Broken music file

DancesWithBikers

1st Lieutenant
I thought someone should know that one of the WC2 midi files is broken. If you listen to WC2-48.MID it sounds like it's trying to play a medley, but then comes crashing down as it's trying to play the Kilrathi theme at the end. I've tried it under 2 different platforms and several different programs, so I think it's the midi that's broken.
 
It seems to play okay in Winamp, apart from a silent stretch at the end. VLC gets stuck on the final musical note. The zip archive is intact, so the file may have always been this way. Someone with knowledge of MIDI files may be able to repair it?
 
I'm amazed that you were able to get it to work so well. On every setup I played it, it was an unmistakable mess.

I've taken it as far as I can. I went for help on https://www.midi.org/forum/1670-repairing-midis for it, but I didn't know what they were talking about or they didn't know what I was talking about... One thing I did learn that I didn't know before is that WC2 predated generate MIDI and that the card it was primarily designed for was the MT-32. So if those files were supposed to be GM, someone would have had to have originally rendered them. All this is above my pay grade. All I was able to do was remove a couple of sustains that made it sound ridiculous. It still doesn't sound quite right and is too short.
 

Attachments

  • WC2-48-removed_sustains.MID.zip
    12.7 KB · Views: 120
If it was originally designed for MT-32 then it would have to be played on an MT-32 - it may contain MT-32 specific SysEx messages that program the MT-32 to play it properly. (A MIDI file is nothing more than a series of MIDI commands).

MT-32 predates the General MIDI standard, and if it contains MT-32 specific SysEx it cannot be converted to GM. It would have to be re-composed. It's likely the sustains might trigger something specific in the MT-32.
 
MT-32 predates the General MIDI standard, and if it contains MT-32 specific SysEx it cannot be converted to GM. It would have to be re-composed. It's likely the sustains might trigger something specific in the MT-32.

So what do you think, is it MT-32 or is it recomposed GM? BTW, it was designed primarily for MT-32, but as you can see from the setup screen, it supports other cards.

From what research I could do, it seemed as though there were no new notes being played after the first few seconds of the Kilrathi March, which accounts for the last minute and a half of that MIDI. Is that right?
 
Another possibility is the music playback program issues a MIDI reset (or equivalent, All Notes Off) after the file plays, thus working properly in game, but being off when played outside because of the hung notes. It's likely the case since the playback may need to aborted at any time so the music engine will just issue the command to stop the current music playback.
 
Could be. Why would it though? That sounds like the sort of thing that would happen during gameplay. This is the medley that's played during the credits, isn't it? Anyway, a reset wouldn't explain the cacophony that the whole March part of the piece plays.

So that we're on the same page, I've included an mp3 of what I hear.
 

Attachments

  • WC2-48-cacophony.zip
    1.4 MB · Views: 120
Could be. Why would it though? That sounds like the sort of thing that would happen during gameplay. This is the medley that's played during the credits, isn't it? Anyway, a reset wouldn't explain the cacophony that the whole March part of the piece plays.

So that we're on the same page, I've included an mp3 of what I hear.

A lot of the music files are designed to loop... so it's possible it was a cheat to get the files to sound like they ran together properly when they restarted. As long as the sustain stays on until the new clip starts you have a really easy way to blend them together.
 
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