Pokemon D/P/Pt Music Replacement research thread

[DDD]

Hello, i've been looking for a way to change songs in diamond for a LONG time and recently i found out how to do it. But its not very accurate.

Programs Needed

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- Nitro Explorer 2

- Crystal Tile 2

- DS Roms

My Research so far

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Well I opened a couple of roms with Nitro Explorer 2 and found out the sound data file which is mostly ".sdat" and they cotain the music files which are in folders based on what type they are. They can be found in Data/Sound/sound_data.sdat in a pokemon diamond rom. for other roms they have a similar name.

The folders that can be found in "sound_data.sdat" are "Bank" which contains files that are ".sbnk" and there's a "Sequence" folder that has ".sseq" files and there's the "Wave Archive" which has ".swar" files in it. "sbnk" & ".swar" files seem to have the notes and the digital instruments for the songs. i assume that they have to be replaced too if you want the song to work correctly. Because i tried it and the battle song sounded very glitchy. Now that i'm done with the facts lemme show you how to use them:

With crystal tile 2 i opened a kirby squeek squad rom and then exported a .sseq file (side note: the songs you want to put in your game must be smaller or equall to the original one, NOT bigger) and saved it as "SEQ_BA_POKE.sseq" which is the music for wild pokemon battles. Then i opened pokemon Diamond's "sound_data.sdat" and imported the saved ".sseq" from kirby to pokemon diamond, and then saved it. As i said before it sounded very glitchy but there's still hope as long as the connections between the ".sbnk" & ".swar" files with ".sseq" can be found and the mystery behind which ".sbnk" & ".swar" files to replace can be solved.

If anyone knows how to continue, please contribute to this thread. Thank you.

Edited January 9, 2010 by DDD
added links.

[Poryhack]

I never went in-depth with sound files, but I'll explain what I know.

Most sounds in the game aren't going to be what you think of when you think of sound files. For instance, in an MP3 you have one long stream of information that is a direct representation of sound(waves). In an effort to save space, and because most music for the DS is synthesized anyways, sounds on the DS are more like a MIDI than an MP3. MIDIs, instead of storing direct sound data, store information that tells a set of virtual "instruments" what to sound like in a sequential fashion. An SSEQ is equivalent to a MIDI, in fact you can convert using some neat tools. SBNK files are the equivalent of "sound fonts" for MIDIs; a set of digitized instruments. AFAIK there's no existing tools to make a sound font from an SBNK.

SWAVs will also be in there, these ones are more similar to MP3s (or if you're familiar with the format, WAVs, heh). I know this is used for stuff like pokemon cries where it wouldn't make sense to use any kind of instrument sequence. Any other files you see are just gonna be some archive format containing the formats I mentioned.

[evandixon]

SBNK files are the equivalent of "sound fonts" for MIDIs; a set of digitized instruments. AFAIK there's no existing tools to make a sound font from an SBNK.

There is VGM Trans that can convert them to DLS Files.

VGMTrans.zip

[Poryhack]

Ahh, good to know. Thanks.

[DDD]

Thanks for the information everyone.

[DDD]

I also have another Question. How do i know which .sbnk file is for which .sseq file?

Edited January 12, 2010 by DDD
typo

[Xor Vok]

MIDIs, instead of storing direct sound data, store information that tells a set of virtual "instruments" what to sound like in a sequential fashion.

This may just lead to a better editor.

[maldicion069]

Videotutorial, please

[DDD]

Videotutorial, please

i cant because i don't fully understand this. if you want a video tutorial this'll help