ezQuake Manual: MP3 Player control

This feature and manual page has been inherited from the FuhQuake client made by A Nourai aka 'fuh' (#fuhquake on Quakenet irc).

Introduction

This client supports Winamp 2.x control in Win32 binaries and XMMS control in Linux binaries.

If you often run winamp at the same time as running quake then this feature is for you. If you have problems running winamp at the same time as quake then this feature is not for you.

If you are using linux binaries, skip to the XMMS section down below.

Menu

The menu_mp3_control command takes you to the winamp control menu. It's good to bind this to a key. You can also access the winamp control menu through the main menu (enter the help/ordering menu if you don't have an updated menu graphics).

Navigating the menu is straight forward.

If you don't have winamp running when you enter the menu, you'll be given the option to start it from the menu. But it's better to have winamp running before you start the client as it may cause some undesiriable alt tabbing depending on your operating system.

From the main winamp control menu you can select to go to the playlist menu, or you can just go there directly with the menu_mp3_playlist command.

First Steps : Winamp Configuration

Few things you need to do.

Firstly use Winamp v2. You can make Winamp 3 work as well, but you'll need to read the FAQ below to get a special plugin first.

1. go to winamp preferences and then Options->display. Untick 'scroll song title in windows taskbar'.
2. go to plugins -> output and select directsound output. This makes changing the mp3 volume not affect quake volume.

Menu Hotkeys

There are some hot keys that work when you are in the mp3 menu. They are the same keys that you can use in winamp itself, so if you know winamp's hotkeys then you can use them in the client's mp3 menu and they will work.

You don't need to use the hotkeys of course, you can just use the menu.

You have to use cl_keypad 1 for last three keys to be available.

Also when in the playlist menu, pressing space will refresh the playlist and center the playlist so that the currently playing track is in the middle.

Commands

mp3_play, mp3_pause, mp3_stop, mp3_next

obvious

mp3_fforward, mp3_rewind

fast forward / rewind 5 seconds.

mp3_prev, mp3_next

next/previous track in playlist.

mp3_fadeout

like stop but fades out.

mp3_shuffle, mp3_repeat

toggle playlist shuffle/repeat.

mp3_startwinamp

start winamp if winamp is not running

mp3_playlist

display playlist. Currently playign track is highlighted.

mp3_playtrack <num>

play track number #num from playlist.

mp3_songinfo

displays song title and other info like time elapsed, total time, and whether paused, stopped or playing.

mp3_loadplaylist <filename>

loads the playlist filename.m3u .

menu_mp3_control

enter mp3 control menu.

menu_mp3_playlist

enter mp3 playlist menu.

Variables

mp3_winamp_dir

set this to your winamp directory. Needed to start winamp from within the client.

mp3_scrolltitle

If set to 1 (default), the client will scroll the song title in the mp3 menu when the title is too long to fit into 320x200.

mp3_showtime

Controls how time is displayed in the mp3 menu.

0	dont display time.
1	display time elapsed and total time.
2	display time remaining only.

mp3_volume 0..1

set winamp volume.

Macros

$mp3info : Evaluates to "author - title".

For example if you bind space "say listening to $mp3info" then hitting space will say something like "listening to disturbed - rise".

"bind x if disturbed isin $mp3info then say dde music is cool" :)

Note on XMMS

Most of the winamp stuff above applies to xmms equally. The only major difference is you need to set the mp3_xmms_session variable as well as the mp3_xmms_dir. If you are running two instamces of XMMS, "mp3_xmms_session 0" will control one instance and "mp3_xmms_session 1" the second. If you only ever have one xmms running on your system, just use "mp3_xmms_session 0". Note that the "xmms" binary must be in "mp3_xmms_dir". For example, if "mp3_xmms_dir" is "/usr/local/bin" then you need "/usr/local/bin/xmms" (and appropriate permissions) to start xmms from the menu.

Also, if the client starts XMMS, then it will close it upon exit. However if you start XMMS before starting the client, it won't close XMMS upon exit.

FAQ

Q1. Can I load playlists from within the client?

A1. Yes, but only using the "mp3_loadplaylist" command and not from the menu. You can make your life a lot easier if you use aliases like: alias playlist1 "mp3_loadplaylist c:\mp3s\myplaylist" . It is unlikely that there will ever be menu support for loading playlists.

Q2. Can I add/remove songs to my playlist from within the client?

A2. No. Make your playlists using winamp before starting the client.

Q3. Can I control winamp using the client and winamp at the same time?

A3. Yes you can control everything to do with winamp with the client and winamp at the same time. So if you are running the client in windowed mode, you can change repeat/shuffle etc and use pause/play etc with both the client or winamp. If you change anything with winamp, it will be reflected in the client winamp control menu. There are only 2 exceptions. i) You cannot control winamp's volume outside of the client. You have to control it from within the client using mp3_volume or using the volume control in the mp3 menu. ii) If you load a playlist using winamp, the playlist menu will only be updated if you reenter the playlist menu, or press space whilst inside it.

Q4. My mouse skips when using winamp and playing a game, and/or winamp playback skips a lot.

A4. Tough.

Q5. I don't want to use Winamp 2. Is there any hope of getting winamp 3 working with the client?

A5. The way winamp 3 talks to other programs is completely different to the way winamp 2 talks to other programs. The good news is that there is a plugin for winamp3 that is supposed to make it compatable with winamp2. If you're interested check out the "Winamp 2.x Plugin Manager for Winamp 3" which can be downloaded at http://www.winamp.com/components3/detail.jhtml?componentId=118230 . Feedback indicates that this plugin makes winamp3 work flawlessly with the client.

Last update: 01.01.1970 00:00 UTC
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