Nevermind adpcm_ima_apm is clearly wrong.

But i think I hear some artefacts as well when I convert with adpcm_ima_ssi and with adpcm_ima_acp. One part where it’s very noticable is in Dreamer, as the flute sets in there is a white noise in the background that follows the flute in intensity. If I download the MP3s from here https://www.annoinfo.de/Anno_1602/downloads.html then I don’t have that.

Wait if I play the game and listen to Dreamer ingame I also have that white noise! Maybe the ADPCM encoded ones are just shitty!

Wooow. Even the History Edition (2020) in the BonusContent\Anno_1602_soundtrack directory, where they have MP3s, the Dreamer piece has the white noise. You’d think they would master the MP3s properly from the original files, but looks like they just converted the ADPCM trash…

Fuck it, I acquired the original version (pre-expansions) from the Internet Archive, and got the PCM encoded ones there. No noise in Dreamer!

Ohh from your link:

Since the NINA Version(??), the files are encoded in ADPCM. Before that, the files use normal PCM.

I have the “Königsedition”. “Königsedition” is the version that’s contains all expansions, equivalent to the English “Creation of a New World” which is also what they sell on GoG. Your link mentions NINA, which must refer to “Neue Inseln Neue Abentuer”, the first expansion, followed by “Im Namen des Königs”. So if Königsedition contains both, it probably also has the ADPCM encoded music.

I also found this comment in the Annozone Forum, where someone found the right (?) codec by trial and error after checking the code of this Anno 2018 reimplementation of Anno 1602. Same ffmpeg command.

He claims adpcm_ima_apc and adpcm_ima_ssi give the same result which seems weird to me. And then further down people discuss that some track still sound weird.

Looking at the ffmpeg code it seems there is one more option that looks quite likely, just beneath adpcm_ima_apc, "ADPCM IMA CRYO APC", namely adpcm_ima_apm, "ADPCM IMA Ubisoft APM" I’ll try what that gives.

Oh interesting. I have both, but I don’t remember which I tried on. The music works fine in game, so I thought it was simply a proprietary format they used to mush it all onto one disk, as you did back then.

I’ll give it another try just for the challenge tonight (UTC+1), but otherwise I’ll happily take you up on your offer, thank you! I’ll let you know!

Hmm interesting that you say that.

I tried a few years ago to extract the soundtrack, and my result was utter failure. The codec in the WAVs seemed to be some kind of fucky version of PCM I never managed to decode cleanly. Some attempts produced recognizable outputs, but with lots of noise.

Maybe the codec has been included in the common libraries in the meantime or the player you used recognizes the format while the ones I tried didn’t. What player did you use?

I really like the Rome: Total War soundtrack by Jeff van Dyck

In particular Divinitus and Forever, Angela van Dyck singing on those tracks just adds something more.

Ha I was going to say the same, and wasn’t sure if it’s just nostalgia.

Listened to it this morning on the way to work actually!

Not a bad idea, only they are going to keep the wrong ones, the cheerleaders instead of the skeptics.

I only just played it as well! (At least the main story and one DLC, not entirely done). I also like it a lot. The whole SCP atmosphere is fun, and I loved Ahti especially.

Tip: You should do the quest “My Brother’s Keeper” earlier rather than later. I tried doing all the side quests first, but got a little stuck because I was missing something.

Tip: If you bought the DLCs (for example if you got Ultimate Edition), one of them starts rather randomly so if you start seeing Alan Wake, you’ve entered the crossover DLC. You can do it in between or after the main mission, it doesn’t hurt to do it early. The other DLC starts after the last main quest of the main game.

What’s the implied comparison? “Girlcock tastes better than Girlpussy” or “Girlcock tastes better than Boycock”?

Holy shit. I thought like 80 might be expected for a 350 million population