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[Link Collection] Essential VGM ripping tools + Quick Guide

AlphaTwentyThree

By AlphaTwentyThree
in Tutorials

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AlphaTwentyThree Enthusiast

AlphaTwentyThree

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Posted (edited)

I had this idea some time ago already because I sometimes struggle to remember which standard tool I need to get a hold of different platforms, so I'm starting this list to have everything in one place. Also serves as a place to centralize some basic information for beginners to get started with VGM ripping or data mining in general.

Of course this list is incomplete and doesn't include things like scripts for different engines. I'll add links to download or GitHub pages if I can find them. If you have another tool at the ready, post here and I'll edit this post. I'll leave out vgmstream and QuickBMS as those should be familiar enough.

@admins - move to appropriate forum if this is the wrong place for such a post.

 

ROM extractors/converters

Nintendo:

Sony:

Others:

Video demuxing:

  • ffmpeg - https://github.com/FFmpeg/FFmpeg (always use with options `-vn -acodec copy`)
    • you can use this batch in the video folder (auto-trying the most common format where ffmpeg should be used; remove the trailing `_track1` for videos that only have a single audio track) 
      for /L %%k in (1,1,5) do (
	for %%i in (*.mp4, *.m4v, *.mov) do (
		ffmpeg.exe -i "%%i" -vn -acodec copy -map 0:%%k "%%~ni_track%%k.m4a"
	)
	for %%i in (*.avi) do (
		ffmpeg.exe -i "%%i" -vn -acodec copy -map 0:%%k "%%~ni_track%%k.wav"
	)
	for %%i in (*.bk2, *.bik2, *.bik) do (
		ffmpeg.exe -i "%%i" -vn -acodec copy -map 0:%%k "%%~ni_track%%k.bik"
	)
	for %%i in (*.mpg, *.mpeg) do (
		ffmpeg.exe -i "%%i" -vn -acodec copy -map 0:%%k "%%~ni_track%%k.mp2"
	)
	for %%i in (*.wmv) do (
		ffmpeg.exe -i "%%i" -vn -acodec copy -map 0:%%k "%%~ni_track%%k.wma"
	)
)
  • VGMToolbox - https://github.com/Manicsteiner/VGMToolbox (mainly for bik, thp, sfd as well as EA and Sony formats)
    • Misc. Tools > Stream Tools > Video Demultiplexer
  • OGMDemuxer - https://www.bunkus.org/videotools/ogmtools/ (part of OGMTools)
    • drag onto exe

Unreal Engine:

Unity:

Other tools:

 

Things to not forget

  • Include all videos in properly demuxed format (= playable in vgmstream)
    • careful, some demuxers in VGMToolbox don't work properly (like the XMV demuxer in some cases)
    • if only the header is missing, you'll need to provide an accompanying .[ext].txth file (or one per file) > make sure you grab the playback info from the video header
  • Make sure you check ALL audio files to not miss jingles/cues that are sitting in SFX folders or archives
    • music files can be as short as 1-2 seconds, so make sure you're not missing those among the sounds!
  • Old PC games > install/autostart music
    • Don't use purely digital versions for rips (GOG/Steam) when the game was released in physical form!
    • Music playing during install > exit installer > open %TEMP% and clear as much as possible > restart installer > check for new folders - usually a plain audio file is sitting in the temp folder
    • Music playing in autostarter > check on disc; if it can't be located, you might need to parse the exe (there's a QuickBMS script for that)
  • Wii, WiiU, PS3/PSP/PS4/Vita > icon music
    • Wii > sound.bin inside opening.brstm > use ShowMiiWads, rename to opening.[ext]
    • WiiU bootSound.btsnd > \meta\
    • PS3 snd0.at3 > \PS3_GAME\
    • PSP snd0.at3 > \PSP_GAME\
    • PS4 snd0.at9 > \Sc0\ (usually)
    • Vita snd0.at9 > \sce_sys\
    • move into the main folder together with the txtp files, adding `icon - ` to the name start
  • FSB archives > leave all of them untouched and provide TXTP files for playback; don't split them, this can lose information

 

Quick Guide - Creating PROPER rips

  • Keep all file names, extensions, headers and external instructions intact
  • Keep the game's original folder structure!
  • Extract everything into a `root/` subfolder, then delete all files and folders not needed (images, shaders etc.) until you're left with only the music, cutscenes and videos.
    • Careful to not delete the following:
      • external audio instruction files that provide info about loop points or references to the music system
      • bigfiles that might contain additional music like jingles/stingers/cues
  • Archive/bigfile extraction depends on the case:
    • if it repeats an existing folder structure, integrate
    • if it includes folders but doesn't repeat an existing folder structure (e.g. all assets in one file), extract into the same folder it is located
    • if it doesn't include any folders, extract into a subfolder of the same name, delete the bigfile and add its extension to the folder name
  • Properly demux all videos and make sure the resulting audio files are playable
    • wma sometimes needs to be renamed to wma2 in order for vgmstream to recognize the format; wma_lossless still seems to be unsupported at the moment
  • When everything is playing correctly, place one of the attached batch files in your game folder (i.e. the folder containing the root folder) and run it.
  • Rename the txtp files (loosely sort by using `music - `, `video - `, `jingle - ` etc.) and manually split out FSB sub-tracks containing music
    • make sure internal track names aren't lost when referencing sub-tracks
  • Check if everything gets looped and faded correctly and if not, provide loop and fade markers inside your txtp files. Often times, ignoring a loop with `#i` or forcing a loop from start to end with `#E` is already enough.

 

HAPPY RIPPING!

txtp_creator.7z

Edited by AlphaTwentyThree
  • Like 3
Sparagas Explorer

Sparagas

Posted
Posted

PSX .cue /.bin

(or .cue / .bin in general, because some PS2 games and many PC games are also in CD format)

can be opened directly through ISO Buster.

You need to open .cue file and not .bin file.

  • Engineer
AlphaTwentyThree Enthusiast

AlphaTwentyThree

Posted
  • Author
  • Engineer
Posted
15 hours ago, Sparagas said:

PSX .cue /.bin

(or .cue / .bin in general, because some PS2 games and many PC games are also in CD format)

can be opened directly through ISO Buster.

You need to open .cue file and not .bin file.

Oh yeah, completely forgot that. Many PSX games have audio tracks as well, which is where Daemon Tools + Exact Audio Copy comes into play because of the proper log file. Added that to the guide with link to a proper EAC setup (most of it is for actual disc drives, this is more about the log and data read settings).

  • AlphaTwentyThree changed the title to [Link Collection] Essential VGM ripping tools + Quick Guide
Sparagas Explorer

Sparagas

Posted
Posted

"PSX, DC and old PC games with audio tracks (Reedbook)"

Not ReedBook, but Red Book.

 

Also PS2 iso -> not only PS2, but also PC games (IBM PC compatible to be exact) are also using regular ISO for DVD dics

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AlphaTwentyThree Enthusiast

AlphaTwentyThree

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Added another tool for PS4 pkg as I just experienced a pkg with a non-standard character in its title id.

The other tool (annoyingly!) has no option to change the extraction subfolder being the title id, so the Windows filesystem itself throws an error. Might not be any issue on OS or Linux.

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