Nintendo Entertainment System ripping tutorial

From vgmrips

This is an tutorial focused on ripping music from Nintendo Entertainment System and Family Computer Disk System games that has at least one music played on NES APU soundchip. This tutorial was done and written by Sonic of 8!

Introduction

This tutorial applies to the following systems / hardware:

Not every single piece of these hardware devices listed can be playable in most NES emulators or MAME.

Getting started

What you need to rip music from NES games is:

Emulators

  • Easy method: NEZPlay (if the game has an NSF file) or
    • Conventional method: An NES emulator with VGM Logging (e.g.: MAME) for games that doesn't have an NSF file (you also need BIOS files for several hardware listed above). Or
      • Advanced method: A NES emulator with VGM Logging (e.g.: MAME) for games that cannot have an NSF file dumped because of some tech issues related to NSF file format (e.g.: Electrician for FDS);
  • A emulator with screenshot capture (MAME, if the game doesn't run, stick with Nestopia UE or FCEUmm. For VT03/09 games, use Nintendulator).

Despite MAME being able to emulate VRC6 and N163 sound, it's not possible to log sound data from these soundchips into a VGM file.

VGM tools

  • vgm_cmp: For optimizing VGM files data;
  • vgmlpfnd: To find loops in VGM files if the music loops.
  • vgm_trim: To make VGM files a proper loop if the music loops;

You don't need vgm_sro for optimizing DPCM data.

Other

  • The ROM of the game you are playing to take the screenshot.
    • If the game has variants in another language (e.g.: Japanese), screenshots of it must be taken as well.
  • pngout: To optimize the PNG taken from an emulator (optional, but very useful for screenshots of VT03/VT09 games).

Logging music with NEZplay++

This method works for NSF files that includes NES APU, VRC7, FME-7, and FDS data.

Before You Start

  1. Make sure you're using the version of NEZPlay from the linked forum topic, not from the official website. Only the former can log VGM files.
  2. Extract NEZPlay into its own folder.
  3. Open nezplay.ini, which is in NEZPlay's folder, using a text editor like Notepad. Change it to say VGMLogging=1 instead of 0, then save the .ini file.
  4. If the .nsf file is in a folder other than NEZPlay's, copy nezplay.ini there to make sure it logs. The .vgms created will also be in this folder.

Logging

  • Drag & drop the NSF file on the program, or click the V7 button.
  • The music is logged as a track plays. It finishes logging when the music stops playing.
  • If the music loops, leave the music logging for at least three loops.
  • You can change the track number by pressing Left or Right on your keyboard. If the music doesn't change, the NSF file has only one track in it.
  • You can stop a track both playing and logging by pressing Down on your keyboard.
  • After all the music has been fully logged, you can close the program as usual.

Logging music with MAME (NES/FDS games)

This is for games that don't have a NSF file available, which is not the case of well known games. Let's get additional steps for this method:

  1. Download the BIOS files' romset of your system
  2. Get the game and its variants (if any) to dump the title screen screenshots
  3. Read MAME's wiki page for more information on beginning logging.
  4. Record the music using the game's sound test.
  5. If a sound test does not exist, you can use the Debugger and deal with the game's sound driver. See also Sound_Hacking/Nintendo_Entertainment_System

NES-based Plug & Play systems

Not every NES-based Plug & Play system is actually emulated on MAME. Some can actually work, some have emulation faults, some doesn't have audio emulation, some won't boot at all. But the process will be the same as ripping music from NES / FDS games in MAME as well.

VT03/VT09 games

The emulation status of these games in MAME are way more preliminary than the simple Plug & Play systems, because they have extra hardware added on it to make these systems on par with the specs of SNES / GBA. We recommend you to find a NSF of the game instead and take the screenshot in Nintendulator.

Finishing Your VGM Pack

  1. Get the command-line VGM Tools
  2. Find the loops of VGM file(s) (if any) with vgmlpfnd
  3. Do the loops on VGM file(s) (if any) with vgm_trim
  4. Drag & drop the VGM file(s) in vgm_cmp to optimize their data
  5. Tag your VGM file(s) with VGMToolBox, VGMTool, or vgm_tag, whatever you think is easier to use
  6. Take the screenshot(s) of the game's title screen(s) with MAME. The screenshot(s) must be in 256x240 for common NES / FDS games.
    1. (optional) Drag & drop the screenshot(s) in pngout to reduce the screenshots' data a bit.

For Filling Out the Tags and Text File, Final Touches and Pack Posting, you can follow the traditional steps for every VGM pack tutorial as usual.

FAQ

Where I can get NSF files?
You can get them from some emulated music collection websites. Some people at nesdev does NSF ripping of recent dumped games (many of them, unlicensed games from Asia). But keep in mind that not every NES / FDS game can have it's music data in NSF file format.
If I log music data from Akumajou Densetsu / Mappy Kids, they will be logged into VGM and will be reserved for the future?
No.
What are these Plug & Play NES systems that I never heard before?
These systems, in most of their clone forms, are NES clones without a cartridge slot and feature several built-in games on it. None of these received actual license from Nintendo (save for NES Classic Edition, which is a totally different concept of NES system). One of earliest examples of Plug & Play NES system is Gamepad by Bandai, released in 1997. With the 2000s' Plug & Play craze started by JAKKS Pacific in USA and other Western countries, some companies released Plug & Play systems as NOACs (Nintendo-on-a-chip). Such example is Majesco, who released several games based on Konami IPs. Others such as SSD from Japan did their own hardware called XaviX. But as expected, most Plug & Play NES systems came from various companies in China and Taiwan, such as Hummer Technology, Waixing, dreamGEAR, AtGames, etc.
Where I can get unlicensed (bootleg) NES games for screenshot purposes?
This can be solved by going to Pirated Games Central, a forum about bootleg games for 8~32 bit systems. Maybe they have more info on it.

Conclusion

These methods are done by Sonic of 8! and is used on every VGM pack that he does.

Retrieved from "https://vgmrips.net/w/index.php?title=Nintendo_Entertainment_System_ripping_tutorial&oldid=6030"