FAQ and Troubleshooting

[🚩Blargel]

I've noticed that a lot of people are not completely familiar with the quirks of MML so I thought it'd be nice to write an FAQ about it. I'll add to this first post as time goes on as well if I see more questions that get asked quite often.

 

Where can I learn how to write MML?

There is an excellent guide on the Mabinogi World Wiki that also covers the answers to the questions below. It's pretty in-depth so if you just want to figure out what's wrong with your MML, check the answers below first. If you want to learn everything there is to know about MML and how Mabinogi interprets it, then check out that guide.

 

Why does my jam's parts not sync up correctly in Mabinogi when they do in 3ML?

The first and obvious thing to check is if your instruments are all playing at the correct tempo. If they are, then you probably ran into a quirk of Mabinogi's MML parser. 3ML and Mabinogi actually parse MML differently. The parser in 3ML behaves how you would expect, but the Mabinogi parser has some weird bugs in it that you have to work around. For this particular problem, Mabinogi for some reason messes up the duration of rests when you put them next to a tempo change; for example, "t100v15r2c". To get around this problem, you can use a silent note instead, like this "t100v0c2v15c".

 

Why do some notes get cut off prematurely in Mabinogi when they play for the full duration in 3ML?

This is, again, a problem with Mabinogi's MML parser. If you have a track that plays a note, but another track of the same instrument plays that same note in the middle of the first track's note, it will stop the first note to play the second note. So for example, if you have something that looks like this in 3ML:

It will actually sound like this in Mabinogi:

This is only a problem with tracks being played by the same instrument. If you have a flute play the same note as a mandolin, they will not interrupt each other. You can read more about this here.

 

Why does my song get cut off before it finishes when I play it in game? Why does my song get a ton of extra silence at the end when I play it in game?

Yes, the answer to this question is actually the same. The way Mabinogi detects the duration of a song is very different how 3ML does it. 3ML seems to check if there are still notes to be played, but Mabinogi calculates the duration of all the tracks, picks the longest one, and sets the skill to cancel when that longest track is finished playing. However, the way it calculates the duration of a track is faulty. If there is no tempo specified for the track it's calculating, it won't check the other tracks to see what tempo it should be, it'll assume that the track is supposed to use the default tempo, which is 120. This means that this track's duration will be calculated incorrectly.

tl;dr The easiest way to fix this without too much thinking is to just add the tempo to all parts of the song.

 

I saw a song being played where the cymbals sounded like a gong. How the heck did they do that?

If you play cymbals at o2d+, you'll get a deep gong sound. It sounds like this: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4234581/gong.mp3. Incidentally, the bass drum can also play a note at o2d+ and it'll be a much deeper drum sound than usual.

Edited April 16, 2015 by Blargel

[Accelerated]

Wait what, I wasn't aware of this problem that notes could get cut off prematurely. This is news to me.

 

Although the topic after that could explain why my piano song continues even though it finishes...

[🎶Flameberge]

Wait what, I wasn't aware of this problem that notes could get cut off prematurely. This is news to me.

 

Although the topic after that could explain why my piano song continues even though it finishes...

​think the endless play has something to do with multipul tempo changes in the song which causes the MML to derp. harass  blargel to find out the technical answer

[👑tanino]

It really has nothing to do with that, in some tests conducted last night, tossing the tempo in harmony 2 caused the song to cut off prematurely if the tempo was under the default value, however when I placed the tempo to 200 it played the whole test score and kept going for a few measures after, so clearly there is something a bit more complex behind that.

[🎶Flameberge]

welp i had the same problem heres part of my coding that has that long delay at the end for some reason.

MML@t96c2cl8cd+fffff4t80d+c<a+a+a+b+t70f4g+a+>t60cd+d+ct40n46c<f4g+2,o1g+1l2c+c+ca+4>c4c+d+g+,o2l2d+1<g+g+ga+g+a+g+;

tried some things what seems to fix the problem is adding the same tempo as the begining at the very end of the melody where all my tempo notes are.

MML@t96c2cl8cd+fffff4t80d+c<a+a+a+b+t70f4g+a+>t60cd+d+ct40n46c<f4g+2t96,o1g+1l2c+c+ca+4>c4c+d+g+,o2l2d+1<g+g+ga+g+a+g+;

if the fix is too simple someone else can find a more complex way to fix it. too lazy to spend 30 more mins to test other things.

Edited April 16, 2015 by Flameberge

[🚩Blargel]

Wait what, I wasn't aware of this problem that notes could get cut off prematurely. This is news to me.

 

Although the topic after that could explain why my piano song continues even though it finishes...

​I forgot to mention that this is only a problem if the same instrument is trying to play the same note. I'll edit that into the first post.

welp i had the same problem heres part of my coding that has that long delay at the end for some reason.

MML@t96c2cl8cd+fffff4t80d+c<a+a+a+b+t70f4g+a+>t60cd+d+ct40n46c<f4g+2,o1g+1l2c+c+ca+4>c4c+d+g+,o2l2d+1<g+g+ga+g+a+g+;

tried some things what seems to fix the problem is adding the same tempo as the begining at the very end of the melody where all my tempo notes are.

MML@t96c2cl8cd+fffff4t80d+c<a+a+a+b+t70f4g+a+>t60cd+d+ct40n46c<f4g+2t96,o1g+1l2c+c+ca+4>c4c+d+g+,o2l2d+1<g+g+ga+g+a+g+;

if the fix is too simple someone else can find a more complex way to fix it. too lazy to spend 30 more mins to test other things.

​I'm actually not sure why your example would cause Mabinogi to add a long delay before the skill finishes. I'm also really confused on how your solution works... Damn it devCat, why is your programming so shoddy.

[InLaBetta]

What program do you guys use to make an mp3 a midi? I'm new here ^3^;;

[🎶Flameberge]

a computer has a hard time converting a mp3 to a midi u will get a crappy midi if you use a converter.

tldr dont think anyone uses a converter just a midi file or piano sheet or by ear.

[🎶Telmes]

I was wondering why a couple of my MMLs kept getting cut off early in-game...Well, now I have an idea of why. C: Thank you for the helpful information!

Edited February 21, 2016 by Telmes

[murphybridget]

It seems you're discussing polyphony or overlapping notes played by different instruments. Indeed, when different instruments play the same note simultaneously, they don't interrupt each other in the same way as multiple tracks played by the same instrument might. This concept of polyphony allows for rich and complex musical arrangements, as each instrument contributes its unique timbre without interfering with others. If you're interested in exploring further, I'd be happy to delve into it with you!