Filling Out the Tags and Text File

From vgmrips

All our packages include a .txt file with some basic information on the soundtrack. Also, each VGM also has a GD3 tag which will need to be filled out with the proper info. There's much overlap between these two things, and the research you have to do to fill them properly will cover both.

To learn this info, a good place to start is the Databases page. There's a lot of entries there, so if you're not sure where to start, these are primary places to try:

  • If you're updating a pack, whether just the tags or more extensively, check the Official Releases forum topic for it; there could be replies that mention more recently-discovered information.

Don't take snesmusic.org as an authority on track tiles, as they are often completely made-up from scratch.

Some of the facts included in VGMRips packs come from firsthand sources likes blogs or comments, which would be too numerous to list. Thus, you can also try Searx/Google, looking in the comments of relevant videos, or asking in the IRC for help finding or confirming the facts.

We never want fanmade translations/romanizations of names/titles for anything in a pack here; only official ones! Thus if nothing official exists, just leave the home-region fields blank. In the text notes, you may mention the translation if you want to; it's only the metadata that requires complete official accuracy.

GD3 Contents Overview

For easier processing, the basics are shown in this table rather than a picture. Further guidance on less-simple parts will follow, but this should serve as a handy cheat-sheet.

Parts of a GD3 tag
Tag field vgm_tag command What goes in it
Track Title (English) -Title Track title from OST or Sound Test (if it gives names and not just numbers), or from in-game usage like Level name (in-game, or from level select)/number. (Preferred sources listed left to right. Apply spelling and punctuation fixes, if you wish/it's not part of the name "style".)
Track Title (Original language) -TitleJ Home-region-language version of Title. (Please don't make guesses or unofficial translations. Sometimes this field matches the English Track name.)
Game Name (English) -Game Complete English Game Name
Game Name (Original language) -GameJ Complete Game Name (home region language)
System (English) -SystemE Name of Game's platform (English)
System (Original language) -SystemJ Home region language name of System
Composer (English) -Author Track Artist(s) (English version of name(s)), which may include the original composer and the arranger/sequencer, plus even the music programmer. OSTs or info sites like those named in Databases may list credits per-track. If specific credits are unknown, just list all directly involved with the game.
Composer (home region language) -AuthorJ Home-region-language Artist name(s).
Release date/"Year" -Year Date of the game's very first/earliest release in any region, in YYYY-MM-DD form. If the full date is unknown, just do YYYY-MM or even YYYY. (This field could differ in some tracks if the tracks are from specific regions or Beta versions.)
VGM by -Creator Track logger's name/handle, plus the trimmer's if they're a different person. Separated by comma. (Taggers should be listed in the text file, whether in the Release History or Notes. Otherwise, this field could contain dozens of names in theory.)
Notes -Notes [replace], -NotesB[eginning append], -NotesE[nd-of append] Relevant info to track; might mention Sound Test/Internal track number, track inspirations, usage...

You usually want to add the System by using -System with the shortname (see vgm_tag's page), if one exists. Project 2612 veterans and refugees probably remember that at one time, Mega Drive and Genesis were listed separately under some circumstances; nowadays, always list both even if the game only existed in one region.

Text File Template (and Contents Overview)

Here is the VGMRips text file template: 

***********************************************
* VGM music package                           *
* http://vgmrips.net/                         *
***********************************************
Game name:           Complete English game
                     name / All regional game 
                     names, if any, separated
                     by slashes ([J|W|U|E])
System:              Arcade Machine, Computer,
                     or Console/Handheld Name
Music hardware:      Chips listed by any VGMs
                     in the pack, with special-
                     case exceptions to be
                     listed below

Music author:        Composer name(s),
                     separated by comma
Game developer:      Game developer(s);
                     separated by semicolon
Game publisher:      Game publisher(s) /
                     Slash-separated by
                     Region (Region Letter(s))
Game release date:   YYYY-MM-DD (R)

Package created by:  Track contributor(s)
                     (loggers and trimmers,
                     not [only-]taggers),
                     separated by comma, with
                     most recent last
Package version:     1.00 for first complete
                     release; <1.00 for
                     incomplete releases;
                     >1.00 for updates and
                     fixes
 
Song list, in approximate game order:
Song name                           Length:
                                    Total  Loop
## Track information from dropping
   a playlist on vgm_stat           #:##   #:##
## Just copypaste everything from
   under the header                 #:##   #:##
## Don't use VGMTool:               #:##   #:##
## It rounds improperly and doesn't
   add numbers.                     #:##   #:##
## By the way, vgm_ren can help you
   renumber tracks super fast       #:##   #:##
## By reordering lines in the m3u   #:##   #:##


Notes:
[Add any personal notes and remarks on the
soundtrack, individual tracks, or even the game
here.  If none, put a hyphen here below the
"notes" header.]


Package history:
#.## YYYY-MM-DD Yournameplease: Initial
 release.
[If there are updates, add them like so:]
1.01 2016-03-18 Ananab: Fixed hanging note in
 "Track name".
1.10 2022-04-30 Dr. Robotnik: Added Japanese
 game name to GD3.
2.00 2034-09-05 Carbuncle: Added missing
 "SpeedyCake" track and per-track credits.

<-------------- 48 characters ---------------->
[If possible, try to keep text wrapped at this
48 characters width. This way everything looks
pretty and aligned :)]
Note: Notice that TAB characters are NOT used; padding is only done with spaces.

For PC games, underneath the System line you should place a properly-filled OS line, unless the guidance has changed. 

System:              IBM PC/AT
OS:                  DOS

As you can see, I've tried to give descriptions of what goes in each place. You can also look at existing VGMRips packs' TXT files for a number of examples that have already met with approval. But there are still a few more things to know that may not be instantly clear:

General Pointers

Game name

The complete game title should have the correct official spelling, capitalization and everything else. Examples:

Don't be shy and be bold: Always use the correct characters and give justice to title and capitalization rules from the English language (where they don't clash with official deviations in the Title).

Include as many officially-localized names as you can, found at the resources listed in the intro. Sometimes, though, a game was only released in one country; in that case, you should use the name directly. In the case of Japanese/non-Latin games, use an official romanization, such as "Kanshaku Tamanage Kantarou no Tokaido Gojusan Tsugi" (gesundheit!).

Using the above if no official English title exists, and the English title otherwise, the Game name will be used for the text file and M3U playlist (described below), plus at least one screenshot. (Every screenshot, if more than one exists, will use the according Game name and region letter from its source. See Final Touches and Pack Posting for specifics... though probably after you're done here, of course.)

Music author

For some games, the author information is straightforward and can easily be gleaned from the game Credits. (In the easiest cases, when the credits are plain text, you can throw a console rom into a text editor and search for words like "music".)

But many times, it's not so simple. Music authorship attribution can be complex, especially for older games:

  • There are many artists, often Japanese, who used pseudonyms (like Lotty and Maguro from World of Illusion. In those cases, you have to try to find true names by searching and hoping for blog hits, or asking people involved with those games (if they're inclined to answer! some withdraw if confronted with certain questions, so you might want to coordinate in IRC before approaching people).
  • Even without usernames involved, attributions can be nightmarishly unclear, as in the case of Puyo Puyo. In Mickey Mania, "Blythe Soustra" is actually two different people.
  • Sometimes you get ridiculous cases where "prolific artists" like Tommy Tallarico are in fact Thomas Edisons and have simply taken credit for the work of other musicians.
  • Some games like Populous or Ghouls 'n Ghosts don't have credits, guaranteeing that you have to search. For those games, the info is easily findable, but:
  • Sometimes the creators are just flat out unknown, uncredited, and unsourced.

Now all of that probably sounds a tad discouraging. That's why we only ask you to do your best and make a real effort to discover the correct composer(s). Tags can always be updated later. If you genuinely can't find any hard info, avoid speculation; just put "unknown" (with that casing) in the text file field and leave the Author tag fields blank.

Some games like Joe & Mac and Puyo Puyo not only have Arcade versions, those are the root of the game from which others are ported. In these cases, you should check to see if someone's already done an Arcade rip of your target game; if so, import these names into the tracks/text file, note that you did so, and credit the tagger of that pack (even if it's you!). If not, look up those authors the same as if you were actually tagging that pack. You might even find more success finding per-track credits.

For remixes (such as of classical music, newer music, or another game's music), listing both the OG composer and the arranger of this version is good. (So, for instance, in a ported arcade game both the original composer and the one who recreated the track on this system should be credited for each track.)

That said: if the OG artist of a covered (remade) jingle isn't otherwise involved in the game, it's best to put that info in the notes of the relevant jingle or text file. This makes it easier when searching in the Packs section to find soundtracks actually relevant to the artist's body of work. (For example, if a jingle Matt Furniss made has been recycled into another game by a new composer, Furniss doesn't really have any connection with that soundtrack!)

Also, if all the members of a band like Falcom J.D.K. or Aerosmith are involved in a soundtrack or song, you may list the band name to indicate them all rather than list the members individually.


Now that you actually have all the names (I hope), you have to make sure they're input properly.

  • You can consult the list of Japanese names for proper non-Latin versions of any Asian name.
  • Some Japanese folks have romanized nicknames, sometimes with some special characters like μ or ². (Make sure the text file is encoded in UTF-8, ideally.)
  • Instead of pasting non-Latin/oddball characters directly in GD3s, use VGMTool's Paste as NCRs feature. These work with any tagging program and ensure the characters get displayed correctly.
  • If a westerner worked on an Asian game, don't transcribe their name into the according language: just use the English in the home-region tag.
  • While the home-region versions of names should use the right name order for the country (like "Family name, Given name" for Japanese), the English versions of names placed in the TXT file and English Author tag field are always in baka gaijin - uhh, I mean, Given name, Family name order.

Date

Precise release dates are preferred, but only Year (or Year and Month) is good enough if that's all you got. The Year can typically be obtained from the game's title screen(s).

You don't necessarily have to go Ape Spit and list every region you can find, especially if you only have years. We primarily want J(apanese), E(urope), U(SA), and/or W(orld) dates.

Sega's "segahard" listings have many Japanese release dates as officially given by Sega.

Aside from the above, sometimes you might find very conflicting information on actual dates. I personally favor The Cutting Room Floor for dates, but that may not necessarily be correct. You can ask for help determining which date is right if you're not sure. Sometimes, it might be better to simply put the Year than include wrong information.

Finally, if you're including Beta songs, or ripping a beta soundtrack, the correct Date to put gets a bit screwy. If the game was shown at an event or trade show like E3 or CES, you could consider that the "release date". If the beta was eventually officially released in a compilation, you could legitimately consider that the release date. Otherwise, though my impulse would be to use the game's build date, it should be properly considered unreleased (and therefore have N/A for the Date/nothing there in the tag?).

TXT-specific pointers

As you saw in the header (above the song list), if the info for each line needs to be wrapped, indent the new lines flush with the left-hand side of the start of the entry. Some more examples: 

Game developer:      Game Freak; Genius
                     Sonority

Game publisher:      Eggman Enterprises
                     Unlimited (J) / Dr. R's
                     Limited Liability
                     Leisure Corp. (U)

Game release date:   1988-10-26 (J) /
                     2015-04-20 (U) /
                     2043-08-08 (E)

Don't use linebreaks within a name of an author unless it doesn't fit on a single line. Example: 

Music author:        Jim Slim,
                     Cedric the Entertainer,
                     Ms. Supercalifragilistic-
                     expialidocious

System

There are a few cases where the name here doesn't match the one from the tags. List them as such:

  • Nintendo Game Boy
  • Nintendo Entertainment System / Famicom
  • SNK Neo Geo

Also, if there are not multiple arcade machines with the same name (not like "Namco System 2"), you should probably just put the System as "Arcade Machine". Otherwise, the pack pages would get clogged with a bunch of unique or nearly unique names. You can mention this info in the Notes instead if you want.

Music hardware

Usually this will match what you see listed in the most-recent VGMPlay/in_vgm (0.51.0 or later).

The special cases (non-exhaustive at the moment) are:

If in doubt, check other packs of the same system to verify your spelling.

If there are two of the chip involved, write this as "2x[Chip]". E.g., "2xK054539" rather than "Dual K054539".

Package version

It's best to use smaller numbers like 1.02 or 1.05 for smaller updates like minor fixes or additions of single missing tracks. Save bigger ones like 2.00 or 3.00 for massive updates, like a total rerip.

You don't have to increase this number if you're tweaking your own submission before it's accepted to the site; see Package History for details.

Song list

If you haven't yet, decide how you'll order the tracks. The previous rules said the OST order (if one exists) should be preferred over in-game order, itself preferred over sound-test order. But as you can see, the text file template above says "approximate game order".

Game order can be an interesting piece of data on the game/soundtrack, and there's no longer a hard preference; between OST and game order, use the one you prefer. But if you don't know the game order and there's no OST, it's highly recommended you look up a video or play the game yourself (with cheats/level codes if needed) rather than use sound test order. (In this way, you may also discover unnoticed songs or uses of seemingly unused ones.)

At any rate, if you choose a different order, you can, and should, change "in approximate game order" to match.

Approximate is a word which here means "Use your best judgement." Thus, arrange jingles, bonus themes, and the like as they make sense to you (though many choose to put Continue and Game Over at the very end, before unused tracks). Variations of a song (like by region) are usually placed next to each other. And Beta versions of songs are usually placed after all Final songs.

As that implies, normally you should include all the tracks in the playlist, even unused ones. We usually only exclude tracks from the playlist that are excessively long (i.e. tracks that have rising pitch or desyncs and thus take hundreds of loops to reach their initial state again) - and even these cases may often be trimmed down to a less ludicrous length, like Warning of Puyopuyo.

To get a list with numbers (required), you have to drop/give a playlist which includes all the tracks to vgm_stat (which will take care of numbering and proper line breaks for you). If you've been following closely, you know that - but how do you make the list? Copypasting the filenames is tedious busywork that no one needs to do when better options exist.

You can create these lists from XMPlay, Winamp, or any other VGM-playing program that can make an M3U file:

  1. Load them in the program's playlist
  2. Sort them in order of track number, if needed
  3. Use the player's playlist's Save function to save the result as an M3U file (not PLS nor anything else), with the name of the game as its filename.

After that, if you need to reorder the tracks, it's much easier to do that in the M3U file and then use it with vgm_ren. With that program and proper Title tags, you should never need to rename tracks by hand at all.

vgm_stat automatically adds the following header: 

Song                        Length |Total |Loop
-----------------------------------+------+----

Below are some notes on properly creating the M3U (because nothing is ever that simple!), as well as another method that doesn't involve a player.

Creating the M3U in XMPlay

I'm not currently aware of a way to auto-sort tracks by filename.

Make sure all the checkbox options in the Save Playlist window are not checked. You might sometimes find "Selected tracks only" useful depending on use case; the other ones are a hindrance.

Creating the M3U in Winamp

If your files are already numbered properly, Winamp can sort them for you with Misc (in the Playlist window) > Sort > by filename. To save the playlist (also in the Playlist window), click on List Opts > Save List or press Ctrl+S.

You then have to clean up the tag cache in the Winamp playlist file. (The advantage of the other playlist creation methods is not having to worry about this.) Open the .m3u file in Notepad and remove all lines starting with #. This way the playlist will contain only the file names and nothing else.

Creating the M3U with the Command Line/BAT files

You can create a reusable .bat file to be run in an appropriately-named folder (or just rename the playlist after it's written). If you're comfortable with the command line, you can also run the playlist-creation line inside a cmd window working inside the folder.

.bat form (m3u.bat): 

for %%* in (.) do dir /b /on *.vg? > "%%~n*.m3u"

Command line form: 

for %* in (.) do dir /b /on *.vg? > "%~n*.m3u"

This line uses a loop (for/in) to get the current folder path ((.), placed in %%*), which is the quickest (only?) way to get it here. Then (do) it uses the dir command to list all VGM/VGZ filenames in (>) a .m3u file named with the folder's name. (? makes sure only vgms and vgzs are collected, not other files with those in the filename.)

You have noticed that using the command directly, the double %%s must be reduced to just one %.

If for any reason you don't want the M3U to be named after the folder, you can use this form: 

dir /b /on *.vg? > "playlist.m3u"

which behaves the same in a BAT file or on the command line.

Notes

If nothing else, you might consider listing at least the emulator (and version number thereof) that you used to log the songs. This could be important information should the VGMs ever need to be reripped, or if they are later found to reflect flaws/correct-but-surprising behavior in the emulator.

Other things you could mention include, but aren't limited to:

  • Info on how you ripped the songs, and any difficulties you encountered or other comments on the ripping process
  • If there were songs you simply weren't able to rip, or can't be ripped at this time
  • Any cheats you used, and URL(s) of the page describing the cheat
  • Facts or trivia about the game, soundtrack, composers, or the pack itself
  • Your comments on the songs
  • How badly some part of the game terrified you when you were a child, or even an adult

Basically, if you see other rippers put similar things in their notes, you can assume it's okay to put.

Some of the above examples might seem pretty frivolous or even egotistical to include. But I personally enjoy reading the comments of other rippers and seeing them speak their minds about games and music. While it's not required, my advice is to only leave out things you think don't make sense to put in; not things you think "aren't interesting enough to know".

Package history

As you can see:

  1. This section always has at least one item in it: the "Initial release" line. For every first release (not an update), put the Version Number (<= 1.00) you chose, Date you finished the pack to your satisfaction, and Name you want to go by in the unfinished slots on that line.
  2. Every entry in the example above has a space after the number line if it continues onto another line. This is needed for the TXT file to be processed properly.

While your submission/update is still in the queue and hasn't been accepted to the site yet, there's no need to increase the version number if you have to make further fixes or changes. Just add in what you need to add and leave the version un-bumped.

On the other hand, if multiple people are working on a pack and you want to keep track of changes separately, this is a sensible use case even if the pack hasn't been accepted yet.

"48 characters"

Naturally you've guessed you should remove that "section", since it's only a way to measure your lines. But I should say something about the wrapping if you have a need to include any urls/links: These can be longer than 48 characters, but they must be on a separate line. 

For instance, this example is wrong: https://this-is-a-long.link/that-exceeds-48-characters

and this one is correct:
https://this-is-a-long.link/that-exceeds-48-characters

To boost readability, you might indent urls by one space, which is acceptable:
 https://this-is-a-long.link/that-exceeds-48-characters

GD3-specific Pointers

This should be completely straightforward based on the above table - except that "Japanese" is a confusing artifact of early VGM work. This is why the tagging commands use the letter J and why so many VGM programs say "Japanese". In fact, the shortcuts for the System tags autofill with the Japanese names of the systems in question.

As you know, many games originate in places like Korea or France. Not Japanese, to put it blandly. Therefore, take "Japanese" in VGM GD3 context to actually mean "the Home Region language". These tag fields will be filled with official versions of the Korean, French, Japanese, Navajo, or whatever language the game was created in.

Track Titles

Note: As it bears stressing: titles from the dead site snesmusic.org are extremely prone to being highly made-up and unofficial. Thus, please don't use titles you found in .SPC sets unless you have solid evidence they're from official sources. Even last-ditch titles like "BGM 1" or "Music 9" are preferred to these.

Unlike snesmusic, M1 list files usually use OST names. While you mustn't record VGMs with it, it can be useful to check these lists. Just make sure the names didn't come from an snesmusic/SPC pack.

You might sometimes find official level names in the game's manual(s) if they aren't in the game itself.

Sometimes a game released in Japan doesn't have Japanese titles for the tracks. (Sometimes it even uses English for them!) In that case, it's A-OK to only fill the English track Titles (or to use English in the home-region tag, compliant with the OST). You may find useful the -TitleCase command of vgm_tag, which "applies title case to the EN title tag and puts the original case in the JP title tag".

If there's song titles, and these titles are short enough, you can include the in-game usage (stage, bonus round, continue, etc.) after them in the Title field, between parentheses. This can be convenient for the listener, as they don't have to open the file info and view the comment to know. However it's not a requirement, and can be prohibitive if the filename gets too long as a result.

If you have no official song names but the game itself has no level names, you might sometimes find them in the game's manual(s). Favor the manual from the home region, since localization can insert some pretty wild things.

What should you do if there are no OST/Sound Test titles and the song is used in more than one level/place? In that case, include all the spots the track is used if the filename won't get too long. If it does, just list the first or most key usage and put the rest in the Comment.

If this is an unidentified or unused song, title it something like "Unknown" or "Unknown BGM", possibly including the sound test/internal number involved after that.

You can delineate alternate versions of a track, usually in parentheses.

If for any reason you have to order similarly titled songs, use consecutive numbers and not letters (a/b/c, etc.) to distinguish them. If you see older packs using letters, they're relics from before it way agreed that it just makes everything harder to keep track of.

Notes/Comments

In the notes of the TXT file, you may say anything you wish regarding the pack and its contents, including your personal opinions. Conversely, the Comments of a VGM aren't the spot for opinions; only the cold hard facts, as many (if any) that you can include for each track.

One example is the numbers used by the Sound Test (if any) or in debugger commands to reach the song. Sometimes, as in World of Illusion, a soundtrack can have both.

There are ways to automatically place both these numbers and the Titles in the tag from the filename. The trouble is, in more than the simplest of cases you'll have to figure out by trial-and-error or actually understand certain command line... commands. The simplest case can use this .bat file, and on the page just linked you can learn how it works and see another possible method... when I add those later. For now, you can learn more using help for in a command line window and see the other method in the otherwise-dated Vampi's tutorial on this wiki. 

for %%V in (*.vg?) do for /f "tokens=1* delims= " %l in ("%~nV") do vgm_tag -Notes:"#%l" -Title:"%m" "%V"

Even if you have to do it by hand, if you insert these numbers it's then very easy for anyone who has to relog the track, including you, to go straight to said track.


Another good thing to put in the comments is in-game usage (if this isn't reflected by the Titles as described above). For instance:

  • The EarthWorm Jim games have OSTs and titles thereof, so it makes sense to list the names of all the levels each song is used in.
  • But then you also have cases like Dynamite Headdy, where the Japanese and English versions have completely different level names (and the English localizations are mostly in crummy taste). Fortunately, Headdy also has Scene numbers which are even displayed inside the levels themselves. (Except 0-1 for the opening scene, but who cares?) Since these are consistent, you can use them instead.
  • Either way, the usage of other songs like invincibility themes, 1-up/Extra Life jingles, and the like would also be nice to have. Especially uses of the same tune in different contexts.

Likewise, if a track is unused/from a beta and you didn't mention so in the title or filename, good to say so here.


You can also put bits of info and trivia, like these examples:

  • "A remixed version of the title theme."
  • "Recycled from [place] in the SNES version."
  • "Similar to music played in [part] of the movie but not included in the soundtrack."
  • "An adaptation of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata"

Any such connective data like that fills in a picture of the game soundtrack. Plus, no matter how obvious you may think it is that a track sounds like, say, "Merry Farmers", at least some other people have certainly never heard of the piece, or can't name it.

If the track itself seems to loop oddly or is longer than it would seem, or is a short version of a different track, this can be good to note.


There are no doubt other relevant fact-types I haven't even thought of, but I hope this gives an idea of what sort of info is not only welcome but encouraged in VGM GD3 Notes. Of course, if you genuinely have no data to add to this field then just leave it blank.

Meet the Taggers

You have four options of VGM-tagging programs:

VGMToolbox
It's lightning-quick for changing a small (or large) amount of fields across all VGMs. Unfortunately, there are very rare bugs triggered by unknown circumstances the bug finders can't seem to replicate.
Valley Bell's vgm_tag
A command line tagger; also useful for batch tagging and changing/removing a single field in a VGM tag (or many). (If you're comfortable with the command line, then it can be even faster than VGMToolbox.) By looking at Vampi's Project2612 algorithm, you'll find a .bat file to help you use it conveniently. As mentioned above, advanced users can even use it to dynamically fill fields from parts of the VGM filenames.
VGMTool
This dated tool should never be used for trimming, but it's still a good tagger. It will be most convenient for modifying tags for a single VGM at a time - or for its special tool to handle non-Latin characters, which you may need/want even if you prefer other programs. Dropping a VGM with no GD3 tag at all keeps all the fields from the previous VGM, if any.
The player foobar
Can be used with its version of in_vgm, foo_input_vgm, to tag VGMs as well.

Each program has its own advantages - you may even end up using all of the first three) - but you'll be entering the same data in each. Open the links of their names above for download links (save for vgm_tag, included in the VGM Tools) and detailed info on how to use them (aside from foobar, with which I'm not familiar; it should be straightforward enough anyway).

Article license

The contents of this article are given to you under the terms of Creative Commons Zero, which is the equivalent of a public domain dedication (even where such is not otherwise possible) and grants the same rights. Feel free to copy, spindle or mutilate without even worrying about credit.

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