Music Question

[ErmanesTheSecond]

How do i add music to the game??, specifically the World Campaign of 1547, i dont want to hear the Shogun Total War music continuously in the Strat map for Asian Factions, and i can't find the descr_music text for some reason.Well i have found the music txt, and did the usual things one would do to input new music, but im still hearing the shogun music,!!! Why? Cmon Someone answer me! How do i do this properly!!!

[uanime5]

You have to remake the sound files to change the music. This post explains how to modify sound files to change the accents.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...30#post9576130

To change the background music you have to edit the descr_sounds_music.txt located in the 'base' folder, rather than the descr_sounds_accents.txt files.

[ErmanesTheSecond]

But ive edited that exact file in the base folder, and i cant get the music to change when i play as the Ming in the World Campaign.
Now for some reason, when i do this and i dont copy the files i get no music, or sounds, but when i do this and copy the files and start the campaign, i get the old music, not the new stuff ive put in.
ive gotten to the point where i look over the Command prompt and i actually found where it should be copying the new sounds text, and its respective files, and it doesnt! which seems why i cant get new music to play, i even set the desc_sounds to unread-only, read-only, and tried and it didnt work. Its like it refuses to read the new files i put into the mod!(mp3s that is),Ive done a lot of tinkering now, and nothing seems to work, evrytime i recopy the files, it somehow plays the original music, but after removing the original song for the campmap for the Ming doesnt play it, but wont play the new music ive put in either.

I seem to have figured out something, apparently no matter how many times i replace the music, whenever i copy the files, it copies over the old mp3 of the Asian Campmap music, not the one i replace it with, it doesnt rebuild the music.dat witht eh new songs. Either i need a recompiler for those dat files, or i need a way around this.

It seems the game is rejecting somehow, the new song i add, i recompiled the music dat, but exchanged the song for the camp map music for mine, and for some reason it at first is there, and then when i load the mod, afterwards the song simply disappears, so i start with like 13kb music dat, and its turns into 8 kb music dat when i look at it again. This is just wierd!

[uanime5]

But ive edited that exact file in the base folder, and i cant get the music to change when i play as the Ming in the World Campaign.
Now for some reason, when i do this and i dont copy the files i get no music, or sounds, but when i do this and copy the files and start the campaign, i get the old music, not the new stuff ive put in.
ive gotten to the point where i look over the Command prompt and i actually found where it should be copying the new sounds text, and its respective files, and it doesnt! which seems why i cant get new music to play, i even set the desc_sounds to unread-only, read-only, and tried and it didnt work. Its like it refuses to read the new files i put into the mod!(mp3s that is),Ive done a lot of tinkering now, and nothing seems to work, evrytime i recopy the files, it somehow plays the original music, but after removing the original song for the campmap for the Ming doesnt play it, but wont play the new music ive put in either.

I seem to have figured out something, apparently no matter how many times i replace the music, whenever i copy the files, it copies over the old mp3 of the Asian Campmap music, not the one i replace it with, it doesnt rebuild the music.dat witht eh new songs. Either i need a recompiler for those dat files, or i need a way around this.

It seems the game is rejecting somehow, the new song i add, i recompiled the music dat, but exchanged the song for the camp map music for mine, and for some reason it at first is there, and then when i load the mod, afterwards the song simply disappears, so i start with like 13kb music dat, and its turns into 8 kb music dat when i look at it again. This is just wierd!

It's possible that when you're load this mod you're copying the old sound files to the 'data\sounds' folder. So that the factions have the correct voices in the different campaigns this mod is designed to replace the sound files when you change campaign. So if you copy all the files before starting the 1547 campaign it will replace you new sound files with the old ones.

As the 'Medieval II Total War\mods\conquest\data\sound_files\sounds_world' contains the sound files for the 1547 campaign I'd recommend renaming this folder to see if this fixes your problem.

[ErmanesTheSecond]

You gotta fix the music and sounds, in general uanime, ive replaced all the music dats in every blasted folder, and then when i copy the campaign i want to play, it replaces those music dats which dont even exist visably in the mod at that point, i dont know WTF is going on, and then if i dont copy the files, i get no sound at all.
Also, Byzantium 1230 and 1326 are screwed up, music is that of the Asian factions in 1230, and its the asian accents for byzantium in 1326, and when i look over the respective files, the desc sounds and the various accents txts, in none of them does it say Byzantium should be using the Asian music or accents, so im completely confused by this, but it happens anyway...possibly because the Ming are the Byzantine faction/race in the world campaign, but i dont know then why that should effect the 1230 and 1326 campaigns(1230, Empire of Nicea)!!! You have got to fix the sounds in general, either giving every campaign its own descr_music txt or changing the accents txts in the same way, because having only one descr_sounds_music txt and only the normal number of accents txts, seems to screw up alot of stuff.

[tianzong]

Maybe you have to delete a file. It was also like that in rome total war. Try finding events.dat (somewhere in sounds folder) and delete it (but don't forget to back it up!). if it doesn't exists in m2tw i don't know how to do it then.

edit: hi, just checked it. It really has a file named like that. You also don't have to be afraid about messing with the game because the file only copies the basic music. Hope it helps!

[tianzong]

i didn't change everything to the music but i have also a problem with mongol invasion. The jin dynasty talks arabic and the bosnian (i don't know the real name except that it is the yellow one next to the former byzantine empire to the left) have an asian campaign music instead of european but for the rest it has all european musics.

Oh and ermanes the second i maybe have some music for you if you are interrested.
Just follow this link: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=525816

PS: music has been made by Jeff van dyck. He's the composer from all the total war series (as far as i know). Also some music is a bit short but you could loop it i thought.

Hope this has been of use

[DonRuben]

For modifying the background music it should be as simple as:

1. Changing the descr_sounds_music.txt script located in conquest/data/sound_files/base.
2. Adding the new mp3 files to folder data/sounds/Music; this means that the script should indicate where are these files located, just as it does for the Shogun music (Asian) that results so old-fashioned.
3. Deleting the Music and Effect .dat and .idx files located in folder sounds/music. This is essential.

And it worked for me the first time (testing), when I added more music, even that I delete all original references to old mp3 files on the script, it plays only that music again. Now I turn things back with the backed-up files, to see if I can find step by step what is preventing those files to be played and repeating the test phase, I can't get it.

I am also modifying that campaign, in fact the script should be common to all submods/campaigns of the mod.

Experienced modders, please help!

[uanime5]

In order to change the sound files in different campaigns the "mods\conquest\data\sound_files" folder has several versions of the sound files. If you don't delete or overwrite these files any changes will be overwritten.

Here is a list of the folders and the campaigns they're used in:

sounds_early: 970, 1080, 1200, 1220 (crusades)
sounds_eurasia: 1230
sounds_world: 1300, 1400, 1500
sounds_eurasia_late: 1326
sounds_high: 1331 (renaissance)
sounds_new: 1453 (new_age)
sounds_late: 1547 (empires)

[DonRuben]

Sorry, by the way, the sound files on sounds_Late do not regenerate when I delete them and restart the game... At least not in that same folder.

[DonRuben]

Thank you, Uanime, I knew that they had to be somehow... I was getting crazy trying to find them.

I know that I am very close but still not getting it...

For example, I am trying to change the MUSIC_FRONTEND in 1547 (Empires) substituting the mp3 track's name "Amen" (Kyrie Eleison) by another mp3 track's name (file that is already placed on folder data/sounds/Music) on descr_sounds_music.txt, located on folder mods/conquest/data/sound_files/Base, which affects all the submods, including Kingdoms, correct?

Then I delete events.dat, events.idx, Music.dat and Music.idx sound files (please correct me if I am doing wrong) on folder mods/conquest/data/sound_files/sounds_late, as you indicated. And nothing changes, still the "Kyrie Eleison".

If I delete, additionally, the same 4 files located on folder mods/conquest/data/sounds, I don't hear anything (no music, no effects, nothing). When I restore the files (backed-up) everything goes back to normality.

Please, let me know what I am doing wrong or what I am omitting.

I know that this answer will help a lot of people who are also trying to update/personalize the great mod experience with their own music. For this reason I am trying to be very detailed.

Thank you so very much.

[uanime5]

The files in the sounds_Late folder won't regenerate. I put the sound files for the 1547 campaign in this folder so this mod can switch between different sound files for different campaigns.

You need to copy the files from the mods\conquest\data\sounds to the mods\conquest\data\sound_files\sounds_late if you want to replace these files.

[DonRuben]

Excellent, thank you so much.

Is it possible to have WINTER music for the Mediterranean and other non North/Western European factions? I inserted a state MUSIC_STRATMAP_WINTER loop following the same structure as the mentioned factions but the game keeps playing SUMMER music. I wanted to give a "sadder" feel to the winter season, when people did not use to get out from their homes, towns and villages that much, roads were more solitaire and economical/farming activity were kept to minimum.

[uanime5]

Unsure about winter and summer music. Some climates don't have a winter so they may only play winter music.

[DonRuben]

Very true. But eventually a faction originating in a one-climate region (Tropical, Desert) will have to expand its conquests to temperate areas and polar regions with seasons, so SUMMER/WINTER music, as the Northern factions have, specially in a several-continents map could be interesting.

I think there is also a factor that affects music related to enemy. For example, I was making some music changes tests for Southern European factions in MTW2 (original version), and I observed playing against The Almohades (Moors), that music played wasn't the Summer season's music selected for those factions but for Middle Eastern factions, even I was the attacker.

[DonRuben]

Now I understand much better how Eras Total Conquest works in terms of sounds and I have finally been able to change the FRONTEND (as a test) music for the Empires/1547 Campaign but now I have problems with effects and other sounds.

I have learnt that each folder transports its sound content to the data/sounds folder, which feeds the game, overriding them, so:

1. I delete the music + events .dat + .idx files from conquest/data/sound_files/late to avoid them to be override the same files in conquest/data/sounds, since they can't be rebuilt.
2. I take descr_sounds_music.txt from the data/sound_files/base and place it in the conquest/data folder, so it re-builds the music and events .dat and .idx files in conquest/data/sounds files.
3. I make the necessary changes in descr_sounds_data.txt as explained in detail in http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=77905 (step 5).
4. I deleted the music + events .dat + .idx files in conquest/data/sounds to allow the game to rebuilt them with the new music files.
5. The new music files have been placed in conquest/data/sounds/music.

The music works perfectly and I guess it should work for all other musical moments but all other sounds are gone, what else must I do?

I haven't tested it yet but is it possible that if original music files in descr_sounds_music.txt, as they are not in data/sounds/music, are not going to be played? Or the new ones will just be added to without prejudice of the originals?

[DonRuben]

Now I understand much better how Eras Total Conquest works in terms of sounds and I have finally been able to change the FRONTEND (as a test) music for the Empires/1547 Campaign but now I have problems with effects and other sounds.

I have learnt that each folder transports its sound content to the data/sounds folder, which feeds the game, overriding them, so:

1. I delete the music + events .dat + .idx files from conquest/data/sound_files/late to avoid them to be override the same files in conquest/data/sounds, since they can't be rebuilt.
2. I take descr_sounds_music.txt from the data/sound_files/base and place it in the conquest/data folder, so it re-builds the music and events .dat and .idx files in conquest/data/sounds files.
3. I make the necessary changes in descr_sounds_data.txt as explained in detail in http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=77905 (step 5).
4. I deleted the music + events .dat + .idx files in conquest/data/sounds to allow the game to rebuilt them with the new music files.
5. The new music files have been placed in conquest/data/sounds/music.

The music works perfectly and I guess it should work for all other musical moments but all other sounds are gone, what else must I do?

I haven't tested it yet but is it possible that if original music files in descr_sounds_music.txt, as they are not in data/sounds/music, are not going to be played? Or the new ones will just be added to without prejudice of the originals?

[uanime5]

In step 4 you need to copy the vanilla dat files from the Medieval II Total War\data\sounds to the Medieval II Total War\mods\conquest\data\sounds folder. The dat files contain all the vanilla sounds, so without them the sound files will just contain the new files.

[DonRuben]

Thank you Uanime but I still can't get this right.

If I copy all dat files (music, events, efx, voices1, voices2 and voices3) from sounds in Medieval II to sounds in Conquest it crashes. If I just copy the efx.dat file (anyway I will have to delete music/events dat/idx to allow them to be rebuilt), I can hear just some effects in the main campaign map. No voices (maybe it makes sense since it looks like the structure for voices in Kingdoms/Eras is just "voices" instead of "voices1, voices2..." as in Medieval II), no battle sounds, no "cling/clang" when you attack a city, etc. The music continues to be playing perfectly in both maps, loading screens, menus, etc. That part we got it.

I have tried other options, for example, leaving just the efx + voices, dat + idx files on conquest/data/sound_files/late, which are transferred to conquest/data/sounds to see if they build effect/voices sounds, but didn't work either. I think it's important also to "add" the extra sounds for effects, accents and voices that Conquest brings to action to the vanilla ones, but I am not sure how to accomplish this. The music is accomplished (I think) by acting from conquest/data on conquest/data/sounds but transferring all the other sound txt files to that location doesn't solve the problem either; still effects, voices and all non-music sounds aren't working well.

Thanks once more!

[DonRuben]

Forum users,

So far editing music (adding/configuring to play what you like when you like) works for me perfectly well taking the following steps:

1. Putting all MTW2 vanilla sound txt files on Medieval Total War II/data folder as explained on http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=77905; you can download them from post 9.
2. Editing descr_sounds_music.txt and placing it on conquest/data.
3. Adding all new mp3 music tracks to Medieval Total War II/data/sounds/music folder, including the Asian tracks that the mod adds if you want to play them.
4. Deleting music and event .dat and .idx files from the age conquest/data/sound_files folder (early, eurasia, eurasia_late, late, etc), depending on the campaign that you want to play (so they won't override yours).
5. Deleting (just before starting the campaign for the first time) the music and event .dat and .idx files from folder conquest/data/sounds.

It works perfectly but I can't still figure out how to keep (intact) all the rest of sounds (effects, voices, events, etc); they are almost (not all of them) gone.

I wish I knew how to change music for events too (coronations, weddings, crusades declared, etc) but I guess that would be asking too much. I'd be the happiest man on Earth if I could know how to fix the rest of sounds while keeping the new music configuration. Any ideas?