Help with Mid2GBA

[coolperson1145]

So very recently I've been looking into the process of music hacking as I've considered inserting my own music into hacks one of these days. As I've been following the ELF Method, I've stumbled upon a problem. Every time I try to use the "tr" application with a midi file, it comes up as an error. The tutorial points out that there's two boxes in which the midi file will show up. If it's in the left box, the conversion was a success, if it's in the right, it failed. However, regardless of which side it gets put on, I get this error that pops up.

I've truncated and repaired as much as I could with the midi and it still failed. So I went through the same process with about 3 other midis, truncated and repaired, still came across the same issue. It kinda confuses me that most of the time I've checked these midis, they would show up on the left side indicating it's a "success."

Am I doing something wrong or have I just been unlucky?

[Brendor]

Mid2agb is weird. You're probably going to have to delete the folder and redownload it

[Wayward Winds]

Are you sure it's an error message? You get a gobble-de-gook message window regardless of it being a success or failure (although what gobble-de-gook the message window contains will differ depending on success/failure). Check for the Song.gba file if it appears in the left column, and proceed if you find it (it'll appear in the same folder as the "tr" application, it can take a few seconds to appear after conversion).

If it really is failing to convert... Brendor's not kidding when he says Mid2AGB is weird, although fussy might be a better term. I've hit a failure message, tried cutting the midi down and down, and no joy. But after I took the original midi and processed it with Anvil in exactly the same way as before, gave it the same file name as the last attempt, popped the new one into the "mid" folder, it converted without any complaint whatsoever.

A word of advice - the "Song.gba" often sounds nothing like how the song will in-game where quality is concerned (ie, the Song.gba will sound awful if you just open it in VBA, even if it sounds perfect if inserted), and even the instruments can sound somewhat different. The only way to check the quality for real is to insert it and test it.

Also be aware that Anvil might delete rests when you truncate. If you find your song not looping properly after insertion, you'll have to go back to the midi file, fiddle about and re-insert it. A method that works for me is to insert rests for every track well past the intended end of the song, with any old note at the end of them. Then truncate the song to where you want the song to end, save, and the rests will stay (providing you don't do any more editing. If you do, repeat the above when done).

Song insertion's easy enough when you get the hang of it. Keep persisting, and soon enough you'll be doing it without thinking. After all, even I can do it!

Edited February 8, 2014 by Wayward Winds

[coolperson1145]

I tried playing the song.gba files, probably should of mentioned that lol. However, no sound played when I pushed the "A" button. I decided to delete and redownload Sappy and I think I may of came across another problem. My norton antivirus detected a few files that were "dangerous" and immediately removed them. I've been downloading the Sappy/mini2gba folder from FEShrine. I'm sure it's safe, but would I have to briefly disable my antivirus in order to properly download this?

[Brendor]

If it's deleting files from the folder then I'd say yeah

Although Sappy isn't necessary for mid2agb so don't worry about that for now.

[coolperson1145]

I've briefly disabled the firewall and put norton on silent mode, still no changes made. There were no files removed as far as I'm concerned but I'm still getting the same message. I even press "retry" to fix whatever debug issue this is and mini2gba just crashes. Not only that, song.gba doesn't play anything when VBA is up and hxd only has "00000000" as an offset, nothing else being shown. Is there anything else I can do to try insert the midi?

[Brendor]

You could use ZSE if mid2agb doesn't work.

Are you sure your midi is in the mid folder in the mid2agb folder?

[coolperson1145]

Yeah I definitely started looking into ZSE hoping it's a better alternative. I also downloaded python like blazer's tutorial mentioned but every time I try to open a .py file, it immediately closes not giving me a second to read what it says.

[Agro]

Have you got song.gba open in another program such as HxD and/or Sappy? Also, the ELF Method is terrible. Give this one a try.

Also, can you post the MIDI here?

Edited February 8, 2014 by Agro

[coolperson1145]

Thank you for posting that other guide, it looks less complicated compared to the ELF method. However, I ran into another problem. So I tried out Sappy 2005 that came in the same folder as mini2agb. It gives me an error code that a few files were missing. At this point, I don't think it has anything to do with the files norton removed because those were in the mini2agb folder. Plus, the names weren't identical. I took another look at your tutorial and noticed you were using Sappy 2006. I went ahead and downloaded it thinking it would work. Nope, same error message here.

Also, I can't upload the midi file on here if you wanted to take a look at it. I won't allow me to attach it on here :(

Any idea what kind of files I'm missing here?

EDIT: Nevermind, I fixed a lot of these issues regarding the errors. I'm almost done assembling the song but the next problem is that is says I'm missing "MPlaDef.s." I've moved it from the mini2agb folder, gotten another copy to replace it, and yet it still doesn't register that I have the file. I hate to keep asking questions but is there anything else I could do?

Edited February 9, 2014 by coolperson1145

[Brendor]

sappy is another weird thing. you might have to get "sappy 2006 mod 15"

just search it in google

[Agro]

Thank you for posting that other guide, it looks less complicated compared to the ELF method. However, I ran into another problem. So I tried out Sappy 2005 that came in the same folder as mini2agb. It gives me an error code that a few files were missing. At this point, I don't think it has anything to do with the files norton removed because those were in the mini2agb folder. Plus, the names weren't identical. I took another look at your tutorial and noticed you were using Sappy 2006. I went ahead and downloaded it thinking it would work. Nope, same error message here.

Problem-3.PNG

Also, I can't upload the midi file on here if you wanted to take a look at it. I won't allow me to attach it on here :(

Any idea what kind of files I'm missing here?

EDIT: Nevermind, I fixed a lot of these issues regarding the errors. I'm almost done assembling the song but the next problem is that is says I'm missing "MPlaDef.s." I've moved it from the mini2agb folder, gotten another copy to replace it, and yet it still doesn't register that I have the file. I hate to keep asking questions but is there anything else I could do?

Here, try using mine. Make sure you put it in the same folder as mid2agb. By the way, is it asking for MPlaDef.s or MPlayDef.s? If it's the former, try renaming it to MPlaDef.s.

[coolperson1145]

Here, try using mine. Make sure you put it in the same folder as mid2agb. By the way, is it asking for MPlaDef.s or MPlayDef.s? If it's the former, try renaming it to MPlaDef.s.

My bad, typing error. It was asking for MPlayDef.s. I put it in the mid2agb folder and in the sappy folder, still no difference. I tried your download and replaced it, same error message. Also, regarding your tutorial, how can you differ between the song numbers? Is there a list that mentions which song number is which?

Edited February 9, 2014 by coolperson1145

[Agro]

Hey sorry to keep bothering you, I just felt it would be easier to communicate via message rather than posting on the forum. I'm almost done inserting music, I just keep getting this same popup message. I had that MPlayDef.s file in both the sappy and mini2agb folder(at separate times) and I still keep getting this message here.

Is there any chance there's something else that could be causing this?

if you don't mind, I'd like to keep things to the public forum so that if anyone else has this issue I can refer them to that topic. That said, are sappy, mid2agb, MPlayDef.s and the .s file that mid2agb generated from the MIDI all in the same folder? Or have you got them in different folders? I can replicate the issue if I place the generated .s file in a separate folder to MPlayDef.s. It's a definitions file, much in the same vein as the Event Assembler, which always includes Eastdlib.event, and the standard line in the .s file is:

.include "MPlayDef.s"

which means that there's no directions for which folder MPlayDef.s is in so it assumes it's all in the one folder. I'm posting this in the other topic as well, if that's not a problem.

[coolperson1145]

All good, that makes sense. Both mini2agb and sappy came as separate folders originally. I just went ahead and threw everything together in one folder. Unfortunately, I'm still getting the same problem.

[Agro]

Gosh, I'm not sure what could be happening @_@ Are you using Sappy 2006 mod 15? Also, could you please upload your generated .s file to somewhere (e.g. Dropbox) and link it? Just to double check, everything is in the same folder, right? This is probably a little extreme but can you post a screen of the folder just so I can be sure? Blur out any details if you need to.

Oh, I did some googling: apparently you need to also make sure that .s files are deassociated from any other program. I think you might be able to change that using Default Programs? Suppose Creative Element Power Tools is a good program for this. Sorry I'm not being of much help, I've never run into that problem before.

Edited February 10, 2014 by Agro

[coolperson1145]

Ok so associate the .s file with sappy? I did make originally have it so .s files would be opened up with notepad(so I can edit the max volume.) Let me see if changing that will fix the problem.

EDIT: Nope :/ I'm sorry I bring in a complicated issue here. If you'd like, I can take a screenshot of what I have and point out all the important stuff.

Edited February 10, 2014 by coolperson1145

[Agro]

Yes, that might be helpful. Also, I think you're meant to de-associate .s files with everything, not associate it with sappy. Also, you don't have MPlayDef.s open in anything else, do you?

[coolperson1145]

Nope not at all!

The thing is I don't think it was associated with anything else. If I'm suppose to de-associate it with notepad I don't know how I could fix the max volume step.

[Agro]

You can open things in notepad (click + drag or open with) without actually associating the files together, you just have to untick the box that says "always open with this program". I'm grasping at straws now, but it looks like you're using Windows 8, which might be making things weird? In the SSBM .s file that you have, try changing .include MPlayDef.s to just plain .include MPlayDef (or change the display setting to allow for file extensions)

Edited February 10, 2014 by Agro

[coolperson1145]

Ok....I really don't know how to do this :S

I'm setting associations right now. Should I just set it to sappy? I also don't know how to get rid of notepad as an associated option. I know how to make one a default program but not get rid of the other options.

[Agro]

I think I figured it out! It's because you have file extensions turned off. Just now, I hid all file extensions, and got the same issue you've been getting. As soon as I turned them back on it worked again. If you can work out how to get them back on (just google it I guess) then I think you should be able to make it work. I think you just have to go Tools > Folder options... in explorer and untick "Hide known file extensions". That's what it is in Windows 7, not sure about Windows 8. I don't imagine they're very different.

Edited February 10, 2014 by Agro

[coolperson1145]

PRAISE THE FREAKING LORD! IT'S DONE! That actually did the trick. Thank you so much!!! After playing it though, the midi sounds a bit different compared to what I imagined. Is this normal?

EDIT: Just listened to it on the rom itself. I think it's missing an instrument or two. The opening cutscene is now twice as fast for some reason. I replaced track 90 btw(the title theme) for this test. Is there a way to figure out which number goes to which track?

Edited February 10, 2014 by coolperson1145

[Agro]

It depends on what you define as "different", doesn't it?

[Agro]

EDIT: Just listened to it on the rom itself. I think it's missing an instrument or two. The opening cutscene is now twice as fast for some reason. I replaced track 90 btw(the title theme) for this test. Is there a way to figure out which number goes to which track?

1. Did you use the native instruments map, or the All Instruments map?

2. If you go to Setting > Extra, what is "Direct Sound voices" set to? If it's set to 5 (the default), raise it up.

3. What address did you write it (the song) to?

You could always just listen to the song you're replacing, or open up Music.txt from the Chapter Data Editor and use that list.