taken at PAL timings then recorded as NTSC... and this game does compensate so the results were faster than they should be. There's also one track with a sustained note at the end which gets incorrectly split...

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14939 Location: London	Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2018 9:47 am
	Corrected pack is now posted. The technique above doesn't work properly for the FM pack - there is sometimes some missing percussion due to some missing chip writes. So it may need to be ripped more carefully.

Ron_Stard Joined: 01 Apr 2008 Posts: 198 Location: Spain	Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2018 3:30 pm
Ron_Stard Joined: 01 Apr 2008 Posts: 198 Location: Spain	Thank you for the release! :D

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