bradparks / hxmikmod__mod-xm-s3m-and-it-loaders

A mikmod port to haxe (original port on Google Code)

hxMikMod

This is a Haxe/Flash port of libmikmod, a music module playing library.

It should be considered work in progress, but the modules I have tried so far sound ok. I've implemented the MOD, XM, S3M, and IT loaders but the more exotic formats aren't supported yet.

This is a very direct port from the original ANSI C code, so there is little object orientation. Therefore this project shouldn't be used as an example of good coding practices.

Why?

At the moment of writing, there is apparently NO freely available Flash library that could play these music file formats. There are a couple of 4-channel MOD player projects, but there seem to be some license and/or playback issues such as unimplemented effects.

Apparently the only Flash app that can play >4 channel module formats produced by programs like FastTracker 2, Scream Tracker or Impulse Tracker, is the Alchemy-based FlashModPlug by UnitZeroOne, which is however still unreleased at the moment.

Why would someone want to play with these deprecated file formats? Apart from nostalgy, tracker modules offer several advantages over MP3's: small file size, vast amount of available music (ModLand hosts over 400,000 music files), easy creation...

Authors

This port is based on libmikmod-3.2.0-beta2 which was developed by Jean-Paul Mikkers, Jake Stine, Miod Vallat, Raphael Assenat, and others.

Information about the original MikMod is available at http://mikmod.raphnet.net/

This Haxe port was written by Jouko Pynnönen ([email protected])

Usage

MikMod.Init(null);
    Player.LoadURL("my_song.xm");

// in an event handler that is called
// when the loading is finished:

Player.Start(module);

Please refer to the source, the included examples and the original libmikmod documentation for more information.

SimplePlayer.hx is a minimal example of how to load and play a music module embedded in the .swf.

MultiPlayer.hx contains a list of demo tunes, which it loads via a URLRequest. There are also some GUI elements I mainly used for debugging.

Notes on porting

Firstly, I'm new with Haxe and Flash so there is probably a lot of room for improvement in this project. Any contributions such as bug reports and fixes, functionality patches, additional module format support, etc. are appreciated.

The files under hxmikmod/ roughly correspond to the original ANSI C file names. Most numerical constants are in Defs.hx. Loader routines are in the hxmikmod.loaders package. I've added the MikMod and Player classes mainly for convenience, e.g. the C function MikMod_Init() was renamed to MikMod.Init() and Player_Start() to Player.Start().

The hxmikmod.events package contains some rought outlining of an event system that doesn't exist in the original library. It provides some support for GUI interaction. Refer to MultiPlayer.hx for an example.

Currently the only proper way to find out when the module is loaded, is to use thes event interface:

    TrackerEventDispatcher.addEventListener(TrackerLoadingEvent.TYPE,onTrackerLoading);

You will receive events about the loading process to an event handler:

public function onTrackerLoading(e:TrackerLoadingEvent) {
   if (e.state==TrackerLoadingEvent.LOADED)
    	Player.Start(e.module);
}

The file Types.hx contains typedefs of the numeric types used in original libmikmod. Currently they all translate into the Haxe Int type.

There are a few functions that haven't been implemented yet (they're in the source as stubs with a trace() call). However all playback functionality of the currently supported formats should be there.

There are almost certainly some bugs lurking around, e.g. in the various effect functions I haven't been able to test. Please let me know if you spot one.

Impulse Tracker compressed sample loading is SLOW. I'm not sure if this is a bug.

Resources

hxmikmod: http://code.google.com/p/hxmikmod/ The original MikMod site: http://mikmod.raphnet.net/ The Mod Archive: http://modarchive.org/ Modland: ftp://ftp.modland.com/ World of Game Mods: http://www.mirsoft.info/gamemods.php

License

hxMikMod sound library Copyright (C) 2011 Jouko Pynnönen [email protected]

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA

Acknowledgements

Thanks and greets to the artists whose work I've used for demonstration, testing, and enjoyment purposes, including: Firefox, Tor Gausen, Barry Leitch, Lizardking, Maktone, Purple Motion, Quasian, Radix, Random Voice, Tip.