Re: [Freeciv-Dev] Sound support

[Joel Ray Holveck <joelh@xxxxxxx>]

[I'm adding some stuff that David didn't originally quote, and changing
the order.]

>> Is sound support going to be included in main distribution ?

I hope so.  But I do not have the time to follow the CVS tree, so I
will be making my diffs against the 1.8.1 release (until the next
release is ready).  To ease debugging, I have requested that the diffs
not be merged into the main distribution until I have something that
looks stable.

>> BTW, has anybody contributed any sounds ?

I'm afraid not.  I think that once we get something that we can put in
the tree, then the sounds may start coming in faster.  As it is, about
three people responded to my original message, so I think that people
aren't yet using the changes.

However, (and this is the important bit), we cannot have a complete
sound-enabled Freeciv until people start sending sounds!  Until then,
all we'll have is a Freeciv with the ability to add sound.  I need
sounds from the Freeciv community!  I can't make all-- or even most--
of the sounds I need by myself, so I need everybody to contribute
freely distributable sounds!

I know that a lot of hackers are involved in the SCA, Scarborough
Faire, and Civil War reenactment societies.  There was a User Friendly
BOF at the last Pennsic, even!  All of these are good times to get
combat sounds.  Do you have a videotape from the last major war you
were at?  Watch it again, and keep an ear cocked for spots with
potential sound clips.  How about a coronation or peering?  I've got a
need for some cheers!

Some of you are probably firearms enthusiasts.  (After all, Geeks With
Guns didn't get so popular for no reason!)  Maybe you've got an AR15
or 9mm lying around.  Next time you're at the range, have a tape
recorder running while you squeeze off a few rounds.

Maybe you work in mass media, and have access to a public-domain sound
library.  Maybe you're a sound engineer and can do a bit of
synthesizing; I'd imagine that a white noise generator and a couple of
variable bandpass filters could make a great dopplering jet.  Maybe
you're a sound artist, one of those wizards who can create sound
effects with common objects.  Maybe you're a sound artist but don't
know it yet.  Give it a shot.  Make some noise.  Record it, and think
about what it sounds like, and where in Freeciv it might be useful.

Maybe you work at a hospital, and can get the sound of a helicopter on
tape.  Maybe you live near a civil defense siren that is tested every
month.  Maybe you're right near an airport, and have ten times a day
you could record jets.  Think about all the different sounds you hear
in your day.  Some of them are bound to be useful in Freeciv.

The more uncommon stuff-- howlitzers, machine guns, etc-- we can
synthesize with some work.  But most of this, lots of people can
generate right at home.

If you're not a professional sound engineer, don't worry.  If you
don't know how to sample a sound, that's fine; send me a tape and I'll
sample it.  The important thing is to go out and get some sounds!

>> If yes, then please add sound support to units ruleset - just add string
>> with sound name (not actula filename, but "warriors" or "new-turn" -
>> just as it is now done in sndconf). Hardcoded table is out of question.
>> For std ruleset sound name is just lowercased unit name, but with
>> modpacks it will not be longer a case.
> I agree, this is the Right Way to do this.

My newest changes have eliminated the sndconf file.  (Unfortunately,
the list server was down during the earlier discussions on this, so
they were never made public.)  Now, sounds are implemented through
units.ruleset and a new file events.ruleset, although the latter is
probably a misnomer.  Building sounds will be added in
buildings.ruleset.

Up until now, the ruleset has not been loaded by the client.  It is
entirely possible for the client to use a different ruleset than the
server.  The client still gets the game details (such as HPs and
names) from the server; it only uses the rulesets it loads for sounds.

Here's a snippet of my current units.ruleset:

; Fifth table: sounds

; These following can be changed, but the meaning vs order is hardwired.

sound_names="Built", "Move", "Attack", "Defend", "WinAttack", "LoseAttack", 
"WinDefend", "LoseDefend", "LostAtSea", "OutOfFuel", "OutOfFuelOverWater", 
"LostHP", "Spy"
sound_defaults="Move:movpiece.wav"

; FIXME document sound_names
; Note that most of them are not yet implemented

; Fifth table data:
u5={ "name", "sounds"
  ...
"Howitzer",        "Attack:fire---.wav"
"Fighter",         "Attack:aircombat.wav", "OutOfFuel:divcrash.wav", 
"OutOfFuelOverWater:engnsput.wav"
"Bomber",          "Attack:divebomb.wav", "OutOfFuel:divcrash.wav", 
"OutOfFuelOverWater:engnsput.wav"
"Helicopter",      "Attack:helishot.wav", "LostHP:divcrash.wav"
"Stealth Fighter", "Attack:jetcombt.wav", "OutOfFuel:jetcrash.wav", 
"OutOfFuelOverWater:jetsputr.wav"
"Stealth Bomber",  "Attack:jetbomb.wav", "OutOfFuel:jetcrash.wav", 
"OutOfFuelOverWater:jetsputr.wav"
"Trireme",         "Attack:navbttle.wav", "LostAtSea:boatsink.wav"

I've still got a lot of work left before the sound pack is finished,
but the configuration is now much more consistent with the rest of
Freeciv.  I had hoped to get a patchset finished last weekend, but I
had no time to test it.  I will be putting out another patchset before
Saturday, though.

Happy hacking,
joelh

-- 
Joel Ray Holveck - joelh@xxxxxxx
   Fourth law of programming:
   Anything that can go wrong wi
sendmail: segmentation violation - core dumped