PS2 OPL SND TEST

[sandungas]

The idea of using mod audio format was just a wayaround, but i agree, the concept of the "ring buffer" sounds a lot better (pun intended), i love when sp193 does this things btw, explaining where is the root of the problem and how to solve it

The talk with krah and me about how to use the sfx sounds started here btw, im going to post it if you are curious about how are working before/after that talk
http://www.psx-place.com/threads/managunz-ps3-backup-manager-by-zar.1198/page-39#post-142068
Take some minutes to read it calmly because is the kind of talk where both was changing our mind, in my first messages i was suggesting to use only 5 and later i added a couple more because i was taking a look at how it works in official PS3 firmwares

I was thinking in copypasting here some parts of the talks for you to get a better idea, but better not because im not completly sure of what krah is going to do, but anyway this table is a good resume of the last things we was talking about:

Cursor	Move to brother (D-PAD left/right/up/down) a single item, of several (go to first, go to last, pageup, pagedown)
Enter	Move to child (enter a submenu)
Exit	Move to parent (exit a submenu)
Decide	Qestion marks, decissions, and confirmations
Ok	Selecting an option successfully, or completing a long process
Ng	Warnings and error messages, either with a visual notification or without it
Boot	Launching a game, or/and when entering in the backup manager

And this is an small tutorial for the OPL users of how to get the official PS3 sounds in a easy way:

Download PS3 firmware (any version, official or custom)
Use pupx_dev_flash.exe to extract the contents of PS3UPDAT.PUP
Use rcomagegui.exe (with default settings) to extract the contents of:

-dev_flash\vsh\resource\system_plugin.rco
--snd_cursor.wav
--snd_system_ok.wav
--snd_system_ng.wav

-dev_flash\vsh\resource\eula_net_plugin.rco
--FocusMove.wav (rename to decide.wav)
--PageEnter.wav
--PageExit.wav
--Boot.wav

 

[Krah]

Just to clarify though, Obviously we wouldn't compile the official ps3 sounds into OPL (that would just cause problems) it's just to get an idea of the kinds of sounds they use and under what conditions they are called.

 

[sandungas]

Yep, i just posted it because i imagined i could explain how to get the PS3 sounds in a very small tutorial, is the kind of thing easy to copypaste if someone asks for it
And just to throw ideas, because i guess the same can be made with PS4 sounds
And because this way you have a "consistent" sound selection to use in OPL in a easy way + the bonus that are the sounds of the PS3

There is one more change you can do btw, that follows a bit that "playstation familly" sound selection
The sound i named "boot" is actually replacing "coldboot" and "gameboot"
Not sure if is a good idea to add a specific sound for the coldboot though, because the coldboot should be played when entering in OPL and maybe this is going to cause a delay in the boot time of OPL

 

[Krah]

I do like the idea of a coldboot sound, this is something @TnA has mentioned a couple of times but I couldn't figure out the best way to do it due to differences in boot times depending on which device you are using/number of games etc (im not sure of the factors).

@Tupakaveli suggested trying to time the fastest boot time (having devices set to manual) and have the coldboot sfx that duration/or just under so that could work well.
I don't think it would affect loading times but I can always test the difference w/wo a sound call at boot up.

 

[TnA]

Yes, cold boot-sounds are an interesting idea... There are quite some ways to implement it, I think.

It could be an SFX and only a few seconds long, like the intro of Windows (lol... A HiRes-WinXP-Theme with that old-school-sound) or a BGM.


I think some adaptions to the pathing, working BGM and then per-game-BGM, would be great and could be accomplished in a RELATIVELY short amount of time.

Per-theme-sfx would be cool, but would require a more flexible pathing, just like per-game-BGM...

A more flexible pathing is crucial for multiple things...


Edit: Just a short list of ideas and hopefully in the best order as well.

1. more flexible pathing
2. proper streaming of BGM with a ring-buffer
3. per-game-BGM
4. per-theme-SFX
   
5. coldboot-SFX or -BGM (also via themes = played after OPL loads a/the config of a theme?!)
6. Support for WAVs with other specs.

 

[Krah]

more flexible pathing

Not sure what you mean about this one? Like pathing related to themes I'm guessing?

• per-game-BGM

• per-theme-SFX

These are features I personally will not be looking into, perhaps in the future once I make a pull request someone else can take a stab at it

proper streaming of BGM with a ring-buffer

Agreed, that's a tough one though might take some time and even then I may not get it functional. Can always try though.

Support for WAVs with other specs.

Wasn't really sure how to go about this when you first mentioned it but thinking on it..Would I just need to read the header of the wav to get that info?? Might be able to do this at some point.

For the mean time I just want to finalize SFX to do a PR so I can take a lil break, just need to figure out the best combination/structure of the sounds themselves..I'm thinking a mixture of how it is currently and using some of sandungas' suggestions..
So maybe just
1 confirm sound,
1 cancel sound,
1 transition sound,
1 decide/msgbox sound,
1 cursor sound
1 coldboot sound (if it sounds good after the loop...Playing before the loop doesn't work I guess some modules aren't loaded yet? After the loop might be weird timing wise)

Feedback on SFX 'table' structure is ideal as it'll help me make a decision :P
Thanks guys.

 

[sandungas]

Reading the .wav header is going to give you another feature, to "deny" unsupported or weird .wav files
And loading the .wav files externally (from outside of the compiled OPL) i think is important, otherway if someone wants to create custom .wav files for OPL they are going to need to compile OPL for every test

Actually, i thought in your latet tests it was supported to load .wav files externally (now i realized i got confused when i was reading your talks about loading sounds), this is why i was mentioning the users could extract the PS3 sounds in a easy way and just "drop them" in some folder where OPL is going to look for them

Edit:
I was not meaning to implement a "full" sound support for OPL themes, because i dont know if is going to be more complex, but initially i think is enought if you allow to load sounds from... lets say USB root
This way normal users can experiment a bit with them in this initial versions

 

[TnA]

Not sure what you mean about this one? Like pathing related to themes I'm guessing?

Well, the divide&conquer-aproach would need a little extension/function, to derive the path (not the device) from 'elsewhere' (i.e. the Theme-Config-reading-code, which might 'tell' it the 'path' to new sfx, or the game-BGM-path, etc.).

These are features I personally will not be looking into, perhaps in the future once I make a pull request someone else can take a stab at it

Game-BGM actually would not bee too much work, but is depends on the pathing and the proper streaming...

Per theme-sfx (atleast a more sophisticated variation, totally configurable and could be freely mapped to various 'actions') would be a lot more work, agreed...

A 'simple one', which merely replaces those basic sounds with it's own (if a function is switched on via a CNF-Entry and the code which reacts upon it), would work equally as Game-BGM and a lot of it's implementation would be similar + easy as well...

Agreed, that's a tough one though might take some time and even then I may not get it functional. Can always try though.

That would be very cool, because it essentially would pave the way for anything sound-streaming-related (BGM, Game-BGM, maybe coldboot, etc.)!

Wasn't really sure how to go about this when you first mentioned it but thinking on it..Would I just need to read the header of the wav to get that info?? Might be able to do this at some point.

I am not specifically sure about WAV, because I heard it also supports multiple 'codecs' (or kind of).

I suppose there is some *.h you could include which does that, but then I am not sure, if the info is interleaved between sound-data, or if it is in the header.

For the mean time I just want to finalize SFX to do a PR so I can take a lil break, just need to figure out the best combination/structure of the sounds themselves..I'm thinking a mixture of how it is currently and using some of sandungas' suggestions..
So maybe just
1 confirm sound,
1 cancel sound,
1 transition sound,
1 decide/msgbox sound,
1 cursor sound
1 coldboot sound (if it sounds good after the loop...Playing before the loop doesn't work I guess some modules aren't loaded yet? After the loop might be weird timing wise)

I have no freakin clue... :-/ I suppose some more testers would be good (solely old sounds, but both orders to try with).
I have too much to do these weeks... :-|

Feedback on SFX 'table' structure is ideal as it'll help me make a decision :P
Thanks guys.

I give it another try tomorrow o.k. I finally need to sleep...

Reading the .wav header is going to give you another feature, to "deny" unsupported or weird .wav files

Yes, quite possible!

And loading the .wav files externally (from outside of the compiled OPL) i think is important, otherway if someone wants to create custom .wav files for OPL they are going to need to compile OPL for every test

Yes an external BGM is preferable and already works in Test 8/8.1!

Actually, i thought in your latet tests it was supported to load .wav files externally

It is!

(now i realized i got confused when i was reading your talks about loading sounds), this is why i was mentioning the users could extract the PS3 sounds in a easy way and just "drop them" in some folder where OPL is going to look for them

Well, SFX and BGM are NOT the same... (both Btw. works in that last open Test-build 8.1)

Edit:
I was not meaning to implement a "full" sound support for OPL themes, because i dont know if is going to be more complex, but initially i think is enought if you allow to load sounds from... lets say USB root
This way normal users can experiment a bit with them in this initial versions

Nah... A 'simple replacement'-support for themes, via pointing to an SND-Folder within a theme-folder, when the config says 'replace_sfx=1' or similar, would be sufficient. That's not too hard, but would need other pathing-support.

 

[Krah]

in regards to the coldboot sound unfortunately sound cannot be played while the logo is displayed as the modules are loaded a split second after the logo starts to fade out...at that point (as logo is fading into main) a sound of maybe 1-2 sec can be played as if to say OPL has successfully booted up, so thats what im going to go with for a 'boot' sound...

ps3 boot sound works well here but trying to find a suitable royalty free sound for this is becoming a time sink so im just going to see if my wife can knock something out on garage band or fruityloops or something

 

[sandungas]

I was talking with my friend and told me he have the hdds of the pc filled and doesnt plans to uninstall anything, and doesnt have any audio app installed :/

But i was looking at simple ways to make the navigation sounds and found this: https://www.bfxr.net/
-pros: is easy, allows copypaste of settings in plain texts, it can export in wav format, and it generates "chiptunes" sounds that fits well with gaming
-contras: are 16bit mono, doesnt allows to add small details to the sound

------------------
I was messing around with it trying to generate a cryspy and nice "click", because i think the best way to create a "sound pack" is by working a lot in the default "click" and then generate the others by changing some settings (like the tone) a bit up or down
This way all the "sound pack" will match in style

Copy (from this post)... and paste in the web (there is a button named "paste" in the web)

2,0.5,,0.07,0.4775,0.1099,0.3,0.8842,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,1,,,,,,,masterVolume

 

[TnA]

I would keep it relatively simple programming-wise...

1. Load it, after the Theme-Config or Art of the theme has been loaded and... (preferably in between: loading&playing after the config is read and then read the theme-art and initialising the auto-devices whilst playing the coldboot-sfx)
2. The Theme-Config could have a 'path-entry' or an on/off-entry to point to the sound, or it could search for a standard-path and name and the theme must have it in it's folder in the appropriate position/path/name...
3. I suppose 'coldboot' would be best as an SFX (rather than BGM) and shorter than 5Seconds...
4. It is not a problem IMO, if it is not playing during the OPL-Logo, but whilst the devices and stuff are loaded (just like currently, when it loads a theme and then the other stuff)!

Edit: Added something to 1.

 

[TnA]

Any news? Maybe an open test 9 with the changed sound-order?

Or a merge?

There are sooo many additional things on your repo. I wish they all could get merged immediately... Hehe!

 

[Krah]

Probably going to put out the final SFX test tonight after work, wife made 5 boot sounds I just need to test them see if they're appropriate for a default sound as when she made the first one I said it was too genre specific

 

[Krah]

This should be the final test for SFX.
All the little issues 'should' be sorted out, thanks to @RivalK93 for his detailed bug reports

FILE TRIGGER
boot boot up sound
cancel going back from a menu (will play transition.adp instead if it triggers a transition)
confirm seletcing an option, entering a submenu or launching a game
cursor scrolling
message played when a msgbox appears on screen e.g "are you sure you want to quit" or when triggering a delete/rename game function.
transition anytime there is a transition, main->info main->settings etc

Boot up sound isn't amazing but the idea was to keep it simple, this doesn't even have to be the one that gets compiled in if anyone is able to provide a better & suitable royalty free one...but its taking a long time to try find/make one so this is it for now.

I'll give it a week or so for bug reports, if no issues are found I'll do a pull request after that.

(I tried to make a table in this post but it kept bugging out)

Edit: Almost forgot, @RivalK93 I'm using your 'cancel' sound (if that's cool)

 

[sandungas]

I had an idea when reading that your wife was musician, but i guess what im going to say cant be made easilly

In classic music concerts, just before the concert starts, the musicians with "chord" instruments (like violin, violonchello, etc...) plays a tone like a NIIIAAAOOOUUUNNN (that works as a "warm up" to check if all them are in the same tone)... then the concert director does a "tac", "tac", "tac" and the concert starts XD

So the idea is to try to find some royalty-free classic mussic concert and cut that sound from the beginning
Is not needed to be a professional orchesta, if is made by "afficionados" it will sound pretty well anyway, but i think is important to find one where are played lot of chord instruments together (if are a lot it will sound better)

 

[TnA]

What about the intro used in MultiMan?


Edit: What about all us others (who contributed to 'quality assurance')? *kidding* :P

 

[Agrippa]

Excuse me if this question has been answered before, but why you couldn't use the sounds from the SNDIMAGE from the ROM? Are the sounds there in ADPCM format or the unknown one?

 

[uyjulian]

Excuse me if this question has been answered before, but why you couldn't use the sounds from the SNDIMAGE from the ROM? Are the sounds there in ADPCM format or the unknown one?

Not all PS2 models have SMDIMAGE from the ROM (especially TOOL, SCPH-10000, System 246/256, ps2_(net/gx/soft)emu, PSX)

 

[Krah]

Edit: What about all us others (who contributed to 'quality assurance')? *kidding* :P

Gonna thank everyone in the PR, thought some people might get sick of me tagging them in every second post I make . sp193 for example since he made a big contribution to this.

Only reason I mentioned RivalK is because this particular test version was to fix little problems he pointed out.

I know you were *kidding* but just wanted to point that out, haven't forgotten everyone else's contribution to this

 

[Agrippa]

Not all PS2 models have SMDIMAGE from the ROM (especially TOOL, SCPH-10000, System 246/256, ps2_(net/gx/soft)emu, PSX)

I know it. But the sound resources from the SCPH-10000 and 15000 models are easily extractable, instead of the SNDIMAGE ones, which looks like are somehow packed.