[maxxus]

Hello everyone,

       Long-time Freespace and space-sim fan in general here, and boy did I hit the jackpot last night.  I played through FS2 a couple of times and loved it, but never finished much of FS1 because low-res 3D games bother my eyes for some reason.  I can play old 2D stuff from the 80's and 90's all day, but those first generations of 3D are hard to watch sometimes   Anyway every now and then when I think about it, I load FS1 up again and google stuff like "freespace high resolution" and whatnot, looking to see if anybody had found a way to go past 640x480.  I've pored over all of the .ini type files at least five times looking for a simple hack as is possible with so many games and never found a way.  Then last night I stumbled upon the FS1 Port and eventually FS2 Open.

      I've been a gamer for a long time, and was even a game design major for a short while, and I know how a lot of these projects end up.  Seeing the cohesive effort with excellent results from this project is seriously impressive, particularly considering FS2, especially now (and unfortunately) is a very niche product.  There's not going to be any Counterstrike-type recognition for you guys, only the thanks of a surprisingly large and dedicated fanbase.   Lately I've been lamenting the death of the space-sim genre and I feel like two major releases from one of my favorite series just came out with huge bonuses!  Plus it's just awesome to see an old game you know and love be updated so it's new and interesting without losing the feel of the original.  I know you guys know you're awesome and that I'm not the first person to post something like this, but I just wanted to say thank you for putting so much time and effort in to something like this.  You guys are awesome.  The same goes for Turey for his installer.  It made the process of collecting 20 different files and trying to figure out where to put them all absolutely painless and seamless.

Now, on to my question:

      Everything in the project is perfect, but there is *one* little thing I would change just based on personal preference.  I do prefer the original capital ship explosion sound, the "space is tearing open!" as opposed to the new low rumbling one.  I also noticed that the old countermeasure sound is replaced by an almost inaudible low thump, although sometimes the original sound will play.  It is also possible I am misinterpreting what is happening, that those original sounds are still there trying to play and that a bug of some sort or a mistake on my part during installation.  In either case, is there a simple fix to this that any of you know of, or should I just try replacing the "new" sound with the "old" one in the sounds table?  Also I apologize if this was already addressed in a previous post.  I looked to see, but couldn't find one.

[Turey]

I'm not the first person to post something like this...

...The same goes for Turey for his installer.  It made the process of collecting 20 different files and trying to figure out where to put them all absolutely painless and seamless...

Recognition and praise of one's hard work never gets old. 

Now, on to my question:

      Everything in the project is perfect, but there is *one* little thing I would change just based on personal preference.  I do prefer the original capital ship explosion sound, the "space is tearing open!" as opposed to the new low rumbling one.  I also noticed that the old countermeasure sound is replaced by an almost inaudible low thump, although sometimes the original sound will play.  It is also possible I am misinterpreting what is happening, that those original sounds are still there trying to play and that a bug of some sort or a mistake on my part during installation.  In either case, is there a simple fix to this that any of you know of, or should I just try replacing the "new" sound with the "old" one in the sounds table?  Also I apologize if this was already addressed in a previous post.  I looked to see, but couldn't find one.

I've got a way to fix this, but as I'm not on a comp with FreeSpace on it, I can't walk you through it. If no one else helps you in the next two hours, I'll walk you through it.

If you use VPView (it came with the installer, in freespace2\tools\vpview or something like that) and look through the retail vp files, it would be a lot easier to help you if you found out the file names of the sounds you'd like to hear.

[Admiral Edivad]

Welcome to the HLP Station. Exits are located to the right, left, up, down, and 4th-dimensionally. However all of them are blocked, except the 4-d one, and no one's yet figured how to reach it. Somebody says there is anoter one in the 5th dimension: if you find it, let us know! In the event of a landing of any kind, you can and will be used as a flotation device. We are currently suffering from technical problems from time to time, which may cause the lights go out at any instance, and sometimes even the basic life support fails for some time. At these times, stay calm and composed; for these cases the station system automatically drops a computer from the roof above you with FSO installed and ready. They have independent power sources. Please keep all appendages within the installation at all times. Do not feed the resident Shivan Carl as he will become voracious and chew your leg off. You can find him in the ventilation duct. Throw him your lunch and hope he is not hungry and leaves you alone. Flamethrowers can be found under your seat but due to financial constraints have been re-filled with holy water. Phased Plasma rifles (40 watt range of course) can be found in storage lockers. To prevent act of n00b, however, these can only be opened by Moderators, Volition or a hyperintelligent shade of BluE. Please remember that any attempt to use the ASCII characters 0046h, 0053h, and 0033h in sequential order will result in you being trampled by the whole FreeSpace community. Your trampled remains will be fed to Carl so that the rest of us don't have to carry around so much food for lunch. If you shall go in the Vasudan section of the station and find a boxes labelled “Headz”, please don’t open them, unless you are a Vasudan. Trust me on this one.... In the event of catastrophic hull failure please board the nearest lifeboat which is pre-programmed for autonomous flight to our sister station the Game-Warden outpost. Thank you and enjoy your stay at Hard Light station as long as you will!

[maxxus]

If you use VPView (it came with the installer, in freespace2\tools\vpview or something like that) and look through the retail vp files, it would be a lot easier to help you if you found out the file names of the sounds you'd like to hear.

I'm at work now, but when I get home in several hours I'll let you know.  Thanks!  Is this issue the result of a bug/incorrect installation, or does FS2 Open actually replace some sounds?

[Turey]

I'm at work now, but when I get home in several hours I'll let you know.  Thanks!  Is this issue the result of a bug/incorrect installation, or does FS2 Open actually replace some sounds?

I don't know the cause of the problem, but I know how to fix it.

[Huggybaby]

I don't know the cause of the problem, but I know how to fix it.

Whaa?

[Turey]

I don't know the cause of the problem, but I know how to fix it.

Whaa?

There's several different reasons why this could happen. It doesn't matter which one it actually is. The fix is the same.

[maxxus]

OK, so after playing a couple of missions just now, it turns out there are a lot more missing or intermittent sounds than I thought.  Capital ship beam weapons, the aforementioned explosions, as well as a lot of comms chatter are missing.  I'm hoping the solution to fix one file either fixes them all or can be generalized to do so..

Here are some examples:

Counter_1.wav
shockwave.wav
beam_loop.wav
beam_shot1.wav
beam_shot2.wav
bs_*.wav
bt_*.wav
clusterboom.wav
t_flyby1.wav
t_flyby2.wav

beam_up.wav
beam_down.wav

If it matters, I have a Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum eX.  Maybe it doesn't like Open AL?  Anyway, I look forward to the fix

[Turey]

does this problem occur if you turn off the mediavps? If so, can you post a pic that shows the name and size of every .vp file in your freespace2 folder?

[maxxus]

Haha sorry, had to wait for a capital ship to get destroyed...turning off the vps didn't fix it, but what did seem to was setting the OpenAL Sound Device in the FS2 Open Launcher to "Generic Software".  I guess it doesn't like my card   I read on a forum earlier today that OpenAL in its current iteration doesnt really like Audigy cards..  Going to go crank up all of the vps again (I found some new ones while troubleshooting )

I can't tell if they are *all* there, but the beam sounds and countermeasures, as well as capital explosions are back.  Thanks for your help though, I didn't expect a reply at all at 2 am, much less a speedy one  

[Turey]

Oh. You didn't need my help. 

But at least it is fixed. 

[maxxus]

I think so..flyby sounds might still be missing, but I'm not sure. 

Now somebody as awesome as you guys needs to port (while keeping the same feel of the game like FS2 Open did) Descent 1 and 2 to the 3 engine..

Mmm...Descent

[Admiral Edivad]

Mmm...Descent

oh, yeah...that'll be good...

[Turey]

Now somebody as awesome as you guys needs to port (while keeping the same feel of the game like FS2 Open did) Descent 1 and 2 to the 3 engine..

Mmm...Descent

OOOOOOOOOOO.... We've already got cheat codes for the correct physics, straight from . Who wants to try it?

EDIT: I though you said Descent 1+2 on FSO, not on Descent 3. Still, it's a good idea.

[maxxus]

I don't imagine it would be very difficult at all from a technical standpoint...having enough people with sufficient dedication and determination would be the kicker..haha.

Seriously though, It seems like it would just be a matter of importing or recreating the Descent 1/2 levels in the D3 editor and modeling the geometrically simple ships from D1 and 2.  I know the editor that shipped with the W95 version of D2 can import D1 levels, so maybe the D3 editor is backwards compatible as well? 

I'm going to investigate this 

EDIT: /me is installing descent games en masse!

[Admiral Edivad]

I don't imagine it would be very difficult at all from a technical standpoint...having enough people with sufficient dedication and determination would be the kicker..haha.

the problem is that D3 editor is, in my opinion, far more complicated than FRED. But if somebody can use it...

EDIT:
is there a way to install and play D3 without the installation CD (CD1)?

[maxxus]

This is a guess because I don't know if that's exactly what it does or not, but try the NOCD patch on this page:

http://www.descent3.com/4_downloads.html#n_america

[taylor]

what did seem to was setting the OpenAL Sound Device in the FS2 Open Launcher to "Generic Software".

What was it on before?  It's known that "Generic Hardware" will cause problems, but that's because it uses DirectSound3D as a backend, which sucks.  "Generic Software" uses regular DirectSound which doesn't have nearly the resource limitations that DirectSound3D has.  If you had it set on a hardware specific setting (like hardware accelleration for your particular sound card) then file it in Mantis since that's something that needs to be addressed.

I guess it doesn't like my card   I read on a forum earlier today that OpenAL in its current iteration doesnt really like Audigy cards..

OpenAL loves Audigy cards, Creative is the primary developer of OpenAL after all.  The Audigy and X-fi sound cards are better supported in OpenAL than any other audio hardware.  Not every version of the Audigy has full hardware accelleration support with OpenAL, but if yours doesn't then just make sure that you are using the current version of OpenAL and that you have the newest avaialable Audigy drivers installed (Creative updated most everything for this stuff in November/December).

[maxxus]

I did in fact have it on a hardware specific setting, for my Audigy.  It's a first generation Audigy and I think it had some funkyness with OpenAL on Quake 4.  When I get home I'll grab the newest non-beta Audigy drivers and re-install OpenAL and submit a bug report to mantis if the problem still occurs.

I tried all of the sound options (generic hardware, generic software, etc) and generic software is the only one that would play the missing sounds.

[Huggybaby]

I'm glad taylor cleared that up, I thought hardware mode wasn't recommended for use at all.

I'd be interested in your next results maxxus. I know that with my realtek sound voices didn't work, which was so blatantly obvious I never really got far enough to see if anything else was missing.