Initial tempo/speed vs last set tempo/speed

[Skaven]

Is there any way to change the way OpenMPT handles tempo/speed by default when playing songs and patterns? Nowadays, if I play a pattern from halway through with CTRL-F7, it defaults to initial tempo/speed, not the one last set in the most recently played pattern. Same thing if I skip to another pattern by clicking on it in the Patterns list.

It's not a problem for final playback, but it is a bit of a problem when previewing (if your song has multiple sub-tunes or sequences) because there's no way to change the tempo if playing from the middle of pattern or skipping. I can put tempo/speed commands in the beginning of every pattern, but that still won't help when I use CTRL-F7.

I looked through the settings but couldn't find a related preference setting there, so I need to ask here. Thanks!

[LPChip]

In the toolbar, changing the tempo and ticks/rows should do just that. Note that if you play from the beginning, the settings from the general tab will be applied.

[Skaven]

Yeah... but they have to be changed, by holding down the button (can't type value), and if I press CTRL-F7 or click on another pattern in the song, it switches back to Initial Tempo.

Couldn't it just be set to "remember last", ie ignore the settings from the general tab? If I remember correct, it used to do that....

[Saga Musix]

Can you confirm that this only happens with "sub songs", i.e. those that cannot be reached by playing the module from the start?
OpenMPT cannot calculate tempo/volume settings and song length from a starting point that is not the first pattern at the moment, so if it cannot reach the current row when starting playback from that row, it will assume default values. This is usally the wanted behaviour when you jump around between multiple subsongs, but of course OpenMPT cannot know if the pattern you just jumped into is the start of a subsong or if it's something after the start.

[Skaven]

Yes, only with sub songs (but not using the "multiple sequences" feature in .mptm), both in .it and .mptm.

Does OpenMPT, perhaps, check the first pattern in the Order list for Axx / Txx commands on playback?

[Saga Musix]

OpenMPT always tries to "play back" the module until the row from which you want to start playback. That is only possible with the first subsong at the moment, so if it cannot reach that row it will just revert all playback settings to their initial settings (channel volumes, tempo, etc...)

[Skaven]

Hmm... so that's why. Well, would it be feasible as a feature request to ask for a little "do not reset tempo" checkbox to the top toolbar?

[Saga Musix]

I guess I'd rather look into making the song length retrieval code (which is used for this feature) work for sub songs as well...

[Saga Musix]

Good news - I've made some changes to the song length detection code so that it works better with sub tunes. Expect a fixed version soon.

Edit: The latest test version should provide the wanted functionality.

[Skaven]

Just tried it. Works much better now! I can CTRL-F7 to preview a song at correct tempo, and skip from song to song easily. Thanks! ^_^

[Saga Musix]

There were some minor issues with the patch above (f.e. global variables were not restored to defaults for sub tunes), so I've uploaded a new test version (same link) which addresses that issue.

[Skaven]

Got it, thanks.