Custom Music?

GabbyGirlJ

So, I realized I'd never even tried to add my own custom music to the game and I've only just recently discovered how much fun this can be. I decided my simmies in Dragon Valley needed some Celtic music to listen to whilst at the festival.

I do have some questions, though. I discovered that the wall speakers do NOT like the custom music station, so I fixed that by having my super handy sim do a "wire house with speakers" upgrade on the stereo. However, now I've noticed that the track won't change. After a song ends, there's just silence and I have to either turn the radio off and on again, or switch stations then switch back. Is that just the way it is, or am I doing something wrong?

On a side note, does anyone else use this feature? What kind of music have you added to the game?

Pary

Do you know if the game has played every song you have in the custom folder when you switch on and off? The reason I ask is because as far as I'm aware sometimes radio silence can have to do with the bit rate of the MP3 that it's trying to play. The game doesn't like anything that is encoded at a higher bitrate than 320kbs, and just wont play it.
I have had a couple of MP3s like that in my folder, and whenever the song list rolled around to the larger br MP3s, there was just silence. I had to take them out and replace them with lower quality files.

I love the custom music option. It depends on my mood or which Sim I am playing as to what files I add to the folder. My clubbing / bar brawling sims like something with a good beat. Other sims are broody and melancholy, and I have a different set for those.

GabbyGirlJ

I checked the properties on each song, and none of them are higher than 256 kbps. I can't say for sure that I've heard *every* song on the radio, but I did go into my custom music list under options to preview each song and make sure that they all played from there. I previously had a few that wouldn't play so I got rid of them. I'll keep working with it, though.

Also, I took the original custom songs out of the custom folder, so not sure if that has anything to do with it? Do I need to go and take them out of the GameData folder too? I noticed that they appear in both places. And do I need to add my new songs to the GameData folder? (Right now they are just in Documents/Electronic Arts/Sims 3/Custom Music.)

By the way, the idea of switching up the songs on the station for different sims sounds cool!

Pary

No I don't think removing the originals has anything to do with it, I deleted mine and haven't had issue apart from the over bit rate mp3s.
Since that doesn't seem to be the case with you though, I'm afraid I'm at a loss sorry

Perhaps @igazor might have some idea as to why it isn't working.
Out of interest, did the tracks change before your sim did the upgrade?

Edit - Also no, you don't need to add songs anywhere else except in the Documents folder where you already have them
Edit 2 - The thought of Celtic music in DV is wonderful. You've inspired me to go and find some now !

GabbyGirlJ

Thanks for the helpful tips @Pary. I'll just keep tweaking it and see if I can get anything to work. It plays, so that's a start. No, the tracks didn't change before he upgraded either. It's really strange.

And, yes, Celtic music really makes playing in Dragon Valley even more fun! It's so nice hearing it at the festival and at the Duke of Bows lot. I had a bunch of stuff by artists like David Arkenstone that fits perfectly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BR-A1wczOKk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oTc6fSDHUM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBU4MAnkOrI

Pary

OH ! One last thought. Is the stereo you are using a Showtime Jukebox by any chance?
Also, thank you for the music tips !

GabbyGirlJ

No, it's not the jukebox. It's one that came from the store. The World of Wonder collection...



And you're welcome! I found some great stuff on Amazon just by typing in "Celtic Music."

Deshong04

I don't think I tried custom music with the speakers yet. I do remember having a handy sim upgrade the stereo to be heard throughout the lot but then it glitched when I turned it off and it still kept playing endlessly. So far, the only problem I have with custom music is the volume is much lower than the other stations. I've read somewhere how to change that but I don't remember where. I like listening to TS2 music but will eventually collect other songs to add. Like some of my favorites that I have are Moonlight Sonata, Canon in D, Samba Miño, etc.

TS2 music uploaded by LynxAQ if anyone is interested.
http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/0/682959.page#10917275

SimplyJen

I used to either with TS1 or 2 but I haven't messed with it since then. I don't download music anymore, I just listen to Pandora radio or buy the CD.

GabbyGirlJ

@Deshong04 , I've noticed that the music is a little softer, but it doesn't seem to be too big a difference. Then again, I usually play with my headphones on, so everything sounds a bit louder in general. I loved TS2's music! So many memorable tunes. Maybe I'll take a look around and see if I can find some of my favorites for nostalgia's sake.

@Simasaurus09 , I love Pandora so much! I still download a lot of music because I can listen at work if I'm having a quiet night, so I have huge playlists to help the night go faster. I didn't know (or didn't remember) that we could even play custom music in TS1 and 2. I'm such a music geek that I'm kinda surprised that I never got into it before now.


I've been messing around and trying to get the stereo to play more than one custom song at a time before going silent, but no dice. I guess it's not so bad having to click it on and off after each song, but still.... I saw something about how removing album art can help out with playing custom music in the game, but I don't actually know how to do that. On the bright side, I now know for sure that I've heard all 20-some-odd songs that I added on the in-game radio. So, that's a good thing.