Learning to rip Mega Drive VGMs but need help

[RekallQuaid]

I’m new to all of this so forgive me for the possibly basic questions (and if this has been asked elsewhere I would really appreciate being pointed in the right direction).

I’ve ripped the VGMs for Micro Machines on the Mega Drive as I’m based in the UK and this is a 50Hz optimised game. As far as I know this hasn’t been officially released as a rip. It sounds great, it’s gone really well but that was a relatively easy game with no sound test so it was straight forward enough.

I’m looking to rip Mortal Kombat II specifically (I know it’s already been done but I want to learn the process). This game has no sound test and also several tunes that sound effects/voices play over the top of. The official rip has 3 unused tracks and the full game VGMs. How were these obtained if the unused tracks never play in the game?

How is one able to mute sound effects/voices so that the game only plays the music. Is there a hidden sound test menu for this game I’m not aware of?

Thank you in advance for any advice and help you can give.

[Aidmar]

I am a fellow amateur to VGM ripping, and I've made progress myself with Logic Pro / Croquis (which isn't added to the official archives yet, but I've finished ripping all of the music the best I could)

VGMRips has a wiki that you can reference, and I highly recommend that you read it, especially if you are new to ripping.

I recommend these resources:

• Emulators with VGM Logging. If you're specifically ripping a Sega Mega Drive/Genesis game, BlastEm is the emulator to use.

• VGM Tools. These are tools that are highly advised. The most important are vgm_cmp, vgm_sro, vgm_tag, vgm_trim, and vgm_ptch. You can read about what each tool does at the Github repo.

• R(er)ipping for the Out-of-Element Contributor on the VGMRips wiki. This is the most important article to read, bar none.

If you need a simple explanation:

• you use an emulator to log VGM files.

• after you rip: you trim the files, decrease the filesize, and tag the files.

Also, some games are significantly easier to rip than others. If your game has a fully functional sound test, then that will make your life much easier. If not, it might be a bit more difficult, unfortunately. Because you are ripping Sega Mega Drive/Genesis games, I would advise reading this article for help first. If not, then you can ask on the forum or IRC channel for help ripping a game.

If you're going to upload a pack once you finish successfully ripping a game, then please view this.

I hope that anything I said was helpful or useful.