Sample names deleted for blank samples

circles · March 09, 2012, 23:13:36

I've been doing some tweaks to a handful of modules in my library, when it came to my attention that the comments that had been written in the sample list were gone, or partially missing...

Just to make sure this indeed was the case, I looked up one of the affected modules on the internet again. I opened it in MPT and saved a copy in a different directory. I then opened the new copy, and the sample names were missing for all the blank sample patches. In other words, I've lost a bunch of commentary by simply opening these modules in MPT and saving them...

Is there any way to make the program ignore blank samples upon saving, and not wipe out the names?

Saga Musix · March 09, 2012, 23:25:27

Please provide a module with which this behaviour is reproducable and the version of OpenMPT you're using. OpenMPT should never remove any sample slots unless you make use of its cleanup features.

circles · March 10, 2012, 20:09:22

Quote from: Jojo on March 09, 2012, 23:25:27
Please provide a module with which this behaviour is reproducable and the version of OpenMPT you're using. OpenMPT should never remove any sample slots unless you make use of its cleanup features.

The slots remain, but the names are wiped out from empty slots...

My version is 1.18.03.00 (development build). Download of module provided here.

Saga Musix · March 10, 2012, 20:16:28

I fear that this cannot be fixed easily, due to the differences of how OpenMPT and Fasttracker 2 internally work. The file in question has many sample slots that are assigned to instruments, but are not actually used in the instruments' sample maps. That means that after reading the file, OpenMPT can no longer determine which instrument is the "parent" of which sample. The difference in handling such empty sample slots comes from the fact that in Fasttracker 2, samples cannot exist without an instrument (every instrument contains up to 16 samples), but OpenMPT is rather modelled after Impulse Tracker, where any sample can be referenced by any (or indeed no) instrument. If you need to edit XM files but want to retain sample texts, I'd recommend to use MilkyTracker instead.

Quote from: circles on March 10, 2012, 20:09:22
My version is 1.18.03.00 (development build).

Please note that this version has long been superseded by OpenMPT 1.19.

Saga Musix · March 10, 2012, 20:26:31

FYI I have also added this issue to our issue tracker but I have no definite plans when and how to fix this yet. I've added a quick idea how the issue could be resolved, though.

circles · March 10, 2012, 23:07:49

Thanks for the input.

I had a look at Psycle, which seems to be a suitable alternative for my task, but I didn't feel that keen about it. Will check out MilkyTracker too.

Also, I made an incorrect statement in my previous post, as not only the sample names are wiped out, but the empty sample slots altogether, indeed...

Saga Musix · March 10, 2012, 23:11:53

I doubt Psycle would be a good alternative for tweaking XMs, as oldskool XM-style tracking not really what Psycle is focussed on. MilkyTracker on the other hand is aimed to be a Fasttracker 2 clone, so I'd say it would be the best option for editing XM files and preserving sample texts at the same time. For other formats, MilkyTracker is less suitable.

Saga Musix · March 21, 2012, 14:27:42

I've added experimental support for saving those unassigned sample slots to XM files: http://sagagames.de/stuff/mptrack.exe