DescentBB

I mean the fan as in ventillator, air conditioning contraption.

Although not a major issue, the sound of fans in Descent 2 has been replaced and the difference is noticeable.

As with all ambient sounds, the sound choice of the fan does contribute to the atmosphere of the level. I learned how to add sounds to Descent 2 without compromising intrinsic sounds, so the D1 fan file has also made its way into the sound archive.

However, I don't think there is a way to assign a sound to a texture on less than a global scale, so the sound would seemingly have to be the same throughout the entire campaign, as the relevant data is in Descent2.HAM.

So I would like to ask you, which fan sound do you like better? I could go with it for the new HAM file. Should I leave the D2 one or maybe go back to the D1 one? Of course, if this can be done on a less-than-global scale, this poll is pointless. Anyway, I'm attaching the sounds with this post so you can compare them. I for one like the D1 one better as it sounds less flappy and more windy. If you can even put it that way. Heh heh.

I always liked the original fan01 over fan01alt, so it's an easy decision to me.

Same here actually! Ok, we've got 3 votes in favor and I'm an impatient man, so I'll fix the .HAM file to use the original sound file. The poll is still open so everything can be reversed at a later date.

EDIT: Actually forget it for now. The bitmap data in HAXMED32 is recorded in a very vague and unclear way, where you can't see neither the bitmap names nor thumbnails. Looking for the fan file would be like searching for a needle in a haystack. On top of that, it doesn't seem that the textures even offer an option of changing sounds. I have no idea where to change ambient sound designations. I would need Jeff250's help with this one. Nothing urgent though, we can think about this some other time.

It's not very hard to find and change the sound entry for the fan texture, I will explain you how (the method I learned while making Pumo Mines over the years).

First, open DLE, and put the fan (fan01) texture on any side on any cube (it can be on the very first cube it appears on a new level).
You'll see that on the status bar, DLE shows a 'side has textures xxx, xxx', where xxx is the actual texture number. The first number before the comma is for the first base texture of that side of the cube, the second number is for the overlay secondary texture (like the lamps, grids, fan, etc).
Those texture numbers are the ones as they are specified on the HAM.

You'll see that fan01 has the texture number #354.

So, in HAXMEDIT32, open your .HAM file, and go to TEXTURES_2. There, head to the 'Element #354', as that one is the Fan texture, and double click it.
There you'll find the 'eclip_num' field, that on this case is 3.

Then head to the ECLIPS section of the .HAM, and select 'Element #3', that is the Eclip linked to texture #354 (the Eclip has all animated texture info, like framerate, the actual references to each frame texture, sound effect, if it's destructible, etc).

There, you'll find the 'sound_num' field. Double click it to edit it and select a sound of your choice (you already know very well that stuff on HAXMED32).
And you're done.

Use this method for every other texture that you want to change the sound, just check the texture number on DLE, and the Eclip number on the actual texture entry.

Note however, the number of Eclips (that BTW stands for Effects Clip) is limited and you can't actually add any new Eclips but you can assign those Eclips to virtually any texture, but note that Eclips that contains animated frames may have weird results unless you actually change the frame entries inside the Eclip.
i.e. If you assign the same Eclip #3 to a lava texture, you're gonna get the fan texture animation instead of the lava one, that it has assigned other Eclip entry with different frames specified, unless you specify them correctly on the 'embedded_vclip' field in the Eclip #3, etc. You get the idea...

With this being known, you can now have the possibility to assign sound effects even to animated textures (like monitors) that doesn't has one, or the opposite (taking out sound effects of let's say as an example, a water or lava fall).

That's how I originally made ambient sound effects for the old version of Pumo Mines levels (the ones available in my 3-level release).

Sweet! Thanks for the detailed explanation. I'll be able to change the fan sound that way. I'll do it right away, actually.

EDIT: Done. Or course, credit has been given to you, Pumo, for explaining to me how to do it. Get the new file from the thread ^^

It's not a fan, but I prefer the D2 drone cannon sound. You never asked anybody about that .

Alter-Fox wrote:It's not a fan, but I prefer the D2 drone cannon sound. You never asked anybody about that .

Well, that's because I never considered that one to be subject to discussion, hehe

I mean, the robots were introduced in D1, their cannon sound was introduced in D1 and the robots were absent from D2 (the spider only made an appearance in Vertigo). In D1 you see both of these kinds of robots all the time, so the D1 drone cannon sound feels natural in regards to them. I also changed the sound for these two robots because I thought the new one is used by some D2 robots too (TRN Racer comes to mind), so we would have both sounds in-game. Apparently I was wrong and the new sound is only used with the D1 robots.

Hardly understandable - to go to such lengths and record a whole new sound for robots that don't even appear in your game...

My guess: plans changed.

Sirius's explanation makes sense especially since D2 was originally planned as an expansion pack.

Xfing wrote: I mean, the robots were introduced in D1, their cannon sound was introduced in D1 and the robots were absent from D2 (the spider only made an appearance in Vertigo). In D1 you see both of these kinds of robots all the time, so the D1 drone cannon sound feels natural in regards to them...

Yet the D2 sound is so much cooler! It's spacier and futuristicer and... cheesier... it sounds like something one of The Doctor's enemies would shoot. I go sulk now.
Anyway if it were me I'd only tamper with the sounds that D2 didn't have any equivalent to at all.

Alter-Fox wrote:Sirius's explanation makes sense especially since D2 was originally planned as an expansion pack.

Xfing wrote: I mean, the robots were introduced in D1, their cannon sound was introduced in D1 and the robots were absent from D2 (the spider only made an appearance in Vertigo). In D1 you see both of these kinds of robots all the time, so the D1 drone cannon sound feels natural in regards to them...

Yet the D2 sound is so much cooler! It's spacier and futuristicer and... cheesier... it sounds like something one of The Doctor's enemies would shoot. I go sulk now.
Anyway if it were me I'd only tamper with the sounds that D2 didn't have any equivalent to at all.

Oh don't worry Fox, you'll get used to it! If not, I can make a version with the newer sound just for you