Need Help with WIP Mod: Dynamic Crew Sounds

[MarkQuinn]

I've been PMing some people about this mod idea but wanted to put it out there to the general public in hopes that either:

(a) Someone could point me in the direction of some great sound sources, or

(b) Someone here could take this idea and run with it.

I love the amb_SubmarineInterior sound created by KptnLt Eric Karle (and apparently claimed by many), but I always wanted a little more. A game DOESN'T have to have images and animations to give it life. I learned this filling up Morrowind with mods that added birds to the sky. My frame rate went to hell and I hardly ever saw the birds. Then I got rid of them and replaced them with a sound mod that added bird songs as well as many other sounds from nature. Guess what? The experience was a thousand times more immersive.

Sure, you'll have at best seven guys in your command room (including yourself), which doesn't seem like a lot, but add the sounds of many more, moving through the command room or shuffling about in other compartments and suddenly the game comes to life.

Problem #1: so you've replaced this amb_SubmarineInterior sound and now you hear a long loop with crew chatter, banging, stomping, laughing, etc., and it sounds good. But what about when three destroyers are lurking above the waves listening for the slightest indication that they've crushed you like a tin can under a bulldozer? Sure, the wav file won't help them find you, it has nothing to do with the game --- but it sure kills immersiveness when you're supposed to be on silent rigging and guys are goofing off in the next compartment.

I PMed Tikigod to see if a file could be tweaked to allow for one ambient sound for silent running and one for normal running. He PMed me back and said it would be quite impossible (at least without a SDK). So, that kind of kills that idea....

But wait, I thought ... what about the music files? Hell, nobody uses them in game anyway, AND they're set up to change according to the situation in the game. EUREKA! Using new music files, we can have loud boisterous conversations from the crew in times of low tension, silence and lots of "shhhshhing" during times of ultra high tension, and at least one more mode in between.

Problem #2: Unlike the officer voices, the music files aren't directional, meaning you'll hear the same voices regardless of where you are on the boat, or where you're facing.

Well, doesn't really matter. Amb_SubmarineInterior isn't directional either. It IS an interior file though, and of course this "music" would be heard even when outside the boat.

Solution: none needed. My vision is to make subdued sounds and voices, soft enough so you would know they came from somewhere else on the boat, but loud enough so you'd know they were there. Even in the exterior view, you can still hear your officers' orders, so who really cares if you can hear a few crewmen? (Moreover, hearing the voices of your crew set to the sillhouette of your U-Boot with the red evening sun in the background would even add a little cinematic touch.)

Problem #3: What about the gramophone?

Well, there's no way around that as far as I can see. When the gramophone is turned on, the in-game music cuts out. I say so what? When your gramophone is playing, the crew SHOULD be quiet, LISTENING to the gramophone. (Think Das Boot and the entire crew singing Tipperary).

(Still one of the funniest scenes in that movie: "The Tipperary song if you have no objections!" LOL)

Anyway, I tested this tonight using my girlfriend for authentic German (no she's American but was stationed there for a few years). And yes I turned down the pitch so she sounded like a post-adolescent boy (could've happened). I gave her a list of mundane things to say, "sailor things", and put her to work. Mind you, I have a fairly decent microphone. But the best microphone in the world won't do a thing if you have a lot of background noise. Okay, maybe I'm wrong about that and the best microphone in the world WOULD eliminate background noise --- but you get my point. The recordings sucked.

You know what the end result sounded like in game? I'll tell you. It sounded like Silent Hunter III being suddenly interrupted by crappy recordings of a woman with a poor German accent with the pitch all screwed up. NOT the kind of mod material you good people deserve!

If a mod like this is to work, it all starts with professional sounding recordings.

I have contacted Tikigod's German friend (some of his recordings were posted here, but were more humerous than I'm looking for and also not the best quality). Hopefully he can come through for us.

I don't really require a lot of sound effects. Amb_SubmarineInterior takes care of that very nicely, and obviously I would recommend that any mod like this be used in conjunction with that great work. This mod, using the dynamic nature of the music files, would simply be dedicated to human sound effects. The files would have to be LONG to avoid repetition (which means a big download), but I think it would be worth it.

If someone here and now has the resources to get something like this off the ground, I say go for it. I want dynamic crew background voices badly, and whether I make them or someone else does is irrelevant to me. If, however, someone can find me a source to German chit chat, professionally done, LOTS OF IT, that sounds like it could come from the mouths of bored German sailors on a U-Boat, this mod could be done in a day. Google, obviously, was no help.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Please respond here or PM me if you can help!

MQA

[KptnLt Eric Karle]

Great minds MarkQuinn, I'm currently working on this very idea, although I can't take credit for it as it was Nepolio who first suggested it when I released the Internal Life mod. Way back before I stopped playing I asked Gizzmoe if he would record some generic german sailor speech for me and he was willing but then I disappeared for a couple of months and it never happened. I'm sure there are enough German speakers on this forum and if they were willing we could get plenty of speech to keep us going

BTW, thanks for the kind words, like so many things around here I wouldn't have been able to do it without the work of others, Sailor Steve, roboto and finiteless to name but a few nevermind the inspiration sparked by so many others hard work in creating such a marvelous improvement over the stock game

[MarkQuinn]

KptnLt,

I'll PM you, because I have some questions.

MQ

[Vonotto]

This sounds like a masterpiece in the works.

[Boris]

This sounded promising so I had to dig it up...

did nothing ever come of this?

Originally Posted by KptnLt Eric Karle

Sailor Steve, roboto and finiteless to name but a few nevermind the inspiration sparked by so many others hard work in creating such a marvelous improvement over the stock game

And passing the buck still further to where it belongs, I did nothing but convert to SHIII mode the wonderful work of Lafeeverted, DJ Funk and others who created the original Das Boot Sound Mod for SHII.