Community Sound Mod - idea

After playing with every sound mod released for ArmA, I can say with much confidence that I like some of them...

That out of the way, how about we as a community combine the sounds we love, from different mods, into the mother of all sound mods?

I know, I know, creators want stand-alone mods so they can say, "hey this is my mod, all mine, MINE!", but while I love the M4 sounds from FFAMM, I hate the AK and SVD sounds - VF 1.4 has the best SVD sound, btw - Chammy has the best grenade explosion sounds on Earth, and the Javelin sound is first rate!... you get the idea.

Problem for most of us is putting it all together into a flawless PBO. There are so many talented modders on these forums, I'm sure we could get something together fairly quickly, if people are interested.

So are you interested?

I agree!!!!!!!

Imn totally with you man!

im totally with bk on this one i like the idea but the problem is yes....a lot of modders wont combine efforts and build an all powerfull sound mod that make all others a splash in the pan

so lets get past that and combine the efforts of those sound modders that are interested

i want my game to reflect as much realistic nature of the weapons im firing yet still keep the atmosphere of the game

so modders please put your prejudices aside and build us a sound mod we can be proud of

Config wise it is possible to load all sounds mods you require at the

same time to have all sound files loaded.

Now you need a new config to reloaded each sound from the

different pack you like.

This config has to be loaded last (in the last modfolder), like

-mod=SoundMOD1;SoundMOD2;SoundMOD3;NewSoundMODConfig

Do you have any clue how to write configs?

PS: This way won't be a problem with anyones copyright, as you

don't modify their package.

PSS: A good start would be to use the @FDF_Sounds config as a base and rewrite it.

It's a nice idea - but I just can't see the execution going well. I wouldn't be able to stand FDF sounds, with CSM sounds, with Modwar Sounds etc. The echoes, the attack, the boom, the metallicness, the chink and clang just wouldn't play nice with each other imo.

The only possibility I see for a 'mother of all sound mods' is to take parts of each, like 'movement noise' from one, take 'grenades impacts' from another, 'voices' from another etc. etc.

Even then I just don't think I'd like it

I was thinking about something like this, I started to put some things together but I decided to finish my other projects first. My idea was to make a modular sound mod, where every type of sound was separated into its own pbo. One pbo for west guns, one for east guns, one for impact sounds and so on. It could be more specific, like each type could have their own sound (ie assault, machine gun, sniper). I wasn't going to release any sounds, but just the stucture so that someone could download it, put new sounds in it, delete any unused sound config entries and then release it. I think it would open up the already awsome sound mods and would allow people to release smaller mods without having to compete with full mods that replace all the sounds. Also, someone with minimal modding experience could open and modify any sound for their personal use.

Config wise it is possible to load all sounds mods you require at the

same time to have all sound files loaded.

Now you need a new config to reloaded each sound from the

different pack you like.

This config has to be loaded last (in the last modfolder), like

-mod=SoundMOD1;SoundMOD2;SoundMOD3;NewSoundMODConfig

Do you have any clue how to write configs?

PS: This way won't be a problem with anyones copyright, as you

don't modify their package.  

PSS: A good start would be to use the @FDF_Sounds config as a base and rewrite it.

Q, that's an excellent method of doing it and preserving copyrights. My original idea was to make one PBO and have the community vote for the best sounds to put in it, but I think that's a mamoth udnertaking and it wouldn't satisfy everyone.

I'm going through the top 5 sound mods today, then I will have a look at configs.

Okay guys, let me know when you have decided which of the sounds are the best, when you have reached one unified 100% agreeable decision, I will do this mod for you.

Haha

It's a nice idea - but I just can't see the execution going well. I wouldn't be able to stand FDF sounds, with CSM sounds, with Modwar Sounds etc. The echoes, the attack, the boom, the metallicness, the chink and clang just wouldn't play nice with each other imo.

The only possibility I see for a 'mother of all sound mods' is to take parts of each, like 'movement noise' from one, take 'grenades impacts' from another, 'voices' from another etc. etc.

Even then I just don't think I'd like it  

Oh, ArmA vidz is right. All of Chemmys sounds have the "cracks" in them. When FDF I think and modwar doesnt. :/

Is there a reason why all the sounds in ArmA are low-quality mono? Why aren't they at least 16bit stereo? Would this cause lag or something?

Is there a reason why all the sounds in ArmA are low-quality mono? Why aren't they at least 16bit stereo? Would this cause lag or something?

I've never tried it but it might be possible to use OGG files, I know the game recognizes the format.

Well I tested an M249 sound that was .WAV but stereo and OMG what a difference in-game! I shall be making a stereo pack.

Before you go too crazy, I just tested a stereo wav for a helicopter sound, and the game was unable to manipulate the pitch for when the RPM changes and stuff. It played the sound fine, just couldn't do anything to it.

Get the AK74 sounds from Chammy's or XAM.

Quote[/b] ]Why aren't they at least 16bit stereo? Would this cause lag or something?

No, but Arma only handles sounds from emissive objects correct with 16 bit mono sounds as the sound is emitted undirected from the object or vehicle or weapon.

Even if there would be agreement on a common line of sounds, which I seriously doubt, you would have to ask for permission from the respective mod-creators first and thinking about the different settings they all have, I wouldn´t place my bets that they will allow you to use that sounds as I can already see the complaints coming in that nitpick about this and that sound and would leave the original mod-creators defending their specific settings over and over again.

It´s basically like mixing up single addons from different addon-makers for a mod. The look will always be a little different for models created by different modellers and the overall look of a mod compiled from single addons done by different people will not look consistent.

Even if there would be agreement on a common line of sounds, which I seriously doubt, you would have to ask for permission from the respective mod-creators first and thinking about the different settings they all have, I wouldn´t place my bets that they will allow you to use that sounds as I can already see the complaints coming in that nitpick about this and that sound and would leave the original mod-creators defending their specific settings over and over again.

It´s basically like mixing up single addons from different addon-makers for a mod. The look will always be a little different  for models created by different modellers and the overall look of a mod compiled from single addons done by different people will not look consistent.

Ok, so one could use stereo weapon sounds for say SAWs and M4s but not for helicopters or tanks? Easy enough.

As for the copyright issues, I'm getting around that by using non ArmA sounds for starters, and un-copyrighted sounds from various packs made for other games made by users not by companies.

For instance I've found a realistic, stereo M249 sound from a sound pack for Joint Operations which has no restrictions on its use as far as the readme goes - and it's been confirmed by two ADF members as being spot on real.

It might take a week or so to get a basic US and Russian Rifles pack out but I will post it up here for some feedback when it's done.

Also, as far as copyright goes, if there is contact information for the authors of these sounds I will attempt to contact them for permission to use some of their sounds, however most of these packs don't have any readme's or contact info.

Quote[/b] ]Ok, so one could use stereo weapon sounds for say SAWs and M4s but not for helicopters or tanks? Easy enough.

No. As I already posted this won´t work as Arma´s sound engine does not support it as the emitter (weapon, vehicle, whatever) is considered as a single speaker without stereo attributes. Even if the sound would play, it would be undirected and most likely get wrecked when the sound-engine calculations for distance and direction plus object obstruction kick in.

If you look at the way sounds are implemented in Arma you can see that no object-emitted sound is stereo as the engine just does not support it.

Ok, you're going to have to forgive my ignorance on this as I've just started looking into ArmA sounds.

I've used a stereo sound for the SAW - I PBO'd it up and fired a SAW in the editor. I placed another SAW gunner 100m away and made him fire. It all sounded wonderful. Whats the problem?

yeah thing is bk u and i both have outstanding soundcards and zalman 5.1 surround headsets so to us it might be F*%$ing fantastic but to everyone that doesnt come up to the mark with sound it might be underated (guess they just have to update thier sound systems lol)

Isn't it a good idea if you make some kind of option menu so everybody could choose different sound (whatever recorded by himself)?

Well I certainly love the idea and last night a friend of mine and myself were wishing this very thing. We've tried just about all the sound packs out there and we all loved sounds from all of them. I love chammy's gun sounds and some of the explosion sounds, I love the dynamic and equipment sounds from XAM, etc.. So yeah it would be a great idea in theory. Might be tricky to pull especially getting permission, the community to agree, etc. But yeah, real good idea--IMHO.

Just a quick update:

We've completed the first round of changes to the sounds and they have been rated well by our beta testers, who are a mix of former and current Australian Army personnel.

The changes so far have been to the US and Russian rifles, and rockets. It will probably be another couple of weeks until we are happy to release it.

Thanks to Fromz for allowing us to use and edit the FFAMM sounds. If anyone is interested in trying out the pack as is, please PM me for a link.

Do you plan some "stand alone" like FDF/CSM or something like FFAMM (included tracers etc)?

MfG Medicus

At the moment it is a stand-alone sound mod. Although much props goes to Fromz for his work on the Six_tracers, I preffer the standard ones.

Well that's good to hear. Was kinda hoping for that.