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umx sound issues -> need a convertion

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User avatar Swanky
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Subject: umx sound issues -> need a convertion

Post Posted: 07 Jun 2008, 18:47

Hello,

after all these years it appears I'm still a noob when it comes to music ripping. I don't even have the needed programs for making umx files.
http://www.kevinriepl.com/music/uc/Recoil.mp3 This is the song I need, it is made by Kevin Riepl for UC2.
I'd be very glad if someone can convert it to UT for me.
Thanks in advance.

User avatar Buff Skeleton
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Subject:

Post Posted: 07 Jun 2008, 19:13

Don't bother converting mp3/wav/whatever to UMX anymore; just use RMusicPlayer. :) MP3 to UMX has always resulted in huge files with low quality anyway, but now you can just use the player to play MP3s in-game with no quality loss or huge files.

http://www.unrealsp.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=410

It's still in development, but from what I've tested, it's working really well at this point, and it evidently works just fine in MP gametypes (DM, CTF, AS, etc).

User avatar Swanky
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Subject:

Post Posted: 07 Jun 2008, 19:29

How does this program work? Is it an additional .u file embedded in the map, or is it something that everyone needs just to hear the music?
I'd rather stay with umx files... yes they are large, but I strongly disagree with the quality. Recent convertions had the same quality as the converted mp3 files.

User avatar Buff Skeleton
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Subject:

Post Posted: 07 Jun 2008, 23:01

All right. In that case...

1) Convert your .mp3 to .wav
2) Import your .wav into ModPlugPlayer .... version something or other; I can't remember. Only one version actually works correctly for this, but I can't remember which it is. It isn't the newest version, though. Different versions will result in the file being truncated once imported into UED for reasons unknown. [Edit] You need MPP140.
3) Save your imported .wav as an .it or .s3m or something from ModPlugPlayer
4) Import the .s3m or .it into UEd from the Music browser
5) Save as .umx. Done!

The thing is, your file will have about the same quality as the original mp3, but it will have the decompressed filesize of the .wav. You are jumping through hoops just to get the conversion to work and forcing people to download a huge file when you could simply include the RMusicPlayer zip file in your map and the .mp3, both of which will be a fraction of the size of the converted .umx. If you want the .umx to be smaller, you have to downscale it to 8bit or mono or both, which results in poor sound quality (and it only cuts the wav in half or so, but it will still be much larger than the .mp3).

So you can either include the huge .umx or the smaller, crappier .umx. Or you could add some extra code and use the original .mp3, which is easier in terms of complexity and filesize. :)
Last edited by Buff Skeleton on 08 Jun 2008, 03:00, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar Swanky
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Subject:

Post Posted: 08 Jun 2008, 00:25

Probably. I already myleveled the umx file with around the same quality of the original mp3 file. Wasn't too large since the file itself wasn't very big. The extra textures still make more than 50% of the map's size. :D

User avatar zYnthetic
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Subject:

Post Posted: 08 Jun 2008, 00:34

Here's another explanation.

RMusicplayer = full of win
Giant UMX = total fail

Implementing RMusicplayer for dm takes maybe a minute. Just as long as it takes to open the package, add some actors and enter some info.
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User avatar Swanky
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Subject:

Post Posted: 08 Jun 2008, 11:44

Woah. You sound like the Godfathers of advertising. Too bad I don't like ads. As nice as this program may be, umx files always worked for me. They aren't necessarily overly large and quality is mostly okay enough to not make me go yukkyree. As the sound problem has solved itself, this advertising spam is pretty much useless.

User avatar Frieza
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Subject:

Post Posted: 08 Jun 2008, 12:57

Suit yourself. The RVMusicPlayer is a much better alternative than putting lower quality mp3's in .umx-files (It plays .ogg files, the ones UT2k4 used aswell). I'd strongly recommend trying it out for yourself before you discard it. People have always since the start of the mod community wanted to be able to use .mp3 files for music in their maps without having to go the overly complicated route of getting it in a .umx (the fact that you have to ask about it testifies to that).

Oh well.. ignorance breeds contempt.

User avatar Hellscrag
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Subject:

Post Posted: 08 Jun 2008, 13:30

Frieza wrote:Oh well.. ignorance breeds contempt.


Let's not get too personal, now!

I guess the problem with UMX conversion is that the sound is completely uncompressed; it's a very inefficient way to distribute a soundtrack if you're not using UMX in the way which was intended, i.e. as a format for tracked music based on small samples.

Raven has done a lot of work on his MP3/OGG player and, it would seem, has ironed out many of the problems. MP3/OGG are FAR more efficient ways to distribute non-tracked music. I think people are all to easily blinded by the speed and convenience broadband nowadays to remember that keeping your file-size small is a GOOD thing.
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User avatar Frieza
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Subject:

Post Posted: 08 Jun 2008, 13:54

I'm trying to find the English equivalent of 'Wat de boer niet kent dat vreet hij niet'. Help me fellow Dutchies :o

User avatar Buff Skeleton
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Subject:

Post Posted: 08 Jun 2008, 13:55

Swanky wrote:Woah. You sound like the Godfathers of advertising. Too bad I don't like ads. As nice as this program may be, umx files always worked for me. They aren't necessarily overly large and quality is mostly okay enough to not make me go yukkyree. As the sound problem has solved itself, this advertising spam is pretty much useless.

No need to start throwing insults. People are trying to help you, here. :) Besides, it's not just in your best interest to RMusicPlayer, it's in the best interest of the people who would download your map(s). You say that the music in this case doesn't make the map too much bigger, but it DOES add unnecessary amounts of bulk to the package.

Let's not forget that just because you may not notice a sound quality issue, it doesn't mean your players won't. I have pretty nice speakers now, and I can definitely tell a difference between a .mp3 and a converted .umx (and between a .mp3 and an .ogg or a .flac, both of which are also supported by RMusicPlayer). By using the player, you also make the music file more accessible, since players don't have to re-export the .wav and convert it back to .mp3; they can simply copy it out of their music folder and keep it if they like it.

And calling us "the godfathers of advertising" is pretty unnecessary to begin with; none of us gain any kind of monetary benefit from promoting Raven's new project. We simply like it because we know it works and it works well, which is why we strongly favor it over older, less robust means of using custom music in maps. That's all. Don't be so quick to jump to labeling people just because you initially disagree with them, and don't be so closed to new ideas / technology.

User avatar Raven
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Subject:

Post Posted: 08 Jun 2008, 19:10

umx = tracked audio format. Conversion is possible, but with lower quality (If you want to have reasonable file size). We had same problem in TCO. Converted mp3's had bad quality and imported mp3's into uax (yes, it's possible) wasn't good enough in terms of usability. So we decided to write some basic mp3/ogg player.

If you want to use umx, then learn how to create tracked music (here's list of all programs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_au ... rs#Windows).

If you want to use mp3/ogg/flac/wav/wmf/asf then you can use RMusicPlayer. I didn't found any other music player for UT. Remember also, that most addon-s with native stuff will not work on Linux (including RMusicPlayer).
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