Adding Ambient Soundscapes: The Mystery of Crows

[Necrolex]

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?

[RedKetchup]

the only ambient sounds i saw were from the building or the animals. i am in unknown territory about that.

[Abandoned]

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.

[Necrolex]

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";
}

[Necrolex]

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;
}

[Necrolex]

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!

[Necrolex]

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.

[Necrolex]

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.

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.

[RedKetchup]

nice ! good job !

outside of the music tracks, i never played with sounds

[Necrolex]

Thanks! 

nice ! good job !

outside of the music tracks, i never played with sounds

Thanks! 

[kid1293]

This is an area I have been interested in. Thanks for digging deeper.
It is very close to positioned sound sources.

[Necrolex]

 

[Necrolex]

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.

[Abandoned]

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?

[Necrolex]

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.