1. FFmpeg Builds

• Used to convert any music file to [.wav] format + resampling
  
• To download go here[www.gyan.dev], as in "ffmpeg-release-essentials.7z"

2. Opus Tools

• Used to convert [.wav] format back to [.opus] with loop values that IX will play
  
• Technically FFmpeg can do this too, but I don't want the risk of mismatch/missing something while encoding. In fact, I did try and it won't loop
  
• To download, go here[opus-codec.org]. It should be in "Source code (stable release)" section, look for "Win32 binaries: opus-tools-0.2-opus-1.3.1.zip"

3. Audacity or similar

• Used to find your loop values: loop_start and loop_end
  
• There used to be concerns about Audacity containing spyware thus I won't place the link here, you should go with much older version if needed.
  
• Or if you used alternative, make sure it has the ability to show song in samples instead of time hh:mm:ss (Adobe Audition for instance)

4. A way to check media info

• People who installed K-lite Codec Pack + MPC-HC already got it
  
• Just right-click on any media files > MediaInfo and you will see the details

5. A Pen and a Note (or Notepad)

• The obvious, to write down the loop_start and loop_end values

1. Extract the FFmpeg zip content into a folder, then go to the Bin folder
2. Place any song you want to convert here.

I will use y7_b001.ogg - Vacant Interference from Ys SEVEN as an example

3. Within the current explorer window, click on address/path bar, type in "cmd" to open Command Prompt, type in the following (use TAB to autofill to make it easier), then Enter:


4. Check MediaInfo of converted .wav file, it must be:

• Format: PCM
  
• Bit depth: 16 bits
  
• Sampling rate: 48.0 kHz (if you don't get this right, your loop_end & loop_start in the next step will be mismatched => failed loop)

By default FFmpeg will use PCM-16 bit for .wav conversion, and "-ar 48000" from the command above is responsible for changing sampling rate.

1. Open the converted .wav using Audacity, or you can open Audacity first and drag the file in
2. Before proceed, change the timing view at the bottom from time to samples

Note: Please make sure Project Rate (Hz) to the left is showing 48000 (Hz) accordingly to our track sampling rate, otherwise you will falsely get loop values => looping will not work correctly

3. Don't worry about two same blue lanes of the track as it is 2-channel. Here is the basic operations in Audacity:

• Space -- Play/Stop
  
• Shift + Space -- Loop Play only
  
• Hold Shift + MWheel Scroll -- to scroll view left and right of the track
  
• Hold Ctrl + MWheel Scroll -- zoom in/out at the part you hover on
  
• If you click on any part of blue track, a black line will appear, if you press Play it will always play at that position.
  
• If you click on the time ruler above it will automatically play at that, however, if press Play again track will start at the black line (if given already).
  
• To select a loop, pan select a region of the track, then hold Shift + Left/Right Arrow to adjust loop_start and loop_end (note that you can only expand). To actually expand & cut back freely, hold Shift (or LCtrl) + Left-click and drag on either sides of the loop.
  
• You can also select a loop by specifying Start and End samples like the image above.
  
• While Loop Play, use Shift + Left-click on the time ruler to be able to skip to any point, mostly likely near the end of the loop, helpful for checking the loop repeat without hearing the whole track.

4. Now it is up to your ears and find/record loop_start & loop_end values. A tip is that they should be at the zeros - or where the amplitude is almost zero (as shown in the image below)

The loop_start for this track is 367,652, while loop_end is 9,240,777. But your finding doesn't have to be the same.



Extra. You should be done with 4., however, you may find a song being too loud or too little. If that is the case, while in Audacity > select the whole song (Ctrl+A) > Click on Effect from the menu bar > Amplify > increase/decrease the loudness with +/- decibel (dB) by a certain value

Once satisfied, go to File > Export > Export as Wav.

1. Similarly to FFmpeg, extract opus_tool zip content into a folder
2. Put the converted .wav into this folder, same as opusenc.exe
3. Type in "cmd" path bar to open Command Prompt again, use the following and Enter:
With the values from Step 2 we should have:



Once done encoding you can check the MediaInfo again, a loop attribute along the values should be there. You can compare these to one of IX tracks too



THAT'S IT! You can now rename the file and replace converted .opus over any IX track in the bgm folder, inside IX game installation folder (make sure to backup first), boot up the game and enjoy!

In addition, to save the hassle of finding loop_start & loop_end, certain games already contained these values in their tracks, thus always check their MediaInfo first. A few examples are:

• Ys IX - Monstrum Nox
  
• Ys VIII - Lacrimosa of Dana (get the loop infos from this file here[drive.google.com] instead)
  
• Ys Origin & Ys Oath in Felghana & Ark of Napishtim (which use LOOPSTART and LOOPLENGTH => sum them together to get loop_end)
  
• Trails of Cold Steel III-IV (as similar to IX)