Novice needing help with adding sound files

from Sins Forums

Hi everyone,

I have been trying to add a new sound effect to an already existing mod. This is what I did:

I converted the original audio file to 128kbs 44100hz Mono ogg vorbis. I named it "Effect_TractorBeam.ogg" and placed it in the "Sound" folder.

I then opened "SoundEffects.sounddata" in the "Gameinfo" folder and added these lines to the top:

effect
    name "Effect_TractorBeam"
    fileName "Effect_TractorBeam.ogg"
    type "Effect"
    is3D TRUE
    priority 5
    threshold 25000.000000
    minAttenuationDist 1000.000000
    maxNumPlayingSimultaneously 5
    isLooping TRUE
    isResident TRUE
    minRespawnTime 0.1
    fadeInTime 0.0
    fadeOutTime 0.0
    alternateGroup ""

After that I added +1 to the total count at the top of the file.

Finally I exchanged the old sound effect name in the Buff.entity file with "Effect_TractorBeam".

Unfortunately, the effect does not play in game. Same happens with every other sound I try to add. I have read dozens of threads about sound modding but I'm not finding a solution.

Can anyone spot what I'm doing wrong?

Thank you for your time!

 

modding
8,153 views 7 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top

So far it looks all correct without seeing the whole file.

Can you find the effect set used previously in the sound file? What was the priority? Try priority 1 or 255, those are the ranges I see so far. Looks like higher is more likely to play, not sure. Post what the old sound file was using if you can.

Can you try just renaming your sound file to what was being used previously and test. Thats usually the easiest. Backup the one you dont want anymore 1st.

Also the dev.exe has a play sounds and play music menu that you can test sounds with. Spawn a ship with the tractor beam 1st then use the dev menu to find and test the sound.

Its also a good idea to look ath the ranges for the other values. I see a lot use threshold 70000.000000 and minAttenuationDist 3000.000000. Not sure what these do but usually changing the values using ranges from other sounds are a good bet. Like I said, I usually just name my new sound the name of the sound I dont want anymore and rename the old sound with ORG.ogg on the end of the name and it works every time.

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Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top

Myfist0 thank you for your quick reply! I played the sound effect using dev.exe and it played beautifully. As you suggested I tried different priority numbers all to no avail. 5 was the priority from the original effect.

Could you explain a bit more about maxNumPlayingSimultaneousl? The way I understand it this is the max number of times the sound effect will be executed at the same time in game. Say if there were five ships with tractors beams they would all play, whereas the 6th ship's tractor beam would be silent. However, when testing I always only have one ship with the ability. 

Short from using the original effect name, is there anything else I could do? I really would like to have the ability to add new sounds rather than replacing old ones, which are often used elsewhere.

The Political Machine 2024
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top

P.S. the way I understand threshold and minAttenuationDist is that the former makes the effect play louder or quieter and the latter affects how far away you can hear it in game.

Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top

I edited my 1st post adding about  threshold 70000.000000 and minAttenuationDist 3000.000000, try those values. Did you copy that sound set values from the original?

Yes I think you are correct about the maxNumPlayingSimultaneously. Pertains to that sound only. Its been a long time since I edited effects.

At least test the sound with the old name and rule that out.

Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top

It works with the old name. Didn't even need to replace a sound file as it is a sound from vanila the mod overrides it automatically. Its a shame though that it is so hard to add additional sounds.

Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top

What game are you modding? Vanilla needs the complete GameInfo folder for mods to work where Ent and Dip only need the files you are changing.

Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top

I am acutally modding SoA2 for Diplomacy. Just wanted to add further authentic sound effects. But it seems I will only be able to replace standing ones.