Can you play MP3s in your game? Hehe.. the title says it all, but I was just wondering if you could use MP3s in your game. I heard that it was hardware intensive (or something like that) so it was not reccamended, but I may have heard wrong- thus, I''m relying on all you smart folks!

it is certainly possible and it has been done in some very popular games...Sid Meier''s Alpha Centauri is one such game. you''ll need to find a good codec though...i''m not sure where to look for free ones. there are some very good commercial ones available; i''m sure you can find some adequate free ones.

the beauty with using .mp3s in your game is that they''re small but they still have sound quality comparable to .wav files.

(games that use .wavs are awesome...you can make your own and use them instead, hehe)

hope this helps.

Here''s the lowdown on MP3:

If you aren''t charging for your game, you can use one of the many free MP3 codecs out there - search around you can find them.

If you charge money for your game, just about your only free options are DirectShow on the PC and QuickTime on the mac. Why? Because MP3 decoders are patented by Fraunhofer, a German company (http://www.iis.fhg.de/audio). Even if you buy an MP3 SDK such as Xaudio''s (www.xaudio.com), you must separately license the patent. The royalty is something like $1/per copy, which is ridiculous.

You can use the DirectShow APIs because the Windows Media Player is distributed freely and Microsoft has negotiated with Fraunhofer for DirectShow.


-vince

Have you looked into using mods? They're MUCH smaller then MP3s and WAVs and finding an engine and music is very easy. I've found some very good mods that not only have instruments, but also singing.

(One of my favorate mods I have is the theme for Beverly Hills Cop. It's 11 minutes long but it's only about 100K in size!)

As far as quality is concerned, if you can make or find some good 32bit or 40 bit (48?) mods, they sound just as good as a CD.

E:cb woof!

Edited by - dog135 on 2/9/00 7:15:55 PM

Its perfectly legal to write your own MP3 decoder however...

if you''re an audio expert






A man said to the universe:
"Sir I exist!"
"However," replied the universe,
"The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation."

And you write it without violating their patents!


-vince

Quake 3 uses mp3s too, and as you might have seen, no significiant speed loss (but hey, it''s Carmack &Co!).