Personalized Music – Add your own music to Skyrim
This mod lets you add your own choice of music to the game by some simple renaming and converting of files. Add 1200 tracks! No original music is deleted or overwritten, it will still play together with your added music. Supporting both .wav and the compressed .xwm format!
PERSONALIZED MUSIC version 6.0
– by No_Aardvarks_Allowed
Skyrim Special Edition
Personalized Music works just fine as it is for SSE. All you need to do to port the mod over to SSE is to copy the Personalized Music esp (and any add-ons) and the Music folder in your Skyrim\Data directory and paste them into the Skyrim Special Edition\Data directory. Then activate the mod in your mod manager. If you use Mod Organizer, the mod will be found in Skyrim\Mod Organizer\mods instead.
There is now a SSE version available.
Introduction
This mod lets you add your own choice of music — some 1200 tracks in fact! — to Skyrim by some simple converting and renaming of files. No original game music will be deleted or overwritten. Your added tracks will be played in addition to the tracks already in Skyrim. However, for those who prefer it, there is an alternate version that completely eliminates the vanilla music, meaning only your added music will play — this is the No Vanilla Music version.
Personalized Music is for those who don’t want to use the CK to do the work of adding music themselves — which is understandable, since the music handling in the tool is repetitive and boring. So hopefully this mod will save at least a few the trouble (I see that those ‘few’ are actually 45 000 at the time of writing — thanks guys, I never thought even a fraction of that number would be interested in the mod when I set out to make it).
The mod lets you choose between adding music in the compressed .xwm format or the uncompressed .wav format. The former is great if you want to add a lot of music or have experienced any sort of performance issues with using .wavs. I definately recommend using it over .wav.
So, what’s new in Personalized Music version 6.0?
This new version of the mod is simply version 5.0 plus all the separate mod add-ons merged into one single mod for the sake of convenience. The only new thing in it is that the player homes added by Hearthfires now will play the music in the ‘Player Homes – All’ and ‘Breezehome’ subfolders (yeah, I didn’t feel like making a whole new playlist for Hearthfires a.k.a. Horsearmor 2.0).
Note that the main mod for version 5.0 didn’t change what playlists where played in any location in the game, meaning that it was completely conflict free in itself. It only conflicts with mods that do change the music playlists of specific locations in Skyrim. The mod add-ons, however, add new playlists to the game, and use them in the appropriate locations, thereby actually changing locations in the game. This makes them liable to conflict with any mod that also change the same locations, even if the music itself isn’t touched. This is the reason I wanted to keep the main mod and the add-ons separate. However, I do realize that a lot of people might not want to clutter up their load order with more than half a dozen .esps from the same mod, so I figured I should at least give them the option of getting a version with everything merged into one download and one .esp. I figured that today, when most mod-users are comfortable with making merged patches, mod conflicts aren’t such ha big deal (a lot has changed in the four and a half years since I first made the mod!).
If you don’t know what a merged patch is and why you want one, read this article.
There are two separate downloadable versions of 6.0 — a regular version, that still plays the original Skyrim music, and a No Vanilla version, that will only play user-added music. Choose whichever you like, but do not use both at the same time since they will conflict (which means that the mod lower in your load order will win and the other ignored by the game).
Personalized Music version 6.0 REQUIRES an updated Skyrim game and ALL of the DLCs (i.e. Dawnguard, Dragonborn and Hearthfires). If the DLCs are not present in your load order, this version of the mod will make your game crash on loading. If you don’t have all the DLCs, use version 5.0 instead.
Important! If you use Mod Organizer you will have to be a bit careful if upgrading to version 6.0 to avoid losing all your added music files, see section 2 below for more details!
CONTENTS
1. Installing the mod for the first time
2. Upgrading to version 6.0
3. Adding music to Skyrim
4. Details on subfolder categories and playlists (or What is played where and when?)
5. Alternate versions and Add-ons
— Personalized Music version 5.0
— No Vanilla Music version 5.0
— Personalized Music – Add-ons
6. Compatibility
7. Uninstalling
8. Converting your music to the .xwm and .wav formats
9. Detailed update history
10. Issues, Problems and Troubleshooting Guide
11. Legalities
12. Credits
1. INSTALLING THE MOD FOR THE FIRST TIME
NOTE: Personalized Music version 6.0 requires all DLC, i.e. Dawnguard, Dragonborn and Hearthfires! If you miss any of them, use version 5.0 instead.
The following procedures are the same for Personalized Music versions 6.0 and 5.0:
You can download and install Personalized Music with the Nexus Mod Manager or Mod Organizer (or any similar application), but you still have to do all the other manual handling as detailed below (see section 3) to use the mod. Just download it with the ‘Download with manager’ button on the mod’s files page and activate it in the Mods tab of the NMM or MO. It can be placed anywhere in MO’s left pane.
The .esp can be placed anywhere in the plugins tab, but be mindful of possible conflicts with other mods (use TESVEdit, LOOT, BOSS or what have you to check for conflicts).
This is only relevant for version 5.0:
Since the same download contains both the regular mod version and the No Vanilla version, you will have to decide which one to use. This is the case for whichever installation method is used. To do that, go to the NMM Plugins tab, and make sure one of the two versions (PersonalizedMusic_v5.0.ESP or PersonalizedMusic – NoVanillaMusic_v5.0.ESP, that is) depending of which version you prefer, is checked. Not both (if both are checked, the one lower in the load order will win the conflict that is created). The .esp you decide not to use can be kept in case you want to switch between the versions — which is easily done by un-checking the first one and then checking the second; or you can just delete it from your Data folder if you aren’t planning to ever use it.
If you use MO, you can double-click the mod in the left pane, and in the window that opens you go to the ‘Optional ESPs’ tab. Click the .esp for the versions you don’t want to use and then click the up arrow to move it to the optional section. This way the unwanted .esp will not clutter up your plugins tab, but you will still keep it in case you want to try it in the future. To do so, simply change the places of the two .esps in the ‘Optional ESPs’ tab and make sure the new .esp gets checked in MO’s plugins section.
Manually installing:
To manually install the mod, unzip the file you download and put it in your Steam\SteamApps\common\Skyrim Special Edition folder. When asked if
you want to combine the mod’s ‘Data’ folder with the existing ‘Data’ folder, click ‘yes’. Then, in the plugins section of your mod manager of choice, you tick the box next to the Personalized Music esp.
2. Updating to version 6.0
NOTE: Personalized Music version 6.0 requires all DLC, i.e. Dawnguard, Dragonborn and Hearthfires! If you miss any of them, use version 5.0 instead.
With NMM:
Simply download and install the new version of choice (either regular or No Vanilla Music) normally and when asked to overwrite, answer yes. Then delete the old version of the main mod and also delete all now redundant mod add-ons, in the Mods tab. Any music you have already added will still remain in the correct subfolders — no tracks will be deleted when upgrading and they will still work without any renaming or such. The Personalized Music v 6.0.esp can be placed anywhere in the plugins tab, but be mindful of possible conflicts with other mods (use TESVEdit, LOOT, BOSS or what have you to check for conflicts).
With Mod Organizer:
Important: you can NOT simply install the new version and uninstall the old, like NMM users can — doing so will result in MO deleting all your added music! (If you managed to do that, despite this warning, the files should still be in your Recycle Bin ready to be restored.) What you have to do to keep all added tracks is the following:
Download and install Personalized Music v 6.0 (or the No Vanilla Music version, if you prefer) as you would any other mod. Then open Skyrim\ModOrganizer\mods. There you should find separate mod folders for the newly installed mod version, the old version and any add-ons you use. Now you manually have to open the folders for the old version and any add-on you have added music tracks to and grab the ‘Music’ folder inside each of them, and drag and drop (or cut and paste) it to the Personalized Music v 6.0 folder (or the No Vanilla Music folder, if you use that version). When asked if you want to merge and overwrite files, answer yes. Only the ‘Music’ folders need to be moved to the new mod version folder, .esps and text files can be left where they are since they are not needed.
The mod can be placed anywhere in MO’s left pane. The Personalized Music v 6.0.esp from the mod can be placed anywhere under the plugins tab, but be mindful of possible conflicts with other mods (use TESVEdit, LOOT, BOSS or what have you to check for conflicts).
Manually:
To do it manually, simply install the files from the new version over the old. When asked if you want to combine and overwrite folders and files, answer yes. Your previously added music will still be in the same subfolders as before. Then delete the old .esp from the Data folder. Check the new esp in your mod loader. It can be placed anywhere in your load order, but be mindful of possible conflicts with other mods (use TESVEdit, LOOT, BOSS or what have you to check for conflicts).
3. ADDING MUSIC TO SKYRIM
1) Make sure the music track you want to add is converted to the .xwm or .wav format. If it isn’t, the game won’t be able to play it and you will probably get a crash to desktop as it tries. (In section 8 below are instructions on converting to the two formats).
2) Decide in what situation you want the track to be played. Quieter music fits night time exploring, festive music go well in taverns, powerful and dramatic stuff is excellent for combat, etc. Put your music track in the corresponding subfolder in the main Music folder. (The subfolder categories are pretty much self-explanatory, but there is a description in section 4 below detailing which tracks are played where and when.)
3) Rename the track EXACTLY as the text file in the relevant subfolder instructs you, numbered from 01 to the maximum number allowed in that folder.
For example, if you want to add some new Combat music to the game, you simply put your music track in the Combat subfolder, rename it MMCombat01.xwm (or MMCombat01.wav) and that’s it. It will now be played together with the existing combat music. If you add another combat track, you name that MMCombat02.xwm, and so on.
4) You can exchange your newly added tracks for others at any time, add new ones at a later date, move them to any of the other subfolders, or make several copies of the same track and use them in several places. Just remember that the file names need to be exactly right, or the game won’t find and play them.
That’s basically it. Just do steps 1 to 3 for every track you want to add. Yes, it gets a bit tedious, but since nothing copyrighted can be uploaded on the Nexus (without the express permission of the copyright holder), this is the easiest way for people to get a personalized mix of their favorite Lord of the Rings, Conan the Barbarian, Baldur’s Gate, Two Steps from Hell, Neverwinter Nights or whatever, soundracks into the game. (Personally I mix it up with some Justin Bieb…eh…I mean Motörhead for Dragon fighting, but that’s just me.)
TIP: Make sure that you don’t have Windows set to hide known file extensions. If it is, chances are you’ll try rename tracks XXXX.wav.wav without realizing it. To change the setting (in Win 7), go to Start>Control Panel>Appearance and Personalization>Folder Options>View tab>Advanced settings and un-check the box next to Hide extensions for known file types, and then click OK.
TIP: If you want to add many tracks to the game and renaming them all manually is too boring for you, check out these mods by blackoutroulette that will do it automatically for you: File Renamer for the Personalized Music Mod and Custom Music Organizer (I think the latter is the latest version which includes the functionality of the former). I haven’t tested them myself — I already have my music renamed — but they seem like awesome tools to me. If you do use and like either of them, don’t forget to give the author an endorsement and/or appreciative comment!
NOTE: You don’t have to fill up all the open slots in any of the subfolders — the mod lets you add anything from a single to 1200 tracks to Skyrim. If the game can’t find a track in a playlist it will just skip it and go to the next. So you can start by adding just a few music pieces and see how you like it, and then later add more. You can’t add more than the track limit (see the text file in the relevant subfolder) to any category, however, since the mod plugin only tells the game to look for that many.
Furthermore, don’t touch the “Silence.wav” in the Music folder, since it is needed to handle the Finales for the combat tracks (just CK stuff).
Remember, this mod adds tracks to the existing playlists, so they’ll still contain the vanilla tracks and also periods of silence, meaning you can not expect your added music to play all the time (unless you use the No Vanilla Music version, of course). Sometimes you have to wait for it to play and the order the tracks are played in is random. The easiest way to cycle a playlist for testing purposes, is moving to the relevant cell and quick save. Then every time you quick load the game, a new track from all available for that place and time, will be played by the game.
4. DETAILS ON FOLDER CATEGORIES AND PLAYLISTS (or What is played where and when?)
In the following areas only the tracks from the corresponding subfolders are played.
— Castle (max. 20 tracks): The palaces in the towns (Blue Palace, Dragonreach, etc) and some of the Jarls’ halls in the worldspace.
— Dungeon (max. 40 tracks): Man-made tombs and ruins (e.g. Alftand, Bleak Falls Barrow, Dead Men’s Respite, Dustman’s Cairn).
— Dungeon – Cave (max. 40 tracks): Natural caves (e.g. Wolf Skull Cave, White River Watch, Whiterun Underforge, Twilight Sepulcher).
— Dungeon – Fort (max. 30 tracks): Interior of forts and fort ruins (e.g. Darklight Tower, Fellowglow Keep, Fort Amol, Fort Dunstad).
— Dungeon – Ice (max. 30 tracks): Ice caves (e.g. Bloodlet Throne, Bonechill Passage, Frostflow Abyss, Japhet’s Folly).
— Dungeon – All (max. 20 tracks): Plays in all the Dungeon types, together with the tracks for the specific type of dungeon.
— Tavern (max. 20 tracks): The taverns out in the worldspace, but not the ones inside the big towns.
— Tavern – B (max. 20 tracks): The taverns inside Solitude, Riften, Windhelm, Markarth and Whiterun.
— Tavern – All (max. 20 tracks): Plays in both Tavern types, together with the tracks for the specific type of tavern.
In the following Explore areas both the tracks from the subfolder for the specific area, and the tracks from one of the time-of-day Explore subfolders (Morning, Day, Evening and Night; they cycle as time passes), are played at any given time.
— Explore – Forest Fall (max. 20 tracks): Forests around Riften.
— Explore – Forest Pine (max. 20 tracks): Around Falkreath, Dragonbridge, Riverwood, Shor’s Stone and other places.
— Explore – Mountain (max. 20 tracks): Mountains, but also around Dawnstar and Morthal (which is weird since it’s a stinkin’ swamp!).
— Explore – Snow (max. 20 tracks): This is not a widely used playlist in the game–in most snowy areas either the Mountain or Forest Pine lists are played. It is used inside Windhelm Stables and Dawnstar Barracks, so it can be tested there.
— Explore – Tundra (max. 20 tracks): Around Whiterun and interiors in the tundra region, like Solitude Stables, Whiterun Stables, Chillfurrow Farm.
— Explore – All Areas (max. 20 tracks): Plays in all the five Explore areas, together with the tracks for the specific type of area.
The towns are a special case.
— The Town – Day (max. 30 tracks) subfolder is played inside the five big towns (Solitude, Riften, Windhelm, Markarth and Whiterun) during daytime (05:00 – 22:00/5 AM – 22 PM). At nights Explore – Nights is played there instead.
These categories add tracks to other areas during specific times of the day, or in certain situations.
— Explore – Morning (max. 20 tracks): Added to the Explore areas above between 05:00 – 08:00/5 AM – 8 AM.
— Explore – Day (max. 30 tracks): Added to the Explore areas above between 08:00 – 18:00/8 AM – 6 PM.
— Explore – Evening (max. 20 tracks): Added to the Explore areas above between 18:00 – 22:00/6 PM – 10 PM.
— Explore – Night (max. 30 tracks): Added to the Explore areas above between 22:00 – 05:00/10 PM – 5 AM; also the only music playing in the big towns during the same hours.
— Explore – All Hours (max. 20 tracks): Added to the Explore areas above during all hours of the day (and night).
— Combat (max. 40 tracks): Plays during all combat except for dragon and civil war fights.
— Combat – Dragon (max. 20 tracks): Dragon fights.
— Combat – Civil War (max. 20 tracks): Plays when assaulting the towns and forts in the civil war quest line.
— Combat – All (max. 20 tracks): Plays in all combat situations, together with with the tracks for the specific type of combat.
The music categories in the mod add-ons (which are included in version 6.0) are played in the following places.
— Personalized Music – Temple Music (max. 20 tracks): The temples and Halls of the Dead in the holds, Skyhaven Temple, High Hrothgar, Hall of the Vigilant, Fort Sungard Shrine.
— Personalized Music – Dwemer Music (max. 40 tracks): Alftand, Avanchnzel, Bthardamz, Irkngthand, Kagrenzel, Mzinchaleft, Mzulft, Nchuand-Zel, Raldbthar, Reachwind Eyrie, Sightless Pit. New! If you use the Dragonborn Update, it is also used in Fahlbtharz, Kagrumez, Nchardak.
— Personalized Music – Blackreach Music (max. 20 tracks): The Blackreach area and the ruins and structures inside it, like the Tower of Mzark, Silent City Catacombs, Silent Ruin, Sinderion’s Field Laboratory.
— Personalized Music – College Music (max. 20 tracks): The College of Winterhold, both interiors and exteriors. By design not used in the Midden.
— Personalized Music – Town Unique Music (max. 20 tracks per subfolder): The categories are played inside the five big towns of the corresponding names (Solitude, Riften, Windhelm, Markarth and Whiterun) during daytime (05:00 – 22:00/5 AM – 22 PM). At nights Explore – Nights is played there instead.
Personalized Music – Dawnguard has these four new music categories.
— Combat – Vampire Lord (max. 10 tracks): Used for the fight with Harkon, not when you turn into a vampire Lord
— Falmer Valley (max. 30 tracks): The Forgotten Vale
— Soul Cairn (max. 20 tracks)
— Vampire Castle (max. 40 tracks): Castle Volkihar
Personalized Music – Dragonborn has these six music categories. The DB tag is used so all the new subfolders are lumped together, since your Music folder is probably getting rather cluttered…
— DB Combat – Miraak (max. 20 tracks): Used when fighting Miraak. (In version 1.0 erroneously called DB Combat – Dragon)
— DB Combat – Karstaag (max 10 tracks): When fighting Karstaag
— DB Dungeon – Apocrypha (max 30 tracks): Used in that place
— DB Explore – General (max 30 tracks): Most of the island, in Raven Rock and its buildings
— DB Explore – Mountain (max 30 tracks): Used nortwestern Solsteheim
— DB Explore – Snow (max 30 tracks): Used in northeastern Solstheim
Personalized Music – Player Homes has these seven music categories.
— Breezehome (max. 20 tracks): also used in the homes from Hearthfires
— Hjerim (max. 20 tracks)
— Honeyside (max. 20 tracks)
— Proudspire Manor (max. 20 tracks)
— Severin Manor (max. 20 tracks)
— Vlindrel Hall (max. 20 tracks)
— Player Homes – All (max. 30 tracks): Used in all the above player homes and also the homes in Hearthfires
5. ALTERNATE VERSIONS AND ADD-ONS
Personalized Music version 5.0
Version 5.0 can still be used as before. The main reason you would want to stick to version 5.0 is 1) that it doesn’t require any DLC, and 2) that version 6.0 changes what playlists are used in the game in certain locations, while version 5.0 doesn’t. This means that version 5.0 is less likely to conflict with other mods that do changes to the same locations. If you use the add-ons to version 5.0, you will get the same conflicts as with version 6.0, though. If you are worried about possible mod conflicts (and you should be!), use a tool like TESVEdit to see what mods conflicts with each other. The conflicts can be resolved by making a so called merged patch.
Personalized Music – No Vanilla Music version 5.0
This version removes all original (i.e. vanilla) music from Skyrim, for the users who prefer that. Using it, only the user-added music will play in the game (in addition to some silent tracks in the Explore playlists I left in for atmospheric reasons). The exception to this is in Sovngarde and the little things like Word walls, the chant after taking a dragon soul, etc. They still play.
It’s included in the main mod download. See the installation instructions (section 1 and 2) on how to use it.
It needs all the files from the Main mod, except for the .ESP.
Personalized Music – Add-ons
These add new music categories, with their own subfolders, that are played in certain locations in Skyrim. They are stand-alone and do not need the main mod to work. They can be installed both manually and with the Nexus Mod Manager. To do it manually, just put the add-on Data folder in your Skyrim folder. When asked if you want to combine folders, answer yes.
If using the NMM to install, simply use the download with the manager button and activate in the Mods tab. The NMM can get confused if you try to install a new add-on while having another activated; it might tell you that another version has been detected. If that happens, just click No to install the add-on normally.
The mod add-ons usually come with both regular .ESP versions, which still have some of the original vanilla music in the playlists, and No Vanilla .ESP versions, which will only play user-added music. Decide which of the versions you prefer and check the box next to it in the NMM. The other .ESP can be kept (but make sure its check-box is empty!) in case you want to switch between them–which is easily done by un-checking the first one and then checking the second–or you can just delete it from your Data folder if you want.
Important! If you use any of these add-ons, they must come in this load order:
Personalized Music v 5.0
Town Unique Music v 1.0
Temple Music v 1.0
Player Homes Music v 1.0 (regardless if Dragonborn version or not)
These add-ons can be loaded anywhere:
Blackreach Music v 1.0
College Music v 1.0
Dawnguard Music v 1.0
Dragonborn Music v 1.1
Dwemer Music – Dragonborn Update v 1.0
The College Music add-on does not have a No Vanilla version (since there is no vanilla music in the College in the first place).
Music is added to the add-on subfolders the same way as for all others. They accept music both in the .wav and .xwm format, BUT not at the same time. All your music files in the individual add-on folders should be in the same format. So, you choose ONE of the two formats for ALL the music you put in any add-on folder.
IMPORTANT: The DLC specific add-ons (PM – Dawnguard, PM – Dragonborn, PM – Dwemer Music – Dragonborn Update, PM – Player Homes – Dragonborn version) depends on the Dawnguard.esm or Dragonborn.esm as a master. This means that if you have one of the DLC add-ons active (checked, that is) in your load order, the Dawnguard.esm/Dragonborn.esm also MUST be active or your game will crash to desktop immediately when you load the game. If you deactivate either DLC .esm for whatever reason, the corresponding music add-ons must be deactivated too.
6. COMPATIBILITY
The mod is not compatible with any other that changes the same playlists (called MUSC in the CK). This includes Dawn of Hope and Enhanced Soundtrack (at Steam Workshop). The mod placed lower/later in the mod manager load order will take precedence over the other (meaning only that will work) if conflicting mods are used at the same time. The game will not crash if there is a conflict, so feel free to experiment if unsure if two mods are compatible.
Personalized Music is fully compatible with SkyRadio. Try it out, it’s perfect for having a playlist with your favorite tracks that you can get to play anywhere at any time. When you switch the radio off, the regular playlists you add music to through this mod will play as normal.
Some mods that change the dragons of Skyrim may cause the dragon fight music not to play correctly.
Version 6.0 of the mod, and also the mod add-ons for version 5.0, change what music is played in certain locations, might conflict with other mods that change the same locations. If this is the case, the mod loaded after the other “wins” the conflict. This means that the other mod will not function properly.
You can use TESVEdit, or other applications with similar functionality, to check your mod setup for conflicts. Detected mod conflicts can’t be fixed by changing the load order (per definition, a mod conflict is a situation where two or more mods try to change the same thing in one way or another, meaning only one of them can ‘win’ and therefore function as intended, while the other(s) will not), they have to be fixed with a so called merged patch (see this article on merged patches).
7. UNINSTALLING
If you use the NMM to deactivate or uninstall the mod, all your added and renamed files will still be left in place in the Music folder, as will the subfolders the added tracks are located in. This is because the NMM will not recognize any user added files as part of the mod, since the they didn’t come with it in the first place. Only the .esps, text files and any subfolders you haven’t added music to will be removed automatically. To completely get rid of the mod, INCLUDING YOUR OWN ADDED AND RENAMED TRACKS, you need to delete the leftovers in the Music folder manually.
With the Mod Organizer you simply right-click the mod in the left pane and chose ‘remove mod’ and then confirm when asked. DOING THIS WILL ALSO DELETE ALL THE ADDED AND RENAMED TRACKS IN THE MOD’S SUBFOLDERS.
To do it manually, just delete the .esp, any text files and the mod subfolders.
8. CONVERTING YOUR MUSIC TO THE .XWM AND .WAV FORMATS
Converting to .XMW
To my knowledge, there are three available converters for the .xmw format on the Nexus: Skyrim Audio Converter, MultiXwm, xwmConvert, Yakitori Audio Converter. If you use one of the converters and it works to your satisfaction, give the author some encouragement for his/her trouble! Without them we’d all be stuck with using .wav.
With Skyrim Audio Converter you can convert a bunch of files at the same time (all tracks in a subfolder, for instance); it just might take a bit of time for it to finish, so be patient. If you already have your .wav files correctly renamed and placed in the appropriate subfolders, you won’t have to rename or move them after converting; new converted files, with the same file names (except for the file extension of course) will be ADDED to the same folder. Then you can delete your old .wav files, BUT I would recommend testing the mod first, so that you are sure that the new format works 100% for you, before you start deleting your .wavs.
There is also an alternative way of converting all of your .wav files in one go, even if they are located in several different subfolders. See a tutorial on how to do that here, written by Odyseus77 (thanks for that!). It is a bit more complicated to get working, but the advantage is that you won’t have to convert all the subfolders individually.
I use a 48k bitrate when converting files to .xwm, and I have also tested using 64k. Both work fine. If you use a different bitrate and run into any problems, please leave a report in the comment section, so I can add a warning here in the description.
Converting to .WAV
You are unlikely to have the music you want to put into Skyrim in the uncompressed .wav format, so you need to do some converting for it to work in the game with version 3.0 or lower. There are several free programs available online that lets you change from a variety of formats to .wav. I used a free-trial program called Switch Sound File Converter (it has a 14 day trial period) and using it it’s possible to change all music files in a location on the hard drive in one go. In the comments thread, some users have mentioned/recommended other free applications: Audacity (Mr. Dave, ZephyrGames and MGDAO), Foobar2000 (erato123), WinAmp (latest version – Chemlock), Easy CD-DA Extractor (Chemlock), http://media.io/ (for iTunes – killingjoke26).
CAUTION: A few mod users have reported problems with using Audacity to convert. There may be something that Skyrim doesn’t like about how the program converts certain tracks, but it seems to work for most people.
I convert files to 44100 Hz, 16 Bits, Stereo, PCM Uncompressed. One user has reported issues with very large .wav files converted to 32 Bits.
If your tracks are of very variable volume–some very loud, some very quiet–you can equalize them with Audacity or MP3Gain (MGDAO). Should you want to edit your tracks by cutting, you can use Cool Edit Pro (Chemlock).
If you have put a bunch of .wavs in a subfolder, but are too lazy (who isn’t, right?) to rename them all by hand, you can use a file renaming application to do it (found here http://file-folder-ren.sourceforge.net/index.php?page=Download ) (tip by migply).
9. DETAILED UPDATE HISTORY
4th July (congrats, Yanks!/Sorry for your lost colony, Limies!) 2016: Version 6.0 was released.
This version of the mod merges the main mod and all the add-ons into one single mod. It also supports Hearthfires.
23rd February 2013: Personalized Music – Player Homes Music version 1.0 was released.
This is actually two separate files; one for those with Dragonborn and one for those without. It lets the user add 150 tracks to the six player homes in Breezehome, Hjerim, Honeyside, Proudspire Manor, Severin Manor and Vlindrel Hall. 7 subfolders are included. Both .xwm and .wav music files are supported. The add-on comes with both a regular and a No Vanilla version.
14th February 2013: Personalized Music – Dwemer Music – Dragonborn Update version 1.0 was released.
This updated the add-on to also play the music in the Dwemer playlist in the appropriate ruins on the island of Solstheim.
11th February 2013: Personalized Music – Dragonborn Music version 1.1 was released.
This corrected the naming of one of the included subfolders to reflect that it is used for the Miraak fight, and not for fighting dragons.
8th February 2013: Personalized Music – Dragonborn Music version 1.0 was released.
This stand-alone add-on expands the six playlists in the Dragonborn DLC to let users add a total of 150 new tracks to the game. These are added to the six new subfolders that are included in the download. Both .xwm and .wav music files are supported. The add-on comes with both a regular and a No Vanilla version.
4th September 2012: Version 5.0 was released.
This version of the mod supports both the .wav and .xwm music formats. It also adds five new ‘favorite’ music categories that are used in more areas and situations than the normal categories, allowing the user to hear the tracks in them more often. 20 tracks can be added to each of them, for a total of 100 new addable tracks. 5.0 also expanded the Town – Day playlist to allow a further 10 tracks added to it (for a total of 30).
4th September 2012: Personalized Music – Town Unique Music version 1.0 was released.
This stand-alone add-on adds five new playlists to the large towns of Skyrim, so they all get one each, allowing for a fully customized town music experience. They all hold up to 20 user-added tracks, meaning a 100 new tracks in total can be added to Skyrim. These are added to the five new subfolders that are included in the download. Both .xwm and .wav music files are supported. The add-on comes with both a regular and a No Vanilla version.
8th August 2012: Personalized Music – Dawnguard Music version 1.0 was released.
This stand-alone add-on expands the four playlists in the Dawnguard DLC to let users add a total of 100 new tracks to the game. These are added to the four new subfolders that are included in the download. Both .xwm and .wav music files are supported by the mod. The add-on comes with both a regular and a No Vanilla version.
22nd May 2012: Personalized Music – Blackreach Music version 1.0 and Personalized Music – College Music version 1.0 were released.
These stand-alone add-ons introduce two new playlists to the game, used in the Blackreach area and the College of Winterhold. The user can add 20 tracks to each and they work with both .wav and .xwm files. The Blackreach add-on comes in both a regular and a No Vanilla version.
12th May 2012: Personalized Music – Dwemer Music version 1.0 was released.
This stand-alone add-on introduces a new playlist to the game, that is used in Skyrim’s Dwemer ruins. The user can add 40 tracks to it and it works with both .wav and .xwm files. The add-on comes in both a regular and a No Vanilla version.
6th May 2012: Personalized Music – Temple Music version 1.0 was released.
This stand-alone add-on introduces a new playlist to the game, that is used in Skyrim’s temples. The user can add 20 tracks to it and it works with both .wav and .xwm files. The add-on comes in both a regular and a No Vanilla version.
30th April 2012: Version ESM_4.0 was released.
This version is identical to the other 4.0, except in that it comes in the form of an .ESM, so Skyrim 1.4 users can use the new .xwm format and also add the full 500 tracks.
29th April 2012: Version 4.0 was released.
This version changed the mod to play music tracks in the compressed .xwm format. It also expanded the mod to let users add a total of 500 tracks to the game, and dispensed with the use of dummy files in the subfolders.
1st April 2012: Version 3.0 was released.
This added one new music category for the civil war fights and expanded the whole mod to let users add a total of 450 tracks to the game.
24th March 2012: Version 2.1 was released.
This version changed the mod plugin to an .ESP, from the previous .ESM. The reason for this was that Bethesda’s 1.5 patch of Skyrim/CK fixed the bug that forced the mod user to always load the mod in a specific spot of the load order. With the new mod version, the plugin can be placed anywhere in the load order and still work.
22nd March 2012: Version 2.0 was released.
This version increased the maximum number of addable tracks from 102 to 268. It also added two new categories of music to be played in the mornings and evenings in Explore areas. In addition it fixed a problem with the earlier version regarding getting Explore – Night tracks to play in the towns during the night.
21st March 2012: The option to download the mod with the Nexus Mod manager was added.
If you do download and install with the NMM, you still have to follow the same procedure to actually add music to the game, as if you had manually downloaded it. You may also have to uninstall parts of the mod manually (see more on this in sections 1 and 7). The main reason the NMM download option was added was to make it easier for those who wish to track updates for the mod (thanks to Kirschi for pointing this out).
20th March 2012: Personalized Music – No Vanilla Music version added.
A version of the mod that removes all original (i.e. vanilla) music from Skyrim was added to the optional files section. Using it, only your added music will play in the game (see section 5 above for more on this version).
10. ISSUES, PROBLEMS AND TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE
If your character is much more powerful than the foes you’re fighting, a game setting prevents the combat music from starting. This is not a bug, but a design choice of Bethesda’s. No one wants combat music every time a silly mudcrab starts running after you, but at higher levels with good gear many feel it’s too rare to have it start. If you have a problem with it, there is a mod that lowers the threat threshold for when combat music is played here. The game setting in question is called fCombatMusicPlayerTargetedThreatRatio if you want to make your own plugin that changes it.
If using uncompressed .wav files, adding a lot of music to the game is going to take up quite a bit of HD space. Adding 1000+ tracks at 25-30 MB each would need a boat load of memory!
One user has reported problems with putting very large .wav files, encoded to 32 Bits, into the game. I tested individual files just over 100 MB in size without problems, on a machine with 6 GB of RAM. If your machine isn’t very powerful, some general caution is advised. Also, a few users have had problems with using Audacity for converting files to .wav. It seems a bit random, though, since not all tracks they convert are problematic, but a few here and there.
So, if you are experiencing problems you think may be caused by any of these issues, I would recommend upgrading to the latest version of the mod and use the .xwm format foor your music files.
The strict load order requirement is a problem now only affecting old versions of Skyrim and versions 1.0, 2.0 and ESM_4.0 of this mod. For more on the problems with adding music with the CK to game version 1.4, see this forum thread.
Troubleshooting Guide
This is a guide to help you if you can’t get the mod to work properly.
1. Read the instructions and follow them carefully. Don’t just say you’ve done it, actually DO it. I’ve lost count of all the people who can’t get the mod to work and when I try to help them it turns out they’ve completely ignored part of the process. Don’t be one of those people. The mod may seem complicated, but that is unfortunately a result of how Bethesda decided to handle the music of the game. It is more complex, but at the same time more versatile, than in the previous TES and Fallout games.
2. Is the mod installed correctly? If you’re unsure how to do it manually, use the “Download with Manager” button instead. Make sure that the mod is actually checked in the Plugins list, otherwise it won’t be loaded by the game. Since the main mod and most of the add-ons have both a regular version (with the original music still playing) and a No Vanilla Music version, ascertain that only the version you want to use is checked and not the other.
3. Make sure the mod isn’t conflicting with another mod. To do that, temporarily move the mod .ESP, or add-on, to the bottom of the load order in your mod handler. If it now works, there is a conflict with another mod. Find out which and make sure PM comes after it in the load order. Remember that BOSS isn’t actually the boss of your load order–you are!
4. Make sure your tracks are converted correctly, to either the .WAV or .XWM format. (No, you can’t simply RENAME your file extensions to wav/xwm and think that magically converts the file–it doesn’t. See section 8 for information on converting). Some users have had issues with certain conversion applications and track bit rates, but what has given a few problems have worked for most people, so there is no clear pattern to it. If you have eliminated all other possible causes to your problems with the mod, try reconverting a few of your tracks with another app and at another bit rate, and see if this changes anything.
5. Make sure your files are renamed EXACTLY to what the text files in the music subfolders tell you. Of course they will also have to be placed in the correct subfolders. Otherwise the game won’t be able to find and play your tracks. Check if your Windows OS is set to “Hide Known File Type Extensions” (in Folder Options). If it is, uncheck the box next to it. If you don’t, you may actually be naming your tracks XXXXXX.wav.wav without knowing it since the last .wav is hidden by kind and helpful Microsoft.
6. If you are adding .wav tracks and simply can’t get them to play in Skyrim, convert them to .xwm and see if that helps. It doesn’t take long, since you can batch convert a whole bunch of files at the same time. Only the file extensions will change; the file names will stay as before, so no new renaming is necessary. If you have, or are planning to, add more than just a few tracks, it’s worth using the .xwm format anyway, since it means less RAM usage when playing and a lot less used HDD space.
11. LEGALITIES
You are free to use this mod, or parts of it in your own modding work, and upload it wherever you like, as long as you give me the proper credit and as long as it isn’t done for commercial purposes (accepting donations is fine, however).
You are free to try to convert this mod to be used in any other game (I’m mostly thinking Fallout 4 here, though I have no idea if it is possible or not — I don’t even own F4) and upload it on the Nexus or elsewhere, as long as you give me the proper credit and as long as it isn’t done for commercial purposes (accepting donations is fine, however).
You are not free to re-upload the mod in itself on the Nexus or anywhere else.
12. CREDITS
Bethesda
The Nexus
The mod’s supporters
