MIDI sustain controller

[Archangel (aka SoupDragon)]

This is a really strange problem. I have a MIDI, that's essentially a piano solo, which makes extensive use of the sustain midi control. It plays fine with any media player; winamp, winMP, whatever, but when I use it in an ags game, for some reason the sustain control doesn't function, leaving a very staccato and weird sounding piece. I've tried using both midi formats (1 and 0) to no avail. Can anyone help me?

[Pumaman]

It's possible that the AGS MIDI player doesn't support the Sustain feature. I don't know I'm afraid, I'm not very up on how the various music players work, and the guy who wrote the MIDI player that AGS uses doesn't seem to be around any more.

It has been noted to have a couple of deficiencies so this could be one of them I'm afraid.

[Archangel (aka SoupDragon)]

Ack! That really, really sucks. Any chance of that going on the feature suggestions list? Or do any midi masterminds here have a workaround?

[ThunderStorm]

Far from being a MIDI mastermind, I just want to add that I noticed that problem too, and I reported it quite a long time ago. If I remember correctly, Chris then suggested to use MOD music instead
I'd like to see this problem fixed too, as it makes some pieces really sound strange, as Archangel said.

[Pumaman]

Can you provide an example MIDI file with this problem so I can just make sure for myself before taking the problem further?

[Archangel (aka SoupDragon)]

I pm'ed you with a url, cj.

[Synthetique]

well.. if you make a midi song, you could convert it to .it with modplug tracker., .it is similar to .mod and .xm ..I dont know if the AGS engine plays it so if not, open it in madtracker2 and convert it to .xm ..

[ThunderStorm]

Actually, I tried opening a MIDI in ModPlug Tracker, but what sounded like sweeping synthies before turned into a feeling of traffic jam, which was not what I had intended  :

[Synthetique]

well you have to fix it up a bit in modplug. cuz it sux a bit..

[Pumaman]

I raised this problem with the development team behind AGS's sound system - they replied that yes it's a known problem, but that nobody is interested enough in MIDI to fix it, so they recommend converting the tune to a MOD/XM instead. Sorry.

[Pumaman]

Ah, I have been suggested a workaround. Try this:
http://www.agsforums.com/acwin.zip

It seems to improve the situation for me.

[ThunderStorm]

Hey, thanks! I will try that as soon as possible!

EDIT: To be honest - this sounds more like a bugfix than a workaround to me  
At least the MIDI file I tried played just fine now.

Thanks a lot!

[Archangel (aka SoupDragon)]

Great, that's perfect How soon's this gonna be incorporated into the official release?

Edit: urgh, so it's not quite perfect... the sustain doesn't cut off when you change music! So half the notes last forever into the next tune :/

[Pumaman]

Ah well spotted, I'll fix it for beta 1.