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--- ff3:ff3us:tutorial:music:songdata [2018/02/22 14:48]
madsiur [Insert Manually a Song Available on the Forum]
+++ ff3:ff3us:tutorial:music:songdata [2019/02/12 12:05] (current)
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-===== Insert Manually a Song Available on the Forum =====
+===== Manually Insert a Song Available on the Forum =====
-In this tutorial we'll be importing in FF3us a song that is already in FF6 music format. There is no need for musical knowledge to be able to complete the following steps. The only things that will help is being familiar with the hexadecimal system as well as some basic ROM hacking knowledge like what is an offset, the difference between an absolute and HiROM offset and how to use an hex editor.
+In this tutorial, we'll be using FF3us to import a song that is already in the FF6 music format. You do not need musical knowledge to complete the following steps. The only thing that will help is being familiar with the hexadecimal system, offsets, the difference between an absolute and HiROM offset, and hex editors.
 ==== 1. Getting the file and tool ====
-We'll be using the FFIV song [[https://www.ff6hacking.com/misc/songsdata/FF4_prologue.7z|"The Prologue"]] from our [[https://www.ff6hacking.com/forums/thread-2558.html|Song Database]]. The other thing you will need is a hex editor. There are many you can choose from but I'd suggest one that has a copy selection, paste-write and paste-insert functionalities. One good all purpose hex editor is {{rh:util:hex:hxd_1.7.7.0.zip|HxD}} and this is what has been used to take the screenshots below.
+We'll be using the FFIV song [[https://www.ff6hacking.com/misc/songsdata/FF4_prologue.7z|"The Prologue"]] from our [[https://www.ff6hacking.com/forums/thread-2558.html|Song Database]]. The other thing you will need is a hex editor. There are many you can choose from, but I'd suggest one that has copy selection, paste-write, and paste-insert functionalities. One good all-purpose hex editor is {{rh:util:hex:hxd_1.7.7.0.zip|HxD}}, and this is what has been used to take the screenshots below.
 ==== 2. Files we will be importing ====
-Extract the files from **FF4_prologue.7z** and you will see the following files:
+Extract the files from **FF4_prologue.7z**, and you will see the following files:
 {{ff3:ff3us:tutorial:music:songdata:sd-song-folder.png}}
-**prologue.spc** is the song in SNES format. Those can be played with a SPC player or with winamp and a plug-in. For more info on SPC file and how to play them, use Google or check the great [[https://www.fantasyanime.com/extracted-game-music|extracted music tutorial]] at FantasyAnime.com.  **prologue_DATA.bin** and **prologue_INST.bin** are two binary files, the first has the music data in FF6 format and the other the instruments used in the song. The DATA and INST files do not contain instrument samples, those are in the game.
+**prologue.spc** is the song in SNES format. These files can be played with an SPC player or by using winamp and a plug-in. For more info on SPC files and how to play them, use Google or check out the great [[https://www.fantasyanime.com/extracted-game-music|extracted music tutorial]] at FantasyAnime.com.  The DATA and INST files are both binary files; the former contains the music data in FF6 format, and the latter contains the instruments used in the song. The DATA and INST files do not contain instrument samples, as those are in the game already.
-All songs in our song database have the three same files. Some songs, mostly done by tsushiy and having a "ᵖ" next to their title need the instrument patch, available in the same thread. This patch install new BRR samples in the game, giving access to a wider range of instruments to use in songs. Some songs instrument file use those added instruments.This is not the case of our prologue song.
+We provide the same three files for every song in our song database. Some songs (most were made by tsushiy and have a "ᵖ" next to their title) require the instrument patch, which is available in the same thread. This patch installs new BRR samples in the game, giving access to a wider range of instruments to use in songs. Some song instrument (INST) files use those added instruments. This is not the case with our prologue song, so we do not need to apply the patch in this tutorial.
 ==== 3. Choosing the right spot ====
-The first thing that you have to ask yourself is //"do I want to replace an existing song or expand the number of existing songs?"// If you only want to replace a existing song you can skip to section 4. To expand the number of songs there are few thing to do. First you have to move the $C53E96-$C53F94 song pointers block because there is no room to add an extra one. To find a spot in non-expanded ROM, you can look [[ff3:ff3us:doc:asm:rom_map:unused_space|here]]. The offsets in this list take in account the ROM header though while my whole tutorial assume you have a headerless ROM, so substract 0x200 from the offset you choose. You can also expand your ROM and put the pointers in the $FX banks.
+The first thing that you have to ask yourself is //"Do I want to replace an existing song or expand the number of existing songs?"// If you only want to replace a existing song, you can skip to section 4. You must follow several steps to expand the number of songs. First, you have to move the song pointers block at $C53E96-$C53F94 because there is no room to add an extra one. To find free space in a non-expanded ROM, you can look [[ff3:ff3us:doc:asm:rom_map:unused_space|here]]. The offsets in this list take the ROM header into account, but my whole tutorial assumes that you have a headerless ROM, so you must subtract 0x200 from the offset you choose. You can also expand your ROM and put the pointers in the $FX banks.
-I decided for the example to take the $EEAF01 spot, which has 767 free bytes, which is more than enough. As shown in the image below, I select with the mouse the pointer block, I do //Ctrl+C//, //Ctrl+G// to enter my destination (you can scroll a long time for the same result) and then //Right-Click->Paste write.// Now let's say I would put my song at $F30540 in expanded ROM, I would type **40 05 F3** at $EEB0000 (see right picture). You would use song ID $56 for your new song in game events as an example. As you have guessed pointers are always inverted whether they are two or three bytes long. As for the old pointer data copied, you can blank with 00 or FF all the data since you moved it, giving you room for other things if needed.
+For this example, I chose the spot at $EEAF01, which contains 767 free bytes. This is more than enough to contain the song pointers. As shown in the image below, I:
+  - Select the pointer block with the mouse
+  - //Ctrl+C//
+  - //Ctrl+G// to jump directly to $EEAF01 (it would take a long time to reach it by scrolling)
+  - //Right-Click -> Paste write.//
+Let's say that I want to put my song at $F30540, which is in expanded ROM. I would type **40 05 F3** at $EEB0000 (see right picture above). In this example, you would use song ID $56 to play your new song from event code. As you may have guessed, pointers are always inverted regardless of whether they are two or three bytes long. As for the old pointer data that you copied, you can overwrite it with 00 or FF since you moved it, giving you room for other things if needed.
 {{ff3:ff3us:tutorial:music:songdata:sd-song-pointers.png}} {{ff3:ff3us:tutorial:music:songdata:sd-song-pointers-reloc.png}}
-The next thing to do is to change the following code. It's the only place pointers are read and you have to modify each LDA instruction so new base offset, new base offset + 1, new base offset + 2. This is not an ASM course so I'm not explaining further except only mentioning you have a total of 9 bytes to change.
+The next thing to do is to change the following code, which is the only place where these pointers are read from. You have to modify the three LDA instructions to the new base offset, the new base offset + 1, and the new base offset + 2. This is not an ASM course, so I will not explain this further except for mentioning that you have a total of 9 bytes to change.
 **Original code**\\
@@ Line 29: / Line 36: @@
 {{ff3:ff3us:tutorial:music:songdata:sd-code-pointers-modified.png}}
-Last thing to do is changing the total number of songs. The offset is $C53C5E. It's a single byte that should be $55. Increase it of one each time you add a new song (replacing an existing one does not count). So congratulation you have not expanded pointer and can add as much songs as you want up to a limit of 255!
+The last thing to do is to change the total number of songs. The offset where this value is stored is $C53C5E. It's a single byte that should be $55. Increase it by one each time you add a new song (replacing an existing one does not count). Congratulations! You have now expanded the pointers, so you can add up to 255 songs!
 ==== 4. Verifying the song length ====
-The next thing to do is verifying if your song fit in the spot you have chosen. If you expanded the song pointers and put your song in expanded ROM, you'll likely won't have to consider the following but some info is still important. Open the **prelude_DATA.bin** file with HxD. The first two bytes (inverted) are the amount of bytes the song take. In our case it is 0x044C bytes, as seen below.
+The next thing to do is to verify if your song fits in the spot that you have chosen. If you expanded the song pointers and put your song in expanded ROM, you likely won't have to consider the following, but some info is still important. Open the DATA file with HxD. The first two bytes (inverted) show the amount of space (in bytes) that the song takes up. In our case, the song is 0x044C bytes long, as seen below.
 {{ff3:ff3us:tutorial:music:songdata:sd-song-length.png}}
-You have to verify the song will not "hit" the next song or the data after. If you locate your song in regular non-expanded ROM but outside the songs block, refer to the [[ff3:ff3us:doc:asm:rom_map|ROM map]] to verify. All you have to do is add to your song offset the song legth and verify it is lower than next data. If you only replace a song by //The Prelude//, check the [[ff3:ff3us:doc:asm:list:music|song list]]. Song are in order that they appear in the ROM. You need to consider the song following yours. I decided we are replacing //"Another World of Beast"//.
+You have to verify the song will not "hit" and overwrite the next song or the data after. If you want to locate your song in regular non-expanded ROM that is outside the song block, refer to the [[ff3:ff3us:doc:asm:rom_map|ROM map]] to verify this. All you have to do is add the song length to your song offset and verify that it is lower than the offset of the following data. If you are only replacing a song with //The Prelude//, check the [[ff3:ff3us:doc:asm:list:music|song list]]. The songs are in the same order that they appear in the ROM. You need to consider the starting offset of the song following yours. I decided that we will replace //"Another World of Beasts"//.
 {{ff3:ff3us:tutorial:music:songdata:sd-song-offset.png}}
@@ Line 42: / Line 49: @@
 {{ff3:ff3us:tutorial:music:songdata:sd-calcl-room.png}}
-We are below the limit with our 0x044C bytes for //The Prelude// so we are ready to insert the song!
+We are below the $0x04CC byte limit because //The Prelude// is only $0x044C bytes long, so we are ready to insert the song!
 ==== 5. Copying the song data ====
-Copy all the content of **prelude_DATA.bin** (//Ctrl+C//) go to your ROM do //Ctrl+G// and enter "08EFA6". You'll land on the offset you need to paste the song data (//Right-click->Paste-write//). The below two screenshots are the beginning and ed of the song pasted.
+Now copy the song data to your ROM.
+  - Select and copy the content of //prelude_DATA.bin// (//Ctrl+C//)
+  - In your ROM file, press //Ctrl+G// and enter //"08EFA6"// to reach the offset where I decided to paste the song data.
+  - //Right-click -> Paste-write//. The two screenshots below are the beginning and end of the song pasted.
 {{ff3:ff3us:tutorial:music:songdata:sd-song-paste-start.png}} {{ff3:ff3us:tutorial:music:songdata:sd-song-paste-ending.png}}
-You can optionally put //00// or //FF// at the place of the rest of the old song. This way you can easily see where there is unused space.
+Optionally, you can overwrite the rest of the old song with //00// or //FF//. That way, you can easily see where there is unused space.
 {{ff3:ff3us:tutorial:music:songdata:sd-song-paste-zero.png}}
 ==== 6. Changing the song pointer ====
-If you have to put your song elsewhere in the ROM, you need to modify the pointer and you can calculate its position will the below formula. It's simply pointers base offset + (song ID multiplied by 3). The other method is doing a hex search in HxD with the old offset of the song. In the case of as an example $C8EFA6, search for //A6EFC8//.
+If you have to put your song elsewhere in the ROM, you need to modify the pointer. You can calculate its position with the formula below:
+<Pointer Block Base Offset> + (<Song ID> * 3).
+You can also do a hex search in HxD with the old offset of the song. For example, if the old offset of the song is $C8EFA6 (as with //"Another World of Beasts"//), search for //A6EFC8//.
+After locating the pointer, change it to the new offset of the song (inverted).
 {{ff3:ff3us:tutorial:music:songdata:sd-calc-ptr.png}}
@@ Line 61: / Line 79: @@
 ==== 7. Changing the instruments ====
-Now the other part of the job is changing the song channels instruments. It's the same logic to calculate the beginning of a song instruments, except you multiply your song ID by 32 (0x20). The instruments file is 32 bytes in size (16 channels times 2 bytes per instruments). First byte is instrument ID, second byte is always 00.
+Now the other part of the job is changing the song channels' instruments. It's the same logic as calculating the offset of a song pointer, except that you multiply your song ID by 32 (0x20). The instruments file is 32 bytes in size (16 channels times 2 bytes per instrument). The first byte for each channel is the instrument ID, while the second byte is always 00.
 {{ff3:ff3us:tutorial:music:songdata:sd-calc-inst.png}}
-Once the instruments data is pasted, save your ROM. Note that you can save (//Ctrl+S//) anytime during the tutorial, it does not matter.
+Once the instrument data is pasted, save your ROM. Note that you can save (//Ctrl+S//) anytime during the tutorial; it does not matter.
 {{ff3:ff3us:tutorial:music:songdata:sd-instrument-paste.png}}
-You'll notice //The Prelude// has 6 instruments. As mentioned previously some songs downloaded from the forum (not a majority) might have incorrect instruments. In such an event, you'll need to assign the correct instruments. There is a complete list of original instruments [[ff3:ff3us:doc:asm:list:instruments|here]]. You'll need to identify each channel instrument and replace what you think are the wrong ones. A bit trial and error but you'll develop your music skills. If you have instruments IDs in your file from $40 and above it mean your song require the instrument patch available in the same thread as the songs. The songs requiring will have a "ᵖ" next to their name. The wrong assigned instruments are often those, because the author added more instruments in his hack without noticing the admins, resulting in instrument indexes above the limit of the patch.
+You'll notice that //The Prelude// has 6 instruments. As mentioned previously, some songs downloaded from the forum (not a majority) might have incorrect instruments. In such an event, you'll need to assign the correct instruments. There is a complete list of original instruments [[ff3:ff3us:doc:asm:list:instruments|here]]. You'll need to identify each channel's instrument and replace the ones you think are wrong. This requires a bit of trial and error, but you'll develop your music skills. If you have instruments IDs in your file that are $40 and above, it means that your song requires the instrument patch available in the same thread as the song. The songs requiring this will have a "ᵖ" next to their name. These songs often have incorrectly assigned instruments as well because the authors sometimes add more instruments to their hacks without notifying the admins, resulting in instrument indexes above the limits of the patch.
 {{ff3:ff3us:tutorial:music:songdata:sd-instrument-new.png}}
 ==== 8. Details on song channels ====
-A thing that differs between songs available on the forum and original songs are the channel pointers in the song. Below is a channel of //The Prelude// and the song at the end loop toward the beginning of the blue section. The last command is F6 02 04 which mean continue by going back to 0x0402 byte after the start of the song. Every song in the original game have these command relative to their offset in the ROM meaning this F6 command would look like as F6 8E F3 ($C8F38E). It would not be exactly this because a song don't redo the first channel commands twice but I talk about this because such a tutorial would not have been possible with an unmodified original song, because when you move it you need to change all the song loop commands and channel pointers at beginning of song data. By having the custom song channel pointers start at 00 00 and not the song offset last two bytes, we easy the process a lot.
+One thing that differs between songs available on the forum and original songs are the channel pointers in the song. The image below shows a channel of //The Prelude//. The song loops from the end of the highlighted section to its beginning. The last command is //F6 02 04//, which loops the song by going back to the offset that is 0x0402 bytes after the start of the song. For every song in the original game, these commands are relative to their offset in the ROM, so this F6 command would look similar to //F6 8E F3// ($C8F38E) instead. However, it would not be exactly this because a song don't redo the first channel commands. I wanted to talk about this because such a tutorial would not have been possible with an unmodified original song. If you moved or inserted a song, you would have needed to change every song loop command and channel pointer! By having the custom song channel pointers start at 00 00 and not the song offset's last two bytes, we make the process a lot easier.
 {{ff3:ff3us:tutorial:music:songdata:sd-channel.png}}
-Below, a loop command of an original song pointing at $C8F9B9. In the case of a custom song, we would see more or less F6 0X YZ, likely something below 0x0A00.
+Below, there is a loop command of an original song pointing to $C8F9B9. In the case of a custom song, this command would be something like F6 0X XX instead, likely a number below 0x0A00.
 {{ff3:ff3us:tutorial:music:songdata:sd-channel-loop.png}}
@@ Line 84: / Line 102: @@
 ==== 9. Conclusion ====
-This tutorial was aimed at beginners. The rest of music hacking is harder and require some practice. However it is in the range of anyone having the time and patience to learn. As a conclusion I've made a small video showing the import and at the same time did a little tribute to those who contributed to the song database.
+This tutorial was aimed at beginners. The rest of music hacking is harder and require some practice. However, it is within the abilities of anyone who has the time and patience to learn. To serve as a conclusion, I've made a small video that shows the import and simultaneously pays a little tribute to those who contributed to the song database.
-==== Result in-game ====
+==== 10. Result in-game ====
 {{ff3:ff3us:tutorial:music:songdata:sd-result.mp4?384x336}}