Oolite Bulletins

Ive been tinkering with the source code to add new customsounds, and ive come across a few issues, 1) cutting and pasting the relevant is not enough really as i dont always get it in the right place, and 2) even if i did it might not coincide with what Giles is planning etc, not having a good understanding of the game code. So, i know that Giles todo list is more like St Nicholas' shopping list but i thought i'd make an addition request lol. i have been tinkering with sounds for the GUI screens, such as chatter on the market screen, and mechanics on the ship screen etc. i think it would be fantastic to have the following custom sounds. GUI screens, one for comms ( which could be adapted at a later stage), the jump speed on, ecm? I'll stop there cos Giles will most probably be hitting the screen reading this with a big stick I'll be updating the current customsounds with the added escape pod option, and other bits n pieces today. Whilst i was browsing the source, i found an option for [fuel-leak] which isnt mentioned on the customsounds.plist, I'll put in a file for this anyway, just in case.

milinks wrote:

Whilst i was browsing the source, i found an option for [fuel-leak] which isnt mentioned on the customsounds.plist, I'll put in a file for this anyway, just in case.

Ah - well done. I guess I've not been quite as diligent in doumenting these as I could have been.

The idea for custom sounds for gui screens is a great one. But what I'll do is probably add code to the background-scenes addition in 1.65 that can stream and loop a longer file.

And yes, please add events to this thread that could use a custom sound being played.

awright. some wishes:

• Ship-in-dangerously-close-proximity-to-something-else-warning. (disabled during docking)
• Sound events for when the alert lamp switches, ie. turns green, yellow, red..
• Torus drive engaged/disengaged.

"Torus drive"?

Did I miss something?...

Murgh wrote:

[*]Sound events for when the alert lamp switches, ie. turns green, yellow, red..

I'd like enter and exit sounds for red alert, that is probably the state you want sounds for most.

Plus:

Docking and leaving a station (particularly the main system station).

Cargo scooped

Other ships docking/leaving a station while you're in station aegis.

I'd also like to see the option of associating a script with the sound events and a playSound method the script can use. This way you could have say a single alert status change "sound" which ran a script that could determine which sound to actually play based on some variables.

Same for docking at stations, the script could check if you've docked at the main station or some other one and play the appropriate sound.

Something like:

I'd like Ride of the Valkery or similar for when I'm in attack mode a la Kelly's heroes style.

How about custom sounds when:
a) you enter the aegis of a station. milink's launching coms message would work well there.
b) the ability to have station coms chatter while in the aegis. Kind of like traffic control.

In response to Cmdr Wombat

How about custom sounds when:
a) you enter the aegis of a station.

This, and aegis-planet have been included in the customsounds, but as Cmdr W has rightly pointed out, they dont work . jst goes to show that i didnt fully test the customsounds.oxp

Ive been back through the source code, and indeed both custom aegis sounds are in there, so i dont know why they arent working

Hopfeully when Giles reads this he might no of a reason why they arent working, ive tested the audio files, and they are fine, so its definately a code issue.

I think dajt is on a winner with his idea of

<key>[thesoundevent]</key>
<dict>
<key>ooscript</key>
<string>// the ooscript here</string>
</dict>

This could, i suppose work for being directed to different sounds for different systems etc, hopefully

should this work?

<dict>
<key>gui-customsound</key>
<array>
<dict>
<key>conditions</key>
<array>
<string>status_string equal STATUS_DOCKED</string>
<string>gui_screen_string equal GUI_SCREEN_SYSTEM_DATA</string>
</array>
<key>do</key>
<array>
<string>setMissionMusic: stars.ogg</string>
</array>
</dict>
</array>
</dict>
</plist>

to play music when the status screen is on, or have i missed something totally obvious?

The mission music might only play when a mission screen is being displayed, as opposed to one of the other UI screens.

I've not checked the code, but I think this might be the problem.

I thought of some other sound events I'd like:

• A looping sound for when the main engines are running, with the volume varied by speed.
• A looping sound for when the pitch or roll thrusters are fired which is automatically set to it's ending part when the thrusters are turned off.

These will need the sound code modifications that Winson and Ahruman were discussing a while ago to gracefully handle user supplied looping sounds.

If anyone wants to hear what I'd like Oolite to sound like, download Orbiter and the sound mod and try it out. The on-board sounds are exactly what I've been tinkering to try and achieve.

Hopefully, the addition of the customsounds.oxp has given people a few ideas as to what they would like to hear within the game, in different areas. The ideas that Giles has with the GUI screens both graphically and incorporating sound options will make a massive difference to the game. The customsounds.oxp really is kind of a quick fix, or example to give people ideas as to what works and what doesnt. Hopefully, as Giles struggles through his todo list, the options will become far greater where sound is concerned, his ideas are amazing.

Until i started looking at the audio side, i didnt really understand how easy / hard it was to add sounds. Having read the source code, i now understand that it is better to have a structured approach and get the infrastructure of the source sound done, which will take a while, but will be so much better in the long run. Hence people getting there ideas in now, so they can be added.

A common string is the different types of music people listen to whilst playing for different moods etc. An addition to the source code to allow background music during flight would be good. What about an addition to the menu screen, which gives you Mood Music Options, so that you could, when docked, change the music from say, chilled, to rockin etc, like a "Doom - esque" menu like "hurt me plenty", with the player putting whatever music they wanted in the given music styles?

If we're talking about Doom, can we have the 'Running' track that plays on level 1 of Doom 2? Surely that's got to be a favourite

I'd like for the hyperspace sound effect to cut off when the jump is cancelled. As it stands, the countdown (from the sweet custom soundset) continues past the cancellation time, which is a little weird.

Ive been looking for a way to cancel sound effects, such as hyperspace when aborted and similarly auto-pilot. was thinking along the lines of
a simple check for disengage if yes stop sound, but havent a clue how to do this, cant find anything that would cancel a specific sound on command As if / when background music is configured to play, you wouldnt want to cancel ALL sound effects, just the one you wanted.