Skip to content
Star Haven Documentation

Songs

A song is a .bgm file in audio/songs/, and its SONG_ constant is named after the file, so meadow_theme.bgm becomes SONG_MEADOW_THEME. A .bgm file opens in the Song Editor.

Making a song from a MIDI file

  1. In the Filesystem, right-click audio/songs and select New > Song.
  2. Choose your MIDI file.
  3. Choose the soundfont the MIDI file was made for. Most MIDI files use General MIDI, and each of their instruments plays the closest of the game's samples. Choose Paper Mario for a file made with the Paper Mario soundfont, whose instruments are the game's own samples.
  4. Enter a name for the song. Diorama64 suggests one from the MIDI file's name.
  5. Select OK.

The new song opens in the Song Editor.

To start from one of the game's songs instead, copy its file, such as audio/songs/pleasant_path.bgm, paste it into audio/songs, and rename the copy.

Reimport the MIDI file

If you change the MIDI file that a song was made from, open the song and select Song > Reimport MIDI. The changes you made in the Song Editor are kept. To reimport from a different MIDI file, select Song > Reimport MIDI From... instead.

Playing the song

Use the constant in the EVT script that sets a map's music:

Call(SetMusic, 0, SONG_MEADOW_THEME, 0, VOL_LEVEL_FULL)

Loading extra sound banks with a song

The Song Editor lists the instruments in your mod as it was the last time you played it. If you add an instrument, select Game > Play before you open the song.

Songs play instruments from the sound banks that are loaded when the song starts. Besides the banks that are always loaded, a song can load up to three song banks. A bank that any song loads is a song bank, and the game loads it only while such a song plays. For example, Toad Town's song loads SPC0.

To use an instrument from a song bank, choose it in the Song Editor's instrument list. The Song Editor saves the bank's name in the .bgm file, and the game loads the bank whenever it plays the song. If you start from one of the game's songs, its file already names the banks it needs.

A bank that a song loads isn't always loaded, so sound effects and ambient sounds can't play its samples. The Song Editor also lists sound effect banks, such as SYS0 and your SFX banks, so don't choose instruments from those for a song. Choose instruments from the game's song banks, or from a bank you add for your songs.

Limits

The game has room for 256 songs.