Eternity crashes on MP3s

[printz]

If I load an MP3 music wad and play levels with it, there's a chance that when I press the exit switch (could be the exit teleporter too?), the game locks up and I have to quit it by Windows... leaving memory trails behind. If I IDCLEV or New Game from an MP3 owning level, there's also a chance it will bomb to DOS prompt without a message, or again lock up.

Haven't checked what happens with other formats or with other lumptypes, but this trouble alone is worth checking.

BTW, I'm using Phoenix. Latest released build doesn't even recognize MP3s thinking they're MIDIs.

[Quasar]

This is a common problem with SDL_mixer, and it is extremely unfortunate. It has been submitted to the SDL guys before and they classify it as "won't fix". The problem is that the smpeg library, which was written specifically for SDL_mixer's mp3 support, is a load of crap.

[printz]

Judging from how the unfinished latest build acts, I guess no more mp3 support. ok...

[Quasar]

I will investigate that, as it sounds suspicious. AFAIK SDL_mixer hasn't removed MP3 support. It's just always been really poor support that can crash your program. There's probably a new bug in SDL_mixer's file format detection in the latest mixer version.

In the meantime, please check and make sure that the versions of the DLLs that EE is using match the newest versions available from libsdl.org.

I recommend using OGG instead of MP3 when possible, since that's the attitude at SDL. They don't see MP3 as being worth fixing when there's an open-spec format they feel is better. Never mind that a huge amount of music is in MP3, and that transcoding it necessitates loss of quality 9_9

[printz]

So I can safely use OGG formats for D_ music? What formats are accepted by SDL for D_ music, preferably compressed formats?

[Quasar]

I was going to verify with the docs, but the server that the SDL_mixer docs are inexplicably hosted on is down.

At the least, MP3, OGG, MIDI, and MOD music is supported.

[exp(x)]

SDL_mixer is pretty crappy. The current version in 64-bit Ubuntu makes midi playback through timidity choppy as hell in Chocolate Doom and Odamex. Fortunately, Debian Sid has a newer version which works fine in Gutsy.