Music changing

[luceid]

I'm a big fan of "strange music" (often called "not compatible for the masses"), like Game OST's, Atmospheric music (like Arcana, etc.), a.s.o.

 

There are great pieces out there, which would perfectly fit into Oblivion, w/o breaking immersion, etc.

I'm talking about music from composers like Koichi Sugiyama (Dragon Quest), Jeremy Soule (I guess you know him ;)) and several remixers from one of the best sites in the net: www.ocremix.org (Mr. Soule himself made a remix for this site, called Final Fantasy 6 Squaresoft Variation OC ReMix)

 

So I want to add some pieces to oblivion.

Easier said than done I guess, so I've a couple of questions:

 

1. Is it really that simple? No renaming, etc. needed, just copy & paste? :mellow:

2. What are the conditions for an immersive implemented track for Oblivion in case of fading in and out?

(means: How many seconds, etc.)

3. Is there an easy to use program for adding fadings, slowly increasing the volume, etc?

4. What else should be considerd (codecs, etc.)?

[Vagrant0]

The music capabilities for Oblivion are next to nothing. All you have is 4 types of folders, explore, public, dungeon, and battle. Each one is tied to a group of music. And each group of music is tied directly to where you are and what you're doing. For instance, battle music will ALWAYS play when you enter combat. Although you can add more files to these folders (may need to rename them (atmosphere_XX, Town_XX, Dungeon_XX), you can't change when they play, and you can't do any neat effects beyond what is already in the MP3. The scripting functions related to music are next to useless as the music instantly reverts back to the normal tracks once you change area, begin combat, or that song ends.

 

On the otherhand, using something like winamp to play music in the background, while turning off Oblivion's music can work for some, you often end up losing that little indicator that you have things tryng to kill you. More than a few people have turned off music, and at some point either were suddenly hit, or turned around to find a few creatures following them. You also would have to alt+tab to make any sudden changes to your play lists, which can cause some instability in the game.

[SoulReaver911]

In the mod Lost Spires, there was music that was implemented into game while the original music was still playing, and seemed to have a function that when some of it, when you opened to menu, would cut off and wouldn't continue when you closed your menu. Then there were the boss fight scenes when music would continue after opening the menu.

 

I'm not sure how it was done, but that might be an alternative to replacing all the older music. However, it might annoy you when you open the menu every now and then and the music cuts off for the duration it's open.

[luceid]

Yeah, I know that Oblvion sadly doesn't support a nice "play now and only here"-scripting feature :(

But that's actually not exactly what I wanted to do anyway.

I just want to add some tracks for more variability (spelling?).

From what I've read so far, all you have to do is paste some mp3 in the right folder (f.i. explore).

Some said that there isn't even renaming needed.

 

So, I have the right tracks in mind, but I'm uncertain about implementing them immersive (iow: with fading and slow volume increasment/decreasment)

[Vagrant0]

So, I have the right tracks in mind, but I'm uncertain about implementing them immersive (iow: with fading and slow volume increasment/decreasment)

The fading and volume would be dependant on the actual mp3 file. And unless you have means of altering those*, you really can't do anything about it.

 

*Altering .mp3 files would probably require that you are the actual author of those files, and have access to software that can resequence it. As far as I know, this is not something you can just download and use, but rather requires professional software as well as some actual knowledge in using that software (probably not something you can find tutorials for online). Keep in mind, altering anything which you do not have rights to may be against the law, even if you don't upload them anywhere. Uploading liscensed music files anywhere without permission certainly is against the law.

 

You will probably just have to use the music files as they are.

[myrmaad]

So, I have the right tracks in mind, but I'm uncertain about implementing them immersive (iow: with fading and slow volume increasment/decreasment)

The fading and volume would be dependant on the actual mp3 file. And unless you have means of altering those*, you really can't do anything about it.

 

*Altering .mp3 files would probably require that you are the actual author of those files, and have access to software that can resequence it. As far as I know, this is not something you can just download and use, but rather requires professional software as well as some actual knowledge in using that software (probably not something you can find tutorials for online). Keep in mind, altering anything which you do not have rights to may be against the law, even if you don't upload them anywhere. Uploading liscensed music files anywhere without permission certainly is against the law.

 

You will probably just have to use the music files as they are.

 

 

I haven't had any problems with losing immersion after I added some MP3s to the Oblivion music folders. I have a propensity for chillout music, and a large collection of it so I just added some that seemed appropriate for each one, for an example of one I put Enigma's Sadeness in the Dungeon folder, and it works nicely for my pleasure.

 

I haven't noticed any need for fade, especially if you load the whole song, but if you must, I recommend Audacity to edit your MP3s. I'm pretty sure Adobe Soundbooth which came with my CS3 suite would handle it, if you have access to that kind of thing.