Mac OSX version

[Idsz]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if the time was right for an OSX port of ModPlug Tracker. I've searched the forum but most of the topics are pretty outdated.

I've used ModPlug for years in the past (ten years ago) before I got a mac. Now I'm running Logic but I'm aching to go back to good ol' ModPlug.

I got it to work in Crossover (the shareware version of Wine) and it runs almost perfectly. However, I can't load any VSTi's in it since mac VST is different from windows VST.

So for now, what I only want to know is: is it even possible?

Cheers

[Saga Musix]

I was wondering if the time was right for an OSX port of ModPlug Tracker.

At the moment: No. Porting the tracker would require a complete rewrite of the GUI code, redesign of all dialogs, etc... It has been though of for years, but nothing much has happened except from trying to write better code which would make getting rid of the MFC GUI framework easier. Porting OpenMPT to a different window toolkit will be a very huge task and I'm not even sure if I would manage to do that alone (all those people who told me they'd help me with porting have never come back since).

[Idsz]

Thanks for the fast reply Jojo.

I understand what you mean. Although I'm a designer (graduated) and I'd be happy to help you design, I'm useless when it comes to coding. I once downloaded Cocoa which seems C friendly and is free to use, but it's only for mac users: (https://developer.apple.com/technologies/mac/cocoa.html)

The alternative (Renoise) never appealed to me though, but maybe I can find another way to use the vst's

[Saga Musix]

Well, I'm pretty certain that I'd use Qt for a platform-independent GUI - it looks pretty native on all platforms, including OSX.
Are you sure there are no Windows versions of the VSTs your are using?

[Idsz]

That would seem better indeed. I'm checking, since I got quite a few, some which are Audio Unit only (mostly free one though).

Just curious, how many of you are working on ModPlug?

[Saga Musix]

I'm pretty much the only frequent contributor these days. Relabs is still on the team too, but he's less active than I am.

[kramlat]

Well, I'm pretty certain that I'd use Qt for a platform-independent GUI - it looks pretty native on all platforms, including OSX.
Are you sure there are no Windows versions of the VSTs your are using?

I would be willing to help with the gui.  I tend to know how to use QT4 designer and can work with c++, so wrapping a .ui file for each dialog would be a piece of cake, jut it would take a while, btw I also wish to add support for a new kind of tracker module (SMPS/68k) which is the format used in Sonic the Hedgehog for sega genesis.  the module format is very well known.
here is an example of one:
00 A3 06 03 01 03 00 30 00 00 00 3E 01 E0 00 47
01 E0 00 5A 01 E0 00 7A 01 E0 00 8A 01 E0 00 93
C0 EF 00 E0 00 9B C0 EF 00 E1 00 9B C0 EF 00 E0
81 1A 80 82 82 81 81 80 80 81 80 F9 00 2F EF 00
82 82 82 80 F9 00 3D EF 01 98 98 31 9A 80 93 92
93 93 92 80 98 98 10 F9 00 46 EF 00 D1 D1 D1 D1
80 D1 D1 D1 D1 80 F9 00 59 EF 02 87 87 87 87 80
EF 00 97 97 97 97 80 F9 00 59 EF 02 81 81 80 82
80 81 80 80 82 80 81 F9 00 79 EF 00 92 00 90 90
F9 00 89 9F 80 9F 80 F9 00 92 81 00 81 81 81 81
F9 00 9A FB 83 00 1F D4 01 1A 83 D8 1F 1F 32 88
00 00 00 32 18 63 32 00 3F 38 63 3F E9 83 00 1A
D4 01 1A 03 D8 1F 1F 32 88 00 00 00 32 18 63 32
00 3F 38 63 3F 93 83 00 1F D4 01 1A 83 D8 1F 1F
32 88 00 00 00 32 18 83 32 00 3F 38 63 3F
sure it doesnt provide a decent tune bot more an endless cacophony but it is an example of a SMPS module in its completeness (with 5 FM channels + a pcm drum channels + 3 PSG tone channels)

[Saga Musix]

Thanks for the offer. I have no idea when we'll start with this conversion, it could be this year, next year, in 5 years, who knows... Just keep an eye on those forums to stay up to date.

And support for synthesized formats (with FM or similar) is not really possible, I fear.

[kramlat]

And support for synthesized formats (with FM or similar) is not really possible, I fear.

true without a way to mimic the OPN chipset as well as mimic a SN76489, but import (minus the instruments or export with dummy ones) is still possible.

[esaruoho]

seven years later.. any changes to this? a macOS version incoming?

[Saga Musix]

My first reply is still valid. Rewriting the entire UI in a different UI toolkit is still a tremendous task that requires a lot of spare time that I currently don't have. We're taking some small steps with every major OpenMPT version to shape the code into something that will eventually make it easier to port the UI to other systems; but it's still a long way to that state.
That being said, OpenMPT runs a lot better in Wine than it did seven years ago, and a lot of people use it frequently that way.

[vangi]

Damn, that sucks... this would be such an enormous win. Could you set up a patreon or something? I would pay to have this available.

[Saga Musix]

A Patreon wouldn't give me more spare time to work on OpenMPT. And it most certainly cannot replace my daytime job, either.