Playbam

BAM format is no longer the preferred music format. BAM is still supported, but MIDI is a better choice

Playbam (also known as PLAYBAM.EXE) was one of the several BAM related tools included with the OHRRPGCE package. It was a DOS program which played directly using FM synthesis hardware.

The Past

This article only applies to the DOS/QuickBasic version. It is not relevant for the current Windows and Linux versions

You can still get it by downloading the last DOS OHRRPGCE release.

playbam.exe bamfile

bamfile - the filename of the BAM file. It must end in .BAM. If you omit the extension,
          it will assume .BAM

If you can't hear anything while using this program, you probably are running Windows 2000/XP, correct? See this page: Why doesn't BAM music work on my computer?

The Replacement

However, any real FM synthesis on modern computers probably either doesn't work (due to lack of OS or hardware support) or will sound crappy (due to cheap hardware support). That's why I (Mike Caron) have written my own BAM playing utility, which (to avoid confusion) is also called Playbam.

playbam.exe bamfile

bamfile - the filename of the BAM file. If you omit the extension, it will assume .BAM
          The file name does not need to end in .BAM

It can be downloaded at this URL:

http://ohr.finalfantasyq.com/playbam.zip (Note: This is an external link, and Hamster Republic Productions does not assume repsonsibility for it. Mike Caron, however, does.)

See Also

• Why doesn't BAM music work on my computer?
• Will you ever support MIDI music?