Threat and event driven music, upcoming feature...

Post by **Vice** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 10:16 pm

Wanted to post a few details on this new music option that will be available for testing in the next preview build. Instead of just one background song or a set of fixed/static playlist songs, you will be able to import custom music tracks that shift based on the threat level and events around you. Here is the section from the updated customizing kit:

You can also use multiple music tracks for various threat levels. There are 3 levels you can use 3 separate music tracks for. The first level will play the selected track when there are no hostiles around. The second will play when a few hostiles are nearby. The third will play when many hostiles are nearby. Certain events can also trigger a transition from one music track to another, including when hostile reinforcements jump in to assist their allies, when you bribe hostiles to moderate threats, or if hostiles disengage and jump out of the area. The game will automatically fade out the current music track being played, then load and start the new one when a transition is needed. It is recommended that the music you import fade in at the start so the transition is smoother. You may want to structure the music so a softer ambient track plays when there are no hostiles nearby and more energetic music plays when hostiles approach. To use the threat level/event driven music system, use the \\music folder and the following filenames:

musiclevelX.wav = in-game threat level/event driven music (X is a number from 1 to 3, 1 being the lowest threat level, 3 being the highest).

Bedwyr · Post by **Bedwyr** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 12:31 am

Awesome solution Vice. Well done.

___H · Post by **___H** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 6:56 am

sounds great!

Pariah · Post by **Pariah** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 11:59 am

Well you already know how I feel about this

.

Nice work.

I'll write some new stuff and post when I'm finished. The custom event driven music tracks could be a fun thing to trade between players.

[Edited on 4-22-2008 by Pariah]

___H · Post by **___H** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 3:18 pm

just out of curoisty, what type of music does everyone listen to?

im more into dance music, but i dont think thats going to work in evo:ren.. im thinking more of the command and conquer generals + zero hour soundtrack. it was a horrible game in terms of bug abuse and strategic thinking but i loved the soundtrack

___H · Post by **___H** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 3:24 pm

in fact heres a link to a few of bill browns soundtracks.. i think you'll find some game soundtracks that you have heard before :

http://www.billbrownmusic.com/musicmain.htm

(strong double post :S )

Tpol · Post by **Tpol** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 3:25 pm

I can just imagine... Enya is singing as I zip near a beautiful nebula. Suddenly it switches to the Jaws theme as hostiles approach... da-dun da-dun da-dun

Cool!

P.S. Here's one of my favorite Enya tunes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a88-Tyl1gkI

[Edited on 4-22-2008 by Tpol]

Straker Nova · Post by **Straker Nova** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 3:37 pm

H, as far as pleasure listening I can hang with pretty much everything but rap. Bill Browns music is awesome indeed

In my opinion, the ER music should match the situation ... soft and ethereal in non-combat situations, a little more edgy when a hostile jumps in system, and downright nerve-shattering when it comes to battling a horde of hostiles.

The one thing we'll have to watch for is copyright infringement with RIAA, and the singer/songwriter associations ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. I've been a member of BMI for years as I've released CD's as well as studio musician/singer/songwriter type stuff and unfortunately all of those associations are out to prove a point in regards to getting royalties paid to artists/musicians and the ever-present war on software piracy. There are two paths to go in dealing with this; 1) pay an annual fee to the afore-mentioned parties (extremely expensive) or 2) write original music ....

Ok, I'll stop now with the legalese ... the cool thing is that anyone, regardless of perceived talent, can do some cool music to their liking with not-so-expensive software and a midi-capable keyboard ..... let the creative juices flow!

Fly safe

Straker

Straker Nova · Post by **Straker Nova** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 3:41 pm

Tpol, love Enya, got my mom (classical pianist) into her around '85/86 .... my boys got me into Nightwish, and although some of their stuff is a little too hard for my taste, this song "The ISlander" is pretty cool .... enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2sd8UMUaIk

Straker

Tpol · Post by **Tpol** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 3:58 pm

I think Vice's music addition thing is talking about us using music as we see fit in single-player. Not doing something that would be a violation of RIAA, yeah?

Listening to that Nightwish song right now... very good! Has a sort of feel to it as The New World Renaissance Band, that I listen to a lot.

The New World Renaissance Band features Owain Phyfe -- I totally adore his voice. Here's a youtube of Owain http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4H7bciE2Iw

Tpol

Straker Nova · Post by **Straker Nova** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 5:32 pm

Tpol,

Honestly I'm not sure where the law stands on this ... I just read the RIAA page concerning music piracy located here http://www.riaa.com/physicalpiracy.php? ... ne_the_law ... it's just that in my 23 years in doing music, I always tend to go with whats safer, and quite honestly I think this is unexplored territory .... for example, if you bought a CD from Best Buy, can you make a copy of your favorite song from that CD and put it in the music folder of ER legally .... I honestly don't know, to me its a gray area best avoided. I do know that you're allowed to make a backup but with strict oversight on what you can do with said backup.

I had never heard of Owain, went to the sight, awesome voice! When we lived in Arizona we used to go to the Renaissance festival just outside of Apache Junction ... the boys loved the sword fighting and jousting, the wife loved the arts and crafts, and I loved the bosom wenches, errrrr, I mean the great music

I haven't been to a festival in quite awhile, may have to check the one out in Texas. And try to find New World Renaissance Band music perhaps ...

Hope to see you online sometime, talk to ya soon,
Straker

tha_rami · Post by **tha_rami** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 9:00 pm

I know a musician. I'll just have some custom music made and uploaded, I guess.

Tpol · Post by **Tpol** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 10:59 pm

Gosh, if I'm using music from a cd I bought, inside a game where only I can hear it, you mean this could be illegal? Wow, that's something that would never have crossed my mind.

Anyway, here's where you can hear clips from "The New World Renaissance Band" http://cdbaby.com/cd/nwrb

BTW, the link goes to cdbaby.com. I've bought all of The New World Renaissance Band's cds from them with nary a problem, in case you'd like to order one. (Disclaimer -- I'm in no way affiliated with cdbaby). Each of their cds gives the translation of the lyrics into english, as he's often singing in an old world english or such. The lyrics of these songs are as rich as the music itself. As you can tell, I'm a huge fan, lol.

ShaggyMoose · Post by **ShaggyMoose** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 2:01 am

Shades of Wing Commander.

Pariah · Post by **Pariah** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 2:33 am

for example, if you bought a CD from Best Buy, can you make a copy of your favorite song from that CD and put it in the music folder of ER legally .... I honestly don't know, to me its a gray area best avoided

Reading the RIAA guidelines it's pretty clear that you don't get into a problematic situation until you disperse said music to persons who have not purchased the license to possess it. When you purchase a CD at Best Buy you are paying for the right to have unlimited access to that disc for yourself.

If you legally purchase a disc and rip it to your machine to be used in your personal game folder that will never be generally disseminated you are likely not in violation of the RIAA guidelines. It falls under the same area as ripping mp3's for your I-Pod etc.. The minute you pass that music on to another though you have violated the agreement inherent in the media purchases that cover music and also film (DVD Blu-Ray, etc...).

The RIAA Site Says:

Copying CDs

* Itâ€™s okay to copy music onto an analog cassette, but not for commercial purposes.
* Itâ€™s also okay to copy music onto special Audio CD-Râ€™s, mini-discs, and digital tapes (because royalties have been paid on them) â€“ but, again, not for commercial purposes.
* Beyond that, thereâ€™s no legal "right" to copy the copyrighted music on a CD onto a CD-R. However, burning a copy of CD onto a CD-R, or transferring a copy onto your computer hard drive or your portable music player, wonâ€™t usually raise concerns so long as:
o The copy is made from an authorized original CD that you legitimately own
o The copy is just for your personal use. Itâ€™s not a personal use â€“ in fact, itâ€™s illegal â€“ to give away the copy or lend it to others for copying.
* The owners of copyrighted music have the right to use protection technology to allow or prevent copying.
* Remember, itâ€™s never okay to sell or make commercial use of a copy that you make.

Having said that, I'm with you in supporting new user created royalty free music that can be freely shared and dispersed throughout the community.

MMaggio · Post by **MMaggio** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 4:38 am

I thought ripping music from a CD or other source and installing it in another format would be OK as long you did not sell or charge for it. I doubt that anyone would prosecute for ripping a soundtrack or section of the track, install it as background for a game and diseminate it to a few select members of a group, free.
Who knows tho'? We live in a very litigousness country!:(

tha_rami · Post by **tha_rami** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 4:54 am

The rule is simple: the license is person-bound. You can't even give a copy to your daughter/son/wife.

CS-ACI- · Post by **CS-ACI-** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 4:59 am

Hello,

Two things.

First,the interpritaion of copy right law keeps changing for music, so you need to take care,

Second point, I very rarely listen to any music whilst playing games on my PC. This is not because I can't, because I can. This is due to wanting to hear what is going on in the game. Any one who has played a first person shooter where you sneak around and kill people, knows that hearing a foot step can save your life.

Steve

Pariah · Post by **Pariah** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 7:10 am

Rami is correct

As far as not wanting to listen to music in a game, that is subjective. It makes sense in a FPS where sound is a potential strategy but ER is hardly in the same category.

The times in ER when sound is a factor are when you get ship alerts..... for example, "Incoming Missile", "Low Altitude", "Low Toilet Paper In Ship Lavatory", etc.....

I personally have the "Low Altitude" file replaced with silence since I can check my altimeter as often as I like and don't need a dummy warning.

I don't see any difference in listening to a track that you ripped form a CD and placed in a game file and playing the same track on your favorite audio player in the background while you play.

If there is some danger of a member of these forums violating an RIAA mandate and then subsequently turning themselves in then I fear that the laws matter not and that common sense itself must be sacrificed

.

Pariah · Post by **Pariah** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 10:08 am

Double Post

I downloaded the latest build and I was unable to get this to work.

Is it an up and coming feature not yet implemented?

Post by **Vice** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 2:27 pm

It is not available yet, will be in the next update (the next preview build).

Straker Nova · Post by **Straker Nova** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 3:05 pm

Vice, ran into something strange with the threat level music. I was on the SW clan server, had been flying around for about 10 minutes going to different areas in order to hear the changes in the threat level music (worked awesome btw) but noticed the last time I jumped from Sapphire into Lambda the sound faded out and never came back. Stayed that way until I got booted from the server (my connection end I believe). Just FYI, I'll holler back if it happens again.
Thanks,
Straker

Artnez · Post by **Artnez** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 5:34 pm

It would be great to see some real creativity with this feature.

Perhaps combine music with radio chatter and change the ratio chatter based on the current status.

This feature would be very powerful if you could assign many tracks to a single event and they would play at random. That way someone with some good voice acting skill could create an awesome combination of radio chatter or even your crew talking.

Post by **Vice** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 6:25 am

I have expanded the music system to support using up to 300 songs (or radio chatter files using the same system if you want to, or combine them together into individual music files) that play randomly when an event/threat level changes. Here are the details from the customizing kit:

Another option for threat level/event driven music is the random mode. This lets you import up to 300 custom songs, 100 for each level. The system is completely random, so it can often play a unique song when there is a transition to a different threat level. The more songs you import, the more variety the system will have. It's best to import the songs in order starting with the first set using slot 1 (example: musiclevel1-1.wav, musiclevel2-1.wav, and musiclevel3-1.wav). To use the this option, use the \\music folder and the following filenames:

musiclevelX-Y.wav = random in-game threat level/event driven music (X is a number from 1 to 3, 1 being the lowest threat level, 3 being the highest, Y is a number from 1 to 100 representing the 100 possible sets of 3 songs).

[Edited on 4-26-2008 by Vice]