"Seagulls": An Explanation

[P_L]

Since there's so much stuff about the "Seagull" glitch in Banjo-Tooie popping up lately, I thought I might as well make a post to explain exactly what it is and why/how it occurs:

First off, the seagull thing is, was, and forever will be, a simple glitch and nothing more.
Now, before you go filling this thread with posts saying "BUT RARE SEZ ITS NOT UH GLITCH11!!!1!1!one" and the like, please let me finish.
Yes, the activation of the sounds is a glitch; however, its existence is not a glitch, which may be what Rare was referring to. Here's a technical view of the process:

-The player stands at the jukebox in Jolly's Tavern and plays the "Shopping Around Town" song, which will tell the game to start the Jolly Roger Lagoon audio file to play from the beginning with only the channels for the instruments that play in the interiors left un-muted. All other instruments are told not to play. Playing another song from the same file during this time (in this case, "Town Aquatic" and "Town Center") will tell those channels to gradually fade in until they reach full volume while the channels for the previous variation of the song fade completely out. This is not related to the much-discussed glitch, however, so it's not terribly important for this situation.
-The player plays said song, then turns off the jukebox menu. Since the song that was playing on the jukebox is the same as the one that is meant to be playing in this room, the game takes no audio-related action and comtinues to play this song. However, the cue that told the song to play is still the one given by the jukebox. In other words, the jukebox is virtually "playing the music".
-The player now fires a Clockwork Kazooie egg, which gives the game the cue to start the audio file for the Clockwork Kazooie theme. The previous song ceases to play.
-The player detonates the Clockwork Kazooie bomb while it is in the room, which tells the audio to stop. The Jolly roger's Lagoon file is told by the game to begin since that is where you are currently located. However, since neither Banjo nor the bomb has passed through a doorway to give the game a cue as to which channels in the song to play, no channels are muted and they all come through at once. It just so happens that a track consisting of ocean waves and seagull calls is among these audio channels, and since no channels are told not to play, you can hear it.
-When Banjo leaves the tavern, the cues required for all channels that do not make up the "Town Center" theme to mute is issued, and the music returns to 'normal'.

A common idea seems to be that this glitch works ONLY if you detonate the bomb behind Blackeye the pirate; however, I have tested this myself and discovered that it will work anywhere in the room as long as you do not pass the bomb through a doorway that contains a cue to change which channels are playing.

Well, that's how it all works. If anyone has any further questions about this, post them here and I'll try to answer them to the best of my ability. Before I go, however, I want to close by saying that no, this was, is, and never will be in any way related to Stop 'n Swop.

[Zy0n7]

So in the NTSC version when you stop playing shopping around town nothing happens?
In my PAL version, if I remember correctly, when you stop playing the song the music fades, then it starts from the begining (although it's the same theme), this time not coming form the jukebox.

[Otacon]

well that was interesting , very good point I dont think I couldve figured out all the technical details so very well done.

[Vangar]

EDIT: Wrong topic, lol. That will teach me to have 5 opened tabs.

Nice explination! I understand why the seagulls are played now

[Mr.Patch]

Another proof the the seegull has nothing to do with sns.
I dont know how you got the info but your the Midi master so it must be right.

[OmniMan]

and it shouldnt, i mean seegulls in sns? no.

[DemyGod]

It probally has nothing to do with SNs but its still a mystery. I dont think its a glitch. P_L's summary isnt making sence.

[bkman]

But if it's because of the jukebox, then why does it work outside of jolly's? I tried it in the Jinjo cave and the seagulls were played again.

[P_L]

Originally Posted by Mr.Patch

Another proof the the seegull has nothing to do with sns.
I dont know how you got the info but your the Midi master so it must be right.

Mostly I just figured stuff out as I went along. I downloaded the B-K and B-T USFs, did some research and learned that USFs work like MIDIs in that they have channels that can be told by a game to mute/un-mute depending on the code for the room the character is in, and the rest wrote itself.

Originally Posted by DemyGod

I dont think its a glitch. P_L's summary isnt making sence.

I don't really know how to explain it more simply ... it's just a mesed-up song cue.

But if it's because of the jukebox, then why does it work outside of jolly's? I tried it in the Jinjo cave and the seagulls were played again.

do you mean you did the whole Clockwork Kazooie thing in the Jinjo's alcove, or that you can hear the seagulls there along with the regular music? That may be an area where the game is told to un-mute the seagull noises.

[Crystal_bear]

Yeah, but Clockwork eggs can explode just about anywhere without going into other rooms. Say if I exploded one in Spiral Mountain without it making going anywhere.. your prove thread should say I should hear the seagull music anywhere as long as I don't make the egg go anywhere.

[P_L]

I added it in. I suppose that's an important point to include since leaving the building as the bomb activates a channel-change cue ...

[Vangar]

Working in a place that does design and multimedia, i can give this insight:

If something isn't working, for example if a music cue doesn't run in a one of time and crashes, its much easier to tell the program to run a small sound as an 'else' type of thing, instead of crashing the program. I don't really know how to explain it properly typing it, i hope you understand .

[Mr 3vil]

Seagull Glitch update. Seagull glitch can happen if you use the wonderwing. So it isn't just the clockwork bomb, check and see if it works for PAL.

EDIT: Now that I think about it, I believe this has been discovered already. I guess it is nothing new. :o

[Theguyoverthere]

Very good explination, P_L. I think I understand it. And I think the reason that they even have the seagul track in the first place is to just remind us of TTC, like a little joke, just as they put the pink ? egg near Blackeye, and such. So, I think that the Seagull sound you hear when in "Jinjo Cave" and in that one lake place, is simply there to remind you of the open sea.

Great job, P_L, this should eliminate some of the "mysteries" of the seaguls.

[bkman]

Originally Posted by P_L

Mostly I just figured stuff out as I went along. I downloaded the B-K and B-T USFs, did some research and learned that USFs work like MIDIs in that they have channels that can be told by a game to mute/un-mute depending on the code for the room the character is in, and the rest wrote itself.



I don't really know how to explain it more simply ... it's just a mesed-up song cue.



do you mean you did the whole Clockwork Kazooie thing in the Jinjo's alcove, or that you can hear the seagulls there along with the regular music? That may be an area where the game is told to un-mute the seagull noises.

Yeah, I mean when you use the clockwork kazooie eggs.