Lite-C FMOD wrapper DLL v 0.1 for A7 - free

Posted By: HeelX

Lite-C FMOD wrapper DLL v 0.1 for A7 - free - 05/10/07 12:49

Hey folks,

I�m proud to announce the first release of the Lite-C FMOD wrapper plugin DLL (v 0.1) for the announced A7 game engine. It is a wrapper for the FMOD 3.75 DLL audio engine (FMOD is a trademark of Fireflight Technologies, Inc.).

What is FMOD / the Lite-C wrapper plugin DLL?

FMOD is a cross-platform audio engine, which makes it easy for you to use current audio technologies in your software. No other audio engine offers such a rich and up-to-date platform support. FMOD isn't only available for the Windows 32 bit system, but also for 11 other systems, among them e.g. Windows 64bit (AMD64), Linux, Macintosh and all game consoles available on the market. FMOD is being and was used by over one hundred commercial games, for example in "World of Warcraft" or "Flat Out". With the Lite-C FMOD wrapper plugin DLL for A7 / Lite-C, all of those features will be enabled for you � no matter which edition of the A7 engine you own or if you �just� use the free Lite-C distribution.

AND THE BEST OF ALL: IT'S FREE!

current features (in short)

different drivers, software driver faster than hardware driver!
samples
HD / disc / internet streams (adjustable buffering, file tags, file length (ms/secs/bytes), net streaming / buffering / via proxy, substreams / multiple streams / samples banks)
channel operations and analysis (play, pause, stop, frequency; volume, panning; priorities; seeking; subchannels; runtime volume analysis)
audio CD (seeking, track count, current track; selectable drive; faster than conventional mediaplayer - no polling!)
Spectral analysis (FFT)

The distribution contains the binaries (the DLL and the appropriate Lite-C header file), documentation (german/english) and a huge collection of sample files, ready to use (EXE files will be added as soon as A7 is being released). The wrapper DLL and its additional contents are freeware, though, you have to agree to the license terms of the FMOD engine as well (see License Agreement).

More information, the download files, FAQ and knowledge base, donate information and License Agreement are to be found on my website: http://www.christian-behrenberg.de

I would be happy for some comments, critics; feel free to make own samples, suggestions, bug reports and so on. There are still some things to do, have a look into the manual to see what features are missing. I will make another thread, when a new version will come out. Bugfixes for and comments on version 0.1 will be announced here.

[EDIT] Note: Maybe you need to empty the cache if you have previously visited my site. Just in the case you have some problems with some images or so.

Cheers and have a good day,
Christian

Posted By: Captain_Kiyaku

Re: Lite-C FMOD wrapper DLL v 0.1 for A7 - free - 05/10/07 13:04

ya finally it's out and i'm impressed by your work

too sad i won't update to A7 Pro cause i would love using it in Angelas World 2.

Also VERY nice to release it for free!

Posted By: dblade

Re: Lite-C FMOD wrapper DLL v 0.1 for A7 - free - 05/10/07 13:05

Sounds great, looks good

I will download and try it it

Thanks

Posted By: ulf

Re: Lite-C FMOD wrapper DLL v 0.1 for A7 - free - 05/10/07 13:45

very nice heelx! if you dont mind ill write about it in my blog? this is very nice for freeware and pro teams since the fmod license for commercial games costs $6000 as far as i know. for freeware games its free.

Posted By: HeelX

Re: Lite-C FMOD wrapper DLL v 0.1 for A7 - free - 05/10/07 13:54

I would appreciate that.

Posted By: bstudio

Re: Lite-C FMOD wrapper DLL v 0.1 for A7 - free - 05/10/07 14:35

thanks christian nice contribution

Posted By: Zapan@work

Re: Lite-C FMOD wrapper DLL v 0.1 for A7 - free - 05/10/07 14:59

Sounds greate

Posted By: William

Re: Lite-C FMOD wrapper DLL v 0.1 for A7 - free - 05/11/07 11:37

This is a great contribution, thanks!

Posted By: Taratoga1

Re: Lite-C FMOD wrapper DLL v 0.1 for A7 - free - 05/24/07 11:00

Thank you for your work!

Posted By: HeelX

Re: Lite-C FMOD wrapper DLL v 0.1 for A7 - free - 05/24/07 11:50

Thanks for all those... "thanks!"

I would like to see (or better: hear) my DLL in action. I use it in my project, but if you use it, it would be great if you tell me so. I plan to do the following things for the 0.2 release:

some unimplemented stream functions (setLoopPoints, net_getBufferProps,...)
all FX functions
all reverb functions
I'll try to connect the available FMOD callbacks with user customized callbacks
fixing some things in the manual
I will test the recording functions
if the callbacks gonna work, I will implement all *_playEx functions
sample loop points

The 3D sound is still pending, but the effects are more important for me, so I will implement them first.

Posted By: Taratoga1

Re: Lite-C FMOD wrapper DLL v 0.1 for A7 - free - 06/01/07 12:20

Hi HeelX,

i try to implement your dll into my machinima production system, cause I like to be able to have the wave data online.
I want to use it to controll animations of mimic and mouth movement automatically.

I think I am not able to use it because I am an old Pro user and have no chance to use A7 in the moment.

Because I am a beta tester I tried it with A6602 but there I run ino troubels. I think I have to wait for A7 Update ist it so?

Kind regards

Taratoga

Posted By: HeelX

Re: Lite-C FMOD wrapper DLL v 0.1 for A7 - free - 06/01/07 16:39

I want to use it to controll animations of mimic and mouth movement automatically. - do you want to use sync-points which are integrated in the music file? They are supported by FMOD, but not by the wrapper (will be added in v0.3 or v0.4). Though, you can sync it with external data on your own, because you get anytime the current time-value of the stream/sample

I think I am not able to use it because I am an old Pro user and have no chance to use A7 in the moment. - you can download the free Lite-C version from the Downloadspage and use it with it right now. If you want some instructions to be converted to CScript, contact me.

Because I am a beta tester I tried it with A6602 but there I run ino troubels. - it ran fine with 6.60.2b on my machine. You have to be more specific about any problems or bugs reports.

Nevertheless, great news! Keep it on!

Posted By: Orange Brat

Re: Lite-C FMOD wrapper DLL v 0.1 for A7 - free - 06/01/07 21:12

Just wanted to add my own thanks to the list. Too bad FMOD licensing is so expensive, but if a project has itself a backer, it might be something to look into now that this is available. I'll keep it archived just in case I ever find that mythical bag of money buried somewhere.

Posted By: Taratoga1

Re: Lite-C FMOD wrapper DLL v 0.1 for A7 - free - 06/03/07 16:04

Hello HeelX,

no, I want to use simple the wave raw data, because I use such a method now but I have to prepare the data now.(Filter it downsample and so on.) What I need is have a function to see the data max value online. For example like a VU Meter works.

thank you for your hints I again try to get it to work,but in the moment I stuck. I first try to compile some of the liteC samples with my 6602 beta version and it works fine.

But if I try to compile one of your sample files I get a crash:

This is the log file.
Log of A6 Engine 6.60.2b run at Sun Jun 03 17:52:04 2007
Administrator on Windows NT/2000/XP version 5.0 Build 2195
Options system_01_information.c -diag -ty

App D:\Gstudio_660beta\acknex.exe in D:\Gstudio_660beta\samples fmod\
MM mixer opened
DSOUND device opened
DI interface opened
Start Window opened
� Conitec . Dieburg . San Diego . www.conitec.net
A6 Engine - Pro Edition V6.60.2b - May 11 2007
Beta version
Registered to: Datentechnik Hilburg

DI XBCD XBox Gamepad 7 axes 24 buttons initialized
DI Microsoft SideWinder 3D Pro 4 axes 8 buttons initialized
Mouse found
Joystick found
SB Live!-Waveger�t opened
NVIDIA Quadro FX 1000 pure T&L device 1ff9 detected
D3D device NVIDIA Quadro FX 1000 1ff9 selected..
Compiling SYSTEM_01_INFORMATION.C.... .... .
Running SYSTEM_01_INFORMATION.C
2 objects
Main started
D3D_Init Window: 640x480x32
Backbuffer: 640x480 -> Window: 1x640x480x32
Video memory found: 232 MB
D3D_Resize Window: 800x600x32 -> Window: 1x800x600x32

Thanks a lot

Kind regards

Taratoga

Posted By: PHeMoX

Re: Lite-C FMOD wrapper DLL v 0.1 for A7 - free - 06/03/07 16:44

Quote:

I'll keep it archived just in case I ever find that mythical bag of money buried somewhere.

I'll definitely am not going to spend money on a FMOD license, I think most of us are really happy to earn more than 6000$, at least this is true for unbacked teams and often the first (few) commercial game(s) a developer releases. Especially when it 'blends in' with the competition a lot.

Anyways, I appreciate your efforts, it's a nice contribution and at least helpful for all my freeware stuff. By the way, didn't they have a per sold game license?

Cheers

Posted By: HeelX

Re: Lite-C FMOD wrapper DLL v 0.1 for A7 - free - 06/03/07 17:33

@taratoga

I cannot see any relevant lines in your log that could explain a crash.

Keep sure that your downloaded FMOD dll is in the same folder of the samples. If you use the bat files, everything should be fine, because the sample folder is in your GS folder (I hope I can make soon a release with EXEs, this way sucks and could be too complicated for most users).

@OrangeBrat

I think you will like the effects functions which I will start to implement in a week or so

@Phemox

Yes, this is true; although your argument is'nt strong in my eyes. I will explain this:

Most users are just satisfied to play with cool sound effects, assumed that they are even interested in advanced sound effects/processing/ect. A lot of "finished" demos/games are free and some are even open source. In these cases FMOD is free - you have nothing to pay!

"Because some developers are single hobbyist programmers, or sell at an extreme low price-points with no distribution except through a website, and no expectations of high sales that could warrant or recoup the price of a normal product/site license, the 'shareware/budget' license option has been created."

... which is ONLY 100 US $!!! (PC only)

So, I guess, MOST finished games here tend to be SMALL games done by ONE or SMALL sized teams which won't receive high sales.

So there is a potent user basis here and I guess _in the case_ of producing a really good title which is to be expected to produce a lot of cash, the FMOD license fee will be paid by your publisher (which is common!)- or you try to fund it .. if it is such a good game you will skim off profit that will fill the gap of that FMOD license fee.

The FMOD 3 (which is being accessed by my DLL, it doesnt support FMOD EX (but will in the future - maybe)) license fee is 3000$ for one product on one platform. I know only 2 potential gamestudio titles which have the potential to gain high sales in the future (they are announced yet), of which one will use the FMOD technology.

There is always open source technolgy.. you can use irrKlang, for example - if you like.

Posted By: Taratoga1

Re: Lite-C FMOD wrapper DLL v 0.1 for A7 - free - 06/18/07 12:59

Hallo Heelx,

da wir beide in "Good old Germany" sind, versuche ich es nocheinmal in deutsch:

1. Benutze GStudio 6600

2. Kopiere "samples" Verzeichnis in Gamestudio Verzeichnis

3. Kopiere fmod.dll in "samples" Verzeichnis

4. Kopiere LC_FMOD_WRAP.dll in "samples" Verzeichnis

5. Starte irgeneine der bat Dateien im "samples" Verzeichnis.

Bekomme schwarzes Fenster ohne Inhalt.... keine Funtionen

Mache das Gleiche mit der Gamestudio7 Version.

Bekomme Absturz der Acknex.exe.

Wo liegt der Fehler?

MfG

Taratoga

Posted By: D3D

Re: Lite-C FMOD wrapper DLL v 0.1 for A7 - free - 06/18/07 20:31

"I cannot see any relevant lines in your log that could explain a crash."

Look the LC_FMOD_WRAP.dll isn't loaded.

Have tried it with A7.03 and Lite-C 1.03, but I get crash in acknex.exe too.

Posted By: Taratoga1

Re: Lite-C FMOD wrapper DLL v 0.1 for A7 - free - 06/21/07 09:18

Thank you d3d,

for your comment.

Hope HeelX give us an answer.

Kind regards

Taratoga

Posted By: PHeMoX

Re: Lite-C FMOD wrapper DLL v 0.1 for A7 - free - 06/21/07 09:32

Quote:

"Because some developers are single hobbyist programmers, or sell at an extreme low price-points with no distribution except through a website, and no expectations of high sales that could warrant or recoup the price of a normal product/site license, the 'shareware/budget' license option has been created."

... which is ONLY 100 US $!!! (PC only)

So, I guess, MOST finished games here tend to be SMALL games done by ONE or SMALL sized teams which won't receive high sales.

Okey, naturally this changes a lot, I didn't know this. I thought 3000$ or 6000$ was the license fee. 100$ isn't much then I guess.

Yep, I think you're right it's a possibility after all,

Cheers

Posted By: HeelX

Re: Lite-C FMOD wrapper DLL v 0.1 for A7 - free - 06/21/07 10:38

Taratoga, the way you descibed is as it is intended. The comment about that the DLL isnt loaded seems to be the solution: if the engine would load the DLL, there would be something like "LC_FMOD_WRAP.dll opened" in your acklog.

Please do me a favor: download and install the latest A7 version and/or the latest Lite-C version and try again. As long as the engine doesnt load the DLL, you cannot use it, so maybe there are other circumstances which you are doing wrong and have nothing to do with the DLL.

Small notice: due to some university exams and (-preparations) any development is somehow freezed - I began this night touching the FX functions, but I cannot guarantee anything.

Posted By: shaggy

Re: Lite-C FMOD wrapper DLL v 0.1 for A7 - free - 06/22/07 05:46

I'm a newbie to Lite-C. I hope someone could enlighten me this: Why does a DLL needs to be wrapped by another DLL? Couldn't we just use the unwrapped DLL directly in Lite-C or C-Script? Thanks for being patient with me. =)

Posted By: Taratoga1

Re: Lite-C FMOD wrapper DLL v 0.1 for A7 - free - 06/22/07 12:16

Dear Heelx,

i have tried some more tests. All tests I did in the same manner like discribed above in my german note. So I dont write it here again. I expanded the test now by putting the 2 dll files to 3 different path adresses:

1. root directory of the respective Gstudio version
2. /acknex_plugins
3. /samples_fmode (Which is my test directory with your files)

4.I did it on 2 different computers one with XP SP2 one with W2000 SP4.

5.I deleted all other dlls like bigdll.dll or vob.dll in the directory /acknex_plugins which by the way were loaded without any problem by all configurations.

I allways start the "RUN_system_01_information.bat"
Then look into the acklog.txt file, if one of the dll files are loaded.

6. I tested 3 Versions of Gstudio: 660; 704b; Lite C Beta 0.66

I can say no one of the tested Version load one of your approbiated dll files.

The Lite C Beta Version gives a compiler error Malfunction W1500 with a syntax problem.

The 660 Version starts with a black screen, does nothing, but works stabil.

The 704b crashes.

So I think something is wrong with the dlls

Kind regards

Taratoga

Posted By: HeelX

Re: Lite-C FMOD wrapper DLL v 0.1 for A7 - free - 06/22/07 14:15

Dear Taratoga,

- Download the current LiteC release: http://server.conitec.net/down/litec_setup.exe
- Install it anywhere on your PC
- Go to my website and download http://www.christian-behrenberg.de/projects/fmod/downloads/v_0_1/LiteC_FMOD_wrapper_complete_0.1.zip
- or at least the binaries and the samples:
- binaries: http://www.christian-behrenberg.de/projects/fmod/downloads/v_0_1/LiteC_FMOD_wrapper_binaries_0.1.zip
- samples: http://www.christian-behrenberg.de/projects/fmod/downloads/v_0_1/LiteC_FMOD_wrapper_samples_0.1.zip
- lets assume, you have downloaded the complete package:
- extract it
- if you open the directory, you'll find the dll, the header and the documentation and a samples folder
- the samples folders DOESNT include the dll and the header. To make the samples work, copy the dll and the header into the samples folder
- rightclick the samples folder and click on COPY
- then go into the directory, in which you have installed LiteC 1.03
- now paste the folder; it should look like this:

the pasted sample folder is being highlighted in the picture
- now paste the fmod.dll into that samples folder
- check the samples folder, so that the following files are in there: LC_FMOD_WRAP.h, fmod.dll, LC_FMOD_WRAP.dll
- doubleclick on RUN_system_01_information.bat to start the example app

I did this way to simulate a customer which has no previous installation of LiteC, A7 or whatelse on his system. It worked at once! If it isnt working at all, please make sure you've installed the latest drivers and Windows Update.

Cheers,
Christian

Posted By: Taratoga1

Re: Lite-C FMOD wrapper DLL v 0.1 for A7 - free - 06/22/07 20:26

Hi Heelx,

i did this all now again. But I think you use Visual C++ because now I get an Error message Missing DLL MSVCR80D.dll.
Try now to find it in the net.
Maybe this is the reason, because this dll is not on my PCs.

This is one of this nice MS problems??....

Kind regards

Taratoga

Found out: It is a nice MS problem. Google gives me back about 10000 questions for this fu... dll

No one has it to download. Even Visual C++ Profis have the same problem.... Lot of threads in the MS Developer area...hahaha

Maybe you can offer this dll to me

Kind regards

taratoga

Posted By: D3D

Re: Lite-C FMOD wrapper DLL v 0.1 for A7 - free - 06/22/07 20:52

Guess if HeelX compiled the dll with VC2005 you need the vcredist installed in order to run Lite-C FMOD?

Posted By: ello

Re: Lite-C FMOD wrapper DLL v 0.1 for A7 - free - 06/22/07 21:11

a short question here about sounds in general. is it possible to create audiosignals using fmod? like by defining frequence, waveform and adsr settings? and what about applying effects to sounds, like reverb, echo and that stuff?

i hope you dont mind this possible offtopic...

cheers

Posted By: HeelX

Re: Lite-C FMOD wrapper DLL v 0.1 for A7 - free - 06/23/07 08:04

Ahhhhhh!

I never thought about THAT! Thanks guys! Yes, I compiled it with VS 2005 and I thought you can use the DLL ... anywhere. This is really annyoing! The funniest part about it is that I talked with some guys which tested it and everyone used VS, so I wouldnt had noticed it.

Ok, so I guess you need to install that distribution package. I will do a bit of research about this and maybe there is way to circumvent this.. damn.

@Ello: I don't know exactly about generating sinus sounds, but theoretically, you can do this. About that FX stuff: yes, that is what I'm fiddling around at the current moment. You will be able to play samples and streams and then you can apply certain effects like echo for instance.

Posted By: ello

Re: Lite-C FMOD wrapper DLL v 0.1 for A7 - free - 06/23/07 13:23

cool, i am curious about that, and i guess not only me:)

Posted By: Taratoga1

Re: Lite-C FMOD wrapper DLL v 0.1 for A7 - free - 06/24/07 12:13

Hi ,

installing "vcredist" dont solve the problem.

Kind regards

Taratoga

Posted By: HeelX

Re: Lite-C FMOD wrapper DLL v 0.1 for A7 - free - 06/24/07 15:31

I struggled a few hours today getting rid of the MSVCR80D.dll dependancy. Actually, this resulted from a debug switch. So, the real release version is (as a sidenote) three times smaller than the previous version.

In the following you'll find a link to the current development build. Please replace the DLL in the samples directory with this version and try the samples. It should work now, because the DLL doesnt require the above mentioned (debug-) DLL anymore.

www.christian-behrenberg.de/sharedData/FMOD/dev/LFW_2007-06-24_1.rar

I repeat: THIS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL release. All features used in the demo applications should work, though.

Please report any problems here.
Thanks, Christian

Posted By: Taratoga1

Re: Lite-C FMOD wrapper DLL v 0.1 for A7 - free - 06/25/07 09:26

Hi Heelx,

I test A7 and liteC like I wrote above. Now both crashes

If I start any of your bat Files.

So something has changed.

This is the fmod dll version I use: 3.7.5.0 159 KB

He...now It works, found another mistake I did.

Thank you for your support. I keep you on the track with my testing.

Kind regard

Taratoga