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So I'm trying to play .tfc files on my Megadrive using an everdrive cart and it's playing them out of time and I think out of tune. Some sounds distort and skip and do wierd things.
What have I done wrong???
Any help would be hugely appreciated.
Thanks! 
Make sure that the file itself is not corrupted, using WinAmp plugin. The editor has a problem with export function, it is unstable, and sometimes produces corrupted files. You can avoid that by using command-line export option instead of exporting from the editor.
Thanks Shiru! I didn't expect to get a reply from you! It looks like the files are corrupted every time I export them. The tfe files play fine in winamp but the tfd and tfcs are all wrong.
I read the part of the manual about exporting using command line but am still not entirely sure how to do it (I'm not very good with command line)
Is there an easy way to explain how to export tfd smd files using command line?
YO check this: i dunno if this will help... maybe you need to pad your ROM. this is post i wrote on $%*&bc - might help>>>>>
Ok... So, i tried forEVER to playback my TFM VGMs through a Sega Nomad and a tototek flash cart (SMDpro). It drove me FUCKING NUTS because at first... it would play like half of my song and then freeze. So, i am here to point people in the right direction if they are trying to do the same thing. Save them some heartache. This is what you need...
Genesis _ MD2 is the best (Nomad is an MD2) <fuck that model one {high definition graphics} on the front is the best - dont know what i was thinking>
VGMplay 2.00 or VGMplay 2.00+ by Michael Stampler
Hex Editor of your choice - i use XVI32 because No Carrier likes it
TFM music maker
Ok - so just take your VGM drop it into VGMplay and you will get your .bin ROM file. You will notice that it will play in an emulator... but if you try to flash it to the cart the playback will be F'd up. so... what you do is > dump the .bin into your hex editor and round the file size off and make it the correct size. You'll notice that most Genesis roms are like 128k 256k 512k 1Mb etc.
THANKS TO SHIRU for the tip!!!!!!!!!! he is awesomenessssss.
say you have a dot bin that is 92k... what you would have to do is make it 128k.
so.... in XVI32 add zeros until you get to position 1FFFF - this will make the file 128k.
say you had a file that was like 168k... then you would add zeros till you got to 3FFFF
i believe 1FFFF is 128 and 3FFFF is 256.
somebody wanna throw those other values up here like 512 and 1Mb and 2Mb etc?
Last edited by animalstyle (Sep 5, 2010 6:37 am)
Command tfmaker -tfd nameofyour.tfe will produce TFD file from TFE without running the editor. You can enter it directly in command line, or use BAT file (put the command into plain text file, change extension to .bat). To simplify things, put both the editor and the module into the same folder.
Last edited by Shiru (Sep 5, 2010 7:13 am)
Thank both of you so much! With your advice and my friends command line skills I now have a.tfc file that sounds good on winamp but unfortunately my sd card was snapped in half when we had a giant earthquake a couple of nights ago that made the tvs drop on my consoles... but when I get a new sd card I'll see if it's all going to work. It wouldn't export to the smd freq table but I'm going to try the current .tfc file and see what happens.
Thanks for helping me guys!
Thanks for the tip, Shiru, I was wondering why the playback went wrong!
And maybe a feature suggestion depending on how much focus you want on the Mega Drive aspect of TFM: Global scaling of output TLs (or volume) to ease distortion problems.
I just had another idea: Dynamic TL scaling per track as an effect command - Would make mixing a bliss!
Last edited by boomlinde (Sep 5, 2010 11:01 am)
Global scaling is in my todo list for a long time.
There is no TL scaling, but isn't TL set (8xx etc) is pretty much the same, only less comfortable?
So the .tfc file that sounded good on winamp is out of tune on the sega and when I use command line to export the .tfe as a .tfd using the smd frequency table (-smd command) the file is in tune on the sega but still corrupted.
So the tfe to tfd export is corrupted form the player as well as from command line.
Any ideas how to change the tfe to a tfd using the smd freq table and not have it come out corrupted?
Thanks!
Export the same file few times (from command line) and compare the sizes of the files. If they are different, then yes, yo have export problem, and you can't do much with it (other than trying to use another computer). If the sizes are always the same, then you have some other problem.
Well the sizes of the file are exactly the time every time I export using the -smd command, I guess I'll try another computer anyway and see if it has a different result!
Hi FuturNari, the problems may be caused by the player that you are using. I suggest you do as animalstyle suggested and use Michael Stamper's excellent 'VGM PLAY', which is now at version 3. You just need to export to a vgm file from TFM Music Maker and then follow animalstyle's instructions.
Woohoo! VGM Play worked! I can finally play tfm tracks on the megadrive, thanks for your help everyone I am very lucky to have all of you responding and helping me out.
And now that I'll be able to record some megadrive stuff does anyone have any tips on recording? Should I be aiming to record one instrument at a time or anything?
That would produce a lot of noise, I think. Personally; I would just record it straight off the thing without post-processing, but depending on how well the vanilla sound correlates with the sound you're looking for, you might want to add some EQ or even compression. Especially the high frequencies are muffled on my model 1, but I like that... Gives it kind of a cassette tape quality
If you really want to work on the tracks separately, you'd better render them in TFM instead of recording them.
So yeah, most tips on recording amount to personal preference.
Global scaling is in my todo list for a long time.
There is no TL scaling, but isn't TL set (8xx etc) is pretty much the same, only less comfortable?
Great!
TL set lets me do exactly that, yeah, but it's much less comfortable for what I had in mind. My idea is that all output operator TLs (depending on the algorithm of course) of all instruments in a channel would be scaled by a factor (say 00 corresponds to 0.0 and FF corresponds to 1.0) until the command is run into again, where the factor would change... So it basically is like turning the channel volume fader up/down on a mixer and keeping it there until the next command.
I hope that I'm able to make myself somewhat clear 
It sure wouldn't be "lean and mean," but it'd make mixing a lot easier.