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Alone in the Dark seriesFloppy version music?(30 posts)solved(30 posts)solved
(30 posts)solved
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Posted April 15, 2011
So it's evident that these versions of the games include the enhanced CD MIDI music, which is all well and good; GOG always does a fantastic job of restoring these old gems as fully as possible so I'd expect nothing less. However, in the case of AitD, I actually prefer the FM music of the floppy versions. Does anyone know if there's a way to use that music as opposed to the enhanced soundtracks? I'd hate to have to keep playing my old abandonware copy of this game now that I have the spiffy legitimate GOG package. Thanks, all.
This question / problem has been solved by DrakeFoximage
Posted April 15, 2011
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Mothstatic: Does anyone know if there's a way to use that music as opposed to the enhanced soundtracks?
AitD includes it's own configuration utility. You can set the sound hardware to either AdLib or Sound Blaster, AdLib being the configuration you're referring to.
Posted April 15, 2011
Hmm... see, I've tried that, and the music doesn't change. And I did make sure I clicked 'Update' just to be sure I wasn't screwing it up. Still sounds like the enhanced version to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-zO0ZKrHHQ - This is the kind of music I'm referring to, in case there's any confusion. Is it possible this kind of music was only available on the floppy versions?
Posted April 15, 2011
Odd! You're right. I saw the option when I was playing around with the configuration utility, but it seems to ignore it. The music still plays even if you set the FM card to 'Do not use'. Interesting.. The GOG version appears to utilize SDL_mixer.

Alone in the Dark\INDARK\SDL.dll
Alone in the Dark\INDARK\SDL_mixer.dll

That's unfortunate. I thought I remembered the music sounding different when I played it all those years ago.
Posted April 17, 2011
I'd like to know this as well. I much prefer the old version music, the "enhanced" version barely sounds it's even the same compositions as the old ones. There's also just too much reverb and the instrument sounds lack punch.

Any clue how to change the old music back? It must be included in the game, even though the enhanced version is on by default.
Posted April 20, 2011
I just can only confirm that the cd version musics are just dreadful compared to the original ones, for the ambiance of the game. They are plain and anonymous, they even removed the posthume tune when you die... The CD versions are not scary at all and doesn't fit the game.

If there is anyway to use the normal musics, i would be more than interested.

Thanks for the release anyway!
Posted April 20, 2011
Ive been messing around trying to get the FM music to play, even though im not really concerned about it. All my attempts have failed. Just in case it will help someone else to figure it out though, Im going to post what I tried.

I found that the GAME.GOG file is a normal CD image. I mounted it and installed through D-Fend Reloaded. It didn't work. The game plays just fine, but I don't even get the CD audio. I tried messing with various sound settings through D-Fend. I tried different combinations in the setup program. Nothing worked. Now Im kind of curious if the original CD version even included the FM music. Im sure it must have, but this has got me stumped, and I would love to just blame it on the original release (-8
Posted April 20, 2011
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MobiusArcher: Ive been messing around trying to get the FM music to play, even though im not really concerned about it. All my attempts have failed. Just in case it will help someone else to figure it out though, Im going to post what I tried.

I found that the GAME.GOG file is a normal CD image. I mounted it and installed through D-Fend Reloaded. It didn't work. The game plays just fine, but I don't even get the CD audio. I tried messing with various sound settings through D-Fend. I tried different combinations in the setup program. Nothing worked. Now Im kind of curious if the original CD version even included the FM music. Im sure it must have, but this has got me stumped, and I would love to just blame it on the original release (-8
The CD versions I have of the games I've fiddled around with trying to use the FM audio with the game. Regularly over the last years without me finding a way to get the FM audio with the game. I'm fairly certain that the CD version doesn't include the FM audio, guess this goes with the GOG version too.
Posted April 20, 2011
If the option to select the FM music is present in the configuration tool the problem might be a write-protected configuration file. I've seen it happen plenty of times with dos when copying files that have been on a read only media like a cd-rom back to a harddisk.
Posted April 20, 2011
I had a look around the files, and they seem to use a "dummy" ISO file or something like that.

There is GAME.INST which is a really tiny file, and there is GAME.GOG which is 345MB.

Now GAME.INST is the file that gets mounted, but GAME.GOG has to be in the same folder, otherwise you get an error.

Not sure why they did this. A shame, because it means I can't play this game on a vintage 486 computer...
Posted April 21, 2011
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Mau1wurf1977: I had a look around the files, and they seem to use a "dummy" ISO file or something like that.

There is GAME.INST which is a really tiny file, and there is GAME.GOG which is 345MB.

Now GAME.INST is the file that gets mounted, but GAME.GOG has to be in the same folder, otherwise you get an error.

Not sure why they did this. A shame, because it means I can't play this game on a vintage 486 computer...
It's a bin/cue CD image format. the .GOG file is the .bin and the .INST is the cue sheet that contains the information where the audio tracks begin and end. Just use a text editor to look at the .INST file to see what I mean. Lots of CD burners can burn cue/bin files directly, so simply copy and rename the two files to make your own CD.

And as far as I know the CD version of AITD simply does not contain the midi music. At all.
Post edited April 21, 2011 by Lafazar
Posted April 22, 2011
@ Lafazar

Thank you for the clarification!

PS: IMO it didn't take away anything from the game. I honestly hardly remember the game, and how it sounded on my 386 with Sound Blaster.

A few scenes triggered flash backs (e.g. I clearly remember the ball room and the scene with 2 mirrors)
Post edited April 23, 2011 by Mau1wurf1977
Posted April 23, 2011
I have my original AITD CD and no there are no midi files.
All music was CD audio. I actually remember playing it through on a cd player many moons ago!
I know I originally played the floppy version and yet I remember it being like this cd version.
I know the Goblins series was hugely different sounds on the floppy and cd version and I always prefered the floppy.
Thankfully, GOG sold them as a pack with both versions for each game! (Thanks GOG)
I still have many old CDs but not many floppies.
Perhaps GOG will sort out a floppy AITD?
Posted April 24, 2011
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lucid_enigma: I have my original AITD CD and no there are no midi files.
They probably wouldn't have been MIDI files. I don't know any specifics or anything, but I don't think Ive ever seen a DOS game that used MIDI files for the FM music.
Posted March 02, 2012
Get the dos version for free here: http://www.bestoldgames.net/eng/download.php

But you need dosbox to play it. This is the floppy disk version.
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Mothstatic: So it's evident that these versions of the games include the enhanced CD MIDI music, which is all well and good; GOG always does a fantastic job of restoring these old gems as fully as possible so I'd expect nothing less. However, in the case of AitD, I actually prefer the FM music of the floppy versions. Does anyone know if there's a way to use that music as opposed to the enhanced soundtracks? I'd hate to have to keep playing my old abandonware copy of this game now that I have the spiffy legitimate GOG package. Thanks, all.
I tried the floppy disk version I mentioned and I now understand what you mean. Its a bit more creepy yes. And when you read books and notes you dont have to listen to that over-dramatic voice over. But when I was a kid I played the CD versions of the games, so the nostalgia comes better with those for me :)
Post edited March 02, 2012 by tommacool
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Alone in the Dark seriesFloppy version music?(30 posts)solved(30 posts)solved
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