Music or FX only in games

[Paulie85]

I've asked about this before but it really annoys me when I have to choose between music and fx in certain games. I have also asked some of the people who adjust games for WHDLoad if there is any way they could alter the games so that we could hear both simultaneously. Usually  the response is that this is very difficult change if the game has not been designed around the Amiga's 4 channel sound.


I understand that it may be difficult if the music already uses four channels, though one channel could be cut when the effects are used.

But I was thinking- what about converting the music to raw audio mono which would only take up one channel, leaving three free for the fx. I know this would increase the file size but storage has increased a lot since these games were released and it shouldn't increase them by a huge amount.

I really thought someone would be doing something about this as it really takes away from some games. I would do it myself if I knew how to go about it.

Any thoughts?:confused:

[Paulie85]

Does it really take a lot of programming to loop what is basically sample during play? How did the CDTV achieve CD quality audio as well as effects in games with just a 68000? Wouldn't it be a similar to that? I didn't think raw audio was particularly taxing as it isn't compressed like mp3.

[Paulie85]

LOL PAULIE

Its called red book audio.

loop based game music would take up precious chip ram.
this is really a bad idea and goes against the Amiga's positive aspects.

Care to expand on that answer? Do you know much about red book audio and how it works? Whilst I agree that it is not an ideal solution to have one long sample for the music, I'm not convinced that it wouldn't work. How much chip RAM would it use?

When I play HAM videos using Hamp it runs fine and the sound is one long raw audio track isn't it?

[Paulie85]

Yes, I know that much-but I don't get what point you are making regarding it.
I know that the four channels can provide great music and sfx together. As I stated in my first post, I know there are various tricks that can be employed to do this( e.g. cutting out one of the music channels when an effect is being played) and inquired about applying it to the games.
The problem seems to be that the music and effects should really be designed with this in mind and that it is difficult to change later.
I just want a quick and dirty solution to improve the gaming experience a bit.