Adding Custom Music

This is an article written by Oldgamer. It can also be found here.

Adding Custom Music

Even though this gets extremely irritating for some people, others want their own music in the game. I've discovered an almost foolproof way of modding my favorite music in, and thought I would "share" (shudder, doesn't like the word). I don't claim to be the first to discover this, but here it is.

First and foremost, make sure that you have a legal right to use the music. If you like the music from Ben Hur or Gladiator, and you don't own a legal copy of Miklos Rozsa's music, you can't use it.

Also, your music has to be in .mp3 format. Nothing else will work ... at least, on my computer.

MOST IMPORTANT: Make a copy of descr_sounds_music.txt, before you start the following procedure.

Step One: Open Data/Sounds

Step Two: Create a new folder called "Music"

Step Three: Place all of the .mp3 files you wish to use in this new folder

Step Four: Open Data, then open descr_sounds_music.txt

Step Five: Under campaign or battle map events, type the name of the Mp3 that you want to play, when said event occurs. Make sure that you include the ".mp3" extension.

For example, under the "Roma Music" section, and in the state MUSIC_FRONTEND section, I added "AveCaesar.mp3" (music from the movie Quo Vadis, whose soundtrack I own). You must use the exact name of the Mp3 in the Music folder you created. Also, if the name has a space in it, I would suggest renaming the file (for example, "AveCaesar.mp3 was originally "Ave Caesar.mp3" ... it wouldn't play until I renamed it).

Continue with each battle- or campaign- event that you wish to put a new Mp3 into. If you don't want the vanilla music, just delete it from the battle event. That has no effect whatever.

I've used this technique with the 1.2, 1.5, and 1.6 patches (BI), all with the same amount of success.

That's it. Boot up the game and enjoy the music that you like!