Music file quality

[bobbyhood]

Since you can't script mp3s in the CS I thought I'd try a comparison of different qualities of wav files to see if we can't find a happy medium. At the lowest quality it is about 25% the size of the original (a high-quality mp3 is about 14%).This piece is 1:24 in length.

I converted them to high-quality mp3s to save bandwidth.

High 16bit 44k (14.2MB)
Medium 16bit 22k (7.12MB)
Low 16bit 11k (3.56MB)

The result is bad. The lowest I'd go is 16bit 22k and that only decreases the size by half while significantly lowering the quality. At this point the best bet is to stay away from wav files altogether for the music.

[Axen]

We don't need wav files for the music... there apparently IS a streammusic command.

[bobbyhood]

Wohoo! Will it do what you need it to?

[Axen]

Yes, but if Bethesda updates Oblivion and the CS to allow us to have more music categories, that'll be even better.

[Razorwing]

bobbyhood: :worship:

Damn man, that has got to be one of the best modded music tracks I've ever heard!! Hints of Lord of the Rings and tribal influences in it, I thought. Great adrenaline feel to it. I could definitely see the part that starts at 0:44 as theme music for a major Hollywood fantasy movie! :goodjob: And the beginning of the track conjures up images of running hobbits in my mind

Yup, contrary to what we thought in the beginning, there *is* a working StreamMusic script command. Bethesda just never used it themselves, so it won't be found by searching the Oblivion.esm scripts. Here is some info on it from the CS wiki. I've added a script like that to Reich Parkeep which streams the city soundtrack, and which is in the Alpha 04.5 I posted recently. Now... I should say that I haven't playtested the script yet I've been meaning to, I've just been so busy in Max these past few days. But the music should be heard around the Redoran quarter.

Going from the hints on scripting I read in the wiki I attached the script to an activator object - an inconspicious Gold Kanet - and added it to several cells. In theory it should work, but I'm just beginning to get the hang of basic scripting so I can't swear by it. But others have gotten it to work, going by the wiki entry, so it's possible.


Edit: I've playtested now, and my script doesn't work. No music at all is played in the cells with the object, but Oblivion musc *is* played in cells where the object isn't, such as interiors - so I'd say the script partially works. It probably loops over and over, starting to play the track sixty times per second. What I wouldn't give for a TES4 edition on "Scripting for Dummies"... Anyone have any idea on how a background music script should look? I'll go hunt on ESF in the meantime.

[bobbyhood]

Originally posted by Razorwing

But the music should be heard around the Redoran quarter.

Thanks! Actually I didn't intend for this tune to be used in ST. It was just a demo but if you want to use it then be my guest. I had pictured it more as battle music, though... I'm working on a few more too.

I'm glad to hear that there is some hope for music scripting after all. I hope it works out.

[Razorwing]

Originally posted by bobbyhood
Thanks! Actually I didn't intend for this tune to be used in ST. It was just a demo but if you want to use it then be my guest. I had pictured it more as battle music, though... I'm working on a few more too.

I'm glad to hear that there is some hope for music scripting after all. I hope it works out.

Oops, sorry for the confusion.

I do absolutely love your music track and would love to see it used in the mod, although the one in particular that I use in Reich Parkeep is the one composed by surahassu. I'm having a bit of a problem with the script, so the music is only heard while you're in the menu system while in town. But once we get the background music script to work there shouldn't be any problems in tweaking it so that other pieces can be heard elsewhere.

[nerbod]

Bobbyhood, I get a 404 not found message when trying to open the links in the original post. Any suggestions on how to avoid it?

[Razorwing]

...just to clarify in case there was any misunderstanding in my post above. Reich Parkeep isn't synonymous with Silgrad Tower It's one of many towns being planned in our mod, and there'll be at least five or six towns of the same size (including the Blacklight area). The background for Reich Parkeep is only intended to be used there, and there are many, many other opportunities for composers to get their compositions heard in our mod and get exposure for their work. In case there was any misunderstanding on that. =)

[bobbyhood]

nerbod: I took those files off my site because they were no longer needed since the topic of this post is no longer an issue.

razorwing: Understood :goodjob: