Figured out how to rip music from XM

Blair Zuppicich did a great job with 7th Legion (say what you will about the game), and though Steam just gives you the soundtrack in mp3 format, I was confused that several themes were missing. This is a problem that perplexed me for many years, especially since my favorite theme was not among these files.

Then, I tripped over a user on YouTube one day, Nameless One, who had managed to rip some of these 'missing' tunes and uploaded them. Reinvigorated, I went digging.

Through the use of a hex editor, opening one of the bgm.xm files shows a line at the top: "FastTracker 2.0". Of course, it's a program that no longer exists in its native form, BUT a user 8bitbubsy created a clone and uploaded it as a portable app on his site 16-bit.org.

Using the tracker, I was able to rip the theme I was after, located in BGM12.XM. In my excitement to shout it from the rooftops, I made a quick guide in Steam linked here.

Tangentially, Blair seems to have remade this track into a more conventional trance song in 2013, available on Bandcamp and calls it "Vision".

You can check that out here: (https://plexusmusic.bandcamp.com/album/voyager)