Sound problems with the app

1

So I’ve finished playing the gray garden on my phone on easyrpg and I wanted to listen to the ost on youtube but it sounded different so I checked and I was right for the reason in easyrpg app it sounds like some notes in the songs are missing or something. I check and saw that the browser version of the game music sounds alright but why is the app version different can anyone tell me?

2

Hi. This is not a bug but rather what we could call a “legal limitation”.
See, some of the music in said game are in midi format, which unlike the other audio formats like mp3 or wav used by RPG Maker games, is a format that only consists of notes that your computer then play and is not a direct recording. The instruments used to play a MIDI file are then handled by your device depending on the dependencies and files that are set for it. Thing is, the file that is used on Windows for that - and as such used to play RPG Maker games like the author wanted - are copyrighted files that cannot be used for non-Windows platforms.
As such, while EasyRPG is able to just use this dependency on Windows to sound like what you would expect out of the box, this is not possible on other platforms, where another set of instruments is instead used by default, and which is likely what you are currently referencing. If you are not satisfied with how MIDI files are played on your mobile platform, a way to circumvent this issue is to add and use a soundfont (a file that has instruments that your midi file will you use when being played) to your EasyRPG soundfont folder that satisfies you and then select it (Android only: Settings → Audio → Custom soundfont). You can find some files on the net that tries to be similar to what is done on Windows, though some of them may be in a gray area if they use part of the code of the Windows soundfont, so I’m not sure if I can redirect you to one.

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3

Thanks for explaining I appreciate it very much, I had no idea that’s how it works (I am pretty dumb). But I not really sure how I will find those soundfonts, not really sure how to get started that is, but thanks anyway at least I now know what was the problem

4

is there a way to replace the midi files with wav files?

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As a part of EasyRPG, no, though I suppose that globally someone could have made something to convert en masse wav files to midi files while still having the instruments sound like in Windows, though having no specific knowledge in a such thing I couldn’t really help you for that.

For the RPG Maker part though, replacing the midi files with wav files could be a solution in some cases, though there are some issues that you may encounter depending on the game and its use of midi files:

  • RPG Maker 2000/2003 has two commands related to music files, Conditional Branch: BGM has completed a loop and Control Variables: Midi Play Location Tick (MIDI). Thing is, those two commands are handled differently depending on the kind of file used, BGM has completed a loop will not work if the music being played is a wav (It’s an RPG Maker bug that EasyRPG has to replicate for accuracy reasons - this only affects the wav format so mp3 and ogg files should still be available for use in said case with EasyRPG), while Midi Play Location Tick (MIDI) will track the number of seconds that have passed since the start of the track if the format is not midi, while midi files track ticks, giving you completely different values. Since those two commands are very specific, they will almost never be used, though it could still happen if the creator thought of tracking this for a reason or another.
  • It is possible to play a music at a different speed in a game, but using said feature on a midi file will just make the instruments be played more quickly or slower, while doing it on other formats like wav will also alter their pitch, so a track in said condition would not sound the same.
  • RPG Maker allows midi files to have a loop start and a loop end, which is not the case of the other formats like wav or mp3 (if you use EasyRPG or the Maniac patch with your game, loop points can be used with ogg files by setting a LOOPSTART and a LOOPEND), so the loop of your track may be missing in said case.
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6

thank you, I tried using .ogg files of the soundtracks from the game’s wiki and they work great, there don’t seem to be any issues with the looping, though I have to spend more time in-game to actaully test most of the soundtracks