Need help with: Custom Music?

[Legacy_Who said that I]

               

Okay here is what I want, and I know it is ambitious, especially for a novice scripter such as myself but I just feel that my module is missing something....and that is the proper music, the BUFFY and ANGEL music.

 

Now I got all the cd's right here (being the super duper Buffy/Angel nerd/fan that I am) and I was wondering how I would go about adding this music as a Music hakpack for the module.

 

And kinda hoping that someone would educate me in how to do this step by step or help me do it by doing it for me but I just REALLY want to learn and ADD this to the module.

 

anyway guys thanks for hearing me out '> Hope you guys are willing to help me out with this '>

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Fester Pot]

               

You can just rip them normally with Windows Media Player to .mp3 format by putting the audio CD into your PC's DVD/CD drive.


WMP has an option to do this.


Then get MP3toBMU from Neverwinter Nights Vault and convert them to .bmu format.


Modify ambientmusic.2da by adding each track as a new line.


Dump the .bmu files to your \music directory.


Bundle up all those .bmu files you plan to use and upload them as a package for players to download.


All that needs to go into a .hak is the modified ambientmusic.2da file. This will allow players to make the music download optional.


FP!

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Malagant]

               

Make sure you encode your mp3 at constant bitrate of 128kbps/44kHz mono. Having the CD as an origin is a plus because it avoids re-encoding already lossy encoded files.


I generally go CD to lossless using Exact Audio Copy if I want to edit or splice anything (for which I use Audacity) then encode to the necessary mp3 format before using bmu converter, but you can go straight to mp3 if you aren't doing any editing or leveling.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Who said that I]

               

that actually does not sound too hard....think I will probably struggle most to modify ambientmusic.2da but will get it done, thanks for the imput! '>

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Tarot Redhand]

               

The other thing is I believe your music needs to be in mono for MP3toBMU to work.

 

TR

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Empyre65]

               

I don't want to be "that guy", but I feel I must warn you that what you are proposing is illegal. That music is copyrighted and distributing it could theoretically land you in some trouble. The odds are that your project would fly under their radar, but you would be taking a chance.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Malagant]

               

Already covered the mono in my description.


And yes... nobody likes "that guy".

 

Who Said: once you crack open the 2da you'll see it's fairly straightforward.

 

     Description is the tlk line but unnecessary for custom entries because of the DisplayName column unless you want to go though all the trouble.

 

     Resource is the name of the bmu that will be in your music folder (16 character limit of course)

 

     Stinger1 / Stinger2 / Stinger3 are small wave (.wav) files that cap off combat music when combat ends. These are NOT in your music folder and, if you bother with making them, these would be located in a hak. Because they really are just a post combat end chime, most people don't bother but I did utilize them from the Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, and Planescape: Torment combat music on my home server since those stingers already existed.

 

     DisplayName in quotes will be the name displayed when going to select the music within the toolset.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Proleric]

               Since the copyright issue has raised its ugly head - of late, YouTube has allowed the use of copyright music, provided ownership is acknowledged, with the proviso that content could be taken down if the owner requests it.

I don't see a flood of lawsuits, so, de facto, this seems to be legal, or, at least, acceptable to the music business.

Most of us want to reward artists for their work. However, the music industry has made it impossible to buy a performance license for trivial purposes like ours, and, in my experience, turns asking permission into a fruitless wild goose chase without actually saying "no". I don't suppose they need that admin overhead, anyway, as there's no revenue involved. So I'd suggest that the YouTube approach is a win-win for everyone.

YouTube ignores third-party claims of illegality, dealing only with the copyright holder and their representatives. That strikes me as a good principal here, too.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Grymlorde]

               

The other thing is I believe your music needs to be in mono for MP3toBMU to work.

 

TR

 

Actually that is incorrect. I've never had to convert any mp3 files to mono prior to using MP3toBMU. And the music files play just fine in game. Perhaps MP3toBMU converts stereo to mono?

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Fester Pot]

               

Your music will be fine in stereo, just as long as it meets the requirement bitrate - 128kbps/44kHz as mentioned previously.


Mono is required for placeable sounds that are not meant for area wide - or for sound bytes used in conversation files.


FP!

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Malagant]

               

This is good to know, I suppose. Even Bioware insisted it be mono and looking at their files, while they do seem to be 2ch stereo, there is almost zero difference between the left and right channels outside of a non-discernible spike or two here and there in Audacity and "by ear" with studio headphones, making them effectively mono by definition (intended to be heard as if it were a single channel of sound perceived as coming from one position while stereo uses two channels to convey the impression of sound coming from different places).


This makes sense to me because the game can't adjust any left/right channeling as the camera perspective changed.


Pulling a track from David Bowie's 1967 album Deluxe Edition CD mono tracks, they are also "2 channel stereo" with identical sound in each channel and billed as "mono". The difference is that mono can be heard through a solitary speaker and still sound the same as a two+ speaker system.


Am I being lied to by the studio or do we need to better define what constitutes a mono vs stereo sound?


In the end, I tend to go for consistency with even sound so, the core tracks being effectively mono, I'd want to keep my custom tracks the same. YMMV.