MOD plugin is buggy

28th November 2000, 18:12

Hi,
I've noticed that Winamp 2.7's input plugin to play MODs does not work properly, compared to 2.666 and all previous versions. I noticed this on the Deus Ex (the game) soundtrack. They're .IT files, and Winamp <= 2.666 played the songs correctly (as they sound in the game.) Winamp 2.7 seems to get the fading completely wrong, leading to a horrible blippy sound; not just artifacts, but the WRONG pattern of sounds is being played. Icky.

If you don't have Deus Ex and/or the conversion program from their proprietary music to .IT, I would be happy to give you the files for which I've noticed this so that you may reproduce the error.

stl@caltech.edu

[Edited by Winsane on 01-16-2001 at 02:43 AM]

Winsane · 28th November 2000, 23:16

Is the problem still there in the latest beta version of MikAmp (a.k.a. Nullsoft Module Decoder) available from www.divent.org?

Air · 29th November 2000, 10:30

I have Deus Ex, so I'll check it out.

Likely the problem wasn't fixed in the beta on my website. I suspect it is something related to my new internal unimod format, which was completely reconstructed from scratch between the Winamp 2.666 and 2.7 versions of the module player.

- Air

30th November 2000, 23:31

Hi,
I checked out v2.2.1, and the problem is still there. :-< Perhaps it has something to do with how the .IT format is decoded, as I saw some things about that on the website.

Air · 1st December 2000, 11:24

erm.. well, since 2.2.1 was released about 4 or 5 days before your bug report, I'm not sure why you might think 2.2.1 would have had the bug fixed. I haven't gotten a chance to check it out yet, since I'm doing bug reports in generally the order they come in.

Although you are right, it very well may be the fault of Deus Ex using IT2.15 compression, and I currently only support 2.14. If *all* the DE music is weird in the way you describe, then that is most certainly the case.. and, as the website says, I'm not sure how long it's going to be before I get that fixed.

- Air

1st December 2000, 13:02

Quote:

Originally posted by Air:
erm.. well, since 2.2.1 was released about 4 or 5 days before your bug report, I'm not sure why you might think 2.2.1 would have had the bug fixed. I haven't gotten a chance to check it out yet, since I'm doing bug reports in generally the order they come in.

Although you are right, it very well may be the fault of Deus Ex using IT2.15 compression, and I currently only support 2.14. If *all* the DE music is weird in the way you describe, then that is most certainly the case.. and, as the website says, I'm not sure how long it's going to be before I get that fixed.

- Air

Hi,
Winsane had asked if the newest version helped, which is why I tried it. What has happened in Winamp 2.7 that is different from earlier versions? Could a hack like "if weird IT file detected, use old decoder" work?

Also, Deus Ex itself doesn't use .IT, it uses proprietary Unreal music format. I used a small program called umxrip to convert the music to .IT. I'm not sure what else umxrip does to the music, though. The program doesn't look like it could change compression formats: its sourcecode is 4KB.

[Edited by Winsane on 01-16-2001 at 02:44 AM]

Air · 1st December 2000, 15:35

Woops. Yea, I forgot that you had mentioned that it worked in the old winamp. In that case it is probably nothing at all and I'll fix it in like 2 mins within installing Deus Ex.

And for your information, the mod decoder from 2.7 is nearly a complete rewrite (of about 6-7 months in the making) as opposed to the one in 2.666. Long story as to why that is the case, but it is. And the unreal 'module format' is just an IT with a little Unreal resource ID tag. You can use almost any editor to simply cut the ID tag off the front of the IT file and voila - all done.

- Air

Winsane · 1st December 2000, 23:36

So Deus Ex uses UMX files? Then does the UMX Decoder plug-in work properly? If so, you could just use that until Air gets MikAmp fixed.

Air · 2nd December 2000, 13:34

Yup, it was a snap. Deus Ex has some various information it puts into each of the songs' position tables. The module decoder read them as invalid positions but tried to play them anyway. Ungood things were the result..

Anyways, it has been remedied, and it will be made available via 2.2.2 which I'll post on divent.org at some point today. As usual, let us know if you find anything else wrong.

- Air

[This message has been edited by Air (edited December 02, 2000).]

10th December 2000, 06:54

Hi,

Sorry for the delay (finals week at Caltech).

I downloaded and installed 2.2.2, and the weird bug (at least, the one that I initially heard) is still there. I hear it in Credits_Music.it and Quotes_Music.it, and it's probably in other tracks as well (I listened to Credits and Quotes a lot before Winamp 2.7 so I know how they sound, and also listened to them in game).

Here's exactly what I'm hearing in the hopes that it will help in finding this evil bug:
In Credits_Music.it, it goes, eh,
"Chicka-chicka Boomp Chicka-chicka *pause* Boomp-Whoooooo....", where the "whoooo" is at about 2 seconds into the song. The way it's supposed to sound is a smoothly fading "whooo" sound. In Winamp 2.7 and later, halfway into this "whoo" sound, it drops in volume by like a half, very abrupt and noticable. I hear it with headphones and the 2-speaker (normal) stereo mode of my Altec Lansing ADA-880 speakers. And when in 4-speaker Dolby Surround mode, how I usually listen to music, the entire sound sounds extremely hollow and corrupt, worse than even the worst MP3s I've seen. In headphones and normal stereo, Quotes_Music sounds extremely corrupt: sounds are truncated and blippy (I don't know how to exactly put it).

Oh yeah,
The .IT files that my converter produced show up as Impulse Tracker 2.17 in Winamp's File Info box.

Hope this helps,
STL
stl@caltech.edu

10th December 2000, 07:06

[Added:]
I installed the UMX Decoder plugin and tried playing the UMX files from Deus Ex directly, instead of the .IT versions I have. The error, oddly enough, is present when playing the UMX files as well. My guess is that something happened between the version of Unreal that UMX Decoder was written for (and the type of MODs that MikAmp deals with) and the version of music used by Deus Ex's Unreal engine. Some small change or something. Yet the in-game music system and Winamp <= 2.666 works fine. Weirdity.

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28th November 2000, 18:12	#1
STL Guest Posts: n/a	Hi, I've noticed that Winamp 2.7's input plugin to play MODs does not work properly, compared to 2.666 and all previous versions. I noticed this on the Deus Ex (the game) soundtrack. They're .IT files, and Winamp <= 2.666 played the songs correctly (as they sound in the game.) Winamp 2.7 seems to get the fading completely wrong, leading to a horrible blippy sound; not just artifacts, but the WRONG pattern of sounds is being played. Icky. If you don't have Deus Ex and/or the conversion program from their proprietary music to .IT, I would be happy to give you the files for which I've noticed this so that you may reproduce the error. stl@caltech.edu [Edited by Winsane on 01-16-2001 at 02:43 AM]

28th November 2000, 23:16	#2
Winsane Moderator Alumni Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: U.S. (eastern time zone) Posts: 2,598	Is the problem still there in the latest beta version of MikAmp (a.k.a. Nullsoft Module Decoder) available from www.divent.org?

29th November 2000, 10:30	#3
Air Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Pittston, PA, USA Posts: 25	I have Deus Ex, so I'll check it out. Likely the problem wasn't fixed in the beta on my website. I suspect it is something related to my new internal unimod format, which was completely reconstructed from scratch between the Winamp 2.666 and 2.7 versions of the module player. - Air

30th November 2000, 23:31	#4
STL Guest Posts: n/a	Hi, I checked out v2.2.1, and the problem is still there. :-< Perhaps it has something to do with how the .IT format is decoded, as I saw some things about that on the website.

1st December 2000, 11:24	#5
Air Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Pittston, PA, USA Posts: 25	erm.. well, since 2.2.1 was released about 4 or 5 days before your bug report, I'm not sure why you might think 2.2.1 would have had the bug fixed. I haven't gotten a chance to check it out yet, since I'm doing bug reports in generally the order they come in. Although you are right, it very well may be the fault of Deus Ex using IT2.15 compression, and I currently only support 2.14. If all the DE music is weird in the way you describe, then that is most certainly the case.. and, as the website says, I'm not sure how long it's going to be before I get that fixed. - Air

1st December 2000, 15:35	#7
Air Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Pittston, PA, USA Posts: 25	Woops. Yea, I forgot that you had mentioned that it worked in the old winamp. In that case it is probably nothing at all and I'll fix it in like 2 mins within installing Deus Ex. And for your information, the mod decoder from 2.7 is nearly a complete rewrite (of about 6-7 months in the making) as opposed to the one in 2.666. Long story as to why that is the case, but it is. And the unreal 'module format' is just an IT with a little Unreal resource ID tag. You can use almost any editor to simply cut the ID tag off the front of the IT file and voila - all done. - Air

1st December 2000, 23:36	#8
Winsane Moderator Alumni Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: U.S. (eastern time zone) Posts: 2,598	So Deus Ex uses UMX files? Then does the UMX Decoder plug-in work properly? If so, you could just use that until Air gets MikAmp fixed.

2nd December 2000, 13:34	#9
Air Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Pittston, PA, USA Posts: 25	Yup, it was a snap. Deus Ex has some various information it puts into each of the songs' position tables. The module decoder read them as invalid positions but tried to play them anyway. Ungood things were the result.. Anyways, it has been remedied, and it will be made available via 2.2.2 which I'll post on divent.org at some point today. As usual, let us know if you find anything else wrong. - Air [This message has been edited by Air (edited December 02, 2000).]

10th December 2000, 06:54	#10
STL Guest Posts: n/a	Hi, Sorry for the delay (finals week at Caltech). I downloaded and installed 2.2.2, and the weird bug (at least, the one that I initially heard) is still there. I hear it in Credits_Music.it and Quotes_Music.it, and it's probably in other tracks as well (I listened to Credits and Quotes a lot before Winamp 2.7 so I know how they sound, and also listened to them in game). Here's exactly what I'm hearing in the hopes that it will help in finding this evil bug: In Credits_Music.it, it goes, eh, "Chicka-chicka Boomp Chicka-chicka pause Boomp-Whoooooo....", where the "whoooo" is at about 2 seconds into the song. The way it's supposed to sound is a smoothly fading "whooo" sound. In Winamp 2.7 and later, halfway into this "whoo" sound, it drops in volume by like a half, very abrupt and noticable. I hear it with headphones and the 2-speaker (normal) stereo mode of my Altec Lansing ADA-880 speakers. And when in 4-speaker Dolby Surround mode, how I usually listen to music, the entire sound sounds extremely hollow and corrupt, worse than even the worst MP3s I've seen. In headphones and normal stereo, Quotes_Music sounds extremely corrupt: sounds are truncated and blippy (I don't know how to exactly put it). Oh yeah, The .IT files that my converter produced show up as Impulse Tracker 2.17 in Winamp's File Info box. Hope this helps, STL stl@caltech.edu

10th December 2000, 07:06	#11
STL Guest Posts: n/a	[Added:] I installed the UMX Decoder plugin and tried playing the UMX files from Deus Ex directly, instead of the .IT versions I have. The error, oddly enough, is present when playing the UMX files as well. My guess is that something happened between the version of Unreal that UMX Decoder was written for (and the type of MODs that MikAmp deals with) and the version of music used by Deus Ex's Unreal engine. Some small change or something. Yet the in-game music system and Winamp <= 2.666 works fine. Weirdity.