[VB6] DirectSound.

[The trick]

With Direct3D9 I did the type library and module support functions for DirectSound. The archive contains a type library dsvb.tlb and module DS_Functions.bas. In the future, I add a class module to support asynchronous notification until you can use clsTrickWait.cls. The module DS_Functions contains the following functions:

• DSCreateSoundBufferFromFile - creates an object with interface IDirectSoundBuffer8 from a file. Supported only WAVE and MP3 files is. MP3 files can contain only the ID3v1 and ID3v2 tags, any other may not be recognized/will not work. Too long (by time) files are not supported. For streaming you need to write streaming decoding based on the function code DSCreateSoundBufferFromMemory;
• DSCreateSoundBufferFromMemory - the same, but instead of the file is passed a pointer to the data file in memory and size.

Also in the archive contains an example of a player that implements some methods IDirectSoundBuffer8 interface (volume, pan, frequency, effects). TLB especially did not well tested, so something may not work. If something is not working please write here.

Download latest version.

[Eduardo-]

Hello The Trick.
I want to report that I tested it and I get error 7 "Out of memory" at the line:

ReDim Preserve buffer(outSize - 1)

of the function DSCreateSoundBufferFromMemory.

(I needed to remove some error handling to get to the error line)

I tested it with a Mp3 file that its size is 36 MB and has 26 minutes of audio.
It is trying to redim the byte array buffer to 250435583.

I have only 1 GB of physical RAM (on XP SP3) but that was never a problem to reproduce audio.

PS: sometimes I'm glad that I'm working in a such old machine, I'm permanently testing all for the worst case!

[The trick]

Eduardo- , a DirectSound buffer is intended to hold quite short sound. If you want to play big file you should do it using circular buffer.

[Eduardo-]

Ok, The trick.

[dreammanor]

Hello The Trick.
I want to report that I tested it and I get error 7 "Out of memory" at the line:

ReDim Preserve buffer(outSize - 1)

of the function DSCreateSoundBufferFromMemory.

(I needed to remove some error handling to get to the error line)

I tested it with a Mp3 file that its size is 36 MB and has 26 minutes of audio.
It is trying to redim the byte array buffer to 250435583.

I have only 1 GB of physical RAM (on XP SP3) but that was never a problem to reproduce audio.

PS: sometimes I'm glad that I'm working in a such old machine, I'm permanently testing all for the worst case!

Hi Eduardo-, I met the same problem as you. Have you solved your problem using circular buffer?

[Eduardo-]

Hi Eduardo-, I met the same problem as you. Have you solved your problem using circular buffer?

No, I did what I needed to do at that time in another way (opening the mp3 file in Windows Media Player).

[baka]

Im testing this code, and it works well, except for this mp3.
its a small mp3, 390 bytes, the mp3 works in media player / directshow, but not with this code.
it gives me error when I try to load it (automation)
all other mp3 I have works well.
anyone have a clue why?

[The trick]

baka, that's because you use effects. Just remove the DSBCAPS_CTRLFX flag from the DSBUFFERDESC structure. If you want to use effects you should make the sound bigger (just test the outSize variable and make it little big bigger).

[baka]

that worked well.
so I just change to:
desc.dwFlags = DSBCAPS_CTRLVOLUME
since I will only use the volume nothing else.

thanks The trick!

I have now changed directshow to directsound in my game.
now I can make 1 big file containing all the small sounds!

edit:
Just looking through the code:
IsBadReadPtr: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/win...e-isbadreadptr
it says its obsolete.

[The trick]

Just looking through the code:
IsBadReadPtr: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/win...e-isbadreadptr
it says its obsolete.

That isn't applicable to this code because it doesn't use threading so we don't have such situation when a thread can change the memory when we read it. Thus, we can safely use this function.

[baka]

so, I have done a lot of changes, this to load from an Offset and also to create multiple sounds from 1 source.

I create 3 functions instead of 1, the first one:

Private Sub DSCreateOpen(ByRef strFileName$)
    Dim hFile       As Long
    Dim hMap        As Long
    
    hFile = CreateFile(StrPtr(strFileName), GENERIC_READ, FILE_SHARE_READ, ByVal 0&, OPEN_EXISTING, FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL, 0)
    bufSize = GetFileSize(hFile, ByVal 0)
    hMap = CreateFileMapping(hFile, ByVal 0&, PAGE_READONLY, 0, 0, 0): CloseHandle hFile
    buflpData = MapViewOfFile(hMap, FILE_MAP_READ, 0, 0, 0):           CloseHandle hMap
End Sub

the next function is used to create IDirectSoundBuffer , and can be called multiple times if needed:
Public variables: buflpData, bufSize, buffer(), lpData and bufDesc

Private Function DSCreateSoundBufferFromMemory(Optional ByVal Offset&, Optional ByVal szData&) As IDirectSoundBuffer
lpData = buflpData + Offset
If szData = 0 Then szData = bufSize

(just the important part, the rest is like the original)

and the last function is to remove the Public buffer and to Unmap

Private Sub DSCreateClose()
    Erase buffer
    UnmapViewOfFile lpData
End Sub

This is how I use it (to load 1 mp3)

DSCreateOpen strFileName
Set Media.sb = DSCreateSoundBufferFromMemory
Media.sb.setVolume Volume
Media.Loaded = True
DSCreateClose

This to load multiple mp3 inside 1 file:

DSCreateOpen Root & "\ui\ui_sound.dat"
For forI = 0 To SoundMax
    Set Sounds(forI).sb = DSCreateSoundBufferFromMemory(Offset, BS.SoundLen(forI))
    Sounds(forI).sb.setVolume sVolume
    Sounds(forI).Loaded = True
    Offset = Offset + BS.SoundLen(forI)
Next forI
DSCreateClose

and this to create multiple "sb" from 1 sound:

DSCreateOpen Root & "ui\ui_sound.dat"
Set Hits(Id).channel(0).sb = DSCreateSoundBufferFromMemory(BS.Sfx(forJ).Pos, BS.Sfx(forJ).Size)
For forI = 1 To 4
   ds.CreateSoundBuffer bufDesc, Hits(Id).channel(forI).sb, ByVal 0&
   Hits(Id).channel(forI).sb.Lock 0, 0, ptr, bufDesc.dwBufferBytes, 0, 0, DSBLOCK_ENTIREBUFFER
   memcpy ByVal ptr, buffer(0), bufDesc.dwBufferBytes
   Hits(Id).channel(forI).sb.Unlock ptr, bufDesc.dwBufferBytes, 0, 0
Next forI
DSCreateClose

everything works, but Im not sure its the best way,
- first the "offset", right now I read the entire file, the Offset will jump ahead to a position in the memory address.
what I want is to read "only" the part of the file that are used, but I dont know how, everything I tried resulted in crash or not working!

- second is the "multiple" creating, is there any other way? or is that the right way to add the same sounds multiple times from 1 source?
(I create 5 hit-sounds so when I hit many monsters theres multiple hit-sounds not just one)

[The trick]

everything works, but Im not sure its the best way,
- first the "offset", right now I read the entire file, the Offset will jump ahead to a position in the memory address.
what I want is to read "only" the part of the file that are used, but I dont know how, everything I tried resulted in crash or not working!

You can map the only the needed part of the file (see dwFileOffsetLow in MapViewOfFile function). Note it should be multiple to memory allocation granularity. The better way is to encapsulate the logic to a class. You could also use no file mapping at all just read the content thru ReadFile. (FileMapping was added in order to make the same logic of opening a file either from a physical file or memory.

second is the "multiple" creating, is there any other way? or is that the right way to add the same sounds multiple times from 1 source?
(I create 5 hit-sounds so when I hit many monsters theres multiple hit-sounds not just one)

IDirectSound8:uplicateSoundBuffer creates the buffer which uses the data from the passed parameter (no data duplication occurs).

[baka]

ah thanks a lot! I now use _lopen and _llseek and it works well!

here's the code if anyone else want to use it: (its a class, and u need to call Init first)

Dim ds                  As DirectSound8
Dim format              As MPEGLAYER3WAVEFORMAT
Dim dstFormat           As WAVEFORMATEX
Dim acmHdr              As ACMSTREAMHEADER
Dim bufDesc             As DSBUFFERDESC

Sub init(ByVal hWnd&)
    Dim b As curBuffer

    Set ds = New DirectSound8
    ds.Initialize ByVal 0
    ds.SetCooperativeLevel hWnd, DSSCL_NORMAL
    b.b(0) = 450377142658.6656@:    b.b(1) = 900743977448.248@:     b.b(2) = 1351114248211.6672@
    b.b(3) = 1801487954948.9248@:   b.b(4) = 2702228496423.3344@:   b.b(5) = 3602975909897.8496@
    b.b(6) = 4503737067267.712@:    b.b(7) = 18941235272.0895@:     b.b(8) = 4735201446.045@
    b.b(9) = 10307921515.2@:        b.b(10) = 13743895348.4@:       b.b(11) = 3435973838.4@
    memcpy Constants.bitrate(0, 1), b.b(0), 96
    With format
        .wFormatTag = WAVE_FORMAT_MPEGLAYER3
        .cbSize = MPEGLAYER3_WFX_EXTRA_BYTES
        .wBitsPerSample = 0
        .nBlockAlign = 1
        .nFramesPerBlock = 1
        .nCodecDelay = 0
        .fdwFlags = MPEGLAYER3_FLAG_PADDING_OFF
        .wID = MPEGLAYER3_ID_MPEG
    End With
    With dstFormat
        .cbSize = Len(dstFormat)
        .wBitsPerSample = 16
        .wFormatTag = WAVE_FORMAT_PCM
    End With
    acmHdr.cbStruct = Len(acmHdr)
    bufDesc.dwFlags = DSBCAPS_CTRLVOLUME
    bufDesc.dwSize = Len(bufDesc)
    bufDesc.lpwfxFormat = VarPtr(dstFormat)
End Sub

Private Sub Class_Terminate()
    Set ds = Nothing
End Sub

Function DSReadFile(ByRef FileName$, Optional ByVal Offset&, Optional ByVal FileSize&) As IDirectSoundBuffer
    Dim hFile       As Long
    Dim b()         As Byte
    Dim buffer()    As Byte
    Dim L           As Long
    Dim D           As Long
    Dim ptr         As Long
    Dim hStream     As Long
    Dim index       As Long
    Dim AcmSize     As Long
    Dim AcmTotal    As Long
        
    hFile = lOpen(FileName, 0)
    If FileSize = 0 Then FileSize = GetFileSize(hFile, ByVal 0)
    If Offset > 0 Then llseek hFile, Offset, FILE_BEGIN
    ReDim b(FileSize - 1)
    lread hFile, b(0), FileSize
    lclose hFile
    
    D = FileSize - 128
    If b(D) = &H54 And b(D + 1) = &H41 And b(D + 2) = &H47 Then FileSize = FileSize - 128
    If b(0) = &H49 And b(1) = &H44 And b(2) = &H33 Then
        If b(5) And &H10 Then FileSize = FileSize - 10
        hFile = b(6) * &H200000
        hFile = hFile Or (b(7) * &H4000&)
        hFile = hFile Or (b(8) * &H80&)
        hFile = hFile Or b(9)
        hFile = hFile + 10
        L = L + hFile
        FileSize = FileSize - hFile
    Else
        D = FileSize - 10
        If b(D) = &H33 And b(D + 1) = &H44 And b(D + 2) = &H49 Then
            hFile = b(D + 6) * &H200000
            hFile = hFile Or (b(D + 7) * &H4000&)
            hFile = hFile Or (b(D + 8) * &H80&)
            hFile = hFile Or b(D + 9)
            FileSize = FileSize - hFile - 20
        End If
    End If
    
    Do
        If b(L) = &HFF And (b(L + 1) And &HE0) = &HE0 Then
            D = (b(L + 1) And &H18) \ 8
            With format
                If D = 3 Then
                    .nAvgBytesPerSec = Constants.bitrate(0, (b(L + 2) And &HF0) \ &H10)
                    .nSamplesPerSec = Constants.smprate(0, (b(L + 2) And &HC) \ &H4)
                Else
                    .nAvgBytesPerSec = Constants.bitrate(1, (b(L + 2) And &HF0) \ &H10)
                    If D = 2 Then .nSamplesPerSec = Constants.smprate(1, (b(L + 2) And &HC) \ &H4) Else .nSamplesPerSec = Constants.smprate(2, (b(L + 2) And &HC) \ &H4)
                End If
                If D = 3 Then
                    .nBlockSize = Int(144000 * .nAvgBytesPerSec / .nSamplesPerSec) + CInt((b(L + 2) And &H2) \ 2)
                Else
                    .nBlockSize = Int(72000 * .nAvgBytesPerSec / .nSamplesPerSec) + CInt((b(L + 2) And &H2) \ 2)
                End If
                .nChannels = -(((b(L + 3) And &HC0) \ 64) <> 3) + 1
                .nAvgBytesPerSec = .nAvgBytesPerSec * 128
            End With
            Exit Do
        End If
        L = L + 1
        FileSize = FileSize - 1
    Loop
    With dstFormat
        .nChannels = format.nChannels
        .nSamplesPerSec = format.nSamplesPerSec
        .nBlockAlign = (.wBitsPerSample \ 8) * .nChannels
        .nAvgBytesPerSec = .nBlockAlign * .nSamplesPerSec
    End With

    acmStreamOpen hStream, 0, format, dstFormat, ByVal 0&, ByVal 0&, ByVal 0&, 0
    Do While FileSize > 0
        acmStreamSize hStream, FileSize, AcmSize, ACM_STREAMSIZEF_SOURCE
        AcmTotal = AcmTotal + AcmSize
        ReDim Preserve buffer(AcmTotal - 1)
        With acmHdr
            .lppbDst = VarPtr(buffer(index))
            .lppbSrc = VarPtr(b(L))
            .cbDstLength = AcmSize
            .cbSrcLength = FileSize
        End With
        acmStreamPrepareHeader hStream, acmHdr, 0
        acmStreamConvert hStream, acmHdr, ACM_STREAMCONVERTF_BLOCKALIGN
        acmStreamUnprepareHeader hStream, acmHdr, 0
        FileSize = FileSize - acmHdr.cbSrcLengthUsed
        L = L + acmHdr.cbSrcLengthUsed
        index = index + acmHdr.cbDstLengthUsed
    Loop
    acmStreamClose hStream, 0
    bufDesc.dwBufferBytes = index
    ds.CreateSoundBuffer bufDesc, DSReadFile, ByVal 0&
    DSReadFile.Lock 0, 0, ptr, index, 0, 0, DSBLOCK_ENTIREBUFFER
    memcpy ByVal ptr, buffer(0), index
    DSReadFile.Unlock ptr, index, 0, 0
End Function

[baka]

ok, another problem, that I can not recreate (since its working for me), but theres one user that can not use it.
the reason is: acmStreamSize
that is not returning the right size, so its impossible to continue.
it could be a "codec" problem, that is missing on the system.

I read in the internet that if that person doesn't have the right codec in the "list" it will not work,
so I wonder, how to check if the person have WAVE_FORMAT_PCM and/or WAVE_FORMAT_MPEGLAYER3

[baka]

ok, I found this: http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.p...Codec-question

and running that project, I get:

Microsoft IMA ADPCM CODEC
Microsoft CCITT G.711 A-Law and u-Law CODEC
Microsoft GSM 6.10 Audio CODEC
Microsoft ADPCM CODEC
Fraunhofer IIS MPEG Layer-3 Codec (decode only)
Microsoft PCM Converter

so, Microsoft PCM Converter should work with WAVE_FORMAT_PCM
and Fraunhofer IIS MPEG Layer-3 Codec should work with WAVE_FORMAT_MPEGLAYER3

but how do I know that?

Im asking that person to check what codecs he has in his computer.
edit;
that user tried that program and the result is:

Microsoft IMA ADPCM CODEC
Microsoft CCITT G.711 A-Law and u-Law CODEC
Microsoft GSM 6.10 Audio CODEC
Microsoft ADPCM CODEC
Microsoft PCM Converter

that means Fraunhofer IIS MPEG Layer-3 Codec is missing.

what can be done?
instruction to install the codec?
include the codec with the program?
some other solution?

[baka]

a solution would be to encode the mp3 to pcm and save them in a file.
this is possible with small mp3, sound-effects.
I have around 50 sound-effects, 161kb in size total, in pcm format I get 2.3MB total, its acceptable size.
but background music would increase size too much, since most of the time mp3>pcm would increase around 15x.

using ADPCM CODEC could also be another way, convert .mp3 to .wav, would increase size 2.5x, still too much.

I tried using ADPCM wav directly into the directsound8, it start playing but not the right speed, I can't change much in dstFormat,
no changes helps, and most of the time it crashes on me. so I suppose only PCM works.

[The trick]

what can be done?
instruction to install the codec?
include the codec with the program?
some other solution?

Yes you could install a mp3 decoder like lame or ACM decoder but most of the systems have that code preinstalled.