Help: Assign sound to mounted_engine

[Dampfkrieger]

Hi guys and girls!

I am trying to modify a specific sound in my personal version of the Warhammer Mod BOTET. The Ratling Gunners (basically Miniguns for the non-Warhammer-guys) are respresented by an elephant model using a mounted_engine.
My testing shows that the descr_mounted_engines.txt seems to be responsible for assigning sound. Here is the section:

type ratling_guns
culture all
class rocket_launcher
reference_points siege_engines/ratling_gun.modelReferencePoints
missile_pos 0.0 -1.5 -1.0
crew_animations
fire Crew_Rear, crew_right_load_1, crew_right_load_2, crew_right_load_3, crew_right_load_4cycle, crew_right_load_5, crew_right_load_4cycle, crew_right_load_5, crew_right, crew_rear_fire_idle
end
normal_shots 10 ;36 for the bad boy
shot_delay 6
shot_pfx_front ratling_effect_set
shot_sfx ANIM_Serpentine_Fire

When I delete the last line the firing sounds stop altogether. When I insert other examples from the file, such as "shot_sfx Rocket_Launcher_Fire", it plays a different sound.
So my question now is... where can I find the ANIM_Serpentine_Fire that is referenced here and how would I go about adding my own shot_sfx to the game. Any tips or hints would be appreciated.

Cheers

[Withwnar]

descr_sounds_generic.txt - it's one of the missing Kingdoms sound files. There's a download here somewhere for them.

[Dampfkrieger]

Thank you! I feel stupid now.

[Dampfkrieger]

Hello, me again. Don't think I should open another thread for my next question.
My goal is to have a gunner unit (regular infantry unit, no engines here) use a different individual sound (so no group based sound, I know ho to do that) from other gunner units. I also know the sound works as I replaced the vanilla gunner sounds and it played fine. I just don't want the sound for all gunners :/

In the descr_sounds_generic.txt I find lots of events, such as:

event ANIM_Gunner_Fire priority 110 minPitch .9 maxPitch 1.1 volume 0 mindist 5
folder data/sounds/SFX/Individual/Gunners
Gunner_Fire_01
Gunner_Fire_02
Gunner_Fire_03
Gunner_Fire_04
Gunner_Fire_05
Gunner_Fire_06

end

Now where would this ANIM_Gunner_Fire be defined? I am guessing it has something to do with the .evt files in the date/sounds directory... but I'm drawing a blank here. No idea how these work.
I'd be happy to hear any advice from you guys. Maybe I am going about this the wrong way.

Thanks again!

[Withwnar]

ANIM_Gunner_Fire *is* the definition. Other files would reference it, effectively saying "for this sound use ANIM_Gunner_Fire" which in turn will be one of those Gunner_Fire_XXX sound files, chosen at random each time, from the data/sounds/SFX/Individual/Gunners folder.

[Dampfkrieger]

Hmmm, but I can not simply add another entry, such as "ANIM_Gunner_Fire_alternative" with other sounds and expect it to play for the unit I want it to, right? If this file is the definition, what tells the game when to play this event and the corresponding sounds? In my specific case a unit of gunners using fantasy-style weaponry that I want to have using the sound I prepared.

[Withwnar]

but I can not simply add another entry, such as "ANIM_Gunner_Fire_alternative" with other sounds and expect it to play for the unit I want it to, right?

Yes you can but you'll also need to rebuild the events IDX and DAT files. (So I believe. Could be wrong.)

If this file is the definition, what tells the game when to play this event and the corresponding sounds?

The unit tells the game when to play ANIM_Gunner_Fire_alternative, in its shot_sfx entry. i.e. When it shoots, trigger the ANIM_Gunner_Fire_alternative sound effect (sfx) event. This descr_sounds_generic.txt file tells the game which actual sound files to play when that event happens.

Again, I could be wrong. I've never coded unit sound effects before, only their voices. So I could be wrong about the shot_sfx thing. But it makes sense because that's how other game sounds work: you only trigger the sound event somehow, and elsewhere (i.e. in this file or some other sound text file) you define what sound mp3/wav files are associated with that event.

[Dampfkrieger]

The unit tells the game when to play ANIM_Gunner_Fire_alternative, in its shot_sfx entry

That's definitely how it works for mounted engines. But I do similar file entries exist for infantry units? I've only found entries in descr_sounds_weapons.txt like this one:

unit example_unit:pri

        fly
            event volume -20 mindist 7 priority 100  minpitch .6 maxpitch 1.1 probability .05 fadein .25 fadeout .5 probradius 3
                folder data/sounds/SFX/Individual/Missiles
                example_sound1
                example_sound2
                example_sound3
            end
            .
            .
            . 

When I place the name of my unit here and some sounds and then regenerate the sound files... nothing changed at all. Is this even the right file?

[Withwnar]

and then regenerate the sound files

Which ones? SFX idx/dat would definitely need to be in this case, plus presumably events idx/dat but I'm not sure.

This is now firmly in the realm of unfamiliarity for me. Presumably "fly" is the event for missiles flying through the air so, assuming that your example_unit's primary weapon is some kind of missile and you're testing that action and those sound files are of the correct format (don't ask me what that is) and you're correctly regenerating, then that looks correct to my novice eyes.

[Dampfkrieger]

I am at my wit's end for now. When I find a solution, I will post it here. And thank you Withwnar