Offline
Michigan

Hello all,

So for a minute there was a thread over on the NesDev forums about a program called "CombiNSF": http://forums.nesdev.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=9271

From what I understand, it allows multiple NSF files to be combined into one with the exception of certain expansions (vrc6, fds).

After my initial excitement, I was bummed to find out that its creator had stopped development on it.

I wanted to reach out to some of the other 2a03 enthusiasts/programmers here (bucky, neil baldwin, boodaw, etc...) and see if there was a way we could revive this project. Namely adding the expansion audio capabilities.

Let me know, thanks!

Offline
Michigan

bump!

paging all ya'll NES dudes. Neil, batsly, anybody! Still interested in getting this going! Let me know thanks!

Offline
Toronto, Canada

I don't think many people are really interested in this. What use do you have for combining NSFs into bigger NSFs? Why not just make a winamp playlist for NSFPlay or something?

Offline
Michigan
rainwarrior wrote:

I don't think many people are really interested in this. What use do you have for combining NSFs into bigger NSFs? Why not just make a winamp playlist for NSFPlay or something?

making a seamless nsf "playlist" for live shows played off the NES.

i dont want to have to resort to using a laptop....

Offline
Chicago IL

It would be good for compilations too.

Offline
Toronto, Canada
noisewaves wrote:

making a seamless nsf "playlist" for live shows played off the NES.

What do you use to play NSFs on your NES?

If it's the PowerPak, it has no automated way to continue to the next NSF track. Whether you skip back to the menu to select the next NSF or skip to the next track you still have to interact with the NES, and it's really just 3 button presses vs 1 if you've got your tracks lined up in a folder.

The reason zzo38's tool doesn't support all the expansions is because he has to use the FDS expansion memory as a hack to override the bank-switching code. This wasn't a matter of needing more time to work out the problem, this is a fundamental conflict in the hardware. Enabling FDS makes memory areas writable that normally aren't, which actually end up corrupting the NSF code/data in most NSF players. NSFPlay is an exception, as it guards against this problem in the case of multi-expansion including FDS. However, in order to get this to work on the PowerPak you would have to rewrite its NSF mapper (which has not been open-sourced, by the way, so you'd be starting from scratch).

Though, you can try it with other expansions anyway, and see if you get lucky (maybe the corrupted bytes won't end up screwing up your song). Does the tool actually prevent you from using them, or is there just a warning against other expansions? If it does prevent you, it'd be very simple to hex edit the NSF to fool the tool.

Offline
Michigan
rainwarrior wrote:
noisewaves wrote:

making a seamless nsf "playlist" for live shows played off the NES.

What do you use to play NSFs on your NES?

If it's the PowerPak, it has no automated way to continue to the next NSF track. Whether you skip back to the menu to select the next NSF or skip to the next track you still have to interact with the NES, and it's really just 3 button presses vs 1 if you've got your tracks lined up in a folder.

The reason zzo38's tool doesn't support all the expansions is because he has to use the FDS expansion memory as a hack to override the bank-switching code. This wasn't a matter of needing more time to work out the problem, this is a fundamental conflict in the hardware. Enabling FDS makes memory areas writable that normally aren't, which actually end up corrupting the NSF code/data in most NSF players. NSFPlay is an exception, as it guards against this problem in the case of multi-expansion including FDS. However, in order to get this to work on the PowerPak you would have to rewrite its NSF mapper (which has not been open-sourced, by the way, so you'd be starting from scratch).

Though, you can try it with other expansions anyway, and see if you get lucky (maybe the corrupted bytes won't end up screwing up your song). Does the tool actually prevent you from using them, or is there just a warning against other expansions? If it does prevent you, it'd be very simple to hex edit the NSF to fool the tool.

part of the reason for the "playlist" is that i dont want to have to skip back to the menu to play the next song, i play in different tunings, so an interlude would provide a nice minute or so break whilst i tune my guitar for a uninterrupted transition. it essentially me wanting an uninterrupted setlist.

famitracker does provide ftm combining to form a playlist of sorts, but its very limited, mainly in the number of instruments a given nsf is allowed. which i run out of very quickly.

lets look at a different avenue: VegaPlay, which is open sourced. would it possible to modify that to play back vrc6 songs? how does that function?

Offline
rochester, ny

Buy an iPod

Offline
Toronto, Canada

If you've got FamiTracker data to begin with, I don't know why you'd bother trying to convert to VegaPlay, since FamiTracker is also completely open-source.

For example, I made a ROM containing a modified version of the Famitracker driver for MOON8, which combined 10 different FamiTracker files into a single .NES with a built in menu and some mildly animated playback. It is open source: http://rainwarrior.ca/music/moon8.html

If you're looking for an automated tool for combining stuff, this isn't it, but it is an example of one way it can be done by starting with FamiTracker's source code.

Offline
rochester, ny

i think the moon8 rom is probably exactly what shawn wants, except with his songs instead of yours (obviously).

Offline
Michigan

thanks rainwarrior, ill definitely be checking it out.

also nick, expect something in your inbox soon.

Offline
Michigan

I THINK IVE FIGURED OUT A WORKAROUND! THANKS RAINWARRIOR FOR IMPORTNSF

Offline
Michigan

FUCK NEVERMIND