| Gamesounds F.A.Q. |
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This where you can look to see if we've already answered a question you were wondering about. Just select a link below and it'll take you to that question's answer. I haven't written one of these before, so it may need more questions. If so, email me at wraith@gamesounds.icestorm.com and tell me your question =]. |
| Answers |
Where did Gamesounds come from? Why host a site like this when there's VGMusic.com, who are already doing a great job, and are clearly here to stay?Gamesounds is all about preserving the heritage of our videogames, through their music. I'm here because I enjoy Web Design and Perl Scripting, because I enjoy Videogame Music. I have a few files missing from VGMusic, and I support other File Types they do not in the interest of preservation. That's why I'm here =]. Where did this music come from?When I started working on Gamesounds, there were around 1800 or so Midi on my hard drive. I am an avid gaming fan, many of these I collected from websites, some from their author's homepages. The rest I gathered in the same manner, some I collected from VGMusic.com, who didn't use to have a clause about not including any of their Midis in an archive. Others came from my Submission Form. The NSF's, I collected from a few sites; namely Zophar's Domain and Snake Eyes Gaming Corporation. The MODs came from all over the place, I had to pretty much gather those myself. Back to the top with ya, skipper. So, what exactly is Midi?Midi stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. The best way to describe it is like a piano role. It's a file that contains no actual sound data, only instructions. Midi files usually tell your soundcard what note to play, when to play it, the instrument to use, the velocity, the pitch, etc. Back to the top with ya, skipper. So, I how do I extract them from a game or ROM?Well . . . you don't. There are a few programs that will give you Midi output from a ROM image, but they tend to be of poor quality. Most of the better songs in this achive were transcribed by the Person who sequenced the Midi, who then uses either a Midi editor to create the Midi note by note, or a Midi input device such as a keyboard to play and record the song. It's a somewhat difficult process. Back to the top with ya, skipper. What the heck are Modules, then?Modules (.mod, .it, .s3m, .xm, .mtm . . .) are a lot like Midi in that they contain musical data/instructions, but the two formats differ in that Modules also contain the sound data as well, which allows it to sound the same on many different platforms/sound cards, and allow more complex manipulation of the notes. However, because the sound data is contained in the file, they tend be larger than Midi . . . usually between 50kb and 5mb. Back to the top with ya, skipper. How do you get module music from a game?There are several programs adept at extracting modules from videogames and ROM images, but such things are inaccurate, though slightly less so than Midi extraction programs. For the most part, a to make a module, you must collect sound samples, and use a module tracker to to create music out of them. It's a fairly complex task, and you need a good understanding of the way music works to create a good module. Back to the top with ya, skipper. So then, what are NSF?Full of questions,you are =]. NSF stands for NES sound format. It's the sound code from an Nes game ripped out into a single file. If you have a a program that emulates an Nes's sound processor, you can listen to the music exactly as it sounded on an Nes. Making these files is vastly difficult, and requires knowledge of 6502 Assembly Programming. Documentation on making NSF files can be found here. Back to the top with ya, skipper. So, how do I submit stuff to your site?You can use the Submission Form. Bear in mind at the moment we only can accept files of type .mid, type .mdz, and type .nsf. The rules are simple:
Back to the top with ya, skipper. Why doesn't your submit script allow me to upload files for [insert system here]?Well, as the front page to the site says, we deal with console systems. Here is a list of what "console" systems constitute:
That's a fairly definitive list. Anything else pretty much falls under two categories: Computer(PC, Apple, Mac, Atari Home Computers, etc.),and handheld (Gameboy, Gamegear, Lynx, etc.). If there is another system you think belongs in "Console" category, please email (wraith). Just be sure you actually have some music for it =]. |