I've been thinking a lot about the ambient sounds in Banished lately. While the default bird sounds are nice, I'm considering adding crows to the soundscape for a few reasons.
First, I think it helps create a sense of a different environment with its own unique flora and fauna. But mainly, I've always loved the sound of crows — to me, it adds a certain "mystical" or atmospheric aura to the game, which is something I'm aiming to bring to my project.
Does anyone know how I could add an additional sound to the game? Would I have to remake the entire ambient sound file to include the crows, or is there a way to simply add them separately so they play during the game?
I'd love to hear your thoughts! Do you think more specific bird sounds would improve immersion, or do you prefer the more generic forest sounds?
the only ambient sounds i saw were from the building or the animals. i am in unknown territory about that.
In a very early version of The North Tom Sawyer added the sound of a crane near water. As far as I know that is all that had ever been done with sound except for this discussion:
https://worldofbanished.com/index.php?topic=1744.0
Placeable sound would be preferrable to me, not all sounds suit all areas. A seagull by a big lake would be better than a crow for example. But apparently can't be done.
I think I found the right path: Audio > Effects. If you open the Environment file, you can see the definition for the forest sounds. My idea is to replace the original Forest.wav with a new one that has the crow sounds mixed in.
SoundBuffer forest
{
bool _looping = true;
String _wave = "Audio\Effects\Forest.wav";
}
This file is where the magic happens!
SoundEffect baseEffect
{
float _radius = 8.0;
float _innerRadius = 3.0;
}
SoundBuffer field
{
bool _looping = true;
String _wave = "Audio\Effects\Field.wav";
}
SoundEffect fieldEffect : "baseEffect"
{
Sound _sounds [ { Buffer _buffers [ { SoundBuffer _soundBuffer = "field"; float _volume = 1.0; } ] } ]
}
SoundBuffer forest
{
bool _looping = true;
String _wave = "Audio\Effects\Forest.wav";
}
SoundEffect forestEffect : "baseEffect"
{
Sound _sounds [ { Buffer _buffers [ { SoundBuffer _soundBuffer = "forest"; float _volume = 1.0; } ] } ]
}
SoundBuffer wetland
{
bool _looping = true;
String _wave = "Audio\Effects\Wetland.wav";
}
SoundEffect wetlandEffect : "baseEffect"
{
Sound _sounds [ { Buffer _buffers [ { SoundBuffer _soundBuffer = "wetland"; float _volume = 0.3; } ] } ]
}
SoundEffect mountainEffect : "baseEffect"
{
Sound _sounds [ { Buffer _buffers [ { SoundBuffer _soundBuffer = "WindEffect.rsc:version0"; float _volume = 0.5; } ] } ]
}
SoundBuffer winter
{
bool _looping = true;
String _wave = "Audio\Effects\Winter.wav";
}
SoundEffect winterEffect : "baseEffect"
{
Sound _sounds [ { Buffer _buffers [ { SoundBuffer _soundBuffer = "winter"; float _volume = 1.0; } ] } ]
}
ComponentDescription ambient
{
// how often to update
UpdatePriority _updatePriority = Third;
// declare types that will be used
Description _descriptions
[
"ambientemitter",
"ambientenvironment",
]
}
AmbientEmitterDescription ambientemitter
{
SoundEffect _soundEffects
[
"",
""
]
}
AmbientEnvironmentDescription ambientenvironment
{
Environment _environment
[
{ SoundEffect _warmSoundEffect = "forestEffect";
SoundEffect _coldSoundEffect = "winterEffect";
PathBits _pathBits = Obstacle; int _weight = 25; ComponentDescription _entity = "Template/NaturalResourceTree.rsc"; }
{ SoundEffect _warmSoundEffect = "fieldEffect";
SoundEffect _coldSoundEffect = "mountainEffect";
PathBits _pathBits = Normal | Obstacle | Occasional | Immovable; int _weight = 1; }
{ SoundEffect _warmSoundEffect = "wetlandEffect";
SoundEffect _coldSoundEffect = "winterEffect";
PathBits _pathBits = Water | DeepWater; int _weight = 1; }
{ SoundEffect _warmSoundEffect = "mountainEffect";
SoundEffect _coldSoundEffect = "mountainEffect";
PathBits _pathBits = Unusable; int _weight = 1; }
]
float _minTemp = 31.0;
float _maxTemp = 36.0;
}
It defines which sounds play in each area. I've seen that animal sounds are quite easy and I can already get those to work, but I haven't tested adding or replacing ambient sounds yet, even though I've been thinking about it a lot.
If you look at the file, you can see the calls for each sound set per area. My theory is that if I create a new Forest.wav with crow sounds, it should work. The same goes for Wetland.wav — I could create a new version with seagulls for when you're near a large lake.
This is what I think should work!
I wanted to ask about it because, even though I think I've found a solution, it's always better to clear any doubts first. I didn't want to waste time trial-and-erroring when there are so many experienced people here.
Quote from: Abandoned on January 18, 2026, 08:58:10 PMIn a very early version of The North Tom Sawyer added the sound of a crane near water. As far as I know that is all that had ever been done with sound except for this discussion:
https://worldofbanished.com/index.php?topic=1744.0
Placeable sound would be preferrable to me, not all sounds suit all areas. A seagull by a big lake would be better than a crow for example. But apparently can't be done.
Hello, Abandoned!!! Thanks for the link! This is actually one of the threads I've had saved for reference since back when I didn't even know how to add new animal sounds to the game yet.
nice ! good job !
outside of the music tracks, i never played with sounds
Thanks! ;D
Quote from: RedKetchup on January 18, 2026, 09:50:50 PMnice ! good job !
outside of the music tracks, i never played with sounds
Thanks! ;D
This is an area I have been interested in. Thanks for digging deeper. :)
It is very close to positioned sound sources. :)
;D
I've been playing without music to better hear just the sound effects, and I noticed that the sounds for 'wet' locations are separate from the river sound. The river has its own sound effect located in Audio\Effects\RiverEffect\River.wav. The rest of the sounds that are part of this 'wetland' area, such as frogs croaking, are found in the Environment file:
SoundBuffer wetland
{
bool _looping = true;
String _wave = "Audio\Effects\Wetland.wav";
}
Until then, I thought it was all bundled together, but I walked through the map and where the river originated, I only heard the sound of the flowing water, but not the frogs and crickets. I backtracked a bit along the river, and the frogs started croaking again.
Hi
@Necrolex You are making some progress.
I just did a little sound adjustment, in options Audo, I turned music off and UI Vol and effect down to 50. Ambient volume is at 100. I roamed around a vanilla map and only hear the river, rain & thunder, and something I think is suppose to be wind. :-\ I hear nothing else except workers, they seemed louder with effects adjusted higher.
Frog and cricket sounds would be cool. So the game has these sounds and we just aren't hearing them?
Hi Abandoned!
The sound of croaking frogs is a game standard when we zoom in near rivers and lakes, along with birds that can be heard wherever there are trees—though the sound is even louder in the forest. When it rains, nothing changes, but when it snows, the birds and frogs go quiet. So, to hear the frogs, you need to zoom in almost to the maximum near rivers or lakes. It creates a cool effect when using headphones.
Regarding the sound of workers, if I'm not mistaken, it was mentioned in that discussion you shared the link to. But I don't remember if they talked about this: there's a file called 'CrowdEffect' in the path 'Audio\Effects\Crowd.wav', and it's definitely the audio file for the people in the city.
Hi Necrolex
I am glad you decided to look into game sounds. Without the music on and settings adjusted I do hear some birds in the forest and the sound of the rain not just the thunder. When I zoom out I hear what I think is wind. I do not hear any frog sound though.
The winter silence is noticeable, very peaceful. :)
I've just recorded some frogs by a river. Their sound is high-pitched, similar to birds. You can hear the birds, the flowing water, and the frogs in the recording.
https://shorturl.at/0L0ju
I noticed something about the frog sounds. They only trigger when we're very close to deep river sections and lakes. The game's command to play the sound doesn't seem to affect smaller bodies of water, like creeks. To actually hear them, you have to zoom in, as the sound only becomes audible at the closest camera distance.
Hi, I listened to sound clip but am only faintly hearing river sounds with volume turned up all the way.
On map I did zoom in all the way and moved slowly around the map in different seasons. I will try again. I am wondering if problem is wav files. I had many wav files that windows 10 would not play. :-\
It is good to have the sound of rain now. :)
I forgot to turn up the volume in my audio editor. Sorry.
But in my audio, the frogs' croaking is just fine.
That's right, maybe your system doesn't play WAV audio files correctly. I don't like this format because it's heavy.
But in the audio I sent, couldn't you distinguish the sounds? I use common headphones, but they're tight and block outside sounds, so I can hear clearly, plus I've configured the audio output with a program called FXSound.
There doesn't seem to be any other sound to be heard. I don't have headphones.
I notice in the past when I downloaded music files that some would be very quiet and some much loader. ;D It was annoying having to be turning sound control up and down all the time. ;D
Guys, how do I open .crs files? I want to see what's inside the files in the WinData folder. I believe these files will help me get a better look at the game's audio.
You can't! They are compiled rsc-files and we don't have those either.
That's disappointing. I expected to find more in these files after associating them with Notepad, but the text came out completely garbled. About localized sounds like a church bell: the priest NPC should be using a tool to trigger that audio, but I'm not sure how to assign a new tool to him. I've hit a dead end. I looked through the event files and sound triggers, but nothing useful came up. I'll step away for a bit and try again another time.
NPC tools is only animations, for that we would need to have the citizen.fbx and add an animation where you could see the citizen go up and down , pulling on a cord to imitate the motion of rigning a bell. the sound of the church is set in its template, i think.
I'd be happy enough just seeing the priest using the 'Hunter's Dance' animation to ring the bell lol. I checked the church files and the only sound assigned there is the fire sound.
yeah there is nothing but you can add one
something similar of
AmbientEmitterDescription ambientemitter
{
bool _addOnCreate = false;
SoundEffect _soundEffects
[
"Audio/Effects/FireEffect.rsc"
"Audio/Effects/CrowdEffect.rsc"
]
}
do and rename a "Audio/Effects/CrowdEffect.rsc"
of your own, and link it to your own .wav
What a coincidence! A few hours ago, I created a test mod where I lowered the crowd audio significantly—it was bothering me because it's too short and repetitive. The volume was set to 1.0 and I changed it to 0.1. Later on, I'm going to edit some audio files to create a brand new crowd sound. Thanks for the tip, I'll give it a try!
i did a test 7 years ago, i gave the bell sound to the medieval school to call the students
@Necrolex Problem with attaching sound to a building is sound only works on that building, you are limited to using that mod and that building if you want to hear that sound.
Whereas if possible to attach a sound to a universal or invisible ghosted item, you can use any building you want. For instance, an invisible spot or say a plain wood sign that say "service today" with the church bell sound attached could be used at any of the many churches in various mods.