[4.1] Music & SFX not importing? This may be why.

AndyS27

New member
An error occured while importing Sounds
Value cannot be null.
Parameter name: s

Hey everyone. Are you sick and tired of seeing this little error screen when trying to import a FamiTracker text file into your game? I'm a newbie when it comes to all other aspects of NES Maker, but I'm extremely experienced with FamiTracker -- and I'm pretty sure I've figured out what causes that blasted error.

BASICALLY you don't want any unused patterns of music included in your FamiTracker songs. Here's what I figured out --

Let's say I've written some music and put them in the following patterns: 00, 01, 02, and 03. They all contain note data and they sound great. Awesome!

Now let's say my frames look something like this:

------------Pattern
Frame 00: 00,00,00,00,00
--------01: 01,00,00,00,00
--------02: 03,01,01,03,00
--------03: 01,01,01,00,00
--------04: 03,03,03,03,00

...I hit play, and I like how the song sounds, so I decide to export it as a text file and import it to NES Maker.

This won't work, and here's why:

Notice how I never used the 02 pattern in any of the 5 frames in the song? NESMaker doesn't like that!!

If you have a pattern like "02" in the example which you never play in any of your frames, NESMaker won't import the text file!


I found this out after doing a lot of testing. Before figuring this out, the best advice I had heard was that NES Maker was just really finicky when importing music -- but I think this is the cause of most of the problems. It causes a lot of headaches trying to fix this AFTER writing your music, so just keep this in mind. Only put music in patterns you plan on using! If you have an unused pattern (02), but you DO use pattern 03, then copy all of the data from 03, put it into 02, and switch to using 02 instead of 03 in your frames. Then just delete everything in the 03 pattern.

This SHOULD solve the importing problem.

Keep it mind, it also seems to cause problems if you use a frame that's completely blank/has no note data in it. It seems to return the same error as before. If you want to include a frame with blank patterns in it, just put a note break in one of the patterns used.

Hope that saves y'all some headaches! This is my first time trying to share some info on the forums -- like I said, I'm not an expert in NES Maker by any means, but I've got a lot of experience with FamiTracker. If anyone has questions, let me know and I'll try to answer them! Keep in mind I might need to see the actual note data in the text file. :)

Happy composing!
 

TakuikaNinja

Active member
mongolianmisfit said:
I have spent almost an entire day now trying to import my txt file. I keep getting value of null.
If possible, could I have you look at the ftm file for what is preventing me from importing? I'm just about defeated.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YItwdGYaATWMNXisFCUtwb734XspsKwb/view?usp=sharing

You're using DPCM samples in your project; NESMaker doesn't support that yet. You can't use a tempo other than 150 either (speed setting is fine).
Also, the effects and volume columns will be ignored when importing the txt file in NESMaker. Too bad the music is really good :(
You can check out more limitations regarding sound in these topics: http://nesmakers.com/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=2071 | http://nesmakers.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=219
Once you've fixed the music, I recommend you use ggsound's converter: http://nesmakers.com/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=1919
(Good luck fixing it...)
EDIT: Did you even read the first post of this topic? You seem to have unused patterns in some of your songs...(e.g. not using patterns 0-4 in Windy Hills)
 

mongolianmisfit

New member
Glad you like the music, TakuikaNinja. Now if I can just manage to fix it for NESMaker and get it in my game. lol
Also, it's just been a hella frustrating couple of days with no sleep, hence why I missed unused patterns that I thought I addressed already in previous versions (maybe I did and just didn't re-save properly). Hopefully fixing this won't pose much more of an issue than the time it takes to copy and paste patterns.

-I was able to drop my DPCM samples, put the tempo on all songs at 150 and adjusted speed.
-I'm not so worried about the effects and volume columns being lost, so long as they don't result in an error on import?

Also, what are the benefits of the sound converter, just a closer 1:1 import?

Thanks btw!
 

TakuikaNinja

Active member
mongolianmisfit said:
Also, what are the benefits of the sound converter, just a closer 1:1 import?

Yeah, a closer 1:1 import is the main reason to use the sound converter, especially if you're using "fixed" arpeggios in your instruments.
Good luck with your music and game!
 

mouse spirit

Well-known member
Just to add to this,incase someone didn't mention it.I'm not sure if this is what you were saying to begin with,but i fixed my songs by always using 00 frames first and by not leaving frames other than 00s blank if you actually use them in your song.It could be a different type of error,or i could be incorrect,or half right.Anyway,this post helped me so thank you.
 

offparkway

Active member
I created a tune, plays great in FamiTracker. Added it to the songs in the NESmaker tutorial text file, and my song now shows as selectable in NESmaker. However when I run emulation, the song plays but the entire bassline (in Pulse 1) is gone. Everything else remains accurate. Didn't do anything fancy to the effects... it's pretty much just a stock sound like the rest.

Any idea why the Pulse 1 won't play during emulation?
 
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