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How to modify/add music in Viking Conquest (by dissecting music.txt)

admin
2023-05-04 10:10:15

Introduction

I already made this guide on the Taleworld's Foruns, but since most of the people using Steam doesnt visit the foruns, im gonna write this in here as well. :) For a while i searched the forums about ways to add new music into the game, and the only results i got was to modify the main *.py files, wich for a person that doesnt understand anything of code like me, its very complicated... And all i wanted was to change the music ingame, not to alter the main files completely.

There were a few posts, both on the foruns and on Steam mentioning to replace the music using the same names, and some of them even without changing the music.txt file, (most of them unsucessfuly) but what they didnt mentioned is that youre free to change music.txt however you like, and to add to that:

The altered music doesnt need to have the same original file name.

The order in the lines doesnt have to be the same.

You can ADD new musics while keeping the original ones inplace, altering only music.txt files throught the "code" numbers infront of the music files in order to make the music play in specific scenarios, like this one:

viking_raid.wav 272629888 272629888

Although this works for every single Mount & Blade title, and any mod that changes the music, keep in mind this changes are for the music.txt file specificly for Viking Conquest Reforged Edition, found in:

(your prefered Steam install location)\SteamLibrary\SteamApps\common\MountBlade Warband\Modules\Viking Conquest

For this guide ill be "decyphering" (if you wanna call it that way) the numbers infront of each file from the music.txt file.

Starting Analysing Music.txt

NOTE: ALLWAYS remember to make a BACKUP before starting modding or changing anything. Backup music.txt, and the entire Music folder for this.

So the first thing you find as soon as you open your "music.txt" file is something like this:

55 silentio.wav 0 0 viking_raid.wav 272629888 272629888 celtic_legend.wav 268500992 269050368 nordicorchstra.wav 268500992 269033984 celtic.wav 268500992 269033984 go_bikes.wav 268500992 269033984 werihukka.wav 268500992 269033984 nabia_orebia.wav 268500992 269033984 celtic_legend.wav 268443648 269050368 celtic.wav 268443648 269050368 samania_aracillum.wav 268443648 268968448 viking_raid.wav 268443648 268968448 iberus_flumen.wav 285213184 285213184 celtic_spirit.wav 285213184 285213184 day_of_war.wav 268451840 269050368 celtic_legend.wav 268451840 269050368 fallen_warrior.wav 268451840 269050368 theancients.wav 268435456 268435456 day_of_war.wav 268566528 268566528 werihukka.wav 268566528 268566528 go_bikes.wav 268566528 268566528 viking_raid.wav 268440576 268440576 celtic_spirit.wav 268440576 268440576 day_of_war.wav 268440576 268440576 go_bikes.wav 268440576 268440576 solemnfuneralpyre.wav 268697600 268702720 samania_aracillum.wav 268697600 268702720 day_of_war.wav 268439552 268702720 samania_aracillum.wav 268439552 268702720 solemnfuneralpyre.wav 268468224 268468224 viking_raid.wav 276824064 276824064 viking_raid.wav 268437504 268437504 celtic_spirit.wav 268437504 268437504 theancients.wav 268437504 268437504 celtic_legend.wav 268437504 268437504 fallen_warrior.wav 268437504 268437504 nordicorchstra.wav 268437504 268437504 tras_la_galerna.wav 268435456 268435456 mons_vindius.wav 268435456 268435456 go_bikes.wav 268435456 268435456 theancients.wav 268435456 268435456 fallen_warrior.wav 268435456 268435456 viking_raid.wav 268436480 268436480 samania_aracillum.wav 268435456 268435456 nordicorchstra.wav 268959744 269033984 fallen_warrior.wav 268435456 268435456 solemnfuneralpyre.wav 268435456 268435456 solemnfuneralpyre.wav 268500992 269033984 fallen_warrior.wav 268500992 269033984 solemnfuneralpyre.wav 268500992 269033984 celtic_legend.wav 268435712 268435712 viking_raid.wav 268435712 268435712 ballad_of_a_hero.wav 268435456 268435456 battle_ambient_1.wav 301989888 301989888 battle_ambient_2.wav 301989888 301989888

It doesnt take long to understand that the first line with the "55" is the number of lines bellow, and the second line for the "silence" between the transitions from each music. Notice how theres plenty of similar codes to distribute through the 20 different scenarios on wich the appropriate music file (located in the Music folder) is played. Each numeral code in there represents a scenario, like when you're roaming through towns, or visiting taverns, or when you go to battle, etc. The codes and lines are not in a specific order, wich tells us that the order itself on wich the lines and codes are placed are not important at all. I tested this theory by changing the order of the lines and it didnt affected how the music was played during the game.

So what we want to do here now is to identify to wich scenarios do those numeral codes represents, and for that we need to make only one single song to play on each single scenario, then go into the game, and see when and where those songs plays so we can make notes and start adding our own songs.

The first thing i did was to trim down the number lines to make it as one single code for one single music in specific, carefully checking and deleting the repeated numeral codes for each song, dividing the music in it for each different code, because as you can see in the original file, the same musics can play in multiple different scenarios, and since there was only 20 music files inside the Music folder to those 20 scenarios, this was the end result:

20 silentio.wav 0 0 viking_raid.wav 272629888 272629888 ballad_of_a_hero.wav 268443648 268968448 celtic.wav 268440576 268440576 celtic_spirit.wav 276824064 276824064 day_of_war.wav 268437504 268437504 fallen_warrior.wav 268436480 268436480 viking_raid.wav 268435712 268435712 mons_vindius.wav 268500992 269050368 nabia_orebia.wav 268443648 269050368 celtic_legend.wav 268451840 269050368 nordicorchstra.wav 268500992 269033984 theancients.wav 268959744 269033984 go_bikes.wav 268566528 268566528 tras_la_galerna.wav 268435456 268435456 samania_aracillum.wav 268697600 268702720 werihukka.wav 268439552 268702720 iberus_flumen.wav 285213184 285213184 solemnfuneralpyre.wav 268468224 268468224 battle_ambient_1.wav 301989888 301989888

I dont know exactly how important is to change the first line, but i did to match the number of lines anyways, from "55" to just "20", also i didnt altered the second line either. I backed up my music.txt file, replaced with this modified version, and played the game, making different things in game from traveling the map, battles, entering towns, entering villages, taverns, tournaments, etc. From the various playthroughs and pointing the different musics played during the scenarios i managed to identify some of the different numeral codes, but i kept the rest in blank for the ones that never played during my experimental play sessions:

20 = Number of lines bellow silentio.wav 0 0 = Nothing viking_raid.wav 272629888 272629888 = Menu music ballad_of_a_hero.wav 268443648 268968448 = Village theme celtic.wav 268440576 268440576 = Battle theme celtic_spirit.wav 276824064 276824064 = Plays after a victorious battle day_of_war.wav 268437504 268437504 = fallen_warrior.wav 268436480 268436480 = viking_raid.wav 268435712 268435712 = mons_vindius.wav 268500992 269050368 = Plays in Monasteries / villages nabia_orebia.wav 268443648 269050368 = Village theme 2 celtic_legend.wav 268451840 269050368 = Theme for sneaking enemy towns nordicorchstra.wav 268500992 269033984 = Plays during map travel and sometimes monastery theancients.wav 268959744 269033984 = go_bikes.wav 268566528 268566528 = Plays during battle / tournaments tras_la_galerna.wav 268435456 268435456 = samania_aracillum.wav 268697600 268702720 = werihukka.wav 268439552 268702720 = hard battle theme (when youre outnumbered) iberus_flumen.wav 285213184 285213184 = Plays in Taverns Mead Halls and Feasts solemnfuneralpyre.wav 268468224 268468224 = Plays after you're defeated in battle battle_ambient_1.wav 301989888 301989888 = Ambient Sound for villages/towns

I also noticed after a second playthrough that the musics that didnt played in single person, often played during multiplayer matches, but i didnt pointed them out because i dont play multiplayer that often. But i might update the list above if is there anyone interested in changing the multiplayer music as well, if i can confirm that.

Adding Your Music Files And Modifying Music.txt

So based on the information we collected, we can start adding our very own files!

If you want to know how to change your music files from *.mp3 to the format Viking Conquest Reforged Edition uses (*.wav) read the important notes bellow.

Keep in mind that the important part in the music.txt file in order for it to work in the scenario you wish for it to play is to have the music you want to play INSIDE the Music folder, and add/change the line you wish inside the music.txt file, adding/replacing the name of your music file in it and adding one of the following codes of the scenario you wish for it to play in front of it:

14 = Number of lines bellow 0 0 = Nothing 272629888 272629888 = Menu music 268443648 268968448 = Village theme 268440576 268440576 = Battle theme 276824064 276824064 = Plays after a victorious battle 268500992 269050368 = Plays in Monasteries / villages 268443648 269050368 = Village theme 2 268451840 269050368 = Theme for sneaking enemy towns 268500992 269033984 = Plays during map travel and sometimes monastery 268566528 268566528 = Plays during battle / tournaments 268439552 268702720 = hard battle theme (when youre outnumbered) 285213184 285213184 = Plays in Taverns Mead Halls and Feasts 268468224 268468224 = Plays after you're defeated in battle 301989888 301989888 = Ambient Sound for villages/towns

For example, if you have the songs "harlem_shake.wav", "justin_beiber.wav", and "song_of_our_people2.wav" and you want to play "harlem_shake.wav" when youre in a mead hall or in a feast, or when you wish to have the "song_of_our_people2.wav" being played during battle, or when you wish to anger yourself a bit before loading your game file by playing "justin_bieber.wav" in the main menu, you just need to put those files into the Music folder, and add or replace the lines in music.txt like this:

4 silentio.wav 0 0 harlem_shake.wav 268566528 268566528 justin_bieber.wav 272629888 272629888 song_of_our_people2.wav 268440576 268440576

A Few Important Notes

The older version of Viking Conquest used *.OGG files, however, the Reforged Editon of VC uses *.WAV files. So you'll need to change your music files to the *.WAV format using any convertion tool like Audacity or an online music file converter like http://audio.online-convert.com/convert-to-wav , before putting them in the Music folder. If you have "bananas.mp3" and you add "bananas.wav" on the music.txt, it will not work. NOTE: According to qmax and DaVincix in the Foruns, using *.OGG files still works on the Reforged Edition as well, so if you have *.OGG music files, you dont need to convert them to *.WAV ones. Just make sure the file name in the music.txt matches the file name and extension. Thank you both for that information. Dont use special characters or spaces when adding new files in the Music folder or music.txt or the music wont play in game, keep the names simple, like for example calling it "battle1.wav", instead of "Crushing the Skull of Our enemies.wav". Use only numerals, alphabetic characters and "_" . It is safe to delete the vanilla music files from the Music folder and from their respective lines in the music.txt but i highly recomend keeping the "silentio.wav" inside the folder and the music.txt line, and allways remember to change the first line to match the respective number of lines you add/delete. If you have several lines added and you dont want to count them all one by one, just copy them (without the first numeral line of course), paste them on this site, http://textmechanic.com/Count-Text.html , and replace the number of the first line with the number of lines counted in there. You can add more than one music for each scenario. So if you have two or five or even ten songs you wish to play during battle or during traveling, just add them and put the respective codes in front of them in the music.txt file, like this for example:[/li] battletheme1.wav 268440576 268440576 epic_battle_theme.wav 268440576 268440576 And by the same way you can add more than one music for each scenario, you can also add more than one scenario for each music. So if you wish to add the same song to play when youre in a feast or tavern, and when you go to sneak in town, just add the same music twice on the music.txt and the respective scenario codes in front, like this:[/li] jamesbond.wav 268451840 269050368 jamesbond.wav 268500992 269033984

I hope this helps you to understand how easy it is to manually modify and add music in game without messing with the *.py files. Remember, this also works for the other game titles, and any mod that changes the music files. Feel free to ask anything and ill try to help or clarify as much as i can.

Cheers, and happy modding!

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=495373098

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