Music of Civ VI

[God of Kings]

Here are the Persia themes:

 

[6uho Koe]

Here is Geoff Knorr's reply to my questions about Persia and Macedon's themes:

I composed both the Persia and Macedon medieval and industrial themes. Phill Boucher worked alongside me on the atomic versions. The ancient versions come directly from performers fluent in these musical traditions, Kazem Davoudian on santur for Persia and Vasko Dukovski on many flute-type instruments as well as duduk for Macedon.

The Persia theme is based on two "radifs" from the Persian music tradition: "Kereshme and Reng-e Shalakhu" from Dastgaah-e Maahur. The song "Morghe Sahar" uses the Dastgaah-e Maahur "scale" as well, which is likely why folks have guessed it is the source again, but these new themes are not connected to that song.

The Macedon theme is based on the Macedonian folk song, "Tino Mori."

Well it confirms they used Yugoslavic Macedonian music. I knew it sounded too Balkan for a Greek(ish) culture/civ. Not sure if the composers are aware slavic Macedonia and ancient Macedon are two different cultures. Especially since Geoff Knorr did research for the Assyrian music for civ v based on an Assyrian-syriac prayer. Seems like fire will start raging.

Glad to hear they didn't re use Morghe Sahar.

 

[Zaarin]

Anyone know if they'll ever get around to updating the soundtrack with DLC civ themes? Personally, Poland and Persia have some of the finest tracks in the game so far.

 

[CivLuvah]

Well it confirms they used Yugoslavic Macedonian music. I knew it sounded too Balkan for a Greek(ish) culture/civ. Not sure if the composers are aware slavic Macedonia and ancient Macedon are two different cultures. Especially since Geoff Knorr did research for the Assyrian music for civ v based on an Assyrian-syriac prayer. Seems like fire will start raging

I do sense a flame war coming... and Greek players raging.

Do we have records of music from ancient Macedon? Or music dating during the time of the Hellenistic dynasties after Alexander died? I would have been more appropriate.

UPDATE: I did some research, typed "tino mori" on google, and there are some websites that said that the song, despite being a Slavic Macedonian song, actually originated from Greece. Although I'm not sure if these websites are reliable enough. Just check them out:

http://empslocal.ex.ac.uk/cdnet/raymond/CDDB/info/T/Tino_Mori3.html
http://www.sacredcircles.com/THEDANCE/HTML/DANCEPAG/TINOMORI.HTM
http://www.listen4.me/listen/samiotisa-tino-mori-greece-173926579

 

[God of Kings]

The Persian themes this time aren't depressing unlike the Persian war theme in Civ V.

 

[Txomin]

I love the Macedon themes. Wasn't at all expecting to have them in my head all day. Even though I use a mac, DLC releases are still exciting for me simply for the music!

 

[CivLuvah]

The Macedon theme is interesting... they used drums to make it sound "Greek", even though the theme is based of a Slavic Macedonian folk song.

I like the Persian theme, specifically how it ends, and it's definitely more "cheery" than the theme in Civ5

 

[upi00r]

OKI, you'd better tell me how to mod the music in Civ VI. This topic has been ignored for all the time not without reason

Should be rather easy. All you need are:
1. Music_Bank.xml to get file names
2. Tools for .wem files
3. New music

Would like to hear Poland Civ 5 theme in Ancient/Industrial/Atomic versions

Anyone know if they'll ever get around to updating the soundtrack with DLC civ themes? Personally, Poland and Persia have some of the finest tracks in the game so far.

Someone asked Geoff Knorr about this and he said he will rush 2K to do so but he also said he couldn't guarantee anything. It's all about publisher.

 

[darko82]

Should be rather easy. All you need are:
1. Music_Bank.xml to get file names
2. Tools for .wem files
3. New music

Would like to hear Poland Civ 5 theme in Ancient/Industrial/Atomic versions

No tutorial yet how to actually add more music. Also, I tried to replace a wem file with the same filename but it didn't play in the game. So I don't know.

 

[upi00r]

Did you try with Audiokinetic Wwise?

 

[6uho Koe]

UPDATE: I did some research, typed "tino mori" on google, and there are some websites that said that the song, despite being a Slavic Macedonian song, actually originated from Greece. Although I'm not sure if these websites are reliable enough. Just check them out:

http://empslocal.ex.ac.uk/cdnet/raymond/CDDB/info/T/Tino_Mori3.html
http://www.sacredcircles.com/THEDANCE/HTML/DANCEPAG/TINOMORI.HTM
http://www.listen4.me/listen/samiotisa-tino-mori-greece-173926579

Not sure either. If it originated from Greece, then it might have been forgotten there as opposed to fyrom. The lyrics are in slavic Macedonian and it refers to a town Gevgelija, which is in fyrom, but on the edge of the border with Greece.
The fact it refers to that town may indicate a certain relation or indication to the Macedonian region if not greater Macedonian area. I don't know much about history of the balkans but if the song originated before greek independence, it may be a shared song with the Greeks and southern slavs until romantic nationalism brought in cultural ownership claims. Though the lyrics are slavic and I have yet to find one with greek lyrics, so it beats me.

 

[darko82]

Did you try with Audiokinetic Wwise?

Yeah, I used it to convert a file. It didn't work in the game. Maybe I missed some settings that the game requires.

 

[upi00r]

Yeah, I used it to convert a file. It didn't work in the game. Maybe I missed some settings that the game requires.

I would start from switching one of the orginal files with another and see if it work. And Audiokinetic Wwise should have some kind of file information option to check file parameters - at least I think so

 

[CivLuvah]

Not sure either. If it originated from Greece, then it might have been forgotten there as opposed to fyrom. The lyrics are in slavic Macedonian and it refers to a town Gevgelija, which is in fyrom, but on the edge of the border with Greece.
The fact it refers to that town may indicate a certain relation or indication to the Macedonian region if not greater Macedonian area. I don't know much about history of the balkans but if the song originated before greek independence, it may be a shared song with the Greeks and southern slavs until romantic nationalism brought in cultural ownership claims. Though the lyrics are slavic and I have yet to find one with greek lyrics, so it beats me.

Apparently the town mentioned in the song was once part of an Ottoman province that included what is now modern-day Greek Macedonia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salonica_Vilayet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macedonia_(Greece)

 

[darko82]

I would start from switching one of the orginal files with another and see if it work. And Audiokinetic Wwise should have some kind of file information option to check file parameters - at least I think so

I could dig into it if I knew how to add more music because I do not want to replace it.

 

[upi00r]

You would have to know how (and when) to tell the game to use new tracks for a civ and this might be hard-coded since I cannot find any references (like title or track id) for entries from Music_Bank.xml inside other xml files (or other files with text strings) and the entries from Music_Bank.xml don't seem to tell anything about when a track is supposed to be played. Maybe it's possible with SDK but I have no idea.

Thanks for translating. I looked into lyrics for "Hej, Idę w Las" but it sounded different from the one on that album. I thought it might have been a different version of the same song because I typed that title on YouTube and it sounded very different from that album. I didn't look into details of the album itself but if the lyrics for that song is for a different song I assume it is a translation mistake from either the producers or overseas producers (or translator). It happened to a song I know on a compilation album on Central Asian music where they list it as untitled. But if you look up the artist listed under that untitled song, there actually is a title for that song in one of her albums.
Well, thanks for translating. It's very interesting to hear the original source of the music the composers used, even if it might possibly be mis-titled recently or decades ago.

To be honest I am not sure if this is even a music from "Hej, Idę w Las" song. I have checked a few videos on YT and the music from "Hej, Idę w Las" sounds completely different for me. Maybe the title on that album is wrong - this would also explain why the lyrics are different. But in that case the question is what song is this?

 

[Two Stepper2098]

You would have to know how (and when) to tell the game to use new tracks for a civ and this might be hard-coded since I cannot find any references (like title or track id) for entries from Music_Bank.xml inside other xml files (or other files with text strings) and the entries from Music_Bank.xml don't seem to tell anything about when a track is supposed to be played. Maybe it's possible with SDK but I have no idea.

Afaik, it's impossible to tell the game to use custom tracks since you would need the Wwise source project files to add music. The Total War games use the same sound system, and modding music is impossible without the game's Wwise project files. If you rename a track to replace one of the game's wem files, it doesn't actually replace it in the game since the game would look for the original one.

To be honest I am not sure if this is even a music from "Hej, Idę w Las" song. I have checked a few videos on YT and the music from "Hej, Idę w Las" sounds completely different for me. Maybe the title on that album is wrong - this would also explain why the lyrics are different. But in that case the question is what song is this?

There seems to be two different "Hej Ide w Las" songs: this one and this one. The former is part of a highland robber's song and the latter is Polish mountain fiddle music. There are covers/performances for both so I assume that the title of the songs are not mistaken, just coincidentally named (which makes sense since going into the the woods is relevant in that area).

 

[Zaarin]

Do we have records of music from ancient Macedon? Or music dating during the time of the Hellenistic dynasties after Alexander died? I would have been more appropriate.

I think we have some melody fragments from that time period, like the "Epitaph of Seikilos" (already used by Greece) or the "Delphic Hymns." Reliable music notation really didn't become a thing until the Medieval period, so we don't have a lot before that. Exceptions like "The Hymn to Nikkal" are rare.

 

[upi00r]

Afaik, it's impossible to tell the game to use custom tracks since you would need the Wwise source project files to add music. The Total War games use the same sound system, and modding music is impossible without the game's Wwise project files. If you rename a track to replace one of the game's wem files, it doesn't actually replace it in the game since the game would look for the original one.

That's why I said I would start from switching two original files (to see if there are additional metadata within a file that is needed for a track to be played).

There seems to be two different "Hej Ide w Las" songs: this one and this one. The former is part of a highland robber's song and the latter is Polish mountain fiddle music. There are covers/performances for both so I assume that the title of the songs are not mistaken, just coincidentally named (which makes sense since going into the the woods is relevant in that area).

Maybe but there are no references on Google for the second song (except that one album, which seems to be released in US only or something) when there are a lot for the first one. I have even tried to search for it by using the part of the lyrics I can understand. It's like that song does not exist or it's a different song with a different name. Or it's completely unknown on the Internet.

 

[darko82]

You would have to know how (and when) to tell the game to use new tracks for a civ and this might be hard-coded since I cannot find any references (like title or track id) for entries from Music_Bank.xml inside other xml files (or other files with text strings) and the entries from Music_Bank.xml don't seem to tell anything about when a track is supposed to be played. Maybe it's possible with SDK but I have no idea.

That's why I hate this Wwise. Modding and adding music seems impossible in many games.