Thread: .ABC File Troubleshooting

BOOK 11 UPDATES

+ You can now end your files with .txt and have them play correctly.
+ You can now use the /playlist command to list all of the .abc files you have.
+ You can now play synchronized songs. You first must be in a fellowship with those that you wish to play with. To start, you first must be in /music. Afterwards, you should type /play [filename] sync. This will prep you to be ready to play the song. You will not start playing the song until someone in your group uses the /playstart command. All of those in your fellowship that are now in sync should play the song together.

If you are still having problems, please ask your questions here.

Nicely done.

There's an article in the Lorebook that details some of the LotRO specific ABC limitations and some workarounds. If you're seeing error in the ABC files themselves, look there for tips.

This looks like it works for XP but does anyone know the setup for vista? Reason being is that folder does not exist.

UNLESS...I have to create it....I guess that is my question

Yes, create it if it doesn't exist.

Has anyone made an app. that will test an ABC file to make sure it will work ingame??

I have just started playing around with this.. and would like to make my own... but its very time consuming to have to test out songs ingame to see if they work...

Even in window mode.. switching back and forth. checking errors.. and what not..

Maybe something Turbine can release.. and offline app. that lets you hear what a song sounds like using the diffrent instruments from the game..

Great Post!!!

All I see in post #1 is a little white box with a red "x" in it...

Something must be messed up some how for me because everytime I type
/play <filename> (the acutal name not that lol) it keeps coming up as
ussage: /play <song file>
and it never play anything!

did you type "/music mode" (no quotes) first? not just /music?

oh no I didn't, Thanks. I'll try that.

I tried that and it still says the same thing..

Everytime i try it it says it can not open the file. I did everything correctly. And i tried another song from some1 else but it wasnt in Abc format. I typed /music mode then i typed /play Road but of course it couldnt open the folder. Any ideas? Maybe its becuase i had to Download the game off the site becuase the disks were corrupted? I don't Know.

LunaBelleRose - I'm wondering if you have spaces in the name of your ABC file? If so, enclose the filename in quotes.

/music my song <- won't work and will print the usage help

/music "my song" <- works!

Reich-Sniper - Are you sure you're playing an ABC file, not one that is secretly ending in ".txt"? If it can't find the file, it should print out a help message that says the name of the file it was looking for.

-Wrinklor

Oh I do have spaces in my file name! Thanks it works now!

I followed the instructions, but it won't let me /play songs. It say something like "song not found". Can anyone help me?

EDIT: Never mind I figured it out. I'll say what I did wrong in case anyone is as stupid as me :P
I typed /play <filename> With the brackets, well not brackets.. whatever you call those things.

You might have better luck in the ABC Songbook thread.

I am recieving

Couldn't open file C:\Documents and Settings\Stacey\My Documents\The Lord of the Rings Online\Music\song1.abc.

"Song file not found"

The name of my files end with .abc, but they are still text files.

so it is like song1.abc.txt

How do I change this?

If no one answered you yet, you have to go back and open each of your abc files in note pad, goto save as, in the files of type window, change to all files, get rid of the .txt part so all that is there is filename.abc. then save.

should be fine after that.

durinsbane

Ok, I've done everything you guys have suggested. But I have a weird problem. Certain songs open, and certain ones don't. Hotel California opens, but The Trooper does not. They're all labelled <song name>.abc and there is no .txt at the end. And they're all saved in the same folder, but I still have the same problem. I had it all set up the same about a couple months ago, then I had to wipe my computer. Trying to set it up again, and really want to get this to work. Any advice?

Spaces in the song name?

You mean spaces in the song name in the text file? Or jus the, for example "songname.abc" part of it?

Song file itself. The T: field is unimportant.

And make sure the file isn't actually songfile.abc.txt (hidden extension)

you may also want to see if the song your trying to play has some rests (z) to start the song. some songs have 2 or 3, ie z8|z8|z8. If your not getting any error messages this might be the problem. wait a little longer after typing in /play <filename> command, song may be playing but notes have not started yet.
I know this is a longshot, but I know of 2 other people where this was the problem.

Durinsbane

Added Book 11 updates for troubleshooting.

Chords will sometime cause a "Note already sounding" error (It's been bugged). Until it's fixed, here's a work around.

If you see
[zC3DE] C

Chances are you'll get the error on the second C.

The simple fix is to change the length of the previous instance of the note (In this case, the C3) to match the length of the shortest note in the chord (the rest, in this case). I've tried this a few times and it seems to do the trick, without messing up the overall timing of the song.

I'm having the same problem. I'm using Vista, not sure if you are. I think it's some sort of security restriction. I moved a bunch of abc files into a Music directory I created and it still won't play them. It seems to be a permissions issue that won't let the LOTRO client open those files.

Originally Posted by Sniper2

Everytime i try it it says it can not open the file. I did everything correctly. And i tried another song from some1 else but it wasnt in Abc format. I typed /music mode then i typed /play Road but of course it couldnt open the folder. Any ideas? Maybe its becuase i had to Download the game off the site becuase the disks were corrupted? I don't Know.

Originally Posted by remram

I followed the instructions, but it won't let me /play songs. It say something like "song not found". Can anyone help me?

EDIT: Never mind I figured it out. I'll say what I did wrong in case anyone is as stupid as me :P
I typed /play <filename> With the brackets, well not brackets.. whatever you call those things.

They are called angle brackets or chevrons, ain't wikipedia great!?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angle_b...evrons_.3C_.3E

If the music folder is not in the LOTRO my document folder, can we just create it?

Originally Posted by kilroy64

If the music folder is not in the LOTRO my document folder, can we just create it?

Yes, just go to your My Ducument folder, then LOTRO folder and create a "Music" folder inside of it.

Put all Abc files in music folder.

Does it mater that my folder is under Trubine then LOTR then Music

Originally Posted by DATmadild

Does it mater that my folder is under Trubine then LOTR then Music

Yes, it maters. Whne u play a ABC file in game, the Game looks for the file in your music folder that is in your LOTRO folder, that is in your My Documents folder. If there isn't a Music folder in your LOTRO folder, simply make a new folder there and rename it music.

Durinsbane

Yeah so what do we call the .txt file?

I keep getting this:

Couldn't open file C:\Documents and Settings\*******\My Documents\The Lord of the Rings Online\Music\Adams.txt.

First, make sure that "Hide Extensions for Known File Types" in Folder Options is unchecked. That way you can see if the file is really Adams.txt or Adams.txt.abc or somesuch. Make sure it's actually <file>.abc or <file>.txt with no spaces in the filename.

If the system can see your files, they should appear when you type /playlist

Hello there

When I /play I get the following message
Couldn't open file C:\Users\Robert\Documents\The Lord of the Rings Online\Music\song.txt.

Im running Vista and I think im saving the file correctly according to the save as guidlines listed above.
Is the file still being read as *.txt.abc?

Some people need to be learning basic computer skills instead of playing video games....

Normally when you go to save an existing file "AS" a different file extention. It leaves the OLD file extention on the name and appends the new one. You have to remove the old file extention. It clearly shows the old file extention in the File name: box.

Files can be named ****.txt or *****.abc
As long as the contents of in the correct format.

I have the same thing as the guy above. It is saved under Turbine, lotro, then music. Does this matter? I don't think I can change this?

thanks a ton, Agamemnon582bc1, for posting this sweet graphical walkthru! so many people have asked me how i was playing the songs and explanations were takin a TON of time!

now i can just link them here and the hills will be alive with the sound of music!

i think i'll even put this link in my sig if i ever get around to making one!

Nevermind - I'm an idiot :x

I did everything the instructions stated and I g into music mod I type /play music1, then I get the error Couldn't open C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents\The Lord of the Rings Online\Music\music1.txt