Sector "flight flicker" timings, and synchronizing to a MIDI

[DiR]

I'm currently trying to synchronize a MIDI with the lighting in a level for an effect, but I cannot figure out the timing besides the vague 0.5sec. and 1.0sec. timings that Doom Builder says the delays are at. Setting the song to a multiple of 60 or 120 didn't align quite right so the timings aren't exactly 1.0 and 0.5. I also tried doing some math with doom's 35-tic per second game rate but didn't have much luck there either with the MIDI going out of sync with the blinking lights after a couple of seconds.

 

Does anyone else have any pointers or perhaps some places I could check to get an idea of how to sync the MIDI and lighting? Conveyors aren't an option since I'm in vanilla.

[Edward850]

This would break even while just playing the game. The midi playback isn't designed to have the same timings as the game itself, Doom isn't the engine for synchronised music.

[Worst]

Doesn't this all break if the player opens up the menu, during which the music continues playing, but the game and lighting effects get paused?

[DiR]

6 hours ago, Worst said:

Doesn't this all break if the player opens up the menu, during which the music continues playing, but the game and lighting effects get paused?

 

6 hours ago, Edward850 said:

This would break even while just playing the game. The midi playback isn't designed to have the same timings as the game itself, Doom isn't the engine for synchronised music.

 

Ah, I never thought about that. Well I guess that Idea's out the window now. Thanks for the responses.

[ThatKidBobo]

Stopping the music when you open the menu would mostly keep it intact though. I do not know if anything like that is possible though, and if it is. it's probably only possible in zdoom ports.

[Edward850]

5 hours ago, ThatKidBobo said:

Stopping the music when you open the menu would mostly keep it intact though. I do not know if anything like that is possible though, and if it is. it's probably only possible in zdoom ports.

Zdoom ports would actually make things worse as their music plays back from a whole different thread. Any disruptions to the main game or even the audio thread starting to buffer would cause an immediate shift.

 

Typically games with an audio focus will have functions to queue audio and callbacks at key synchronisation points from the audio (so it's actually the audio controlling the pace), and you won't find a single Doom port, even Gzdoom, with any of that.

 

The secret third option is to instead of using a music track, you turn Doom into the composer by having a collection of samples you play from world objects or scripts. This one is a real winner for dynamic tracks and could even conceptually be done in vanilla, but how to do it isn't something that one could simply explain. It's a creative process through and through rather than a technical one.

Edited August 30, 2023 by Edward850

[LoatharMDPhD]

wasn't there that one WAD that Vargeskelethor Joel Played where the combat was timed to music beats.