[WIP] Changing radio washington to many small stations

[Beery]

Originally Posted by Trout

so how do you sync the news when people use so much TC? I have to say, once I start a patrol I dont really pay attention much to the date so I would not notice a news report from AUg 15 1942 playing on Aug 20, 1942 as I'm TCing across the great expanse of the pacific!

Trout

Good point. I'm a little concerned that we'd have to put in two or three sound files for every single week of the war in order to have a chance of hearing some of them. I wish there was some way of making them play every day until the next sound file kicks in. Maybe that's how it works already, if so, just ignore me and I'll go back to my corner, muttering to myself.

[tedhealy]

Yeah, that's the problem. With a 30 second audio clip, it's not that bad. When you have a 30 minute file playing during high TC, it will be playing for weeks or months in game. People that use lots of high TC will get their audio backed up. People that use less TC will hear more audio on the correct dates. The difference between aug 15 and aug 20 isn't that great, but when you have august news playing into october, then things get a bit out of whack because all the other news events seem to be pushed back too.

This isn't that big of deal in the end though because most patrols won't last that long. At the very least during each patrol you should be able to pick up at least one audio event that's about 30 minutes long. Depending on where you are, you could actually get several because different stations play from different folders with different audio content.

That's why I've been "testing" scripted news events. I've sort of found out that you can get away with 1 30 minute broadcast in a 30 day period if you aren't on a long cross pacific transit at 4000+ TC. If you are in patrol areas and you frequently drop in and out of TC and mainly stay under 2000 TC when you do use it, then the audio should play approximately at the right time. If you are in a target rich area and you're doing a lot of cruising around at less than 512 TC, then you can get away with 2 30 minute files a month.

I've been scripting most months for 1 and sometimes 2 30 minute broadcasts with some shorter clips sprinkled in.

The only thing that concerns me right now is that I've found some odd results where if you have a file scheduled to start on a certain date, but you tune in days or weeks late, it starts from the beginning just fine most of the time, but yet other times it will not start at all if you tune in late. I'm not sure what's up with this, perhaps I confused my start dates in testing, not sure.

[tedhealy]

Originally Posted by Beery

Good point. I'm a little concerned that we'd have to put in two or three sound files for every single week of the war in order to have a chance of hearing some of them. I wish there was some way of making them play every day until the next sound file kicks in. Maybe that's how it works already, if so, just ignore me and I'll go back to my corner, muttering to myself.

You'll hear 'em, don't worry. I thought there wouldn't be enough audio too when I first started this. It's actually the opposite, too much audio. Or at least too much that is too long. That's why I split the stations into drawing off separate folders. If we only had < 1 minute long clips like the default audio, then yeah we'd need lots. But we have 15 minute plus stuff.

It sort of works that way * I think * In that if you tune in after an audio event's start date and time, it still plays. So you shouldn't miss the audio. The thing I haven't figured out is how big a window you have to tune in. I know with the hollywood old time radio mod, if I tune in several days after the start time of a show, it still plays from the beginning.

[tedhealy]

I'm going to upload a 'beta' version tonight. The only thing that should change between this version and the final should be the radio.ini. So you will not have to download the entire mod again, you'll just need to edit your radio.ini for the final version.

The major difference between this beta version and the final version will be that the random music playing on stations will not overlap the scripted news events in the final version.

This is in JSGME format ready to install, except that you will have to edit your own radio.ini. If you do not edit your radio.ini, this mod will not work. Back up your current radio.ini in \data\sound\radio and then copy and paste the following into radio.ini

[GENERAL]
RadioRealism=Yes
StartCh=1

[CHANNEL]
Name=Hawaii xx22.30xx
Folder=Washington
Freq=22
Antenna=01.01.1930-01.01.2000:21.00,-158.00:6000
;approx. 2600nm

[CHANNEL]
Name=Midway xx36.90xx
Folder=New York
Freq=36
Antenna=01.01.1930-01.01.2000:28.00,179.00:2800
;approx. 1400nm

[CHANNEL]
Name=Tokyo xx56.50xx
Folder=Tokyo
Freq=56
Antenna=01.01.1930-01.01.2000:36.00,140.00:7800
;approx. 3600nm

[CHANNEL]
Name=Australia xx67.60xx
Folder=London
Freq=67
Antenna=01.01.1930-01.01.2000:-24.00,133.00:3700

[CHANNEL]
Name=Singapore xx107.50xx
Folder=\London
Freq=107
Antenna=01.01.1930-13.02.1942:1.00,104.00:1800

[CHANNEL]
Name=Singapore xx108.20xx
Folder=\Tokyo
Freq=108
Antenna=15.02.1942-15.08.1945:1.00,104.00:1800

[CHANNEL]
Name=Manila xx135.20xx
Folder=\Washington
Freq=135
Antenna=01.01.1930-02.01.1942:15.00,121.00:1600

[CHANNEL]
Name=Manila xx136.80xx
Folder=\\Tokyo
Freq=136
Antenna=04.01.1942-28.10.1944:15.00,121.00:1600

[CHANNEL]
Name=Leyte xx137.9xx
Folder=\New York
Freq=137
Antenna=01.11.1944-01.01.2000:12.50,124.50:2000
;approx 900nm

[CHANNEL]
Name=Guadalcanal xx168.90xx
Folder=\\\Tokyo
Freq=168
Antenna=03.05.1942-07.08.1942:-10.00,160.00:1100
;approx 500nm

[CHANNEL]
Name=Guadalcanal xx169.70xx
Folder=\\Washington
Freq=169
Antenna=09.08.1942-01.01.2000:-10.00,160.00:1100
;approx 500nm

[CHANNEL]
Name=Bougainville xx184.10xx
Folder=\\\\Tokyo
Freq=184
Antenna=01.01.1930-13.11.1943:-2.00,152.00:1100

[CHANNEL]
Name=Bougainville xx185.70xx
Folder=\\New York
Freq=185
Antenna=15.11.1943-01.01.2000:-2.00,152.00:1100

[CHANNEL]
Name=Saipan xx203.40xx
Folder=\\\\\Tokyo
Freq=203
Antenna=01.01.1930-15.06.1944:15.00,146.00:1500
;approx 750nm

[CHANNEL]
Name=Saipan xx204.40xx
Folder=\\\Washington
Freq=204
Antenna=17.06.1944-01.01.2000:15.00,146.00:1500
;approx 750nm

[CHANNEL]
Name=Iwo Jima xx255.20xx
Folder=\\\\\\Tokyo
Freq=255
Antenna=01.01.1930-21.02.1945:26.00,140.00:1100

[CHANNEL]
Name=Iwo Jima xx256.30xx
Folder=\\\New York
Freq=256
Antenna=23.02.1945-01.01.2000:26.00,140.00:1100

[CHANNEL]
Name=Okinawa xx280.60xx
Folder=\\\\\\\Tokyo
Freq=280
Antenna=01.01.1930-29.03.1945:29.00,127.00:1100

[CHANNEL]
Name=Okinawa xx281.10xx
Folder=\\\\New York
Freq=281
Antenna=01.04.1945-01.01.2000:29.00,127.00:1100

If you don't want to use JSGME, make sure that the you edit your radio.ini as described and you put the washington, new york, london, and tokyo folders in the \data\sound\radio folder. The washington folder should include the new files from this mod and the default audio already in it's events folder.

If you have other radio mods, I suggest changing their freq= numbers to either be above 281 or below 22. You can edit them to be anywhere in between the frequencies I used if you want, just keep the order of the [CHANNEL] entries sorted by freq number from low to high. For example if you want to use freq=45 as the CBS radio mod, then make sure it gets listed in between midway at 36 and tokyo at 56. Also keep the stations at least 5 frequencies apart. I'd reccommend at least 10 though.

I have not included any music files with this release, nor will I for the final. You can download my music pack at the filefront location this mod is at and whatever other music packs you want from other locations to go with this mod. Having some music for the final version will be essential for immersion though.

In order to get the most out of the radio tokyo portion of this mod for the final release, you will need to download castorp345's Japanese music packs at

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=109633

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=109699

The Japanese music will go in \data\sound\radio\tokyo folder. There will be 33 Japanese songs if you grab both of castorp345's packs. I suggest adding 30 to 60 other non-Japanese songs to this folder to round out it's random music playlist. This way you will hear popular American music along with some Japanese music and the Tokyo Rose/Orphan Ann broadcasts. Be aware that the Tokyo Rose audio does not begin until march of 1943 as it did in real life. These will begin just as weekly sign on/offs until the hour long zero hour broadcasts begin in late 1944. Why weekly? I experimentd with daily sign in/offs and they became very repetitive and annoying very quickly. If you wanted to make these a daily event though, editing the events.ini in the tokyo\events folder is very easy. Why late 1944 for the zero hour broadcasts? Because that's when the handful of zero hour audio files I have were made in real life.

A few music sources for the non tokyo stations... 602Sqn_Puff's Glenn Miller songs

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=110707

The music from CaptainCox's cbs radio mod, my music pack (music_pack.rar at http://hosted.filefront.com/tedhealy ), and whatever music you can find. If you get the Glen Miller music, use the music from CaptainCox's CBS radio, and my music pack, you should have over 150 songs.

This music will go in the \data\radio\sound\Washington, \data\radio\sound\New York, and \data\radio\sound\London folders. Put as much in there as you can. Each station (not tokyo of course) is tied to one of those folders and will play songs randomly from them when not playing a news event. You can duplicate the music in each of the folders or have a separate collection of songs in the washington, new york, and london folders to save space. Either way, it's essential for the final version that you have at *least* 20 songs in each folder to create the illusion of an actual radio station.

Rember though, for this beta version the music will still overlap the scripted news events making them hard to hear. So you may want to hold off putting music into those folders until the final version.

I'll post the link when it's uploaded (580 MB split into 3 rar files).

[clayton]

Looking forward to it!

[tedhealy]

It's up in 3 parts plus a readme that just is my previous post. It's at http://hosted.filefront.com/tedhealy/

You need all 3 parts, then just extract the first one to get a folder called MultiRadioStation. Edit your radio.ini as instructed and install either with JSGME, or by putting the washington, new york, london, and tokyo folders in \data\sound\radio.

Please read 2 posts above for how to edit your radio.ini or the readme.

IF YOU DO NOT EDIT YOUR RADIO.INI THIS WILL NOT WORK

The [REL] version will come out shortly after the next patch *hopefully* This will just be an update to the radio.ini file and possibly any changes to the various events.ini files that might need tweaks for when scripted events play.

[Beery]

Great stuff! I'm downloading as I type.

As an aside, do you happen to know if the game actually plays anything between December 7th and December 10th 1941? With the game's standard start date of December 9th you don't actually get in a boat until the 11th, and I would think that if a deadline has already gone by the date-based files (from Dec. 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th) won't play.

In RFB I modified the start date to the 7th, but even then you only get started in the sim on the 9th.

[Beery]

I just downloaded the three files, but the last two keep giving me 'bad block' notices and they won't unzip. Are they in some sort of linked format? Do I need a specific program to get them to work?

Thanks.

[tedhealy]

After you download all 3, just unrar the first one. It will grab the parts needed from the other 2 .rar files. You do not need to extract the other 2 files after you've done the first one. I keep forgetting to put that in the readme, but is a couple of posts up

If that isn't the issue though, and you can't even extract the first, I'll repack and upload. Things are working fine on my end though.

Yes, you are correct on the december 7th-10th issue. The 10th at about 6 AM is the earliest I've ever been able to leave Pearl. They have the audio scripted to play for events prior to that though. Just in case modders ever open up december 7 as a start date, I scripted some stuff to play before the 10th.

EDIT:

Just downloaded all 3 and extracted part1. Worked as expected.

[clayton]

Ted, I edited my radio file as well as downloaded the music you recommended and I'm starting to get CTD's. I tested two different boats, Sargo class in Manila 10 Dec 41, and T class out of Pearl-same date. I start engines, turn on the radio, and when I go to the Nav map and start to increase my time compression, usually 2096, I get the CTD. It's almost if I need more memory or something. I have 1.6 GB and I let Windows manage my page file. I'll start again, this time not turning on the radio and I'll let you know what happens.

[clayton]

Same problem with radio turned off. T class, 41, etc... I'll reduce all music to 10 songs in each of the 4 main cities. Still think this is a memory issue...

[Beery]

Originally Posted by tedhealy

Just in case modders ever open up december 7 as a start date, I scripted some stuff to play before the 10th...

I've already figured out how to open up any date. It's possible to start a career on December 5th and be in a boat on the 7th. But that actually brings up a good point - we could have pre-war patrols. Hmmm. I'm gonna have to think about that.

[Beery]

I found a couple of interesting things:

If you add in one of those 'breaking news' intro ogg files (there are three or four of them in the Washington folder) it will automatically slow the time compression down to 8x. This helps players tune in if they're running at a time compression that makes mouse movement difficult (although I guess it could also be annoying if it happened too frequently.

If you also include an ini file with the same name as your sound filename (i.e. if you have a sound file called "News.wav" you call your ini file "News.wav.ini") the text of the ini file will show as a flash traffic message - you can use this to alert players to the station of the broadcast, for example I just made one up that says:

[NEWS]
Title=December 3rd, 1941
Body=Tune in to Radio Washington, frequency 22, for breaking news!

This helps players to be tuned in at the right time. I figure with multiple broadcast stations the chances of missing a broadcast are high, so this will be invaluable.

We could also have messages like:

[NEWS]
Title=March 23rd, 1943
Body=Tune in to Hollywood Radio, frequency 30, for the latest Superman radio serial.

[tedhealy]

Originally Posted by clayton

Same problem with radio turned off. T class, 41, etc... I'll reduce all music to 10 songs in each of the 4 main cities. Still think this is a memory issue...

Interesting, please keep me informed.

Are you seeing this at a specific date and time. When it crashes try to take a quick look at the time and note it. The only crash I ever got when testing this is when I had an .au audio file scripted to play. The game would crash every time at the same time - exactly when that .au file was scheduled to play. I rechecked the pack and there are only .wav and .mp3 files, but try and note the time this crash happens.

I've done plenty of test runs starting in 1941 with all the subs at all kinds of TC, so I kind of doubt this is it.

I have 2 gig of ram and I'm running the Hollywood old time radio mod, this mod, the cbs mod, plus some 200 songs in each of the folders for random play. I've seen zero issues. It sounds like you could have a memory issue, but I don't know based on my experience.

Some random suggestions if you want to keep at it

Make sure you have the radio.ini exactly as I listed it - if you haven't already, try disabling by commenting out any other radio mod/stations you have. Make sure you don't have two [GENERAL] sections in the radio.ini. Make sure the Washington, New York, London, and Tokyo folders are in the right place. Make sure you have only got .mp3, .wav, or .ogg files in the folders where you've put the music. Try getting rid of all the music in those folders and see if the events alone will play without crashing. The first event should be december 11 at 12:00 for pearl, december 10 at 16:00 for Midway and december 10 at 22:00 out of australia.

Let me know what you find.

[Beery]

I was just browsing through the sound files in the new mod and I found this file: "1945-04-23-EdwardWardCelebrating.mp3" - there are a couple of Edward Ward sound clips but I found this one especially interesting as it's clear that the guy is plastered, LOL. If you listen to the other clips of his voice it's even clearer that he's inebriated. That must have been a heck of a party.