Quick Method - Adding new music to SS.

[Byzantium]

After a load of farting around and head scratching i finally figured out how to add new music to Stainless Steel.A big thank you goes out to Trajan for his guide to doing this but i wanted to add a simplified version here that is mod specific and is easily accesible to anyone wants to do it.There were other contributors in that thread whose names escape me so i apologise to them for quoting parts of their method here,i hope they wont mind.

Its important to note that whatever music you wish to add must be in MP3 format.You can get free tools off the net for converting music into this format if you dont already have a way of doing this.

Ok here goes.................................

Lets assume you have 5 pieces of music you wish to add and have already converted them into an MP3 format.
These need to be copied into your SS/data/sounds/Music folder.

You can name them anything you wish but i used the method i read in Trajan's thread which i found the easiest and that was to name them:

new_music1
new_music2
new_music3
new_music4
new_music5

**Note the spacing** Its important to seperate words in this way,thats why i recommend you keep it simple,like the above.

Once you have done this you need to find the Descr_sounds_music file which is a text document found in : SS/data/Descr_sounds_music

On opening this .txt file you will note on scrolling down that the various vanilla music is set out by culture.What i mean by that is there are seperate sections for North/European/Mediterranean/Arabic.
Within each of these sections you will see other headings such as:

Campaign map - self explanatory
Mobilize - As your army begins to move on the battle map
Tension - The music on first deploying your forces
Battle scroll - The scroll on entering battle showing the two commanders etc.

There are many more but to be honest they are easy enough to figure out.Personally i was only adding to the ambient strategy map so i'll stick to that for my example.

I will use the Southern European (mediterranean) section for my example.
Now that i have added my newly created MP3 sound files to my music folder (SS/DATA/Sounds/Music)

I need to add a line in this section for each new piece of music i have added.As i said earlier i want to add my new pieces of music to the strategy map playlist.

Below is a direct copy and paste from my own Descr_sounds_music file.


state MUSIC_STRATMAP_SUMMER
event delay 5
folder data/sounds/music
(Mediterranean_Strat_Map_1)_Olivia_01.mp3
(Mediterranean_Strat_Map_1)_Olivia_02.mp3
(Mediterranean_Strat_Map_2)_Vineyard_01.mp3
(Mediterranean_Strat_Map_2)_Vineyard_02.mp3
(Mediterranean_Strat_Map_3)_Whispers_Grove_01.mp3
(Mediterranean_Strat_Map_3)_Whispers_In_Grove_02.mp3
new_music1.mp3
new_music2.mp3
new_music3.mp3
new_music4.mp3
new_music6.mp3
new_music7.mp3
new_music13.mp3

As you can see at the bottom of the vanilla list i have added my own entries for the campaign map.Using my earlier example we would have 5 entries below the vanilla ones named New_music1.mp3 to New_music5.mp3.So what you should have using my example is:

new_music1.mp3
new_music2.mp3
new_music3.mp3
new_music4.mp3
new_music5.mp3

These lines should be added below the vanilla entries as in the example from my file above.
**Note the addition of the .mp3 to the lines,this should only be done in this file,do not name the MP3 files in the music folder like this.

Lastly you need to enter the SS/Data/sounds folder and delete the following:
Events.dat - Events.idx - music.dat - music.idx

**Dont worry about these** the game rebuilds these when you restart your game with the new entries for your new music.THESE FILES MUST BE DELETED PRIOR TO YOU STARTING YOUR GAME OR THE CHANGES WONT TAKE EFFECT.

Once thats done your good to go with your new music playing.I'd definetly recommend doing it as it adds so much to the atmosphere of the game,depending on what you choose of course
And remember you can add culture specific music.I added specific music for the European/Arabic/Mediterranean factions and now i have different music for all of them.

**If you go back later to add more music remember to delete - Events.dat - Events.idx - music.dat - music.idx - every time you do it so the game can rebuild those files which your new additions otherwise it wont work**



I dont take credit for coming up with this method,the plaudits must go to Trajan and co for finding a way to do it.I merely wanted to make a little guide that i could have done with when i first tried to do it myself and i wanted it to be specific to this mod.
Hopefully this will be of some use to those who want to do it.

**Lastly - the method of adding new music to vanilla MTW2 is different.This way is purely mod specific.Another reason i wanted to write this one was to avoid any confusion for people who only wanted to add new music to SS**

Ok happy modding all

[GotRice]

Quick huh? No thanks, but good job. Other's may appreciate it.

[devereau]

Thank you...This will be very useful

[Byzantium]

Quick huh? No thanks, but good job. Other's may appreciate it.

Heh,aye.

It only looks long winded because i tried to cover every eventuality as far as errors go.In practise there are only 4 steps to it really.

1)Convert your files to MP3
2)copy them into your Music folder
3)Edit your Descr_sounds_music.txt file
4)Delete your events.idx etc

I did a full install earlier and it took me about 5 mins to add 13 tracks.Once you have done it once it's a piece of cake...honestly

Thank you...This will be very useful

Most welcome,thanks for the reply.

[Hesus de bodemloze]

oke stuped question
Events.dat = Events.idx
music.dat = music.idx

ore are this 4 diffrent files? i only could find the idx files the others are video cd movie files

[Hesus de bodemloze]

oke stuped question these files are 4 diffrent once thx for this lovely explenation trying it right now hope it works

[Byzantium]

Good luck Hesus de Bodemloze

Once you do it the first time it's pretty easy really.

I only typed so much in my first post because i was trying to second guess any problems that might crop up (ie) the ones i had the first time i tried.

[Hesus de bodemloze]

nr1 topic it works fine if you follow these simple steps it even work for me and i am crap at this stuff

[Byzantium]

Good man

I'm really pleased you have it working

[Pope Gregorius I]

awesome thx man

[Byzantium]

awesome thx man

Cheers

Like i said earlier though the real thanks should go to Trajan and co on the initial thread.All i've done really is write it up in a way thats specific to SS highlighting a few of the pitfalls i fell into

have the kingdom of heaven soundtrack to and the gladiator one. hmmm listen to the blackhawk down soundtrack a believe there are some nice arabic tracks in to.
first it' s the game second is the music to perfection the game

Sounds good

I'd recommend using quite soft music for the strategy map though,something you wont mind listing to over and over.Some of the stuff i added on my first run started to annoy me after a while,after a bit of work im really happy with the way i have it now.

[Pope Gregorius I]

How can i convert the files? what programs are available preferably free ones

[Hesus de bodemloze]

How can i convert the files? what programs are available preferably free ones

euhm nero7 has a trail version ore if you have the plugin you can convert as much as you want
and there are a lot of free trail versions on the internet even windows mediaplayer has one i believe.

[Byzantium]

How can i convert the files? what programs are available preferably free ones

Like Hesus says the free ones on the net are best.
If you google - CD to mp3 freeware - you will get a choice.

This is the one i used http://www.eusing.com/CDRipper/CDRipper.htm

All the best

[Hesus de bodemloze]

first try i did failed so in converted my mp3 files again to be sure these whent in mp3 did the steps again and got it working.
what music did you at in the game? me some gregorian music.

[Byzantium]

Well first off i added a lot of music from the Kingdom of heaven soundtrack.I'm not usually a big fan of film soundtracks but this one is pretty good and it has a good mix of European,Mediterranean and Arabic sounding music.
Also,a lot of it is quite mellow so it's perfect for ambient campaign map music,not too heavy.
I added some heavier tracks to the Battle scroll,tension and mobilize sections too which fits quite nicely.

Theres lots of real medieval music available for download on the web so i'm also in the process of adding some of the nicer pieces of that too.

Once you know how to do it the skies the limit really.

[Hesus de bodemloze]

have the kingdom of heaven soundtrack to and the gladiator one. hmmm listen to the blackhawk down soundtrack a believe there are some nice arabic tracks in to.
first it' s the game second is the music to perfection the game

[Hesus de bodemloze]

is it possibel to play saved games with the new music? and is there some sort of random play opstion becouse i allways get the same nr

nr last for 4 min but to switch to the next year only takes me a few seconds to orgenice all stuff so the music starts over and over again with the same track hehe

[Byzantium]

is it possibel to play saved games with the new music? and is there some sort of random play opstion becouse i allways get the same nr
nr last for 4 min but to switch to the next year only takes me a few seconds to orgenice all stuff so the music starts over and over again with the same track hehe

Yes it's fine to add new music and play a saved game.Just remember to delete those .dat and .idx files everythime you add some.

I take a veryyyyy long time to organise things so i never notice but one thing you could try would be to space out the tracks.
(ie) instead of having new_music1 etc all at the bottom of the vanilla entries you could spread them out.
Or you could have some that are specific to summer or winter,though its only the Northern and European that have this.

[Hesus de bodemloze]

yeah i know i actualie deleted the origenal tracks in de desc_ log so thy dont play any more. i added some for winter and some for summer. maybe its possible to upload tracks and make sound packs? if any one would be intrested.