Making a pre-game story

[killerking]

So I decided to create a pre-game story using Fear. So I made one in the 'text' part of Fear, and it works fine in the plugin I made EXCEPT for that it reads the 'willow creek' story while showing my story. What did I do wrong or how do I remove the narration?

Also, how do I add my own music?

[Pyro]

Let me guess you copied the Willow Creek mesh and then changed it? Well keep looking at its mesh tag in Fear, you should find what you are looking for... ever thought the Narration Sound was what you were listening to?

[gugusm]

I'm not sure if this is what you meant, but open Fear ---> open your map's mesh tag ---> look at the "Narration Sound", probably it's linked to 'nar 01'. And 'nar 01' is a narration sound for 'Willow Creek', so that's why you can hear Willow Creek narration. To make your own Narration Sound (music) you have to record it in .wav format, 22kHz, 16-bit, stereo (at least if you're on PC). Then you have to make your own sound tag (or just copy already existing one) and put there music you've recorded. Then link it in your plugin's mesh tag as a 'Narration Sound'. I hope everything is clear

[killerking]

Thanks guys, I figured those things out on the udogs hl except for that I was planning on using aiff instead of wav. I didn't try to add music yet (just removed it) though so I don't know which is best but I'll learn it through testing (edit; aiff doesn't work). Should I add music that plays while you play the level with the 'ambient sound' (under game sounds) in fear? If so, will it automatically repeat?

Killerking

apparantly both aiff and wav don't work here. I'm using 22,050 khz and 16 bit. I placed both of them in the 'ambient sounds' map in my 'local' folder, but neither of them appears in the list. What am I doing wrong?

[gugusm]

Ambient sounds work a bit different. You have to make normal 'sound' tags first (record something -> make a new 'sound' tag and link there that thing which you've recorded, you can add few recordings to one sound tag, so they will be playing randomly I think) and then make a new 'ambient sound' tag where you'll link the sound tag that you want to be played in this ambient sound tag (I hope that's clear). Also you can mess up with some parameters there, like radius and stuff.

Also, you can record narration sound using stereo, but for ingame sounds (like ambient sounds) you will have to use mono while recording. And I'm not sure about .aiff format, but .wav's been always working fine for me.

[vinylrake]

I may be misunderstanding your intent, so if I am just ignore this. BUT,

Under NO circumstances should you EVER have music on your map that will repeat forever. NEVER.

(Unless you are creating a level that mimics a circus themed arcade game, then it's stil annoying but understandable)

Here's a handy checklist for when it's ok to have music on your map
-----------------------------------------------
Music for starting up a level? Fine
Music for ending a level? Fine
Music for helping set a mood at a dramatic point in a quest? -- maybe ok if used with discretion and it doesn't repeat
Music that repeats during planning time on a ffa/team map but stops once the game starts? Ok if it's so over the top as to be ridiculous (see Mega Mudpit Massacre)
Music that repeats that is not map-wide but IS attached to a specific location on the map because of something there that produces the music (ex. the radio sound attached to the trailer on the TFL map) -- ok IF used with discretion
Music that plays everywhere on the map and repeats incessantly? BAD BAD DON'T EVER DO THIS.

You can have music repeat infinitely but I guarantee it will decrease, by at least 97%, the number of people willing to play your map.

[Pyro]

What VR means to say is that it may be a bad idea to have ambient music playing throughout the level for extended periods of time. Not because Myth can't do this, but because it may annoy players.

But maybe you meant music for the pregame/postgame stuff. As for what Bungie did, the narration is combined with background music. In case that is what you were talking about. So you can't have music and a voice reading the journal entry as separate sounds. They go together in one sound or you just used one or the other, like just music.

As for the sound stuff, Windows users can import sound in Fear only in WAV format. Mac users import it in AIFF or maybe AIF, one of those two. The sound has to be a certain format of 16-bit 22.050 kHz. Some can be mono and a few others can be in stereo. Take a look at this chart.

To import a sound once you already have the correct format and file type is to open Fear. Go to the sounds section, make a new sound tag. (Or edit an existing one.) Open this new sound tag. There is an "Add" button there. Press it and find the sound you wish to import. I may be mistaken but I think sound tags have a limit of 5 permutations. So if the sound tag is full, the "Add" button will be grayed out.

To make an ambient sound, you need to make an ambient sound tag and link it to the sound tag you made or an existing one.

[vinylrake]

Did you think it sounded like I was speaking from a technical POV when I posted about when it is APPROPRIATE to add music to a map?

If that's not the case, I am curious why you felt the need to clarify my meaning.

[Pyro]

I try to simplify stuff sometimes. So I thought in case he assumed you were telling him he couldn't add music instead of why he may not want to add music.

[vinylrake]

Not a problem Pyro, though of course explanations strip out any subtlety or tongue-in-cheek aspects, you generally do a fairly accurate 'translation' of my actual intent.

I was just more curious about this one because I *thought* it was fairly clear that I was writing from an opinion and not a technical POV.

[Graydon]

I think the relevant key here is a piece you're missing VR. You don't hang out on udogs hotline alll that much. Pyro does. Killerking has been relatively active on hotline over the past couple of weeks, in his recent undertaking to learn scripting for myth. He is young, we know this because he told us, and because of knowing this, it might be a wise call to spell it out. Not to mention english is his second language, as he hails from the netherlands. You wouldn't know any of this, not hanging out on udogs, so not to worry. From my perspective though, it almost feels like you're angry/ticked with Pyro for his simple 'translation' of your (often subtle/tongue-in-cheek) comments for KK's benefit. He's just being a helpful forum lurker, no harm in that.

[Pyro]

Well I figured the original poster might not see your subtleness

[killerking]

Thanks everyone, I got it working. Apparantly .wav didn't work here so I used .aiff like somebody suggested.

[vinylrake]

...You wouldn't know any of this, not hanging out on udogs, so not to worry.

Actually, your statement is not true. There are many ways I could have learned either of those facts about KK, hanging out on udogs is not a prerequisite to knowing either or both of these facts. While I was not aware that English is killerking's second language, I am (and have been for quite a while) very aware that he is relatively young. I could argue that English as a second language in the Netherlands isn't really relevant since from my experience everyone in the netherlands speaks like 4-5 languages anyways and english is pretty universal 'over there' but it's still a good factoid to keep in mind, so thanks for the background.

For what it's worth, overall I find Pyro's contributions to these forums to be most worthwhile and very useful.

[Graydon]

Actually, your statement is not true. There are many ways I could have learned either of those facts about KK, hanging out on udogs is not a prerequisite to knowing either or both of these facts. While I was not aware that English is killerking's second language, I am (and have been for quite a while) very aware that he is relatively young. I could argue that English as a second language in the Netherlands isn't really relevant since from my experience everyone in the netherlands speaks like 4-5 languages anyways and english is pretty universal 'over there' but it's still a good factoid to keep in mind, so thanks for the background.

Fair points.

For what it's worth, overall I find Pyro's contributions to these forums to be most worthwhile and very useful.

Glad we agree on this one