Different kind of "hanging notes" issue

[Galahad]

Based on what I've been reading on the forums so far (and please feel free to correct me if I'm in error here), the "hanging notes" bug occurs with certain newer Sound Blaster card versions.  Assuming this is still the case, I have a question about what may be a different kind of hanging notes technical issue. 

One of the classic DOS games that I still play occasionally uses .xmi format (GM?) MIDI for music, and Sound Blaster Pro/16 for sound effects.  Optionally, the game can also be configured to use a SB for both music and sfx.  The game works fine with this about 90% of the time using the first configuration, but when playing certain select .xmi MIDI files, once it reaches the end of the song, the game will completely crash my PC and require a reboot.  Interestingly though, this does not occur if the SB is set for playing both music and sfx -- instead, once the end of the song is reached, the game will emit a "chirping echo" sort of sound, which will sometimes repeat on a regular interval (say about every 30 seconds), even though the song is over.  Please note that my PC uses a true MPU-401 interface card via my SCB-55 + MPU-401/AT.  (Also I believe this behavior still happens even if the Microsoft GS Wavetable soft synth is used instead of a hardware synth.)

I did some research into why this might be occurring, and if my memory is correct, believe I found out that the reason for this is that .xmi files have a maximum time length and/or file size in games that if exceeded, will crash a game and/or PC as described above.  That might also explain why everything appears to work without crashing with using the SB for music instead of the Roland device. 

Was just wondering if anyone else might have experienced anything similar when playing games with .xmi MIDI?

[NewRisingSUn]

One of the classic DOS games that I still play

Is this a porn game, or why do you use complicated constructs like this instead of just telling us which game it is?

the game will emit a "chirping echo" sort of sound, which will sometimes repeat on a regular interval (say about every 30 seconds), even though the song is over.

I don't think I can imagine anything from that description.

I did some research into why this might be occurring, and if my memory is correct, believe I found out that the reason for this is that .xmi files have a maximum time length and/or file size in games that if exceeded, will crash a game and/or PC as described above

The .xmi format has no such limitation. It's of course always possible that the file is larger than the buffer allocated for it, but that seems very unlikely.

That might also explain why everything appears to work without crashing with using the SB for music instead of the Roland device.

Why does it explain that? Does the game use different .xmi files for SB and Roland, which have different size?

Let's summarize this: This mysterious unnamed game plays fine until a song ends, then crashes on MPU-401 General MIDI, while emitting garbage sounds on FM. My first guess would be just that the files are corrupted, because there's nothing specific hardware-wise a .xmi player does at the end of a song that could trigger genuine hardware incompatibilities.

[Galahad]

Why do you use complicated constructs like this instead of just telling us which game it is?

The game would be Forgotten Realms Unlimited Adventures, which I  mentioned briefly in an earlier post -- it's a D&D game design engine that comes with a pre-packaged cRPG module, and has 700 or so total fan-created mods so far to date.

the game will emit a "chirping echo" sort of sound, which will sometimes repeat on a regular interval (say about every 30 seconds), even though the song is over.

I don't think I can imagine anything from that description.

It's roughly 1-2 seconds worth of sound from the .xmi file that had been playing, which repeats at a regular interval, which is why I had referred to it as an echo.

Why does it explain that? Does the game use different .xmi files for SB and Roland, which have different size?

My assumption had been based on my previous (apparently incorrect) understanding that .xmi files had a max limited size and duration -- or possibly this may be an internal limitation of the game maybe? The Roland and SB use the same .xmi files, as  far as I am aware.

Let's summarize this: This mysterious unnamed game plays fine until a song ends, then crashes on MPU-401 General MIDI, while emitting garbage sounds on FM. My first guess would be just that the files are corrupted, because there's nothing specific hardware-wise a .xmi player does at the end of a song that could trigger genuine hardware incompatibilities.

Maybe you're right about the .xmi files possibly being corrupt, since crashing only occurs with certain files and everything else plays fine.

[NewRisingSUn]

Maybe you're right about the .xmi files possibly being corrupt, since crashing only occurs with certain files and everything else plays fine.

If you post the .xmi files in question, I will have a look at them.

or possibly this may be an internal limitation of the game maybe?

Possible, but very rare. The only games I know that use a fixed buffer size for music are Ultima Underworld 1&2. Most games allocate as much memory as the file size.

Edit:

The Roland and SB use the same .xmi files, as  far as I am aware.

I just downloaded the game, and it's pretty obvious that there are different versions for each device: ADDQ1-3.XMI, PCDQ1-3.XMI, RODQ1-3.XMI, TYDQ1-3.XMI. So far, everything plays without problems here, but then again, I didn't play very long.

[Galahad]

Thanks very much for the info and for taking a look NewRisingSUn!  I will try to post copies of the .xmi files in question -- I will be pretty much occupied for this weekend with taking care of some important things, but will definitely try to post them as soon as I am able.