[EL SE] Option to play music randomly?

[Mentix]

Hello @all starship commanders!

Since I have unfortunately not yet found my question in the forum and also found no answer in the customizing document, I have to open this as a new topic.

If I have not researched well or have overlooked something, please bear with me.

OK, now to the question: Is it possible to have optional (additional) music tracks of the lowest threat level played randomly?

As far as I have been able to determine and read, the tracks of the higher threat levels are played randomly, but not those of the lowest. I mean all tracks with "musiclevelX-1".

Also the original tracks in the unmodded version seem to be played in the same order after the game starts. Again and again.

What can i do to make the tracks play randomly?

#random music ... so, for the search engine

Greetings
Mentix

[Vice]

Hello and welcome. The music is selected and played randomly in-game. The pool of music just needs to have all three threat tier levels in each 1-3 group in order for that group to be queued in the random selection. So if you want to apply only the lowest threat level for a group of three in the random pool, you can apply the same music file in each of the 1-3 slots for the group.

For reference, the game first establishes the maximum group set value on startup. The default value for this is 7 for all 7X3 internal music files. Then if it detects custom music files in sequence, it will adjust that value as needed up to a maximum of 100 groups for 100X3 music files. When a new song is needed, it randomly selects a group first using a random value from 1 to the maximum group set detected. It then selects the threat level from within that group to play, then loads and plays the music applying any needed faded transitions should conditions change.

[Mentix]

Hi Vice!

first... wow, great service! Very fast your replay. tanks for this.

Ok, that explains a lot. i always wondered why the 7. track was always played at the start. i didn't know that there were 7 originals in total. so i mean the unmooded ver. i knew that there weren't many originals. I know that now.

And ok, i understand now, that the groups have to be ever completed. Good, always 1-1, 1-2 and 1-3. I understand that correctly that only in this case the frist tracks be play randomly? So ever starting at the 7th track at the game start?

And one more question. i have also noticed that tracks are also played when the groups are not complete. For example as follows:

musiclevel1-1.ogg
musiclevel1-2.ogg
musiclevel1-3.ogg
musiclevel2-1.ogg
musiclevel3-1.ogg
musiclevel4-1.ogg
etc.

so, do i understand correctly that in this wrong constellation (of my example) the mechanics of randomly played tracks would not work? because the groups are not complete?

Again, tank you very much for helping.

EDIT: one more question came to mind...

if i only start the additional tracks in the list with the number 8 (i.e. in the music file), will the hardcoded track groups 1 to 7 still be played? or will the game then only recognize those tracks that i have in the music file, so that the originals are no longer played at all?

[Vice]

If a group is incomplete, then the game will either bypass that set or report an error in the message log if one of the music files is missing from a group. In the latter scenario, the game will just load a default music file and play that. So if you keep hearing the same 1-1 level music file when starting, it's likely because the game was unable to load a custom music file from that group due to it missing completely. In an effort to prevent a hard crash, the game will attempt to load a known internal music file when it is unable to find a custom music file in a group.

If no custom music file exists in the starting group and index (\music\musiclevel1-1.ogg), then no custom music groups will be applied. That initial music file needs to exist at a minimum in order for the game to further scan for more custom music files. You can import just that one file on its own and then specify groups 8, 9, 10, and so on above 7 and the game 'should' be able to include all other internal music files from 1-2 through 7-3 in addition to any custom music files in groups 8 and higher. However, the system isn't really designed to split music file groups that way between multiple folders/sources, so results may be uncertain. It's best to either include all desired music in the custom '\music' folder or stick with internal tracks.

[Mentix]

Thank you very much Vice!

Super detailed and helpful explanation. Thumbs up!

I think I've got it. It was important for me to understand the mechanics in order to be able to fully implement my playlist.

Thanks again.

Btw... EL SE is a nice game. For years i startet with EM. I thought EM was good back then, but EL SE is WOW. For me, i would say better as ED. Alone for the reason of his charm and the gameplay possibilitys are even similar to ED.

[Vice]

Glad that helped and to hear that you're enjoying the game.

[Mentix]

Sorry if I'm annoying with questions. But there is still one thing on my mind.

I would like to change the color of the tractor beam. I would like it to be red/orange. In old mods I found different *png files for it. So I mean c2bb.png. But when I paste them into the \ships folder, unfortunately nothing changes. In your mod tutorial it also says that it is the c2bb.png. Or is the c2bb.png just the texture and the color is determined somewhere else?

[Vice]

That definitely needed to be updated. The new filenames are:

beam1.png = tractor beam
beam2.png = repair beam

I've updated the kit's documentation.

[Mentix]

Fine. It works. Thanks a lot!

but... the lighting around it remains blue, of course. See my screenshot in the attachment. I don't think it's that easy to change this, or?

[Vice]

Correct, that (light pulse effect) is a different system hard coded into a shader. Might have time to explore adding options to modify that as well, but it will likely take a while.

[Mentix]

Oh no, not necessary. Not for me. I've realized that the original is always the best after all. The more I mod, the more dissatisfied I am with the mods. I've been modding for days. Sometimes a texture here, sometimes a sound there. But in the end I think the original ui and the original sounds are the best. You know, you can also mod yourself to death. Now I only have minimal mods running. 4-5 sounds and the hudtape. Thats it. I think you've captured the atmosphere of the game best with the original whole package. But you only appreciate something like that when you've bent everything beyond recognition.

The only thing i really miss is a lot more "evochron like" soundtracks from Rich Dougles. 8 are far too few. But i know that this always costs a lot of money.

[Vice]

It would probably be a worthwhile addition overall to be able to modify the beam light in the shader since the texture can be modified also, so I'll put it on the to-do list for a possible future update. Additionally, applying a separate light color for the repair beam would also be beneficial since a separate texture can be applied. That way, the light can match the texture in either mode.

[TraderDan]

Mod yourself to death you say? Blasphemy says my poor tired laptop lol jk

[TraderDan]

Oh seconds on Rich Douglas compositions, you know he also did the soundtrack for the Shadowgate 2014 Remake, both it and the original are some of the best games of all time. You should check his YouTube channel for his other works if you haven't already.

[Mentix]

Mod yourself to death you say? Blasphemy says my poor tired laptop lol jk

Haha. Yes, because I know that I will never be satisfied with my own changes. there is always something wrong with me.

Last time I sat for three hours, until three o'clock in the morning, working on the warp sound effect and tried to time it with Audacity to the exact length of the jump. down to the 100th of a second. Then I knew it was going too far.

Oh seconds on Rich Douglas compositions, you know he also did the soundtrack for the Shadowgate 2014 Remake, both it and the original are some of the best games of all time. You should check his YouTube channel for his other works if you haven't already.

But I was actually there. But I just looked again and saw that he made an evochron remasered soundtrack in 2018. I am almost thinking about investing the $3.