[TUTORIAL] How to create your own Music WADs

[Ashley]

Well, it's come to my attention that some people don't understand how to make music WADs properly. Some people who've tried have done it completely wrong, or just slightly wrong; wrong, either way.

So, I'm going to assist those who wish to make their own Music WADs, and help those who've been trying to fix their problems.

You'll need three things for this:
1. SlumpED, or XWE (I'll be using SlumpED for familiarity) [SlumpED Download Here]
2. Music you want to have in the WAD.
3. A few minutes of time.

Step 0: Making sure you can do this with what you have.
~For those who didn't know, you need actual music files for this to work. By actual music files, I mean files in a .mp3 or .ogg format (preferred).
They can also be in .wav format, for those who wish to use that. If you do not have such, I suggest finding some, or someone who can make you the music in such formats.

Aside from that, understanding simple tasks helps. I would hope we can all read.

Remember, Google can be your best friend here.

If you have music in this format and it doesn't work at the end, reply with your problem.

Step 1: Making sure your music can work.
~Now, since we have music that can work, let's open your WAD creator and editor of choice. For me, that's SlumpED. From there, let's make a new WAD.



Okay, now we need to add your music. To do so, go to Lump > New From File, to add one from a specific file.



..And pick your music out.



Important Note: Your music MUST be 1-8 characters long in length, name-wise. 9 and longer makes the 9th+ characters get cut off, and some of your music codes will be misusable. It helps to have your music named something simple, that fits the criteria. Also, make sure none of your music will conflict with OTHER music that can be changemus'd, such as Cutmus, or a custom song's name from another WAD.

Step 2: Saving the WAD.
~Since you have the music ready to be saved, why not save it? To do so, simply go into File > Save All.



After that, place it somewhere you can remember, with a simple to find name. The name doesn't matter that much, really.



There. Now you have your WAD.

Step 3: Test.

~Before releasing the WAD, assuming all works out, you should really test it.
If you didn't know, you need a "Skins" folder with all your MM8BDM stuff, like the launcher, and probably your game WADs.

In order for the music WAD you've created to be playable, you must have it in your Skins folder.

Image:

(click to show/hide)

..Yes, my Skins folder is massive.

Once you have it in your Skins folder, open up MM8BDM, in either singleplayer or a server, and try one of your changemus codes.



If your music plays, it worked, and you can release the music WAD, or keep it for yourself. Either or.

If it doesn't, go back and figure out where you messed up.

If you've tried this at least twice and problems persist, reply to this topic with your problem, and I or another forumer will try to fix it for you.

Remember: YOU have to put in some effort!

Hopefully this helps you all make such files.

[TERRORsphere]

I'm ashamed how there had to be a tutorial on how to do something as basic as this...

[Mr. X]

Me too, but people asked for it.

[Ivory]

You see people asking for Skybox tutorials too, but we haven't seen it, yet.

[Kackebango]

Never expected it to be this easy.

[CutmanMike]

You can also give the tracks the same music names (as seen in music.wad) to REPLACE tracks. I have a castlevania music pack I'm using at the mo, I may release it for christmas.

[TERRORsphere]

You can also give the tracks the same music names (as seen in music.wad) to REPLACE tracks. I have a castlevania music pack I'm using at the mo, I may release it for christmas.

Yay Konami  

[Ashley]

You can also give the tracks the same music names (as seen in music.wad) to REPLACE tracks. I have a castlevania music pack I'm using at the mo, I may release it for christmas.

You mean by default, or by changemus codes?

Because I thought you had to replace them manually in the Megagame.wad, or other WADs for it to be default.. But, I dunno.

[Alucard]

You can also give the tracks the same music names (as seen in music.wad) to REPLACE tracks. I have a castlevania music pack I'm using at the mo, I may release it for Christmas.

With all due respect, cutmanMike, but...wouldn't that be neglecting your own rule against OST music packs?  

[CutmanMike]

No because my castlevania pack only uses nsf's from the nes games

[Alucard]

NSFs...?

Please elaborate.

[TERRORsphere]

http://zdoom.org/wiki/Music_format

This should help you getting to know what music formats are compatable with ZDoom. However, some of them aren't in Skulltag yet (The ones with " development version r2675+ only").

[Camo Yoshi]

...
FLAC †    Free Lossless Audio Codec
WMA    Windows Media Audio
VAG    PS2/PSP Audio
AIFF    Audio Interchange File Format
...

VAG audio?

[Alucard]

I sense a subliminal message in our midst.

[Korby]

I sense immature kids in our vicinity.