Misc Need help ripping Allister Brimble's work on certain NDS games (.ls format music)

[Lolodachi]

Hello!
If anyone out there already dealt with this specific file format, I'd gladly like help. There are a few licensed (or downright shovelware) DS games which had their OST composed by Allister Brimble. Two examples I have handy are the games "Tootuff: Mission Nadia" and "Astérix & Obélix XXL 2". I've attached a screenshot of MKDS Course Modifier which I've used to see the inside of the ROM for these respective games.

While the "record within the emulator technique" could certainly work for Astérix & Obélix XXL 2 since there is an option to mute the sound effects in it, it's not the same for Tootuff: Mission Nadia since there is no options menu in that game, so SFX can't be muted. And besides, nothing beats ripping the soundtrack straight from the game files, eh? So far, I've only been able to extract the samples using the SDAT file.

So, if anyone ever delt with the .ls music format, any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance !
- Lolodachi

 

[yogirlalyssa]

Hello!
If anyone out there already dealt with this specific file format, I'd gladly like help. There are a few licensed (or downright shovelware) DS games which had their OST composed by Allister Brimble. Two examples I have handy are the games "Tootuff: Mission Nadia" and "Astérix & Obélix XXL 2". I've attached a screenshot of MKDS Course Modifier which I've used to see the inside of the ROM for these respective games.

While the "record within the emulator technique" could certainly work for Astérix & Obélix XXL 2 since there is an option to mute the sound effects in it, it's not the same for Tootuff: Mission Nadia since there is no options menu in that game, so SFX can't be muted. And besides, nothing beats ripping the soundtrack straight from the game files, eh? So far, I've only been able to extract the samples using the SDAT file.

So, if anyone ever delt with the .ls music format, any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance !
- Lolodachi

i think the only way out of it is to copy (or move) the music & sound effects to your computer, and then deleting them off the drive (if you copied them).

 

[Lolodachi]

i think the only way out of it is to copy (or move) the music & sound effects to your computer, and then deleting them off the drive (if you copied them).

So... Basically, extract the [title].ls, their respective [title]info.dat and the sound_data.sdat files using MKDS Course Modifier as a first step, and then try to see what else can be done with them aside from converting sound_data.sdat?

 

[yogirlalyssa]

So... Basically, extract the [title].ls, their respective [title]info.dat and the sound_data.sdat files using MKDS Course Modifier as a first step, and then try to see what else can be done with them aside from converting sound_data.sdat?

basicly yes

 

[Lolodachi]

Got to extract the files using MKDS Course Modifier, and using VGMToolbox to extract the content of both game's sound_data.sdat files always give a sound_data.smap file along with these three folders:

• Bank, containing every SBNK file that could be extracted;
• SeqArc, containing a single SEQ_GLOBALNOTEON.ssar file;
• WaveArc, containing SWAR files and subfolders for each of these SWAR files containing SWAV files.

I can't link to a folder from my Google Drive yet as my account is too new to be allowed link sharing, but I'll see what I can do now that this info is known.

Hoping we can do something to get a clean rip from the source files!
- Lolodachi

EDIT: Upon further inspection, LS_SOUND (.ls) files are sequenced, but are just a fancy format that's only used in an handful of this type of licensed games. Samples are stored in the SWAR files, now it's only a matter of finding out how to work with the .ls and the respective info.dat files! It must also be noted that the SEQ_GLOBALNOTEON.ssar file contains the same number of sequences than there is .ls files.

EDIT 2: The only thing I was able to extract was soundfonts from the games in SF2 format using Nitro Studio 2. I'm unable to export anything from the SSAR file. I'm definitely convinced the .ls files must be where the sequences actually reside.

 

[yogirlalyssa]

Got to extract the files using MKDS Course Modifier, and using VGMToolbox to extract the content of both game's sound_data.sdat files always give a sound_data.smap file along with these three folders:

• Bank, containing every SBNK file that could be extracted;
• SeqArc, containing a single SEQ_GLOBALNOTEON.ssar file;
• WaveArc, containing SWAR files and subfolders for each of these SWAR files containing SWAV files.

I can't link to a folder from my Google Drive yet as my account is too new to be allowed link sharing, but I'll see what I can do now that this info is known.

Hoping we can do something to get a clean rip from the source files!
- Lolodachi

EDIT: Upon further inspection, LS_SOUND (.ls) files are sequenced, but are just a fancy format that's only used in an handful of this type of licensed games. Samples are stored in the SWAR files, now it's only a matter of finding out how to work with the .ls and the respective info.dat files! It must also be noted that the SEQ_GLOBALNOTEON.ssar file contains the same number of sequences than there is .ls files.

EDIT 2: The only thing I was able to extract was soundfonts from the games in SF2 format using Nitro Studio 2. I'm unable to export anything from the SSAR file. I'm definitely convinced the .ls files must be where the sequences actually reside.

ok good luck.