Arma 2 Sound Modding 101.

I've started this thread because we as a community need somewhere to discuss sound creation for Armed Assault 2.

Ok, just afew things.

This is just a starting point for hopefully busting myths and helping each other with the holy grail that is creating sound addons. Of course if people wish to post guides example videos etc they are more than welcome.

This is NOT Hardware Troubleshooting for sound problems thread ;)

This is NOT here to bash/flame BIS.

ADDED:

OH58 Template (10 sounds in WAV format and 1 template config)

http://www.filefront.com/14088933/OH58_sound_%26_config_template.7z

A2 Soundtrack Template 1.0

http://www.filefront.com/14289229/Replacement_Soundtrack.7z

This IS for people interested in sound creation, modders, and newcomers alike are welcome here to ask any questions, as well as other addon makers (Modellers etc) to request sound for their future addons.

It seems to me this sort of thing has been needed for along time coming, I got bored of waiting for someone to start a thread, so here I am. I'm not a unique snowflake so I'm not gonna be able to answer/fix eveything but the point being is...the ball is now rolling. Its up to you guys to add to it too..

Ok men, attach your mics, load up your software and put on your cans...We're going in :p

Great post mate. Hopefully it will get filled with guidelines, ideas and everything else useful. I have been working with sounds for many years and was on the go with ArmA, but things came between plus i had a hard time understanding the configs. This time around it looks more bright as i got first hand help by my good mate Mark up there ^ plus seeing that much more help generally being made available in our community is really inspiring.

Looking forward to this thread being filled up. And big ups to all you great addon makers that has and will take some time to help others like myself. Who knows, this time around i might be able to create something and give a little back. :)

Regards

Alex

Agreed. Hopefully this thread will not only put the exclamation mark on our stressing the importance for high quality sounds and a superb sound engine, but will also serve as the sound modification developer's "university" so to speak. This will then allow not only for the communities best sound mod developers to work together, but also pass the knowledge down to the prospective up-and-comers who want to do the same, but just don't know where to start and/or how to get and deliver the best quality possible.

Great idea!

Woogie-woogie,

HIFI FX CREW

Graphics & Documentation Development

I'd love to do a guide but I started by using FAMM 1.4's config as a template then we got andersson to do all the config work for HiFi. So really, I'm not really the person to make a guide.

To me sound is art, art requires inspiration. My inspiration comes from hearing my sounds ingame, then moving on to the next set of sound. I took the shortest route for my own inspiration. From my point of view, I see no wrong in requesting to use someones config as a template. You can learn alot about the sound engine from your 1st few attempts at changing sounds, then later you get interested in what the config offers you in extra sound parameters. The bad thing about this is you never really learn the 'process' of actually creating a config from scratch. Kju's mST will help alot of us build things up, but still at least for me doesn't explain the 'process', classes, inheritance etc.

Maybe that will come now we have a thread...

I will be posting some information, basically what little I've discovered or learnt from others during my time within the community. I shall also try and flesh out the 1st post abit when I have time.

Ok, what do you need to make a sound addon...

A notepad 'like' text editor (not notepad though)

http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/download.php

Sample Editor for working on / capturing your sounds

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Then possibly a WAV to WSS convertor..for putting the sounds into BIS supported format

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/BI_Tools

For compiling your addon a PBO extraction/archive application

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=412

Finally something to create server/private keys (to stop HAXXORS)

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/DSCreateKey

O, you may also want to binerize your addon too, in which case

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Binarize

Your next step is to look at this...

http://dev-heaven.net/projects/kmp-mst/boards

This was done very quickly, I'm sure it could be worked on further and more links added.

Here is the link to the modularSoundTemplate (mST).

Edit: too late. Nice work Mark!

---------- Post added at 20:38 ---------- Previous post was at 20:31 ----------

Eliteness of mikero is another great and starters pbo creation and extracting tool. Download dll too!

---------- Post added at 20:39 ---------- Previous post was at 20:38 ----------

For getting better understanding and saving time:

CMB: DevelopmentSetup

CMB: SimplifyTesting

I've heard that WSS convertor is great for big batch jobs :)

I use this one

http://www.ofpec.com/ed_depot/index.php?action=details&id=178&page=0&cat=xyz

I'd also recommend abit of soundproofing too ;)

---------- Post added at 08:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:57 PM ----------

Ok a note on what the sound engine supports based on my experiences.

.Ogg format is supported, as far as I know good sample rates are achievable ie, 196kbs @16bit.

Personally, I don't use this format for ingame sounds, it does make editing and quick testing possible since there is NO conversion necessary but I find the low end suffers at higher volumes. BUT that is just my opinion, not fact.

Wav. (Wss) is supported, (wav needs to be converted to wss with one of the converting tools listed above before packing to test ingame, this can take time..) quality is not an issue as long as the source is good. the game supports 22khz & 44khz @16bit, I cannot confirm any higher or lower resolutions or bitrates at this time.

A note on sample size..

It is important to remember how many things can be going on in this game at once (you seen the 1700 AI vid right :) ) so you must take this into account when making larger scale sound addons. I know TangoRomeo uses Ogg's to keep the size of his addons down, I personally convert my sounds down to 22khz once ready for packing into the game. As far as I'm aware you can mix the formats up and the game will be fine, as long as you stick to whats supported.

Nice guide here Mark.

as i know in config if you write as

....sound[]={"/my_sound/..../my_ak_sound.wav" 1,1,1000}....

then you don't need convert .wav to .wss

hum.. does it mean .wav file will be used instead .wss?

.wav is much bigger.. :\

Yes,it means.But wss and wav are exactly same size.

I personally, have never been able to use the .wav files in A1, I'll be honest I have yet to try A2.

And yes, basically a converted .wav file to .wss format will be exactly the same size :)

---------- Post added at 09:45 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:46 AM ----------

Ok, so you've played the game for awhile, you've heard some things you would like to change. Whats next..

Well, you need to identify then find all the necessary sounds that require changing. Obviously some things are easier to find and do, but for example say you don't like the sound of a particular weapon, lets say the M14 DMR.

Well, this could be a really simple job, say you don't like muzzle firing sound, thats quite easy because its only one aspect of the weapon we've chosen. However once you open your 1st pbo and config up you'll find a whole host of sounds relating in some way just to the DMR. I shall try to go through what else you could change.

Reload sound

Rebolt sound (never used on anything over semiautomatic)

Dry fire sound

Ejecting brass sounds

Bullethits/whizze sounds

Sonic crack / snap sounds

Wow huh ! It would be quite possible to do that much work per weapon. Giving a much more diverse sounding game than with the generic sounds. This can be extended even further by using a new parameter called "Begin". Each weapon now has this parameter which also you to create more than 1 fire sound per weapon.

Heres an example;

begin1[] = {"\HiFi_GAU8_Auto\GAU8_s1", 1.77828, 1, 3000};

begin2[] = {"\HiFi_GAU8_Auto\GAU8_s2", 1.77828, 1, 3000};

begin3[] = {"\HiFi_GAU8_Auto\GAU8_s3", 1.77828, 1, 3000};

begin4[] = {"\HiFi_GAU8_Auto\GAU8_s4", 1.77828, 1, 3000};

soundBegin[] = {"begin1", 0.25, "begin2", 0.25, "begin3", 0.25, "begin4", 0.25};

Using this new parameter will add some variety to the sound of the battlefield no doubt. I have tested it alot and can say its a great new feature. The sounds play at random unless you define otherwise. I shall endevor to go over this more thoroughly when time permits.

So, you can start small then extend your addons content slowly bit by bit until you have yourself a complete module of whatever you'd chosen.

I'd suggest starting a little project, maybe all the sounds for 1 vehical, or weapon. Work out what you need, then get to making the audio. Inbetween moments of frustration (haha) work on the config part of your addon. If you look at Kju's mST, its all there. Its big, but worth a good poke about because just looking at it will help you learn :)

Anyways, I'm outta time hope that was helpful to someone.

well it is really good news then :)

More variated and Natural sounds on the way ;)

You absolutely need to use WSS and only use ogg for maybe music tracks. Do not ever use wav in OFP, ArmA or ArmA 2.

To clarify, you CAN use .Ogg for sounds other than music. It is possible, however there are drawbacks imo. So, I agree to use the standard that BIS support the most and use themselves :)

Do not ever use wav in OFP, ArmA or ArmA 2.

Nothing actually sounds if I recall, you'll hear nothing except any vanilla sound you didn't change.

now let me ask you this...using the "begin" command, is it possible to have TWO sounds played at once, only one sound only plays from a minimum distance? i think you see where i'm going with this...but let me post an example:

begin1[] = {"\HiFi_GAU8_Auto\GAU8_s1", 1.77828, 1, 1000};

begin2[] = {"\HiFi_GAU8_Auto\GAU8_s_distant", 1.77828, 1000, 3000};

so the second sound would only play once the distance was a minimum of 1000 meters (or whatever the unit of measurement is). i think for the sounds to be truly realistic some sort of distance sound system needs to be implemented. right now it just doesn't sound good, even with a decent sound mod like VOP.

thanks in advance!

Ok, from my experience I'd so NO, you can't add extra sound for distance. But I could be very wrong, we need some with superior coding knowledge to give us a 100% yes or no. Also, tbf to BIS, the sound over distance is a new feature we're lucky to have as well as the simple fact that this is a new engine to us ALL. Even the soundguys who have alot experience with A1 are still finding their way around the new stuff. So I say that given alittle time and some support you'll see some amazing releases in the future :)

Also, the actual sounds used can be a big factor. for example I released a set of minigun sounds with a brilliant winddown sound. It sounded great from 1st person, I was really happy with it, but then after release andersson mentioned that you could hear the same 'cool' winddown at 2000m away.....LOL. So, you anyone thinking of making a sound addon should take this into account.

I've already thought of something I'd like to see added. How I don't know but maybe bis could patch us some 'Internal weapons sounds for vehicals'. I mean we have internal engine sounds now, so it makes sense to me to have the same for mounted weapons.

Anyone who's heard internal soundclips from the AH64/AH1 will confirm the main gun's sound completely different from inside compared to outside.

Anyways, good question..I totally went on a rant so sorry but lets hope some bright spark can enlighten us with a solid answer. :)

now let me ask you this...using the "begin" command, is it possible to have TWO sounds played at once, only one sound only plays from a minimum distance? i think you see where i'm going with this...but let me post an example:

begin1[] = {"\HiFi_GAU8_Auto\GAU8_s1", 1.77828, 1, 1000};

begin2[] = {"\HiFi_GAU8_Auto\GAU8_s_distant", 1.77828, 1000, 3000};

so the second sound would only play once the distance was a minimum of 1000 meters (or whatever the unit of measurement is). i think for the sounds to be truly realistic some sort of distance sound system needs to be implemented. right now it just doesn't sound good, even with a decent sound mod like VOP.

thanks in advance!

You can't. In your example the second sound would be pitched by the factor of 1000.

But it is possible to force distant sounds with adjusting the sound travel distance. I.e. gun sounds were set to ~800m travel distance. Place 2 groups of infantry fighting each other at 900m distance from your player. You use a scoped rifle and watch the fight going on and hear...nothing.

I've set the travel distance to ~1300m and get a nice muffled distance sound in the same mission. I still don't know what the requirements for playing distant sounds are though. Propably a mininum travel distance set and/or trees/houses/bushes etc between me and the sound source.

I'm still hoping for an updated Biki.

I'll be on this boat soon as my copy arrives, I hope it does, this Friday :)

I'll be on this boat soon as my copy arrives, I hope it does, this Friday

Excellent news, glad to see you back mate, we're gonna have some fun with A2 :)

btw...I did pm ya alittle while ago ;)

in the pass i always used .ogg files instead .wss or .wav

.ogg are much smaller then any other format.

Can't you use .ogg in ArmA2?! :\

Myself..which is wierd

To clarify, you CAN use .Ogg for sounds other than music. It is possible, however there are drawbacks imo. So, I agree to use the standard that BIS support the most and use themselves

So yep ;)

in the pass i always used .ogg files instead .wss or .wav

.ogg are much smaller then any other format.

Can't you use .ogg in ArmA2?! :\

From what I understand wss should be used. Its been so since OFP and I guess BIS have a reason making their own fileformat to suit their gameengine better. I remember something about wss is used more efficiently and better by the engine.

Did a quick search and couldnt see that thread where this was discussed, but I found this:

.wss should give better performance with hardware accelerated sound. It should always be used for sound effects. Maddmatt

http://forums.bistudio.com/showpost.php?p=1132838&postcount=10

WSS files are the best. They provide clear sound that rarely warps, along with a reasonable file size footprint. Special Ed / DeadMeatXM2

http://forums.bistudio.com/showpost.php?p=937573&postcount=4

I think the point is you can..and maybe the best way to work quickly for someone doing a mod 'lone wolf' would be to use Ogg to edit and test, then at final stage convert to wav then wss. :)

Pro's

Fast Testing

Cons

Triple converting (although, its only 1 more than wav - wss.)

So, looking at it that way, I may try this method myself. of course a big factor here is having good sound software to manage all the conversions ;)