Dataminers are finding developer comments and unlicensed songs in GTA Trilogy(pcgamer.com)
pcgamer.com
Dataminers are finding developer comments and unlicensed songs in GTA Trilogy
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/dataminers-are-finding-developer-comments-and-unlicensed-songs-in-gta-trilogy-as-rockstar-games-launcher-remains-offline/
83 comments
This is really interesting. I remember that the GTA 5 build log file was leaked back in the day. It contained a lot of interesting information too (e.g., something along the lines of an "auto play bot" which failed at a certain mission).
I'm looking forward to some summary of this soon in a blog/Youtube video :-).
That being said, it's a shame T2/R* is taking down/suing mods for this type of bad port. Despite being way ahead of any other game company in terms of R&D and innovation, they sadly decided to outsource these "definitive"versions and pay little attention to QA.
In any case, imho, the best way to play any of these original games is on a PS2 (probably even with a CRT TV) as that is the way the original developers really built it for.
>In any case, imho, the best way to play any of these original games is on a PS2
This is why I'm still a PC user. Whenever nostalgia hits and I want to play some old games, I don't need to keep around or source some vintage console hardware and games on the 2nd hand market or rely on some low quality ports that were most likely outsourced with poor QA, but I can just get away with installing the original game build off Steam/GOG or from two decades old cracked .iso files, and it will most likely work as Microsoft has done an amazing job with Windows backwards compatibility. And even when it doesn't work out of the box, there are enough resources out there from the community, with tweaks and patches, on how to get it running on a modern OS like Win 10 or even on Linux.
This is why I'm still a PC user. Whenever nostalgia hits and I want to play some old games, I don't need to keep around or source some vintage console hardware and games on the 2nd hand market or rely on some low quality ports that were most likely outsourced with poor QA, but I can just get away with installing the original game build off Steam/GOG or from two decades old cracked .iso files, and it will most likely work as Microsoft has done an amazing job with Windows backwards compatibility. And even when it doesn't work out of the box, there are enough resources out there from the community, with tweaks and patches, on how to get it running on a modern OS like Win 10 or even on Linux.
Well, assuming the PC version isn't a half-hearted console port...
Is there a mature discussion on the history of 'consolization' anywhere online, first examples I am aware of are 2003: Deus-ex Invisible War and 2004: Thief - Deadly Shadows, where the PC port is deliberately gimped due to being developed for console. GTA VC/San Andreas were worth at least waiting for at the time, due to proper mouse support and higher resolution.
Previously the Doom/Quake version that was on console would be months/years late and cut down, but these 2003/2004 titles reversed the trend. There are probably earlier examples that I am unaware of.
Between this effect, subscription MMORPGs and the inevitability of microtransactions I lost interest around that time.
Previously the Doom/Quake version that was on console would be months/years late and cut down, but these 2003/2004 titles reversed the trend. There are probably earlier examples that I am unaware of.
Between this effect, subscription MMORPGs and the inevitability of microtransactions I lost interest around that time.
>Is there a mature discussion on the history of 'consolization' anywhere online
The console market is huge as not everyone is tech savvy enough to maintain a gaming PC and bother with all the OS updates, driver updates, patches, HW upgrades and such. Lots of people just want to hop on the couch after school/work, pick up the controller and start playing.
And since the console market is so big, it made financial sense for the game studios to use them as the lowest common denominator during development. More sales on more platforms = more $$$, despite the PC ports ending up sub-par.
The dark ages ware during the PS3 and Xbox 360 days since those consoles used custom CPU/GPU architectures, radically different than PCs, which coupled with the low quality of the SW tooling and SDKs of the era made cross-platform game development a nightmare at the time so more often than not games made for both console and PCs turned out janky AF.
But thankfully, since the last couple of console generations are basically x64 AMD APU powered PCs, and SW tooling is way simpler and more efficient and of higher quality so game devs can scale their engines and visuals much easier between console and PC reducing the quality discriminations.
However, I have noticed that console gaming experience has gotten a lot more janky in the last few generations as their HW and SW have reached PC levels of complexity, with long waiting times, errors and crashes being more common than in the days of ROM cartridges. The new and powerful SSD-only, generation of consoles seem to reverse that trend though and bring back a snappy and more responsive UX.
Although I gave up on modern gaming for the most part, especially the over-hyped AAA titles, the progress on the tech side pleases me (baring the chip shortage scalpocalypse we live in)
The console market is huge as not everyone is tech savvy enough to maintain a gaming PC and bother with all the OS updates, driver updates, patches, HW upgrades and such. Lots of people just want to hop on the couch after school/work, pick up the controller and start playing.
And since the console market is so big, it made financial sense for the game studios to use them as the lowest common denominator during development. More sales on more platforms = more $$$, despite the PC ports ending up sub-par.
The dark ages ware during the PS3 and Xbox 360 days since those consoles used custom CPU/GPU architectures, radically different than PCs, which coupled with the low quality of the SW tooling and SDKs of the era made cross-platform game development a nightmare at the time so more often than not games made for both console and PCs turned out janky AF.
But thankfully, since the last couple of console generations are basically x64 AMD APU powered PCs, and SW tooling is way simpler and more efficient and of higher quality so game devs can scale their engines and visuals much easier between console and PC reducing the quality discriminations.
However, I have noticed that console gaming experience has gotten a lot more janky in the last few generations as their HW and SW have reached PC levels of complexity, with long waiting times, errors and crashes being more common than in the days of ROM cartridges. The new and powerful SSD-only, generation of consoles seem to reverse that trend though and bring back a snappy and more responsive UX.
Although I gave up on modern gaming for the most part, especially the over-hyped AAA titles, the progress on the tech side pleases me (baring the chip shortage scalpocalypse we live in)
Consoles today are more powerful than the average PC. I didn't believe it until I saw the steam hardware survey.
Consoles and PC have influenced eachother- how many PC gamers today use controllers? The distinction has blurred somewhere in the 2010s.
Consoles and PC have influenced eachother- how many PC gamers today use controllers? The distinction has blurred somewhere in the 2010s.
Average PC or average Steam PC? Because I can't imagine anything but the average Steam PC being a lot better than the average PC people have in their house.
The Steam hardware survey shows what hardware people are using to play games on Steam and it is surprisingly modest for the most part.
The hardware survey is going to catch machines that aren't even attempting to be in the same class as consoles though.
Combine that with the availability issues that plagued the current-gen console launch, and the actual comparison of PCs used as gaming machine and consoles in people's houses is much closer.
Combine that with the availability issues that plagued the current-gen console launch, and the actual comparison of PCs used as gaming machine and consoles in people's houses is much closer.
I am probably PC gamer and I do not use controller and do not plan to do. Aiming with mouse vs aiming with controller will always differ - tbf, even when shooter games(Doom and Duke Nukem 3D, even Descent) used keyboard for aiming that had a lot more options than modern controllers, which I personally think is a big step down from PC joystics. What you are mostly seeing are console players, who are playing games on PC and they might use controller - some of the platform games(that are also available on PC) might benefit use of controllers instead of keyboards, but then again - PC gamers have reached virtuoso level with using keyboards, so pleas stap this nonsense of inciting PC vs consoles hatred.
Clearly, consoles have bigger income from gaming than PC, but then again - mobile games dwarf all of these combined, but that is not really an argument about what is better, but where is bigger income.
I only see the hatred from one camp my friend. The irony is lost on you.
I switched to PC. I play what once would be exclusive console games with a dualshock on a TV. Consoles and PC have converged.
I switched to PC. I play what once would be exclusive console games with a dualshock on a TV. Consoles and PC have converged.
His point isn't about the superiority of one method or another; it's that PC games all support controllers and many players choose to use them to play. Microsoft made a pretty hard push for that with the Xbox 360/One controllers.
I think just as much as that budgets are a big driver. If a game costs a bazillion dollars to make, and making it cross-platform is relatively straightforward, making it an exclusive doesn't make a lot of sense unless the platform holder is handing you a bag of money.
I have worked on console games since the 360/PS3 era, (which was 10 years ago, so my info is probably a little rusty)
> the PC port is deliberately gimped due to being developed for console.
If you want to have a mature discussion on the topic don't start out with this attitude. Timelines are finite, and plans change. Remember that the games you're talking about existed before licensing ue4/unity was the default option for AAA games. The games were likely only ever planned to exist on console and the request for PC cones in way later, however at that time the game just barely runs on PC (it doesn't need to be performant or representative, just play), and relies on an engine architecture based on having cell SPEs or an (almost) unified memory architecture.
The game is likely unplayable for anything other than "test you can do X and Y" on PC, and all development of the look and feel is done on the console itself. Naturally as consoles have moved towards x86 these differences have been reduced, and now it's common to develop the game on PC and test occasionally on console.
The differences do still exist though; PS5 having hardware decompression, dualsense controllers, both consoles having raytracung hardware and super fast SSDs as a guarantee.
> Between this effect, subscription MMORPGs and the inevitability of microtransactions I lost interest around that time.
You've missed 2 decades of excellent games that don't suffer from this, don't have subscritions and don't have microtransaction by doing that!
> the PC port is deliberately gimped due to being developed for console.
If you want to have a mature discussion on the topic don't start out with this attitude. Timelines are finite, and plans change. Remember that the games you're talking about existed before licensing ue4/unity was the default option for AAA games. The games were likely only ever planned to exist on console and the request for PC cones in way later, however at that time the game just barely runs on PC (it doesn't need to be performant or representative, just play), and relies on an engine architecture based on having cell SPEs or an (almost) unified memory architecture.
The game is likely unplayable for anything other than "test you can do X and Y" on PC, and all development of the look and feel is done on the console itself. Naturally as consoles have moved towards x86 these differences have been reduced, and now it's common to develop the game on PC and test occasionally on console.
The differences do still exist though; PS5 having hardware decompression, dualsense controllers, both consoles having raytracung hardware and super fast SSDs as a guarantee.
> Between this effect, subscription MMORPGs and the inevitability of microtransactions I lost interest around that time.
You've missed 2 decades of excellent games that don't suffer from this, don't have subscritions and don't have microtransaction by doing that!
I was actually hoping to avoid starting a debate here and hoping to find a broadly scoped long form discussion written by a journalist.
Please do not take my opinion as a personal affront to your career, and I sympathise with the difficulties in the industry.
Don't worry about my missing out, I had plenty of other things to do during that time. I have since regained a temporary interest and caught up on the offline single player PC games of interest to me over the course of lockdown restrictions, but console games are not for me. Invisible-War stands out as an abomination, prompting my comment.
The Ion storm games I mention ran poorly on an unreal 2 engine compared to their predecessors and the GTA ones were developed in parallel, there was no change of plan, it's a statement of fact in those cases rather than an attitude.
Please do not take my opinion as a personal affront to your career, and I sympathise with the difficulties in the industry.
Don't worry about my missing out, I had plenty of other things to do during that time. I have since regained a temporary interest and caught up on the offline single player PC games of interest to me over the course of lockdown restrictions, but console games are not for me. Invisible-War stands out as an abomination, prompting my comment.
The Ion storm games I mention ran poorly on an unreal 2 engine compared to their predecessors and the GTA ones were developed in parallel, there was no change of plan, it's a statement of fact in those cases rather than an attitude.
The reason why PC gamers have this attitude is very clear from OP's comment: it used to be that PC was the primary platform, and thus e.g. keyboard/mouse controls would be designed properly at least. When that changed to worse, it was glaringly obvious.
> first examples I am aware of are 2003: Deus-ex Invisible War and 2004: Thief - Deadly Shadows, where the PC port is deliberately gimped due to being developed for console
IIRC the first "Watch Dogs" game had deliberately downgraded graphics on PC compared to the previews and it was later found that changing a value in some config file would not only return the better looks but also lead to a boost in performance.
IIRC the first "Watch Dogs" game had deliberately downgraded graphics on PC compared to the previews and it was later found that changing a value in some config file would not only return the better looks but also lead to a boost in performance.
PS2 emulation works pretty well these days.
Sure, but why would you emulate something that already has a native build for PC?
I think the PC build lacks some visual effects that are present on the PS2 version.
pc versions of gta have had iconic music removed in updates and as of a few days ago you can't even purchase them anymore.
emulate and enjoy the games at 4k upscaled running at 60fps with everything the original had. it's the best way to enjoy these older titles.
even shadow of the colossus for ps2 upscaled is better than the ps4 remaster - the "tone" has changed in the remaster. check out some youtube videos.
emulate and enjoy the games at 4k upscaled running at 60fps with everything the original had. it's the best way to enjoy these older titles.
even shadow of the colossus for ps2 upscaled is better than the ps4 remaster - the "tone" has changed in the remaster. check out some youtube videos.
You need 5+ mods to the PC version of San Andreas before it looks and feels “right”. Look up SkyGFX for an example
Emulation often has an easier setup: no need to install, for instance. If on Windows, no trouble with incompatibilities with old versions of Windows; if on Linux, no trouble with Wine setup and winetricks. Also, no worries with malware.
Emulators also comes with "save states" (RAM dumps that save/restore at any point of time) and other features. It's really more convenient.
Emulators also comes with "save states" (RAM dumps that save/restore at any point of time) and other features. It's really more convenient.
Many games for older versions of Windows will not on modern versions of Windows without emulators, like DOSbox
because the playstation 2 API is even more stable than the windows API, and it's neatly sandboxed
...how does that help you follow the damn train, CJ?
You left Big Smoke behind, go get him!
Nobody should be surprised Rockstar went as cheap as possible and suckered everyone.
Rockstar is infamous for milking GTA 5 while not spending a dime on doing anything about harassment/trolling/hackers.
I stopped playing GTA 5 after some rando found me in one of the more isolated parts of the map and just decided to kill me over and over and over again. There was nothing I could do to get away from him; I'd respawn close enough to him, and nowhere near a vehicle, so I couldn't escape.
They could easily grant temporary immunity or kick players who kill another player more than once in, say, half an hour....and instantly end the problem of harassment and trolling in-game.
Rockstar is infamous for milking GTA 5 while not spending a dime on doing anything about harassment/trolling/hackers.
I stopped playing GTA 5 after some rando found me in one of the more isolated parts of the map and just decided to kill me over and over and over again. There was nothing I could do to get away from him; I'd respawn close enough to him, and nowhere near a vehicle, so I couldn't escape.
They could easily grant temporary immunity or kick players who kill another player more than once in, say, half an hour....and instantly end the problem of harassment and trolling in-game.
What do you mean no way to avoid this? Just use passive mode for a while to get away.
Don't forget that thing about the 20 minute loading times on multiplayer.
Passive Mode + You can just jump into another server. Heck on PC I know there were ways you can modify your network settings to ensure you're always dropped in an empty room. Great for CEO work.
What you're describing is part of the game.
It's like people being pissed off about PKers in Ultima Online 20-something years ago. It's literally what you signed up for. It's part of the world.
It's like people being pissed off about PKers in Ultima Online 20-something years ago. It's literally what you signed up for. It's part of the world.
The problem isn't player killing here, it's that you get repeatedly killed by the same person immediately when you respawn. That's just broken game design.
> Despite being way ahead of any other game company in terms of R&D and innovation, they sadly decided to outsource these "definitive"versions and pay little attention to QA.
One thing I really wonder if what codebase they worked off of. Seems like they worked off the mobile port codebase a few years ago, I've seen a few people mention that many of the bugs they saw in the Definitive Edition was also present in the mobile ports.
To it seems like their big mistake wasn't necessarily the fact they outsourced everything, is they started in the wrong place.
Codebase evolution seems to be: Original -> Mobile Port(s) -> Definitive Edition.
They should have scrapped any changes made in the mobile ports and worked straight off the original versions.
One thing I really wonder if what codebase they worked off of. Seems like they worked off the mobile port codebase a few years ago, I've seen a few people mention that many of the bugs they saw in the Definitive Edition was also present in the mobile ports.
To it seems like their big mistake wasn't necessarily the fact they outsourced everything, is they started in the wrong place.
Codebase evolution seems to be: Original -> Mobile Port(s) -> Definitive Edition.
They should have scrapped any changes made in the mobile ports and worked straight off the original versions.
The Nintendo Switch version seems to have a lot more
https://twitter.com/nationalpepper/status/145929488113902387...
https://twitter.com/nationalpepper/status/145929488113902387...
Has anybody found a link to these files (especially the main.scm mission scripts)=
main.sc is just one of the files the main.scm is compiled from.
They actually published everything except the main.sc for GTA3 in the iOS release, years ago btw. Same studio ... but now they included all the source script files for all 3 games (probably not untouched, I haven't checked). One can probably get a gist of what they changed by diffing the iOS scripts against the new versions.
They also included the script compiler, the gxt (text files) compiler ... War Drum/Grove Street Games really doesn't seem to know how to keep private tools/assets from being included in published versions. They also included alpha multiplayer maps in the iOS GTA3 release ...
You should add your email in your "about" field ...
They actually published everything except the main.sc for GTA3 in the iOS release, years ago btw. Same studio ... but now they included all the source script files for all 3 games (probably not untouched, I haven't checked). One can probably get a gist of what they changed by diffing the iOS scripts against the new versions.
They also included the script compiler, the gxt (text files) compiler ... War Drum/Grove Street Games really doesn't seem to know how to keep private tools/assets from being included in published versions. They also included alpha multiplayer maps in the iOS GTA3 release ...
You should add your email in your "about" field ...
A friend of mine called me late last night and told me some people were saying the entire game source code was leaked on PC, which was why Rockstar took down their servers for over 24 hours (and then brought it back up without the GTA Trilogy)
I know that a lot of dev notes and other stuff have been leaked, but nothing to confirm the entire source code was leaked. Though I remain hopeful
I know that a lot of dev notes and other stuff have been leaked, but nothing to confirm the entire source code was leaked. Though I remain hopeful
These GTA games are videogame history and put Rockstar on the map.
Seeing how it is treated is just sad. This industry doesn't care about art.
Seeing how it is treated is just sad. This industry doesn't care about art.
Question - I don't have the new DE version. There is a sign next to the bridge in GTA:SA which has stats on the front. What is on the back of it now? Did the developers keep the back of the sign or erase it because they didn't understand its true meaning?
https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/3ylmm4/a_staggering...
https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/3ylmm4/a_staggering...
Unlike most others, they updated this one with care. I guess it's a somewhat notorious dev joke, so it makes sense.
https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/2246626-grand-theft-auto-the...
https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/2246626-grand-theft-auto-the...
That's the front of the sign. The back of the sign is the real secret :) I'm trying to find out if they kept the back of the sign. See the Reddit link I posted.
The Reddit link isn’t particularly illuminating. Would you mind sharing what TFT means?
Let's pretend there was a secret video game cabal and they left their mark in many different places over the years. Of course, there is no cabal.
The reddit post you linked doesn't answer anything. What is TFT?
Let's pretend there was a secret video game cabal and they left their mark in many different places over the years. Of course, there is no cabal.
Trying to go down the rabbit hole, any suggested phrases to search?
Many of the game's textures were seemingly upscaled with machine learning (or very poor human work) because a lot of the assets now have details removed. A lot of text is even misspelled in the "definitive" release.
I still don't understand what TFT is supposed to mean, could you explain?
Let's pretend there was a secret video game cabal and they left their mark in many different places over the years. Of course, there is no cabal.
> At the time of writing the Rockstar Games Launcher has been down for 24 hours.
I wondered why I couldn’t start GTA 5 yesterday after finally finding some time to play PC again. So yeah not only fuck DRM, but ban it. Why is punishing honest customers allowed?
I wondered why I couldn’t start GTA 5 yesterday after finally finding some time to play PC again. So yeah not only fuck DRM, but ban it. Why is punishing honest customers allowed?
>Why is punishing honest customers allowed?
I'll go further, why is it punishing customers allowed? What authority does a company hold to punish anyone?
I'll go further, why is it punishing customers allowed? What authority does a company hold to punish anyone?
Companies are not forced to provide service, even if the customer """bought""" something that requires that service to function. If it weren't "honest customers" being punished, but rather people being banned from accessing an online game for hacking or racism, we wouldn't see nearly as much concern for this being allowed.
The problem is that the only reason that something requires the service to function is so that the company can control how you use it. So, they are effectively stopping you from using a product you bought, because they can't keep tabs on you at that particular time. Some people consider that abusive.
My point is that there's nuance in it, given this same "feature" of licenses (remember, you generally don't "buy" these games, you're granted an indefinite license to use them) allows game developers to even operate online PvP games at all. Without it, developers would legally be unable to ban people, even if they're vulgarly racist against other players, or if they're cheating and auto-snapping to people's heads to achieve high-kill count games unfairly.
That is not true. They can have an EULA governing their online services, while allowing you to play offline to your heart's content. There is no nuance.
> I'll go further, why is it punishing customers allowed?
Because it isn't disallowed.
Because it isn't disallowed.
With those big titles I always treat them as something I can only reliably play for a while after I get them on Steam. This is also why I won't ever buy them at anywhere near the full price. I think I got GTA 5 for €15 in a sale.
The whole notion that if I install that game in five years time and half the music is gone due to licensing issues is just absurd. I have no expectations that I'll be able to (legally) play such games five or ten years down the road when I buy them today.
I'm looking forward to playing Hitman 3 eventually (if the previous two instalments are anything to go buy it will work flawlessly on Linux too), but I'm not getting it until its on sale (I guess Christmas 2022?); it seems like a game that is way too dependant on the parent company's servers to run as well, even though I only play the single player content.
I miss the days when even the big titles just booted up without phoning home for permission to run.
The whole notion that if I install that game in five years time and half the music is gone due to licensing issues is just absurd. I have no expectations that I'll be able to (legally) play such games five or ten years down the road when I buy them today.
I'm looking forward to playing Hitman 3 eventually (if the previous two instalments are anything to go buy it will work flawlessly on Linux too), but I'm not getting it until its on sale (I guess Christmas 2022?); it seems like a game that is way too dependant on the parent company's servers to run as well, even though I only play the single player content.
I miss the days when even the big titles just booted up without phoning home for permission to run.
I some wargames like indie game but required an online ping to even play. Their previous title they did the same but not required a connection for it. They said just for their other title, over 90% of them were pirated copies. So that is why they mandated DRM.
I wouldnr have so much of an issue wirh online DRM if I got a guarantee of X years to play it. Some of these devs could just drop support or Windows messes with it that ita unplayable. So at that point I just want support.
I wouldnr have so much of an issue wirh online DRM if I got a guarantee of X years to play it. Some of these devs could just drop support or Windows messes with it that ita unplayable. So at that point I just want support.
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Is it news that they are using ogg music files? San Andreas was already doing this in 2004.
GTA3 for the radios was using IMA ADPCM on both PS2 and PC. Some cutscene files were PCM, some files were mp3.
Vice City used adf, a custom container for (horrible quality) mp3 files. PS2 still used ADPCM. Most PC cutscene files are mp3 (twice encoded btw, so extra terrible quality), on PS2 they're also ADPCM.
SA was the first 3d GTA game to use ogg for the radio, and also doesn't use miles sound system anymore.
It should be noted that the GTA3 Definitive Edition ogg encodes are just encodes from the original PC ADPCM files, NOT from lossless masters. The cutscenes are also the same quality the PC version had, so a mix of mp3 and PCM sources.
Vice City used adf, a custom container for (horrible quality) mp3 files. PS2 still used ADPCM. Most PC cutscene files are mp3 (twice encoded btw, so extra terrible quality), on PS2 they're also ADPCM.
SA was the first 3d GTA game to use ogg for the radio, and also doesn't use miles sound system anymore.
It should be noted that the GTA3 Definitive Edition ogg encodes are just encodes from the original PC ADPCM files, NOT from lossless masters. The cutscenes are also the same quality the PC version had, so a mix of mp3 and PCM sources.
Just curious -- how do you know this?
It's such obscure/trivial stuff (but interesting).
Seems like info you probably couldn't find. Neat to see it documented somewhere.
It's such obscure/trivial stuff (but interesting).
Seems like info you probably couldn't find. Neat to see it documented somewhere.
Well I'm kind of an audio nerd, and the radios are great to listen to in the background, so I guess that explains it.
You probably can't find it, but it's relatively easy to figure out by just browsing the original game files, since the audio files (except for SFX.RAW/DAT) are all unpacked.
You probably can't find it, but it's relatively easy to figure out by just browsing the original game files, since the audio files (except for SFX.RAW/DAT) are all unpacked.
How did you find out those mp3s were encoded twice?
The most damning piece of evidence is that they have twice the encoder delay (mp3 encoders add a few samples at the beginning and end) that the file would have if encoded once (from VC PS2 for example).
I think the news is that these songs were not licensed for the remasters and don't appear in the remastered versions.
They were especially doing that back then to avoid having to pay for a patent license for the MP3 codec. You could only play mp3s in the user playlist channel if the OS supplied the mp3 codec.
Another reason many games use Ogg Vorbis is for seamless looping and zero delay sound effects. Gapless MP3 is a bit of a mess because encoders insert priming samples but there is no standard way to signal it in the bitstream. (it also compresses better than MP3)
Is there a commercial consumer OS that doesn’t provide an MP3-compatible decoder api?
The last of the main patents expired a few years ago, so any consumer OS should probably support MP3s by now. (IANAL)
I imagine consoles, which make up the overwhelming majority of sales.
Maybe the earliest generations but the more recent ones are much more batteries-included.
Yes, Windows 2000, the newest consumer Windows in 2002 when Grand Theft Auto 3 was released.
Windows 2000 wasn't a consumer OS, and it is older than Windows XP which came out in October 2001.
Tough call to make. Microsoft somehow decided very close to the release to not market win2k to consumers, which was initially planned. Instead that inexplicable abomination called Me was cobbled together as a stop-gap solution, and a decision was made to add more polish and "fun stuff" to 2k and release it as xp.
Win2k was in fact already very suited for home users just from a technical standpoint. DOS compatibility was obviously lacking and indeed slightly improved for xp, but even that didn't run a lot of games. But it ran pretty much every win9x game I threw at it.
Win2k was in fact already very suited for home users just from a technical standpoint. DOS compatibility was obviously lacking and indeed slightly improved for xp, but even that didn't run a lot of games. But it ran pretty much every win9x game I threw at it.
Allright, so I looked into it and found that while GTA3 did have an mp3 codec, GTA San Andreas did not and could not play mp3s unless you installed the codec yourself, which was easily done by downloading Windows Media Player.
http://en.m.wikigta.org/wiki/User_Track_Player_(GTA_San_Andr...
I’m sure you can look up yourself what the consumer Windows was when that game came out, but clearly it did not come with an mp3 codec by default and the game definitely didn’t.
http://en.m.wikigta.org/wiki/User_Track_Player_(GTA_San_Andr...
I’m sure you can look up yourself what the consumer Windows was when that game came out, but clearly it did not come with an mp3 codec by default and the game definitely didn’t.
I might be misremembering things, but didn't WinXP also require a paid add-on to enable MP3 support?
Vice City predates San Andreas and used mp3 files for the built in radio stations.
And GTA3 used the codec for cutscenes, same as VC.
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