Re: Sounds (was Re: Environment variables of client)

[Tadah <link@alpha.pulsar.net>]

On Mon, 11 Dec 1995 Raphael.Quinet@eed.ericsson.se wrote:

> On Fri, 8 Dec 1995, Matt Cortes <link@acy.digex.net> wrote:
> > Forgive me for approaching this from a novice level <G>.  But I have 
> > notied some clues that this game has sound.  Is there sound support 
> > compiled into it or are you refering to an addon such as the lightning 
> > code iv'e been reading about from here?
> > 
> > If there is sound, I would love to get it enabled. :>
> > 
> Sound is supported if you have the RPlay library.  RPlay works with almost
> all UN*X systems, so it shouldn't be a problem for you to use it.  Rplay has
> the great advantage of mixing sounds on the fly and working accross the
> network (like X Window), which would not be possible if CrossFire was using
> /dev/audio directly.  You can get the rplay library from ftp.x.org or
> ftp.sdsu.edu.  The latest version comes with a "configure" script that should
> automatically detect the configuration of your system.

Ok, I never installed Rplay before.  I will check it out.  Thanks.

> Once you have compiled the RPlay library, edit the CrossFire configuration
> file and insert the directories for the library and its include files.

Now where are the crossfire sounds located, or should be located?
A sample crossfire config of the lines I need might be nice to see. :>

> Note: I wrote the sounds code a long time ago, and I have lots of ideas for
> improving it.  But I thought that it would be better to wait until the
> client/server split before adding these new features, because I didn't want
> to have to do the job twice.  Well, I'm still waiting...
> 
> The first improvement would be to re-write the syntax of the "lib/sounds"
> file which defines which sound has to be played when some event occurs.
> Instead of relying on the entries to be in a fixed order, I would use symbolic
> names for each type of event.  For example, the new file could have lines
> like these:
>   hit door = crush.au, 80         # <Event type> = <sound name>, <volume (%)>
>   hit ennemy = tap2.au, 100
>   small fireball = Whoosh.au, 70
>   large fireball = Whoosh.au, 100
> It would then be easier to maintain this file, and it wouldn't be a problem
> if the number of spells changes.

Yes, if only the rest of the game followed such great structure. :P
The best part is its also easier to stick in your own .au files if so 
desired.
 
> Another improvement would be to use "environmental" sounds; that would add
> a lot to the atmosphere.  Those who have played games like Hexen know what I
> mean.  It should be possible to add some new "sound" archetypes that can be
> placed on a map and play sounds from time to time.  For example, a player
> could hear the water dripping if he/she comes near a pit, owls crying in the
> forest, bells ringing in the church, etc.  The new proposal for "weather
> effects" would also be a great way to add environmental sounds: a storm could
> make a lot of noise.  And of course, the monsters could be noisy too.

Yes, I have played Hexen.  Its a pretty cool game and I love the idea of 
atmosphere type sounds.  What would be nice though is to also have some 
music perhaps?  .MIDs are great but I have never seen a midi player for 
unix, so I don't know.  Plus my AWE32 isn't supported, just the SB16 
part, so wave table isn't there for me either. :(
a collection of .au instruments might be a good idea, after all..  Thats 
all wavetable is.  Then modulate, etc the .au files according to what the 
.MID file says, and wala.  We have great wavetable music at the cost of 
some disk space. :>
 
> I have several other ideas and I know how to add some of them to the code,
> but I don't want to add this to the current code.  It would be much easier
> to write and to maintain the new sounds code if CrossFire was really split
> between a client and a server, like this was discussed some time ago.  Will
> this ever be done?

Your ideas sounds great, I'd love to see them actually implemented.  The 
interesting thing is if everyone is sitting around waiting for the split, 
who's actually doing it?  Am I right in assuming anyone can just take on 
this project and start doing it?  If so..  Any of you programers, anyone 
at all..  Please..  Stop waiting and start programming. :P

-Link