Do you listen to the ingame music or your own?

[[DM] Grinning Death]

I always listen to the Super Mario Brothers Soundtrack. Gets me in the zone.

[Doubtful]

Hamsterdance. Every time.

[Kirin]

Saulus:

As someone who has had experience with this sort of thing, I believe that selecting the appropriate music for an area is a bit of a science, and is something that requires careful consideration and evaluation. I built a PW that received many compliments on the sound design for it's areas, so I can offer a few tips for you if you like:

- Consider limiting custom music to only one or two sources. While I've see PWs with custom music from all over, the difference in tone and composition can be extremely jarring. While most areas use different tracks, a soundtrack as a whole is built with a consistency and overall theme that you should try to preserve.

- Extend the music delay on areas to about 10 minutes. Even the most soaring and heat-pounding song will start to grate if it's on a permanent loop. By including a long break between loops, it allows the listener to have a mental break from the track, and makes it feel refreshing when it starts again. The brain appreciates music more when it's at measured intervals, rather than constant.

- Pay very close attention to the tone each area is supposed to convey. A good example would be "open road" areas. These usually want an adventurous, exciting theme that makes the player feel as they are running along the road in time with their own personal soundtrack: consistency between areas is important here, as if all the "open road" areas have a similar type or the same theme, then the player immediately associates them all.

- Reserve certain tracks for important lore areas. Tell your builders: This song is only for the Exigo Trading Camp, and Exigo areas. It is there themesong. Giving specific lore elements a reserved track that is not used elsewhere makes them a more unique and distinct part of the world. Think of the Imperial March from Star Wars. We don't need to see anything on screen to know what's coming when we hear those first notes.

[Saulus]

I think the point was more to see if it was worth my time to add more custom music because I may be the only one listening to it. Icewind Dale 1/2 so far have been the only thing I've pulled music from.

Other games I've considered are Baldur's Gate 2, Throne of Bhaal, The Witcher 1/2.

[roguethree]

Can haz Square Enix music?

[Kirin]

"If you build it, they will come."

A few player comments of "((I love the music in this area!))" and others will start turning it on to see.

And the Witcher soundtracks are wonderful, but in a very different stye than the music from BG2 and Icewind Dale. The latter is performed entirely by Jeremy Soule, while the former is (mostly) from Pawel Blaszczak.

While both excellent composers in their own right, their styles are so different you may run afoul of that jarring inconsistency between the two. Of course, this is only my opinion as something of a music nut, so others might not notice the discrepancy at all.

[Seheren]

The music in the Blackwood barracks totally sounds like open road music. I think that today is the first time I have listened to the music as I play, I always keep the music off, even when I am not playing music of my own..

[Seheren]

Also, I must say that Aquors music sounds much more like creepy dungeon music, then town music. Just my 2 cents. For whatever reason, it makes me think of games like Castlevania.

[roguethree]

I think Aquor's music is perfect at night time.

[Saulus]

I won't say exactly where Aquor's music comes from (letting you guys guess endlessly is more fun) but it actually was used on a Victorian sleepy-hollow esque village in winter at night.

So r3 hit the nail on the head.

[Twisted-Indoctrine]

Turanic Raiders from the Homeworld soundtrack is a song I've always wanted to see used in an area for the record. Such a tense song.

Always thought it suited the Ss'litherirssssraa (Whatever) snake dudes whenever I went in there with it playing. Wish that place was a multilevel complex.

[roguethree]

Shekinessi.

[Twisted-Indoctrine]

That's what I said. :P

[OnyxTigress]

I prefer to call them Naga. Much more simple.

[FoogooFish]

I won't say exactly where Aquor's music comes from (letting you guys guess endlessly is more fun) but it actually was used on a Victorian sleepy-hollow esque village in winter at night.

So r3 hit the nail on the head.

I was so curious as to the origins of the Aquor night music (because I think it's the best music on Sundren) that I did my own bit of research until I found the source.

I listen to the game music, and I'd love to see some Icewind Dale / Baldur's Gate II / etc. tracks used in Sundren. Viconia's Theme is a personal favorite.

Kirin will probably remember all the custom music from the Cormyr and the Dalelands NWN1 server; I loved all the options there.