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Author Topic: How to Get Custom Music in NES ROM Hacks  (Read 2 times)
SMB2J-2Q
Guest
« on: March 02, 2008, 05:00:52 am »

How does one go so far as to program his/her favorite NES ROM hack to get custom music selections out of it rather than those tunes already in the game? For example:

*The Dragon Warrior overworld theme music ("Unknown World") used as background music in an SMB hack called Super Mario ABC and another DW-related tune (I heard it in Dragon Warrior 3) which plays when you save the Toads and Princess Peach. But does anyone know whether or not the tune that plays when your character dies is DW-related?
*Several Metroid-related tunes in the SMB hack Extra Super Mario Bros.

I would like to seek this kind of advice from you so I can program my SMB ROM hack to have versions of the Vangelis tunes "Chariots of Fire - Titles" and "Blade Runner Blues" playing in the background in place of the originals.

Thank you,



Ben
Karatorian
Guest
« Reply #1 on: March 02, 2008, 11:00:36 pm »

I don't know about SMB specifically, but generally music in NES games is stored in a format that somehow represents the musical score (similarly to MIDI or MOD), rather than as a waveform representation (like a WAV or MP3). So you will need to be able to transcribe or aquire the score of the songs to be added. If you are able to that, then you will need to convert the score into the representation used by the game's sound engine.

NES games have custom written sound engines and there is no standard format. While some developers reuse the same sound engine from game to game, generally game music isn't directly compatible with other games. To add music to a game, you must translate the music data into the format expected by the game's sound engine. I don't know the specifics of the format used by SMB, but it is a popular game and is likely to be well documented. Check out the documentation database here at RHDN and you'll proably come up with some useful information.
Dr. Floppy
Guest
« Reply #2 on: March 03, 2008, 01:21:38 am »

Quote from: Karatorian on March 02, 2008, 11:00:36 pm
To add music to a game, you must translate the music data into the format expected by the game's sound engine. I don't know the specifics of the format used by SMB, but it is a popular game and is likely to be well documented. Check out the documentation database here at RHDN and you'll proably come up with some useful information.

Better yet, check out the documentation database around Easter 2008...

(Or PM me, if you can't wait that long.)
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