Music restoration

[Guest Henry Buck]

Hello,

 

First post here! I've just finished a playthrough of TSLRCM and was quite happy with some of the restored music - B-484's theme, Atris and Darth Traya's music, all stuff that really should have played in the game proper. I love this soundtrack and I thought I would offer a few suggestions for more music restorations - and I do mean restorations, not modifications. These are just my best guesses at what the developers and the composer intended.

 

- mus_nihilus.wav (Nihilus's theme) isn't heard at all, which was disappointing especially considering the music for the Ravager is borrowed from KOTOR1's soundtrack (mus_sith.wav). It's probably too active a piece to underscore the whole Ravager level, but I think it would work well for the moment when the Exile reaches Nihilus on the bridge.

- mus_a_800.wav isn't used. Now, I know the module name suggests M4-78, but mus_a_800b.wav is used in the game, and that's for the Citadel Station battle, not M4-78. It makes no sense to me that mus_a_800.wav was written for the loading dock in M4-78 (or whatever, it's been a while). It's an upbeat, action oriented take on the Exile's main theme that really seems to fit in the Battle of Telos. The music that is used for Telos, mus_a_800b.wav, is a quiet, mysterious piece that to me seems for suited for the HK Factory (which is just scored with the underground base music in TSLRCM). In fact, if you listen carefully to the Peragus music (mus_a_100.wav), you can hear the same mysterious droid theme on harp, which is more evidence to me that mus_a_800b.wav is connected to the HK-50s, not the Citadel Station battle. So in short, I think it would be great to use mus_a_800.wav for the Citadel Station battle and mus_a_800b.wav for the HK Factory.

- Unlike the other 800 level music, mus_a_800core.wav is pretty clearly meant for the core of M4-78, both by the file name and the style of the music. So I understand why this wasn't used.

- mus_a_262sith.wav, a short flourish of the KOTOR Sith theme, isn't used. The file name strongly suggests it's meant to be heard when the Exile encounters Atris, warped by the Sith holocrons. Or maybe it's connected to the unused Atris=Traya stuff, but it seems to work well enough for the former option.

 

Then there are a few things which are strictly my opinion and not based on any game evidence, so take them as you will:

 

- Even though it's prominent in the startup menu and some cutscenes, we never actually hear mus_kreiadark.wav in game. Could work well for more than one of the Malachor V Core scenes.

- mus_s_romance.wav is never used except for when you recruit that astromech droid in the optional prologue, oddly. I wonder if it could work in some of the final romance scenes like Atton's death. Then again, it's just a short stinger cue, and kind of cheesy.

- mus_kreia.wav (Kreia's theme) is heard several times on Peragus, then never again. Could be cool when she reveals herself as a Sith on Dantooine.

- mus_s_light/darkside.wav don't play to their full duration in the game. But this may have been deliberate; it is a little melodramatic to have them play in full every time you do the smallest LS or DS act.

- mus_a_900alt.wav plays in the Kinrath cave. Sticks out to me like a sore thumb because it's the Trayus Academy music, and it's based on the KOTOR Sith theme. Nothing Sith about that cave, of course. Then again, there's no obvious choice to replace it - perhaps the Enclave sublevel music, mus_a_610.wav?

- mus_traya.wav (Traya's theme) was indeed restored for Traya's arrival on Malachor cutscene, but it also sounds like it would be great during the party member confrontation with Traya.

 

Again, absolutely not meant to be a "why did you morons not fix the music?" thing. I'm a soundtrack freak and I've listened to these files way more than any sane person should. Just suggestions for things you may not have noticed before.

[Sith Holocron 2,478]

This sounds like the sort of thing might work better as a mod that alters the TSLRCM rather than making changes in the TSLRCM itself - an add-on mod, if you will.

 

From what I recall, the music was changed back to the original cue at the Telos Polar Plateau since many folks didn't particularly care for the unused Atris music.

 

Of course this thread also has other uses - namely pointing out to modders what unused tracks are available to spice up their own added content. Consider for a moment experiencing Coruscant, the Korriban Expansion, and others mods to come (such as Scrap Yard Games, Rhen Var, and the GenoHaradan Revisioning Mod) using under-utilized or unused tracks in their custom modules.

 

I'm also a soundtrack freak - hence my always pimping out this page: TSL Music Extraction

[Hassat Hunter 571]

From what I recall, the music was changed back to the original cue at the Telos Polar Plateau since many folks didn't particularly care for the unused Atris music.

It's because it run together with the background music. Will return properly for 1.8 though (without the clash).

[Guest Dark_Ansem]

am excellent first post.