How to find loop points in 2SF instrument samples? by TheBigL1 at 10:29 PM EDT on September 22, 2017
I recently tried using NDS Sound Extractor to rip the instrument sounds from SRW OG Saga: Endless Frontier and Contra 4 (since I couldn't found existing soundfonts from either game), but the way they're ripped, none of the samples have loop points built in. Is there a way I can find this loop info besides trying to "eyeball" it based on the instrument's actual usage in the game's music? I was almost thinking of straight up asking Jake Kaufman how the Contra 4 samples' loops are set up.
The player code writes the loop start and loop length values for each sample as they're playing. Clearly, there is loop information to be found somewhere.
Well, with a combination of VGMToolbox and Video Game Sound Converter I've found a solution that at least works for my purposes. VGSC can convert the outputted .swav files into usable .wav format, but instead of bundling the loop info into the file it outputs already-looped .wav files. Now the only remaining hurdle might be figuring out volume envelopes.
In case anyone else is interested in ripping instrument samples like this, the steps in my process were: 1. In VGMToolbox, go to Miscellaneous Tools>Extraction Tools>Nintendo DS>SDAT Finder 2. Drag the game's .NDS file into SDAT Finder 3. Go to Miscellaneous Tools>Extraction Tools>Nintendo DS>SDAT Extractor 4. Drag the created SDAT file into SDAT Extractor 5. Open Video Game Sound Converter's executable, VGSC.exe 6. In the first prompt that VGSC.exe opens, go to the directory that SDAT Extractor created, open the folder with the .SWAV files you want to convert, and select those files before confirming. 7. In the second prompt, choose the directory you want the converted .WAV files to be placed in.