RFB hydrophone sounds for SH3 (heavy metal version).

[karamazovnew]

Download Link (July 18 2009): http://www.filefront.com/14067825/RF...o%20Sounds.rar
Note that this is a RAR archive (can be opened in 7Zip) and it has around 36MB.


Description:

First let me start by by thanking the RFB team for the amazing sounds they made for SH4 (and not only sounds har har ) and allowing me to use their files in this mod. Also hats off to Thomsen, whose sound mod I've been using for the last year and will continue to do so.

What first started as a simple copy/paste of the RFB sound files over the corresponding SH3 files, soon evolved into the current form, based on 2 main ideas.
1. A submarine going at flank speed underwater would be so noisy to it's own hydropnone that the sonar man's ear would bleed. The vibrations would be imense, the friction of water over the sensors would produce noise, and the propeler sound would propagate in all directions.
2. The earphones and microphones used in the 40's didn't have that much fidelity at low frequency (bass) and had a lot of distortion, hiss and pop. As a former glider pilot, I can state that even current radios and earphones are much worse than what you can bear to hear on your PC.

My original desire was to change the hydrophone sounds completely by translating the amplitude of the signal into a series of electric pops and hisses, and also to filter out any low frequency, starting from the original RFB "exterior" sound files. However, once I finished, the result was a bit too extreme, so I decided to just add distorsion, dynamics and equalizers to the RFB hydrophone files instead to keep their original feel. Since those *_hyd.wav files matched the exterior files, I had to include those also. Some hydrophone sounds were unique to SH3 so I also had to shamelesly include a few of Thomsen's files (exterior and modified hyd sounds). All of the exterior files are unchanged. I did not touch or include any file that didn't have a direct Hydrophone correspondent.

If you think that your current sounds are already a bit too noisy, and you'd like to continue to hear ships from 30km away while going at flank speed underwater, this mod is definitly not for you. Since we all complain about the the sonar man being deaf, my choice was to make you deaf instead. The sounds are now lower in volume, the propeler sounds that you could count and compare to unrealistic speed charts are now gone, and if you go at flank speed while at the sonar station, your ears might bleed (not really, but you won't be able to hear a Battleship at your 180 anymore either).

Tips:
1. If you think that the background and engine noise is a bit too much to bear, simply delete or rename (or edit) these 2 files from the mod: amb_Hydrophone.wav
Submarine_hyd.wav
and remember to disable and reenable the mod in JSGME.

2. Since now you won't be able to hear ships BEFORE you see the words "merchant" or "warship" in your hydrophone notepad, you should do this step to remove the text altogether. It must be done manually since I can't include variants of the menu.ini file for all the existing mods. Open up the Data\Menu\menu_1024_768.ini file and search for this string "Type val" (yours might be different but I don't think so, since interface mods don't usually mess with that page). You'll see this text:

[G33 I5]
Name=Type val
Type=1029;Static text
ItemID=0x33010012
ParentID=0x33010000
Pos=117,-136,115,16
Color=0x111111FF
Font=5
Text=0
TextFlags=0x6

Comment out the Pos line like this:

[G33 I5]
Name=Type val
Type=1029;Static text
ItemID=0x33010012
ParentID=0x33010000
;Pos=117,-136,115,16
Color=0x111111FF
Font=5
Text=0
TextFlags=0x6

And you're done.

Enjoy, download, modify, delete, add to your winamp playlist, scare your cat, you're free to do whatever you want to these files. Just remember to give credit to the RFB team and Thomsen for their work. My own contribution is too small to be of any importance .

[karamazovnew]

Some might be interested in this link http://www.hnsa.org/sound/index.htm#sealion
Although most of the sounds were recorded with sound buoys, it will show how sounds..uhmm... sounded like underwater, when recorded with 1940's technology. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a recording showing the effect of one's own engine sound. Maybe you can

[orbiter28]

It's a good idea, and it will be a very realistic mod. Thx
(filefront don't work ?)

[karamazovnew]

Are you sure? The link works for me just fine.

[Sailor Steve]

Just downloaded. Can't wait to try it. One of the fun things about Aces Of the Deep was that your soundman couldn't hear anything at standard speed or higher. This sounds like fun.

[karamazovnew]

I assure you that the background sound is mostly annoying, not fun . But as I've already said, that was it's main idea. To keep you, the captain, away from checking up on the ear-bleeding sonar man. Since the RFB sounds are very close to reality, they are a pleasure to have by themselves. I have no idea if the engine sounds were that potent around the sub, and in what measure they affected the hydrophone. The game only makes the original sound (the slow speed i think) faster, higher in pitch and louder as the engine revs up. I can't control by how much, so I could only get a loud noise at high speed by starting from a moderately high volume (that you can hear as soon as you leave the "all stop" setting). But any audio application can alter the volume of a wav file, so it shouldn't be a problem to adapt it to your needs. The new sound saved me once from a quick death, as the nav officer went to standard speed while I was approaching a convoy and had to input a new course. Dodging depth charges also seems more... envolving... as you lose contact with your enemy when going to flank speed.

[PavelKirilovich]

Superb, thanks! I've been experimenting with soundmods lately. I'll have to ensure none of them conflict with your work, because this is a must-have for those 100% realism folks. I've never understood why GWX didn't try to model flow-noise, they've done everything else to torment us.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by karamazovnew

I assure you that the background sound is mostly annoying, not fun .

My idea of 'fun' isn't everybody's.

But as I've already said, that was it's main idea. To keep you, the captain, away from checking up on the ear-bleeding sonar man.

Well, I hardly ever listen to the thing anyway, as I doubt I would be a better soundman than the guy trained for the job. You know, when I was a radioman the captain never once tried to send or recieve messages for us. This just seems pretty cool, is all.

A quite interesting paper about construction, frecuencies, history and schemes on GHG "Some hardly known aspects of the GHG, the U-boat’s group listening
apparatus" by Arthur. O. Bauer, Having consulted to ex GHG operators and so.

Give it a read !

here

http://www.cdvandt.org/GHG1996.pdf

Cheers


P.S., btw this document comes from Foundation for German communication and related technologies(History of Technology)

http://www.cdvandt.org/

where scrolling down you will see a miriad of interesting documents on radar, radio, sonar and the like, many from WW2 era, and some referring U-boat

Enjoy!

[karamazovnew]

Pavel, I hope you like them. As you can see those are all the hydrophone sounds and the corresponding surface sounds, so merging them with any mod is possible, depends on which you want to place on top .

Steve, I hope they're fun enough for you .

Nictalope, amazing link, those schemes almost make me dizzy

Originally Posted by karamazovnew

Nictalope, amazing link, those schemes almost make me dizzy

:rotfl: absolutely true


Nonetheless is interesting note some simple facts:

* That GHG worked in 4 fecuencies and which used most were 3 khz and 6 khz
* "Average merchant ships, cruising at 12-13 knots, produced a maximum sonic spectrum at . 100
Hz and only 10% at 4 kHz. For destroyers cruising at 15 knots, the maximum sonic spectrum
was at . 200 Hz, but still supplying 30% of its harmonic spectrum between, 4 kHz and 8 kHz.
Thus the proportion of sonic signal level left at the higher harmonics, had to be compensated for
by increasing the amplification gain."
* Necessary depth for listening usually improved greatly @ 20 meter (best @ 50)
* "The electrically powered underwater boats had to reduce their speed to a few knots only (< 3 knots). If they were submerged and powered by a Diesel engine, in combination with a 'Schnorkel', the engine(s) had
to be completely switched off. Because the standard GHG system proved unable to receive sonic information adequately, when the submarine was sailing submerged (because of the use of the schnorkel the U-boat had to steer just under the interfering water surface)."
* At Maass's proposal, a group of hydrophones were integrated into a newly constructed hull,
placed in front of the lumber keel. This modification was successfully tested in U-194 in
February 1943. One of the improvements was the Balcony hydrophones were maintained at a 2.5
m lower level and thus were less vulnerable to many sorts of hampering interference.


So mods i guess could be developed on these notes, provided they're interesting enough to make them work. The main cfg files must be worked, i take it?

Anyway, in case passed unsuspected, i've worked a bit on hydrophone ship sound, had some recordings from several types and reworked them from skratch as accurately as I could, though i've kept some bass (you're absolutely right, karamazovnew, on the lack of bass thing on those years' equipment ) but is swallowed away on distance anyway. Mod is here :

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=153138

Can't tell if anyone tried this one
As i experienced in GWX-ed SH3 had to slow down speed almost to a full stop in order to get a 14km faint sound from ships and sonar op doesnt tell you a damn bout those sound while surfaced ( a good GWX fix, i take?), but still no too keen on those far away while submerged.

Cheers

[karamazovnew]

Nictalope, I went through your mod just before starting on mine . The sounds are very good for the standard SH3 surface sounds. I did go through the US Sonar User Manual that explained all the knobs and the procedures, a very interesting read. It just reminded me what could be achieved if we were allowed to script the game ourselves.

As it stands, depth doesn't have any change on sounds in the game. As soon as you hit the surface, the sounds start. This annoyed me terribly when traveling thorugh storms and the waves smashed into the hydros whithout causing sound. Speed also has no effect on any sound. Only your engines raise the volume (and pitch) of the sub sound. In other words, moving water around the hydro doesn't make any sound. Going at 8 knots flank then cutting the engines will instantly cut the noise, which may or may not be realistic. Maybe SH5 will adress these issues and implement each knob and phisical effect and save the world from hunger, bring peace and make women feminine again...

But until then, this mod does what it's supposed to, make you rely more on your watch crew and be more forgiving to your soundman. If you can find any sound samples from real german subs, I'd be very very interested in having them in SH .

[PavelKirilovich]

Originally Posted by Karamazovnew

Going at 8 knots flank then cutting the engines will instantly cut the noise, which may or may not be realistic.

Isn't. Actual speed, not indicated speed is the determining factor in flow noise. Having your sensor in a current makes the problem worse. No chance of simulating that in SH3/4/5.

Originally Posted by karamazovnew

Nictalope, I went through your mod just before starting on mine . The sounds are very good for the standard SH3 surface sounds. I did go through the US Sonar User Manual that explained all the knobs and the procedures, a very interesting read. It just reminded me what could be achieved if we were allowed to script the game ourselves.

...

But until then, this mod does what it's supposed to, make you rely more on your watch crew and be more forgiving to your soundman. If you can find any sound samples from real german subs, I'd be very very interested in having them in SH .

Well, thanks, and of course i will track down some u-boat recording, provided there is some around the net.

I guess we shouldn´t stop until we're able to smell the sea breeze from our monitors :rotfl:

Cheers

[karamazovnew]

Originally Posted by Nictalope

I guess we shouldn´t stop until we're able to smell the sea breeze from our monitors :rotfl:
Cheers

That has got to be the best motto of the Silent Hunter modders .