[DISCONTINUED] X4 Sound Overhaul v1.47

[Neloth23]

One small note though - small shotguns (especiall Tau Accelerator) don't sound like weapon shot, more like chunk of metal clunging. Too high-pitched and don't pack the punch, so I replaced these with stock ones.

I suppose I can tweak the effect a little bit to make it heavier, but I kinda like it as it is to be honnest.

I have an issue with this mod ( didn't try the last version though ) which make an horrible random sound whenever I save the game, any idea? :/

Yes, you can hear random engine sounds and travel drives charging while saving. I think it happens if you are relatively close to other ships when you save, but I'm not 100% sure. Anyway, the bug occurs in vanilla, but is more noticeable in my mod. I suggest you try the mono version to see if it is less annoying. Other than that, I'm afraid there is nothing I can do, sorry.

[nauttdog]

I'm not a big fan of current combat banter either, but modifying voices in the game is a lot more complicated than replacing sound effects, and I'm not even sure I can do it, sorry.

Your mod is the only hope I have right now, so I'll take it that you're not sure. I'm no coder, don't know the first thing about it. What is the difference between replacing sound clips for something like engines vs replacing sound clips of dialogue? Like if you were provided a zip file with some great dialogue sound clips vastly better than the vanilla, would that make it easier for you?

[Mackan]

Your mod is the only hope I have right now, so I'll take it that you're not sure. I'm no coder, don't know the first thing about it. What is the difference between replacing sound clips for something like engines vs replacing sound clips of dialogue? Like if you were provided a zip file with some great dialogue sound clips vastly better than the vanilla, would that make it easier for you?

The scripts responsible for combat dialogue are about 3000 lines of code in total. I tried to looked through it when I wanted to make a Xenon noise mod. I no longer want to make a Xenon noise mod.

[ScandyNav]

I don't understand how it can be connected. But when I've turned off this mod, Xenon began to use missiles! They never, well almost never, use it with this sound mod.
This can be however tied somehow to newest VRO beta update.

[Deeparth]

Xenon use missiles in the newest version of VRO.

[Neloth23]

Your mod is the only hope I have right now, so I'll take it that you're not sure. I'm no coder, don't know the first thing about it. What is the difference between replacing sound clips for something like engines vs replacing sound clips of dialogue? Like if you were provided a zip file with some great dialogue sound clips vastly better than the vanilla, would that make it easier for you?

Simply put, replacing sounds is quite straightforward as they are all managed in a single script which is relatively easy to access. I've been doing this for years (since X Rebirth), so, scripting wise, it's relatively easy for me now.

Dialogues, on the other hand, are managed by several scripts because you have a lot more variables (sound files, subtitles, language files, and so on). You can't just replace the sound files as you would do for effects, because the structure of the scripts is different. That's why I'm not sure that I can do it. For now I don't even know precisely which scripts I would have to modify if I were to try it. I'm not a great coder at all, so it's a bit of a daunting task for me.

The scripts responsible for combat dialogue are about 3000 lines of code in total. I tried to looked through it when I wanted to make a Xenon noise mod. I no longer want to make a Xenon noise mod.

That might kill my enthusiasm as well!

[Neloth23]

Version 1.47 is out. This is a little update that adresses a few requests that have been posted on Nexus and the forum.

Notably, I reduced the chair sound radius, so that NPCs changing place in medium or capital ships might get less annoying. I can reduce it a bit more, but if I overdo it, the sound will simply not be heard at all.

I also modified signal leaks to make them less irritating. I removed the electricity discharge sound and changed the leak sound itself to something a bit more subtle. In my experience it didn't make leak hunting harder, but if anyone has objections, let me know, I can still tweak it further.

I tried to reduce sound artifacts during save times (which is a vanilla bug) by decreasing the radius of NPC travel drive charge. This might reduce the problem a little bit (or not), but there really isn't much else I can do without destroying the balance of the mod.

If all goes as planned, next update should be quite bigger, but, as it will require a lot more balancing/testing, it will take a while before I can publish it.

1.47

• Added new elevator/transporter sound

• Added new collectible drop sound

• Added new signal leak sound

• Reduced radius of chair sounds

• Reduced radius of NPC travel drive charge (slightly)

• Removed signal leak intermittent electricity sound

[Tanvaras]

Just wanted to reply with a nice simple.....

Thanks for the Mod!

Add's some nice sounds to the game over the default. Look forward to seeing this mod progress.

[leoriq]

I have an issue with this mod ( didn't try the last version though ) which make an horrible random sound whenever I save the game, any idea? :/

Yes, you can hear random engine sounds and travel drives charging while saving. I think it happens if you are relatively close to other ships when you save, but I'm not 100% sure. Anyway, the bug occurs in vanilla, but is more noticeable in my mod. I suggest you try the mono version to see if it is less annoying. Other than that, I'm afraid there is nothing I can do, sorry.

It seems to me that this effect is more pronounced in your mod is because you have altered distance and position of sound sources, and X4 sometimes resets them during save/load. That's why they go right into your ear. Try adjusting those, maybe it will help to mitigate the issue. Or you may try to assemble a lite version, that doesn't affect sounds of engines?

Anyway, great mod, waiting for 1.50!!

[Neloth23]

It seems to me that this effect is more pronounced in your mod is because you have altered distance and position of sound sources, and X4 sometimes resets them during save/load. That's why they go right into your ear. Try adjusting those, maybe it will help to mitigate the issue. Or you may try to assemble a lite version, that doesn't affect sounds of engines?

Good idea, I'll play around with distance/position to see if it improves things.

[Neloth23]

Time for some news.

I'm still working on version 1.50. I decided to improve/add a lot of things, including redoing engine sounds entirely, so that's why it's taking so long but I think it's all worth it.

All in all, the idea behind 1.50 is to bring X4SO to its 'endgame', with the major sounds reworked and improved.


I've also been trying to solve the sound glitches occuring while the game is paused or saving. After several tests, it appears that the use of stereo sounds is the culprit. That's a bit of a bad news since there's little I can do against it in my main version other than trying to camouflage it the best I can. Personally, I can live with it, but I will provide a mono version of 1.50 for those who can't. I also recommend current users to switch to the mono version if they are too annoyed by this glitch.

Back to modding now, but before I leave, I couldn't resist giving you a little taste of what is to come. Bear in mind that this is still WIP and subject to change. But it should give you an idea of the direction I'm taking.

Fly safe!

[tomchk]

Sounds like Elite engines!

Thanks for all your work on this very cool mod.

[kmunoz]

Sounds like Elite engines!

It really does! I'm so excited for the update. I deeply dislike Elite's bran flake gameplay but the game is immersive AF. Getting richer sounds in X4 goes a long way (as would having a deselect target hotkey, but I've been Man Yelling at Clouds on that since release so I don't expect it'll ever happen).

[Neloth23]

Sounds like Elite engines!

It really does! I'm so excited for the update. I deeply dislike Elite's bran flake gameplay but the game is immersive AF. Getting richer sounds in X4 goes a long way (as would having a deselect target hotkey, but I've been Man Yelling at Clouds on that since release so I don't expect it'll ever happen).

Yeah I'm focusing a lot on immersion for this version, even though there are a lot of limitations in X4's sound engine and suitable sounds are hard to come by. That mod will never sound as cool as Elite, but I'll do my best.

I might post another video showing a little more of the new engine sounds soon.

[Max Bain]

I really love the idea behind such a mod and I think many sounds in X4 could need an improvement. In fact I have my private mod that replaces some vanilla sounds or tweaks some of them too. I have big respect for your work, but sadly, your first video makes me not download your mod.

This is just my personal opinion, so dont take it too serious, but when I hear your gattling gun shooting it does not sound cool. It sounds like a sewing machine instead of a big machine gun. I would expect something with a bit more explosion sound or at least a lot more depper sound.

Your new engine sound video instead is really good! Maybe I should use your mod as a base and simply replace the sounds I dont like with my own .

From your changelog you replaced many sounds, maybe a short showcase of a bigger portfolio of more of your changed sounds would be helpful .

One suggestion if you havent done it already:
I would love to have some kind of "going into warp" sound that really feels strong when you or an NPC ship goes into travel mode or leaves it. Like in Star Trek or Star Wars or Elite. And when you or NPC ships come out of warp it makes some crashing sound. That would be really cool. Think of a fleet of ships coming out of warp and you hear this "BOOM" "BOOM" BOOM" several times.
And mybe such a sound when a ship leaves/enters a sector too.

[Neloth23]

This is just my personal opinion, so dont take it too serious, but when I hear your gattling gun shooting it does not sound cool. It sounds like a sewing machine instead of a big machine gun. I would expect something with a bit more explosion sound or at least a lot more depper sound.

To be honest I wasn't completely thrilled by my gatling effect either. But I'm happy to say that I've finally found the sound I was looking for so it will be changed for 1.50. No more sewing machines in space!

From your changelog you replaced many sounds, maybe a short showcase of a bigger portfolio of more of your changed sounds would be helpful .

Yeah, my demo video is completely outdated. I was planning to do a new one for 1.50 to show more of the sounds. I can't do it yet, as I'm not done implanting them, but I can post smaller videos to show you guys how the mod progresses and have your feedback.

I would love to have some kind of "going into warp" sound that really feels strong when you or an NPC ship goes into travel mode or leaves it. Like in Star Trek or Star Wars or Elite. And when you or NPC ships come out of warp it makes some crashing sound. That would be really cool. Think of a fleet of ships coming out of warp and you hear this "BOOM" "BOOM" BOOM" several times.
And mybe such a sound when a ship leaves/enters a sector too.

Reworking warp and gate sounds is on my to-do list and I'm definitely aiming for the Star Trek/Elite vibe you're mentioning.

[Max Bain]

Thats good news .

Sound is at least as important as graphics for immersion.

[Guest]

I will only add this:

if you are just going to copy sounds from a different game and throw this in as a mod. I will say this: this will have copyright issues. And to be fair, I am already contacting the companies you have used in your readme file. Because it is just simply not legit to just copy sounds from one game and trying to throw that in another game.

[Neloth23]

I will only add this:

if you are just going to copy sounds from a different game and throw this in as a mod. I will say this: this will have copyright issues. And to be fair, I am already contacting the companies you have used in your readme file. Because it is just simply not legit to just copy sounds from one game and trying to throw that in another game.

Ok, let me get this straight.

Have I used sounds from other games in my mod? Yes. I never hid that fact, it is in the readme and the description.
Did I do it with the intention of harming those developpers ? No.

This mod was made with one sole purpose in mind: to get the best sounds I could in X4. I tried to use as many royalty free sounds as I could, but I quickly realized that I wouldn't be able to obtain the results and quality I was looking for without using sounds from other games. At that time I was doing the mod solely for myself and didn't think about publishing it. I finally arrived to a result that was satisfying to me. That was the time when I thought "maybe other people would enjoy this mod as well" and went ahead to make it public. The point was never to get money or popularity from it, nor to harm developpers, but to offer an alternative take on X4 sounds.

So yeah, I made a mistake. I will have to face the consequences. In the meantime, to avoid any further infringement, I have removed X4 sound overhaul completely and will cease all development on it. I apologize to all the developers I have harmed by using their sounds. It was never my intent to cause you any prejudice. I also apologize to the users of this mod, for the way this all ends.

To finish, I would just ask something to you, Guest: if you were concerned about copyright issues, why haven't you first written to warn me about it and voiced your concerns instead of threatening me with legal action? I would have removed the mod all the same had you just pointed the issue. I would have liked to have a chance to correct my mistake.

[Mycu]

Oh crap. There must always be people like that...