Introduction:
In this tutorial, I will explain how to add or edit new music into Freelancer in simple, easy steps. Before we begin, this tutorial is assuming that you have downloaded the Source Distribution Package 1.3 from this site which contains all the uncompressed INI files for editing Freelancer. If you haven't done it, I recommend you do it before proceeding with this tutorial or find yourself an INI Decompressor/Editor on this site. There are many different kinds floating around here. Once you've done that, then your ready to start with this tutorial.

Difficulty:
Level 2 - Moderate

Process:
Step 1: Converting music to wav format.
First off, you must convert the music you want to add into wav format. It does not matter on the sampling rate. Some people say the wav file must be 22 kHz, but I'm here to tell you that you can add a wav file that is 44 kHz. I have done it myself. In order to convert the music you want into wav format, you need a good converter. I have Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum in which I use Soundstream to convert my music from mp3 to wma or wav format. if you can't find a copy of EZCD 5, then I recommend you do a search on the internet particularly GOOGLE and type in "Audio Converter". Browse around until you find a fairly cheap, free, or shareware program that will accomplish the task. For those of you who do use EZCD 5, you should know how to convert to different formats already, but in case you don't, feel free to contact me at [email protected]. I will give you good instructions on how to do it.

Step 2: Where to put the new wav file?
Okay, once you convert the music file from its old format to the wav format, its time to put it into the game. Go to the place where you installed your Freelancer files, and find your music directory. It will be located under x:\Microsoft Games\Freelancer\DATA\AUDIO\MUSIC where "x:\" is the drive that you put Freelancer on. Paste your new wav file into that directory and there you go. Your new music file is ready to go.

Step 3: Declare the new music file exists.
Your new music file is ready to go, but how does it play? First, you need to declare that it even exists. Find the INI file called music.ini which will be located under x:\Microsoft Games\Freelancer\DATA\AUDIO\ where "x:\" again is the drive that you installed Freelancer on. I recommend using notepad to edit "music.ini" or your INI Decompressor/Editor. Once you open music.ini, simply put in the following code. It does not matter where it goes in the file as long as it is there.

[Sound
nickname = your_music
type = music
file = audio\music\yourmusic.wav
attenuation = 8
streamer = true

NOTE: For those of you who do not know what "attenuation" or "streamer" is, I will explain it to you. Attentuation is the strength of the signal when it is played over the speaker. You can set this value anywhere from negative to positive where negative represents softer and positive represents louder. Play with this setting until you achieve the softness or loudness that you want to hear in the game. Next , what is "streamer"? Streamer from I understand means when the song is near the end, it slowly fades into nothing like you hear on some tapes or CDs of groups. There are only two settings to this one, true and false. Simple enough. Play with this one too until you achieve the desired effect.


Step 4: Telling it when and where to play?
Moving onward. You've declared your music file exists, but it still won't play because you have not told it to play when and where. That is when you must decide where you want to be when your music starts playing. For example, let's say you wanna set the background music when your flying in the New York System to play that new music file you just added. Okay, here is what you need to do. First find the folder that contains all the data for the New York System. It will all be located here: x:\Microsoft Games\Freelancer\DATA\UNIVERSE\SYSTEMS\LI01, where "x:\" once again represents the drive that you installed Freelancer on.

NOTE: You must know the Developer code names of systems if you should decide to add other music to the other systems.

Li01 = New York System, Liberty Space.

If you look through this site, you can find literally a dozen different charts that map the Developer codenames to their respective System Name. If not, again, contact me at [email protected] and I will provide you with one.

Now, once your inside that folder, look for Li01.ini. Again, I recommend using notepad to edit this file as well or for those of you who didn't download the SDK 1.3 , your handy INI Decompressor/Editor. Open up Li01.ini and find this block of code:

[Music
space = music_li_space
danger = music_li_danger
battle = music_li_battle

This is where you insert the nickname for your new music file. replace "space = music_li_space" with this: "space = your_music". Hooray! Your new music file will play when you fly around in the New York System. How easy was that!? Hopefully easy enough you'll feel comfortable doing it again with the rest of the music you want to add.

If you have any questions, let me know through replies on this post or contact me at [email protected].

Have a nice day!





- Supreme Commander J. Silver
- Commander-in-Chief
- LTS League

Edited by - lts_silver on 4/1/2005 2:23:17 AM

Edited by - lts_silver on 4/1/2005 2:25:07 AM

Edited by - lts_silver on 4/1/2005 2:27:52 AM

Edited by - lts_silver on 4/1/2005 2:28:27 AM