Umx files for UT99

[Harbinger]

Allright guys, i'm brand spankin' new to your club, so bear with me when it becomes blatantly obvious how noobie i am...

I'm actually a Mac user (i can hear the boos and hisses already! ), but i use Virtual PC 3.0 to gain access to most of the Win98 applications. I can't do any high-graphic games, because my Powermac G3 only goes 0 to 266Mhz in about 4 secs., but a low-graphic app like ModPlug Tracker works great. Which is why i'm here.

I actually bought VirtualPC to be able make maps for Unreal Tournament (UT99). While the Mac version of UT99 plays great on the G3 (even at only 233Mhz proc speed), UnrealEd is strictly for Windows machines. So i got a used Win98 CD of UT99 from eBay, ran the editor under VPC, and it seems to work fine (as soon as i learn how to use UnrealEd, one of the most anti-intuitive world editors out there).
Meanwhile, i found a Mac app called UMXconvertor or something like that, that converts .umx files to there native format ? .it, .s3m, or .xm, all of which i'd never heard of. However, an application i've used for a long time on the Mac called SoundApp plays .it and .s3m files (but not .xm's).
But i needed to figure out how to make music for UT99, and none of the software i had could make the file formats that UnrealEd can handle. A quick search on the Internet for an .it editor, and i ran across ModPlug Tracker.
Now understand, i have many years of electronic musical composition, mostly thru "sequencing", as opposed to tracking. My favorite app was Master Tracks Pro 4 (now obsolete), which did all i needed to do and more. Sequencers like Pro-4 only transmit and receive MIDI messages, but do not manipulate the sounds and samples that they use (you also needed a MIDI instrument, altho recent versions of Master Tracks can use the QuickTime instrument library). Tracking, however, does involve manipulating the actual sound data, at least in an output path. The flip side of this is that, while ModPlug can manipulate the samples as well as order their play, i find that i'm unable to filter the list of "notes" in order to manipulate only certain punches in a channel, which sequencing would allow me to do. For example, i can't change all the F#4's in one channel to another note, or ramp their volumes. However, i'm getting away from my point.

I must give my thanks to Mr. Lapicque not only for such a well-composed application in ModPlug Tracker (MPT you call it?), but also for making it free. He could have charged a couple of pennies for it, but perhaps he understands that tools of creation should be made available without charge to the few artists who can use them, even if it's only a piece of intellectual property that exists in a virtual world (our computers).

So my question is, am i correct in assuming that MPT can create the format necessary for UnrealEd to convert to .umx? All i hafta do is save it in .it format (my preferred tracking format, since it's so open), and load it from UnrealEd?

[Squirrel Havoc]

OMG! YOu actually searched the forum before posting! Theres hope for all! YAY! (You called it MPT, not just ModPlug Tracker)

Heh yeah, MPT can edit and save s3m, xm, it, and uhh one other format, I think. Just remember to click "Compatibility Export" if you are using the latest WIP (which you should be for that feature). It can't save as UMX as far as I know, but it sounds like you can convert it yourself.

So I hope I understood you right and all you watned to know was if it can edit those, and it can, thats why it was made. If you have any further questions, remember to search the forum first, then if nothing shows up, feel free to ask, thats what we are here for.

And enjoy the wonderful world of tracking!

[rewbs]

Squirrel makes an important point: for historical reasons, by default OpenMPT (and the original MPT, to a lesser extent) sticks a load of extra crap at the end of the IT and XM files (we know this is bad and we're working on a new, separate file format to cater for our extra crap). Many IT/XM compatible programs aren't bothered by this and just ignore our extra crap. But if your IT->UMX converter barfs, or if Unreal barfs on the resulting UMX, then the solution is probably to export your IT with the File/Compat Export option in the latest dev build, as Squirrel pointed out.

For example, i can't change all the F#4's in one channel to another note, or ramp their volumes.

Hmm.. The transpose or find&replace features might help for that. But it's true that the GUI isn't geared towards applying specific transformations to all instances of a particular note - but rather to a contiguous set of rows.

By the way, MPT should be able to open UMX directly (UMX is just an IT, XM, S3M or MOD with a small header to identify the format).

[Sam_Zen]

I remember from the previous forum-version that this issue of the UMX-format was discussed, because lots of users nowadays use (O)MPT to make compositions for games. So you will get your answers here, I'm sure.

In the meantime, after some search, I came upon this .

[Harbinger]

I must admit, i got an earlier version of MPT, and just DL'd 1.17.02.42, so i'll take that home and see what extras i get. I guess i should keep the older version in case i get some bugs, 'cause the earlier one seemed to ber VERY stable. (Actually one bug came up, but i don't know if it has to do with MPT, SoundApp, or VirtualPC.)

Hey, rewbs, if i can filter certain notes or samples in a channel, and list and work with only those, that'll save me $60 i was going to pony up to buy Master Tracks Pro-6 (a MIDI sequencer that would allow me to filter notes, instruments, etc.)!

You rock, Sam_Zen! Thanx for the link, that's exactly what i needed... :wink:

[speed-goddamn-focus]

I'd just like to add that UMX doesn't support all the features of S3M, XM, or IT. I believe volume envelopes, filters and NNA's are not supported, and the volume of the song will be much lower in Unreal than it is in the tracker.

[DavidN]

UT99's UMX files are very similar to IT/XM (you can open them in MPT but can't save them out as the same format).

UnrealEd 2 can convert them, though - use the Import option on the Music Browser "File" menu to select an IT, and save it out as a UMX package.

[LPChip]

If you're going to download the latest beta build, please note that you'll need to install the latest RC (RC2) build first. If you don't you don't get all the extra files you need, like the key presets file, etc...

Maybe the filtering what you are looking for exists in the effects collumn?

I'm not really sure what you're after with that, but I think you can use the effects collumn for that. Its there to do something with a single note!

[speed-goddamn-focus]

Maybe the filtering what you are looking for exists in the effects collumn?

He wants to be able to process just a certain note (like all C-4's in a channel), which is very easy to when using a piano roll but impossible in a tracker. Of course the find/replace function will do the job, but it's not very intuitive. I'm not sure why that functionality is important tho...

[rewbs]

I'm not sure why that functionality is important tho...

If we could get custom pattern transform scripting into OpenMPT, these discussions would be a thing of the past...

[speed-goddamn-focus]

I'm not sure why that functionality is important tho...

If we could get custom pattern transform scripting into OpenMPT, these discussions would be a thing of the past...

I think not! I will ALWAYS wonder why.

[Sam_Zen]

UT99's UMX files are very similar to IT/XM (you can open them in MPT

I didn't know this. I just checked the 'open' section again, and this file-format is not on the list.

[Squirrel Havoc]

I'm not sure why that functionality is important tho...

If we could get custom pattern transform scripting into OpenMPT, these discussions would be a thing of the past...

I read this Wiki thread, and I would kill for this feature. But why stop at manipulating pattern data? Why not manipulate sample data? Use it for VST/i automation? I always thought MPT could benefit from built in scripting. THen you could map certain scripts to certain keys and execute them in one keypress. That would be killer!

[Squirrel Havoc]

I just thought of a cool feature that could be implimented in a script. Mass wav conversion of all songs in a dir. And calling on external tools from inside a script. That way you could convert all your MODs to MP3 and put them on your ipod. That would be killer

[Sam_Zen]

I would prefer script options dealing with 'inside' elements instead of e.g. sound-format convertions.
So a script for playing back the pattern order of a certain module in a certain way.