Hi there, I have used the search facility but could not find what I am looking for. The first time I tried to convert a file to mp3, foobar would ask for the location of lame.exe. I had done so but I would now like it to use a newer version of the same file saved in another location. How do I do this? Thanks in advance.

Just tell Foobar where the new lame.exe is, or perhaps even better if you put lame.exe. within the foobar2000 folder I don't think it asks you where it is.

As far as I know you can't configure the location of lame.exe (or other codecs) through Preferences nor editting a simple text file. What I do is changing slightly the directory name of lame.exe (for example adding -old to the name) and next time fb2k starts it will ask again for lame.exe location. Just point then to the folder with the new version.

Also you could just overwrite lame.exe

His problem i think is, that he did not REPLACE an old lame.exe with a new lame.exe in a different location. Instead, he ADDED a newer version of lame.exe to his HDD - but since the old one is still there, FB2K doesnt bother to ask.

Hacky solution: temporarily move the old lame.exe to somewhere else, let FB2K reask you, then move old lame.exe back.

I keep a folder of codecs that I update when something new and proven pops along. I just click edit on the converter list of the codec setup I need to edit. Click edit and if I need the settings for mp3 I switch the drop tab to mp3 than to custom and point the first selection to the *.exe I want to use for encoding.

Some pictures to help explain. Start by going to preferences and the Tools section. Follow the blue and light blue highlighted stuff.

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Once you get the hang of it you will be able to do this with any codec and be on the way to setting up the encoders with custom configs and tweaking.

I, on another hand, set up a folder and add it to the PATH environment variable. After that I put all my compressors, share libs and common used exe there. No need to reconfig foobar in any way.

Wow, what a fantastic response from the community. Thanks a lot. And especially to Gow for that great procedure. All solutions are workable, I think. Time for me to test them out .

It's much more convenient to have one folder with all current versions of lame.exe, flac,exe etc.

Just replace the file, and the newest version will be used automatically.

If desired, you can always keep an archive of older versions in a separate folder.

I don't know what most of you think about the mentioned methods but I think the inclusion of a button/option like "Codec locations" in fb2k Converter Preferences would be very handy. But this is a minor problem (for non newbies) compared to the powerfull and fantastic foobar2000

Actually this seems like a very good idea, as there are som many .exe that foobar uses for different encoders.

Um, pardon me if this is a dupe, but you can edit the preset to mention the location of the exe.

Not with default presets, only with custom presets.

With the method I mentioned, you don't need to put encoders you used in foobar folder or system32 folder either to use those default presets. Normal user can change their PATH user variable too, IIRC.

Say for example you forgot where you put your flac encoder and you want to update with a newer version. Is there any way to find out in fb2k where the location of the old encoder is?

Also, can you tell foobar to point to the new updated encoder and ignore the old one?

Thanks

Use the Windows search function.


When you convert, the full path to the used encoder is displayed in the Console.


Remove the old file, and it will ask you where to find a new one.

Or, much easier, replace the old file.

Search result flac.exe: one in eac folder, one in fb2k folder and two in different subfolders of my f:\progs. It's not obvious to look in the Console when no error ocurred, especially for those who don't know.

The converter interface in fb2k0.9 has been made more simple compared with fb2k0.8 but the configuration of the codec paths for the non-custom codecs is troublesome. One doesn't get to know how to change flac.exe or lame.exe (or other) if he /she doesn't visit Hydrogenaudio Forums (and not all fb2k users visit HA).

If implementing a codec location button is problematic then maybe including some comment or a specific help button in converter preferences is easy to do.

Alexxander,

Definitely agreeing with you. With NFI how to change or where to beging luckily I found this HydrongenAudio topic. A path to change the CLI location would be a great addition.