[elorran]

As anyone whos played around with the FS1/2 sound a bit knows the FS engine works from wave files in both standard PCM format and the more compressed Microsoft ADPCM format.  Most of FS1/2's sound files are stored in MS-ADPCM format to help conserve space but this format can still be large at times and you also tend to lose some amount of quality in said format.

Might it be an idea to have newer versions of FS Open able to use compressed MP3 formats along with PCM and MS-ADPCM?

You wouldn't lose out on quality (though it's not that noticable in game) as well as saving on space, something which could prove quite useful considering the amount of mods and projects that are being released with custom music and voice packs now.

Just a thought.

[Goober5000]

Unfortunately, as of August last year, MP3 decoders as well as MP3 encoders need a license.  Any game supporting MP3 format has to pay a royalty fee if 5000 or more copies are distributed.
http://www.mp3licensing.com/royalty/games.html

So, anyone have $2500 they want to lend us?

[Odyssey]

I remember discussions like this before... Didn't .ogg turn out a good candidate?

[elorran]

You don't have to use an embedded decoder.  Most computers these days have at least a decode capable codec on them so if it was possible to use a comps existing codecs then you wouldn't technically be using an embedded codec and thus wouldn't have to pay any fee.

And to my knowledge this is how FS1/2 works anyway, by using the systems own codecs rather than embedded ones.

[diamondgeezer]

Fair enough to that, but from what I've read Ogg Vorbis is basically open source MP3, more or less. Might be a better idea to work on that, perhaps...

[karajorma]

Makes smaller files than mp3 too.

[diamondgeezer]

Happarently so - though in case any one was considering it, the Ogg guys don't recomend conversion from MP3 to OGG since the differences in compression result in a dodgy file. You need to convert to OGG from the original WAV

That's my piece of computer trivia for the day

[CptWhite]

ogg is simply genious , makes 64kbs actually sound quite reasonable !

[elorran]

Well which ever format you decide on can we at least some something more compressed as a possible option.

And you can make mp3 format files less than 64kbs that still sound reasonable.  I don't see this fascination people have with creating ultra high frequency files when it's ridiculously hard to tell the difference between 22khz and 44khz anyway (when properly done that is).

[Petrarch of the VBB]

My vote would go for ogg. It has small file sizes, high quality, and cannot be tampered with by most porgrams. Even golwave needs a plugin for it.

BTW, ogg was used for the music in OP Flashpoint, and that came out quite well.

[Fry_Day]

You also seem to be forgetting that all the Unreal Warfare engine games use .ogg

[Petrarch of the VBB]

Of course, it is the music and effects, isn't it?