GUIDE: Changing in-game music

[vulcan4d]

I'm not sure whether this has been posted or not but in all my time here I havn't seen anything of the sort.

I'm only at LVL7 and I'm already tired of the battle theme, what about you guys? Well there is a way to change the music. Download this program, XiMC004.lzh, from HERE (http://kaedeps2.at.infoseek.co.jp/) . You will need winrar to extract it. It's in Japanese but it's pretty simple to figure it out. The music files are stored in
"X:\Program Files\PlayOnline\SquareEnix\FINAL FANTASY XI\sound\win\music\data". I highly recommend you backup the music before messing around, the program never asks whether you want to overwrite.

Take any music, whether it's CD, mp3 or whatever and convert it to wav. I'll let you figure that one out yourself ;). Open the program, choose which file you want to replace from the list on the right and choose WAV->BGW. Open your wav file and wait a bit. The name list is in English so it's easy to understand but if you want to hear the music you are about to change then you can choose BGW->WAV, choose the file and it'll be converted.

To see an illustration, watch this short video I made (7mb). I'm sure many of you know from where the music came from *cough* FFX *cough* ;). Now doesn't that look...I mean sound cool?

CLICK HERE TO SEE MOVIE (http://www3.telus.net/phalen/ffxi/2.avi)

If you have problems then you'll need to download the Xvid codec which I presonally thing is the best to work with. Get it HERE (http://www.divx-digest.com/software/xvid.html)

Oh yeah one more thing. Don't you guys love my pants, or the lack there of? hehe. Man I look like a perf, wearing women's underwear :sweat:. Let's join together and BAN these undies from Vana'diel!!!

NOTE: If anyone notices bad spelling I'm sorry, my keyboard is busted :mad:

AKosygin EDIT:
IMPORTANT NOTE: According to the Japanese readme file, the resulting WAV input file must be 16-bits. The other options are at your perrogative, but the file must be recorded in 16-bits. CD Quality is usually 44 kHz 16-bit Stereo.

It is also possible to convert MP3s -> WAVs by using WinAmp 2.x's Disk Writer plug-in output. Don't forget to turn off repeating before doing Disk Writer. :thumbsup:

neighbortaru EDIT: Link updated

[CamTheMan]

Wow, that's pretty sweets. Where did you get the FFX music from? I look on some download clients but they all have crazy names and I can't remember where they're from. :P

[chorozon]

hahaha cool: drum´n´bass battle music here i come :thumbsup:

[AKosygin]

FINALLY! Someone found it for me. Thank you. :handsdown :handsdown :handsdown

Time to make my dot hack music pack.

Warcraft II music pack would be interesting too.

[CloudFFVII]

Of course it might be easier just to turn the FFXI music down and have MP3 playing in the background

[Ragura]

Really? I don't think that would be better in any way. Although it will save some space on your HD, the mp3s you'll be hearing won't match the situation, unless you plan to switch songs every 12 seconds.

Of course, I'm someone who loves FFXI's music and doesn't grow tired of it, so I'll just get the programme for the BGM->WAV support.

[AKosygin]

Though it would be cool if you can ADD music to an area in addition to the existing areas that have music.

There are places that do not have music, and it would be great to add that.

[vulcan4d]

Oh man I need to find a different file host, the account already reached it's download limit :)....nooo my sig!!!! haha

Originally posted by CloudFFVII
Of course it might be easier just to turn the FFXI music down and have MP3 playing in the background

It would work but I wouldn't call it easier. The music will be playing constantly and the only way to change or stop it is to quit FFXI. By changing in game music it will change when you enter a different area, go to battle etc. You'll never get borred :).

Oh and the battle music I had in the clip is the Boss Battle music from Final Fantasy X OST. I'm sure you can find it off Kazaa or somtehing ;).

Now onto finding a different file host, sorry about that.

NOTE: When my sig comes back, the movie clip link will work so keep an eye on it.

[Vairu]

please do, i want to look into this when i get home in a few hours

i think i'll just use the app to convert the FFXI sounds to wav though :), thanks for this info!

[vulcan4d]

Originally posted by Vairu
please do, i want to look into this when i get home in a few hours

i think i'll just use the app to convert the FFXI sounds to wav though :), thanks for this info!

The software link is not hosted by me, it will work so you can try it. The video clip is just to show you the result in game.

I think I finally found a good free host but it will take some time to activate, couple hours I think. We'll see how that goes.

[Shiyume]

So you -can't- put music into the areas that don't have it? ;-;

More sleeping for mages, then....ZzZzZzZzZ

[Kerghan]

c&c and red alert music anyone? :cool:

[FireMouse]

I like the program, and thankfully the program tells me what each one in the first sound folder is. but I don't recognize any of the other sound folders music aside from the chocobo theme, could anyone else identify them or tell me how to?

But awsome program! Thanks a bunch for posting it.

[vulcan4d]

Alright the clip is up on a fast server and should not go down again.

I'm glad everyone found this usefull :thumbsup:

[Vairu]

Nice :)!

How did you make the clip? What app did you use?

I want that battle song!

[vulcan4d]

Argh! I put everything on my ISP's webspace (had it upgraded), worked fine yesterday but after I requested an address change everything is messed up again :(. Please wait while I resolve this with my ISP.


Originally posted by Vairu
Nice :)!

How did you make the clip? What app did you use?

I want that battle song!


The clip was made using Fraps from http://www.fraps.com/ . It's shareware but there is a demo.

[Vairu]

sweet, i need this :)
only 15 seconds, that sucks :(

[tazirai]

i fyou want a great and epic battle theme try and find a copy of soukagi labyrinth. its a AWESOME theme for all fights, and fights invery well.

I replace music101.bgw with it.


I tried to post it for those interested if anyone has a site I can post to let me know , so i can upload it and then hyperlink it.

[vulcan4d]

Originally posted by Vairu
sweet, i need this :)
only 15 seconds, that sucks :(

Hey Vairu you should clean out all your PM messages and maybe you would get a nice suprise *wink* ;) *wink*

Originally posted by tazirai
i fyou want a great and epic battle theme try and find a copy of soukagi labyrinth. its a AWESOME theme for all fights, and fights invery well.

I replace music101.bgw with it.


I tried to post it for those interested if anyone has a site I can post to let me know , so i can upload it and then hyperlink it.

soukaigi labyrinth you say? Hmm think I heard that name somewhere but doesn't ring a bell. Is it an Anime or Game?

[tazirai]

soukaigi is the name of the game its a lil known square game.
the song is called labyrinth,
i found it earlier tonight on winmx
I have the soundtrack myself, its very good.


http://www.rpgfan.com/soundtracks/soukaigi/index.html

http://www.altpop.com/stc/reviews/soukaiost.htm





http://www.square-haven.com/games/ps/skgi/index/sokaigi-jp.jpg

[Vairu]

crap, thanks for letting me know :)

bout the PM

[CloudFFVII]

Ahh see there is a difference you are actually trying to reedit aportion of the game, When I turn down the volume and kick up my MP3's I just have my playlist going which has like 200+ songs randomly going. I am not worried about mixing and matching, although when you are in a dungeon fighting ghouls or skeletons or goblins, AC/DC Hells Bells adds a nice mix lol, or a NM with Disturbed - Liberate works well...

[Night Stalker]

Take any music, whether it's CD, mp3 or whatever and convert it to wav. I'll let you figure that one out yourself
why must you make things so hard lol :biggrin: but ya could you tell me how to do it i found a good song to put in it is just i done in how to chang it from mp3 to bgw so if some one could post how too that would be really nice:handsdown :handsdown :handsdown

[Vairu]

ahh

press the mp3>bgw button

then browse to the mp3 your converting

then go back into the directory using explorer and rename the file to the one you want to replace it with, like mus182 or something.

then drag that file and overwrite the one your replacing in the FFXI/music directory(it's on the first page).

and of course, back up that music dir first :)

[BobMeisterLlama]

Hmmm...I know this i probably my fault but when I go to play the clip in windows media player it just shows the color effects that it normally shows while playing music.

[Night Stalker]

where would this button be under is there like a software i need to do this cuz i founf some good song i would like to have as my battle music if you could temm me that would be great

[Night Stalker]

so does any one know how or could tell me how to change the files from mp3 to bgw like where do i go to do it

[Alucath]

Anyone who's seen those videos on this site by Ping, he's got some awesome techno remixes of FF music.. anyone know where I can get these and put them into my game?

[vulcan4d]

Night Stalker, to convert mp3->wav->bgw do this:

mp3->wav
There are a number of mp3<->wav converters out there. My favorite is Acoustica MP3 converter (http://www.acoustica.com/mp3-wav-converter/index.htm) but it costs money. There are a number of freeware converters. Note that I havn't tried these but I quickly "researched" these using google. Try that next time, you'll get your answer quicker ;). If you need help in these read the included instructions but they usually are straight forward.

LamedropXPd
http://rarewares.hydrogenaudio.org/files/lamedropXPd-1.3.3.zip

dBpowerAMP Music Converter
http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm
(can rip CD's aswell)

wav->bgw
Once the software has converted your mp3 to wav, use the BGW converter. Select which game track you would like to replace and press the button under WAV->BGW. Select your file and press open. Wait a bit and it should be done. The converter places the bgw file in the same directory as your wav, so if you had your wav in your FF11 directory then the converter would replace the origonal bgw file. It does not ask whethere to overwrite or not so be carefull. If the converted file is in another directory then just move it to
"X:\Program Files\PlayOnline\SquareEnix\FINAL FANTASY XI\sound\win\music\data" and overwrite the origonal youself.



Alright it can't get any more simpler then this. If no one is able to do this now then maybe it's best to leave it alone hehe.

[illicit]

nice! when i get time ima put all the ff7 songs in yay!! :D

[AKosygin]

Originally posted by vulcan4d
Night Stalker, to convert mp3->wav->bgw do this:

mp3->wav
There are a number of mp3<->wav converters out there. My favorite is Acoustica MP3 converter (http://www.acoustica.com/mp3-wav-converter/index.htm) but it costs money. There are a number of freeware converters. Note that I havn't tried these but I quickly "researched" these using google. Try that next time, you'll get your answer quicker ;). If you need help in these read the included instructions but they usually are straight forward.

LamedropXPd
http://rarewares.hydrogenaudio.org/files/lamedropXPd-1.3.3.zip

dBpowerAMP Music Converter
http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm
(can rip CD's aswell)


You can also use the "Disk Writer" plugin for WinAmp 2.x to convert MP3 to WAV.

IMPORTANT NOTE: According to the Japanese read me file, the WAV file must be recorded at 16 bits. The other settings are at your option, but it must be 16 bits. Though the standard for CD Quality is 44 KHz, 16bit, Stereo.

[hack]

does anyone know the names (as in what they are) of the bgw's from the other programs (i.e. Tetra Master, PlayOnline Viewer)?

[Bandiclef]

Oooh, nice! Now I just need to figure out how to get all those Valkyrie Profile and Symphony Sorcerian tracks I wanna plug in!

[Night Stalker]

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :handsdown :handsdown :handsdown thanks so much i got it to work and now i have the matrixs song oh ya just would like to say thanks oh for PT Battle song is mus103 :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :handsdown :handsdown

[Dr00p]

This prog. is great! However, I have this problem where the music I changed doesn't seem to loop. It plays just once and that's it unless I zone. Is there something that I missed where I could have the game loop the music and not just play it once. Thanx!

[Bandiclef]

Ya know, I had a similar problem. When I first used it, I had replaced the normal combat theme, and except for it starting a little ahead of whee it should have, te song played great, and would reset to the beining after every fight like it should. However I then went and replaced the Ronfarue music, and had some real strangeness happen then. I had it replaced with the overland busic from FF6, and that would play just like it should have when I entered Ronfarue from San Doria, but when I went into combat mode, the combat music (which I had as Distortions in the Void of Deapair from Valkyrie Profile), would start up at the exact same point that the FF6 music left off (so let's say I was a minute into the FF6 song, when I entered combat, it would be playing the music from VP, but a minute into the song). On top of that, when I exited combat, the FF6 music would not resume from where it left off like it should have, but instead skipped to the start = / I haven't really messed with it since, so I haven't seen if I can replicate it, but that is a problem I have observed.

[Viro]

Just got the program & I have a question, what's the number boxes in the dialog boxes where WAV->BGM & the number box in BGM->WAV for? should I just leave those alone?

[Ranthiel]

I deleted the main battletheme without backing it up lol stupid me
its the music101.bgw file. any idea how i could get it back?

*edit
without uninstalling and reinstalling the program


Ranthiel

[Rylios]

id you can get someone to send you a copy of theirs through email you shuold be able to replace it
i believe that should do the trick

[Seraphin]

Am I the only person who really loves the music from this game and DOESNT want to see it changed??? Wow... While I'm always glad to see an alternative with this sort of thing... I just dont see what people find wrong with the music enough to change it...

~Seraphin

[DJofE]

I wish you can ADD music to areas that doesn't have any because it can be quick boring without any music on. Why did they not put music in those areas in the first place?

[Bourne]

Am I the only person who really loves the music from this game and DOESNT want to see it changed??? Wow... While I'm always glad to see an alternative with this sort of thing... I just dont see what people find wrong with the music enough to change it...

hehe I dont' think it's that they don't like the music. I think it has more to do with the fact that you fight in this game more than you do anything else. After a while, that fight music can get annoying. I love music, and I have some of my favorites, but If i had to hear them over and over again for a few hours a night, I'd want a change. This way you can keep things fresh. Would be great to replace the bastok theme music to "welcome to the jungle" from GnR hahahhhahah.... ooo what a sad day...

[Apple D00d]

Originally posted by hack
does anyone know the names (as in what they are) of the bgw's from the other programs (i.e. Tetra Master, PlayOnline Viewer)?

Just open the XiMC, click the button converting BGW to WAV and navigate to X:\ProgramFiles\PlayOnline\SquareEnix\PlayOnlineVi ewer\viewer\data\system\bgm\ and then it will create a wav in that folder of the song you selected. I love the music in POLV and that's what I did. But actually, I copied the bgm folder to my desktop and did it from there so nothing would get changed in the actual program folder!

[Madddogg]

http://db.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/file/final_fantasy_xi_music_hack.txt

music101.bgw: Battle: In overworld, solo
music102.bgw: Battle: In dungeon, in party
music103.bgw: Battle: In overworld, in party
music104.bgw: Ghelsba
music105.bgw: Mhaura
music106.bgw: Ship
music107.bgw: San D'Oria
music108.bgw: Title Screen
music109.bgw: Ronfaure
music110.bgw: Jeuno
music111.bgw: Game Over
music112.bgw: Selbina
music113.bgw: Sarutabaruta
music114.bgw: Batallia Downs
music115.bgw: Battle: In dungeon, solo
music116.bgw: Gustaberg
music117.bgw: Ru'Lude Gardens
music118.bgw: Rolanberry Fields
music119.bgw: Battle: Final Boss
music120.bgw: Nation Selection Screen
music121.bgw: Approching Final Boss
music122.bgw: Delkfutt's (Used in cut scenes)
music123.bgw: Hopelessness (Used in cut scenes)
music124.bgw: Recollection (Used in cut scenes)
music125.bgw: Battle: Boss
music126.bgw: Mog House
music127.bgw: Anxiety (Used in cut scenes)
music128.bgw: Airship
music130.bgw: Tarutaru Female Creation
music131.bgw: Elvaan Female Creation
music132.bgw: Elvaan Male Creation
music133.bgw: Hume Male Creation
music134.bgw: Yuhtunga Jungle
music135.bgw: Kazham
music151.bgw: Windurst
music152.bgw: Bastok
music153.bgw: Crystal Prelude
music154.bgw: Metalworks
music155.bgw: Castle Zvahl
music156.bgw: Chateau d'Oraguille
music157.bgw: Fury (Used in cut scenes)
music158.bgw: Sauromugue Champaign
music159.bgw: Sorrow (Used in cut scenes)
music160.bgw: Repression (Used in cut scenes)
music161.bgw: Despair (Used in cut scenes)
music162.bgw: Heavens Tower
music163.bgw: Sometime Somewhere (Used in cut scenes)
music164.bgw: Xarcabard
music165.bgw: Galka Creation
music166.bgw: Mithra Creation
music167.bgw: Tarutaru Male Creation
music168.bgw: Hume Female Creation
music169.bgw: Regeneracy (Used in cut scenes)
music170.bgw: Buccaneers (Used in cut scenes)
music171.bgw: Altepa Desert
music181.bgw: Chocobo (Short version)
music190.bgw: The Sanctuary of Zi'Tah
music191.bgw: Battle: Rise of Zilart, In overworld
music192.bgw: Battle: Rise of Zilart, In dungeon
music193.bgw: Battle: Rise of Zilart, Boss
music194.bgw: Raogrimm's Theme (Used in cut scenes)
music195.bgw: Belief (Used in cut scenes)
music196.bgw: Fighters of the Crystal (Used in cut scenes)
music197.bgw: Tu'Lia Restoration (Used in cut scenes)
music198.bgw: Eald'narche
music199.bgw: Grav'iton
music200.bgw: Kam'lanaut's Theme (Used in cut scenes)
music201.bgw: Ending
music202.bgw: Quest 1 (Used in cut scenes)
music203.bgw: Quest 2 (Used in cut scenes)
music204.bgw: Quest 3 (Used in cut scenes)
music205.bgw: Quest Completion (Used in cut scenes)
music206.bgw: Yve'noile's Theme (Used in cut scenes)
music207.bgw: Ve'Lugannon Palace
music208.bgw: Rabao
music209.bgw: Norg
music210.bgw: Tu'Lia
music211.bgw: Ro'Maeve
music212.bgw: Chocobo
music213.bgw: Hall of the Gods
music214.bgw: Wedding

You can get full list at site above

[Divine_Spirit]

When I download it it either says it doesn't supporst long file names or the file does not exist message.... :(\
And when i do open it a can't open anyhitng inside the file...


EDIT: Forget that I fixed the problem =)
The songs I want to use a MIDI anyway of using them?

[Weeee]

heres the full link, this one should work.
edit: gah the vB code or whatever likes to shorten the URL's with a "..."

just copy and paste into address bar.

http://db.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/file/final_fantasy_xi_music_hack.txt

have to uncheck the "Automatically parse URLs" box at the bottom for longer addresses

[XerO-CooL]

strange, i dont have 190-214 in my data folder... anyone know whats up? :/


EDIT: NM, it's in sound2 folder... heh

[Kagerou]

Woot got rid of the San'Doria bagpipe music
(changed into Chrono Cross music) :spin:

If anyones interested, i have some really good music u can use for towns+battle.
(Give me a PM, and I'll c if I can send u some)

Btw, songs with lyrics kinda ruins the atmoshere of the game...

[Taoist]

[Ultima_Buster]

anyone got sum really good music i could use, or knows a really good site for em?

[grindle46]

I would suggest you use Malice Mizer for the music...but that's just me and what I like...*glances around*

But then again, Malice Mizer has lyrics so as said, this may ruin the feel of the game^^;

[Artemuller]

Hi,

I've developed a set of bgm's, calls, bard sounds, and spell
sound effects. I was wondering if anyone has experience
with setting up an executable program that will automatically
replace files required like a patch. The pack is roughly 300mb
and I'd really like to save the user I share it with the work of
replacing each file :sweat: thank you.

-Arte :thumbsup:

[Artemuller]

no ideas, anyone :confused:

-Arte :thumbsup:

[Soldat]

i wanna download : The Prodigy- Smack My Bitch up...i thnk it may be too big..im totally confused

[Rai-Jin]

Originally posted by CloudFFVII
Of course it might be easier just to turn the FFXI music down and have MP3 playing in the background

no not really


OMG THIS THING IS GONNA SAVE MY ENTIRE LIFE :O ill test it just tomorrow..i want that Saga Frontier II Battle theme (there are better ones but it fits more too ffxi ^^) or lunar silver star story or..or..or!!

[Rai-Jin]

Originally posted by DJofE
I wish you can ADD music to areas that doesn't have any because it can be quick boring without any music on. Why did they not put music in those areas in the first place?

since FFXI is a PS2 Game they didnt put Background Music to those Areas that have a lot Party playing because PS2 can only read a amount of diffrent Sounds at the same time

OMG: I cant wait to put some Grandia Battle Music in it :O someone has the Grandia Battle Themes (since theres more then 1 i can use them for group battles etc. :D)

[Atam]

I like the ingame music but I can't stand the fact that it doesn't have music in every area. I understand why they did it like that with the PS2, but I wished they put some in for the PC. I can't wait till someone finds a way to put music in the areas that doesn't have it.

For now I'll just alternate between ingame music, and playing mp3 while ingame is muted.

Oh well, lol

[Xenoheart]

This is an interesting tutorial! I knew that you can change music in the game but I wasn't sure how.

Thanks for this great tutorial.

[Tighfield]

That site no longers works! Can we get a new one please! I need the music converter:biggrin:

[01blacksnake]

Is there a new site that has the music converter??

[Atam]

There most likely is, you'll probably just have to search on the internet yourself.

I'm not gonna change the music on my game. The music converter can't do what I want. It won't loop music, and it has problems with the battle music, from what I understand.

I'm just gonna play music and mute the ingame music, whenever I get tired of the ingame music.

[Elesirdur]

There most likely is, you'll probably just have to search on the internet yourself.

I'm not gonna change the music on my game. The music converter can't do what I want. It won't loop music, and it has problems with the battle music, from what I understand.

I'm just gonna play music and mute the ingame music, whenever I get tired of the ingame music.


The point XiMC is that it converts WAV files into a proper .BGM format so they do loop and they do work fine in battle situations. I think some people have problems when they convert their MP3s to WAV and use too high a sample rate. I think FFXI only uses 24bit WAV samples for it's music so if you set it too hight then nothing gets converted properly.

A good way to check this is convert a BGM into a WAV with XiMC and then open that WAV file with a converter to see it's properties. Just jot those down and use those same file properties (bit rate, etc) when you convert your MP3 or w/e to WAV then to BGW and you'll be working perfect.

Personally, I've changed the Ro'Meave, Tu'Lia, and Ve'Legnunon Palace (sp?) background music files to a few of the songs by Bill Brown for the Lineage II soundtrack. Yeah it's kind of a ripoff of Howard Shore's LotR soundtrack (at least I feel the themes way too similar to be a concidence) but it's nice stuff. Check out his website at http://www.billbrownmusic.com/

[Agnastar]

FFXI uses 16-bit stereo WAV config. You can change that information by taking sound recorder and opening the desired WAV, and select "save as", and on the save screen, there's a button that will bring up the selection screen to change the bit rate and such.

[Hyrist]

Still we need an updated link as to how to get the convert program working. Does anyone have a link to such a thing, because I would rather not have to constantly run my WMP in the backround in the game, as it can slow my computer down a bit.

[Pebbles]

Still we need an updated link as to how to get the convert program working. Does anyone have a link to such a thing, because I would rather not have to constantly run my WMP in the backround in the game, as it can slow my computer down a bit.

Then use a non-bloated audio player like foobar2000 (http://www.foobar2000.org), which focuses on audio quality rather than eye candy. ^^ A plugin for it to play BGW/SPW files is available from the POLUtils page.

[Ghostraven]

anyone figure out a way to change sound effects?

[Hyrist]

The link for the BGW converter program is down, can anyone link me to a copy of it? Thanks.

[athy]

where can I get Final fantasy 7 Battle music

[Zeth]

I'm not sure if anyone else has posted this because I'm too lazy to look through the while thread. :) But the links in the first post didn't work for me either, so I looked around and found this site.

http://www.moghouse.net/musichacking.htm

Hope that helps some people.

[Exertim]

I just wanted to post (Holy 2 years last reply batman) to say a quick "thank you!" for this thread ^^.