VGMTool
VGMTool is a program that previously allowed tagging, optimization, and general cleanup of VGM files before the VGM Tools were created; it should now only be used for tagging. The program was originally written by Maxim in Win32 C++.
2R5 by Maxim is the last reliable official version of VGMTool. NeoLogiX released an update, 2R6, with improved YM2612 and YM2151 optimization but the update itself was considered too buggy for general use. Another update, known as VGMTool 3, is in development hell which intends to modernize the codebase and allow compilation on non-Windows systems.
Downloads
- Win32 binaries by Maxim (up to and including VGMTool 2R5)
- VGMTool 2R6 by NeoLogiX (Buggy, do not use! Included for completeness.)
Usage
Go to the GD3 tag tab; then, drag and drop a VGM file into VGMTool to load it. You can then edit the fields and press Update GD3 to commit them to the VGM when you're done.
When you drop a file without GD3 tags in it, the program will keep whatever information had been stored in the last file you dropped. This is very handy because most tags in a soundtrack are constant (game name, file creator, release date, system, author (sometimes), etc), and you only need to change at most the Notes and the fields contained under Track.
Of special interest is the "Paste [...] HTML NCRs" feature; when you have text copied and press that button, it converts characters outside the basic Latin set into HTML-style numeric character reference codes (&#x____;). These can be placed in the "Japanese" (i.e., Non-Latin-Letters) fields without any worry of data loss. You may want/need this feature even if you prefer other programs like VGMToolbox and/or vgm_tag.
If you use the drop-down list for System, it will generate Japanese NCRs for the first four entries (for the Sega Master System, Sega Game Gear, and Sega Mega Drive. Other systems don't have that happen. As a result, you may find it more useful to use vgm_tag to fill System tags; using its "short names" for the System is a broader and more robust version of this feature.
VGMTool automatically converts a VGM to VGZ, even if it's large and you tell it not to. You can use a batch decompressing .BAT to undo this in bulk if you need.
VGMTool 3
As early as 2012 NeoLogiX announced plans to completely revamp VGMTool for modern systems with the goal of making the codebase easier to update and maintain than the original Win32-only VGMTool source. Though he released screenshots of work-in-progress to garner attention and has uploaded source code for it, development is not complete. Release date is currently unknown.