From: jah AT rrnet DOT com (Hjelmo)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject: Re: IT format; feasable?
Date: 9 Dec 1997 07:11:01 GMT
Organization: Red River Net - Internet Communications (phone: 701-232-2227)
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To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
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Alex Barsamian (bigalex AT worldnet DOT att DOT net) wrote:
: I have completed my engine for a RTS top-down strategy game (in the style of
: Red Alert, etc) in DJGPP, and now music has become an issue.  My friend, a
: quite able composer, has offered to do some music for me, but he absolutely
: *insists* that he is allowed to write in Impulse Tracker, because it has of
: course gazillions of channels and it is much more flexible to write in (e.g.
: pattern lengths greater than 64 frames, etc).  Unfortunately, it seems
: proportionately more painful to have to code for.  I can't very well fire
: him as I'm not paying anything (no one on the project is getting any money,
: unless the game goes commercial).  So I have a few questions:

Tell your friend he's being anal...  IT is designed to replicate ST3,
which is nearly as good except for stuff like NNAs and random retrigs...

: 1.) Are there any shrink-wrapped, ready-to-go sound libraries with
:      decent hardware support and the ability to play back ITs with many
:      channels effeciently?  Preferably one that will link right off with
:      DJGPP, porting code is not fun, especially if you did not write it...

The only sound library I know of that really supports IT is IMS, which
*WILL NOT* ever be ported to DJGPP according to Niklas, its author,
because of calling conventions...  I'm not sure about the new MIDAS, I
know they've been working on it...

: 2.) If not, where can I obtain information about the structure of the IT
:      fileformat?  I checked the official page of Pulse/IT but found
:      nothing...

Umm, I thought this came with IT, but I may be wrong...

: 3.) Finally, is it feasable to play back IT files of sometimes 30 logical
:      and 9 "actual" (song) channels (my friend goes pretty heavy on the
:      NNA=Continue parameters) along with a smooth-scrolling
:      tilebased map game with many onscreen entities (will be using
:      dirty rectangles for screen updates)?  I am afraid the music will
:      break up whenever the user scrolls, because the whole screen has
:      to be updated...Will a P133 (projected requirements) handle it?
:      Or, should I just give in, buy ITWAV.DRV (which is well worth the
:      $30 for all the punks who pirated it, but that's a whole other
:      issue....), and stream the music off of a CD like all the "proper"
:      game developers do? :^)

Tell your friend, once again, that he's being anal...  Some of the best
music I've ever heard on the PC was done in 4 channels...  This mixing is
simply taking up way too big of a chunk of the cycles which should be
spent impressing the user instead of the NNA gods IMHO...  

atomly AT mindless DOT com :: [pHiXx/VorteX] :: phixx AT usa DOT net