Vive le Roi: A French Baroque Music Mod [v1.2 Released!]

[Monarchist]

Wow! I can't use E: T.W. at present, so thank you for making these into MP3 files, my friend. Royalist propaganda is all the more sweet when disguised in game music.

[Hilarion]

Wow! I can't use E: T.W. at present, so thank you for making these into MP3 files, my friend. Royalist propaganda is all the more sweet when disguised in game music.

I thought you might appreciate it!

[Storm]

Wow, although I use Unca Tuca's Period Music Mod, I'll definately have to try this. Sounds like you are well versed in Baroque. I would prefer a more diverse selection of pieces from different countries, but I think I will enjoy this anyways. Half of those composers, I even never heard of.

[Hilarion]

Yes, this is certainly intended for those who play as France. The mod loses a great deal of its relevance otherwise.

But be sure to leave feedback if you do try it out!

[M Severvs Longinvs]

S!

is it possible to unpack and listen the MP3 files alone?

If yes which program have I to use?
thanks in advance

[Hilarion]

S!

is it possible to unpack and listen the MP3 files alone?

If yes which program have I to use?
thanks in advance

Yep. Just install LtChamber's Pack File Manager for ETW.

[M Severvs Longinvs]

S!

please can you help better me writin' the Link?

regards

[Hilarion]

Here's the link to the Pack File Manager:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=234546

After you install it (to any location), use it to open my mod, or vive_le_roi_music.pack. Double-click on entries to listen to individual pieces, or you can extract them to other destinations on your computer by right-clicking and selecting the option to extract files.

I hope that helps .

[M Severvs Longinvs]

thank you very much indead!

best regards

[Hilarion]

Alright, I'm planning on working on this mod a bit more before I can say it's finished. I'm satisfied with the naval battle music but unhappy with a couple of my original choices for the land battle music. I'm also planning on adding separate battle music for the Americas, and possibly for India but I doubt I can find enough suitable pieces.

Therefore I would be happy for any further battle music recommendations, or feedback for the current version.

[Major General Isaac Brock]

Great work, I am going to give this a try with my France Grand Campaign, but would like to ask or suggest something. Is it possible to switch music (In case of the Revolution) from a Royalist French setting to Republic/Napoleon French setting? For a lot of the game, the music would be superb, but in later campaign when France "seems" to become more difficult to use as a monarchy, the change in tunes would be excellent, provided that it hapens!

Just a thought and would be magnificent if it could be implemented

[Hilarion]

Great work, I am going to give this a try with my France Grand Campaign, but would like to ask or suggest something. Is it possible to switch music (In case of the Revolution) from a Royalist French setting to Republic/Napoleon French setting? For a lot of the game, the music would be superb, but in later campaign when France "seems" to become more difficult to use as a monarchy, the change in tunes would be excellent, provided that it hapens!

Just a thought and would be magnificent if it could be implemented

Thanks! I'm glad you'll be trying it out. Please leave feedback if you have time, since as I explained I'm going to revamp some of the battle music and could use input/suggestions.

Unfortunately it's not possible to have government type control what music is played. So it would have be a separate mod, one with a late-Classical (with some Revolutionary chants and marches thrown in) instead of a Baroque theme. The player would have to manually switch in the music mod for the Republic once that became his form of government. In short, what you describe is impossible, and to make a separate mod for Republican France is impractical, unless the player instigated a revolution immediately or didn't mind listening to Revolutionary music until he changed to a republic. But even then, why would you want to destroy the glory of the French monarchy ? Make it constitutional if you're having too much trouble with absolute.

[Monarchist]

I see Charpentier is listed among the immortal names, my friend... would it happen to be the prélude to his setting of Te Deum?

That would fit so very well with atmospheric campaign music!

[Hilarion]

I see Charpentier is listed among the immortal names, my friend... would it happen to be the prélude to his setting of Te Deum?

That would fit so very well with atmospheric campaign music!

Here are the works of Charpentier I've included (last two are from his Te Deum, but no prelude):

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

While you're here, do you have any suggestions for battle music ? I believe you've lately found interest in the wars of Louis XV.

[Monarchist]

While you're here, do you have any suggestions for battle music ? I believe you've lately found interest in the wars of Louis XV.

My dear friend, your best bet would be to find harpsichord or organ fugues. There is a certain quality about fugues - especially vigorous ones - which lends an aggressive battle-like quality to the atmosphere. Sadly, the French tradition of contrapuntal keyboard music in the period 1715-1748 (from The Regency of Louis XV to the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle) is very poor. Most composers were pre-occupied with opera or religious settings at this time, and did not write too much in the way of spirited keyboard works! Emphasis on those instrumental works had mostly fallen to Germans and Italians for innovation.

Being a drama-oriented person myself, I prefer slow, sad sarabande music in the minor mode when fighting battles. There is a certain pungent sorrow in that; however, most people want rhythmic explosions of hostile music when in battle against Protestant heretics. There is not much in the way of this in France, leisurely as many of their works were. Our problem is that battle music needs to be a tireless drone of beats and harsh sounds that has no beginning or end, or else it seems forced and disjointed. We have to look to the Germans for very harsh battle music...

[Hilarion]

Here are a couple battle pieces currently included in the mod, which I do not plan on changing:



Here are my ideas so far for the next version (the first was suggested by Maximinus Thrax):

Marche pour le Turenne Regiment:


Marche du Dragoons du roi:


Marche du regiment du roi:


In other words, pieces composed explicitly as military music. Unfortunately the last two are in rather poor quality..

[jarnomiedema]

I'm not sure how much of a help I can be with my recommendations, since French Baroque isn't exactly one of my specialties in terms of music, but I do know what I like, so all I can do is link to a video of baroque music that resonates with me and share it with you..

Here's what I currently use as the main menu music in place of what you're currently using:

Les Folies D'Espagne


Although I also really like "Lacrimosa" from Mozart's Requiem as the main menu music.. That doesn't really help you, but I'll post a vid here anyway because it's worth listening to..

[Hilarion]

What's this? A Lully that hasn't yet graced my ears? And a very good one too? I will try to incorporate it somehow... maybe not as battle music, but perhaps loading screen or campaign. Thanks jarn .

[Septimius The Bold]

Thanks for this mod. it has made a huge difference for me in the immersion factor. plus rep to you sir.

[Hilarion]

Version 1.2 has been released!

I realised a few days ago that I had done a rather careless job with the land battle music. So, over the last couple days I've been searching for better pieces or marches, and I'm happy with the results. Three marches are added in this version, which I believe are more immersive and authentic (all three are composed by Lully- evidently, his contributions to the French Baroque period and military music of the French armies were unrivaled!).

I also tweaked the remaining land battle tracks so that they no longer skip out in the middle, improved sound quality by ironing out most pops or clicks, and deleted superfluous silent parts of the tracks at the beginning and end. As a result of all this, the 1.2 pack is around 30mb smaller than previous versions with no compromise in amount of content. No land battle track was left untouched.

Finally, there are two new loading screen pieces and one new campaign piece.

I hope you enjoy this update! As always, feedback is appreciated . Further details and the download link can be found in the first post.

-Viscount Bolingbroke

EDIT: It seems Megaupload is currently not working properly. If this problem persists I'll reupload it later today.