SMW Music Submission Rules
All music submitted in a valid format will be tested and reviewed by a staff member. Rejected submissions or removals will be logged here.
Note: Soundtrack submissions are no longer accepted, even though as of now the option has not yet been removed from the submission page. Please submit soundtracks as individual songs. Any further soundtracks submitted will be rejected, asking you to do this.
Form Guidelineslink
All music submitted in a valid format will be tested and reviewed by a staff member. Rejected submissions or removals will be logged here.
Note: Soundtrack submissions are no longer accepted, even though as of now the option has not yet been removed from the submission page. Please submit soundtracks as individual songs. Any further soundtracks submitted will be rejected, asking you to do this.
- Your submission must consist of a zip file containing:
- A text file of the music (or sound effect);
- All necessary additional samples, in the form of BRR files;
- An up to date SPC file of the music, for previewing purposes.
If your submission includes any external samples, have them located in a subfolder within your submission, and ensure your text file uses the appropriate file paths, either directly in the #samples field or using the #path option (see AddmusicK's readme for more info). If you use #path, use a unique name for your folder. It's very confusing if someone is trying to use multiple ports that use samples folders called "mario"; pick something specific to your song, not just the game it's from or the series or some generic word.
Furthermore, avoid including unnecessary files or folders within the zip file. You are allowed to include an incompatible version for showoff purposes, however. - If you are not the author of the submission, please provide proof in your submission that you have permission to upload it, or in the description field of your submission. Otherwise, have it readily available if a moderator inquires.
Uploading another person's work without their consent is expressly forbidden. - Your submission must work with the latest version of AddmusicK, under its default settings.
Ensure that you can insert your song into SMW without any errors. Additionally, try to balance the volume in your submission. A good indicator of properly balanced audio is whether or not you can hear the song clearly, as well as any sound effects that occur during gameplay. - Please ensure your submission is correctly optimized.
Try to loop as many repeating patterns as you can find in your text file. - Your submission must include as many original SMW samples as possible.
Many of SMW's samples are utilized for both sound effects and default global songs.
More information on this rule can be found in Guideline 4. If you do not have to omit any SMW samples, use #default or #optimized instead. If your submission is completely unsampled, err towards #default when applicable. As a rule of thumb, try not to omit too many samples that are utilized for several sound effects. Too many missing samples may result in rejection. - Ensure that your submission does not have excessive lag during playback.
Lag can be caused by high tempos and excessive usage of hex commands, especially pitch bends and vibrato. Some lag is okay if it's an isolated case and doesn't distract too much from the song in question, but consistent lag throughout the song can be considered a removal reason. Note that the song can potentially lag during gameplay due to the music speeding up when less than 100 seconds are left on the timer, so be sure to look out for that as well! - Please, do not exploit bugs in the music engine for unintended results. Report them instead.
An update to the program could render your submission broken if a glitch it utilized was patched out. - Do not submit ports generated from automatic porting tools, such as SPCtoMML, NintSPC, or IT2AMK that have not been optimized and/or fixed for insertion in SMW.
Such programs output files that are unoptimized and thus utilize far too much space than necessary, and as such falls under Rule 4. - Make sure to edit the info in your SPC file with accurate information relating to your submission, using the ID666 tag format.
Note that this can be done from within the text file, using the #SPC directive (see AddmusicK's readme for more info). Please do not include vulgar or offensive language in the text file or SPC. - Ensure that songs utilizing Misc. Tags can be inserted as a global song. With the exception of "nintendo presents" which is its own local song, and "yoshi drums" which has no bearing on global songs, all the songs within the Misc. Tag list below are often used as a global song. As such, ensure that it works as intended. If it's a goal clear song that uses @14, @17 or @21, note as such. These songs will work properly if their corresponding samples are loaded as global samples, which must be done on the user's end.
Form Guidelineslink
- When submitting, fill out all applicable fields in the submission form.
Accurately label your submission for what type it is, and follow the instructions underneath each category.
- Sample Usage
If the submission utilizes many, or is fully comprised of external samples, label it as Many (otherwise known as Fully Sampled). If it utilizes only a few, and still relies mainly on the default SMW samples, label it Light (Lightly Sampled). If no external samples are utilized at all, label it as None. - Source
If the submission is a port of a song from another game, movie, author, etc., label it as a Port. If there are major differences in arrangement or other creative liberties, it is a Remix. An Original song is a composition made by yourself. - Tagging
Do not forget to label your submission with tags only from the Tag Guidelines for Music. As tags are subjective, label them as best you can. The only exceptions are Miscellaneous submission tags, which listed further down that page.
- Sample Usage
- When titling your submission, for songs from games, please use the format "Game Name - Song Title".
Do not use ":" in place of "-", nor reverse the order. If a game's title's spelling is ambiguous, refer to existing ports in the section if they exist and follow that spelling. Additionally, if the version of the game you ported from is not the original version, and is notably different, indicate the version or system in parentheses after the game name i.e. "Game Name (System)". If a game has a North American release, use the American title by default, unless the international release has different music (for example, Sonic CD), in which case use the international name, or suffix it with (JP) for example if it's more commonly known as such. - It would be highly appreciated if your music didn't use every last byte out of ARAM (Audio RAM), if possible.
Note that this is merely a courtesy to your fellow hack designers using custom sound effects and/or additional global songs. - If you must omit necessary SMW samples, note which ones you omitted in the description field of your submission.
Indicate which sound effects or global songs will be rendered incompatible with your submission. Refer to this thread to know which sound effects or global songs will not work. As a general guideline, please try to include as many default samples as you can into your submission, prefacing the SMW samples with either "default/" (for cleaner samples, recommended if you have ARAM to spare) or "optimized/" (for smaller samples, recommended if your submission utilizes a lot of external samples and/or a high echo delay).
- Please do not include excessive comments in your .txt files.
Comments detailing mechanical things in your ports (such as removable echo buffers) or instruments are fine, and notes about authorship and song data are just as acceptable. A joke comment is fine when used sparingly, but large amounts of comments, especially when they're irrelevant to the submission, serve only to clutter the submission at hand and can often impede a moderator when looking over the MML. - Please title SiivaGunner rips appropriately.
While it may be unfun to spoil a joke by titling it as such, it's even less fun to try and find a certain song only to be deceived in it being a completely different song. Consider your fellow user when uploading titles taken straight from SiivaGunner videos. If there's no good way to title your port, tag it as a Remix and make it known in the description that it's a high-quality rip.