You can set it to use the old sound engine
Yeah, !@#$% that. The old engine sucks ass. Half the time, the built-in mp3 system glitches out which results in music being looped that should be stopped. It has happened to me more times than I care to count. I don't ever use that trash system anymore, nor should anyone be required to use it. When I tell an mp3 to stop, I get "mp3 audio device blah blah blah" stuff in the console. I've looked it up and there are no fixes. When this occurs, a song that should be stopped continues to loop or worse - it takes the place of a sound effect. It's not my code, it just does it.
If it was my code, it should still be doing that glitchy stuff with the new audio engine, but it doesn't.
Just use wav files They're larger sure, but it doesn't really affect much outside of filesize.
Yeah, sorry, I don't have the bandwidth to be dealing with .wav formatted songs. Not everyone has access to dedicated internet(tethering on my phone right now with 15Kbps throttled speed) and the nearest WIFI location is 15 minute drive. That and it's just a unnecessary waste to force huge .wavs just for some audio system now deprecated by 3 years.
Contestants shouldn't have to break their backs for a small stipulation. I am sure a middle-ground can be met. Just awaiting what the judges say.
I have a solution if Steve would post it for other GM:S users:
THe sound needs to be saved in a compressed ON DISK format in its properties in GM:S. Then, the entire game needs to be saved in .zip or Installer format. This creates the .exe separate from any compressed music/sound files. The music/sound files are saved in the same location as the .exe.
I assume the game will then load on the fly as needed. Hence, the issue is worked around!