PS3 SDK 1.80 lets devs add custom soundtracks to games

by Colin Torretta { Aug 21st 2007 at 10:10PM }

According to an analysis of the most recent PlayStation 3 Software Development Kit (SDK) by Inner Bits, version 1.80 now provides developers with a method of streaming music off the user's hard drive. While the utility costs 12MB to implement, it's assumed that the cost will decrease in upcoming SDK releases. And while that uses a decent bit of precious memory, custom soundtrack support is the number one most requested feature for the PS3 and developers are sure to take advantage of it.

Additionally, this update also drastically reduces the overall memory cost of the PS3's operating system. System memory usage was only dropped to 48MB from 52MB but the video memory usage dropped from 32MB to 24MB. The cost of other features like the Friends List also has been reduced across almost the entire board, making them enticing developers.

Also added was a screenshot utility at a measly 3MB and the ability to use the PSP as an additional monitor for a reasonable 8MB. Amazing additions in all and it will be exciting to see what developers do with all these new possibilities. But mainly -- yay custom soundtracks!

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

johnxmzzhang @ Aug 21st 2007 10:17PM

Aww I was hoping that they would implement it into the system so that you can use it in any game kind of like the xboxes. Because that way we can use the custome soundtrack in any game reglardless of whether it was new or old. I was hoping that they would send out a update with ingame xmb access that would allow you to play music or something similar. Oh well at least this is sign of improvement.

carl @ Aug 21st 2007 10:22PM

Does this mean I can finally place custom entrance music on SmackDown vs Raw 08? I definately hope so!

snsr @ Aug 21st 2007 10:40PM

wait ->

The ability to use your PSP as an additional monitor?!

They just sold me a PSP if any good games were to ever use it..

snsr @ Aug 21st 2007 10:41PM

Custom music FTW, of course. I think it's my favorite feature of the x360.

vh5150 @ Aug 21st 2007 10:43PM

Yeah, this is not really what I was hoping for. Letting devs have access to this does not guarantee that they will do it, in most cases if it takes extra work they won't. This is what went down on Xbox Live for the original Xbox, not many games supported custom soundtracks. Do we know if they are going to let us stream music off a PC if the game does support Custom Soundtracks?

Andir3.0 @ Aug 21st 2007 10:42PM

Not if Smackdown vs Raw wasn't written using the 1.8 SDK and utilized the local music APIs.

MacBandit @ Aug 21st 2007 11:02PM

Hmm 4MB of system memory saved. 8MB of video memory saved. Total = 12MB same as needed for custom sound tracks. Coincidence?

Kxpuc @ Aug 21st 2007 11:02PM

that's 26mb's free'd up which is alot for them to use and to add up all the new features at once (and not have max video users) it free'd up around 3mb's

getting the friend list down a bit more and the streaming thing and we'd be set. possibly SDK 2.0 for all that.
And any of the games could get updated if the developer wanted to add these features and clean up some glitchs

stirlo @ Aug 21st 2007 11:13PM

fully - i think i had the motorstorm soundtrack on for about... 3 days... then couldn't stand it any more...

Custom soundtracks are a much-needed feature, sony made a big mistake not including / encouraging developers to use it from day 1

OTAM @ Aug 21st 2007 11:15PM

They need to get this part of the menu when you hit the PS button,not a feature of the games.

apease @ Aug 21st 2007 11:25PM

Wow, I still have no idea what Sony's doing with all that system and video memory. For perspective, the ps2 had 36 MB total system and video memory. Sony's reserved 72 MB total, that's even more than the original Xbox! The XMB shouldn't take more then a few megabytes at the absolute most (and that's assuming in-game XMB), especially considering seldom used features could be loaded from the bios or harddrive when needed.

With that much memory reserved and the fast cpu and video chip, I could imagine them running Home in-game. Otherwise, they only reason I can come up with for them using that much memory is if they've hired the MS Vista team to write the ps3 OS.

money_mike_preme @ Aug 22nd 2007 12:07AM

I hope dev's use the extra monitor psp feature as in the psp is the player 2 in a split screen game so player one can still have a full screen to himself. that would rock

Bob @ Aug 22nd 2007 12:25AM

There was a video of a guy who showed off custom features. It's just up to developers to put it into the game, not sony.

Joey_Numbers @ Aug 22nd 2007 12:47AM

IMO custom soundtracks are overrated. Just turn on your stereo... geesh.

Thomas @ Aug 22nd 2007 1:26AM

All racing games, sports games, fighting games need custom soundtracks.

afr @ Aug 22nd 2007 1:32AM

i hope custom soundtracks can be added through an update, that would be wicked for Motorstorm (not that i have it)

about the PSP thing, in games like Gran Turismo 5 you could use it as a mirror, now we realise why the mirror quality was so crap in the screenshots ;)

mccomber @ Aug 22nd 2007 1:34AM

I'm glad that by making it something the developers have to implement it gives them a choice not to, and presumably allows them that much more memory to use for the actual game. This is a cool feature for some games, but not all.

niz @ Aug 22nd 2007 2:13AM

I've never used the custom soundtrack feature on my Xbox.

In driving games I always turn off music altogether and in other games the music provided by the game itself is (for me) part of the game. You don't tamper with it. If you don't like it, then just turn it off.

If I wanted to listen to my own music while gaming, I would just turn off the music in the game (but leave sound effects on), and listen to music from CDs or MP3 collection.

Pickoo @ Aug 22nd 2007 2:37AM

Does this mean that they aren't going to have the 'in-game XMB access' thing? They are just gonna let the developers decide which games they want you to have custom soundtracks???

Things like this are making me want to get an Xbox360 so much more...

Extinction @ Aug 22nd 2007 2:46AM

I agree with apease. I don't know WTF they are doing with all that RAM. To put it in perspective, PSPs OS uses 5 MB. And custom soundtracks take up less than 1 MB in homebrew

Consolcwby @ Aug 22nd 2007 5:03AM

The RAM usage might be due to software-wise feature-bloat inside the OS. I doubt it would be due to what we can see or be able to tell just from a user's point of view. =/

phattie @ Aug 22nd 2007 5:37AM

... and the NES OS took up 64kb. Geez what were Sony thinking with their bloatware.

Burnt Meatloaf @ Aug 22nd 2007 5:45AM

I understand the video memory usage, but not the main memory used by the OS. That's... a lot.

12MB to stream audio? Are they quadruple buffering everything, or what?

Beach Bum @ Aug 22nd 2007 7:14AM

But even if the games weren't written using the 1.8 SDK, they could issue a game update, right?

Brian Spence @ Aug 22nd 2007 7:42AM

I wonder if such an update will improve framerates in games like Madden?

ClarkyCat @ Aug 22nd 2007 8:29AM

Uhm, the ability to have custom soundtracks was confirmed to already be present in an interview with a Sony rep weeks ago, so why is this being re-reported?

Dahk @ Aug 22nd 2007 9:34AM

There's lots of things the OS needs to keep in the main memory of the PS3.
- PSN Functionality (i.e. mainly the Friends List, knowing when Friends pop up online/offline, but also includes online functionality if the game uses it).
- Using any WiFi connectivity probably has to go through the OS
- All the audio/video quality stuff in the game probably has to keep connectivity with the OS to be able to change on the fly.
- Any memory usage by the game probably has to speak with the OS
- Bluetooth Controller/any peripherals probably speak to the OS

And to your point Pickoo, of COURSE it has to be restricted depending on the game. You can't randomly add your own audio to any sort of game. The dev studios have to integrate that functionality into their game IF THEY CHOOSE to. And that will require that 12MB cost if they want to. If not, they'll just use the 12MB for whatever they want to.

To be honest, I only care for custom soundtracks for SOME games - more importantly racing games, and sports games. ... Maybe warhawk if i get bored after playing like 100+ hours lol.

But for Lair or heavenly sword, I don't honestly care, because I wanna make use of the greatness of John Debney and the like. And from what i've heard so far it sounds AMAZING. And it all adds to the effect of the game.

But still, kudos to Sony for putting this in.

Andy @ Aug 22nd 2007 10:53AM

I think with the added disc space dev's like Sony and Ea should put more than 20 songs into their sports games. I still wouldn't mind listening to some of my own tunes while playing.

Sora57 @ Aug 22nd 2007 3:42PM

I agree with the other posts about in game music not being critical for me. I know it is high on the list for some people, but really, if I wanted to listen to my own music while gaming, I would just turn off the music in the game and listen to music from CDs or my ipod dock. I'd rather SONY spend their time on games and an PS3/ATSC tuner/DVR for the US.

CianKn @ Aug 22nd 2007 8:37PM

its crazy that we have this hugely powerful monster of a computer, and they still have to work so hard to get it to play some music!
I think they're in a rush to get this in-game XMB stuff sorted before Home launches. Thats when they need to have their unified online community sorted out.
PSN ID: CianKn, Add me or ELSE!!