WC3/4 Music Format

Wedge009

Rogue Leader
I just managed to have a look at the WC3MUSIC.TRE file from (presumably) the KS version of WC3, and as expected, I couldn't get much from it. Unlike the raw sound streams used in WC1KS (and presumably WC2KS), WC3MUSIC.TRE is compressed/encoded in a similar or the same format as the music used in the credits for WC3 and WC4 DOS.

Now, I noticed there's an uncompressed WAV file for the WC4 credits in the CIC's music section - it doesn't appear to be recorded a soundcard output, rather it seems to be extracted from the game itself. I've found the credits music in WC3/4, but only in the same garbled format that I found the WC3MUSIC.TRE in.

So, I'm wondering, where did the WC4 credits music from the music section come from? Because if someone managed to extract it that long ago, perhaps it is possible to extract the music from WC3MUSIC.TRE as well. Anyone have any thoughts on this?
 
I've been able to yank out a wav or two from WC4's .TREs with GAP (Game Audio Player). I'll try it again to make sure that's the case.

Edit: Yup, I can play the music on CD6 anyway. I have to say the sound-quality is... not quite up to par with Independence War 2, so to speak. :)
 
I got a hold of one of the WC3KS disks from a friend and tried to extract the music from the .tre file too with no success. I did manage to extract the credits theme from WC4 though, IIRC.
 
You sure about that, MH? I can only remember doing that with the CD3 inflight music (which is the credits music in mono), not the credits music itself.

Yeah, GAP is useful for lots of things, but unfortunately, not for grabbing WC3/4 credits music. :(
 
By the same token, the inflight music on CD4 is the same as the intro music... but mono. The impression I had was that you extracted the actual stereo credits music using GAP. Oh well, it was worth a shot...

[Sorry, I just realised I've been getting things mixed up. When I say music from "CD3" or "CD4", I meant music from MUSIC3.TRE and MUSIC4.TRE]
 
Wedge009 said:
By the same token, the inflight music on CD4 is the same as the intro music... but mono.

Err... not quite.

I have no idea how those high quality stereo recordings got circulated into public domain, but I'm certain none of them were extracted from the game itself.

Someone must've managed to acquire them from George Oldziey's personal files or from Origin somehow.
 
Xerxes said:
Origin had the wav version of the WC4 credits on there site for awhile way back when.

Just to confirm, this is where it came from. It was one of the 'extras' Origin put at their WCIV website over the course of a few weeks back in 1996... along with the script and the rotating faction .movs and the Maniac sounds.
 
Mad Hatter said:
Err... not quite.
Well, you know what I mean. At least I hope you do. I mean that the tune played is just the same as in the intro and credits, not that the music is the same as the intro/credits down-mixed to mono.

But the point is moot - it's clear that we cannot extract the stereo music directly from the files. But if someone can to a digital-to-digital recording...
 
Mad Hatter said:
I got a hold of one of the WC3KS disks from a friend and tried to extract the music from the .tre file too with no success. I did manage to extract the credits theme from WC4 though, IIRC.

If I recall correctly, the WC3 credits music was different between the DOS and KS versions. KS has a rehash of the opening credits music, while the original DOS version has a different arrangement with some new elements of the score.

I could be wrong of course. But if that's the case Wedge, if you're looking to extract the WC3 credits music, you'd probably want to do it from the DOS version. That is, if you could find a way to do the extraction in the first place.
 
That's the problem - both the DOS version and the KS version are compressed in some way that no one seems to know how to extract.

Oh, and the DOS WC3 music was mostly in MIDI (apart from the movies and credits). And also, the DOS WC3 credits was a medley - no new music.
 
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