Custom music in-game

[fuchikoma]

So I've noticed some things using my own music on my 360...

If I share it over the network with Windows Media Player, it works pretty quickly. It tries to play DRM-free iTunes MP4s and fails utterly every time. Also, Japanese artist names or titles appear as "???????".

 

You can load up a USB flashdrive too. It displays other languages just fine. However... sometimes it takes like, 5-10 minutes just to show you the track names on the album. Then at least as long to start playing them. Sometimes if it gets too far into it, it won't even let you cancel for a minute while it chews on the files trying to find something to make use of.

 

The solution? Use The Godfather, some other ID3 editor, or even a stripping tool to remove all the ID3v2 tags from your music. (Shouldn't really matter if it's just flashdrive copies, right?) BAM. Instant loading. Why MS couldn't figure out something over a decade old is beyond me. It broke a lot of devices and players when it was new, but... that was a long time ago.

 

I believe ID3v1 is at the very start of a file and v2 is at the very end, and the 360 has to read files with v2 a LOT, though slowly, judging by the access light activity. It would truly be sad if the OS they were using couldn't read a given address in a file and had to read it from start to finish every time instead... Ah well, there's the fix!

[fuchikoma]

I noticed something on PS3... On the 360 if you try to play your own music in a game and it's blocked, it'll tell you, then close.

If you try to play your music on a PS3 in-game, it'll tell you, then queue it, and as soon as it's able to, it'll start playing your music.

[Alex Heat]

I find the custom music function to be incredibly helpful, given the number of games that have boring/generic soundtracks nowadays.

[TheMightyEthan]

I like it for things like racing/sports games/etc that don't necessarily need a certain mood, but would never use it on games with a more cohesive, crafted experience.

[Strangelove]

It's a pet peeve of mine when people use other music than what was actually intended in games that tend to have their own score and not an actual soundtrack. Youre kind of fucking with something that was never meant to be fucked with and if I were the person who wrote the score youre "changing," id be pissed as hell.

 

If youre playing a sports or racing game with a bunch of licensed hip hop or rock, fine, change the soundtrack. It probably sucked ass anyways.

But leave Lost Odyssey's score alone please. No, MGS3 doesn't need Limp Bizkit in the background, thanks. And for the love of your God, Silent Hill doesn't need DeadMau5. Actually, NO ONE needs Deadmau5.

 

 

To be honest, this peeve is an extension from my hatred of AMVS. I fucking hate those things with a passion. Your Linkin Park/DBZ video sucks ass and you suck dick for making it and thinking it was a good idea in the first place. The shit doesnt go together, dumbass.

[fuchikoma]

Yeah, I agree with Ethan and Strangelove. I actually haven't messed with it much on PS3, but I started using it in Quantum Conundrum because all the levels look the same and sound the same and it really starts to drag on IMO - especially once you've beaten the game and are just going back to do levels better. But the PS3 handles it great - it's loading the game, and I try to play my music. It tells me it can't play it right now, so I just switch back to the game, the load screen finishes displaying and my tunes kick in.

 

I also use it all the time in Forza 4 now. F3 had an alright soundtrack that got old after a while. F4 they just phoned in - a bunch of cheesy video game techno BGM that seems like they just wanted to be able to say "we have a soundtrack." Their egos are still as big as ever though, so you must listen to the Turn 10/Microsoft logo revving an engine every single time you start the game.

[Alex Heat]

I've used custom music pretty extensively, even when playing RPGs or games that otherwise have a cohesive and crafted experience (as Ethan put it).

 

Namely, because if I think a song sucks, that trumps its relevancy to a particularly scene. Turns out, I think a lot of music in games sucks (hell, I can't think of a game yet where I liked EVERY song).

[FredEffinChopin]

To be honest, this peeve is an extension from my hatred of AMVS. I fucking hate those things with a passion. Your Linkin Park/DBZ video sucks ass and you suck dick for making it and thinking it was a good idea in the first place. The shit doesnt go together, dumbass.

 

but... but....

I don't know wtf the deal is with Linkin Park and AMVs either btw.... I seem to remember when they first came out that there was either a video of theirs that featured some sort of anime, or one or more AMVs that somehow gained serious popularity. I guess a lot of people have felt like the two went hand-in-hand since then. It is gross already. I'm an AMV fan though (obviously), when done right. I've seen some really good ones that eventually changed my view of AMVs from something I saw as an entertaining distraction here and there, to a legitimate artistic medium of sorts. Again, when done properly. Like with movies, music, and just about anything else though, the majority is either not suited to my taste, or what I actually might call horrible.

 

OT: Anyway, this is the number one feature on the 360 that I've been jealous of all along. For the most part I also like to experience games in their entirety, but there are some games that call for custom soundtracks for any number of reasons.

 

Sports games almost always, in my opinion, are a great place for it. When I play The Show I make sure that my MP3s are playing during menus (not the games themselves, I like the stadium sounds), and I spend a great deal of time setting up little clips (and even switching them up periodically, because that will make people think I'm cool) for when I step up to bat, hit a HR, or get called in as relief. Racing games are ideal candidates for custom music too, as well as pretty much any game that (as Strangelove mentioned) is just playing someone's playlist anyway. Even if it had an OST though, I think I'd rather have my own music when playing something like Skate...

 

I also will use it when I've beaten a game enough though, and am say, grinding out the trophy. Or just if I've played a game enough. Super Stardust HD had a ost that I loved, but after enough hours.... It starts to mock your senses. If a game puts me in that position and I don't have the ability for custom soundtracks on it, I just cut the music volume and play something through another device.

 

**edit**

I also play many online games, and very occasionally a 1p with no music at all.