can a .MMM file from 1997 render in M/M? ..if no then what pgm plz?

kenneth-s wrote on 4/2/2020, 10:20 AM

Using a fully modern W10 desktop PC, can a circa 1997 .mmm file render with the latest music maker? ..or what program is required? Thank you.

Comments

SP. wrote on 4/2/2020, 11:03 AM

Yes it works. I just tested it with with demo files from August 2000 (Music Maker 6). But there are some Dlls missing, so sound effects (Echo, Distortion, Delay etc.) will be ignored. If your file used a lot of effects it will sound different. Of course you need all the sample wave files, not just the mmm-file.

In Music Maker 5 the file format was called "VIP", so I guess your mmm-file is not from 1997 but from 2000 or later.

kenneth-s wrote on 4/2/2020, 11:49 AM

I would upload the file but the site's scripting intervenes and balks at the file format and refuses to upload. These are a handful of video clips that came with "Microsoft Bookshelf 98", a sort of dictionary and pedia. Modified date is May '97. The folder has some .WAVs but I cannot ascertain if they are part of any package. Anyway, I claim M/M also balks at the format on my upstairs W10 PC with the latest version: double-clicking the old .mmm file launches M/M which then does absolutely nothing and indicates nothing. Doing a Load Project on the file results in a fatal error, "unable to". Thanks

SP. wrote on 4/2/2020, 1:31 PM

I see your problem. The MMM-file format from Microsoft Bookshelf 98 is not the same as the MMM-file format of Music Maker. Just because both have the same name doesn't mean they are the same internally.

If you want to watch the videos on a modern computer maybe try installing a copy of Windows 98 in a virtual machine like VirtualBox.

I downloaded a Microsoft Bookshelf 98 MMM-file from archive.org an when I you look inside the file with a text editor it starts with RIFF, so it is probably renamed RIFF file. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_Interchange_File_Format

kenneth-s wrote on 4/2/2020, 4:04 PM

great idea - I'll work on it - thx

johnebaker wrote on 4/3/2020, 5:14 AM

@kenneth-s

You can only upload image and video files in a post on the forum.

If you want to give other members of the forum access to your files for testing then upload them to a file sharing site, such as Dropbox, and provide a link to the in a post.

HTH

John EB

kenneth-s wrote on 4/3/2020, 11:53 AM

this should get you it https://drive.google.com/open?id=1NXmZgaFPPvp5i2t4OmSdP7tbE-LzyGx0

kenneth-s wrote on 4/3/2020, 11:57 AM

I see your problem. The MMM-file format...

The application "quickshelf" is fully functional, so I have no idea why it fails to render these rare scattered clips *.mmm

SP. wrote on 4/3/2020, 1:22 PM

They are completely different but just have the same name.

Like two different people with the same name. If you know someone that doesn't mean you know every person with the same name.

kenneth-s wrote on 4/3/2020, 3:03 PM

thanks, then all of MAGIX' software is pointless to pursue - yo

johnebaker wrote on 4/3/2020, 7:06 PM

@kenneth-s @kenneth-s

The .mmm files cannot be opened in Music Maker because they are not project files for that program, they were an early multimedia file format.

Microsoft Bookshelf was an electronic dictionary program that contained various dictionaries some of which incorporated animations.

The animation files used in Bookshelf were the .mmm files, the Microsoft Multimedia Movie format encoded following the RIFF file format specification.

The Bookshelf MMM file format is obsolete.

Quickshelf was an add on for Bookshelf providing toolbars for Bookshelf and in itself cannot play the old mmm files.

John EB