Battle Music Changer
Since I've begun modding for Empire I've noticed a popular request among would-be modders and mod users alike is the ability to use your own music within your game. Now many people have figured out how to change their campaign music rather easily and even some intrepid individuals have edited their deployment, prebattle, post battle, ect music. However, one aspect has alluded most: battle music. I now present the solution:
What this is: Two modders' resource files that have been edited to allow custom battle music in-game without the hassle of learning hex editing. The two files are already edited to allow the usage of a amauter modder familiar with the excellent Pack File Manager to quite easily replace Empire's battle music with their own (legal, right?).mp3s.
What this isn't: A full blown mod or .pack file. I briefly considered releasing a music mod of my own, but thought that along with different tastes in music, that the better choice is to freely give out the knowledge to change one's own music to suit their tastes just like you were able to do in Rome and Medieval II.
What files are there?: sound_events_music.csv & the rather infamous sound_events data dump file. Of the two the sound_events is the one most people run into trouble with when editing battle music and for good reason, it requires hex editing to accomplish.
What do these files do?: Quite simply they remove the loop point requirement of battle music that prevents any replacements from properly working. Ever tried to replace battle music only to find out the same old vanillia music played instead? This is why. Once the loop points for both files were reset to zero then you can easily replace battle music as you would with campaign music. The only downside at the moment is that there are a limited amount of tracks in vanillia and right now I haven't provided any ability to add new songs, only replace existing ones. Also keep in mind that the tracks are set to loop and it appears that each track is coded into a map and will repeat on that map everytime you play it (it already does this for vanillia but might be more obvious with your own tracks as opposed to the generic tracks of Empire); this goes for battle deployment tracks as well. So if you play one map and keep hearing the same track over and over, that is why.
Where do I download these files?: They're the .zip file attached to the bottom of this post. The directories are already properly created, just add them to your Empire Total War\Data directory.
How do you I use these files?: Here's an easy step by step that anyone remotely familiar with modding (or even not) can follow and add their own tracks:
Step 1: Download the latest version of the Pack File Manager found here.
Step 2: Download the modified sound_events_music.csv and sound_events files below.
Step 3: Unzip the two files into your Empire Total War/data directory. The two files come complete with their own tree so just throw them into your data folder and move on to the next step.
Step 4: Open up the Pack File Manager, open an existing sound mod pack or create a new pack file.
Step 5: Right-click on the Untitled.pack tree (or in the case of an existing mod, (Mod Name.pack) and select Add File(s), surf through your data directory to "sounds\events" and click on the sound_events_music.csv to add it. Do the samething for "\sounds_packed" sound_events and add it as well. You should now have two trees within your newly created pack file (or two more to an existing one).
Step 6: While keeping the Pack Manager open but minimized, find your associated .mp3s you desire to add to your game and move all of them to your Empire Total War\data directory for easy use (remember to remove them from this directory once the pack is created, as it will be redudant and a waste of space otherwise to leave them).
Step 7: Open up your sound_events_music.csv found in the "data\sounds\events" folder and scroll over to the right while looking at the top until you find: "Music\FrontEnd\MUS015_Empire_Theme_ORC.mp3". What is this? This is a reference to the music you hear on the main menu of Empire. If you scroll down while looking in this same column you will notice a myriad of other similar paths all with different names ending in .mp3. This is the reference to tracks and these will be the names you will be replacing your chosen .mp3s with. Take a notice what begins before each track name, such as: Prebattle, Land, Naval, Campaign, and Loading Screen as these refer to what type of music it is and when it will play. From here you simply copy and paste the name of the track, for example a battle music for western nations would be: MUS061_BATTLE_Western_ORC_[LOOP].mp3. Copy and paste these titles over your own .mp3s until they look identical. Keep in mind that there are three types of battle music per locational map theme, which are western, Ottoman, Indian, and Tribal and generally these tracks will play on maps that fit this motiff.
Step 8: Once you have renamed all your desired .mp3s now you must make a directory so as to put them into your pack file. This is rather simple, all you must do is create a new folder structure in your Empire Total War\Data directory to correspond to the music type you intend to replace. For example, if you have only replaced land tracks, you must create a folder structure as the following: "Music\Land" and then put all your land battle tracks within the land folder. The end result of the folder structure for land battles should look like this: "Data\Music\Land". The same would be true for other types of tracks, create new folders named Campaign for Campaign music, Naval for Naval music, Prebattle for Prebattle music, Results for Results music, and Frontend for main menu music where applicable.
Step 9: Let us recap. You now should have within your pack file two trees that include the files below, sound_events_music.csv and sound_events and within your actual Empire Total War\Data folder you should have the associated music tracks in their properly built tree that corresponds to their track type; such as the above examples of Music\Land\(Your various renamed tracks here). Once you have all this ready, go on to step 10 to hand jam them into your pack file.
Step 10: Go back into your Pack Manager (you remembered to keep it open right?) and go back to the Untitled.pack tree at the top, right-click, Add Directory, and select the root Music folder within your Data folder. There you go, all newly added and renamed tracks should now appear in your pack root. Next right click on Untitled.pack once more and go down to Change Pack type and select "Mod" so that it is checked. Finally, go to File > Save_as and name it (whatever you want).pack.
There you go, now all you need to do is activate it like any other mod and once you go in game you should have your own working music tracks all across the board. Bare in mind that all music is map-based so your favorite tracks may not show up when desired, as they will only play on an appropriate map for the Grand Campaign and skirmish battles as well.
If there are any questions on files or bugs to report just let me know via this thread.
Special thanks go to Compound for providing a road map to solving the battle music issue.
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Originally Posted by Brenil
