Revamping the Bard.

[Archaaz]

As mentioned earlier, I am extremely new to all of this. I am considering revamping the bard system, removing all of the original bard skills and replacing them with a sort of song spell system, one that works in conjunction with musicianship. I want to make the bard more of a fighter/support character, and to add a bit of flavor to the role. I also find the original bard tune rather annoying and repetitive, and was hoping to add something a little more subtle and thematic, that lasts the entire time the bard is using a particular song to benefit allies or hinder opponents.

Has anyone experimented with importing music files (I am currently searching for suitable public domain files), or perhaps with using the files included in Dawn's Music Box, or maybe even using the game music files themselves in such a manner?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[AsYlum]

You should have no problem with adding sounds to sounds.mul . I think that all bard tunes are in sounds.mul . The music files can be replaced but i think that client supports only limited amount of backround music files.

[Archaaz]

You should have no problem with adding sounds to sounds.mul . I think that all bard tunes are in sounds.mul . The music files can be replaced but i think that client supports only limited amount of backround music files.

Ah, thank you for the information. Must the new music files be converted to .mul format, and if so, is there a way to do this?

[Yukiko]

UO Fiddler provides a way for importing a sound file into sounds.mul. Your sound file you wish to import needs to be in WAV format I think but I don't know what sample rate is required.

sounds.mul is a library file containing all of the sounds that are produced in game either by player characters, non-player characters, natural effects or by the use of an item. Those sounds are separate from the background music, such as Stones which plays during the log-in session or the Britain music that plays when you enter Britain. Those are stored as MP3 files under the \Music\Digital directory in the Ultima Online installation directory.

[Archaaz]

UO Fiddler provides a way for importing a sound file into sounds.mul. Your sound file you wish to import needs to be in WAV format I think but I don't know what sample rate is required.

sounds.mul is a library file containing all of the sounds that are produced in game either by player characters, non-player characters, natural effects or by the use of an item. Those sounds are separate from the background music, such as Stones which plays during the log-in session or the Britain music that plays when you enter Britain. Those are stored as MP3 files under the \Music\Digital directory in the Ultima Online installation directory.

Ah, thank you. I definitely need to download UOFiddler, for many reasons. I suppose even a different short little burst of music for each song would work, if I cannot get it to work with longer pieces playing for the duration of the skill. It might be irritating anyway with the background music, and esp. with several bards playing different tunes at once on top of it. I will have to experiment.

[Yukiko]

You can have the ambient music (an mp3) play during bard songs. The "practice" music that plays could be changed to be an mp3 song if you wish. Again you'd just tell the script to play an mp3 rather than the sound from the sounds.mul file. Most bard systems I have seen play the usual sound that we all know and hate only during practice but once your bard is able to "cast" bard "spells" using whatever method was scripted for song/spell selection, the actual song played is one of the mp3s.

[Archaaz]

You can have the ambient music (an mp3) play during bard songs. The "practice" music that plays could be changed to be an mp3 song if you wish. Again you'd just tell the script to play an mp3 rather than the sound from the sounds.mul file. Most bard systems I have seen play the usual sound that we all know and hate only during practice but once your bard is able to "cast" bard "spells" using whatever method was scripted for song/spell selection, the actual song played is one of the mp3s.

Ah, that is perfect for what I have in mind. I am considering a number of rather diverse songs, moving away from the more combat-specific nature of the class, such things as a March (increased walking speed for party members), Shanty (increased Fishing and Boat speed), Battle Hymn (combat bonus for party members), Lullaby (Peacemaking), etc. Essentially, songs for a number of occasions (and the bard must actually be playing and not engaged in combat at the same time).