Procedure Help For Creating Music Packs

This page outlines necessary procedures for creating the music packs described in this manual. Elements listed here are referenced from the individual music pack pages. Get back to where you were by clicking your browser's "back" button.

Navigating to a folder on a CD.

Place your CD into your drive, and hold the SHIFT key so the CD doesn't autorun. Open "My Computer", and right-click on the appropriate CD drive icon, then click "Open". You will see the CD's contents and folders just like those on your hard disk.

Navigating using XCC Mixer.

Run XCC Mixer and allow it to read all the MIX files on your computer. If this is the first time you've run the Mixer, this may take some time. Once this is done, in the left pane you will see the contents of the folder XCC Mixer resides in. You can open folders, navigate up one folder, or open the root of any drive on your computer by double-clicking on the appropriate line in this pane.

If possible, the Mixer will display selected files in the right pane. Notice also there is a "hidden" middle pane. Drag the vertical pane borders to reveal it. You can navigate in the middle pane independently of the left pane. The reason there are 2 such panes is so the folder selected in one pane can serve as the destination directory for certain operations performed in the other pane.

Files in the panes can be sorted by name, type, and size, by clicking on the appropriate column button.

Mix files can be opened by double-clicking on them, and in this way XCC Mixer can access the files inside them.

Extracting files using XCC Mixer.

Once a MIX file is opened, XCC can extract individual files from it. Left-click to highlight a file either in the left or middle pane of the Mixer, and then right-click on it. A context menu will offer the option to Extract. Choosing this option will produce a "Save As" dialog, which allows the opportunity to save the file by whatever name in whatever destination directory that you choose.

Converting AUD to WAV using XCC Mixer.

In the left pane of the Mixer, navigate to the folder or the mix which contains the AUD file(s) you wish to convert. In the middle pane of the Mixer, navigate to a destination directory where you want the WAV file(s) to be written. Back in the left pane, select an AUD file, and right-click on it. On the context menu that results, select "Copy as WAV > PCM". A WAV file using PCM compression, using the same filename as the source AUD file, will be written to your destination directory. Repeat as necessary for each file to be converted.

Converting PCM WAV to IMA ADPCM WAV using XCC Mixer.

Presumably you are performing this procedure after already performing the AUD to WAV conversion above. In that case you already have your source PCM WAV file(s) appearing in the middle Mixer pane. In the left pane of the Mixer, navigate to a destination directory where you want the IMA ADPCM WAV file(s) to be written. (XCC Mixer will not overwrite an existing WAV file with this procedure. The source directory and the destination directory MUST be different). In the middle pane, select an WAV file you wish to convert, and right-click on it. On the context menu that results, select "Copy as WAV > IMA ADPCM". A WAV file using IMA ADPCM compression, using the same filename as the source PCM WAV file, will be written to your destination directory. Repeat as necessary for each file to be converted.

Creating new MIX files using XCC Mix Editor.

XCC Mix Editor is the component in the XCC suite of utilities which can create new MIX files. This is the procedure.

1. Open XCC Mixer, and from the "Launch" menu, select "XCC Mix Editor". (XCC Mix Editor can be run independently of the Mixer, but the next time you run the Mixer, it will run its lengthy scan of all mix files as if you were running it for the first time. Launching the Mix Editor from with the Mixer avoids this).
    
2. In the Mix Editor, click the "New" button. A "Save As" dialog will open.
    
3. Be sure the "Save As" dialog is looking in your RA2 folder. In the "File name" field, type the name of the MIX file you are creating, click the "Save" button, and the dialog will close. (The program hasn't actually written the file yet).
    
4. Click the "Options..." button. An "Options" dialog opens; select "Red Alert 2 Yuri's Revenge" from the drop-down list, and then click "OK" to close the dialog.
    
5. Open Windows Explorer, and navigate to the folder containing your source audio files.
    
6. Select the audio files you want to add to your new MIX file, and drag them into the Mix Editor window. This will copy the files to the new MIX.
    
7. In the Mix Editor, click the "Compact" button. Wait until the status bar reads "Compact mix: done". At this point the new MIX file has actually been written. Click the "Compact" button one more time. (Compacting twice is not always necessary, but sometimes it is, and it never hurts).
    
8. Your MIX should be successfully created. You can close the Mix Editor, and then close the Mixer.

Converting audio file formats

There are many programs capable of converting an audio file from one format to another. Assuming the use of dB powerAMP (which can also convert multiple files at the same time):

1. Right-click on the audio file, and select "Convert to".
2. In the dB powerAMP dialog, select "Wave" from the drop-down options.
3. Enable the "Compressed" radio button.
4. The "Change Format" button should now be available; click that to open another dialog.
5. On this new dialog, for 'Format', choose "IMA IDPCM", and for 'Attributes', choose "22.050 kHz, 4 Bit, Stereo". (You can save this setting under the 'Name' drop-down if you wish).
6. Click OK to close that dialog.
7. On the original dialog, set your file output options and click the 'Convert' button.
8. To confirm the file is in the proper format and sample rate, you can right-click and check its properties.

Editing audio files

Music tracks that play well in the Yuri's Revenge game environment tend to have a fairly constant playback volume level from start to finish. If your source audio file is a music score with periods of low volume, this may sound great under other conditions, but you'll be unlikely to hear any of the music while tanks are firing and explosions are going on. This is where editing the audio file itself can improve the in-game playback results. Depending on the source file you're working with, simply normalizing the volume may be enough. Sometimes it is beneficial to increase the volume of selected portions of the music score. Also, long fade-ins and fade-outs should probably be shortened. All this is just general advice, and in the end how you make your own music tracks play in the game are entirely up to you, as are the editing program(s) you choose to use.