local nerd desperate to get sound effects from Saturn game by CJofCourse at 6:07 PM EST on March 4, 2021
hello there, I have managed to find my way here after hours of internet digging, this is my last hope.
TLDR: read the below TLDR or the bottom paragraph, the rest is...a sob story I guess? idk. point is the middle is pretty pointless.
TLDR: If anyone has a file/folder with all the SSF files from BUG! for the SEGA Saturn (not just music), I will be eternally grateful. If not, could someone at least point me towards or create a tutorial on how one would go about ripping all these noises?
It all started in the early 2000s, when I was a wee lad. I was gifted a copy of BUG! to play on my dad's Sega Saturn. It rapidly became my favorite game, and in many ways, still is.
Now, in the present day, I could put it behind me, but no. You see I've gotten into video editing and streaming, and one time, I thought about using a sound effect or two from BUG!. I put the thought behind me and moved on. But the thought grew while I wasn't looking, it fed on my subconscious, and now, years later, it overpowered me and compelled me to search for the sound effects. Now that I have begun my journey, I cannot stop, my mind is a train without brakes and I can only hope to arrive at my destination before I derail.
I began searching for a way to rip sounds from a Sega Saturn ROM and quickly realized I was a fish out of water. Downloading AudioOverloader was simple enough, reading about SSF files and what-not is fascinating, but all I know about Python code is "hello world". Using these scripts would require learning, time, and effort!
But then, just when I was about to give up or give in to the process, I came across a beacon of hope, the holy grail: http://ssf.joshw.info/
I quickly checked under "b/" and there it was! My precious! I downloaded and extracted it and started listening. Ahhhh those sweet, sweet, awful sounding tunes. It was perfect. Until, the more I kept listening, the sooner I realized it was just the music, there were no sound effects or voice lines.
I checked the note included in the .zip and saw how much hell the archiver went through to narrow it down. I don't want to go through that lol. I ran a quick google search for joshw and SSF, hoping to find a way to contact him and see if he backed up those 2000 tracks. It led me here, to a whole community!
If any of you have the SSF files, or the skill to extract them, I beg you to send them to me. (or if you happen to be "joshw" and didn't truly delete the files you "nuked") I have the passion and spare time to sort through them all looking for what I want. Thank you for reading, and potentially helping :)
I only did a quick watch of a video for the game. I doubt most of the sfx would need to be in ssf format. Saturn's soundchip lacks hardware decompression, so many of the SFX would likely be in a simple PCM format, tucked away in some file that might have a name that give it away. I'm kinda bored currently, so I'll have a quick look at the disc myself.
EDIT: Most sfx are 8bit pcm samples of various frequencies stuck in the snd files which audacity can help with ripping, although there's probably a few ingame sfx that are FM. The game also uses CDDA tracks for various voiced lines. Many pcm samples may not sound as they do ingame due likely utilizing the SCSP's sound capabilities.