playable preview of v2.03's new sound idea
 

Here is a small preview of a new item in v2.03 of the SH4 effects (and more) for SH3. All the graphics have been stripped as this is to demonstate my new idea to everyone and for some feedback from the masses. The new idea is making ships seem alive and not like drones. When you run the test mission you will see what I mean. Please see the included text file 'Readme_from_Racerboy' for details. Here are the contents of that file:

Please extract the folder 'Racerboy_SH4_Effects_for_SH3_2_03_preview' to the MODS folder. Enable via JSGME.

This is to evaluate my 'live AI ships' idea for v2.03. Please run the single mission 'live_AI_ships_day'. Here is what I would like for you to do in that single mission:
Your sub (VIIb) is surfaced, 1000m south-east of a small convoy consisting of a coastal merchant, C2 cargo, and an LST. The convoy is on an easterly course at 5knots. Select binocular view and set your sights on the LST. Now select him by pressing the space bar. Now external cam out (F12) and get off the starboard side of the LST. Continue following the LST. Now select WO-->crew on deck-->man the deck gun. This will start your crew lobbing shells at the LST. Once they make the first hit the LST will start actively searching for you and once locked on will sound the boatswain's whistle, followed by the general quarters announcement on the ship's address system, followed by the general alarm. Blasts from the ship's horn will also happen. The LST will also lob starshells in your direction. After you have seen/heard this please exit mission. Re-Enter the mission and do the same but this time keep your view on the bridge. Enjoy!

Try external camming out to each ship to hear the different sound effects when you re-start the single mission I provided. The C2 and the coastal merchant are using the same sound effect but could use entirely different ones. One could even have a horn, or a starshell gun. You control how you want your ships setup.

Racerboy

http://rapidshare.com/files/67734698...review.7z.html

EDIT:

To avoid confusion and panic please disable any version of my SH4 effects for SH3 mod before enabling this test mission. Forgot to mention this the first time.

Crap ! I gonna miss out on this test but it sounds great ..... I get :

"Campaign_SCR.mis" has already been altered by the "Harbour_Traffic_1.43_subnets&minefields" mod.
"particles.dat" has already been altered by the "Racerboy_SH4_Effects_for_SH3_2_021" mod.
"particles.dsd" has already been altered by the "Racerboy_SH4_Effects_for_SH3_2_021" mod.
"NKLS_.eqp" has already been altered by the "Lights" mod.
"NKSQ_.eqp" has already been altered by the "Lights" mod.
"AI_Flare_Launch.wav" has already been altered by the "Racerboy_SH4_Effects_for_SH3_2_021" mod.
"AI_Flare_Launch_hyd.wav" has already been altered by the "Racerboy_SH4_Effects_for_SH3_2_021" mod.
"Sh3.sdl" has already been altered by the "Racerboy_SH4_Effects_for_SH3_2_021" mod.

Using this mod will havea adverse effect on your game ........................

it's quite okay. You're just enabling the mod to do the test mission. Since it's based on v2.021 in a way it's completely safe! You will want to disable it after you've played around with the test mission as the graphics and all have been stripped from the particles.dat file. :yep:

You know I will Racerboy. Going to test it for you.. I have a harbour full of active ships waiting not to hit ground!.:p

It's only meant for the test mission I provided. You'll see why if you try to use it outside of the test mission.
There are only 3 ships setup with this new idea, the C2, the coastal merchant, and the LST. This is just the start of my grand idea, well one of many..;)

I like all your grand ideas, they've added so much to my game experience.

Ok .. here are my findings after running it 4 times ........................

1st run as you decribe next to ships :

GREAT on the landing craft .. bells , whistles , horns and MAN your battle stations

C2 and costal merchant ... no noise .. just were slaughtered .........
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2nd run on bridge .... heard a faint horn blowing as I targeted the C2 but nothing else
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3rd ... from next to landing craft again as I targeted the C2 again ..... Just a horn blowing .... no noise from either the C2 or Coastal excpet them getting blown to bits ........................
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4th .. from costal being targeted ... heard nothing except the hits of the deck gun of course .........................
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NONE of the ships shot star shells or anything else at me but I did see the guns trainned at me from the landing craft ........

hope the report helps a bit while you tinker with the sounds.. Look forward to it when done ..........

what you hear with each ship can be two sound files - a ship's announcement soundfile and a ship's horn soundfile. You can make your own or use the defaults provided.
To alter the ship's announcement on the LST replace 'sam_1_allhands_battlestations.wav' with you own soundfile renaming it to my filename originally.This soundfile MUST be a mono type, not stereo.
To alter the ship's announcement of the civilian ships replace 'sac_1_allhands_battlestations.wav' with your own soundfile renaming it to my filename originally. This soundfile MUST be a mono type, not stereo.
And to alter the ship's horn of the LST replace 'shm_1_enemy_sighted.wav' with your own soundfile renaming it to my original filename. Once again, must be a mono type and not stereo.
If you want to add a ship's horn to the C2 and the coastal merchant make a soundfile and name it 'shc_1_enemy_sighted.wav'. Ensure it's mono and not stereo.
All these sound files are located in \data\Sounds.

My naming convention is as follows:

sam = Ship's Announcement Military
sac = Ship's Announcement Civilian
shm = Ship's Horn Military
shc = Ship's Horn Civilian

The number following these denotes 1 of 10 possibilities to use. So you will have 10 sam's, 10 sac's, 10 shm's, and 10 shc's in the released version but:
shm_1_xxx will be tied to sam_1_xxx (1 second delay)
shc_1_xxx will be tied to sac_1_xxx (3 second delay)

:|\\

Ok I read your readme and did the single mission. Here are some pics. plus my comments on it.;)

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...1194315852.jpg
So I sat there and locked my UZO onto LST. Had my deck gunners hit it. After a few hits I hear alarms and sirens and MAN YOUR BATTLESTATION. alarm .....

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...1194315945.jpg
He shot a flare towards me and I kept hitting him. Thank god those gunners don't shoot back or it could have been messy.:oops:

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...1194316022.jpg
After a while of pounding it with my rookie crew I popped it with a torpedo for good measures. :p

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...1194316060.jpg
She sank beatifully thank you very much!:up:

Nice effect. If you can get that in multi languages that would shake the foundation of SH3 to a hole new level. Racerboy add wailing and screaming to the bodies in the water. Any language will work for that!:rock:

the only thing you will hear at the coastal merchant and C2 is the boatswain's whistle. You have to follow what I said about the LST but instead of going to the LST first go to the C2, do the test, exit, restart and go to the coastal merchant and do the test.
I just downloaded my own test mission and installed it on my production computer. Worked like a charm so all the sounds for the ships and the starshell lobbing LST are there. :up:

the devils in the details of how I set this whole thing up. It's language INDEPENDANT! :rock: Since it's based on sound files the user can use his/her own soundfiles. Thus any language, any sound effect, whatever you want to hear is up to you all (provided you name the files correctly). If you don't want any sound effects to a ship you can edit the ship's .eqp file and remove the entry for the sound effect and replace it with 'NULL'. If you only want to add a starshell gun to a ship, have at it. It will be the end user's choice of how they setup their ships. :up:

Second test wasn't a glamourous as the first. I heard the siren but should be louder. I didn't hear any bridge crew on the horn barking orders. and no other alarm sounds. I have a 5.1 sound system using Soundblaster X-Fi elite. So sound is very good on my system. IF I don't hear its likely no one will.:hmm:

Fair enough for languages.:smug: Cool idea givin us the choice to change that.:rock:

Thanks racerboy

This is the feedback that I need to know. I don't know how far one should be able to hear the ship's announcement sounds. Currently I have them set to a max distance of 500m. Should this be increased? The ship's horn is set to a max distance of 5000m. Or should the distance stay the same but the volume increased? or both? :doh:

Can you have them in segments.
500m very loud
1250m loud
2500m mild
5000m wisper? for the siren
Horn half that if not more. Loudspeakers aren't as loud as sirens...:hmm: I think?:doh:

yes and no. If you do the test mission again and listen to the sounds of the LST when it starts to play and fall back from the ship (create distance) from it by pressing the back arrow (move camera backwards) you will hear the volume decrease with distance. I have set the min distance to 250m (full volume up to 250m) and then it starts to decrease in volume to nothing at 500m. So I can adjust when the volume starts to fade off and how far away you will barely be able to hear the sounds. This applies to both the announcements and the horn.