#5307 closed defect (fixed)
SCI: PQ3: channel volumes are wrong when using Adlib
| Reported by: | OmerMor | Owned by: | sluicebox |
|---|---|---|---|
| Priority: | normal | Component: | Engine: SCI |
| Version: | Keywords: | midi | |
| Cc: | Game: | Police Quest 3 |
Description
Game versions: EGA&VGA/DOS/English/1.000 ScummVM version: 1.2.0svn52375 Platform: Windows7 32bit
Selected audio: Adlib emulation In the intro, (around the time after the name of the game ("The Kindred") disappears, and executive producer is shown) the main music channel is mixed too low compared to the rhythm section channel. I compared with DosBox (and my memory) and it is very noticeable. I suspect this is relevant for the mt32 emulation as well, but I have no way of verifying this.
Ticket imported from: #3053125. Ticket imported from: bugs/5307.
Change History (16)
comment:1 by , 14 years ago
| Summary: | channel volumes are wrong when using adlib emulation → PQ3: channel volumes are wrong when using adlib emulation |
|---|
comment:2 by , 14 years ago
comment:3 by , 13 years ago
I am not sure how this is supposed to be a bug in the AdLib emulator. The emulator itself is not responsible to setup the volume, but the code using it is, either via setting the volume of the audio stream the AdLib emulator is hooked up to (that's how it should not be done usually) or by properly passing the AdLib emulator proper volume settings.
comment:4 by , 13 years ago
| Summary: | PQ3: channel volumes are wrong when using adlib emulation → SCI: PQ3: channel volumes are wrong when using Adlib |
|---|
comment:5 by , 13 years ago
I checked it again, and noticed that the problem manifests only when using the DOSBox OPL emulator, and not the MAME OPL emulator.
comment:6 by , 13 years ago
That's odd but I just diffed the current DOSBox OPL emulator sources against DOSBox's sources and there's no behavioral difference in it (at least how it is setup currently) as far as I can tell. So this is probably still a bug in the SCI code. To rule out any other sources: What's your DOSBox version and what's your oplemu setting in your DOSBox config?
comment:7 by , 13 years ago
I tested it using ykhwong's svn build 09-03-2011, with the following opl settings: oplmode=auto oplemu=default oplrate=44100
However, I'm pretty sure the dosbox mix is the right one, as far as I can remember when playing this game on my old 486: the main melodic line is much more quiet in scummvm w/ dosbox opl emu. just give it a listen - it's right at the beginning - and you'll see for yourself.
I found PQ3 on youtube, here's a link to the point in time to which I'm referring: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9m7Lgo_TPk#t=26s
And here is scummvm playing PQ3 demo, and you can hear the low mix of the main melodic riff: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mud3iZxb_pA#t=62s
comment:8 by , 13 years ago
That should be the same OPL emu as we use, at least if ykhwong's build doesn't change anything there.
Could you try setting the music etc. volume in ScummVM to the max and see if it makes any difference, i.e. just makes the melody part louder?
comment:10 by , 13 years ago
I don't know what's the cause of this bug then. Since the code we use for the emulator is from DOSBox and nearly identical, just some hook ups to the sound output are different, but those should affect all sounds it produces then, it shouldn't be related to that. So probably a bug in the SCI AdLib code.
comment:12 by , 7 years ago
| Keywords: | midi added |
|---|---|
| Owner: | set to |
comment:13 by , 6 years ago
| Owner: | removed |
|---|
comment:14 by , 5 years ago
Is this still relevant?
We now have Nuked OPL, maybe it solved the problem.
comment:15 by , 4 years ago
| Owner: | set to |
|---|---|
| Resolution: | → fixed |
| Status: | new → closed |
This sounds fixed to me.
I compared the latest version to the 1.6.0 Win32 release from nine years ago, and a few versions earlier than that, and the DOSBox OPL emulator output has significantly changed for the PQ3 introduction. The channel being described, or at least the one I think is being described, has improved a lot including its relative volume. Even the intro during the Sierra logo sounds much better than back then.
I can't tell the difference between this intro in DOSBox 0.74 using Adlib and the latest version of ScummVM using any of the Adlib emulators (MAME, DOSBox, or Nuked).
As a Jan Hammer aficionado, I thoroughly enjoyed testing this.
comment:16 by , 4 years ago
Thanks - I checked it again and I agree: it sounds the same now.
And if you enjoyed Jan Hammer's intro, you'll probably enjoy its striking resemblance to this song by Children of Bodom:
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=XzO4tloMjTY :-)
This seems to be a duplicate of bug #1159581, so I believe this is a bug in the Adlib emulator, not within SCI itself