World of Xeen, DosBOX, Music and SFX

The role-playing games (I-X) that started it all and the various spin-offs (including Dark Messiah).
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Flodarien
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World of Xeen, DosBOX, Music and SFX

Unread postby Flodarien » 24 Jan 2013, 15:05

I was wondering how I could make my WoX sound like that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Oo-77UUarw

Basically, he plays the game using the Roland MT-32 setting, but whenever I use it, it does the wrong effects, like making a telephone ring instead of a door cracking when I open them. If I look at my settings, the only MIDI interpreter I have is the Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth. I am not sure how to modify this, if I can.

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Unread postby GreatEmerald » 25 Jan 2013, 18:06

To get the best audio, you need these settings:
  • DOSBox MIDI type set to "intelligent"
  • XEEN setup utility set to use Roland Canvas for music and SoundBlaster 16 for sound and voice, all other options on their default settings
  • Use something other than MS GS Wavetable Synth, as it's horrible for MIDI overall. I have a SoundBlaster X-Fi card that has hardware MIDI support, so I have additional options. If you don't have those, then you need to use something like Timidity to add virtual MIDI devices. Then load a good soundfont to the device and you are good to go.

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Unread postby Flodarien » 27 Jan 2013, 04:04

No such luck with soundblaster cards on my computer. I have the on-board realtek chip. I guess I'll take a look at virtual midi devices.

BTW, I saw a video once that someone made with Xeen music using different sound fonts. I was wondering if someone knew where it was.

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Unread postby GreatEmerald » 27 Jan 2013, 09:35

Flodarien wrote:BTW, I saw a video once that someone made with Xeen music using different sound fonts. I was wondering if someone knew where it was.
That was me:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL ... e=view_all
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL ... e=view_all

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Unread postby Flodarien » 30 Jan 2013, 03:04

Well, without a sound card that can do Midi, I have not found a way to make a virtual midi interpreter. Guess I'll have to play with boring old Sound Blaster Pro.

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Unread postby Xography » 30 Jan 2013, 10:30

Flodarien wrote:Well, without a sound card that can do Midi, I have not found a way to make a virtual midi interpreter. Guess I'll have to play with boring old Sound Blaster Pro.
You could try BassMidi + some Soundfonts, works quite well for me using Windows 7 and an onboard Realtek HD audio chip: http://blog.ginchen.de/en/2011/08/15/be ... -bassmidi/

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Unread postby Flodarien » 30 Jan 2013, 14:52

I'll try that. Thanks for the tip.

Edit: I went and downloaded the latest BASSMIDI, but when try to add soundfonts, it doesn't work, they don't show up on the list. Also, it looks for SF2 files, and the fonts I have are all SFArk files.

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Unread postby Rune_Caster » 01 Feb 2013, 17:15

GreatEmerald wrote:To get the best audio, you need these settings:
  • DOSBox MIDI type set to "intelligent"
  • XEEN setup utility set to use Roland Canvas for music and SoundBlaster 16 for sound and voice, all other options on their default settings
  • Use something other than MS GS Wavetable Synth, as it's horrible for MIDI overall. I have a SoundBlaster X-Fi card that has hardware MIDI support, so I have additional options. If you don't have those, then you need to use something like Timidity to add virtual MIDI devices. Then load a good soundfont to the device and you are good to go.
Microsoft Software Wavetable Synthesizer
Featuring Roland Sound Canvas digital samples.

Sound Canvas Sample Set:

R Roland
GM/GS(R) Sound Set Copyright 1996
Roland Corporation U.S.

Current audio output device:

The digital audio output device for the software synthesizer is:
Realtek HD Audio output

Be sure in Dosbox/D-Fend to set Under Mounting change Normal CDROM access via MSCDEX to change Low-level CDROM access and MSCDEX, digital audio extraction used for CD audio (DOSBox setting "-ioctl_dx")

Never heard World of Xeen sound like this... XD!!

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Unread postby Flodarien » 02 Feb 2013, 01:33

I'm not even sure what you are trying for me to do now. I'm lost

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Unread postby GreatEmerald » 02 Feb 2013, 08:12

Flodarien wrote:I'll try that. Thanks for the tip.

Edit: I went and downloaded the latest BASSMIDI, but when try to add soundfonts, it doesn't work, they don't show up on the list. Also, it looks for SF2 files, and the fonts I have are all SFArk files.
SFArk are compressed SF2 files. Search for decompression utilities to extract it.
Flodarien wrote:I'm not even sure what you are trying for me to do now. I'm lost
Me too...

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Unread postby Flodarien » 02 Feb 2013, 16:21

Alright. I managed to extract the SF2 file and put it in my BASSMIDI program. I set DosBOX to use that as the default Midi device. Then I put Roland Canvas/GS on Xeen as my Music device. The music sounds great. But the problem is in-game. As before, the sound effects are screwed up. Walking makes a whooshing sound, and opening a door makes a telephone ringing sound.

I have no clue how to fix this.

Edit: IT seem that my soundfont (FluidR3 GM) was at fault here. I might try FluidR3 GS and see if it also does the same thing

Edit 2: the GS version only seems to be the sound effects.

Final Edit: Put both soundfonts in the BASSMIDI program, and now the game sounds as it should. Thank you all for the support.

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Unread postby GreatEmerald » 03 Feb 2013, 08:56

Glad to help, and thanks for letting us know about the process of setting things up without a hardware MIDI device :)


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