Difference between revisions of "User talk:TheAlmightyGuru"

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(5 Songs of the Month)
(Hey, another quiz!)
 
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:::::::::: Thanks for letting me know. I've left him a message. If he keeps it up, I'll ban him. --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 11:12, 15 February 2019 (EST)
 
:::::::::: Thanks for letting me know. I've left him a message. If he keeps it up, I'll ban him. --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 11:12, 15 February 2019 (EST)
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::::::::::: I believe he has returned after almost three and a half years. Today, [[User:Ryanlinn4565]] made exactly the same syntax errors and MobyGames contradictions on [[Kunio Komatsu]] as the former four users (all "Ryan" on their social profile). --[[User:Professor Chaos|Professor Chaos]] ([[User talk:Professor Chaos|talk]]) 13:53, 6 August 2022 (EDT)
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:::::::::::: Banned him. Thanks for keeping up on this! --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 09:54, 8 August 2022 (EDT)
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::::::::::::: [[Special:Diff/156464|Again]], [[Special:Diff/156465|again]], and [[Special:Diff/156466|again]]. Again Ryan Linn, again syntax errors, again all MobyGames contradictions. But day 45 of month 23 ''is'' new to me. --[[User:Professor Chaos|Professor Chaos]] ([[User talk:Professor Chaos|talk]]) 12:12, 13 November 2022 (EST)
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:::::::::::::: Banned again. You'd think he'd have something better to do with his time? --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 11:28, 14 November 2022 (EST)
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::::::::::::::: [[Special:Contributions/VideoGamer|Guess who?]] Again Ryan, and all three edits contradict MobyGames + syntax. This time I wrote on his user talk page ''and'' his social profile (if rather curtly, just to see if he understands plain short'n'simple better), but, well. --[[User:Professor Chaos|Professor Chaos]] ([[User talk:Professor Chaos|talk]]) 16:17, 25 November 2022 (EST)
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:::::::::::::::: Banned again. I just don't understand the motive here. He's not linking to outside web site, he's not spamming keywords, it's a very strange form of trolling. --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 13:58, 2 December 2022 (EST)
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::::::::::::::::: Today: [[Special:Contributions/67876ryan]], 5 syntax errors, but only 4 MobyGames contradictions: he did get [[Special:Diff/157666|one]] credit right. Just like on 2019-02-14. --[[User:Professor Chaos|Professor Chaos]] ([[User talk:Professor Chaos|talk]]) 11:52, 23 December 2022 (EST)
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:::::::::::::::::: Banned again. It's a new IP each time too, so either he's behind a VPN, or this is a bot net. I may have to change the security question. --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 08:31, 26 December 2022 (EST)
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::::::::::::::::::: Several of us have been discussing his latest account: [[User talk:Ryangamer32#Stop vandalize pages!]] + the "context" link at the bottom of that section. As for the IP... don't know if it helps, but at least where I live, it's normal that my IP changes every two weeks, and I don't use a VPN. --[[User:Professor Chaos|Professor Chaos]] ([[User talk:Professor Chaos|talk]]) 15:16, 15 January 2024 (EST)
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::::::::::::::::::: This problem with [[User:Ryangamer32]] keeps happening as of today: [https://www.vgmpf.com/Wiki/index.php?title=Hirofumi_Murasaki&curid=22145&diff=176263&oldid=173713 1] [https://www.vgmpf.com/Wiki/index.php?title=Manami_Matsumae&curid=6425&diff=176248&oldid=168548 2]. --[[User:Binarymaster|binarymaster]] ([[User talk:Binarymaster|talk]]) 15:33, 16 February 2024 (EST)
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:::::::::::::::::::: I've banned him permanently now. --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 09:12, 27 February 2024 (EST)
  
 
== Wave of spammers ==
 
== Wave of spammers ==
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==Delete 6 redirects?==
 
==Delete 6 redirects?==
Could you, Dean, or any power user who reads this, please delete these redirects:[http://vgmpf.com?title=File:The_Great_Giana_Sisters_-_ST_-_UK.jpg&redirect=no  ][http://vgmpf.com?title=File:The_Pearl_of_Dawn_-_C64_-_Germany.jpg&redirect=no  ][http://vgmpf.com?title=File:H2O_-_Credits_-_1.png&redirect=no  ][http://vgmpf.com?title=File:H2O_-_Credits_-_2.png&redirect=no  ][http://vgmpf.com?title=Template:Series_-_Impossible_Mission_II&redirect=no  ][http://vgmpf.com?title=Mortadelo_y_Filem%C3%B3n:_Una_aventura_de_cine_(W32)&redirect=no  ]? They are based on misnames only and corrected usually just minutes later. --[[User:Professor Chaos|Professor Chaos]] ([[User talk:Professor Chaos|talk]]) 09:39, 1 December 2019 (EST)
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Could you, Dean, or any power user who reads this, please delete these redirects:[http://vgmpf.com?title=File:The_Great_Giana_Sisters_-_ST_-_UK.jpg&redirect=no  ][http://vgmpf.com?title=File:The_Predirect=no earl_of_Dawn_-_C64_-_Germany.jpg&redirect=no  ][http://vgmpf.com?title=File:H2O_-_Credits_-_1.png&redirect=no  ][http://vgmpf.com?title=File:H2O_-_Credits_-_2.png&redirect=no  ][http://vgmpf.com?title=Template:Series_-_Impossible_Mission_II&redirect=no  ][http://vgmpf.com?title=Mortadelo_y_Filem%C3%B3n:_Una_aventura_de_cine_(W32)&redirect=no  ]? They are based on misnames only and corrected usually just minutes later. --[[User:Professor Chaos|Professor Chaos]] ([[User talk:Professor Chaos|talk]]) 09:39, 1 December 2019 (EST)
  
 
: [[User:M1911|M1911]] did, thanks! --[[User:Professor Chaos|Professor Chaos]] ([[User talk:Professor Chaos|talk]]) 13:07, 2 December 2019 (EST)
 
: [[User:M1911|M1911]] did, thanks! --[[User:Professor Chaos|Professor Chaos]] ([[User talk:Professor Chaos|talk]]) 13:07, 2 December 2019 (EST)
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:# The list is based on server access, both downloading the song and listening to it from the site increases the number. Also, the count is refreshed anew each month. We see a lot of repeats just because people keep listening to the same songs over and over again.
 
:# The list is based on server access, both downloading the song and listening to it from the site increases the number. Also, the count is refreshed anew each month. We see a lot of repeats just because people keep listening to the same songs over and over again.
 
:# I think that's a great idea. If you're willing to update the list each month when I updated the top 5 songs list, we can make it into a standard page and I'll create a link to it from the main page. Let me know. --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 10:01, 16 September 2021 (EDT)
 
:# I think that's a great idea. If you're willing to update the list each month when I updated the top 5 songs list, we can make it into a standard page and I'll create a link to it from the main page. Let me know. --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 10:01, 16 September 2021 (EDT)
::::Updating a page from time to time and allowing other people to do so seems quite probable. Btw, do that "Track 01 from [[Mech Warrior 2 (W32)]]" mentioned both by me on the top of that page and by the Top 5 list itself exists now? If yes, then I could add it. --[[User:M1911|M1911]] ([[User talk:M1911|talk]]) 13:42, 16 September 2021 (EDT)
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::Updating a page from time to time and allowing other people to do so seems quite probable. Btw, do that "Track 01 from [[Mech Warrior 2 (W32)]]" mentioned both by me on the top of that page and by the Top 5 list itself exists now? If yes, then I could add it. --[[User:M1911|M1911]] ([[User talk:M1911|talk]]) 13:42, 16 September 2021 (EDT)
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::: Okay, the new page is [[Songs of the Month by game]]. There is a link to it from the [[Top 5 Songs of the Month]] as well as a link from the main page. It would help if you deleted your page to prevent confusion. The Mech Warrior 2 page is missing because my recording of the soundtrack became corrupt awhile back, and I haven't gotten around to re-ripping it. I still own the game, and I'll get to it eventually. Go ahead and add it to the page, that way, when I do finally add it back, the links will become active. --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 14:07, 16 September 2021 (EDT)
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== Icon for J2B file format ==
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I uploaded the [[Jazz Jackrabbit 2 (W32)#Game Rip|Jazz 2 rip]] in its original format (which some module players support as-is), so I'm wondering whether it deserves its own file icon?  The game uses a custom module format for all its songs, with the .J2B extension.  I had a go at doing my own image but I don't have the right font installed so it won't look right.  I was thinking of cloning [[:File:MOD.png]] and putting Jazz's head over the top of it. -- [[User:Malvineous|Malvineous]] ([[User talk:Malvineous|talk]]) 07:54, 20 October 2021 (EDT)
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: I've created a format icon similar to your specifications. It has the head of Jazz. I tried to fit it into a chip to make it similar to MOD, but shrinking it down distorted it too much. I think this one turned out pretty good. --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 10:55, 25 October 2021 (EDT)
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==Sheet music with 12 pages?==
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[[User:Жукороп]] just created the page [[Hallelujah (George Handel song)#Sheet Music]], but, as he says in his [[Special:Diff/141792|summary]], the 12th page of sheet music does not show and he can only hope someone fixes it. So I looked and saw that [[Template:SheetMusic]] includes only 11 pages. What to do here? --[[User:Professor Chaos|Professor Chaos]] ([[User talk:Professor Chaos|talk]]) 16:12, 8 November 2021 (EST)
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: All set! Thanks for letting me know. --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 08:05, 9 November 2021 (EST)
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==Spam==
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Just see [[Special:Diff/142202]]... reverted the actual edit but can't revert whodunit... --[[User:Professor Chaos|Professor Chaos]] ([[User talk:Professor Chaos|talk]]) 13:31, 1 December 2021 (EST)
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: Thanks, I've banned them. --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 10:59, 8 December 2021 (EST)
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== European vs. American titles ==
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If a game has different names for US or EU releases which of two should we take in an infobox/page/ogg tags?
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(E. g., '''007: James Bond - The Stealth Affair''' for US or simply ''' Operation Stealth ''')  --[[User:Cancer|Cancer]] ([[User talk:Cancer|talk]]) 12:05, 1 December 2021 (EST)
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: I'm not TheAlmightyGuru, but can say that this case is treated differently. For example, US name for platfrom Sega Genesis instead of international Sega Mega Drive - but international name for the game Driller instead of Space Station Oblivion.
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:: So, if this is the platform dependent (a platform is more popular in PAL regions), in my case [[Operation Stealth (DOS)]] was released for three different platforms which would create "multinomen" pages of the same game.  --[[User:Cancer|Cancer]] ([[User talk:Cancer|talk]]) 12:56, 1 December 2021 (EST)
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::: How about where the game was originally made? For example, Geoff Crammond created [[The Sentinel (BBC)]] on a platform that was only ever sold in PAL, but the C64 port made it to both PAL (also as "The Sentinel") and NTSC (as "The Sentry"). By the way, for a non-English example, "Bob Morane" is French, but some ports made it to the UK as "Lee Enfield" and those pages could be titled as such by the VGMPF. If a port of "Bob Morane" did not make it to the UK, ''then'' this port's page will require the French title. --[[User:Professor Chaos|Professor Chaos]] ([[User talk:Professor Chaos|talk]]) 13:31, 1 December 2021 (EST)
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:::: Hi guys, sorry I'm late to the party, I've been on vacation. I've updated the editing rules for titles which you can see [[Editing Rules: Titles#Naming|here]]. Basically, use the first published English title unless a later release has greatly surpassed it in popularity. --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 11:23, 8 December 2021 (EST)
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== Is this acceptable? ==
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Hi. I couldn't find anything about it in Editing Rules, so I thought I'd better ask first; can I put information on a composer page about what other jobs he worked? E.g.: ''"Jones tried many different occupations including drying paint watcher and dog food taster, until eventually finding his niche as a musician in January 1991"''. --[[User:Жукороп|Жукороп]] ([[User talk:Жукороп|talk]]) 15:24, 23 March 2022 (EDT)
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: Oh, nevermind. I've re-checked the rules and realized that listing other person's employments is ok. By the way, may I also ask how did you recorded the music from Atari 2600 games, like [[Frogger (A26)]] and [[Pitfall! (A26)]]? I'd like to make a few recordings myself, too. --[[User:Жукороп|Жукороп]] ([[User talk:Жукороп|talk]]) 06:24, 2 April 2022 (EDT)
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:: Sorry about the long delay. For the Atari 2600 soundtracks, since a suitable rip format doesn't yet exist for the platform, I simply recorded the audio from the emulator during game play. Very few Atari games have complex soundtracks, so it's pretty easy to record a full one in only a couple minutes. --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 17:00, 12 April 2022 (EDT)
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::: Thanks. One last thing; what do you think about adding the [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Translate Translate extension] to VGMPF? I personally would be happy to translate a few pages into Bulgarian. --[[User:Жукороп|Жукороп]] ([[User talk:Жукороп|talk]]) 09:37, 14 April 2022 (EDT)
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:::: I think I can do that. I'll have to look into it what it requires to add, but, if it's not too hard, I don't see why we can't begin branching out into other languages. --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 09:34, 22 April 2022 (EDT)
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::::: I guess I could do that with Russian, too. No promises, though. --[[User:M1911|M1911]] ([[User talk:M1911|talk]]) 14:16, 22 April 2022 (EDT)
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== Power User rights request ==
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Hi again. Deeply sorry for bothering you with a question like this, but I think I've been a pretty reliant user lately, contributing many game OSTs and cleaning up old pages on this site for almost a year, Sometimes, I come across orphaned files or unused redirects which are no longer needed, so can I have deletion rights to be able to remove them? --[[User:Жукороп|Жукороп]] ([[User talk:Жукороп|talk]]) 14:45, 10 May 2022 (EDT)
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: Absolutely, you've been a very helpful contributor! Please respond back and verify that you are now a power user. --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 15:51, 11 May 2022 (EDT)
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:: Thanks a lot! Everything works. --[[User:Жукороп|Жукороп]] ([[User talk:Жукороп|talk]]) 16:10, 11 May 2022 (EDT)
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== Very suspicious behavior of BuddyBoy600alt ==
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Hello. I feel there is a large need in taking some action against this editor.
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# The prevailing majority of his entries are of very unworthy quality (very bad language, wrong file names, wrong page formatting), and he was caught in a lots of attempts of creating pages that are woefully out of any VGMPF formatting. That's not necessarily vandalism (although probably lowering the "average quality of the wiki", but...
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# Recently I found that he (probably deliberately) has spreaded direct misinformation in the VGMPF articles in a very special form: creating entries and pages for "Apple IIGS" ports of many old videogame series, when they don't exist. Check [http://www.vgmpf.com/Wiki/index.php?title=Special:Contributions/Жукороп&offset=20220512170605&target=Жукороп some Жукороп edits from 10 May] where he undoes lots of such entries. That seems to be much more serious.
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# To aid my point further: [[Hurkle Hunt (DOS)]] and [[Robots from Hell (DOS)]] both feature Roland M32 music, when the game setup [[:File:Robots from Hell - DOS - Roland MT-32.png|explicitly states]] it only features PC Speaker soundtrack.
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# Btw, I'm not the only one who noticed it. Just look here [[User talk:BuddyBoy600alt]] and [[Talk:Robots from Hell (DOS)]]. He seems to refuse to even explain himself.
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Honestly, for me it seems that he doesn't even take our site seriously. Or probably he is a more deliberate vandal, who seems to fill our wiki with blatant mystifications. I suggest to take some action and, even though painstakingly, revert most of his suspicious edits. --[[User:M1911|M1911]] ([[User talk:M1911|talk]]) 18:27, 16 May 2022 (EDT)
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: Hi, just some points from me on what I have found regarding [[Robots from Hell (DOS)]] game. There is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revenge_of_the_Killer_Robots_from_Hell an article on Wikipedia] which was created by the same user (you can see history of changes - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:BuddyBoy600 user BuddyBoy600]). There is external link as a source for MT-32 support, but it only has a video, which also was uploaded by the very same user. This exact user also uploaded that (very likely edited) video in these places:
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:* [https://archive.org/details/the-revenge-of-the-killer-robots-from-hell-microsoft-ibm-ms-dos-1989879986785578 Archive.org - Uploaded by BuddyBoy600alt on September 18, 2020]
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:* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huO4N3r8aow YouTube - on 2 Jan 2021 by BuddyBoy600alt - The Marsupilami Master of YouTube]
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:* and [https://www.twitch.tv/videos/811618791 Twitch - on 22 Nov 2020 by BuddyBoy600alt].
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: There is a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRlC0NI3510&lc=Ugy0tVw7r_ajp4WAhdd4AaABAg.9ECEPmXnAPJ9QRxsQzEQ1D related comment] on the original gameplay video which says the user just shoehorned the music, which is not original to the game.
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: I guess this is just an Internet troll who attempts to rewrite the history of videogame music.
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: This really needs some attention, as we also have exactly the same situation with [[Hurkle Hunt (DOS)]] game (the recording doesn't sound even close to MT-32, it's just Sound Canvas), and maybe some others. --[[User:Binarymaster|binarymaster]] ([[User talk:Binarymaster|talk]]) 20:01, 16 May 2022 (EDT)
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:: He added some more misinformation about non-existing A2GS DuckTales port. Just banned him indefinitely until we find out if other actions are needed to be taken. Sadly, it seems that all his submissions need to be revisited and even taken down if needed, would be a long thing. --[[User:M1911|M1911]] ([[User talk:M1911|talk]]) 04:48, 17 May 2022 (EDT)
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::: He also created two articles for fake Atari 8-bit ports, too; [[The Three Stooges (A8)]] and [[Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? (A8)]]. I think the guy genuinely wants to contribute, but has no idea how MediaWiki works, which is really unfortunate. --[[User:Жукороп|Жукороп]] ([[User talk:Жукороп|talk]]) 06:22, 17 May 2022 (EDT)
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:::: Thanks for keeping an eye on this. I'll try to keep monitoring it as well. It looks like he's been doing this for years in other Wikis, so I doubt he'll suddenly figure it out. If he doesn't start following the rules, we'll just have to ban him permanently. --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 10:33, 26 May 2022 (EDT)
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== Lemmings ==
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Hi. I noticed this just now; the original Lemmings game apparently has so many ports that they exceed the [[Template:Series - Lemmings|series template]]'s entry limit. When you will have time, could you please fix this if possible? Thanks in advance. --[[User:Жукороп|Жукороп]] ([[User talk:Жукороп|talk]]) 14:05, 15 June 2022 (EDT)
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: I have updated the template to display up to 30 platforms in a row. But now it overflows on my screen :D --[[User:Binarymaster|binarymaster]] ([[User talk:Binarymaster|talk]]) 14:37, 15 June 2022 (EDT)
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:: Oh, alright. I forgot that you can edit templates too... Hopefully Guru won't mind. --[[User:Жукороп|Жукороп]] ([[User talk:Жукороп|talk]]) 16:10, 15 June 2022 (EDT)
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::: Thanks Жукороп and Binarymaster. Wow, you know a game has become a cultural touchstone when it gets 25 ports! --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 09:16, 16 June 2022 (EDT)
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== Questions...again ==
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# Can we have music tracks (recorded using three playthroughs) that are 17-20 mins long??
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# Some game ports may have a bad arrangement setup appeared originally in another port. For example, those may sound *cacophonically* (improper octaves, etc.) as a result of a bad conversion to another music format/platform.
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# If a game features different sound throughout ports/versions and only has slightly different features, like having different cursor, can we safely use same screenshots of one game per every port w/o uploading new?
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--[[User:Cancer|Cancer]] ([[User talk:Cancer|talk]]) 15:33, 16 June 2022 (EDT)
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:Allow me to add:
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:# [[User:M1911]] asked something similar [[#Problem with uploading|above]] (26:17); the only problem was that the quality was ''too'' high and therefore, the Ogg file too big. The [[Gordian Tomb (C64)|longest I know]] is 32 minutes (yes, ''one'' loop).
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:# Do you mean to ask what to do if a game messes up a soundtrack that is otherwise fine? Situations like on [[BugBomber (DOS)]] and [[Locomotion (DOS)]]? I wrote there how every gamer can fix this very simply, and re-recorded it like that. TheAlmightyGuru's original recordings are still [[:File:01 - BugBomber - DOS - BugBomber Theme.ogg|there]] and closer to the originals, but... well, let's await his answer :)
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:--[[User:Professor Chaos|Professor Chaos]] ([[User talk:Professor Chaos|talk]]) 15:52, 16 June 2022 (EDT)
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::# Songs of any length are permitted (just keep the [[Editing Rules: Recordings#Timing|timing rules]] in mind). The bottleneck isn't the length, but the file size. My web host has a limit on the size of file uploads and I can't change that. If the song is legitimately 20 minutes long, and the OGG file is too large to upload, try decreasing the quality of the recording until it fits. OGG is pretty good at maintaining sound quality at low levels, so it may not even be noticeable.
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::# Our site is first and foremost a historical site. Personally, I love it when hackers discover how to fix bugs in old games, but the goal of the VGMPF is to preserve game music, not make it better. This means we should record the music as-is, bugs included. Most of us record the music that we enjoy, so, if you think a soundtrack sounds too awful, skip it and do something you like instead.
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::# Whenever possible, try to get screenshots from the particular port of the game. Even if the graphics look very similar, there may still be subtle differences. I would prefer no screenshots over incorrect screenshots.
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::--[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]])
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:::Regarding bugs, I've started adjusting two pages. Are these changes correct?
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::::[[Locomotion (DOS)]]: I've reverted the recording to your as-is one. Question: Should I also remove the "<tt>sound b4a2e</tt>" explanation and/or point out something like: the actual ROL file is fine and plays as intended in Visual Composer, Adplug etc.? (Whatever the answer, I'd do the same with [[BugBomber (DOS)]] and both games' [[Locomotion Theme#Locomotion (DOS)|song pages]].)
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::::[[Menu - Super Trolley]]: I've recorded the song as choppy as the game's menu makes it, but there's also an unused song. Question: Should I record that unused song just as choppy (because the game would've made it so if used), or, since it's not heard in the game anyway, just record it as the arranger intended (be it by hacking the game after all or playing my own rip in foobar2000)?
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:::Btw, off-topic: On [[BugBomber (DOS)]], composer and arranger are different, no doubt, but who should be the artist (Ogg meta data)? (I always thought the artist should be the arranger, but in your Ogg I saw the artist is the composer.)
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:::--[[User:Professor Chaos|Professor Chaos]] ([[User talk:Professor Chaos|talk]]) 19:18, 19 June 2022 (EDT)
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:::: Regarding the artist field, [[Adding Meta Data|here]] it says:
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:: {{Quote|The Composer data usually matches the Artist field, however there are times when they will differ. For example, if a song was composed by Johann Sebastian Bach, but was heavily arranged by a different composer, you may want to put the arranger's name under Artist, but Bach's name under Composer.}}
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:::: --[[User:Жукороп|Жукороп]] ([[User talk:Жукороп|talk]]) 07:35, 20 June 2022 (EDT)
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:::::# For Locomotion, I like the idea of including information about why the bug takes place and how to fix it. You may even want to expand on the explanation for how to fix it so an amateur will be able to follow the instructions.
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:::::# For Super Trolley, record the song as the arranger intended it. I know that may sound inconsistent, but, since the song was never heard to begin with, we're not presenting a false version of history.
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:::::# Professor Chaos's note is correct about composers. I'll add; sometimes the arranger will make such a significant change to an existing song, I will include them as a co-composer. --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 10:48, 22 June 2022 (EDT)
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:::::: I'll add my own point: why not having 2 versions of Locomotion and BugBomber, with and without bug? I did something similar, though not the same, in case of C64 section of [[Ghostbusters Theme]] and in [[Arcanoid (C64)]]. --[[User:M1911|M1911]] ([[User talk:M1911|talk]]) 15:20, 22 June 2022 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
::::::: I'm fine with that. I've included the full version of songs that are truncated in games as well. Just, for the title, put the bugged version as the normal song, then add a subtitle of "fixed," or something similar to the fixed one, and put an explanation in the song page. --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 11:23, 23 June 2022 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
::::::::Thank you all for replies! All pages now should be alright:
 +
::::::::# On [[BugBomber (DOS)]] and [[Locomotion (DOS)]], this is so. On [[Menu - Super Trolley#Super Trolley (CPC)]], I used the emulator's debugger; I found that a bit much (unless you guys say otherwise), but the writing in game and song pages will hopefully suggest that the fixes are not based on taste, but on technicalities / logic.
 +
::::::::# I was hoping for that ;) and I see the logic.
 +
::::::::# I see. I'm now explaining this to myself like this: ARTIST should not be a carbon copy of COMPOSER and/or ARRANGER, but those who influenced most how it sounds. So I have added the arranger to [[BugBomber (DOS)]] because his arrangement is very jazz-like, unlike the original.
 +
::::::::--[[User:Professor Chaos|Professor Chaos]] ([[User talk:Professor Chaos|talk]]) 10:58, 25 June 2022 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
== Takamori.Shiho ==
 +
 
 +
So, this user just joined a few weeks ago and since then was correcting composer pages as well as creating new ones. However, he also makes additional categories and adds the defaultsort thing so that people are sorted by their surnames. This is no vandalism by any means, nor does it break any of our rules, but stuff like [[:Category:Musicians]] and [[:Category:Saxists]] looks a bit questionable. Do you think we should do anything with him? --[[User:Жукороп|Жукороп]] ([[User talk:Жукороп|talk]]) 06:16, 27 June 2022 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
: Indeed it looks a bit... questionable. I noticed he's also creating game pages (like this: [[Mario Party 6 (GC)|1]], [[Mario Party 2 (N64)|2]], [[Mario Party 5 (GC)|3]]), but he does not follow the template or guidelines. He seems primarily interested in adding credits, but does not include any source links or screenshots. --[[User:Binarymaster|binarymaster]] ([[User talk:Binarymaster|talk]]) 14:20, 27 June 2022 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
::[[:Category:Saxists]] is probably not that bad, because some game songs may have been arranged by actually performing; I remember [[The Sims (W32)]] having credits like that, and even on the old [[Ski or Die (DOS)]], [[Rob Hubbard]] recalled that he first composed the backing and then asked EA's IT guy to play his MIDI guitar over it.
 +
::
 +
::But yes, while I see only good faith (and thus was initially afraid to ask), she (yes, female) should have asked beforehand if and how it should be done, also for practical reasons. Just as rhetorical examples: If some of her new categories and/or <tt>{DEFAULTSORT:Surname, given name}</tt> are worth keeping, they might as well be added to Infobox templates; [[:Category:Musicians]] should be [[:Category:Performers]], and [[:Category:Vocalists]] ''might'' overlap with [[:Category:Voice Actors]]. Once decided, the already-edited pages would need to be edited ''again''; this loss of time is a bit of a shame and could have been avoided if the first edits hadn't been so hasty. --[[User:Professor Chaos|Professor Chaos]] ([[User talk:Professor Chaos|talk]]) 16:03, 27 June 2022 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
::: We're chatting with her about this. Regarding the categories, "musicians" is probably redundant since nearly every page we create for a person on this site is a musician in some capacity. I don't mind the idea of making categories for the different instruments each person plays, but we should probably have a simpler standardization. Instead of "saxist" or "flutist," something like "saxophone players" and "flute players". That way, people who aren't familiar with instrumental terminology can pick it up easily. I think it makes sense to have separate "vocalists" and "voice actors" categories since a lot of singers don't provide voices for characters and a lot of voice actors can't (or don't) sing. --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 13:15, 29 June 2022 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
== A few questions ==
 +
 
 +
So I just started the [[User:Жукороп/Hotel Mario (CDI)|Hotel Mario]] page recently and there are some things that I'm concerned about. It's still being worked on so I didn't add it to the mainspace yet.
 +
:# There are three more tracks that I deliberately skipped because they are played during the cutscenes and contain unremovable voice clips over them. Are those still worth including? If so, then should French-dubbed versions from the 1995 release be added as well? Also, while comparing its audio data with that of the international releases, I noticed that it appears to play some songs quieter.
 +
:# Is it okay that I left the stage BGMs as-is? They are all interrupted by the timer sound effect at the end, so I'm not really sure how were they supposed to loop (especially true on the later ones).
 +
:# Should the RTF format have its own icon? I'm not that good when it comes to image editing, plus I don't have the right font installed.
 +
:# It says that my rip is too big to upload. What do I do, just not upload it at all?
 +
:# Generally speaking, is there anything else that I could improve? Maybe the writing, or the track order? Don't be afraid to tell me if something sucks.
 +
:# I was planning to make some kind of tutorial on extracting/recording the CD-i music (similar to [[SID - Recording Guide|Chaos' SID guide]]), since there's not that much information out there regarding this. What do you think?
 +
 
 +
--[[User:Жукороп|Жукороп]] ([[User talk:Жукороп|talk]]) 16:42, 18 July 2022 (EDT)
 +
* My opinion: I would include cut scenes with unremovable voice clips as long as they have music in the background. If the file is too large for inclusion even while strongly compressed, then we can't include it due to hosting limitations, would be better to upload somewhere else and provide a link. --[[User:M1911|M1911]] ([[User talk:M1911|talk]]) 05:06, 19 July 2022 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
::# If the cutscene has music you can record it, that's your call. However, if it's just a bunch of dialogue or sound effects, don't bother. We're the Video Game '''Music''' Preservation Foundation, not '''Audio'''.
 +
::# That's odd. When you play the game, does the sound loop multiple times in the game before playing the timer sound effect? Or did the designers just fix the time of each level to the length of the song?
 +
::# From what I gather from [https://www.theworldofcdi.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Programming-the-CD-I-Player.pdf this document], RTF is a media format used to store audio in video games, so we should include a page and icon for it. I've created the icon for you, it's visible on your test page now.
 +
::# For rip formats that are already digital (CD, WAV, AUD, MP3, etc.), you shouldn't upload them. The OGG recording will be effectively identical, so it would just be a waste of server space to have duplicate music. Instead, include the steps necessary to extract the audio, and, if someone really wants the files in their original format, they can rip the files themselves.
 +
::# No, it looks pretty good to me.
 +
::# Definitely! The more tools we give other people, the more likely they are to rip and record music for the site.
 +
:: --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 16:42, 20 July 2022 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
::: Thanks for answering.
 +
 
 +
{{Quote|
 +
When you play the game, does the sound loop multiple times in the game before playing the timer sound effect?}}
 +
:::Yeah, but not always. Sometimes the second loop doesn't finish properly, like [http://www.vgmpf.com/Wiki/images/3/31/19_-_Hotel_Mario_-_CDI_-_Thump_Castle_Hotel_%28Floor_5-1%29.ogg here].
 +
 
 +
{{Quote|
 +
For rip formats that are already digital (CD, WAV, AUD, MP3, etc.), you shouldn't upload them. The OGG recording will be effectively identical, so it would just be a waste of server space to have duplicate music. Instead, include the steps necessary to extract the audio, and, if someone really wants the files in their original format, they can rip the files themselves.}}
 +
 
 +
:::Oh, alright then. I just noticed that [[SimTower_(W16)#Game_Rip|some other pages]] included such rips. --[[User:Жукороп|Жукороп]] ([[User talk:Жукороп|talk]]) 06:45, 21 July 2022 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
:::: From the way the level songs are timed, it looks like they're all around 2 minutes. Does the timer warning always play at the 1:30 mark?
 +
 
 +
:::: The reason I included the WAV files for SimTower is, even though a few of them function like music, they're mostly just sound effects. I didn't bother converting them to OGG since I can't imagine anyone actually wanting to listen to them as music (the longest track is only 6 seconds). Also, since all of the files combined take up less space than a single normal music track, server space wasn't going to be a problem. --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 09:23, 25 July 2022 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
::::: It seems so. I don't think there's some way to make them last longer. I'll check this in cdiemu to ensure. By the way, if you don't mind me asking, I saw that Bionic Commando: Rearmed credits someone named Dean Tersigni in its Special Thanks list. Is this just a coincidence or did you actually participated in the game's development? --[[User:Жукороп|Жукороп]] ([[User talk:Жукороп|talk]]) 09:49, 25 July 2022 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
:::::: I was reading more about how the CDi handles media playing, and it looks like they stream the audio from the CD directly to output, which means they wouldn't be able to perform any complex looping. So, the length of the track is probably directly tied to the length of time for the level. Yes, that's me. I'm in the credits because I have a very detailed Bionic Commando web site which the developers used to help recreate the game, but I didn't personally do any development. --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 09:35, 1 August 2022 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
::::::: Thanks for doing more research on this. I checked and each stage theme is indeed timed to fit its corresponding location's length, so I can't do much other than leave everything as-is.
 +
 
 +
::::::: One last thing to ask; there exists an add-on for the CD-i called Digital Video Cartridge which can decode the MPEG-1 audio compression. Perhaps there could be a sub-category (similar to [https://tcrf.net/Category:Genesis_games what TCRF did with 32X and Sega CD]) for games that require or have a bonus support for it? --[[User:Жукороп|Жукороп]] ([[User talk:Жукороп|talk]]) 15:49, 1 August 2022 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
:::::::: Since it's add-on hardware, we should make a page for it the same way we do for other add-on audio [[hardware]]. That's already setup to make categories for games which support it --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 09:52, 2 August 2022 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
== Questions - even more ==
 +
 
 +
'''Hi again!'''
 +
# What is the most optimal/appropriate volume level used for audio? Should we use ReplayGain applied to files? Sometimes, a game features songs played at very variable loudnesses (e.g. a loud intro song versus a quite, or nearly ''silent'', main menu one). May I equate the volumes by setting the ''gain'' values (either positive or negative, which depends)?
 +
# How the game songs should be titled if another arranger actually named them at their own without refering to original composer's titles (at the beginning, those may be named officially or be without name based on in-game location/filename/meta).
 +
# How should we make list of '''untitled''' songs in an album page?
 +
# Do I have to re-entitle song names if in an discography's album they are simply based on game location? I'm asking this because some composer and arrangers may imporly name the tracks or, even if properly named, give so long names which could be simplified.
 +
# I think the idea to add music genres to song templates would be cool!
 +
--[[User:Cancer|Cancer]] ([[User talk:Cancer|talk]]) 08:08, 21 August 2022 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
: Regarding the first question, [[User:Doommaster1994]] did something like that on [[Jack Nicklaus Turbo Golf (TG16)#Music|Jack Nicklaus Turbo Golf (TG16)]], so I guess it's fine. Also the guide on [[Adding Meta Data]] says you can do that.
 +
 
 +
{{Quote|
 +
As an added bonus for audiophiles, highlight all the songs again, right-click on them, select ReplayGain from the menu, and click on "Scan Selection As a Single Album" from the list. This will apply ReplayGain to each song so that their volume will be equalized on compatible players. This helps prevent the problem of volume jumping from really high to really low when listening to music from different albums. }}
 +
 
 +
:--[[User:Жукороп|Жукороп]] ([[User talk:Жукороп|talk]]) 15:00, 21 August 2022 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
:: To answer your questions:
 +
::# As Жукороп noted, you should apply replay gain to all of your songs, that way, no matter what the base volume level, it will still sound roughly the same. Regarding the base level, just try to ensure your recording isn't so loud that it clips. As for game with songs that vary wildly in volume, use your best judgment for equalizing the audio. In this regard, accuracy to how it's loud it is in the game is nice, but, if a song is much louder than the others, or much quieter, it ruins the listening experience, so equalization isn't such a bad thing. I had to do this with the [[Ultima VII: The Black Gate (DOS)]] soundtrack where the combat songs were ridiculously louder than the ambiance songs.
 +
::# If there is an official name (that is, on a published soundtrack, or a known title by the person who worked on the game), use their title, but link to the proper song title page. See the [[Might and Magic: Secret of the Inner Sanctum (NES)]] for an example. The published soundtrack uses the title "Main Theme," but the song is just an arranged version of ''[[Canon In D Major]]''.
 +
::# If this is a published album, and the songs are not titled in the liner notes, use "Untitled." For a single untitled song, use "Untitled," for multiple untitled songs, use "Untitled 1," "Untitled 2," etc. If the song is actually played in the game, give it a title based on where it's played, then, on the album page, note that the song is "Untitled" on the album, but link to the song page.
 +
::# In general try to match the title from the official album. However, don't do this if the album isn't official (remix, bootleg, etc.) since these title aren't official anyway. If there is an official title that's clearly wrong, like the album uses "boss music," but it plays as stage music, then give it a better title, and note that the soundtrack was titled incorrectly.
 +
::# Not a bad idea. So many early songs don't fit neatly into any existing genre, but a lot of the later songs certainly do, so it wouldn't hurt to have it. For now, just describe the genre in the general description, but I'll look into adding it into the template.
 +
:: --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 14:27, 23 August 2022 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
== Facebook group ==
 +
I was trying to join for like two weeks ([https://www.facebook.com/groups/1721042214877209 this one], you mentioned it above), but it seems my request is keep getting rejected. --[[User:Жукороп|Жукороп]] ([[User talk:Жукороп|talk]]) 16:16, 28 August 2022 (EDT)
 +
: Sorry, I was probably thought you were a spam account. Send another request, and I'll add you. --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 10:16, 31 August 2022 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
==Questio-n-otifications==
 +
# [[Talk:Stuart Ross (NES Driver) (1)]] - who can fix my mistake as described there?
 +
# [[Template talk:Song-List]] - one question there
 +
# [[Talk:Editing Rules: Games]] - in both topics combined there, [[User:Жукороп|Жукороп]], [[User:Cancer|Cancer]] and I got questions and/or ideas
 +
--[[User:Professor Chaos|Professor Chaos]] ([[User talk:Professor Chaos|talk]]) 08:40, 28 January 2023 (EST)
 +
 
 +
: I answered the question on each page. --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 14:22, 7 February 2023 (EST)
 +
 
 +
== Technical help on file deletion, pages and redirects without usage ==
 +
 
 +
Hello my friend!
 +
 
 +
I introduce myself I am the User [[User: GatoVerde95|GatoVerde95]] I am Spanish speaking but I know English, I have a problem since I've been on the page I have had some errors of mine, there are advanced users who have deleted redirects that made some unused, others by changing names or erroneous or duplicate files, I thought I could delete these pages without use but I realized that I did not have that option, I proposed to ask a user more advanced than me how to delete pages, files or redirections I do not know how to do it and he told me that only advanced users provided by the Administrator can, I am requesting if you can help me with this, not to be a burden to other users. I don't know what I have to do to get the function.
 +
 
 +
Sorry for the inconvenience. [[User:GatoVerde95|GatoVerde95]] ([[User talk:GatoVerde95|talk]])
 +
 
 +
: Hello GatoVerde95. You've definitely been a big help, so I've made you a Power User. This will let you move and delete pages as well as rollback edits. Thanks for everything you're doing! Also, if you're having a problem with a specific user, please send them a polite message on their user page to talk over the issue. Cheers! --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 08:46, 24 February 2023 (EST)
 +
 
 +
:: Hi TheAlmightyGuru, thanks for helping me with the function, have a good day friend. [[User:GatoVerde95|GatoVerde95]] ([[User talk:GatoVerde95|talk]])
 +
 
 +
== Should I edit rips taken from other sources (i.e. SNESMusic)? ==
 +
Hello. I'm a newer user who recently uploaded recordings of [[Mega Man X (SNES)]]'s soundtrack. For completeness's sake, I plan to upload a rip to the wiki as well - from what I've seen, it ''seems'' like using existing rips from other websites is alright so long as credit is given. (Please correct me if I'm wrong about that!) However, after seeing a few other rips from SNES games that were taken from SNESMusic.org but appeared to have been edited, I was wondering if that was the correct procedure. More specifically, they altered the songs' names to fit the format shown in [[Editing Rules: Rips]], which makes sense - but they also removed the txt file that credited the original ripper, which I was less certain was the right thing to do. [[User:Theand|Theand]] ([[User talk:Theand|talk]]) 23:21, 24 February 2023 (EST)
 +
 
 +
: To anwer your questions: Yes, you are allowed to upload rips from other sites. You ''should'' update the rip meta data to match our naming conventions (as we tend to be more accurate and consistent). Try to keep their credits intact because we want the original rippers to receive the credit. You don't need to keep the text files unless there is something important in them that is not found in the meta data. So, if the text file is just a repeat of the track titles and the ripper's name, you don't need it, as all that already exists in the rip, and we will also display it in the Wiki. --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 10:26, 2 March 2023 (EST)
 +
 
 +
:: Thank you for your response! Would a text file that includes an update log (keeping track of changes made to the rip by the original creator) in addition to the ripper's name count as important? I wasn't sure, since the first part is new information not repeated elsewhere - but, at the same time, it's not especially relevant to this wiki specifically. --[[User:Theand|Theand]] ([[User talk:Theand|talk]]) 17:23, 2 March 2023 (EST)
 +
 
 +
::: The update log isn't important to us. The names of the people who made the rip should be included in the "Credits -> Ripper" section of the game's page. You can also include their name in the metadata of the ripped file. Formats like SPC, NSF, and the like include sections where you can put the names. --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 09:02, 10 March 2023 (EST)
 +
 
 +
:::: Thank you again for your help! I ended up omitting the text file and including that information in the metadata, so all is well on that end. --[[User:Theand|Theand]] ([[User talk:Theand|talk]]) 22:06, 16 March 2023 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
==Questions about song names==
 +
I apologize if I'm bothering you, but I have a few questions about song names on the wiki:
 +
# I've been working on recording the soundtrack for [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time (ARC)]], and I found that there are two soundtrack releases. A few songs were released on [https://vgmdb.net/album/3190 a 1993 compilation album], most of which use the names of the stages they play in. However, [https://vgmdb.net/album/88903 a much later vinyl release] includes the SNES version's entire soundtrack (most of which was originally composed for the arcade version) but gives every song a much more nondescript name. I know that we should use the official titles wherever possible, but part of me feels like just using the stage names -- after all, more people would recognize "Alleycat Blues" or "Sewer Surfin'" than "Downtown" or "Sewerage." As an alternative, I'm also considering emulating the page for [[Duke Nukem 3D - The Gate (DOS)]] by listing the level's name alongside the official soundtrack name. (Since song pages already explain the context they play in by default, this wouldn't be much of an issue there.) What approach would work best?
 +
# Following on from the last question: do later soundtrack releases trump earlier ones when it comes to choosing a name for a song?
 +
# If a song or album has a blatant typo, should it be retained as-is? The aforementioned page for ''The Gate'' retains spelling errors (with commented-out notes or "[sic]" appended to them), but I wasn't entirely sure if this was proper wiki policy.
 +
# [[Editing Rules: Titles]] says that game names should be left untranslated if they were only released in Japanese (only Romanized), but does that also apply to song titles? I noticed that some songs on the wiki used unofficial translations when no official English names existed - as just one example, "Meeting in the North" from  [[Hokkaidou Rensa Satsujin: Okhotsk ni Kiyu (FC)]] was originally "北の出逢い."
 +
Thank you,
 +
--[[User:Theand|Theand]] ([[User talk:Theand|talk]]) 22:06, 16 March 2023 (EDT)
 +
:I apologize if this is a bit redundant, but I did want to note that I managed to figure out the answers to two of these questions on my own. Specifically, #2 (judging from a few song pages that go by their names on the most recent official English soundtrack) and #4 (judging from the existence of [[:Category:Song Titles With Translation Origin|this category]], which I overlooked beforehand). --[[User:Theand|Theand]] ([[User talk:Theand|talk]]) 00:55, 8 May 2023 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
:: Sorry that I missed this message from earlier. To answer your questions:
 +
::# Notice that the vinyl album was not published by an official source, it's a self-published tribute album, so those titles are not official.
 +
::# Even if there are multiple official sources, I think it's best to use the one which seems the most proper. Just, make a note about it in Title section of the song's page. See [[Title BGM - The Legend of Zelda (NES)#Title]] as an example.
 +
::# Typos should probably be corrected. Just make a note in the song page's Title section.
 +
::# Song titles aren't as universal as game titles, so feel free to translate them. However, as you already discovered, use the proper category.
 +
:: --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 10:39, 10 May 2023 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
::: Thank you for your answers! I'm not entirely sure that the vinyl is self-published. iam8bit is a legitimate music publishing company that's created official soundtrack releases, though this particular release only credits the rightsholders (developer Konami and ''TMNT'' IP owner Nickelodeon) on [https://www.iam8bit.com/collections/turtles-in-time/products/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-turtles-in-time-vinyl-soundtrack their storefront page], so I'm not 100% sure. Even if it is official, though, it might be a moot point for the purposes of determining how to name each song - using the names of the stages seems more proper (as you mentioned). --[[User:Theand|Theand]] ([[User talk:Theand|talk]]) 23:30, 13 May 2023 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
== Questions (mostly) pertaining to disc-based games ==
 +
Hopefully I'm not bothering you again - I had a few more questions, most of which pertain to (but are not ''exclusively'' about) games that use digital audio on discs.
 +
 
 +
# Some disc-based games (like those on the original PS1) have songs that are intended to loop, but don't do so seamlessly. How should these be recorded for the wiki? I figured that editing recordings beyond removing silence would be frowned upon, but I'm not sure if my assumption is correct.
 +
# If a re-release of a game adds songs or arrangements not present in the original, but ''also'' contains the original music without alterations, how should that be represented on the wiki? (The example I have in mind is [[Sonic Adventure 2 (DC)]] and [[Sonic Adventure 2: Battle (GC)]] - the latter adds more extra content and therefore unique music.) Outright reusing the first release's songs doesn't quite seem right, since the metadata would not reflect the second release's platform or other differing details, but it would be redundant to reupload all the identical songs twice.
 +
# As I understand it, the general rule for multiplatform games with the exact same music is to only upload music from/make a page for the game's original release and then give a cursory mention of the subsequent releases (i.e. the Virtual Console ports on [[Title BGM - The Legend of Zelda (NES)]]). However, a number of games were first released simultaneously on different systems, with no clear lead platform. How should I handle these games? If I make a page for one, what system would I use for its page? (This also poses an issue for listing games on song pages - even if I don't upload any music from them, the subsong infobox can only display one platform's logo.)
 +
 
 +
Thank you once again. --[[User:Theand|Theand]] ([[User talk:Theand|talk]]) 04:36, 22 June 2023 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
: You're definitely not bothering me! On to the questions:
 +
:# Our goal is to record the music how it sounds in the game. So, if the game has a pause between loops, try to make the digital recording also have that pause. I know it could be "fixed" and made better, but, if we applied that mentality to every game, many of our recordings would sound different from the original.
 +
:# Create a new page for the remake, and only include the new music. However, if the game was ported into to new format, you may want to include the new rip.
 +
:# I typically go with the more popular platform. So, if a game was released for Linux, Macintosh, and Windows, all on the same date, and each has the same soundtrack, I would make a page for the Windows release since it's the most popular OS out of the three. Then, in the game page and on the song pages, mention that the other ports use identical music.
 +
 
 +
: I hope this answers all your questions. Feel free to ask for clarification. --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 15:32, 28 June 2023 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
:: Thank you for your answers! I do have a few follow-up questions:
 +
::# Regarding the first point: if a single, unedited loop of the song (before it pauses or fades out) is over 2 minutes, then you should keep it as-is and not record another loop, right? I believe that was the rule but wanted to make certain I understood it properly. Also, if a game is released on both consoles and Windows/Mac/Linux and has identical music in each version, should I choose from the former or the latter?
 +
::# Regarding the third point: for consoles, would you determine which one is the most popular just going by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_game_consoles#Best-selling_game_consoles how many units they've sold?]
 +
:: --[[User:Theand|Theand]] ([[User talk:Theand|talk]]) 03:40, 2 July 2023 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
:::# Yes, songs over two minutes should have only one loop. However, this isn't written in stone. For example, if a game only has a single song over 2 minutes, it's not a big deal if you loop it twice to fit with the timing of the rest of the soundtrack. We just created that rule because there are some games that just have a lot of really long songs, and looping them would result in a soundtrack of several hours in length. I usually choose Windows over Mac since it has such a larger base, but, if you prefer Mac, or if you only have access to the Linux rip, use whatever is easiest for you.
 +
:::# Sales is an acceptable indicator, but it's usually difficult to find the numbers for individual ports. Again, this isn't written in stone, but if a game was released on PlayStation, Xbox, and Ouya, probably prefer the big names.
 +
::: Hope this helps, --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 11:37, 3 July 2023 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
::::# Thank you for clarifying about the 2 minute rule. I am still not quite certain about how to treat the console/home computer dichotomy - if a game was available on, say, the PS2, GameCube, and Windows (and the music is 100% identical across all versions), would I choose the Windows version? (I know this isn't a hard and fast rule about which one to pick, as you said, so I am not sure if it matters too much.)
 +
::::# I admit I should've phrased my second question more clearly - I was asking if, in the absence of any other meaningful differences, it would be best to choose which console to use for a multiplatform game's page based on the ''console'''s overall sales. (As you mentioned, finding sales numbers for specific versions of a game is generally unfeasible.) This would pose some ambiguity if a game was also released for computers, since it's difficult to measure OS market shares in the same way as console sales data for a number of reasons.
 +
:::: I am aware that this all may boil down to just choosing a reasonably popular platform and not sweating the details ''too'' much, of course, but I wasn't entirely sure. --[[User:Theand|Theand]] ([[User talk:Theand|talk]]) 01:12, 4 July 2023 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
:::::# Typically, choose the one that was published first. If they were released at the same time, prefer a console release over a home computer release. Since they all sound identical anyway, it doesn't matter too much.
 +
:::::# Yes, choosing the console which had more sales overall is a good way to determine which port probably sold more. In your example of a game which saw a PS2 and GameCube release, prefer the PS2 since it outsold the GameCube by a significant margin.
 +
::::: As you say, not sweating it and going with any popular platform should be good enough. --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 09:31, 5 July 2023 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
:::::: Thank you, once again, for your answers! I appreciate the clarification very much. --[[User:Theand|Theand]] ([[User talk:Theand|talk]]) 04:50, 7 July 2023 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
== Four spammers ==
 +
A few users recently wrote things here that look much like spam. The following three kept it on their social profiles and you may need Google Translate or so: [[User:Xoriant]], [[User:Kullanışlıtercume]], [[User:Medimo]], but [[User:LawAndOrderly32]] created a whole page (meanwhile deleted). --[[User:Professor Chaos|Professor Chaos]] ([[User talk:Professor Chaos|talk]]) 07:47, 24 October 2023 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
: Thanks for letting me know. They're gone now. --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 08:52, 1 November 2023 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
== Tim 1 ==
 +
 
 +
[[:File:08 - Lemmings - DOS - Tim 1.ogg]] is missing the descending notes part at the end of the song after the main melody has played through twice. --[[User:Mindless|Mindless]] ([[User talk:Mindless|talk]]) 02:10, 11 September 2023 (EDT)
 +
: Thank you, I've added a note on the main page until I can get a chance to fix it. --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 14:39, 11 September 2023 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
== Renaming my account ==
 +
 
 +
Hi.
 +
 
 +
So I would like to get my current account "Duc4Wikmedia" to be changed to "DucNguyen0131"? Thanks!
 +
 
 +
--[[User:Duc4Wikmedia|Duc4Wikmedia]] ([[User talk:Duc4Wikmedia|talk]]) 02:02, 15 October 2023 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
: All set! --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 08:54, 1 November 2023 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
== Questions about wiki standards ==
 +
Hi! I have a few questions I wanted to ask about the wiki's standards:
 +
 
 +
# I've run into a bit of an issue regarding a game in the ''[[Puyo Puyo]]'' series I've been considering making a page for. It was only officially released in Japan, and its box art gives the title as ''ぷよぷよ!'', with the English subtitle ''Puyopuyo 15th Anniversary''. ("ぷよぷよ!" just means "Puyo Puyo!") However, every official source I could find - including [https://puyo.sega.jp/puyopuyo!/index.html the game's website], [https://www.nintendo.co.jp/wii/software/rpuj/index.html the listing on Nintendo's site], and [https://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/interview/1168069.html two] [https://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/interview/1224876.html different] interviews with staff members years later - all refer to it as ''ぷよぷよ!'' without including ''15th Anniversary'' as a subtitle. Therefore, it would make sense to title the page [[Puyo Puyo! (NDS)]]. The issue is that most English-speaking (and unofficial) sources instead refer to the game as ''Puyo Puyo! 15th Anniversary''. (While the later 20th anniversary game isn't old enough for a page here, it's worth mentioning that it has the same issue: originally titled ''ぷよぷよ!!'' and subtitled ''Puyopuyo 20th Anniversary'', nearly every English & unofficial source I could find refers to it as ''Puyo Puyo!! 20th Anniversary''.) In short, my question is this: would it be better to stick to an official name that's less well-known among English speakers and easier to confuse with other games ([[Puyo Puyo! (NDS)]]), or to go with the name that's less accurate but which the majority of people would recognize quicker ([[Puyo Puyo! 15th Anniversary (NDS)]])?
 +
# I know that games using digital audio formats like WAV shouldn't have rips, but what should be done for games that use a mix of digital audio and sequenced music (like [[Sonic CD (SCD)]], which uses the console's [[RF5C164]] chip for the past versions of each stage)? Should the rip only include files for the latter?
 +
# Is there any sort of limit for how long a series box (the kind at the end of an article) should be? I was going to make one for the ''Puyo Puyo'' series, but since it consists of a total of 21 ''unique'' games it would be longer than any that I've seen on the site thus far. Even omitting spin-offs would still leave about 15 games.
 +
# As I understand it, arcade games should generally be illustrated with a picture of the cabinet. However, on occasion it's difficult if not impossible to find any pictures of the game running on a cabinet (even non-original cabinets that someone put the boards into). I've seen some pages use pictures of flyers instead (such as [[Journey (ARC)]]) - is this an acceptable alternative or would it be better to just use [[:File:BoxMissing.png|the "Box Missing" placeholder image]]?
 +
 
 +
Thank you for your time,
 +
 
 +
--[[User:Theand|Theand]] ([[User talk:Theand|talk]]) 00:38, 11 December 2023 (EST)
 +
 
 +
:# Go with "Puyo Puyo! 15th Anniversary (NDS)." Anyone who searches for "Puyo Puyo!" will still find it, and this will maintain its distintive title.
 +
:# There are numerous games released for the PlayStation, Sega CD, TurboGrafx-CD, etc. which use CD audio mixed with PSG audio. When this happens, the CD audio should be converted to Ogg Vorbis and used in the recording section, and the PSG music should be included in the rip in its native format and converted to Vorbis for the recording.
 +
:# The series template currently supports any number of games with up to 30 different platform ports per game. It can problably handle the series, but if you see a problem, just post another message here, and I can add more.
 +
:# Yes, flyers or marquees are preferred over a "Box Missing" graphic.
 +
: Thanks for asking! --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 13:55, 11 December 2023 (EST)
 +
 
 +
::Thank you for your responses! To elaborate a bit more on the third question: I was wondering if the template being that long would cause issues with readability (since, unlike every existing series template I've seen on the wiki, the ''Puyo Puyo'' one would require extra scrolling to read in its entirety), but judging from your answer it doesn't seem like that would be a problem, right? --[[User:Theand|Theand]] ([[User talk:Theand|talk]]) 23:09, 11 December 2023 (EST)
 +
 
 +
::: Once you make it, we can figure out how to handle it. We may have to do something where less-important sections are collapsed by default and can be expanded by the user. This won't be the last enormous game series, so it will have to be done eventually regardless. --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 16:42, 12 December 2023 (EST)
 +
 
 +
:::: I went ahead and [[Template:Series - Puyo Puyo|made the template]]. I think the collapsible idea would work well for spin-off titles - perhaps games that are too recent to have a page could also be collapsed by default, though that would require persistent updating over time, among other potential issues. --[[User:Theand|Theand]] ([[User talk:Theand|talk]]) 18:42, 12 December 2023 (EST)
 +
 
 +
::::: Looks great! Yes, trying to stay up-to-date with all the new games is always difficult, and we could easily get burned playing catch up. Just try to remember, the page is about video game music and composers. Making the site look nice and easy to navigate is great, but we don't need to get hung up on book-keeping and paperwork. --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 14:17, 26 December 2023 (EST)
 +
 
 +
:::::: Thank you! Also, I definitely agree with you when it comes to priorities. --[[User:Theand|Theand]] ([[User talk:Theand|talk]]) 05:20, 4 January 2024 (EST)
 +
 
 +
== More questions about the wiki's standards ==
 +
I hope this isn't getting too repetitive, but I had a few questions about edge cases and other unclear situations on the wiki and wanted to ask them all in one go:
 +
# [[Editing Rules: Graphics]] states that game screenshots must be "at the same resolution of the game in native mode (do not use scalers, anti-aliasing, color enhancement, etc.)" I ran into an issue while getting screenshots for [[Galaxian (ARC)]] - MAME's "native resolution" for the game produces [https://i.ibb.co/8MK08c0/galaxian-native.png screenshots that are heavily squished vertically, bordering on being illegible.] While I have been able to [https://i.ibb.co/0GQ6TbD/galaxian-fixed.png use MAME's command line settings to make it look more like the proper aspect ratio], I wasn't sure if doing so would violate the rule against changing the resolution for screenshots.
 +
# I've been wanting to overhaul the page for [[Pac-Man & Chomp Chomp (ARC)]], but there's a fundamental issue I have to address first. Long story short: while the game was called ''Pac & Pal'' in Japan, it was at least intended to be altered and released as ''...& Chomp Chomp'' overseas. (Among other things, [https://www.flyerfever.com/wp-content/uploads/namco-video-game-catalog-1978-1984-106.jpg this Namco flyer from around 1984] mentions it by that name and [https://arcarc.xmission.com/Arcade%20by%20Title/Pacman%20&%20Chomp%20Chomp/pac%20man%20&%20chomp%20chomp.jpg a photograph of a sticker that would've been on the cabinet] exists.) Information on this planned release, including whether it properly rolled out, is scarce and almost always unsourced - [https://pacificarcades.weebly.com/pac-man-and-chomp-chomp.html this web page by Pacific Arcades] claims that it was cancelled with only a single test cabinet being made ([https://preview.redd.it/77jtonbl1ln61.png the only photograph of which] is extremely low-quality). I say all this because, given how it doesn't seem like the ''Chomp Chomp'' version had a wide release ''and'' every subsequent re-release of the game uses the original Japanese version, would it be better to move the page to [[Pac & Pal (ARC)]] because that's the more recognizable name? (In any case, [[:File:Pac-Man and Chomp Chomp (1983).png|the current cabinet image]] needs replacing, since it's actually Pacific Arcades' unofficial attempt to recreate what a proper cabinet ''would'' have looked like.)
 +
# I ran into a dilemma while beginning to record the music of [[Klonoa: Door to Phantomile (PS1)]]. One song ("Ghadius Appears") doesn't loop properly in the game's sound test, fading out before a full 2 loops. While this is normal for a lot of early CD games' music, it ''does'' loop infinitely/properly when played in-game - however, its only appearance is a cutscene where a wind sound effect constantly overlaps the music. Would it be better to have a clearer but non-ideally looping version or a less clear but properly looping one?
 +
# What is the best way to approach game compilations that have multiple original games, each with substantial soundtracks of their own? For example, ''Namco Classic Collection Vol. 2'' is an arcade game that contains completely new remakes of ''Mappy'', ''Pac-Man'', and ''Dig Dug''. Would it be better to give each of them their own pages or to put them all under [[Namco Classic Collection Vol. 2 (ARC)]]?
 +
# This is a minor issue, but I've wondered for a while now about the best way to handle song pages where the appropriate hardware doesn't have an icon to display next to the OGG player. Usually I just stick to songs that are only on hardware that does have an icon, but I have seen some pages that instead go for the next best thing - for example, the section for [[Michael Jackson's Moonwalker (ARC)]] on the [[Beat It]] page uses the [[YM2612]] (OPN2) icon, despite the game's hardware using the similar but distinct [[YM3438]] (OPN2C) chip. The natural answer would be to just make the appropriate SVG myself, but I don't have the assets you used for them (mostly the square chip background) and haven't found them online.
 +
# This may have an obvious answer, but is it fine to upload new versions of files where the only changes are in their metadata? The wiki automatically warned me about "identical" files whenever I did it in the past, and while I don't want to be careless and clog up the wiki's storage with duplicates, I do also want to fix some soundtracks' composers/arrangers (including at least one I uploaded in the past). I just wanted to make absolutely sure.
 +
 
 +
Thank you very much in advance! --[[User:Theand|Theand]] ([[User talk:Theand|talk]]) 04:26, 9 February 2024 (EST)
 +
 
 +
: It's not too repetitive. I have had to update the rules dozens of times over the years just because there are so many strange quirks about the video game industry that I didn't initially realize. The more accurate we can make them, the better.
 +
:# I've seen results like that in other games as well. In some cases, I think it has something to do with MAME trying to simulate overlays, and not what the actual video signal looks like. Definitely use the command line setting screenshots.
 +
:# If a game lacks a proper English release, as this one appears to do, it's fine to use the title of a more wide-spread release. So, I'm fine with "Pac & Pal."
 +
:# Have you tried the PSF rip of the game? You can find one [https://psf.joshw.info/k here]. But, if that doesn't work, you could provide both versions of the song. I did this for [[OutRun (ARC)]] and the song [[Last Wave]].
 +
:# We should only add compilation games if the soundtracks are actually different. Sometimes the games are emulated and the sound is practically identical, so we don't need to provide the music again. However, if the music in the complication is being pushed through a new driver, then we should record it. However, since practically everything else about the games are the same, it's usually fine to make a single page for all the games in the compilation. Even if the games have some minor changes, it's usually still not enough to warrant an entire new page for every game. This isn't set in stone though, if you can make a good argument for what they should be separated, we can readdress it.
 +
:# I've added a new one for the [[:File:Output - OPN2C.svg|OPN 2C]]. In the future, if you're comfortable with SVG editors (Inkscape is a free one), you can download an existing image and modify it. The font used in the Yamaha chips is "Brush Script MT." Otherwise, I can make new ones for you as needed.
 +
:# Yes, definitely. A lot of soundtracks were added before we created the [[Adding Meta Data]] guide, but few people want to go back and update them because it's pretty boring. When you upload the new one, just delete the existing one.
 +
 
 +
: Let me know if you have any other questions! --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 13:38, 13 February 2024 (EST)
 +
 
 +
:: Thank you very much for your answers! They're really helpful.
 +
 
 +
:: To clear up a few other things:
 +
::* On compilations: I understand and agree with your reasoning, but I did have a couple of follow-up questions.
 +
::** I figured that a game compilation that does warrant having a page would separate the individual games' soundtracks with "10X," "20X," etc. - the same way we treat different PC hardware or regional variations. Would this work?
 +
::** Also, on a more minor note, part of the reason I chose ''Namco Classic Collection Vol. 2'' specifically was because another user uploaded the credits to its three new remakes: ''[[:File:Dig Dug Arrangement - ARC - Credits.png|Dig-Dug Arrangement]]'', ''[[:File:Pac-Man Arrangement - ARC - Credits.png|Pac-Man Arrangement]]'',  and ''[[:File:Rally-X Arrangement - ARC - Credits.png|Rally-X Arrangement]]''. (I got some of them mixed up with ''Vol. 1'' in my earlier message - sorry about that.) I bring it up because it poses a bit of a conundrum for alphabetizing: the file names just list the remake's name (i.e. "Pac-Man Arrangement"), and the images are on the corresponding first letter's credits page (i.e. [[Game Credits: P]]), but ''on'' that page the game's link is written as [[Namco Classic Collection Vol.2: Pac-Man Arrangement (ARC)]]. (All the other individual remakes follow the same pattern.) Would it be better to move & re-alphabetize the files to reflect the collection's name (something like "Namco Classic Collection Vol. 2 - ARC - Pac-Man Arrangement - Credits") or to keep them separate?
 +
::* On editing meta data: I checked, and as far as I can tell, I actually can't delete files. I think that permission's reserved for power users/moderators, and I'm just a regular user.
 +
 
 +
:: --[[User:Theand|Theand]] ([[User talk:Theand|talk]]) 06:02, 18 February 2024 (EST)
 +
 
 +
:::# If there are a lot of songs in the compilation, it probably wouldn't hurt to give each one its own numbering system, but this could create additional inconsistencies if the compilation supported multiple audio drivers. An alternate approach would be to add the sub-game to the file name. For example: "01 - Compilation Title - Platform - Game Title - Song Title.ogg".
 +
:::# It would be better to have the files renamed to reflect that they're all part of a compilation.
 +
:::# You've been helping out a lot so I've made you a power user. You can now delete and rename file. Thank you so much for all your help! --[[User:TheAlmightyGuru|TheAlmightyGuru]] ([[User talk:TheAlmightyGuru|talk]]) 09:23, 27 February 2024 (EST)
 +
 
 +
::::I think the "Compilation Title - Platform - Game Title" idea works well - it removes any ambiguity while still keeping the number as-is just in case.
 +
::::Also, thank ''you'' very much for the promotion! --[[User:Theand|Theand]] ([[User talk:Theand|talk]]) 00:47, 28 February 2024 (EST)
 +
 
 +
== Reporting spammers ==
 +
There've been two accounts that have contributed nothing but spam pages for the last two weeks or so: [[User:BestPlacetobuyqualitylinks]] and [[User:WhereTogethighqualitybacklinks]]. All of their work's been deleted, but they're pretty persistent - the last edit from either of them was just today. --[[User:Theand|Theand]] ([[User talk:Theand|talk]]) 19:17, 11 March 2024 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
:[[User:Binarymaster]] took care. --[[User:Professor Chaos|Professor Chaos]] ([[User talk:Professor Chaos|talk]]) 19:06, 23 March 2024 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
==Hey, another quiz!==
 +
# As we know from [[Editing Rules: Recordings#Games]], non-free games after 2008 may not be recorded or ripped. But what I can't seem to find on that page: May we still do a gamepage, songpages and screenshots? I imagine we could still offer a track list, interesting trivia, and credit sources.
 +
# As we also know, some songs are unused, so their songpages will never have a screenshot, like the CPC section of [[Title - 180]]. But: Should they still be in [[:Category:Missing Screenshot]]? - Assuming "no", I've preliminarily created [[:File:UnusedSong.png]]. It's a bit of a hack (I modded your [[:File:NoScreenshot.png]]), maybe you or anyone else wants to retouch, redo, approve, or delete.
 +
# [[Theme 1 - Sente Mini Golf]]: The output, analog CEM3394 synthesizer chip, has no icon. Who can make an SVG? (I can't.)
 +
# Binarymaster just created [[:Template:Series - Doom]]. But if you click "Doom" in that template's top row, it goes to the disambiguation page. A workaround would be to rename the template "Template:Series - Doom (series)", but I really think it looks weird. Can we perhaps have a "TitleLink" parameter in [[:Template:navbox]]?
 +
--[[User:Professor Chaos|Professor Chaos]] ([[User talk:Professor Chaos|talk]]) 19:06, 23 March 2024 (EDT)
 +
 
 +
:: Modified [[:Template:navbox]] a bit, so it will look for '''Title (series)''' page first, and then fallbacks to just '''Title''', should be fine now. --[[User:Binarymaster|binarymaster]] ([[User talk:Binarymaster|talk]]) 09:36, 24 March 2024 (EDT)

Latest revision as of 09:36, 24 March 2024

Contents

Sacred (W32)

I created the page to add a music from this game. But I don`t know, have some tracks loops, and what kind of this is music. Can I upload some of this without correct order, without the number of track in the name of the file? And also, can you help me with a text for this page - I know English, but I`m only 14, so I can make mistakes in the texts. --M1911 (talk) 02:19, 22 August 2014 (MDT)

Hi M1911! I looks like you've got a great start to your first game page! I'll direct you to the Editing Rules page, specifically the Music Submissions section which talks about how and why music must be submitted in Vorbis format rather than MP3. Don't worry, it's really easy to do! This will make the music visible and playable on the page for other visitors. Also, if there isn't a soundtrack to use as a guide for track numbers, just make up your own track numbers based on the order in which the songs appear in the game. I will gladly correct any grammatical errors after you're happy with the finished page. It's wonderful having your help on this project! --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 08:47, 22 August 2014 (MDT)

OK, thank you. I though, it will be the most correct to upload music files (after comveting mp3s to oggs, of course), without numbers of tracks, because the order of appearance of it seriously depends on passage. As soon the page will be created, it will be easy to rename it. Right? -M1911 (talk) 09:06, 22 August 2014 (MDT)

Songs should always have track numbers, even if they don't appear in a particular order in the game. Just use your best judgment to create a play order. Renaming the file is pretty simple. Just go to it's file page, for example 00 - Sacred - W32 - Fanfare.ogg, and at the top there is a little drop-down arrow which contains the "Move" option. Then just move the file to the new name. You can uncheck the "Leave a redirect behind" box since there won't be any need for a redirect.--TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 14:47, 22 August 2014 (MDT)

Dean, I worked today for this page. The most loving for me tracks are there. Sorry, but for some reasons I won`t be able to work this page before the next sunday. How the page is looking now? --M1911 (talk) 07:52, 23 August 2014 (MDT)

It's looking great so far! One thing I noticed about the track order though, rather than sort the songs alphabetically, try to put them in order based on the order which they appear in the game. That way, when people listen to them, it fits with the game. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 09:40, 2 September 2014 (MDT)


An idea about non-game music

How about the additional .ogg files for this pages to listen the variant of original music (not only video game variants)? Like this. I thought about it. IMHO, this is interesting and doesn't lacks the common sence. People should know the original. What do you think about it? --M1911 (talk) 08:11, 30 August 2014 (MDT)

Last week, I went through each of the non-game songs and included a link to a professionally composed version on YouTube. Each page also contains a link to their corresponding Wikipedia page which often has a professional audio recording. I think this is enough for fans of the song to appreciate. That's a good idea, but we only have so much server space and bandwidth, and I would prefer it to be all about videogames for now. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 09:40, 2 September 2014 (MDT)

Formats

Hello, Dean!

Some formats have no icons.

Can you give some instructions or rules about adding new formats to Wiki, especially how to create format icons? I think it isn't so hard, but I can't find correct font name and size for it :) Thanks. --binarymaster (talk) 08:16, 12 October 2014 (MDT)

Here you go. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 20:13, 12 October 2014 (MDT)

Dean

I added an icon for NBS format (for Minecraft Note Block Studio (W32)). But I didn't understand, how to change this black space around the logo - I badly know about PNG transparent colour. Can you fix it, please?

And also, here is some question. You are the first man for me who speaks English as native language (other were Russian, Arabian, Indian, Chinese people). Can you describe my the most frequent mystakes in language (grammatic, words, common sense, etc.)? If you'll do it, I will be know now to change my practise for better. And, if you will note any my mistakes, please, fix it or report me - sometimes I don't see my mistakes a point blank in my English. --M1911 (talk) 06:14, 16 October 2014 (MDT)

M1911, I already corrected your icon :) --binarymaster (talk) 08:30, 16 October 2014 (MDT)

Heh heh, binarymaster made the image fix before I had a chance to do it! Yes, I can help you speak English more accurately. I applaud you that your English is clear enough that I can understand what you're saying, but as you point out, there are still issues with syntax. In your first sentence you wrote, "here is some question." I know what you mean, but the grammar is incorrect because it uses both singular and plural words for the same object. If you could correct this by writing, "here is a question," if you only had one question, or, if you had more than one question, you could write, "here are some questions." Remember that "is" is used for singular objects, while "are" is for plural objects. For another example, if you're talking about one man, you would say, "he is tall," but if you're talking about more than one man, you would say, "those three men are tall." I will try to give you corrections on your edits as well. I hope this helps you out! --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 10:40, 16 October 2014 (MDT)

That is correct. Mincraft doesn't fit with the Music Submission guidelines because it is not 10 years old, freeware, or permission has not been given to us. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 19:01, 19 October 2014 (MDT)

  • Hmm. I added the note in the rules in the source come about the "games in a public domain". And also. The player called higher can convert NBS to MIDI. Should I add MIDI sountrack on the page and its icon in the statusbar? (In rip it will be added certainly)--M1911 (talk) 03:43, 24 October 2014 (MDT)

Typo in the game title

Hello!

Can you rename this page?

Asterisk and Obelix (DOS) => Astérix & Obélix (DOS) --binarymaster (talk) 13:40, 20 October 2014 (MDT)

All set. Also, I gave you the rights to move files, so in the future you can do this on your own! --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 14:40, 20 October 2014 (MDT)

Oh, that's great! Thanks! --binarymaster (talk) 15:20, 20 October 2014 (MDT)

Format Headers

AIFF and XMI share the same header format - IFF. IFF (Interchange File Format) is not specific file format, it's a generic container file format with tree structure like RIFF, it begins with "FORM" signature, followed by big-endian length and FourCC ID.

AIFF is not derivative from IFF format, it just uses this structure. --binarymaster (talk) 16:22, 23 October 2014 (MDT)

UPD:

.iff extension sometimes used by ILBM graphic format (it uses IFF structure too).

I also added technical info on AIFF and XMI. --binarymaster (talk) 02:47, 24 October 2014 (MDT)

UPD 2:

AIFF-C uses custom header (with little-endian length encoding). --binarymaster (talk) 03:01, 24 October 2014 (MDT)

UPD 3:

I think it would be good to specify multiple headers for formats.

Example 1:

{{Infobox Format
| Title       = Audio Interchange File Format
| Format      = AIFF
| Developer   = [[Apple]]
| Header01    = IFF
| Header02    = AIFF-C
...

Example 2:

{{Infobox Format
| Title       = RIFF-based MIDI
| Format      = RMI
| Developer   = [[Microsoft]]
| Header01    = RIFF
| Header02    = SMF

--binarymaster (talk) 03:27, 24 October 2014 (MDT)

Thanks for the corrections to the headers. We may need to make a separate page for AIFF-C, as it looks to be a pretty different format all-together. Regarding multiple headers, I think we'll keep it with just one for now. An RMI file may contains an SMF header further inside the file, but it's not the true header of the file itself. The SMF header really belongs on the MIDI page or perhaps in its own page if it's different enough. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 10:42, 27 October 2014 (MDT)

403

When I'm trying to connect vgmpf from my ip, DNS gives me this error. From my school, all works normally (I'm writting this from there). I dunno what is this. What the problem? --M1911 (talk) 02:56, 27 November 2014 (MST)

Are you getting that error from your home? If so, can you give me your IP address? You can get it by visiting this web page: http://www.whatsmyip.org --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 21:27, 27 November 2014 (MST)

Yes, I am. It's 95.170.103.197. If my prowider doesn't change it a little time ago, o' cource. --M1911 (talk) 22:07, 28 November 2014 (MST)

I see what the problem is. I recently blocked that IP due to unusually high traffic. I was seeing several gigabytes of traffic a day being downloaded from that IP--more data was being downloaded from that IP than the combined traffic of the entire USA! I've unblocked that IP, but you should check your computer for viruses or any software that may be trying to spider the site to make sure it doesn't happen again. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 08:53, 1 December 2014 (MST)

This is strange... OK, I'll check it. Thank you. --M1911 (talk) 01:36, 3 December 2014 (MST)

Abd also. Can you re-upload the crap version of Apache Strike (DOS) tune and loop the Apache Strike (MAC) tune? --M1911 (talk) 08:53, 3 December 2014 (MST)

I'm not sure what you're asking about the DOS version of Apache Strike. You uploaded this file back in October, and it still exists in the Wiki. If you want to loop the MAC song, it's really simple. Download Audacity, a full-featured free audio editor. In there you can copy and paste the audio to make it loop. Remember that music in this Wiki should have the original tune, a loop of the tune, and then a 10 second fade out. I'll probably add a guide soon, but I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 10:09, 3 December 2014 (MST)

  • I corrected it. BTW, today's my birthday (5th of December). --M1911 (talk) 22:13, 4 December 2014 (MST)

Thank you very much, and happy birthday! --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 08:30, 5 December 2014 (MST)

  • I saw an information that some Minecraft music is using by official sites without author's permission (Calm4 and 11). I contacted with them, and they said me that using this Minecraft music (not all, only this) can be played fully. Is this some sence in creating Minecraft page and adding this two tracks (another will be blank)? And adding another tracks as 10th of May 2019 (ten years after 0.00a version of Minecraft released)? Or I should contact with Notch and C418 for that? --M1911 (talk) 03:11, 9 December 2014 (MST)

Check the Music Submission rules. If you can get permission directly from the music's copyright holder, then you may add a game's soundtrack before the 10-year-mark. However, even after the ten-year-mark, if the copyright holder ever requests the music to be taken down, it must be removed! By the way, when you have general questions like this, please ask them in the Forum, that way everyone will be able to read the conversations and benefit from them! :-) --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 08:49, 9 December 2014 (MST)

  • No problems. I'll try to contact C418 and Notch. If they allow me to do something with their music, I'll say about it. --M1911 (talk) 08:54, 9 December 2014 (MST)
    • I'm twittered to Notch yet. And another question. On the page with rules you said about the games in public domain. Do you think that this is a little mistake? Public domain comes after the 70 - 100 years from author's death, but the first computer game was maid in 1947 (its author died in 2009). Is it need to change it? --M1911 (talk) 09:24, 9 December 2014 (MST)

Changes

  • I answered on the forum for your questions.
    And also, I started to make the gameplay of computer games (firstly Sacred 2: Fallen Angel (W32)). Here is my first YouTube video (login may be silly, but it is temporary, I'll change it later, maybe). I know, it's russian version, but you can also sow it - and so I will ad anotations and video descriptions also in English. --M1911 (talk) 09:02, 12 December 2014 (MST)
    • And another question with the Sacred (W32). I tried to upload the MP3 rip (even not full!), but server wrote me that I can't upload so big ZIP files. Should I do anything to sdolve this problem or I shouldn't upload this rip? --M1911 (talk) 06:02, 13 December 2014 (MST)
    • You shouldn't upload MP3 rips because users already can download the game recording in free OGG format. --binarymaster (talk) 07:48, 13 December 2014 (MST)
      • I know, but some original music that lopps in game was different. I wrote about it on your page. --M1911 (talk) 07:53, 13 December 2014 (MST)
        • Good job on the gameplay video. I like how you annotated it with links so you can skip the intro. As for MP3 music, the only time MP3 music is allowed to be uploaded, is if the game music itself is in MP3 format. If the music that is currently uploaded to the site isn't looped correctly, just re-record the song correctly, save out a new OGG file, and upload the corrected song. Let someone on the forum know about it, so that the old version of the song can be deleted.
          • No, I asked for other question. MP3 files are too big for uploading - ten songs even in ZIP contains 50 MB. But in original MP3s it did not repeating and haven,t ten seconds after the second repeat (in file itself, not in game). Should I load additional tracks for music that is repeatin, but with single recording? P.S. thanks fot your thoughts about the video. I'm adding annotations now, and I uploaded the second video in the series yet. --M1911 (talk) 22:02, 15 December 2014 (MST)
            • Ah, I see what the problem is. There are a couple of format types which should not have their ripped music uploaded in a zip file. The the game uses OGG, WAV, MP3, CD, FLAC, WMA, AAC, or any other digital stereo audio format, do not upload the rip. Instead, explain in the Rip section that the music is already in a digital audio format and give instructions for where anyone who owns the game can get the music. Then, adjust the music as needed to get the loops and upload it as individual songs for the recorded soundtrack section. See Magic: The Gathering (W32) for an example.
  • Tnx. And, I see, you lives in the state Michigan? --M1911 (talk) 10:55, 16 December 2014 (MST)
    • Yes sir! --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 15:43, 16 December 2014 (MST)
      • Emm... RAR is copyrighted?! And what about the DjVu? It's open format, has the same functions with PDF and less size of the files than PDF. --M1911 (talk) 08:12, 18 December 2014 (MST)
      • RAR is a proprietary format. About DjVu format, yes it's open, but I don't know about its importance to VGMPF. --binarymaster (talk) 09:50, 18 December 2014 (MST)
        • Made Bohemian Rhapsody page. Note that I reuploaded the Queen photo. It was shrinked by somebody. I returned them normal body proportions. --M1911 (talk) 09:04, 18 December 2014 (MST)
        • I just googled this photo and found one which looks better and higher in resolution. --binarymaster (talk) 09:50, 18 December 2014 (MST)
          • Yes, RAR is a closed-format. We'll try to keep the non-audio formats limited as there are plenty of other wonderful sites dedicated to compression, graphic, and document formats. We should only have pages for those common to this site with simple instructions for people who don't know how to open them.
            • Should I put Sacred OST with named tracks on the page Sacred (W32)? Or I should create another page for it? And another questing - should I creatte pages about JPEG, BMP, PNG and GIF files - there are using in the album arts and pages about music - and TXT - there are containing in the lot of rips? And what's about the support of DjVu - it's free format like PDF, but the fies with it are less than PDF? P.S. I remade the rip for Wolfenstein 3D (DOS) - added ripped sounding. Unfotunatelly I hasd to reupload it 'cos I couldn't find the old rip. Can you check it? --M1911 (talk) 05:15, 27 December 2014 (MST)

Delete unused redirect

Hi - Can you please delete File:01 - Word Rescue - DOS - I Can Spell "Reggae" - Can You?.ogg for me? This song was named incorrectly and I have now fixed everything, and just need this page deleted as it is only a redirect now. (Please make sure you delete the redirect itself and not the file it points to! The link above should take you to the redirect itself.) Thanks! -- Malvineous (talk) 03:21, 30 December 2014 (MST)

All set. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 09:28, 30 December 2014 (MST)

GIF

I added GIF because it is used in this sile. Like your avatar, e.g. --M1911 (talk) 09:02, 6 January 2015 (MST)

  • Yes, it is used for animated graphics in avatars, but they are not related to primary content of the web site. Remember, the Formats page is meant to explain audio formats used in videogame music. It's helpful for site visitors to have pages for other formats so our visitors will know how to open ZIP and PDF files, but we don't want to list every format the site uses, otherwise we'd have to start including PHP, HTML, JavaScript, and a bunch of other things that don't pertain to videogame music, and we'd be here all day! :-) --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 09:11, 6 January 2015 (MST)

Add upload link to Template:Song-List

Hi - would it be possible to change Template:Song-List so that when the file doesn't exist, instead of a blank, you are given a link to upload it? It would just make it a little easier to upload new recordings. Here is an example of what I mean:

{{#ifexist:File:{{{1|}}}
 | [[File:{{{1}}}|100px|noicon]]
 | <span class="plainlinks">[{{fullurl:Special:Upload|wpDestFile={{{1|}}}}} Upload]</span>
}}

This will give you the word "Upload" if the file doesn't exist, and clicking on it takes you straight to the upload page with the target filename already entered. -- Malvineous (talk) 16:59, 10 January 2015 (MST)

On second thoughts, scratch that request - I just realised you're supposed to put a download link in the next table column and you can use that to upload the file. Sorry! -- Malvineous (talk) 17:02, 10 January 2015 (MST)
No worries. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 15:26, 11 January 2015 (MST)

Infobox Software template

The size of default empty screenshot is very big. And I think it needs something another than "NoPhoto.png".

Example: Minecraft Note Block Studio

--binarymaster (talk) 15:20, 11 January 2015 (MST)

Thanks for pointing that out to me. It's fixed now. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 15:26, 11 January 2015 (MST)

Found the same issue with Infobox Platform, examples: Amiga CD32 and Commodore CDTV. --binarymaster (talk) 16:35, 16 January 2015 (MST)

Infobox Game template

I found a bug that if game page doesn't use "Publication" (release) template, it isn't included in the category {{{PlatformPage}}} Games.


"Infobox Game" code sample:

'''Platform:'''
[[{{{PlatformPage}}}|{{{PlatformName}}}]]

"Publication" is more correct:

'''Platform:'''
[[{{{PlatformPage}}}{{!}}{{{PlatformName}}}]] <includeonly>[[Category: {{{PlatformPage}}} Games]]</includeonly>

--binarymaster (talk) 06:38, 14 January 2015 (MST)


So how about this? Here is example page: Adventure Cavern (WEB), it isn't included in the category Category: Web Games.

--binarymaster (talk) 15:28, 26 January 2015 (MST)

Fixed. -- Malvineous (talk) 07:59, 1 February 2015 (MST)
Thanks! -- binarymaster (talk) 08:33, 1 February 2015 (MST)

Max uploading size

Hello, Dean!

Max uploading size is equal to 2 MB now, I can't upload my new recording :) --binarymaster (talk) 11:51, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

It seems like after updating the Wiki, some parameters were restored to its defaults. --binarymaster (talk) 20:23, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

I've bumped up the max-upload size again, so you should be all set. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 14:56, 26 January 2015 (UTC)
The problem still exists. (Screenshot) --binarymaster (talk) 20:43, 26 January 2015 (UTC)
Yes. I fixed the Wiki's settings, but the bottle-neck is in PHP. I've changed the settings, in the php.ini file, but they are not taking effect. Give me a moment to research this. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 21:09, 26 January 2015 (UTC)
All set now. There was a malformatted line in my php.ini file which was causing it to revert to the default 2MB limit. Everything should be back to 20 MB. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 14:53, 26 January 2015 (MST)
Thanks! --binarymaster (talk) 15:01, 26 January 2015 (MST)

TOR

Congratulations! Dean, I'm finally installed TOR browser, as you recommended, and I'll use it for VGMPF. It works slower than Yandex, but the problem has gone. Thanks. --M1911 (talk) 10:26, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

Yeah, TOR is pretty slow because it has to bounce its packets all around, but glad to hear you're back online! I'm still not sure what's blocking you, but at least you can edit once more! --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 14:56, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

Social userpage

Now another question... how do I access my previous user page, or move it to UserWiki page?

It's very interesting to use social features (I think I will use it), but I can't get diff history or my page source.

--binarymaster (talk) 15:02, 26 January 2015 (MST)

There is a yellow button on the top-right of your user page which reads Use wiki userpage. Click that, and you'll see your original user page, and it's discussion page. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 15:06, 26 January 2015 (MST)

The longest music ever?

  • I tried to find the longest music (the length of it without the loop):

The shortest is File:01 - Bionic Commando - ARC - Coin Jingle.ogg - 0:01.

About the longest...

File:01 - Nemesis the Warlock - C64 - Nemesis the Warlock.ogg - 6:52;

File:00 - Sacred - W32 - Desert.ogg - 7:31;

File:01 - DX-Ball 2 - W32 - BeatWave.ogg - 7:42;

Did you find the track longer uploaded it on VGMPF? More then 7:42? --M1911 (talk) 06:35, 27 January 2015 (MST)

Special Ending 4 for Tetris Attack (SNES) is around 10 minutes long, however, the first 5 minutes is very similar to the last 5 minutes (just variations in the background accompaniment). But it doesn't truly loop until after the 10 minute mark. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 14:06, 27 January 2015 (MST)

Cite extension

Hi - any chance you'd be able to enable the Cite extension, so that I can add references to pages like this one? I believe it's included in the MediaWiki distribution now so you probably already have it installed, you just have to add a line to LocalSettings.php to enable it. Thanks! -- Malvineous (talk) 21:03, 31 January 2015 (MST)

All set. Good suggestion too, our site could really benefit with some more professionalism. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 09:25, 2 February 2015 (MST)

An offer

I described it in the last two sections in binarymaster page. Malvineus said to discuss about it with you.--M1911 (talk) 10:10, 5 February 2015 (MST)

This site's primary goal is about the music and sound capabilities of videogames throughout history. As a gamer, I love seeing games placed back-to-back to see their differing capabilities, but that's really about their graphics rather than their sound. However, what you suggest is already available in the songs pages. Take a look at the Peter Gunn Theme. Notice the screenshots from the various ports of Spy Hunter. You'll see similarities in other songs that are reused across many ports like Get Them Before They Get You or Game Start - Arkanoid. The objective is to have a screenshot from every port of the game. While I don't think these comparisons fit on the Games pages, they do make sense in the song pages. Let me know if this is what you were expecting. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 10:29, 5 February 2015 (MST)
  • Hmm, you are right. It can be also the way to reduce the size of the pages, pictures and the traffic (one pucture will be loaded faster).
    I tried to make the example of the feature. It's it on this page. Only swap the DOS and JAG to keep alphabetic order. And add other game I didn't screened yet. As you can see, all sizes were rediced to minimum size of some of this pictures - DOSBox connot screen more then 640px. --M1911 (talk) 09:34, 7 February 2015 (MST)
I see what you mean. However, this site is not about showcasing graphical differences between various game ports. The individual song pages allow screenshots from various games, so you're welcome to include comparative screenshots (as long as they fit with the songs), but for the time being, Series pages will not have comparative screenshots. For an example of how a mature Series pages should look, see the Times of Lore Series page. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 09:10, 9 February 2015 (MST)

Country flags in SVG format

Hello, Dean!

M1911 suggested to use SVG format instead of PNG for country flags. What do you think about this idea?

Love the idea. I already got a collection of SVG format flags, I'm just renaming them to get them uploaded. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 13:21, 11 February 2015 (MST)
Dean, I uploaded the Russian flag. But the testing of it shows some issues:
The black border of it is much better. Can you draw it on new SVGs? And get to the Belgium flag the ratio aspect of 2:3, as it was on the old flags (it's not real ratio for real flag, but it do flags more ordered)?
And about this. Strange Asia picture, because it lacks many contries: Afghanistan, all Arabean countries, Turkey, all CIS countries placed on the Asia (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan), Georgia, Russia, Iran, Philippines, Indonesia, East Timor, Brunei Darussalam... LOL, really, it's not Asia? --M1911 (talk) 02:45, 12 February 2015 (MST)

I found that Template:Infobox Album needs to be updated with new flags. -- binarymaster (talk) 05:11, 14 February 2015 (MST)

Fixed the flag problem and added a better graphic for missing cover art. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 08:07, 16 February 2015 (MST)

404 on ogg image

Also I found one unrelated small problem. File "fileicon-ogg.png" is 404 Not Found (example). -- binarymaster (talk) 07:24, 11 February 2015 (MST)

Strange, I'm not getting that error. Could you take a screenshot of your browser and post it, so I can see what it looks like? --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 13:21, 11 February 2015 (MST)
Yes, here it is: 1, 2. -- binarymaster (talk) 15:54, 11 February 2015 (MST)
I'm loading the page correctly now Screen. Try clearing your cache and trying again. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 16:10, 11 February 2015 (MST)
Rechecked, cleared entire cache, but it's the same. One interesting thing that the problem is only with Chrome browser. Firefox displays it correctly. Here is the source code of a page:
<div id="ogg_player_2"><div><img src="/Wiki/skins/common/images/icons/fileicon-ogg.png" width="125" height="125" alt="Thumbnail for version as of 20:21, 10 January 2015" /></div>
The reason is when Firefox can't load image, it displays alternative name. But Chrome doesn't display it, only shows broken image. -- binarymaster (talk) 02:35, 12 February 2015 (MST)
I'm getting a 404 Not Found (with Firefox) also for this URL, but oddly I can still see a speaker image on the Doofus .ogg page. Right-clicking on that image and choosing "view image" did work initially, but when I reloaded the picture it changed to a 404. Maybe when the wiki was upgraded the image file went away, but everyone had it cached so nobody noticed until now? -- Malvineous (talk) 05:09, 12 February 2015 (MST)
Update: Looks like there's no "common" folder inside /Wiki/skins/ anymore. -- Malvineous (talk) 05:55, 12 February 2015 (MST)
Got it. Turns out the old OggHandler extension was dependent on a skin that is no longer supported in WikiMedia 1.24. I've temporarily fixed the problem by uploading the missing file into the extension folder and changing the code to its new path. A better fix is to ditch OggHandler and use the new TimedMediaHandler instead. Last time I tried this, I couldn't get it to work, but that was years ago and there may be a more user-friendly version now. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 10:54, 12 February 2015 (MST)

Game updates

Hello!

I updated game pages, so Template:Release and Template:Screenshots are not used anymore and can be deleted. -- binarymaster (talk) 07:19, 14 February 2015 (MST)

Template:Table Albums too. -- binarymaster (talk) 12:56, 14 February 2015 (MST)

And finally I cleared Category: Old Format :) -- binarymaster (talk) 05:44, 15 February 2015 (MST)

Thank you so much! I had been chipping away at those for years now, and it's so nice to know they're finally done! --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 07:53, 16 February 2015 (MST)

YM Format

Loak also on the first CPC game, Highlander (CPC), new format and way to log it. I think, no we can at least make a soundtrack for Bionic Commando (CPC), ain't it? --M1911 (talk) 08:01, 16 February 2015 (MST)

Wonderful! I thought the Amstrad CPC ripping scene was just dead compared to the Spectrum ZX scene because there were so few AY files for it. Turns out, people had been logging them to YM instead. I'll definitely have to start recording some CPC games now! Thanks for adding this. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 08:11, 16 February 2015 (MST)
The only problem that's impossible to trip YM files. if the music is looping. In this example, I just recorded it once. --M1911 (talk) 08:14, 16 February 2015 (MST)

Get Them Before They Get You

I thought about the feature with multiple shots in one and uploaded it. Is this good?

I see what you're trying to accomplish with the image comparison, and I appreciate the time you spent trying out this new layout. However, combining the images like this makes it difficult to tie the images to each game and makes it impossible to see the screenshots in their original unmodified format. This site is not meant to showcase comparative graphics, but rather, comparative music. The screenshots are just a helpful reminder to the reader when they can expect to hear the songs. Please return the former screenshots, but thank you again for trying. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 08:49, 18 February 2015 (MST)
    • Returned. But please, don't delete this file - I placed it on my subpage. --M1911 (talk) 05:40, 19 February 2015 (MST)
No problem. It's a cool graphic! --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 11:53, 19 February 2015 (MST)

Some rights

For the last time, I'm usually in the situations when one or more files should be deleted. But as I don't have rights to delete files, pages, etc., I have to wait for you or Stas Motylkov. What's your thoughts about this? --M1911 (talk) 06:04, 26 February 2015 (MST)

No problem; I've made you a power user. You now have delete rights. Use them wisely my young Padawan. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 08:59, 26 February 2015 (MST)

Dean, I'm stuck

Wolfenstein 3D (PSP) and Wolfenstein 3D (AND) have the same music emulated IMF files in the same order (because using shareware Wolfenstein 3D (DOS) files). Android version seems to be more official, but PSp was relesed in 2005 or 2006, while Android in 2013. Which page should I choose to create? Or should I create both? --M1911 (talk) 07:28, 12 March 2015 (MDT)

UPD: Other thing to compare:

AND: Emulated PC Speaker/Sound Blaster/AdLib for sound, all but PCS for music (no Disney from DOS).

PSP: Probably SB/AdLIb for music (both emulated), sounds - I dunno.

AND: Digital WAV from Sound Blaster.

PSP: Dunno. --M1911 (talk) 07:31, 12 March 2015 (MDT)

It really depends on the sound of the music. If a recent port of a game has identical sounds music to an earlier version, there is no point in making a page for it. For example, the version of Metroid released on the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console is just an emulated version of the NES Metroid game. The Wii emulates the audio chips of the NES almost perfectly, so the music sounds identical. So, why bother recording music for the Wii if it's going to sound exactly the same as the NES? However, the Metroid game released on the Game Boy Advance sounds a little different. Even though the Game Boy Advance used an emulator to play the game, the GBA had different audio hardware. It wasn't able to emulate the NES hardware perfectly, so the music is noticeably different. Because of this, a GBA Metroid page is acceptable. You should listen to the music on the PSP and Android ports. If one is noticeably different, make a page for it, but it they sound pretty much identical to the DOS version, don't bother creating a new page. Instead, mention on the DOS page that the PSP and Android ports have identical music. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 09:46, 12 March 2015 (MDT)
  • PSP chip and chips of the systems which can have Android as OS are different. So the sounding isd different. But it's impossible to record sound as it's played on real Android - it will be recorded as DOS version, or the recording won't be proper and have bad quality of the sound. It seems to be both pages are acceptale, but what's your opinion about? --M1911 (talk) 02:57, 13 March 2015 (MDT)
  • UPD: I found probably the true Alpha version of Wolfenstein 3D (DOS): [1] (with link to download). Is this true version made by idSoft. or another fake? Can you contact about this with John Romero or somebody from the idSoftware who might know about this (with written proof, if this is true, for sites like Wikipedia)?

The IMF files on this Alpha (or not?) shows this (in the original order, verified with XWE):

WONDERIN.IMF

VICTORS.IMF

SUSPENCE.IMF

NAZI-NOR.IMF

SALUTE.IMF

POW.IMF

CORNER.IMF

GETTHEM.IMF

Only Get Them Before They Get You is playing. It's identical to the final version, but I didn't check the others.

Android and PSP devices use full stereo audio hardware. By contrast, the AdLib uses FM Synthesis through a chip known as the OPL2. If the Wolfenstein 3D version you're looking at uses the same IMF files as the original game, the programmer is probably emulating the OPL2, which means the PSP and Android devices will probably produce nearly-identical music to the DOS version of the game. I can't verify this, as I haven't played either.
Also, recording music on an Android device is probably possible with the right software. If regular software can't do it, modified firmware probably can. Failing that, you can always use a stereo patch cable to go from the Android device's headphone jack to the input jack of a sound card (although this is not recommended since a digital-to-analog-to-digital recording will be of lower quality).
Regarding the alpha version of Wolfenstein 3D, I can't validate its legitimacy. John Romero would probably know, and it would be good to quote him on the site if you can contact him. Although, if all the music is the same, there is no point in making the recording. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 08:40, 13 March 2015 (MDT)
I can contact with him. But I'm afraid that he wouldn't keep the diagol seriously because I'm 15. I tried to contact Bobby Prince, Daniel Rosenfield and Marcus Persson last year. No one aswered to me. I thought that's your trying will be more successful. About the game: the recordings are the same (I checked it), but validating the date could change the date of publishing this songs earlier than 5th of MAy 1992. --M1911 (talk) 08:49, 13 March 2015 (MDT)

What's your thoughts about

As for VGMPF, I saw, that many of the pages are incomplete. Missing shots, incomplete rips, too few infos, etc.... There are no time for them, because the projects need in new pages, but how 'bout the idea of announcing the April and the May the months of project's inmprovement? Not to create anything new (pages, etc.), before at least the most of old pages will be complete?

That's not a long ltime, but the result would be the better quality at all. And it may result to the increasing the VGMPF's popularrity in the interet. --M1911 (talk) 08:20, 17 March 2015 (MDT)

Funny you should mention that; I've been thinking about doing this for awhile now. I'm even working on a new set of templates that will make the missing information a bit more obvious. I too would like to have everyone work together for just a little while to try and polish the less finished pages. Although, it's important to remember that the work people are contributing to this site is a gift, and I certainly don't want to presume on their efforts. So, while I'd like to see cleaner pages, I'm fine with everyone editing at their leisure. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 12:42, 17 March 2015 (MDT)
  • If the music is mono (Wings of Death 7 from Amiga), should I convert it to the stereo? --M1911 (talk) 21:57, 20 June 2015 (MDT)
    I would say yes - some devices have problems playing mono audio, and providing you don't add any enhancement and have the exact same audio in both channels, the redundant data gets removed during compression so the stereo .ogg file should be barely any larger than the mono one. -- Malvineous (talk) 16:21, 21 June 2015 (MDT)
Agreed. I convert all the audio I upload to the site to stereo. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 09:07, 27 June 2015 (MDT)

A bug of uploading OGV files

I uploaded OGV video for Thunderstruck version for the test. It plays, but has no miniature; only the link gives the video. Is this a bug? --M1911 (talk) 02:14, 28 July 2015 (MDT)

I love that song! Unfortunately, I don't have any plans to support video uploading. I have to pay for server space myself, and I only make about $2 a month from the Google ads, so I really can't afford to host music videos in addition to the music. Instead, please upload your videos to YouTube, and link to them in the links section of the song page. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 11:31, 28 July 2015 (MDT)
Ok. But therefore the feature ofvuploading OGV files is excess. --M1911 (talk) 12:02, 28 July 2015 (MDT)
One question... If this feature is useless, why it exists? --M1911 (talk) 04:45, 14 September 2015 (MDT)
It's just part of the OGG extension I installed. It includes both the audio and video formats together. I never bothered to restrict the video. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 06:51, 14 September 2015 (MDT)

_____________

Now I'm 16. Looking at my fist experience on VGMPF, I think, that sometimes I was writting nonsense, creating pages with few useful information. Sorry if I irritated you last two years with grammatical errors and other such things.
Happy Birthday! I appreciate everything that you've done to help the site! A few grammatical errors is no reason to feel bad, and as you learn to speak English more efficiently, you can always fix up any past mistakes. Cheers! --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 09:08, 15 December 2015 (MST)
I noticed that theme to Times of Lire (especially played on CMS chip) sound like the beginning of Every Breath You Take. SHould I write a notice about it, or this resemblance is not strong enough? --M1911 (talk) 00:33, 8 February 2016 (MST)
Now that you point it out, I hear it too. Yes, go ahead and add it to the Title song page. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 07:37, 8 February 2016 (MST)
What your thoughts about the style of Sacred (W32) soundtrack? I described it as "eerie mostly", but I'm not sure that it's the actual style. I dunno with what should I compare this... --M1911 (talk) 08:49, 10 February 2016 (MST)
P.S. Sorry for using old treads, don't want to litter in discussion page.

AdLib image not showing?

Hello I noticed that the AdLib Icon, in the audio devices list (64x64 pixels) never shows up in pages. I've tried in Firefox and Chrome, somehow there's no difference. It only shows up in IE.

I have downloaded the file, and reuploaded a version compressed differently here : http://www.vgmpf.com/Wiki/index.php?title=File:Icon_-_AdLib.png

But to no avail. I don't know what's wrong with that file. -- Beegle (talk) 08:38, 6 January 2016 (MST)

Hi Beegle, that's certainly strange! I've tried Fire Fox, Chrome, and IE on one computer, Fire Fox and IE on another computer, and Chrome on my phone. In every instance, the image displays correctly. Can you try from another computer/tablet/phone and see if it displays correctly on another device? Thanks! --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 08:48, 6 January 2016 (MST)
The problem was happening on both my home and work PCs - work PC configured by the IT guys. And I've found the culprit : AdBlock Plus. Apparently the file 'Icon - AdLib.png' is getting blocked from appearing on the pages. If I disable AdBlock, I see the image.
Strange thing is that 'Icon - AdLib Gold.png' does not get blocked so I don't know why it's treated differently. Beegle (talk) 16:02, 9 January 2016 (MST)
I had this problem once before as well. I reported it as a problem to the AdBlock people but it looks like it was never fixed. From memory there's a regular expression that matches the folder name of the image which is why it gets blocked. You can whitelist the image which is what I ended up doing - don't think there's an easy fix otherwise. -- Malvineous (talk) 14:49, 10 January 2016 (MST)
Yeah, it probably has something to do with a short file name containing "ad" causing AdBlock assuming it's an advertisement. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 08:29, 11 January 2016 (MST)

Upload Warning?

Hello, sorry to bother again! One of the songs for Galactix I'm trying to upload gives me an error when uploading.

"The file is a corrupt or otherwise unreadable zip file. It cannot properly be checked for security." http://www.vgmpf.com/Wiki/index.php?title=File:Upload_warning.PNG

Has this ever happened to you? The file is effectively an OGG file, and plays well in foobar2000 Beegle (talk) 17:28, 9 January 2016 (MST)

It's not a bother, I assure you! The fact that you're here and trying to help the project is wonderful and I love solving technical issues like this! I have seen messages before when I tried to upload a file with a header that didn't match the file type (like a file with a .jpg extension, but actually contained a zip file's data). It may also be something as simple as a corrupt file header. foobar2000 is really good at being able to successfully play files with corruption. What program did you use to record or convert the file, and did you run it through an optimizer that may have altered it? Also, can you email me the file so that I can take a look at the header? --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 08:29, 11 January 2016 (MST)
Thank you. I am sending you the file by email as I write. The file was recorded in uncompressed .wav at 44k/Stereo. I then used a tool named Audio Conversion Wizard to convert it to ogg, and finally Foobar2000 to add tags (composer, album, etc.) in the file.
I did the very same thing with all other songs for Galactix and as you can see, the other files had no problems uploading. - Beegle (talk) 19:18, 11 January 2016 (MST)
After looking at the file, I think the culprit is the Audio Conversion Wizard using an out-of-date Vorbis encoder. I ran the file you sent me through OggInfo (a program created by the developers of Vorbis) and it reports the following warning, "Stream 1 has serial number 0, which is legal but may cause problems with some tools." Checking the file properties, it says the encoder used to make the file is from 2004. I'm assuming the Wiki software is running a check on the file to make sure it's valid, and this is throwing up a red flag. We can test this by using foobar2000 to convert the WAV file to OGG with an updated encoder. foobar2000 has the ability to convert to a number of different formats, including OGG, it just requires the user to supply an encoder. You can download the latest encoder here. Get the Oggenc2.88 for libVorbis v1.3.5 Generic version and unzip it in your foobar2000 folder, then, convert the file to OGG with foobar2000. You will be prompted to locate the oggenc2.exe file. When completed, the file should be formatted properly for uploading. If you have trouble with this, I'm working on a step-by-step guide for future users and will supply a link when I'm finished. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 11:30, 14 January 2016 (MST)
Okay, I've created the guide: Foobar2000 Conversion Setup. It's far more wordy than you'll need, but I wanted to make it as basic as possible for other contributors who aren't as tech savvy. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 13:42, 14 January 2016 (MST)
I'm happy that you found the culprit, and also the reason why the file didn't want to work. Also, very informative guide. I will use that method for the next soundtracks I encode for the VGMPF. Thank you so much! Beegle (talk) 13:19, 16 January 2016 (MST)

Table layout for Recordings

Good day to you! I tested a table layout for recordings where each sound card has its own table on Dune (DOS) and shown it to binarymaster. He seems to like it. The goal is just to have better visual clarity and distinguish more easily each version of the soundtrack. What do you think? We wanted to get your input/approval before going further. I have looked at the rules and didn't find anything specifically against doing this (but nothing allowing it either). -- Beegle (talk) 09:14, 20 January 2016 (MST)

I love it! We should definitely use this layout for games with multiple outputs. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 09:26, 20 January 2016 (MST)
Great! -- Beegle (talk) 10:51, 20 January 2016 (MST)

Windows 3 (DOS)

Hello!

I just found that Windows 3 (DOS) has more than one song, especially "with Multimedia Extensions". These songs are located in \MWINDOWS\MMDATA directory, and they all are from Passport Designs, like the Trip Through the Grand Canyon.

I would like to remake Windows 3 recording including the new songs, and also with 3 different devices. How about that? --binarymaster (talk) 08:38, 5 February 2016 (MST)

Wow, I never knew that! Yes, please do! --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 08:42, 5 February 2016 (MST)
Done! Hope you like it. ;) --binarymaster (talk) 19:27, 5 February 2016 (MST)
That's so cool, I never knew what I was missing! --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 07:37, 8 February 2016 (MST)

Help with A-Train (DOS)

Since this game is Most Wanted, I made a game rip for it, and also I can record the full game soundtrack, but... I don't know how to name the tracks correctly. :) Only one of them have the name in meta data, other names we can only obtain from file names. Hope you can help with naming the tracks. --binarymaster (talk) 03:59, 13 February 2016 (MST)

Wow, how did you rip them? I looked all around for an Art Dink archive extractor and never found one. Did you have to write your own? I started trying to record the music directly from the game, but after the seventh track, I eventually gave up not knowing how many more there would be. I can probably help with the track names, I played the game a fair amount when I was a kid. Can you email me the tracks? (thealmightyguru@gmail.com) --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 07:36, 14 February 2016 (MST)
Well, I already uploaded it: A-Train (DOS)#Game Rip - I extracted it from the memory. And it's possible to play different music at game title by changing internal music name. :) The only small problem - instrument definitions are stored elsewhere, and proper recording can be made only from game. --binarymaster (talk) 11:04, 14 February 2016 (MST)
Several of the songs have fitting names. The season tracks play at intervals during their season. Title is played at the title screen, Deck the Halls is played on Christmas, I assume Jingle Bells is too. The shorter tunes don't sound familiar, but let me play the game a bit more and see if they play. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 12:22, 16 February 2016 (MST)

Mag Fest

I'm going to be at MAG Fest from February 17-21. I'll be promoting this site and handing out cards to people in hopes of drumming up more interest in the site. Please be friendly to any new-comers! I should get a fair amount of updates during the downtime between events. If anyone else here is going to be there, find me and say hello! --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 12:22, 16 February 2016 (MST)

PNGs

It is a nice little site you got here. I've been adding some missing screenshots and I saw that lots of the already existing PNG file sizes can be reduced losslessly with the help of pngcrush. Depending on the files it can be everything from no change at all to a few kilobytes. A kilobyte per picture may not sound much, but we are talking about many pictures so it quickly adds up. Just wanted to ask if it is alright to replace other peoples screenshots with the exact same pictures where the only difference is the smaller filesize or if that counts as stepping on somebody else toes. --MillionGamer (talk) 14:51, 12 March 2016 (MST)

By all means, please do! I've been using PNGOut for all my uploads, which does a great job (here's a comparison site), but AFAIK, nobody else uses an optimizer. It would certainly help my overhead costs! :-) It would be best if you downloaded the existing PNG images, used PNG Crush, and then re-uploaded them in order to preserve the existing image. All editors are free to replace a screenshot if it better represents the game/song than an existing one. However, I noticed you were replacing some of the NTSC screenshots with PAL screenshots (256x224 vs. 256x240), while PAL format is preferred for games that were first released in the PAL region, you should try to keep the NTSC resolution for games first released in Japan or North America. When you replace an image with an identical one, please delete the old one so we don't have too many files on the server. And thank you very much for your contributions and making our site more complete! --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 14:41, 13 March 2016 (MDT)
I hate to burst your bubble, but 256x224 is actually NOT the NTSC resolution. The actual NTSC display is 242 pixels tall. 240 lines of picture, and 2 vertical lines of border, even if TVs do cut off the edges. Information from the well-researched team at the NesDev Wiki. --Famulator (talk) 14:56, 13 March 2016 (MDT)
Burst away! I love learning interesting facts about old hardware, and I really enjoyed the link you sent me about how emulators have historically handled the over-scan areas of the NES. However, I still think the site should stick to a resolution of 256x224 for NTSC region screenshots. This is because, as you and the NESDev Wiki point out, NTSC televisions of the time displayed only about 224 lines. This meant that developers often didn't bother to fix display artifacts in the over-scan regions at the top and bottom like this [:File:Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - NES - Menu.png|TMNT screenshot] shows. I'm looking forward to replaying through some of my favorite games to see what might be hidden in the edges, but this site is meant to be accessible to average gamer who won't want to see screenshots with garbage in the edges. As the Myths page points out, even the Wii Virtual Console does away with the outer rows so the garbage isn't visible to the players. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 16:00, 13 March 2016 (MDT)

Happy birthday!

I dunno when you will read this (because we are living almost on the opposide sides of the Earth - 83° W and 84° E), so I decided to write this now.

I wish you success with any work IRL and with developement and expanding of VGMPF. It has the most patient community I've ever seen (sometimes I even speak with people about the project as the great example of how the community with no permanent disputs, abusing and swearing between users). I saw many admins during circa 6 years; I think, you are the most polite.

Writing pages on this site, I also improved my knownledge of written English - I don't know other effective and aviable ways to do it. Typos on my text are more rare then it was about 1.5. The only problem is no practise of spoken English; sometimes I can't answer the question if it was spoken, even if it's quite a simple. :(

Curiously, that because of VGMPF I started to like Queen music. I firstly heard A Kind of Magic from Highlander (C64), I like it much (even downloaded it for MP3 player) and than heard an original, and other songs from this band... And MOS Technology 6581 songs also. that's why I love Commodore 64 platform. The Police also :D

Thank you a much for this project! I hope, someday it will get into the lane with largest and well-known projects in the web. --M1911 (talk) 10:23, 9 April 2016 (MDT)

Wow, I don't really know what to say! Thank you so much for the birthday wishes, and thank you also for the kind words! I try my best to foster an online environment that is friendly to everyone. I also understand that everyone who helps the project is taking time out of their busy lives for the videogame music they love, so I'm not about to berate anyone for a spelling error or punctuation misuse. I'm glad to hear that this site is helping you expand your knowledge of a foreign language, and glad to hear that you like Queen, they're my favorite band! Some of my other favorites by the group include The Show Must Go On, She Makes Me (Stormtropper In Stilettos), Friends Will Be Friends, White Queen (As It Began), and Long Away. And slowly, but surely, with help from you and all the other editors, our site is becoming a force to be reckoned with! --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 06:31, 12 April 2016 (MDT)

SC68

  • Thanks for finding the SC68 file format and archive! Working with it with foobar2000 is much easier than in JAM For Windows of DeliPlayer, and it plays music better, although there are not many tunes ripped in it. Even while the CUST is more destibuted, it can be played only with DeliPlayer.

P.S. Send you a Steam friend request --M1911 (talk) 01:34, 10 June 2016 (MDT)

Slowly, but surely, DeliPlayer is being usurped by foobar2000 as the most complete videogame music player, which I'm happy about because I much prefer the UI in foobar2000. What is your Steam name? I'll add you! --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 06:13, 10 June 2016 (MDT)
Staufen. There are 20 of them, I'm the only russian with russian text on my page. --M1911 (talk) 06:37, 10 June 2016 (MDT)

MultiTrack

How do you meet the idea of selecting file formats into four groups - able to be multi-track (SID, AY. MOD, OGG, NSF, SC68, SNDH...), single-track only (VGM, SPC, YM, WAV, CD, RAW, IMF, MIDI, S3M, MIA, SGC...), unidentified/with unknown abilities (FMF...), other (no music/sfx only mostly, DP, BNK, SYX, SND (AdLib)...)? --M1911 (talk) 10:24, 17 June 2016 (MDT)

That's an interesting proposal. Some of the information you're requesting is already available in the Format template. For example, BNK and SYX have their content listed as "Instrument" to denote that they only contain instrument data, not music, sound effects, or programmatic instructions. Some formats have only been used in games for sound effects, like DP, but they actually -can- support music if someone wanted to make a DP song. Multi-track is something that currently is not displayed in the template, so that might be worth adding. One thing that I try to do before adding another field to a template is to consider the benefit visitors will get from it. Do you think users will be helped by seeing which formats support multi-tracks, and which ones don't? --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 11:22, 17 June 2016 (MDT)
Well, I don't know for sure. Maybe yes, maybe no.
P.S. Wrote it originally in old topic because there are already many of them on your page, and didn't want to litter on the page, but since it's your, I don't want myself to archive it. --M1911 (talk) 11:31, 17 June 2016 (MDT)
I think adding multi-track support is a smart idea, I just want to make sure we have a good reason for adding another field into the template. If you can think of a good reason, I'll certainly add it. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 11:38, 17 June 2016 (MDT)

Make List v3.1

Hello, Dean!

I downloaded latest version of Make List program, however it doesn't work on my Windows 7 32-bit. It seems like executable is compiled for 64-bit platform.

Can you reupload 32-bit version? -- binarymaster (talk) 10:54, 25 June 2016 (MDT)

No problem! There is now a 32-bit version of the program available for download. It's nice to see someone else using it, I think you'll find it speeds up the game creation process quite a bit. Let me know how it works for you and if you have any problems with it. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 14:40, 27 June 2016 (MDT)
Now it works, many thanks! It really saves time while making recording tables. -- binarymaster (talk) 14:24, 29 June 2016 (MDT)

Guidelines for moderators

Since users can sign up themselves, VGMPF needs more active moderators.

I didn't find any guide on what should do moderator in different cases, and what kind of cases are possible.

As an example case, a new page was created today by a newbie user. It's about an artist and game designer, and not related to the music composition / arrangement / programming / etc. One of the links points to *game music*, however it seems not the case, it's just a slideshow with a random music. What should do I in this situation as a moderator? --binarymaster (talk) 05:45, 19 September 2016 (MDT)

Agree with the topicstarter. Had almost the same thoughts when I've read it, but didn't delete because the situation isn't clear enough to do anything with it wihout the wiki master's permission. Maybe, some wiki rules will make it easier? --M1911 (talk) 06:39, 19 September 2016 (MDT)
Indeed we are going to need some moderator guidelines. I'll get started on a guide for dealing with off-topic pages and let the user know what types of pages are acceptable. Thanks for bringing this to my attention! --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 11:16, 19 September 2016 (MDT)
Okay, I've added a new section for moderators. Let me know if you think it's missing anything. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 12:48, 19 September 2016 (MDT)

Wiki vandalism

Hi Dean! I've noticed there are two newbie users (Special:Contributions/148426, Special:Contributions/Videogamer) who always broke wiki markup, I also wrote a message to one of them, but looks like my message was ignored :/ --binarymaster (talk) 11:36, 15 January 2018 (EST)

Thank you very much for pointing out the error in his additions, and you worded it quite well, both helpful and respectful. I'll send him another warning. Hopefully, he will comply. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 14:28, 15 January 2018 (EST)
He added more incorrect editions today... --binarymaster (talk) 04:26, 21 January 2018 (EST)
Problem persists... I'm just rolling back his edits, most of them are not just markup mess, but an incorrect information (according to MobyGames and other sources). --binarymaster (talk) 08:56, 3 March 2018 (EST)
I've blocked him again for another week with the same note as before. If this keeps up, I'll just ban him. Either this person can't read English, or they're ignoring everything we write. It's a shame. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 15:28, 12 March 2018 (EDT)
Yeah... still there :/ --binarymaster (talk) 08:20, 17 April 2018 (EDT)
Thanks everyone for staying on top of this. I have banned the user permanently. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 09:01, 24 April 2018 (EDT)
Hello Dean! I've detected wiki vandalism again, probably from the same person: Special:Contributions/SmartBoy --binarymaster (talk) 07:24, 14 November 2018 (EST)
UPD: I've just banned him, it's exactly the same person. And fixed broken pages. --binarymaster (talk) 07:33, 14 November 2018 (EST)
Thanks Binarymaster, you're the best! --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 09:29, 16 November 2018 (EST)
Hi you two, maybe you would like to know early, a new one is showing the same symptoms as the other three (although one revision actually matches MobyGames). --Professor Chaos (talk) 13:39, 14 February 2019 (EST)
Thanks for letting me know. I've left him a message. If he keeps it up, I'll ban him. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 11:12, 15 February 2019 (EST)
I believe he has returned after almost three and a half years. Today, User:Ryanlinn4565 made exactly the same syntax errors and MobyGames contradictions on Kunio Komatsu as the former four users (all "Ryan" on their social profile). --Professor Chaos (talk) 13:53, 6 August 2022 (EDT)
Banned him. Thanks for keeping up on this! --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 09:54, 8 August 2022 (EDT)
Again, again, and again. Again Ryan Linn, again syntax errors, again all MobyGames contradictions. But day 45 of month 23 is new to me. --Professor Chaos (talk) 12:12, 13 November 2022 (EST)
Banned again. You'd think he'd have something better to do with his time? --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 11:28, 14 November 2022 (EST)
Guess who? Again Ryan, and all three edits contradict MobyGames + syntax. This time I wrote on his user talk page and his social profile (if rather curtly, just to see if he understands plain short'n'simple better), but, well. --Professor Chaos (talk) 16:17, 25 November 2022 (EST)
Banned again. I just don't understand the motive here. He's not linking to outside web site, he's not spamming keywords, it's a very strange form of trolling. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 13:58, 2 December 2022 (EST)
Today: Special:Contributions/67876ryan, 5 syntax errors, but only 4 MobyGames contradictions: he did get one credit right. Just like on 2019-02-14. --Professor Chaos (talk) 11:52, 23 December 2022 (EST)
Banned again. It's a new IP each time too, so either he's behind a VPN, or this is a bot net. I may have to change the security question. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 08:31, 26 December 2022 (EST)
Several of us have been discussing his latest account: User talk:Ryangamer32#Stop vandalize pages! + the "context" link at the bottom of that section. As for the IP... don't know if it helps, but at least where I live, it's normal that my IP changes every two weeks, and I don't use a VPN. --Professor Chaos (talk) 15:16, 15 January 2024 (EST)
This problem with User:Ryangamer32 keeps happening as of today: 1 2. --binarymaster (talk) 15:33, 16 February 2024 (EST)
I've banned him permanently now. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 09:12, 27 February 2024 (EST)

Wave of spammers

There was a wave of spammers in this site - they published texts with LGBT theme and linked to the appropricite sites (JoanBroadway06‎ and MariamTaft64‎ users respectively). I deleted it, but since I couldn't ban them, I wrote about it there.

Is it a real problem that after opening the opportunity to registrate account on VGMPF not by hand most of registrated users were nothing by bots or spammers? I don't found it a large problem, but it's the thing that worried. --M1911 (talk) 06:46, 3 November 2016 (MDT)

Thanks for helping to keep them at bay. The accounts are most likely being created by a botnet since blocking their IPS isn't helping. I've deleted those two users, and will continue to delete others as they pop up. I would like to keep the user creation open for the time being since it has brought in several new real users in the past couple months. I'll see what I can do to increase the level of spam filtering. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 07:29, 3 November 2016 (MDT)

Error creating thumbnail

Hello! There are strange errors on these pages:

Error creating thumbnail: 
Error code: -1

--binarymaster (talk) 06:43, 26 November 2016 (EST)

This can be due to a database being maintained. The same issue is with my images I recently uploaded: none of them at all have a thumbnail! Please take a look at this.--Cancer (talk) 13:46, 26 November 2016 (EST)
Thanks for the head's up guys. Looks like it was a bad setting that got flipped after switching web hosts. My new host doesn't allow Image Magick through exec(), so I have to use the PHP version of it (ImagickExt). I've been trying to get it to properly create transparent PNG thumbnails, and I messed up the thumbnail process all together. It should be back to normal now. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 23:18, 27 November 2016 (EST)

Hello Dean!

I've found a new problem with media files, see this game page: Astérix & Obélix (DOS).

Looks like the wiki cannot read filenames with non-ASCII characters. I also tried to rename File:Asterix & Obelix - DOS.jpg, but that does not help. --binarymaster (talk) 05:44, 25 July 2017 (EDT)

That's an interesting bug. I've been putting off upgrading to the latest version of the MediaWiki software, and this might be the reason I need to actually do it. Even if it doesn't fix the problem, at least I can be sure I'm not chasing a bug that has already been fixed. I'll try to get the upgrade done before the end of the week, and if the problem persists, I'll track it down then. Thanks for letting me know! --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 10:37, 25 July 2017 (EDT)

SC2000 + DB error

Hey Guru, I made some contributions to the SimCity 2000 page. What do you think of them?

Also, my SC2000.DAT does not contain BNK files, but does contain GM.AD and GM.OPL, which is interesting. None of these files appear to be actual BNK format.

Finally, when go to User:TheAlmightyGuru I get a db error. Prog (talk) 22:43, 11 December 2016 (EST)

Howdy Prog! Thanks for updating the SimCity 2000 sound file info. I had been meaning to get to it eventually, but so many other projects with the site were more pressing. Your contributions are very helpful! As for the database error, I'm still fixing a couple bugs that were introduced when I switched web hosts, and that is one of them (as well as the avatars not displaying properly). I'm pretty sure I know what the problem is and how to fix it, but I've got a lot of big events happening in my life until mid-January, when I will tackle it. Thanks for the updates! --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 14:53, 12 December 2016 (EST)

Frankenstein Jr. (or: The bride of Frankenstein)

I have another game(s) for your list of games that uses toccata and fugue in D minor from Bach. These are Frankenstein Jr. (or The Bride of Frankenstein) for the C64. I believe older systems also had a similar game, but I do not know if they used this toccata and fugue as well.

Hello BramV, thanks for the information. This is a perfect opportunity for you to make your first update to the Wiki! I noticed the Toccata and Fugue In D Minor page was a little out of date, so I cleaned it up a bit, and it's ready for your additions. Feel free to add the new games you know have the song in them to the page! It's really easy, just copy and paste an existing game, and change the values. Also, this Wiki has a feature so you can add your signature to any post you make on another editor's page. In the edit box, you can click the signature button (second from the right) to add two dashes and four tilde's (--~~~~). When you click save page, it will get converted into your name and and a time stamp so the reader will know who you are and when you posted! --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 15:21, 14 February 2017 (EST)

Playlist mode for recordings

Hello, Dean!

I've made a small modification to OggPlayer extension:

It allows to play all songs on the page in playlist mode. If this mode is enabled, when the track ends, it automatically switches to the next track! And if playlist repeating is enabled, when the last song is played, it will jump to the first track. The behaviour is controlled by two variables: playlistEnable and playlistRepeat.

Note that this method will work only in modern web browsers with HTML5/audio support. If you're like it, you may update OggPlayer.js on the server side :) --binarymaster (talk) 16:25, 23 March 2017 (EDT)

Wow, this was a feature that I had in my original VGMPF wed site, but had to lose when I switched over to the Wiki. I'd been hoping someone would figure out a way to make it, and I'm very pleased that you have! Sorry it took so long for me to respond, I've been busy with a lot of non-VGM related things (shocking, I know!). Once I update the Wiki to the current version, I'll also implement your code update. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 09:04, 5 April 2017 (EDT)
Ok, thanks! --binarymaster (talk) 11:26, 5 April 2017 (EDT)

Idea about conversions

Some game rips include conversions to different formats.

I think it would be better to add optional column "Conversion" to Template:Rips to distinguish between original game music format and conversions. Also this would help to clean up "Games That Use X" categories, since those doesn't actually use some formats.

I created Template:Conversion for this, but I have no suffient privileges to edit existing templates. --binarymaster (talk) 04:48, 28 April 2017 (EDT)

I agree, it never did sit well with me that we were listing games incorrectly like that. I've made you an administrator, so you should be able to update the template as you need. Just make sure that you change its permissions to prevent non-admins from editing it. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 13:30, 28 April 2017 (EDT)
I think it's a great a helpful idea. Will the template also have the place for original files, that were converted to the game music fortmats, but didn't used in the game in original form (e.g. SkyRoads (DOS) with OKT format)? --M1911 (talk) 06:34, 29 April 2017 (EDT)
Not sure about it, I think such kind of game rips should be separated into two different rips (the original game rip must be on original game page - SkyRoads (AMI)), and you can make link to it. --binarymaster (talk) 07:55, 2 May 2017 (EDT)
Many thanks! --binarymaster (talk) 07:51, 2 May 2017 (EDT)

Maybe make pages that list minor composer profiles?

so I was thinking about this dude Iwao Mitsunaga, and it seems like there are only two games he is known to have worked on, with no details available that provide context. Rather than have a whole page for this guy, maybe it would make more sense to have his name redirect to an entry on some kind of Other_Composers_(M) page, where you could put the basic stuff that goes in the composer box and a list of what he worked on, with a link or two? This could be done for anyone who is relatively obscure and has less than a half-dozen known works. Then if enough new info is discovered about them, they could be promoted to a full page. Decent idea? OSVGI (talk) 07:57, 12 June 2017 (EDT)

Hello OSVGI! Thanks for the suggestion, and I see what you mean; with so little info about him, why make a whole page? Although, I wonder if having to maintain a list of "minor" composers would create more work for us. We'd have to debate about when enough info if discovered to move a composer to their own page, then move the info from the minor list to their own page. Not to mention, the minor composer list would be enormous trying to list all known information about every composer. Although, I do like the idea of keeping track of composers with very little information to know who needs to be improved upon. Wikipedia does this by listing the article as a stub, and we use a similar system here for games. I've added a new template which you can put at the bottom of each person's biography section to indicate that they need more information. I've added a few composers to the category so far, what do you think? --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 14:05, 12 June 2017 (EDT)

Renaming an account:

Hi!

I'm just wondering, is it possible to rename your account here, or do you have to make an entirely new account? Thanks!

--Star 18:50, 20 April 2018 (EDT)

There is. Your current user name is "VHS Headlines." What would you like it to be changed to? --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 09:04, 24 April 2018 (EDT)
I would like my account to be renamed to "Dr. Z" please --Star 19:27, 24 April 2018 (EDT)
Hi, I'd like mine renamed to 0minus0, if you wouldn't mind. Thank you! --Minus0 (talk) 20:49, 24 April 2018 (EDT)
Both of your user names have been changed. Please trying logging in with your new names to verify that they work. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 09:13, 25 April 2018 (EDT)
It worked! Thanks so much! --Star 18:53, 25 April 2018 (EDT)

José Rafael Cordero Sánchez

Hi! I would like to request a deletion of the José Rafael Cordero Sánchez article and its picture. José Rafael is a long term vandal that has published his autobiography everywhere he could have since 2011, wasting many volunteers' time. In this wiki, he has done the same in a promotion attempt. For more info, see the discussion in Wikipedia. --Jamez42 (talk) 23:16, 13 June 2018 (EDT)

Problem with uploading

Due to the 25:50 lenth of Tetris (C64) title track, it has lenght of 90 MB and therefore it cannot be uploaded into VGMPF.com. Are there ways I can solve this problem? --M1911 (talk) 08:41, 1 July 2018 (EDT)

Is it actually 25 minutes of non-repeating music? Remember, if a song exceeds 2 minutes, don't bother looping the recording. If it really is that long, the only thing you can do is decrease the quality of the Vorbis file. Although we encourage a quality level of 4, try encoding in Vorbis with a quality around 1 or 2 which will decrease the file size. Unfortunately, my web host limits the size of uploaded files, so that's the best I can do. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 14:33, 1 July 2018 (EDT)
Yes, it is. Probably the longest videogame song ever made. In q3 it became 19 MB, so the problem is solved (I just noticed I always use q10, that was the reason). Thank you. --M1911 (talk) 02:24, 2 July 2018 (EDT)
Wow, that's amazing! Glad to hear it the problem is resolved, and you should switch to q4 for all your future soundtrack recordings. q10 is overkill for regular music, let alone video game soundtracks which usually use lower-quality audio to begin with. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 17:49, 7 July 2018 (EDT)

Same song, different games, what tags?

Hi Dean! What's the best way to tag recordings used in several games (example), please? --Professor Chaos (talk) 10:49, 8 July 2018 (EDT)

Please check the Yie Ar Kung-Fu II (C64) talk page for my answer. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 20:46, 8 July 2018 (EDT)

Paula and GF1 options for output

Platform - DOS.png
Blahblah (DOS)
Output - GF1.svg
Output - Paula.svg
Output - PCM.svg
Released 1992-11-??
Length 2:08
Format MOD

In song pages we have an option to choose GF1 for Gravis UltraSound output and paula for Amiga games (you can see an example to the right). But on many song pages editors instead choose PCM output. I understand it, since Sound Blaster's DAC, PC Speaker RealSound, Tandy DAC with PCM output only differs from Gravis Ultrasound in a form of inferior speaker, so maybe for DOS games with digital output where GUS is the best, but not the only option, PCM output would be better option. But what's about Amiga? And should we keep such options or PCM would be just enough for it all? --M1911 (talk) 13:22, 6 August 2018 (EDT)

I believe editors are using the PCM icon because the Amiga's Paula chip is composed of 4 PCM channels, or, 4 DACs. It makes sense why they've done this, but the correct way to signify the output for the GUS or Amiga is to used the provided GF1 and Paula icons. It makes it clear to visitors that the audio isn't just raw PCM--the audio went through the necessary processing of the GF1 and Paula chips respectively. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 14:38, 9 August 2018 (EDT)
Just remembered. What to do with Commodore plus/4 (its output doesn't have an icon still) and Macintosh SE, Plus systems (we don't even know the actual sound chip, although for now it's referred as digital PCM audio, despire it's most probably was synthesed, judjing by the sound)? --M1911 (talk) 14:53, 9 August 2018 (EDT)
I've added new output icons. Use "TED" as the output name for the Commodore 16 and Plus/4. Use "Macintosh" as the output name for Macintosh 128K, 512K, Plus, and SE. Use "ASC" as the output name for the Macintosh SE/30. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 16:34, 13 August 2018 (EDT)
Thank you! --M1911 (talk) 02:36, 14 August 2018 (EDT)

Witchaven I & II

Here's a feedback topic to your one you left on my talk page.

Currently, both soundtrack pages have explanations I've just added about recording prefixes (as you politely requested). Already played those games? ;)

Happy to contribute to VGMPF! --Cancer (talk) 16:54, 14 August 2018 (EDT)

VGM Input

Hi. Seems like File:VGM Input (Winamp) v0.40.8.zip is not in_vgm (Winamp plugin), but standalone player. Real in_vgm is here Bugmenot (talk) 10:41, 30 October 2018 (EDT)

Thanks for the heads-up Bugmenot. I've reverted the player back to the older version. I think I got that new player from ValleyBell's site, but it's currently down right now. Once it comes back up, I'll figure out the mystery. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 16:50, 31 October 2018 (EDT)
in_vgm 0.40.8 now available here and here Bugmenot (talk) 05:34, 22 November 2018 (EST)
Thanks, I've updated the file here. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 10:11, 28 November 2018 (EST)

Forum

Looking at some older user talk pages, it appears there used to be a forum on VGMPF. Whatever happened to that? --PDXmatt (talk) 12:48, 2 January 2019 (EST)

Years ago, a developer created an extension for MediaWiki which seamlessly added a forum to the Wiki. Unlike an external forum, there was no need to create a new user account or maintain a separate website because it was all integrated into the Wiki. Unfortunately, the developer stopped maintaining the extension, and it became incompatible after a MediaWiki update. I have yet to see a suitable replacement. I was considering this one, but it hasn't been updated in years, and I don't want to spend a lot of time setting one up only to see it fall apart like the last one. However, there is a Facebook group for VGMPF editors. I haven't made it public yet, but you're welcome to join. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 13:49, 2 January 2019 (EST)
I was just curious, it's too bad there isn't a more current forum extension for MediaWiki. I sent a request to the FaceBook group, though I admit I'm not on FaceBook a lot. --PDXmatt (talk) 14:05, 2 January 2019 (EST)
If you are still considering, the extension has been updated in March (though its page was not updated until October). It seems you'd have to update to MediaWiki 1.31+ though. --Professor Chaos (talk) 13:26, 20 November 2019 (EST)

A little request for an Adminship (for Cancer)

Greets!

Since I've been a reliant user on this wiki, upon adding so many game OSTs and trimming numerous pages, maybe you'd raise my access to delete things... such as unwanted file redirections..? Thanks so much! :)

I'm Currently wishing to upload a recording of a better audio device than General MIDI of an already existant game. In this case it deserves to move the .ogg's to accomodate the track num, then perhaps it's essential to alter the tag data of each of the audio files. Later on, re-uploading again and deleting the uneeded stuff like redirect. Not sure whether the latter step is quite necessary but doing this may result in the time the songs listened/downloaded being reset (dunno how this thing works on the site but that's a risk).

What suggestions will be about the aforementioned? --Cancer (talk) 11:11, 9 January 2019 (EST)

You've done a lot of great work on this site, and you absolutely deserve to have more rights. I've made you a PowerUser which gives you the ability to delete files and pages, rename files and pages, and makes it easier to you to rollback changes. Which game were you going to add a better recording to? --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 11:20, 11 January 2019 (EST)
Whoa, thank you! That's cool!
I uploaded UltraSound versions of songs from Heretic (DOS) located at '1' and '2' prefixes (original patch set and lite respectively) --Cancer (talk) 11:34, 11 January 2019 (EST)

Companies' Freelance Audio Personnel?

Hi! A question about Editing Rules: Companies#Audio Personnel. To be listed under the Audio Personnel section of a Company page, does a person have had to be employed exclusively, or do freelancers go in there as well? For example, CRL Group used to outsource their audio to Clever Music (company ran by Robert Hartshorne and Graham Jarvis) who at the same time worked for other companies, but later, CRL said bye to Clever Music and had one of their full-time programmers, Jay Derrett, do their audio. So when creating a page for CRL, would I list Derrett alone, or Derrett and Clever Music, or Derrett, Hartshorne and Jarvis? --Professor Chaos (talk) 23:17, 31 March 2019 (EDT)

Good question! In the list, include any employees, outsourced individuals, and outsourced groups (but not a complete list of individuals). So, in this example, CRL Group's personnel would be Jay Derrett and Clever Music. This seems to make the most sense to me because, if we listed the entire personnel of every out-sourced group, the list could get very large for some companies. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 16:32, 4 April 2019 (EDT)
Great, also the "more important contracted" part on the guide! What you say about "very large" is probably especially true for developers who took submissions, and for publishers. Take Activision for example, they had the home computer conversion rights to R-Type, but outsourced the actual C64 and Amiga development to Rainbow Arts. Rainbow Arts themselves assigned their two in-house musicians to do all C64 music and the Amiga intro music, while hiring a then-small but now-famous group (Factor 5) to develop the actual Amiga game. And Factor 5 in turn asked a personal friend (not member) to do the Amiga in-game music. For other platforms, Activision hired other companies... don't know the details now, not that they belong right here anyway, but I guess it shows enough how lists could grow. :-) For clarity, would Rainbow Arts (if among "the more important") be in Activision's audio personnel and Factor 5 only in Rainbow Arts' audio personnel? --Professor Chaos (talk) 15:35, 6 April 2019 (EDT)
Actually, I've now added 6 people (now there are 10) to the Rainbow Arts page, added their jobs, years, and "freelance" and "full-time" wherever I know. And one more thing, from what I understood, Hülsbeck has only worked directly for Rainbow Arts until 1991, but Factor 5 kept doing games for Rainbow Arts and contracted Hülsbeck themselves until 1993, so I've written "Hülsbeck ... - 1991" rather than "-1993". What do you think about the page and all the above? --Professor Chaos (talk) 19:31, 7 April 2019 (EDT)
I'm sure some of the programs that have been around for decades and did a lot of out-sourcing are going to have extensive lists. I like what you've done with Rainbow Arts. Regarding Rainbow Art and Factor 5: if Factor 5 never worked directly with Activision, but only for the sub-contracted Rainbow Arts, just put them on the Rainbow Arts page. I'm sure Activision is going to have a big enough list considering how many games they've produced. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 13:34, 9 April 2019 (EDT)

Question

Need any more admins? I'm interested! --Vermont (talk) 08:57, 27 September 2019 (EDT)

Hi Vermont! I'd love to make you an admin, but we need to be confident that you're familiar with how we do things here at the VGMPF. Please record and upload a few soundtracks, add a couple composers, update a few pages, and things like that to prove you know what you're doing. After that, I can raise your privileges! --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 13:10, 1 October 2019 (EDT)
Hello! Strangely, seems my e-mail about that did not arrive to you. May I ask for administrator priviledges? That would simplify things like pages re-naming and automatically removing the incorrect redirects to the new ones. Thanks for your responce in advance, M1911 (talk) 16:25, 1 October 2019 (EDT)
Got you covered M1911! --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 16:32, 1 October 2019 (EDT)
Thanks again! --M1911 (talk) 04:21, 3 October 2019 (EDT)

Delete 6 redirects?

Could you, Dean, or any power user who reads this, please delete these redirects: earl_of_Dawn_-_C64_-_Germany.jpg&redirect=no      ? They are based on misnames only and corrected usually just minutes later. --Professor Chaos (talk) 09:39, 1 December 2019 (EST)

M1911 did, thanks! --Professor Chaos (talk) 13:07, 2 December 2019 (EST)
Thanks, Professor Chaos! --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 13:57, 2 December 2019 (EST)
I'm afraid I've done it again...! <:) Could someone please delete this, or maybe, Dean, could I have the deletion right, too? --Professor Chaos (talk) 13:49, 8 December 2019 (EST)
You should have delete rights now! --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 10:40, 9 December 2019 (EST)
Yes, it works, thanks! --Professor Chaos (talk) 13:51, 11 December 2019 (EST)

Series dates?

I've recently added a video game series (started 1987) based on a comic series (started 1958). In the infobox I initially wrote 1958 but was corrected to 1987. I guess either makes sense. But then I remembered you wrote 1973 (rather than 1985) on The Rocky Horror Show. I wonder if you could clarify, also on the guide, which date it should be? --Professor Chaos (talk) 16:38, 2 December 2019 (EST)

Since the caption is for when the series was "founded," it is proper to put the date of the first release of any form of media, even if it wasn't a video game. I'll make a note of this in the guide. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 10:47, 9 December 2019 (EST)

Games w/o sound

Hey, Dean! How about to create an article similar to List of Games Without Music which should be called List of Games Without Sound? I'm acquainted with several games which lack any sound indeed (but may have music without any sound effect, really). --Cancer (talk) 14:12, 4 January 2020 (EST)

Okay, feel free to start it up. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 14:03, 7 January 2020 (EST)

MobyGames watermarks

I mentioned this on the Needs Cleaner Box Art Category talk page but no one ever responded, MobyGames apparently stopped putting watermarks on their images, so all of the box art from there with a watermark should probably be replaced. I've been meaning to go through them myself, but keep putting it off. --PDXmatt (talk) 06:38, 11 January 2020 (EST)

You are correct. Every time I go back and modify the soundtracks I've uploaded in the past, I fix the old scans. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 21:31, 12 January 2020 (EST)

MP3 Recordings

I used to be big into recording music for my personal collection with several dozen games I personally recorded, most which are not on the site yet, including one on the most wanted list. But the vast majority of these are in MP3 format as they either preceded Vorbis or simply because MP3 was the de facto standard for a long time. And as many of these preceded large hard drives, I have very few lossless masters. Can MP3 uploads be allowed, or should I transcode them and accept the loss of quality that results? --Quantam (talk) 01:27, 11 April 2020 (EDT)

Hello Quantum, sorry about the delay in response. We usually only allow MP3 when the game used the format natively, and prefer Vorbis for consistency, but we can make some exceptions if needed. If the audio already exists in one of the more popular ripped formats like VGM, NSF, SPC, etc., or CD audio, then please just re-record them into Vorbis. We have a pretty easy-to-follow guide for how to do so. If you're missing the ripped music, please list the game, and maybe someone here can find a copy of the rip. However, if there is no easy way to re-record the music and nobody can find the original, then we can use MP3 until someone makes a replacement. Please consult me first before uploading though. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 14:19, 14 April 2020 (EDT)
There are SPC versions of the music readily available. Would you prefer emulator/SPC player recorded Ogg versions, or MP3 versions recorded directly from the console (I don't have a flash cart so I can't play SPCs on the console)? --Quantam (talk) 17:26, 14 April 2020 (EDT)
If you use foobar2000 and follow the foobar2000 Conversion Setup guide, you can convert SPC files to Vorbis very quickly. The Game Emu Player plugin has highly accurate SNES audio emulation, and, once you have proper song lengths set the SPC meta tags, conversion to Vorbis only takes a few seconds. Once the files are converted to Vorbis, foorbar2000 also makes adding meta data to the whole soundtrack very easy, and then you can also use the Make List program to create the Wiki table. If you have any questions anywhere in the process, just let me know, and I can help. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 10:49, 16 April 2020 (EDT)

VAG and HERAD SCD Icons

I'm not sure who is in charge of this kind of thing, but we need icons for the SCD and VAG formats. SCD is the Sega CD version of HERAD, and VAG is 1. the native hardware-decoded PS2 audio compression format (a type of ADPCM and evolution of PS1's XA compression format) and 2. a specific file format (VAG-compressed data + a file-format-specific header) used by some PS2 games. For that matter, we could also use an icon for PS1's XA, though until writing this I wasn't planning on writing up a description of that. --Quantam (talk)

Anyone is welcome to make them as long as they follow the existing template. I can make them if you give me a general idea of what type of image should be used. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 10:33, 22 April 2020 (EDT)
What is the standard font name and size for the lettering in format icons?--Quantam (talk) 18:39, 22 April 2020 (EDT)
The editing rules for Formats, in the section Icons, has the details as well as templates for a couple graphic editors. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 21:42, 25 April 2020 (EDT)

Can We Get a Bulk Upload Feature?

It's quite cumbersome to upload many dozens of music files for some of the games, especially RPGs. Could we get a bulk upload option? I see there are a variety of MediaWiki extensions for it, though I don't know anything about them (nor about administering a MediaWiki).

Hi, User:Quantam. I am capable of adding a bulk upload extension, but, so far, I haven't found a good one. A few years ago I installed the most popular one, but most of the users hated it (myself included) and asked me to remove it. It turned off the normal upload feature, removed the ability to add comments/categories to files during the upload process, and was just clunky to use. I know what a pain it is to have to manually upload a large soundtrack, so, if someone could suggest a decent one, I'd certainly install it. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 11:13, 29 June 2020 (EDT)

Recording Guide

Hi, I'm currently writing this page: SID - Recording Guide, hope it's ok I'm writing a guide already. Questions:

  1. Is it too long actually? Is it at risk being out of the scope of VGMPF?
  2. How about a PAL/NTSC Recording Guide page? After all, it concerns the Commodore 64, Amiga, NES and probably Atari 2600 and Atari 8-bit altogether.
  3. Should any games be recorded at PAL and NTSC? Examples:
    • Donald Duck's Playground (C64) was made for NTSC, but also released in PAL with zero adjustments (i.e. I grew with up with 19% slower music! Also, a semitone lower.).
    • Yie Ar Kung-Fu II (C64) was made for PAL, but also released in NTSC with a quick adjustment (i.e. on NTSC, it plays not 19% faster but 0.5% slower, but still a semitone higher).
    • StarTrash (C64) was made for PAL and the game glitches a bit on NTSC.

--Professor Chaos (talk) 13:54, 29 June 2020 (EDT)

This looks like a good start, and I'm glad someone with expertise in the intricacies of the C64 is working on it! To answer your questions:
  1. It should be as long as it needs to be. If the page grows too big, we can always create sub-pages for the more technical aspects. Generally, you want to give enough information to answer all the basic questions.
  2. Yes, there should definitely be a page dedicated to the differences between the clock speeds of the PAL and NTSC (and perhaps SECAM if necessary), and how to adjust recording software to accommodate it.
  3. For those games which have different tempos in different regions, there should be alternate recordings. Just provide each one with a different album number the same way we handle recordings with multiple sound cards (for example, Doom (DOS)).
--TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 11:34, 6 July 2020 (EDT)
I dun it! I realized I can easily move the recordings from SID - Recording Guide to 6581 and link there. After more moving around, it looks so much better.
Also created: NTSC/PAL - Recording Guide (P.S. I've written (in other words) that even if a game was only published for NTSC, PAL gamers could have bought it overseas, ran at home so we should still record it for PAL -- I forgot to ask you beforehand if you want that.).
Also, M1911 and I have been talking and got a question: How many different recordings of a soundtrack should we do? And we don't even mean PAL/NTSC, but:
  • The fact that C64s can sound awfully different. (Like 6581#Examples and first 26 seconds in 1 and 2.)
  • The fact that Windows MIDI files can sound awfully different.
My initial intent was to only include the arranger's intent. If I couldn't tell what it was, I included all, like on Impossible Mission II (C64).
(Side note: Finding the arranger's intent on Windows 3 MIDI is sometimes possible: When I first played Dare to Dream, I heard its MIDI music through Windows 3's bad AdLib driver. Sounded quite good, still does. But now with any proper MIDI, the songs have so different volumes I regularly reach for the volume switch, and some melodies still can't be heard at all! The music was obviously meant for that bad driver. Probably same with Dracula In London (W16)!)
Now the question: As many YouTube videos and comments show, people may have grown up with (or first heard) a wrong version, and may get confused by the correct version, or even prefer the wrong version! But on what C64 emulations and Windows MIDI drivers would we record then? All of the world? The most popular/likely ones? The different extremes (P.S. in case of C64, the best-sounding 6581 and one 8580), perhaps only well-sounding ones? --Professor Chaos (talk) 14:15, 11 July 2020 (EDT)
We should record soundtracks based on how they would have been heard around the time the game was released. So, Windows 3 soundtracks should be recorded with devices like the AdLib, Sound Blaster, and Roland MT-32, but not with a Sound Blaster AWE64. Likewise, it should be based on consumer hardware. Now doubt, a $10,000 professional MIDI synthesizer in 1990 would have sounded much better than an AdLib, but how many gamers actually had one? Since this site is primarily meant to be a historical site rather than an entertainment site, we should focus on the original sound. I love hearing an old MIDI file played on modern hardware as much as the next fan, but we have to draw the line somewhere. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 17:07, 13 July 2020 (EDT)
These are good cues of course, but I wasn't really after modern hardware. Sorry, I guess I wrote complicated. I'll try 2 specific questions:
  1. When Impossible Mission II (C64) was released in 1988, there were already two major versions of the SID chip out there: 6581 and 8580. And gamers got either a C64 with a 6581 or a C64 with an 8580. I wrote on the Impossible Mission II (C64) page:
    On the 6581, the theme sounds choppy and stealthy, whereas on the revision 8580, the theme sounds fuller and dramatic. At least until the arrangers' respective original settings are known, all are recorded.
    Yet it's exactly the same audio data and code. No hardware detection or so, just two SID chip versions understanding the same data differently. Now, I understand we keep both PAL and NTSC because it was published in both regions, but now imagine: If the original developers told us the music was made for 8580, would we delete the 6581 recordings?
  2. DragonStrike (C64) was originally made and published for NTSC. I can't find if it was actually published for PAL, but:
    (a) it was reviewed in a professional German magazine, with screenshot,
    (b) a PAL gamer could have made a holiday in the USA, bought it there, and played it home.
    Is either (a) or (b) enough to record DragonStrike (C64) for both NTSC and PAL? --Professor Chaos (talk) 14:55, 14 July 2020 (EDT)
For Impossible Mission II, even if the developers said they made the soundtrack specifically for the 8580, the real question is, did the people who bought and played the game ever hear the music on a 6581? If so, we should keep both recordings. For DragonStrike, SSI was a pretty big publisher, so, if a PAL version was released, we should be able to find it. If we can't find it, that means it probably was never published in a PAL region, and shouldn't have a PAL recording. It was rare for reviewers to get early copies and write about them, only to have the game canceled at the last minute, but it did happen. However, if a PAL prototype surfaces, we can record that. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 15:43, 21 July 2020 (EDT)
Thanks, understood. I deleted an item from NTSC/PAL - Recording Guide and will see what to write about 6581/8580 (they were always equally popular). Now the following should be the last question I hope. :-)
Now, 6581 or 8580, that's only a choice of two. But SID went much worse than that: a SID chip has a built-in filter, which arrangers could turn on whenever they liked, but on every C64, the filter sounded different. Here are three MP3s of the same game song (exactly the same data and code) played on three different real C64s - let's call them R3, R4 and R5. You should hear that the guitar at 0:00 goes deeper and deeper on every C64, but at 0:17 everything goes normal. It is believed that the first recording is closest to arranger Tim Follin's own C64. But buying a C64 really was a surprise bag: One gamer bought a C64 and got the sound of R4, another bought a C64 and got the sound of R5, another got a sound between R3 and R4, another heard an even quieter guitar than on R3... I can't rule out that a few may have heard no guitar! The filter was really that bad in the 1980s already, and sooner or later programmers, arrangers and gamer learned about it, but could do nothing about it (well, gamers could buy themselves another different-sounding C64, but... not likely).
Nowadays, decent SID emulators have an option to adjust the filter to any C64 that existed, which means that VGMPF could record the same song dozens of times (yes, really so many) to match the C64s which gamers may have had in the 1980s -- but this sounds over the top to me? My own plan was to record only with the filter setting that sounds "decent" (as in "what the arranger may have wanted", which I think is also part of history). What is your stance on this? --Professor Chaos (talk) 14:23, 23 July 2020 (EDT)
Yeah, I don't think we should record dozens of similar songs with only minor variations in the filter. When it comes down to this level, pick your favorite sounding one and go with it. If the site's visitors want to hear it in a bunch of other formats, they'll have to re-record it themselves. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 16:34, 6 August 2020 (EDT)

Large number of recordings problem (Simon the Sorcerer 2)

Hi, Dean! I spotted an issue in my recently created soundtrack page for Simon the Sorcerer II. The number of songs for each output device extends beyond the 100 (which is the world record on this site!). Apparantly, this breaks some of the parsing engine and gives me an error: Warning: This page contains too many expensive parser function calls. It should have less than 300 calls, there are now 936 calls.

The song number 1101 (and the all following it) cannot be listened. Still, they can be downloaded. Is it possbile to somehow avoid this? --Cancer (talk) 16:15, 13 September 2020 (EDT)

Thanks for bringing this up to me. It looks like it's a problem with the template and how it tries to pad track numbers with zeroes. Give me a little time and I'll see what we can do to fix it. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 11:33, 14 September 2020 (EDT)
I had to increase the limits of the server to accomdate the 553 tracks, but everything looks good on the page now. Just don't find a game with 600 tracks and we should be set! :-D --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 14:36, 21 September 2020 (EDT)
I hardly believe there exists one =) Anyway, am gonna have a special short-time recover... the helluva num of songs caused slight headache:P (the ost is not bad, no.. but some much of arduous work that was). --Cancer (talk) 16:37, 21 September 2020 (EDT)
I completely understand! I'll sometimes go in stints where I do a dozen soundtracks in a row, and then get burned out for awhile! So glad to have wonderful people like you keeping the site going after all these years! --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 22:00, 21 September 2020 (EDT)

David Warhol question

Hi The AlmightyGuru, because David Warhol taught him updating the SNES driver for the games AAAHH!!! Real Monsters (SNES), Big Sky Trooper (SNES) and FIFA: Road to World Cup 98 (SNES), he used SLICK/Audio from Bitmasters. --Duc4Wikmedia (talk) 13:39, 21 September 2020 (EDT)

Hello Duc4Wikmedia. I'm not entirely sure what you're saying, but if you have new information about how David Warhol composed music on the SNES, please add that information under the SNES section on his composer page. Thanks! --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 13:54, 21 September 2020 (EDT)
You're welcome! --Duc4Wikmedia (talk) 14:02, 21 September 2020 (EDT)

Five Songs of the Month

Greetings again:) I've noticed the toplist wasn't updated since April. How's about having rejuvenated it again, as am curious what best are they now:) --Cancer (talk) 16:32, 22 September 2020 (EDT)

Thanks for the reminder. I get so busy, I often forget about that. There were a couple interesting months. August was big for Bobby Prince and June saw a lot of new NES titles. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 12:11, 23 September 2020 (EDT)
Doom (DOS)'s tracks are dug well these days... and speaking about AoE reveals nothing but simply an all-time favorite. --Cancer (talk) 16:00, 24 September 2020 (EDT)

Question

How many games by Teeny Weeny Games have developer credits? I believe 11 (including Fido Dido). Five of them did not have credits like that, including the NES Last Action Hero and GB Xenon 2 games. --Duc4Wikmedia (talk) 10:07, 25 September 2020 (EDT)

I think the credits for The Simpsons: Bartman Meets Radioactive Man (GG) appeared to be incomplete. It just lists the programmer Nick Pelling, and that's it. There are no graphic artist, production, or audio credits at all. --Duc4Wikmedia (talk) 10:12, 25 September 2020 (EDT)

Xenon 2 Question

I have to hear it. Although David Whittaker composed the music for most platforms of Xenon 2: Megablast, the reason why David composed the music for the Game Boy version, just because TWG's usual Nintendo composer Marshall Parker taught him arranging Bomb the Bass' soundtrack from the Amiga version. Parker himself has done some good arrangements for the Game Boy and NES, like the Tom & Jerry theme, the Smash T.V. soundtrack and the Choplifter III soundtrack (which was originally derived from the SNES version). --Duc4Wikmedia (talk) 22:49, 25 September 2020 (EDT)

Mega Man 2 music description sources

Hello Mr. TheAlmightyGuru,

Please forgive me, but I have recently stumbled across an interview with Takashi Tateishi which clashes with some of the information you added to the Mega Man 2 page in late 2019. I just wanted to make sure according to which sources Tateishi repurposed some unnaproved music for Cocoron and Wily Stage 1 was the first approved theme? Thank you very much!

Hello VML, the additions I made in 2019 were from an interview of Tateishi I attended at MAG Fest, so it came directly from Tateishi (through an interperter). Could you provide a link to the interview you're speaking of so I can compare the two? Also, when you leave a message on someone's talk page, be sure to add a signature so they can easily tell who left the message. You can do this by typing "--~~~~", or by clicking the signature button at the top of the edit box in the edit page. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 09:39, 30 November 2020 (EST)

Large images?

Hi! Some minutes ago, I uploaded these four pictures:

Unfortunately, these files won't download at all. Granted, they are big; still, it is strange, because 4 months ago, I uploaded the following and it always worked fine:

What is the best to do? --Professor Chaos (talk) 15:01, 11 July 2021 (EDT)

Could you email them to me: thealmightyguru at gmail dot com. I just want to try and see if it has something to do with user rights. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 16:48, 13 July 2021 (EDT)
Thanks! The problem was with the size of the images. Although they're well-within the file-size limit as compressed JEPGs, once they were decompressed in memory when the server tried to make them into thumbnails, they were too large. I increased the memory allowance and they load correctly now. Thanks for letting me know about the problem, and great work finding such good high-resolution photos or such a rare item! --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 16:21, 14 July 2021 (EDT)
Thank you too! --Professor Chaos (talk) 17:46, 14 July 2021 (EDT)

Commodore 128 separate platform?

Last month I added a discussion on Talk:Commodore 64 and am now asking you if I may/should go ahead with the necessary edits? Details are of course on that talk page, but in short, as it's now, I'm thinking to:

  1. add a row with "C128" and note "Only create a different page if the soundtrack differs" to List of Platform Abbreviations (A-N)
  2. move Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny (C64) to Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny (C128) with redirect
  3. replace wikilinks to The Rocky Horror Show (C128) by The Rocky Horror Show (C64) (C128 version has much better graphics and a few more rooms, but same audio)
  4. in the future, create a page for The Last V8 (C64) and put both C64 and C128 rips there (C128 version has one more level and all-different speech than The Last V8 (C64), but otherwise same music and sfx)

Okay or other thoughts? --Professor Chaos (talk) 20:50, 8 August 2021 (EDT)

Boy, am I late responding to this one! My philosophy for platforms on this site has evolved a little over the years, but I've kind of settled on a certain view: separate platforms should exist for all platforms that had games designed specifically for them. For example, IBM may have viewed the PC, AT, and XT as separate platforms, but most software would run the same on all three. For the Commodores, yes, nearly every game made could run on a 64, but there were still several dozen titles programmed with the C128 in mind. The fact that the C128 was backward compatible and used the same audio hardware as the C64 complicates things, but I still think they were different enough. Because of this, they should indeed exist as separate platforms on this site.
Regarding your specific points:
  1. I've added a separate platform icon for the C128.
  2. Ultima V should indeed be moved to a C128 page only and the C64 should redirect to it. Since that was my recording, I will handle the move.
  3. Since there isn't any new music on the C128 version, The Rocky Horror Show should remain as a C64 game. Since the C128 game has identical music, there is no sense to create a whole new page just for a couple screenshots. Some C128 screenshots can be added to the C64 page, and a redirect for the C128 game should be made.
  4. I'm not familiar with The Last V8, but I would say, if the only thing that differs between the C64 and C128 is a couple speech samples, but the music remains the same, we only need one page. The speech samples of the C128 version should be extracted and added to the rip on the C64 page with a note describing their origin.
All great, thanks! --Professor Chaos (talk) 19:27, 30 August 2021 (EDT)

5 Songs of the Month

Hello. I have a few questions about that rating system.

  1. The page says "The lists are compiled based on the total number of times a song is listened to and/or downloaded from the site at the end of the month", but I still do not know - it's about the total number from the very beginning of the site or the monthly number of downloads and so on?
  2. What do you think about the page User:M1911/Songs of the Month? Can it be transformed into something on the "main site's space", in your opinion? --M1911 (talk) 12:38, 15 September 2021 (EDT)
  1. The list is based on server access, both downloading the song and listening to it from the site increases the number. Also, the count is refreshed anew each month. We see a lot of repeats just because people keep listening to the same songs over and over again.
  2. I think that's a great idea. If you're willing to update the list each month when I updated the top 5 songs list, we can make it into a standard page and I'll create a link to it from the main page. Let me know. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 10:01, 16 September 2021 (EDT)
Updating a page from time to time and allowing other people to do so seems quite probable. Btw, do that "Track 01 from Mech Warrior 2 (W32)" mentioned both by me on the top of that page and by the Top 5 list itself exists now? If yes, then I could add it. --M1911 (talk) 13:42, 16 September 2021 (EDT)
Okay, the new page is Songs of the Month by game. There is a link to it from the Top 5 Songs of the Month as well as a link from the main page. It would help if you deleted your page to prevent confusion. The Mech Warrior 2 page is missing because my recording of the soundtrack became corrupt awhile back, and I haven't gotten around to re-ripping it. I still own the game, and I'll get to it eventually. Go ahead and add it to the page, that way, when I do finally add it back, the links will become active. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 14:07, 16 September 2021 (EDT)

Icon for J2B file format

I uploaded the Jazz 2 rip in its original format (which some module players support as-is), so I'm wondering whether it deserves its own file icon? The game uses a custom module format for all its songs, with the .J2B extension. I had a go at doing my own image but I don't have the right font installed so it won't look right. I was thinking of cloning File:MOD.png and putting Jazz's head over the top of it. -- Malvineous (talk) 07:54, 20 October 2021 (EDT)

I've created a format icon similar to your specifications. It has the head of Jazz. I tried to fit it into a chip to make it similar to MOD, but shrinking it down distorted it too much. I think this one turned out pretty good. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 10:55, 25 October 2021 (EDT)

Sheet music with 12 pages?

User:Жукороп just created the page Hallelujah (George Handel song)#Sheet Music, but, as he says in his summary, the 12th page of sheet music does not show and he can only hope someone fixes it. So I looked and saw that Template:SheetMusic includes only 11 pages. What to do here? --Professor Chaos (talk) 16:12, 8 November 2021 (EST)

All set! Thanks for letting me know. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 08:05, 9 November 2021 (EST)

Spam

Just see Special:Diff/142202... reverted the actual edit but can't revert whodunit... --Professor Chaos (talk) 13:31, 1 December 2021 (EST)

Thanks, I've banned them. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 10:59, 8 December 2021 (EST)

European vs. American titles

If a game has different names for US or EU releases which of two should we take in an infobox/page/ogg tags? (E. g., 007: James Bond - The Stealth Affair for US or simply Operation Stealth ) --Cancer (talk) 12:05, 1 December 2021 (EST)

I'm not TheAlmightyGuru, but can say that this case is treated differently. For example, US name for platfrom Sega Genesis instead of international Sega Mega Drive - but international name for the game Driller instead of Space Station Oblivion.
So, if this is the platform dependent (a platform is more popular in PAL regions), in my case Operation Stealth (DOS) was released for three different platforms which would create "multinomen" pages of the same game. --Cancer (talk) 12:56, 1 December 2021 (EST)
How about where the game was originally made? For example, Geoff Crammond created The Sentinel (BBC) on a platform that was only ever sold in PAL, but the C64 port made it to both PAL (also as "The Sentinel") and NTSC (as "The Sentry"). By the way, for a non-English example, "Bob Morane" is French, but some ports made it to the UK as "Lee Enfield" and those pages could be titled as such by the VGMPF. If a port of "Bob Morane" did not make it to the UK, then this port's page will require the French title. --Professor Chaos (talk) 13:31, 1 December 2021 (EST)
Hi guys, sorry I'm late to the party, I've been on vacation. I've updated the editing rules for titles which you can see here. Basically, use the first published English title unless a later release has greatly surpassed it in popularity. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 11:23, 8 December 2021 (EST)

Is this acceptable?

Hi. I couldn't find anything about it in Editing Rules, so I thought I'd better ask first; can I put information on a composer page about what other jobs he worked? E.g.: "Jones tried many different occupations including drying paint watcher and dog food taster, until eventually finding his niche as a musician in January 1991". --Жукороп (talk) 15:24, 23 March 2022 (EDT)

Oh, nevermind. I've re-checked the rules and realized that listing other person's employments is ok. By the way, may I also ask how did you recorded the music from Atari 2600 games, like Frogger (A26) and Pitfall! (A26)? I'd like to make a few recordings myself, too. --Жукороп (talk) 06:24, 2 April 2022 (EDT)
Sorry about the long delay. For the Atari 2600 soundtracks, since a suitable rip format doesn't yet exist for the platform, I simply recorded the audio from the emulator during game play. Very few Atari games have complex soundtracks, so it's pretty easy to record a full one in only a couple minutes. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 17:00, 12 April 2022 (EDT)
Thanks. One last thing; what do you think about adding the Translate extension to VGMPF? I personally would be happy to translate a few pages into Bulgarian. --Жукороп (talk) 09:37, 14 April 2022 (EDT)
I think I can do that. I'll have to look into it what it requires to add, but, if it's not too hard, I don't see why we can't begin branching out into other languages. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 09:34, 22 April 2022 (EDT)
I guess I could do that with Russian, too. No promises, though. --M1911 (talk) 14:16, 22 April 2022 (EDT)

Power User rights request

Hi again. Deeply sorry for bothering you with a question like this, but I think I've been a pretty reliant user lately, contributing many game OSTs and cleaning up old pages on this site for almost a year, Sometimes, I come across orphaned files or unused redirects which are no longer needed, so can I have deletion rights to be able to remove them? --Жукороп (talk) 14:45, 10 May 2022 (EDT)

Absolutely, you've been a very helpful contributor! Please respond back and verify that you are now a power user. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 15:51, 11 May 2022 (EDT)
Thanks a lot! Everything works. --Жукороп (talk) 16:10, 11 May 2022 (EDT)

Very suspicious behavior of BuddyBoy600alt

Hello. I feel there is a large need in taking some action against this editor.

  1. The prevailing majority of his entries are of very unworthy quality (very bad language, wrong file names, wrong page formatting), and he was caught in a lots of attempts of creating pages that are woefully out of any VGMPF formatting. That's not necessarily vandalism (although probably lowering the "average quality of the wiki", but...
  2. Recently I found that he (probably deliberately) has spreaded direct misinformation in the VGMPF articles in a very special form: creating entries and pages for "Apple IIGS" ports of many old videogame series, when they don't exist. Check some Жукороп edits from 10 May where he undoes lots of such entries. That seems to be much more serious.
  3. To aid my point further: Hurkle Hunt (DOS) and Robots from Hell (DOS) both feature Roland M32 music, when the game setup explicitly states it only features PC Speaker soundtrack.
  4. Btw, I'm not the only one who noticed it. Just look here User talk:BuddyBoy600alt and Talk:Robots from Hell (DOS). He seems to refuse to even explain himself.

Honestly, for me it seems that he doesn't even take our site seriously. Or probably he is a more deliberate vandal, who seems to fill our wiki with blatant mystifications. I suggest to take some action and, even though painstakingly, revert most of his suspicious edits. --M1911 (talk) 18:27, 16 May 2022 (EDT)

Hi, just some points from me on what I have found regarding Robots from Hell (DOS) game. There is an article on Wikipedia which was created by the same user (you can see history of changes - user BuddyBoy600). There is external link as a source for MT-32 support, but it only has a video, which also was uploaded by the very same user. This exact user also uploaded that (very likely edited) video in these places:
There is a related comment on the original gameplay video which says the user just shoehorned the music, which is not original to the game.
I guess this is just an Internet troll who attempts to rewrite the history of videogame music.
This really needs some attention, as we also have exactly the same situation with Hurkle Hunt (DOS) game (the recording doesn't sound even close to MT-32, it's just Sound Canvas), and maybe some others. --binarymaster (talk) 20:01, 16 May 2022 (EDT)
He added some more misinformation about non-existing A2GS DuckTales port. Just banned him indefinitely until we find out if other actions are needed to be taken. Sadly, it seems that all his submissions need to be revisited and even taken down if needed, would be a long thing. --M1911 (talk) 04:48, 17 May 2022 (EDT)
He also created two articles for fake Atari 8-bit ports, too; The Three Stooges (A8) and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? (A8). I think the guy genuinely wants to contribute, but has no idea how MediaWiki works, which is really unfortunate. --Жукороп (talk) 06:22, 17 May 2022 (EDT)
Thanks for keeping an eye on this. I'll try to keep monitoring it as well. It looks like he's been doing this for years in other Wikis, so I doubt he'll suddenly figure it out. If he doesn't start following the rules, we'll just have to ban him permanently. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 10:33, 26 May 2022 (EDT)

Lemmings

Hi. I noticed this just now; the original Lemmings game apparently has so many ports that they exceed the series template's entry limit. When you will have time, could you please fix this if possible? Thanks in advance. --Жукороп (talk) 14:05, 15 June 2022 (EDT)

I have updated the template to display up to 30 platforms in a row. But now it overflows on my screen :D --binarymaster (talk) 14:37, 15 June 2022 (EDT)
Oh, alright. I forgot that you can edit templates too... Hopefully Guru won't mind. --Жукороп (talk) 16:10, 15 June 2022 (EDT)
Thanks Жукороп and Binarymaster. Wow, you know a game has become a cultural touchstone when it gets 25 ports! --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 09:16, 16 June 2022 (EDT)

Questions...again

  1. Can we have music tracks (recorded using three playthroughs) that are 17-20 mins long??
  2. Some game ports may have a bad arrangement setup appeared originally in another port. For example, those may sound *cacophonically* (improper octaves, etc.) as a result of a bad conversion to another music format/platform.
  3. If a game features different sound throughout ports/versions and only has slightly different features, like having different cursor, can we safely use same screenshots of one game per every port w/o uploading new?

--Cancer (talk) 15:33, 16 June 2022 (EDT)

Allow me to add:
  1. User:M1911 asked something similar above (26:17); the only problem was that the quality was too high and therefore, the Ogg file too big. The longest I know is 32 minutes (yes, one loop).
  2. Do you mean to ask what to do if a game messes up a soundtrack that is otherwise fine? Situations like on BugBomber (DOS) and Locomotion (DOS)? I wrote there how every gamer can fix this very simply, and re-recorded it like that. TheAlmightyGuru's original recordings are still there and closer to the originals, but... well, let's await his answer :)
--Professor Chaos (talk) 15:52, 16 June 2022 (EDT)
  1. Songs of any length are permitted (just keep the timing rules in mind). The bottleneck isn't the length, but the file size. My web host has a limit on the size of file uploads and I can't change that. If the song is legitimately 20 minutes long, and the OGG file is too large to upload, try decreasing the quality of the recording until it fits. OGG is pretty good at maintaining sound quality at low levels, so it may not even be noticeable.
  2. Our site is first and foremost a historical site. Personally, I love it when hackers discover how to fix bugs in old games, but the goal of the VGMPF is to preserve game music, not make it better. This means we should record the music as-is, bugs included. Most of us record the music that we enjoy, so, if you think a soundtrack sounds too awful, skip it and do something you like instead.
  3. Whenever possible, try to get screenshots from the particular port of the game. Even if the graphics look very similar, there may still be subtle differences. I would prefer no screenshots over incorrect screenshots.
--TheAlmightyGuru (talk)
Regarding bugs, I've started adjusting two pages. Are these changes correct?
Locomotion (DOS): I've reverted the recording to your as-is one. Question: Should I also remove the "sound b4a2e" explanation and/or point out something like: the actual ROL file is fine and plays as intended in Visual Composer, Adplug etc.? (Whatever the answer, I'd do the same with BugBomber (DOS) and both games' song pages.)
Menu - Super Trolley: I've recorded the song as choppy as the game's menu makes it, but there's also an unused song. Question: Should I record that unused song just as choppy (because the game would've made it so if used), or, since it's not heard in the game anyway, just record it as the arranger intended (be it by hacking the game after all or playing my own rip in foobar2000)?
Btw, off-topic: On BugBomber (DOS), composer and arranger are different, no doubt, but who should be the artist (Ogg meta data)? (I always thought the artist should be the arranger, but in your Ogg I saw the artist is the composer.)
--Professor Chaos (talk) 19:18, 19 June 2022 (EDT)
Regarding the artist field, here it says:
The Composer data usually matches the Artist field, however there are times when they will differ. For example, if a song was composed by Johann Sebastian Bach, but was heavily arranged by a different composer, you may want to put the arranger's name under Artist, but Bach's name under Composer.
--Жукороп (talk) 07:35, 20 June 2022 (EDT)
  1. For Locomotion, I like the idea of including information about why the bug takes place and how to fix it. You may even want to expand on the explanation for how to fix it so an amateur will be able to follow the instructions.
  2. For Super Trolley, record the song as the arranger intended it. I know that may sound inconsistent, but, since the song was never heard to begin with, we're not presenting a false version of history.
  3. Professor Chaos's note is correct about composers. I'll add; sometimes the arranger will make such a significant change to an existing song, I will include them as a co-composer. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 10:48, 22 June 2022 (EDT)
I'll add my own point: why not having 2 versions of Locomotion and BugBomber, with and without bug? I did something similar, though not the same, in case of C64 section of Ghostbusters Theme and in Arcanoid (C64). --M1911 (talk) 15:20, 22 June 2022 (EDT)
I'm fine with that. I've included the full version of songs that are truncated in games as well. Just, for the title, put the bugged version as the normal song, then add a subtitle of "fixed," or something similar to the fixed one, and put an explanation in the song page. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 11:23, 23 June 2022 (EDT)
Thank you all for replies! All pages now should be alright:
  1. On BugBomber (DOS) and Locomotion (DOS), this is so. On Menu - Super Trolley#Super Trolley (CPC), I used the emulator's debugger; I found that a bit much (unless you guys say otherwise), but the writing in game and song pages will hopefully suggest that the fixes are not based on taste, but on technicalities / logic.
  2. I was hoping for that ;) and I see the logic.
  3. I see. I'm now explaining this to myself like this: ARTIST should not be a carbon copy of COMPOSER and/or ARRANGER, but those who influenced most how it sounds. So I have added the arranger to BugBomber (DOS) because his arrangement is very jazz-like, unlike the original.
--Professor Chaos (talk) 10:58, 25 June 2022 (EDT)

Takamori.Shiho

So, this user just joined a few weeks ago and since then was correcting composer pages as well as creating new ones. However, he also makes additional categories and adds the defaultsort thing so that people are sorted by their surnames. This is no vandalism by any means, nor does it break any of our rules, but stuff like Category:Musicians and Category:Saxists looks a bit questionable. Do you think we should do anything with him? --Жукороп (talk) 06:16, 27 June 2022 (EDT)

Indeed it looks a bit... questionable. I noticed he's also creating game pages (like this: 1, 2, 3), but he does not follow the template or guidelines. He seems primarily interested in adding credits, but does not include any source links or screenshots. --binarymaster (talk) 14:20, 27 June 2022 (EDT)
Category:Saxists is probably not that bad, because some game songs may have been arranged by actually performing; I remember The Sims (W32) having credits like that, and even on the old Ski or Die (DOS), Rob Hubbard recalled that he first composed the backing and then asked EA's IT guy to play his MIDI guitar over it.
But yes, while I see only good faith (and thus was initially afraid to ask), she (yes, female) should have asked beforehand if and how it should be done, also for practical reasons. Just as rhetorical examples: If some of her new categories and/or {DEFAULTSORT:Surname, given name} are worth keeping, they might as well be added to Infobox templates; Category:Musicians should be Category:Performers, and Category:Vocalists might overlap with Category:Voice Actors. Once decided, the already-edited pages would need to be edited again; this loss of time is a bit of a shame and could have been avoided if the first edits hadn't been so hasty. --Professor Chaos (talk) 16:03, 27 June 2022 (EDT)
We're chatting with her about this. Regarding the categories, "musicians" is probably redundant since nearly every page we create for a person on this site is a musician in some capacity. I don't mind the idea of making categories for the different instruments each person plays, but we should probably have a simpler standardization. Instead of "saxist" or "flutist," something like "saxophone players" and "flute players". That way, people who aren't familiar with instrumental terminology can pick it up easily. I think it makes sense to have separate "vocalists" and "voice actors" categories since a lot of singers don't provide voices for characters and a lot of voice actors can't (or don't) sing. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 13:15, 29 June 2022 (EDT)

A few questions

So I just started the Hotel Mario page recently and there are some things that I'm concerned about. It's still being worked on so I didn't add it to the mainspace yet.

  1. There are three more tracks that I deliberately skipped because they are played during the cutscenes and contain unremovable voice clips over them. Are those still worth including? If so, then should French-dubbed versions from the 1995 release be added as well? Also, while comparing its audio data with that of the international releases, I noticed that it appears to play some songs quieter.
  2. Is it okay that I left the stage BGMs as-is? They are all interrupted by the timer sound effect at the end, so I'm not really sure how were they supposed to loop (especially true on the later ones).
  3. Should the RTF format have its own icon? I'm not that good when it comes to image editing, plus I don't have the right font installed.
  4. It says that my rip is too big to upload. What do I do, just not upload it at all?
  5. Generally speaking, is there anything else that I could improve? Maybe the writing, or the track order? Don't be afraid to tell me if something sucks.
  6. I was planning to make some kind of tutorial on extracting/recording the CD-i music (similar to Chaos' SID guide), since there's not that much information out there regarding this. What do you think?

--Жукороп (talk) 16:42, 18 July 2022 (EDT)

  • My opinion: I would include cut scenes with unremovable voice clips as long as they have music in the background. If the file is too large for inclusion even while strongly compressed, then we can't include it due to hosting limitations, would be better to upload somewhere else and provide a link. --M1911 (talk) 05:06, 19 July 2022 (EDT)
  1. If the cutscene has music you can record it, that's your call. However, if it's just a bunch of dialogue or sound effects, don't bother. We're the Video Game Music Preservation Foundation, not Audio.
  2. That's odd. When you play the game, does the sound loop multiple times in the game before playing the timer sound effect? Or did the designers just fix the time of each level to the length of the song?
  3. From what I gather from this document, RTF is a media format used to store audio in video games, so we should include a page and icon for it. I've created the icon for you, it's visible on your test page now.
  4. For rip formats that are already digital (CD, WAV, AUD, MP3, etc.), you shouldn't upload them. The OGG recording will be effectively identical, so it would just be a waste of server space to have duplicate music. Instead, include the steps necessary to extract the audio, and, if someone really wants the files in their original format, they can rip the files themselves.
  5. No, it looks pretty good to me.
  6. Definitely! The more tools we give other people, the more likely they are to rip and record music for the site.
--TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 16:42, 20 July 2022 (EDT)
Thanks for answering.
When you play the game, does the sound loop multiple times in the game before playing the timer sound effect?
Yeah, but not always. Sometimes the second loop doesn't finish properly, like here.
For rip formats that are already digital (CD, WAV, AUD, MP3, etc.), you shouldn't upload them. The OGG recording will be effectively identical, so it would just be a waste of server space to have duplicate music. Instead, include the steps necessary to extract the audio, and, if someone really wants the files in their original format, they can rip the files themselves.
Oh, alright then. I just noticed that some other pages included such rips. --Жукороп (talk) 06:45, 21 July 2022 (EDT)
From the way the level songs are timed, it looks like they're all around 2 minutes. Does the timer warning always play at the 1:30 mark?
The reason I included the WAV files for SimTower is, even though a few of them function like music, they're mostly just sound effects. I didn't bother converting them to OGG since I can't imagine anyone actually wanting to listen to them as music (the longest track is only 6 seconds). Also, since all of the files combined take up less space than a single normal music track, server space wasn't going to be a problem. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 09:23, 25 July 2022 (EDT)
It seems so. I don't think there's some way to make them last longer. I'll check this in cdiemu to ensure. By the way, if you don't mind me asking, I saw that Bionic Commando: Rearmed credits someone named Dean Tersigni in its Special Thanks list. Is this just a coincidence or did you actually participated in the game's development? --Жукороп (talk) 09:49, 25 July 2022 (EDT)
I was reading more about how the CDi handles media playing, and it looks like they stream the audio from the CD directly to output, which means they wouldn't be able to perform any complex looping. So, the length of the track is probably directly tied to the length of time for the level. Yes, that's me. I'm in the credits because I have a very detailed Bionic Commando web site which the developers used to help recreate the game, but I didn't personally do any development. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 09:35, 1 August 2022 (EDT)
Thanks for doing more research on this. I checked and each stage theme is indeed timed to fit its corresponding location's length, so I can't do much other than leave everything as-is.
One last thing to ask; there exists an add-on for the CD-i called Digital Video Cartridge which can decode the MPEG-1 audio compression. Perhaps there could be a sub-category (similar to what TCRF did with 32X and Sega CD) for games that require or have a bonus support for it? --Жукороп (talk) 15:49, 1 August 2022 (EDT)
Since it's add-on hardware, we should make a page for it the same way we do for other add-on audio hardware. That's already setup to make categories for games which support it --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 09:52, 2 August 2022 (EDT)

Questions - even more

Hi again!

  1. What is the most optimal/appropriate volume level used for audio? Should we use ReplayGain applied to files? Sometimes, a game features songs played at very variable loudnesses (e.g. a loud intro song versus a quite, or nearly silent, main menu one). May I equate the volumes by setting the gain values (either positive or negative, which depends)?
  2. How the game songs should be titled if another arranger actually named them at their own without refering to original composer's titles (at the beginning, those may be named officially or be without name based on in-game location/filename/meta).
  3. How should we make list of untitled songs in an album page?
  4. Do I have to re-entitle song names if in an discography's album they are simply based on game location? I'm asking this because some composer and arrangers may imporly name the tracks or, even if properly named, give so long names which could be simplified.
  5. I think the idea to add music genres to song templates would be cool!

--Cancer (talk) 08:08, 21 August 2022 (EDT)

Regarding the first question, User:Doommaster1994 did something like that on Jack Nicklaus Turbo Golf (TG16), so I guess it's fine. Also the guide on Adding Meta Data says you can do that.
As an added bonus for audiophiles, highlight all the songs again, right-click on them, select ReplayGain from the menu, and click on "Scan Selection As a Single Album" from the list. This will apply ReplayGain to each song so that their volume will be equalized on compatible players. This helps prevent the problem of volume jumping from really high to really low when listening to music from different albums.
--Жукороп (talk) 15:00, 21 August 2022 (EDT)
To answer your questions:
  1. As Жукороп noted, you should apply replay gain to all of your songs, that way, no matter what the base volume level, it will still sound roughly the same. Regarding the base level, just try to ensure your recording isn't so loud that it clips. As for game with songs that vary wildly in volume, use your best judgment for equalizing the audio. In this regard, accuracy to how it's loud it is in the game is nice, but, if a song is much louder than the others, or much quieter, it ruins the listening experience, so equalization isn't such a bad thing. I had to do this with the Ultima VII: The Black Gate (DOS) soundtrack where the combat songs were ridiculously louder than the ambiance songs.
  2. If there is an official name (that is, on a published soundtrack, or a known title by the person who worked on the game), use their title, but link to the proper song title page. See the Might and Magic: Secret of the Inner Sanctum (NES) for an example. The published soundtrack uses the title "Main Theme," but the song is just an arranged version of Canon In D Major.
  3. If this is a published album, and the songs are not titled in the liner notes, use "Untitled." For a single untitled song, use "Untitled," for multiple untitled songs, use "Untitled 1," "Untitled 2," etc. If the song is actually played in the game, give it a title based on where it's played, then, on the album page, note that the song is "Untitled" on the album, but link to the song page.
  4. In general try to match the title from the official album. However, don't do this if the album isn't official (remix, bootleg, etc.) since these title aren't official anyway. If there is an official title that's clearly wrong, like the album uses "boss music," but it plays as stage music, then give it a better title, and note that the soundtrack was titled incorrectly.
  5. Not a bad idea. So many early songs don't fit neatly into any existing genre, but a lot of the later songs certainly do, so it wouldn't hurt to have it. For now, just describe the genre in the general description, but I'll look into adding it into the template.
--TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 14:27, 23 August 2022 (EDT)

Facebook group

I was trying to join for like two weeks (this one, you mentioned it above), but it seems my request is keep getting rejected. --Жукороп (talk) 16:16, 28 August 2022 (EDT)

Sorry, I was probably thought you were a spam account. Send another request, and I'll add you. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 10:16, 31 August 2022 (EDT)

Questio-n-otifications

  1. Talk:Stuart Ross (NES Driver) (1) - who can fix my mistake as described there?
  2. Template talk:Song-List - one question there
  3. Talk:Editing Rules: Games - in both topics combined there, Жукороп, Cancer and I got questions and/or ideas

--Professor Chaos (talk) 08:40, 28 January 2023 (EST)

I answered the question on each page. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 14:22, 7 February 2023 (EST)

Technical help on file deletion, pages and redirects without usage

Hello my friend!

I introduce myself I am the User GatoVerde95 I am Spanish speaking but I know English, I have a problem since I've been on the page I have had some errors of mine, there are advanced users who have deleted redirects that made some unused, others by changing names or erroneous or duplicate files, I thought I could delete these pages without use but I realized that I did not have that option, I proposed to ask a user more advanced than me how to delete pages, files or redirections I do not know how to do it and he told me that only advanced users provided by the Administrator can, I am requesting if you can help me with this, not to be a burden to other users. I don't know what I have to do to get the function.

Sorry for the inconvenience. GatoVerde95 (talk)

Hello GatoVerde95. You've definitely been a big help, so I've made you a Power User. This will let you move and delete pages as well as rollback edits. Thanks for everything you're doing! Also, if you're having a problem with a specific user, please send them a polite message on their user page to talk over the issue. Cheers! --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 08:46, 24 February 2023 (EST)
Hi TheAlmightyGuru, thanks for helping me with the function, have a good day friend. GatoVerde95 (talk)

Should I edit rips taken from other sources (i.e. SNESMusic)?

Hello. I'm a newer user who recently uploaded recordings of Mega Man X (SNES)'s soundtrack. For completeness's sake, I plan to upload a rip to the wiki as well - from what I've seen, it seems like using existing rips from other websites is alright so long as credit is given. (Please correct me if I'm wrong about that!) However, after seeing a few other rips from SNES games that were taken from SNESMusic.org but appeared to have been edited, I was wondering if that was the correct procedure. More specifically, they altered the songs' names to fit the format shown in Editing Rules: Rips, which makes sense - but they also removed the txt file that credited the original ripper, which I was less certain was the right thing to do. Theand (talk) 23:21, 24 February 2023 (EST)

To anwer your questions: Yes, you are allowed to upload rips from other sites. You should update the rip meta data to match our naming conventions (as we tend to be more accurate and consistent). Try to keep their credits intact because we want the original rippers to receive the credit. You don't need to keep the text files unless there is something important in them that is not found in the meta data. So, if the text file is just a repeat of the track titles and the ripper's name, you don't need it, as all that already exists in the rip, and we will also display it in the Wiki. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 10:26, 2 March 2023 (EST)
Thank you for your response! Would a text file that includes an update log (keeping track of changes made to the rip by the original creator) in addition to the ripper's name count as important? I wasn't sure, since the first part is new information not repeated elsewhere - but, at the same time, it's not especially relevant to this wiki specifically. --Theand (talk) 17:23, 2 March 2023 (EST)
The update log isn't important to us. The names of the people who made the rip should be included in the "Credits -> Ripper" section of the game's page. You can also include their name in the metadata of the ripped file. Formats like SPC, NSF, and the like include sections where you can put the names. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 09:02, 10 March 2023 (EST)
Thank you again for your help! I ended up omitting the text file and including that information in the metadata, so all is well on that end. --Theand (talk) 22:06, 16 March 2023 (EDT)

Questions about song names

I apologize if I'm bothering you, but I have a few questions about song names on the wiki:

  1. I've been working on recording the soundtrack for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time (ARC), and I found that there are two soundtrack releases. A few songs were released on a 1993 compilation album, most of which use the names of the stages they play in. However, a much later vinyl release includes the SNES version's entire soundtrack (most of which was originally composed for the arcade version) but gives every song a much more nondescript name. I know that we should use the official titles wherever possible, but part of me feels like just using the stage names -- after all, more people would recognize "Alleycat Blues" or "Sewer Surfin'" than "Downtown" or "Sewerage." As an alternative, I'm also considering emulating the page for Duke Nukem 3D - The Gate (DOS) by listing the level's name alongside the official soundtrack name. (Since song pages already explain the context they play in by default, this wouldn't be much of an issue there.) What approach would work best?
  2. Following on from the last question: do later soundtrack releases trump earlier ones when it comes to choosing a name for a song?
  3. If a song or album has a blatant typo, should it be retained as-is? The aforementioned page for The Gate retains spelling errors (with commented-out notes or "[sic]" appended to them), but I wasn't entirely sure if this was proper wiki policy.
  4. Editing Rules: Titles says that game names should be left untranslated if they were only released in Japanese (only Romanized), but does that also apply to song titles? I noticed that some songs on the wiki used unofficial translations when no official English names existed - as just one example, "Meeting in the North" from Hokkaidou Rensa Satsujin: Okhotsk ni Kiyu (FC) was originally "北の出逢い."

Thank you, --Theand (talk) 22:06, 16 March 2023 (EDT)

I apologize if this is a bit redundant, but I did want to note that I managed to figure out the answers to two of these questions on my own. Specifically, #2 (judging from a few song pages that go by their names on the most recent official English soundtrack) and #4 (judging from the existence of this category, which I overlooked beforehand). --Theand (talk) 00:55, 8 May 2023 (EDT)
Sorry that I missed this message from earlier. To answer your questions:
  1. Notice that the vinyl album was not published by an official source, it's a self-published tribute album, so those titles are not official.
  2. Even if there are multiple official sources, I think it's best to use the one which seems the most proper. Just, make a note about it in Title section of the song's page. See Title BGM - The Legend of Zelda (NES)#Title as an example.
  3. Typos should probably be corrected. Just make a note in the song page's Title section.
  4. Song titles aren't as universal as game titles, so feel free to translate them. However, as you already discovered, use the proper category.
--TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 10:39, 10 May 2023 (EDT)
Thank you for your answers! I'm not entirely sure that the vinyl is self-published. iam8bit is a legitimate music publishing company that's created official soundtrack releases, though this particular release only credits the rightsholders (developer Konami and TMNT IP owner Nickelodeon) on their storefront page, so I'm not 100% sure. Even if it is official, though, it might be a moot point for the purposes of determining how to name each song - using the names of the stages seems more proper (as you mentioned). --Theand (talk) 23:30, 13 May 2023 (EDT)

Questions (mostly) pertaining to disc-based games

Hopefully I'm not bothering you again - I had a few more questions, most of which pertain to (but are not exclusively about) games that use digital audio on discs.

  1. Some disc-based games (like those on the original PS1) have songs that are intended to loop, but don't do so seamlessly. How should these be recorded for the wiki? I figured that editing recordings beyond removing silence would be frowned upon, but I'm not sure if my assumption is correct.
  2. If a re-release of a game adds songs or arrangements not present in the original, but also contains the original music without alterations, how should that be represented on the wiki? (The example I have in mind is Sonic Adventure 2 (DC) and Sonic Adventure 2: Battle (GC) - the latter adds more extra content and therefore unique music.) Outright reusing the first release's songs doesn't quite seem right, since the metadata would not reflect the second release's platform or other differing details, but it would be redundant to reupload all the identical songs twice.
  3. As I understand it, the general rule for multiplatform games with the exact same music is to only upload music from/make a page for the game's original release and then give a cursory mention of the subsequent releases (i.e. the Virtual Console ports on Title BGM - The Legend of Zelda (NES)). However, a number of games were first released simultaneously on different systems, with no clear lead platform. How should I handle these games? If I make a page for one, what system would I use for its page? (This also poses an issue for listing games on song pages - even if I don't upload any music from them, the subsong infobox can only display one platform's logo.)

Thank you once again. --Theand (talk) 04:36, 22 June 2023 (EDT)

You're definitely not bothering me! On to the questions:
  1. Our goal is to record the music how it sounds in the game. So, if the game has a pause between loops, try to make the digital recording also have that pause. I know it could be "fixed" and made better, but, if we applied that mentality to every game, many of our recordings would sound different from the original.
  2. Create a new page for the remake, and only include the new music. However, if the game was ported into to new format, you may want to include the new rip.
  3. I typically go with the more popular platform. So, if a game was released for Linux, Macintosh, and Windows, all on the same date, and each has the same soundtrack, I would make a page for the Windows release since it's the most popular OS out of the three. Then, in the game page and on the song pages, mention that the other ports use identical music.
I hope this answers all your questions. Feel free to ask for clarification. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 15:32, 28 June 2023 (EDT)
Thank you for your answers! I do have a few follow-up questions:
  1. Regarding the first point: if a single, unedited loop of the song (before it pauses or fades out) is over 2 minutes, then you should keep it as-is and not record another loop, right? I believe that was the rule but wanted to make certain I understood it properly. Also, if a game is released on both consoles and Windows/Mac/Linux and has identical music in each version, should I choose from the former or the latter?
  2. Regarding the third point: for consoles, would you determine which one is the most popular just going by how many units they've sold?
--Theand (talk) 03:40, 2 July 2023 (EDT)
  1. Yes, songs over two minutes should have only one loop. However, this isn't written in stone. For example, if a game only has a single song over 2 minutes, it's not a big deal if you loop it twice to fit with the timing of the rest of the soundtrack. We just created that rule because there are some games that just have a lot of really long songs, and looping them would result in a soundtrack of several hours in length. I usually choose Windows over Mac since it has such a larger base, but, if you prefer Mac, or if you only have access to the Linux rip, use whatever is easiest for you.
  2. Sales is an acceptable indicator, but it's usually difficult to find the numbers for individual ports. Again, this isn't written in stone, but if a game was released on PlayStation, Xbox, and Ouya, probably prefer the big names.
Hope this helps, --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 11:37, 3 July 2023 (EDT)
  1. Thank you for clarifying about the 2 minute rule. I am still not quite certain about how to treat the console/home computer dichotomy - if a game was available on, say, the PS2, GameCube, and Windows (and the music is 100% identical across all versions), would I choose the Windows version? (I know this isn't a hard and fast rule about which one to pick, as you said, so I am not sure if it matters too much.)
  2. I admit I should've phrased my second question more clearly - I was asking if, in the absence of any other meaningful differences, it would be best to choose which console to use for a multiplatform game's page based on the console's overall sales. (As you mentioned, finding sales numbers for specific versions of a game is generally unfeasible.) This would pose some ambiguity if a game was also released for computers, since it's difficult to measure OS market shares in the same way as console sales data for a number of reasons.
I am aware that this all may boil down to just choosing a reasonably popular platform and not sweating the details too much, of course, but I wasn't entirely sure. --Theand (talk) 01:12, 4 July 2023 (EDT)
  1. Typically, choose the one that was published first. If they were released at the same time, prefer a console release over a home computer release. Since they all sound identical anyway, it doesn't matter too much.
  2. Yes, choosing the console which had more sales overall is a good way to determine which port probably sold more. In your example of a game which saw a PS2 and GameCube release, prefer the PS2 since it outsold the GameCube by a significant margin.
As you say, not sweating it and going with any popular platform should be good enough. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 09:31, 5 July 2023 (EDT)
Thank you, once again, for your answers! I appreciate the clarification very much. --Theand (talk) 04:50, 7 July 2023 (EDT)

Four spammers

A few users recently wrote things here that look much like spam. The following three kept it on their social profiles and you may need Google Translate or so: User:Xoriant, User:Kullanışlıtercume, User:Medimo, but User:LawAndOrderly32 created a whole page (meanwhile deleted). --Professor Chaos (talk) 07:47, 24 October 2023 (EDT)

Thanks for letting me know. They're gone now. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 08:52, 1 November 2023 (EDT)

Tim 1

File:08 - Lemmings - DOS - Tim 1.ogg is missing the descending notes part at the end of the song after the main melody has played through twice. --Mindless (talk) 02:10, 11 September 2023 (EDT)

Thank you, I've added a note on the main page until I can get a chance to fix it. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 14:39, 11 September 2023 (EDT)

Renaming my account

Hi.

So I would like to get my current account "Duc4Wikmedia" to be changed to "DucNguyen0131"? Thanks!

--Duc4Wikmedia (talk) 02:02, 15 October 2023 (EDT)

All set! --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 08:54, 1 November 2023 (EDT)

Questions about wiki standards

Hi! I have a few questions I wanted to ask about the wiki's standards:

  1. I've run into a bit of an issue regarding a game in the Puyo Puyo series I've been considering making a page for. It was only officially released in Japan, and its box art gives the title as ぷよぷよ!, with the English subtitle Puyopuyo 15th Anniversary. ("ぷよぷよ!" just means "Puyo Puyo!") However, every official source I could find - including the game's website, the listing on Nintendo's site, and two different interviews with staff members years later - all refer to it as ぷよぷよ! without including 15th Anniversary as a subtitle. Therefore, it would make sense to title the page Puyo Puyo! (NDS). The issue is that most English-speaking (and unofficial) sources instead refer to the game as Puyo Puyo! 15th Anniversary. (While the later 20th anniversary game isn't old enough for a page here, it's worth mentioning that it has the same issue: originally titled ぷよぷよ!! and subtitled Puyopuyo 20th Anniversary, nearly every English & unofficial source I could find refers to it as Puyo Puyo!! 20th Anniversary.) In short, my question is this: would it be better to stick to an official name that's less well-known among English speakers and easier to confuse with other games (Puyo Puyo! (NDS)), or to go with the name that's less accurate but which the majority of people would recognize quicker (Puyo Puyo! 15th Anniversary (NDS))?
  2. I know that games using digital audio formats like WAV shouldn't have rips, but what should be done for games that use a mix of digital audio and sequenced music (like Sonic CD (SCD), which uses the console's RF5C164 chip for the past versions of each stage)? Should the rip only include files for the latter?
  3. Is there any sort of limit for how long a series box (the kind at the end of an article) should be? I was going to make one for the Puyo Puyo series, but since it consists of a total of 21 unique games it would be longer than any that I've seen on the site thus far. Even omitting spin-offs would still leave about 15 games.
  4. As I understand it, arcade games should generally be illustrated with a picture of the cabinet. However, on occasion it's difficult if not impossible to find any pictures of the game running on a cabinet (even non-original cabinets that someone put the boards into). I've seen some pages use pictures of flyers instead (such as Journey (ARC)) - is this an acceptable alternative or would it be better to just use the "Box Missing" placeholder image?

Thank you for your time,

--Theand (talk) 00:38, 11 December 2023 (EST)

  1. Go with "Puyo Puyo! 15th Anniversary (NDS)." Anyone who searches for "Puyo Puyo!" will still find it, and this will maintain its distintive title.
  2. There are numerous games released for the PlayStation, Sega CD, TurboGrafx-CD, etc. which use CD audio mixed with PSG audio. When this happens, the CD audio should be converted to Ogg Vorbis and used in the recording section, and the PSG music should be included in the rip in its native format and converted to Vorbis for the recording.
  3. The series template currently supports any number of games with up to 30 different platform ports per game. It can problably handle the series, but if you see a problem, just post another message here, and I can add more.
  4. Yes, flyers or marquees are preferred over a "Box Missing" graphic.
Thanks for asking! --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 13:55, 11 December 2023 (EST)
Thank you for your responses! To elaborate a bit more on the third question: I was wondering if the template being that long would cause issues with readability (since, unlike every existing series template I've seen on the wiki, the Puyo Puyo one would require extra scrolling to read in its entirety), but judging from your answer it doesn't seem like that would be a problem, right? --Theand (talk) 23:09, 11 December 2023 (EST)
Once you make it, we can figure out how to handle it. We may have to do something where less-important sections are collapsed by default and can be expanded by the user. This won't be the last enormous game series, so it will have to be done eventually regardless. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 16:42, 12 December 2023 (EST)
I went ahead and made the template. I think the collapsible idea would work well for spin-off titles - perhaps games that are too recent to have a page could also be collapsed by default, though that would require persistent updating over time, among other potential issues. --Theand (talk) 18:42, 12 December 2023 (EST)
Looks great! Yes, trying to stay up-to-date with all the new games is always difficult, and we could easily get burned playing catch up. Just try to remember, the page is about video game music and composers. Making the site look nice and easy to navigate is great, but we don't need to get hung up on book-keeping and paperwork. --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 14:17, 26 December 2023 (EST)
Thank you! Also, I definitely agree with you when it comes to priorities. --Theand (talk) 05:20, 4 January 2024 (EST)

More questions about the wiki's standards

I hope this isn't getting too repetitive, but I had a few questions about edge cases and other unclear situations on the wiki and wanted to ask them all in one go:

  1. Editing Rules: Graphics states that game screenshots must be "at the same resolution of the game in native mode (do not use scalers, anti-aliasing, color enhancement, etc.)" I ran into an issue while getting screenshots for Galaxian (ARC) - MAME's "native resolution" for the game produces screenshots that are heavily squished vertically, bordering on being illegible. While I have been able to use MAME's command line settings to make it look more like the proper aspect ratio, I wasn't sure if doing so would violate the rule against changing the resolution for screenshots.
  2. I've been wanting to overhaul the page for Pac-Man & Chomp Chomp (ARC), but there's a fundamental issue I have to address first. Long story short: while the game was called Pac & Pal in Japan, it was at least intended to be altered and released as ...& Chomp Chomp overseas. (Among other things, this Namco flyer from around 1984 mentions it by that name and a photograph of a sticker that would've been on the cabinet exists.) Information on this planned release, including whether it properly rolled out, is scarce and almost always unsourced - this web page by Pacific Arcades claims that it was cancelled with only a single test cabinet being made (the only photograph of which is extremely low-quality). I say all this because, given how it doesn't seem like the Chomp Chomp version had a wide release and every subsequent re-release of the game uses the original Japanese version, would it be better to move the page to Pac & Pal (ARC) because that's the more recognizable name? (In any case, the current cabinet image needs replacing, since it's actually Pacific Arcades' unofficial attempt to recreate what a proper cabinet would have looked like.)
  3. I ran into a dilemma while beginning to record the music of Klonoa: Door to Phantomile (PS1). One song ("Ghadius Appears") doesn't loop properly in the game's sound test, fading out before a full 2 loops. While this is normal for a lot of early CD games' music, it does loop infinitely/properly when played in-game - however, its only appearance is a cutscene where a wind sound effect constantly overlaps the music. Would it be better to have a clearer but non-ideally looping version or a less clear but properly looping one?
  4. What is the best way to approach game compilations that have multiple original games, each with substantial soundtracks of their own? For example, Namco Classic Collection Vol. 2 is an arcade game that contains completely new remakes of Mappy, Pac-Man, and Dig Dug. Would it be better to give each of them their own pages or to put them all under Namco Classic Collection Vol. 2 (ARC)?
  5. This is a minor issue, but I've wondered for a while now about the best way to handle song pages where the appropriate hardware doesn't have an icon to display next to the OGG player. Usually I just stick to songs that are only on hardware that does have an icon, but I have seen some pages that instead go for the next best thing - for example, the section for Michael Jackson's Moonwalker (ARC) on the Beat It page uses the YM2612 (OPN2) icon, despite the game's hardware using the similar but distinct YM3438 (OPN2C) chip. The natural answer would be to just make the appropriate SVG myself, but I don't have the assets you used for them (mostly the square chip background) and haven't found them online.
  6. This may have an obvious answer, but is it fine to upload new versions of files where the only changes are in their metadata? The wiki automatically warned me about "identical" files whenever I did it in the past, and while I don't want to be careless and clog up the wiki's storage with duplicates, I do also want to fix some soundtracks' composers/arrangers (including at least one I uploaded in the past). I just wanted to make absolutely sure.

Thank you very much in advance! --Theand (talk) 04:26, 9 February 2024 (EST)

It's not too repetitive. I have had to update the rules dozens of times over the years just because there are so many strange quirks about the video game industry that I didn't initially realize. The more accurate we can make them, the better.
  1. I've seen results like that in other games as well. In some cases, I think it has something to do with MAME trying to simulate overlays, and not what the actual video signal looks like. Definitely use the command line setting screenshots.
  2. If a game lacks a proper English release, as this one appears to do, it's fine to use the title of a more wide-spread release. So, I'm fine with "Pac & Pal."
  3. Have you tried the PSF rip of the game? You can find one here. But, if that doesn't work, you could provide both versions of the song. I did this for OutRun (ARC) and the song Last Wave.
  4. We should only add compilation games if the soundtracks are actually different. Sometimes the games are emulated and the sound is practically identical, so we don't need to provide the music again. However, if the music in the complication is being pushed through a new driver, then we should record it. However, since practically everything else about the games are the same, it's usually fine to make a single page for all the games in the compilation. Even if the games have some minor changes, it's usually still not enough to warrant an entire new page for every game. This isn't set in stone though, if you can make a good argument for what they should be separated, we can readdress it.
  5. I've added a new one for the OPN 2C. In the future, if you're comfortable with SVG editors (Inkscape is a free one), you can download an existing image and modify it. The font used in the Yamaha chips is "Brush Script MT." Otherwise, I can make new ones for you as needed.
  6. Yes, definitely. A lot of soundtracks were added before we created the Adding Meta Data guide, but few people want to go back and update them because it's pretty boring. When you upload the new one, just delete the existing one.
Let me know if you have any other questions! --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 13:38, 13 February 2024 (EST)
Thank you very much for your answers! They're really helpful.
To clear up a few other things:
  • On compilations: I understand and agree with your reasoning, but I did have a couple of follow-up questions.
    • I figured that a game compilation that does warrant having a page would separate the individual games' soundtracks with "10X," "20X," etc. - the same way we treat different PC hardware or regional variations. Would this work?
    • Also, on a more minor note, part of the reason I chose Namco Classic Collection Vol. 2 specifically was because another user uploaded the credits to its three new remakes: Dig-Dug Arrangement, Pac-Man Arrangement, and Rally-X Arrangement. (I got some of them mixed up with Vol. 1 in my earlier message - sorry about that.) I bring it up because it poses a bit of a conundrum for alphabetizing: the file names just list the remake's name (i.e. "Pac-Man Arrangement"), and the images are on the corresponding first letter's credits page (i.e. Game Credits: P), but on that page the game's link is written as Namco Classic Collection Vol.2: Pac-Man Arrangement (ARC). (All the other individual remakes follow the same pattern.) Would it be better to move & re-alphabetize the files to reflect the collection's name (something like "Namco Classic Collection Vol. 2 - ARC - Pac-Man Arrangement - Credits") or to keep them separate?
  • On editing meta data: I checked, and as far as I can tell, I actually can't delete files. I think that permission's reserved for power users/moderators, and I'm just a regular user.
--Theand (talk) 06:02, 18 February 2024 (EST)
  1. If there are a lot of songs in the compilation, it probably wouldn't hurt to give each one its own numbering system, but this could create additional inconsistencies if the compilation supported multiple audio drivers. An alternate approach would be to add the sub-game to the file name. For example: "01 - Compilation Title - Platform - Game Title - Song Title.ogg".
  2. It would be better to have the files renamed to reflect that they're all part of a compilation.
  3. You've been helping out a lot so I've made you a power user. You can now delete and rename file. Thank you so much for all your help! --TheAlmightyGuru (talk) 09:23, 27 February 2024 (EST)
I think the "Compilation Title - Platform - Game Title" idea works well - it removes any ambiguity while still keeping the number as-is just in case.
Also, thank you very much for the promotion! --Theand (talk) 00:47, 28 February 2024 (EST)

Reporting spammers

There've been two accounts that have contributed nothing but spam pages for the last two weeks or so: User:BestPlacetobuyqualitylinks and User:WhereTogethighqualitybacklinks. All of their work's been deleted, but they're pretty persistent - the last edit from either of them was just today. --Theand (talk) 19:17, 11 March 2024 (EDT)

User:Binarymaster took care. --Professor Chaos (talk) 19:06, 23 March 2024 (EDT)

Hey, another quiz!

  1. As we know from Editing Rules: Recordings#Games, non-free games after 2008 may not be recorded or ripped. But what I can't seem to find on that page: May we still do a gamepage, songpages and screenshots? I imagine we could still offer a track list, interesting trivia, and credit sources.
  2. As we also know, some songs are unused, so their songpages will never have a screenshot, like the CPC section of Title - 180. But: Should they still be in Category:Missing Screenshot? - Assuming "no", I've preliminarily created File:UnusedSong.png. It's a bit of a hack (I modded your File:NoScreenshot.png), maybe you or anyone else wants to retouch, redo, approve, or delete.
  3. Theme 1 - Sente Mini Golf: The output, analog CEM3394 synthesizer chip, has no icon. Who can make an SVG? (I can't.)
  4. Binarymaster just created Template:Series - Doom. But if you click "Doom" in that template's top row, it goes to the disambiguation page. A workaround would be to rename the template "Template:Series - Doom (series)", but I really think it looks weird. Can we perhaps have a "TitleLink" parameter in Template:navbox?

--Professor Chaos (talk) 19:06, 23 March 2024 (EDT)

Modified Template:navbox a bit, so it will look for Title (series) page first, and then fallbacks to just Title, should be fine now. --binarymaster (talk) 09:36, 24 March 2024 (EDT)