This may seem like a "less smart" question: What''s the standard sound/music system used in games? - Windows Wave and multimedia API? - Some other system like Midas orso? - Or simply play your soundtracks right from CD? Is mp3 becoming a good option?

well I do like to point out that in UNIX we have YLib,
it''s intended as a standard (networked) sound interface for games.

http://fox.mit.edu/xsw/yiff

MP3''s require decompression time and most players would
prefer that data load faster than to save disk space.
.wav (PCM), .raw, or .voc would be my recommendation.

Thanks for your answer, but I''m doin it the Bill Gates way!

quote: Original post by baskuenen

This may seem like a "less smart" question:

What''s the standard sound/music system used in games?
- Windows Wave and multimedia API?
- Some other system like Midas orso?
- Or simply play your soundtracks right from CD?

Is mp3 becoming a good option?

It all depends on your needs. You can use MIDI, Direct Music, Direct Sound, or have your music on CD. If you''re willing to spend some dollars you can license the Miles Sound System, which supports MP3 playback.

Each system has its own advantages and disadvantages. Direct Sound is good for sound effects. For music, CD audio has quality and consistency going for it, while Direct Music has interactivity (and consistency when using DLS samples). Finally, the Miles Sound System, which I''ve no experience with, supports a number of music and audio standards.

there is no "standard" system

here are some others, but i haven''t tried them out yet:
XAudio (MP3, free)
FMod (XM,IT,S3M,etc, free for free, $ for $)

- n8

nathany.com

Im using A3D, which is fairly easy to program with and that provides very easy routines to deal with opening and playing with WAV and MP3(Streamed and pre-decoded) files. Plus, if a3d drivers are not present then it drops back to directX 3d sound, and if those drivers arent present, it drops back to simple stereo.

As far as CPU useage goes when decoding mp3, I think most peoples systems are capable of decoding with remarkably little cpu useage (I know it shows up as less than 2% on my computer

Just my £0.02