Post by Bobik on Feb 7, 2016 12:37:26 GMT
Here I will explain the process of including your own music in the game Zuma Deluxe. First things first: the music format used in Zuma Deluxe is MO3 - which is a very uncommon music format. The name of this format is a portmanteau on the words "MOD" and "MP3" - that's because MO3 is a MOD format, which uses MP3 samples, rather than WAV samples. Music in MOD format (also called module songs) is a very specific one. Instead of keeping the music as a waveform, it keeps multiple tiny samples used as instruments to compose songs. Module music is not very popular anymore, an example of it can be found on my channel, where you can hear a module song being played along with a pattern display, where the samples are are arranged. This helps to understand how the module format works:
As you can see, module music is very peculiar, because it keeps the music as a "composition", rather than a normal sound file. Module music takes very little disc space as they need to keep only the samples used in the song and their arrangement. The bad side is that there's no way to convert a regular music file (like a WAV or MP3) into a module song - they're just way too different to make that possible. Zuma Deluxe uses a variant of a module format, therefore the music types you can include in the game are very limited.
To sum it all up - you can't use regular music formats in Zuma Deluxe. If you want to change it, you need to go for module songs.
Module songs aren't hard to find. One of the most popular source of those is The Mod Archive:
modarchive.org/
There you can find a huge collection of module songs. Just browse the site, listen to songs and when you find something that catches your fancy, you may proceed to converting that song into MO3. The song I have used in my ZumaLuxor mod (Matthew Simmonds - Golden Ages) also comes from the Mod Archive (also, don't mess up the meaning of "mod" as a "modification" of a game and as a "module" music format )
Module songs come in four most common formats:
MOD - the very first module format created back in the '80.
XM - this module format was popularized by FastTracker and FastTracker II. It is currently the most popular module format.
IT - this format was introduced in Impulse Trcker
S3M - this format is used by Scream Tracker
The four above file formats are convertable to MO3 file format. To do so, you will need:
a) a module song, which you want to convert;
b) an MO3 encoder, which can be downloaded from the developer's page: www.un4seen.com
c) a media player, that can play MO3 format (XMPlay is recommended; also downloadable via link above).
Windows Media Player is not capable of playing module files at all. Winamp is able to play them quite well, although it may sometimes mess up the songs a little. XMPlay features the best playback of module files and allows viewing the mod pattern display, as shown in the video above.
Now you're ready to convert the song. Along with the MO3 Encoder program comes a thorough instruction on how to use it, so I don't need to explain it all here. Basically what you do is selecting a song with MOD, XM, IT or SM3 extension, possibly changing some options and voila' - the MO3 song is now ready! Now the easiest part - making the newly converted song play in Zuma Deluxe.
For that, navigate to Zuma Deluxe game folder and then goto "music" subfolder. You'll find only one file there: "zuma.mo3". If you have XMPlay, the file will be playable. Now you need to rename the original music file to something else, for example "zuma2.mod". Now, name your newly converted song to "zuma.mo3" and place it in the music subfolder of Zuma Deluxe. Everything's ready now: run Zuma Deluxe and you should hear your music playing in the background!
Here are some problems you may encounter:
a) sometimes no music is played in certain sections of the game, eg. when I goto Gauntlet level selection. Solution: the song you have used is too short! You should find something a bit longer.
b) no music is played at all! Solution: no music may be played while loading or in the main menu. However, try starting any random level. If your song starts playing, that means you did everything correctly, yet the song you have chosen is too short. The recommended length is at least 3 minutes. If your song doesn't play at all, that means you did something wrong - read the instructions above again and follow them closely.
c) the game crashes! Solution: you must remember to place your song in correct subfolder and name it "zuma.mo3", otherwise the game may crash if it finds no music file.
d) music changes randomly during the game! Solution: I can't help it - it is supposed to be like that. Music will change when balls get close to the danger zone or when changing menus. It may sometimes sound weird but it is supposed to be like that.
e) I want to bring the original music back. Solution: To bring back the original music, simply take away the "zuma.mo3" file from the "music" subfolder and rename the back-up of the original file back to "zuma.mo3".
I hope this was helpful - have fun modding your game!
EDIT: The newest version of the MO3 Encoder is not compatible with Zuma Deluxe, click here to download the older version: www.dropbox.com/s/ggpxmyqqx1o21ll/mo3.zip?dl=0
As you can see, module music is very peculiar, because it keeps the music as a "composition", rather than a normal sound file. Module music takes very little disc space as they need to keep only the samples used in the song and their arrangement. The bad side is that there's no way to convert a regular music file (like a WAV or MP3) into a module song - they're just way too different to make that possible. Zuma Deluxe uses a variant of a module format, therefore the music types you can include in the game are very limited.
To sum it all up - you can't use regular music formats in Zuma Deluxe. If you want to change it, you need to go for module songs.
Module songs aren't hard to find. One of the most popular source of those is The Mod Archive:
modarchive.org/
There you can find a huge collection of module songs. Just browse the site, listen to songs and when you find something that catches your fancy, you may proceed to converting that song into MO3. The song I have used in my ZumaLuxor mod (Matthew Simmonds - Golden Ages) also comes from the Mod Archive (also, don't mess up the meaning of "mod" as a "modification" of a game and as a "module" music format )
Module songs come in four most common formats:
MOD - the very first module format created back in the '80.
XM - this module format was popularized by FastTracker and FastTracker II. It is currently the most popular module format.
IT - this format was introduced in Impulse Trcker
S3M - this format is used by Scream Tracker
The four above file formats are convertable to MO3 file format. To do so, you will need:
a) a module song, which you want to convert;
b) an MO3 encoder, which can be downloaded from the developer's page: www.un4seen.com
c) a media player, that can play MO3 format (XMPlay is recommended; also downloadable via link above).
Windows Media Player is not capable of playing module files at all. Winamp is able to play them quite well, although it may sometimes mess up the songs a little. XMPlay features the best playback of module files and allows viewing the mod pattern display, as shown in the video above.
Now you're ready to convert the song. Along with the MO3 Encoder program comes a thorough instruction on how to use it, so I don't need to explain it all here. Basically what you do is selecting a song with MOD, XM, IT or SM3 extension, possibly changing some options and voila' - the MO3 song is now ready! Now the easiest part - making the newly converted song play in Zuma Deluxe.
For that, navigate to Zuma Deluxe game folder and then goto "music" subfolder. You'll find only one file there: "zuma.mo3". If you have XMPlay, the file will be playable. Now you need to rename the original music file to something else, for example "zuma2.mod". Now, name your newly converted song to "zuma.mo3" and place it in the music subfolder of Zuma Deluxe. Everything's ready now: run Zuma Deluxe and you should hear your music playing in the background!
Here are some problems you may encounter:
a) sometimes no music is played in certain sections of the game, eg. when I goto Gauntlet level selection. Solution: the song you have used is too short! You should find something a bit longer.
b) no music is played at all! Solution: no music may be played while loading or in the main menu. However, try starting any random level. If your song starts playing, that means you did everything correctly, yet the song you have chosen is too short. The recommended length is at least 3 minutes. If your song doesn't play at all, that means you did something wrong - read the instructions above again and follow them closely.
c) the game crashes! Solution: you must remember to place your song in correct subfolder and name it "zuma.mo3", otherwise the game may crash if it finds no music file.
d) music changes randomly during the game! Solution: I can't help it - it is supposed to be like that. Music will change when balls get close to the danger zone or when changing menus. It may sometimes sound weird but it is supposed to be like that.
e) I want to bring the original music back. Solution: To bring back the original music, simply take away the "zuma.mo3" file from the "music" subfolder and rename the back-up of the original file back to "zuma.mo3".
I hope this was helpful - have fun modding your game!
EDIT: The newest version of the MO3 Encoder is not compatible with Zuma Deluxe, click here to download the older version: www.dropbox.com/s/ggpxmyqqx1o21ll/mo3.zip?dl=0