All in one XSF Player by AI-M at 8:09 PM EDT on June 11, 2005
Is it possible to have something like a all-in-one XSF player where 1 player can play any XSF format? I don't like how I have to install a plugin just to play exactly 1 rip.
There isn't really a good reason to do this, the formats under the XSF banner don't share enough in common (apart from the fact that USF, PSF, and PSF2 all use MIPS) to make throwing them all into one plugin worthwhile.
It'd be more trouble for someone to do this than it is for you to install a few plugins.
PSF, GSF, and QSF are supported in the latest version. PSF2 is in progress, USF's planned someday, and SSF would be near-trivial if any working rips existed.
QSF is a CPS 1/2 rip. It consists of a Z80 ROM hacked to play music only, and a Q-Sound sample ROM. The sad thing here is that the thing can't play other arcade formats (like M1 by R. Belmont, see above ;P).
SSF is the dead Saturn format. Currently only one publically released rip exists - the Radiant Silvergun test.
Oh yeah, and R. Belmont, why is the sourcecode for the m1.dll not avaliable? I've been wondering that for some time.
I would think anyone would be able to make something like that...
The USF might be hard to implement as it is a little bit more unstable than most other formats (Winamp crashes when I change USF sets like from Majora's Mask to Ocarina of Time... even though my playlists are sorted by game titles.)
Oh, SSF is dead? Too bad. There's even plenty of dead easy rips waiting in the form of every ST-V game in MAME. (Ok, VF Remix streams PCM off the cart, but the other 3 dozen+ games are all normally sequenced). Anyway, I got the test rip playing, although the instruments don't sound right. Considering the format's not actually documented I think I did OK though ;-)
Is DSF also dead?
Regarding M1, is there something you want to do with it that you can't through the DLL's API?
USF is annoying mostly because of the extreme unportableness of Project 64, which is the basis of 64th Note. hcs is aware of this, but there's not much that can be done in any case.
When I was adding the tagger tags to the USF sets, ready for 64th note v0.10, I made a quick modification to it.
Here's what's new in this modified version: -the URL in the About window is fixed. -the tagger box is added. (note, it only reads, and doesn't write your input.) -"what's in code? You may be using an older version usf, get a newer one." is replaced by the kinder "You forgot to put the ROM and/or state in the reserved section, stup. If you're a feeble listener, download a newer version of the set,mmkay?" ;p
Fetch your copy here I doubt that it needs a newer version of the RSP.dll, so I've only included the plugin.
I wouldn't necessarily say that DSF and SSF are dead. I would say that we've seen nothing for them for a long long time (like, at least a year) for a few reasons. There's the fact that no player for them exists. That's a big one. However, far bigger is the fact that no one has enough interest to rip DSF or SSF files. Sure, there's good games on those systems that deserve a rip. However, those who have the technical knowledge, and the time, don't care enough to put forth the effort of ripping them. And the fact that even if they were ripped they couldn't be played anyway (because there's no player) doesn't help their situation any.
So, basically, what I'm saying is, if there was a player for those formats (there's the "Highly Theoretical" plugin, sure, but it's got quite a few problems (Well, I remember Neill saying something along those lines about it)), and enough interest was garnered, then I beleive the DSF and SSF could see a lucrative future. I just don't think there's enough interest out there for people to rip the music from those games. I do seem to recall Neill saying something about ripping DSFs (or was it SSFs?) being reasonably easy, if you're familiar with ripping PSFs, since they're quite similar (or he said something like that, not sure exactly what though).
Basically, I think it's great to see that an all-in-one xSF player is being looked into. However, I feel that DSF and SSF support should be looked at as well, in the hopes that someone makes some rips available, once they see that it's now possible/available.
Anyway, there's my (extra long) take on the subject of their death. Mouser X over and out.
There's something I didn't really make clear in that post. I think DSF and SSF support would be awesome. However, I wouldn't "break my back" over the subject. Weigh the pros, and the cons. You could even try ripping some DSFs/SSFs yourself to show people what's good about them.
Again though, is it really worth the effort? That's what it really comes down to. Sure, it would be nice to support them. But why support it if it's not there? (Well, in the hopes that it will get there once people see there's support for it?) Or you could do the code for DSF and SSF the way Meridian codes things. "I have 30 extra minutes to blow right now. I'll add some stuff in for DSF support." Sure, doing it that way will take a long time. But, it would get done, and it might help persuade some people to make rips.
Okay. I think I'm a little more clear now. Perhaps to much so, even. Okay, now I'm gone. Mouser X out.
@ HCS: Well, no. However, you also backed up you're plugin with ripped files. You took input and made the plugin better. Where possible, you helped other people rip some sets as well. You made a format, and then supported it. DSF and SSF were announced by Neill as an idea. He even showed some of the stuff he had worked on. But, we haven't seen any support for it since that time. Looking at it like that, I'd say they are dead because there's no support for them. But that doesn't mean they have to be dead. If someone steps up to the plate and provides that support, it's just as good as getting it from the person who proposed the idea in the first place. At least now we'd be getting somewhere with it.
That's the way I see it anyway. And since I have next to nill coding abilities, I have to leave the work up to someone else. Sure, I could learn, and do it myself. Unfourtunatly, I don't have that kind of time. (For that matter, there's USFs I'd like to rip, but I don't have time to figure out how to do it :( Perhaps one day I will...)
Something I should probably say, now that I've obviously put the responsabilty on someone else's shoulders. Thanks for all you've done for the emulated audio community. I for one really appreciate it. Since I (used to) be extreamly limited in HDD space, emulated audio was the best way to go (it's almost always smaller). There's also the fact that reasonably often there's music in the game that's not in the OST, and emulated audio is one of the few ways to get that music. Especially if it's unused, and not found anywhere in the game when playing. Again, thanks for all you've done, and the time and effort you've dedicated to this cause. I for one really do appreciate all you've done. Mouser X over and out.