Inherit the Earth - Digital music loop/playback issues

[ner0]

Hi.

I was looking forward to play ITE with Wyrmkeep Update #2 which implements digital audio, but I am unsure if it is fully compatible with my DOS version or if it is a ScummVM engine bug. I found a few threads discussing the usage of the digital version but no "complaints" in the same context as mine:
- viewtopic.php?t=4193
- viewtopic.php?p=24263&sid=23f5edabe0587 ... 3a2#p24263

It is also mentioned in the wiki as compatible: https://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php?titl ... _and_sound

Unfortunately, it seems that there are some issues with the playback. While the music tracks play, there are quite a few cases where the tracks will just stop playing, instead of looping I assume. Since I don't have any version originally shipped with the digital version, and my 1994 CD/DOS version doesn't load that resource, I tested this with the Windows trial version to see if it was by design or not, and as it happens it is not by design and the playback issue only happens in ScummVM and/or my version of the game.

This is how I set-up the game; I extracted the CD and then copied the following files:
- INSTR.AD
- INSTR.OPL
- ITE.RSC
- SCRIPTS.RSC
- SOUNDS.RSC
- VOICES.RSC

That's it for the game itself, then for the digital audio from Wyrmkeep Update #2:
- music.rsc
- P2_A.iaf

Just skipping to the start of the game can take a little while before the issue becomes apparent, but it starts to happen at first with at least 2 different tracks playing while the soldiers interrupt the fair. In any case, just skipping completely all intro stuff and scenes, when Rif is just there standing with the 2 "bodyguards", if you keep in that scene for more than 30 seconds or so you'll notice that the music will go dead silent and never picks up again unless you travel to another room/scene.

As I've said, the trial version loops the tracks correctly while ScummVM doesn't; here's a specific example using 2 Youtube videos I found:
- https://youtu.be/AjxADNT5Q9Y?t=318 starting at 5:18, music stops shortly afterwards, plays a different track per scene script after 36 seconds
- https://youtu.be/OZiAT4HeVo4?t=395 same scene starting at 6:35, music never stops (MIDI sound)

Another issue seems to exist with the digital music version which is in relation to compressed music package. Compressing music.rsc with FLAC will not play the overall music track for the market fair, oddly enough if compressed with Vorbis it seems to be fine, although the tracks going silent at times still happens regardless.

This is very odd, and I'm not sure why I haven't found any mention to this.

[ner0]

Okay, so I bought the game on GoG and tried importing it to ScummVM, unfortunately same issue happens with the audio playback of some tracks not looping...

I assume the Windows executable may have some additional logic to deal with some music tracks that ScummVM plays just once in particular scenes. This is a fair assumption since most main music themes I heard so far in ScummVM don't seem to get interrupted.

It's a shame, really, especially after seeing that the GoG version looks like crap.

[Raziel]

I just quickly tried my 2004 Wyrmkeep CD edition and this is definitely a regression.

I haven't played the game for a long time but i surely remember the tracks loop (My edition doesn't use MIDI tracks).
Such silence after only 30 seconds would have been recognized, if it hasn't been a regression.

Please add an item to the bugtracker

[eriktorbjorn]

Such silence after only 30 seconds would have been recognized, if it hasn't been a regression.

I think this is the commit that caused the regression so it's been there quite a while. Apparently the engine can request that piece of music is looped, or it can leave the decision to the music player. Before, everything except tracks 11 and 19 would still be looped in that case. Now, only tracks 11 and 19 are looped in that case.

It looks like the regression only affected the version of the game with digitized music. The pre-Wyrmkeep version, and the early Wyrmkeep version that used standalone MIDI files for music apparently weren't, as far as I can tell.

[Raziel]

@eriktorbjorn

Thanks a lot for bisecting...

But wouldn't it be tracks 13 and 19?

If I read this piece of vide correctly

Code: Select all

		if (flags == MUSIC_NORMAL && (resourceId == 13 || resourceId == 19))

[eriktorbjorn]

But wouldn't it be tracks 13 and 19?

You're right, I mistyped. Thanks for the correction.

[eriktorbjorn]

I made a pull request for it: https://github.com/scummvm/scummvm/pull/3513

I could have just committed it, but I don't have the time to replay Inherit the Earth at this time, so it would be good if someone more familiar with the game could give it a whirl.

[Raziel]

@eriktorbjorn

Nice