TLDR: Devs, please make a (semi-)official, fully compatible .zip file that contains classic music once used by UO. If such zip includes appropriate folders and file names community could, at will, then use this .Zip to replace the terrible music of modern UO with awesome music of ye olden days UO.
I would very much like to think this is an idea I'm not alone in liking. Please show your support so loudly it reaches ears of our Dev team!
Ladies, Gentle Men, friends and neighbors,
I think it would be prudent of us to to try and fix the dynsfunctional, depressing condition of in-game music in UO.
Ultima Franchise as a whole has dozens of nostalgic, memorable and atmospheric tunes. During years following it's release, this was the case for UO as well. Some of UO's tunes were classics lifted off the franchise. Others beautiful and atmospheric tunes specificially composed for the game. Their old fashioned midi-driven beauty made perfect match for look and feel of the game. Sadly, it has been over 10 years since any of these were prominently present in game's default soundtrack. Yet, majority of players thinks of them fondly even today.
At some point or another(LBR? 3rd Dawn? Can't recall.) EA decided UO would greatly benefit from music created, composed and played with modern soundcards in mind. This in and of itself is all well and good. However, I believe significant portion of us can agree the end result was reasonably awful. For over 10 years, there has been no beauty or undeniable power of nostalgy present in music most prominently featured in UO. I speak of things such as city themes, log in music, wilderness, forest themes, shop/tavern music. Ie songs you end up hearing as you actually play the game. We've been stuck listening uninspired, sloppily done and damned annoying cacophony. Most all of us have ended up with same solution; just turn music off.
This is bit of a shame; as said earlier.. both UO and UO franchise as a whole have tons of music great many of us think fondly. Most all of these classic songs remain buried in depths of the default installlation of UO even today, so it is not like EA had somehow lost the rights to the music. Despite being there, these songs aren't promimently present in game any more.
In full seriousness, I'd like to officially claim UO would have 500-1000 more paying subs today if it played Stones on log in screen. It is very difficult to quit on game that plays the Stones.
Now, ever since release of LBR it has been 'officially' possible to replace music files of UO with custom files of your own. Good number of people have made valiant,unofficial efforts at gathering classic music of UO available on-line. Technically, it is possible for anyone to manually replace modern day UO music with these files. However, due to different formats, titles and Kbs ratios people have used, this makes surprisingly tedious and unreliable experience. This didn't keep me from trying to do just that. I am computer savvy enough and have tinkered with more add ons and mods for Skyrim and what nots than I'd care to count. Yet, I just failed. I wasn't able to navigate through crashes caused by different Kbs ratios of Mp3 format and/or other things I couldn't locate. I had to give up.
I'm not exactly asking for some great content patch to redeem this; I'd be very happy with an officially released Zip file which provides the old classics we can use to replace the terrible cacophony of modern day soundtrack. I'd love a well assembled pile of .mp3 files that are appropriately named and foldered (to make it easy to replace the Music folder of UO with few clicks) and provides it's files in uniform format keeping things from crashing.
If such semi-official zip would also feature an accompanying .txt or ini file providing tweaked settings how, where and when music plays, I think it is safe to say game would turn little more enjoyable for many overnight. ie, for love of goood remove any looping tunes. Nobody wants to listen same 1 min song over and over and over again. Play it once upon entering an area; that's it.
What would this achieve?
* Replacing music of UO is reasonably tedious and difficult process. Many don't bother with it but rather, endure terrible music and/or play the game without sounds. If you make it easy and comfortable for people to replace terrible music with good music, more people will end up replacing terrible music with good music.
* Above, in turn results in UO many find much, much more pleasant to listen. This, in turn, would result in UO that more people would enjoy sticking with or returning to
* I kinda believe this could be achieved with reasonably modest amount of hazzle. It would not require content patch or PublishXX or such. An official or semi-official .zip file could do the trick.
If you agree please express your support!
If you are interested in poking around, this thread features links and resouces to old music.
http://stratics.com/community/threads/classic-uo-music.307837/#post-2335529
Ignore theOP though; in that thread I made at attempt to catalogue my uh..journey of replacing UO's music by myself, but as said I keep encountering crashes and falling in traps of differing Kbs formats or somesuch. So don't follow my instructions; p
I would very much like to think this is an idea I'm not alone in liking. Please show your support so loudly it reaches ears of our Dev team!
Ladies, Gentle Men, friends and neighbors,
I think it would be prudent of us to to try and fix the dynsfunctional, depressing condition of in-game music in UO.
Ultima Franchise as a whole has dozens of nostalgic, memorable and atmospheric tunes. During years following it's release, this was the case for UO as well. Some of UO's tunes were classics lifted off the franchise. Others beautiful and atmospheric tunes specificially composed for the game. Their old fashioned midi-driven beauty made perfect match for look and feel of the game. Sadly, it has been over 10 years since any of these were prominently present in game's default soundtrack. Yet, majority of players thinks of them fondly even today.
At some point or another(LBR? 3rd Dawn? Can't recall.) EA decided UO would greatly benefit from music created, composed and played with modern soundcards in mind. This in and of itself is all well and good. However, I believe significant portion of us can agree the end result was reasonably awful. For over 10 years, there has been no beauty or undeniable power of nostalgy present in music most prominently featured in UO. I speak of things such as city themes, log in music, wilderness, forest themes, shop/tavern music. Ie songs you end up hearing as you actually play the game. We've been stuck listening uninspired, sloppily done and damned annoying cacophony. Most all of us have ended up with same solution; just turn music off.
This is bit of a shame; as said earlier.. both UO and UO franchise as a whole have tons of music great many of us think fondly. Most all of these classic songs remain buried in depths of the default installlation of UO even today, so it is not like EA had somehow lost the rights to the music. Despite being there, these songs aren't promimently present in game any more.
In full seriousness, I'd like to officially claim UO would have 500-1000 more paying subs today if it played Stones on log in screen. It is very difficult to quit on game that plays the Stones.
Now, ever since release of LBR it has been 'officially' possible to replace music files of UO with custom files of your own. Good number of people have made valiant,unofficial efforts at gathering classic music of UO available on-line. Technically, it is possible for anyone to manually replace modern day UO music with these files. However, due to different formats, titles and Kbs ratios people have used, this makes surprisingly tedious and unreliable experience. This didn't keep me from trying to do just that. I am computer savvy enough and have tinkered with more add ons and mods for Skyrim and what nots than I'd care to count. Yet, I just failed. I wasn't able to navigate through crashes caused by different Kbs ratios of Mp3 format and/or other things I couldn't locate. I had to give up.
I'm not exactly asking for some great content patch to redeem this; I'd be very happy with an officially released Zip file which provides the old classics we can use to replace the terrible cacophony of modern day soundtrack. I'd love a well assembled pile of .mp3 files that are appropriately named and foldered (to make it easy to replace the Music folder of UO with few clicks) and provides it's files in uniform format keeping things from crashing.
If such semi-official zip would also feature an accompanying .txt or ini file providing tweaked settings how, where and when music plays, I think it is safe to say game would turn little more enjoyable for many overnight. ie, for love of goood remove any looping tunes. Nobody wants to listen same 1 min song over and over and over again. Play it once upon entering an area; that's it.
What would this achieve?
* Replacing music of UO is reasonably tedious and difficult process. Many don't bother with it but rather, endure terrible music and/or play the game without sounds. If you make it easy and comfortable for people to replace terrible music with good music, more people will end up replacing terrible music with good music.
* Above, in turn results in UO many find much, much more pleasant to listen. This, in turn, would result in UO that more people would enjoy sticking with or returning to
* I kinda believe this could be achieved with reasonably modest amount of hazzle. It would not require content patch or PublishXX or such. An official or semi-official .zip file could do the trick.
If you agree please express your support!
If you are interested in poking around, this thread features links and resouces to old music.
http://stratics.com/community/threads/classic-uo-music.307837/#post-2335529
Ignore theOP though; in that thread I made at attempt to catalogue my uh..journey of replacing UO's music by myself, but as said I keep encountering crashes and falling in traps of differing Kbs formats or somesuch. So don't follow my instructions; p
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