Custom Music in AACW - A How-to Guide

[Pdubya64]

After a couple weeks of playing AACW, I naturally wanted to add some of my own Civil War music .mp3 files to AACW and after some initial trial and error succeeded in getting them to work.
Here is my guide to creating your own custom music files in AACW using the game's existing method, i.e., you're just adding additional songs to the jukebox.


The following guidelines work well in the game and have been tested and used by the community up to v1.10, so feel free to go on a ACW "music hunt"! I recommend Amazon.com's mp3 section as you can download individual songs at reasonable prices. Just be careful to read and watch for when your music is ready to save... or you'll end up buying one twice like I did!



Getting Started
First, of course, you need to get your tracks into .mp3 format if they aren't already; I did this by importing my Gettysburg soundtrack CD into iTunes and then exporting the file as a .mp3 file (you have to change some settings in the "advanced" section; see help files).


Alright, once you have your new music in the correct .mp3 format...

First open the \Sounds subdirectory: (I use Notepad)
Look close and you will see I replaced tracks 03 and 09 with "Dawn" and "Fife And Gun" respectively, as they were duplicates of 08 "Stonewall Jackson's Way". I then started adding new tracks 20 and 21. So far, so good. You can either do the same or start with track 20 if you want to keep the original 03 and 09 music. Note: FYI, "x1" or "x2" makes no difference in the filename, it was strictly a naming convention (per Pocus). The Track Number has never mattered, but you can change it under the song's properties.
[INDENT][/INDENT]

Second open the Music.ini file: (at very bottom of \Sounds)
I modified "Music26", aka track 03 along with "Music32". I created the two at the bottom for new tracks 20 and 21. Just keep adding for how ever many you create in the \Sounds subdirectory and follow the existing format.
[INDENT][/INDENT]

Third, open the Sounds.ini file: (same location)
Just do the same replace or create in this file like you did in Music.ini. Save the changes in the .ini files and restart AACW. It might take some time, but you should hear your new music eventually.
[INDENT][/INDENT] continued...
[INDENT][/INDENT]

I have found over time that the game can be quite random with music order at times, then it will play the same song twice in a row. I don't think there is any way around this and it doesn't always happen.

Last but not least:
Make sure the filenames are exact format matches in each of the files used above! In other words, watch your spaces and hyphens.
If anybody has comments or suggestions they are welcome. Have fun!
PW

[Rafiki]

Very informative and nicely put together, but why not simply play the music on your mp3-player of choice in the background?

[Pdubya64]

Ummm, I guess mostly because I really like the existing music they picked for AACW, I just wanted some additional stuff to mix it up. I suppose I could use the mp3 files on my iPod though the same way... just call me weird.

[Rafiki]

Nuh-uh. I ain't calling no-one weird.

Personally, I really like the one that plays during the "opening credits", so I can see why you wanted to keep the music, with some songs/melodies added

[PBBoeye]

Some games do play better with a dedicated MP3 player running in the background. I notice a lag at times when AACW is loading up a file, and that annoys.

I always played HOI2 with Winamp running in the background. Ate some more memory, but no lag.

Btw, I absolutely love the ACW period music. I might have to purchase some...

[Pocus]

x2 means the song is repeated in the mp3 file, and x1 means it is not. This has no incidence on anything and is just a naming convention from the band who did the music.

[richfed]

I tried this - on my own, actually - but it does not seem to work. I did a search for help and here's this thread. This is exactly what I did - with "Ashokan Farewell" - but after several hours of game play, still no new tune. I have checked, and re-checked - everything looks good. But, no Ashokan ...

DARN!

[richfed]

Now that I've loaded version 1.07, it works! Go figure.

[Pocus]

Sorry, I think I cleared an hard coded contingency in 1.07 which allow you to add musics as you wish.

[Pdubya64]

Pocus:
Oddly enough, after I did a game uninstall and reinstall with my disc and patched with 1.07e (and then added my new music in), I get the following behavior:

Game starts up fine and sound/music is OK.

When a song starts "in-game", however, the title that used to come up near the top middle by the ledger displays the filename of a sound like "BOA - muskets..", etc., even though it is the playing the music you are expecting.
Weird huh?
I checked and rechecked the way I did the file mods and can't find anything that would make it do this... any ideas?
Thanks,
Pdubya

[GShock]

Pd lucky you who have that soundtrack...i looked on the web for some music to add to my "AACW jukebox" but found no suitable ones. I must admit the ones AgeOD picked for AACW are just plainly perfect...perfect.

However, since you've been so kind to supply all of us with the instructions, i took my time to upload the ones i found somehow suitable though not good for AACW i fear.

I submit in case you or anyone else likes the style...at least i'll feel my search wasn't useless

http://rapidshare.com/files/62817183/songs.zip.html

[Pocus]

Pocus:
Oddly enough, after I did a game uninstall and reinstall with my disc and patched with 1.07e (and then added my new music in), I get the following behavior:

Game starts up fine and sound/music is OK.

When a song starts "in-game", however, the title that used to come up near the top middle by the ledger displays the filename of a sound like "BOA - muskets..", etc., even though it is the playing the music you are expecting.
Weird huh?
I checked and rechecked the way I did the file mods and can't find anything that would make it do this... any ideas?
Thanks,
Pdubya

You are right, a small bug when the name is fetched, thanks. This don't alter the actual music played.

[Philippe]

I just added a dozen pieces of music, mostly from the Ken Burns Civil War soundtrack. I'm impressed with how easy it was -- apparently no work with a sound editor is required (a good thing because I haven't reinstalled one since I switched computers).

A couple of questions:

Is there a limit on the maximum number of music files that the program can handle? How can I be sure that everything is getting played short of listening to the game for a couple of hours with a pencil and checklist?

Does the game engine make selections in different random orders each time it runs through everything? There are several pieces of music that now appear in two versions: I don't want to hear them back-to-back -- is there a way to avoid that, or is it just luck of the draw? My sense is that the selection isn't truly random, and tends to repeat its original choices (which is why I was wondering if there was a limit on the number of music files).

[Korrigan]

I just added a dozen pieces of music...

Oh no!!!! Not another Philippe!!!

[Rafiki]

[runyan99]

I wonder if Pocus could export the delay between playing songs. I would like to play a song occasionally, say every 5 minutes or so, but 1.09 seems to play my music list back to back, which makes me inclined to turn it off.

[Goeland]

Hi all !

I did this two years ago to have my own folder of musics, and it's great : playing with "Ashokan farewell" or "Amazing grace" is allways a great experience ! Thank you so

But I just patched my game to v1.17a and now it doesn't work : at the begining I've a popup box xich tell me there's an error... I suppose there's a line somewhere I should modify to make the game accept my "sound" folder. Does anyone knows where ?

Franck

[Goeland]

Ok, I found.