Monkey Island Special Editions coming to stores (in Europe)

[Laserschwert]

Well, I got one 190MB file out of the "Launcher.pak" with Benny's MI Explorer, but I don't knowif it's actually the music. It's got the file extension .aws and I've got no idea what that is.

It's really stupid to have the launcher be the only way to listen to the music, especially when switching to another window mutes the music!

Benny, any ideas?

[Thrik]

It's not one of those magical CDs that works in an actual CD player too is it? If not I expect Benny can come up with a solution, but failing even that there's always line-in recording. ;

[Laserschwert]

Actually it's a DVD, so, no.

"Line-in" recording isn't even necessary nowadays, as most recording programs and/or soundcards can just set "what you hear" as an audio source.

Still I bet Benny will make us proud yet again

[Thrik]

That's what I meant, sound cards I've had often do that when you select 'line in' as the recording channel and don't actually have anything plugged into that port. I really can't see it being necessary though, Ben is after all limitless in capabilities. ;

[Kusi81]

The file you meant is ogg! I renamed it but couldn't played. Then I've simply tried to convert it with the dbPoweramp Converter. It worked! :-)

[Laserschwert]

Really?? I didn't find OGGs, but maybe I haven't looked thoroughly enough...

Edit: Nope, extracted the whole launcher.pak ... no OGGs in there.

[Kusi81]

Originally Posted by Laserschwert

Really?? I didn't find OGGs, but maybe I haven't looked thoroughly enough...

Edit: Nope, extracted the whole launcher.pak ... no OGGs in there.

There's a file, around 200 to 300MB. The ending is like aw* (sry I don't know exactly, I'm currently not at home) This you've to rename as ogg. On my VLC this wasn't playable (curious, I know) - but it's convertable. I'll take a look at home. :-)

[Laserschwert]

Oh, I see... yeah, AWS... like 190 MB

I'l give it a try!

Edit:
Yay, it worked... unfortunately it's one single file now. Cutting commenced!

Edit2:
They're not making it easy, as the tracks aren't in the correct order in that file! Sound quality is awesome, by the way. Does anybody know how to check the spectrum of an audio file to check for data compression?

[Threepwood4life]

Brief video showing the launcher with concept art and soundtrack menus

YouTube Video

[Gabez]

They really did a fantastic job with these special editions.

[makabro]

What about the commentary sessions that the creators did for MI2:SE?, Is that included aswell? I saw a bunch of videos on YouTube and it was said that they will include them in this release :S

[sinus]

another misleading statement ...

only the audio, sorry.

[The Silent Man]

I'm very disappointed by such misleading statements, because I think that 90% of us is going to buy this release just because of the extra contents.

I'm happy that it's possible to rip the audio files quite easily!
About OGG files, if the format is OggPCM then it's lossless audio, otherwise if the format is OggVorbis it's lossy with variable bitrate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogg#Ogg_codecs

[Laserschwert]

I didn't see a way to actually check the original file's bitrate... once converted (to WAV) it's of course uncompressed.

But doing the math:

137 minutes of music = 190 MB
8220 seconds = 1556480 kb
1 second = 189,35 kb

So the bitrate should be around 190 kbps. It's a huge step upward from the in-game MI1 music, but wasn't MI2's music uncompressed in-game? Still the Collection's tracks sound different than in-game... not only regarding arrangement (like in "Woodtick Suite"), but also instrumentation (the slap bass in MI2's opening is different from the one in the game). It might be worth compiling a complete soundtrack including these alternates. Also MI1 features a "flute less" main theme in the menu (which the Collection's launcher uses as well, although not complete), which should be included too.

[The Silent Man]

Originally Posted by Laserschwert

Still the Collection's tracks sound different than in-game... not only regarding arrangement (like in "Woodtick Suite"), but also instrumentation (the slap bass in MI2's opening is different from the one in the game).

Alternative takes? VERY very interesting.
I was wondering how each track ends, since the iMuse system implies loops. Maybe it's where these different arrangements come from?
By the way I love that slap bass in MI2 and I think that on the Special Edition version is not as good as it should be.

[Thrik]

If it's OGG it's probably not as simple as that Laser, unlike MP3 it always uses variable bitrates so parts of a track could be like 16kb/s and others 320kb/s depending on the audio detail at any given moment. It uses quality levels rather than bitrates to determine overall quality, and I believe higher qualities basically increase the maximum bitrate it can balloon to when needed.

Without further analysis it could very well be the OGGs are set to the maximum quality level which would mean sounding at least as good as a 320kb/s MP3, which would be pretty great — although I'd still prefer a proper CD release at some point.

[The Silent Man]

Originally Posted by Thrik

Without further analysis it could very well be the OGGs are set to the maximum quality level which would mean sounding at least as good as a 320kb/s MP3, which would be pretty great — although I'd still prefer a proper CD release at some point.

Yeah, I totally agree. I would be ready to pay a few extra bucks for a stand-alone music CD.

[Laserschwert]

Jesse Harlin told me that while it's not the worldwide iTunes release he was was hoping for, he's still happy that it's released at all.

So I guess a CD was never in the cards anyway. But I've gotta say, the tracks do sound pretty clear to me.

[Teeth]

So, are the games themselves changed or updated at all from the downloadable versions? I saw they've changed LeChuck's face on the MI2:SE boxart.

[MusiclyInspired]

Seriously doubt it. They also changed Guybrush's head. But the launcher still shows the original box arts complete with classic hair. As do the screenshots. I doubt anything's changed, but I don't have a copy so I can't confirm.

[Laserschwert]

The concept art viewer though shows the MI2:SE cover with a better face on LeChuck:

[makabro]

Guys i'm messing with that audio file: "default.aws" (included in the Launcher.pak) and i did this: remaned it from *.aws -> *.ogg, converted it from *.ogg -> *.ogg but did not cut it. It has awesome quality!!!. Does any of you cut it in tracks?

Edit: i forget to mention that i used Easy CD-DA Extractor [Ultimate] in the process of convertion, it did a great job!!

Edit 2: they DEFINITELY are the "master tracks" of the games, the trumpets are simply GREAT!!

[Laserschwert]

They can't be the "master tracks", as those wouldn't be compressed ;-)

I wonder though if Benny could write an automated tool to split the big file, giving the snippets the correct track names (through a text file which contains timings and titles).

[sinus]

I would rather have an compressed-by-Lucas version than a transcoded-by-user version.

[Laserschwert]

Well, you don't have a choice ;-)

And the quality of these is really outstanding.

[sinus]

No I meant I prefer extracted as-is versions rather than transcoded from-to.

[Laserschwert]

Yeah, but in this case the "extracted as-is" version is a single 137 minute long file, with the tracks in random order.

Splitting it up into the appropriate tracks doesn't require a re-transcode (or you'll transcode them to FLAC).

Edit:

Opening the "default.awb" file with a text editor, it looks like the order isn't all random after all:

MI1_01_TheGoldGuy
MI1_02_Introductions
MI1_03_TheLookout
MI1_04_ChapterScreen
MI1_05_TheScummBar
MI1_06_LeChucksTheme
MI1_07_TheShopkeeper
MI1_08_MeleeIsland
MI1_09_TheFettuciniBros
MI1_10_GuybrushElaine
MI1_11_TheVoodooShop
MI1_12_KidnapGovernor
MI1_13_StansVessels
MI1_14_MeleeForest
MI1_15_Meanwhile
MI1_16_TheJourney
MI1_17_MonkeyIsland
MI1_18_GhostShipShuffle
MI1_19_CannibalVillage
MI1_20_OrganPrelude
MI1_21_ClosingThemes
MI1_22_BonusCue2
MI2_14_RumRogersJr
MI2_15_JojoTheMonkey
MI2_16_BootyIsland
MI2_17_KioskAndCook
MI2_18_MardiGrasFishFry
MI2_19_KateStansCoffins
MI2_20_ElainesMapTiff
MI2_21_DemBonesAndDream
MI2_22_WallyIsKidnapped
MI2_23_RoomsOfUglyBone
MI2_24_TortureChamber
MI2_25_DinkyIsland
MI2_26_TheVoodooDolly
MI2_27_TheTunnels
MI2_28_BigWhoopFinale
MI2_01_HeyYouGuys
MI2_02_ItStartedOnScabb
MI2_03_TheLargoEmbargo
MI2_04_WoodtickSuite
MI2_05_TheCemetery
MI2_06_TheHouseOfMojo
MI2_07_PokingLargo
MI2_08_CaptainDread
MI2_09_PhattIslandArrival
MI2_10_TheBoneMaster
MI2_11_GovPhattsMansion
MI2_12_TheGamblersClub
MI2_13_BeyndTheWatrfall

It's only the first half of the MI2 soundtrack that's moved to the end of the tracks... whyever. Maybe Benny might be able to get the exact split points from these file and automate it somehow?

[sinus]

Finally I found the MI-SE explorer. Sorry!
(Thanks benny btw.)


Opening the default.aws with audacity shows a selection window with different streams (recognizing them as Ogg Vorbis) and imports the selection as separate stereo tracks, which makes exporting very easy! (no need to edit)

The selection window looks something like this ...

Index[00] Version[0] Channels [2] Rate[44100]
Index[01] Version[0] Channels [2] Rate[44100]
...
Index[0f] Version[0] Channels [2] Rate[44100]
...

(The index numbers are hexa-decimal.)

(foobar won't play it. and eac3to "could not detect the format of the source file".)

I wish there was some way to really extract these streams without re-encoding or at least find out the quality setting.

[sinus]

Originally Posted by Laserschwert

doing the math:

137 minutes of music = 190 MB
8220 seconds = 1556480 kb
1 second = 189,35 kb

My default.aws is 182 MB (?) which leads me to
1497116.46875 kilobits and 182 kbps which is approximately ogg vorbis -q5.7 ...

[Laserschwert]

Oh, haven't tried it with Audacity... good to know it recognizes the splits

But saving the files as straight WAVs shouldn't result in any quality loss, or does it?

EDIT
Filesize in the properties: 191,630,908 Bytes
So yeah, 187,139 kB or 182,75 MB

All is well

[bgbennyboy]

Only just seen this thanks to a pm from Laser.
My friend has the cd so I'll borrow that and have a look into the music today.

[sinus]

Originally Posted by Laserschwert

But saving the files as straight WAVs shouldn't result in any quality loss, or does it?

IT DOES




... in a loss of disk space.

[Laserschwert]

Then use FLAC

[bgbennyboy]

I've got it, had a look and it looks simple enough.

At some point I'll update Monkey Island Explorer to support the .awb files but for now I'll just knock together a quick dumper with everything hardcoded to get the ogg's out with the correct filenames.

[Laserschwert]

Awesome!!!

[Alex IDV]

Indeed. Thanks a lot, Bgbennyboy!

[sinus]

Originally Posted by bgbennyboy

dumper

Which means without re-encoding, right?



btw: Just played the Secret SE for the first time ever. and on the top of monkey island (where you can suffer a sierra-like fake death) the entire sky is missing, says "texture not found" ...

anyone had a similar problem?

[bgbennyboy]

Done it. It took a bit longer than expected because I did it properly rather than make a quick brute force dumper. It parses the .awb file and then dumps the music from the .aws file, its all automatic - just point it to launcher.pak and it'll take care of the rest.

Monkey Island Music Extractor

[bgbennyboy]

Originally Posted by sinus

Which means without re-encoding, right?

Yes

[Laserschwert]

You, sir, are a genius!