[Solved] (newb alert!) Ambient sounds stuck playing silence :(

[PranQster]

I had a few ambient sounds already working, applied to zones in my map with info_location, etc.... Tonight I assigned sounds to some zones I already had set up. This time however I used the "_z" ambient sounds, rather than the regular ones. I was hoping this would help for smooth volume transitions between zones, thanks to the silence track which is supposed to play first.

Well, the silence track plays, but that's it. When I change zones, I see the zone changes in the console, but the audio stays as silence and announces no changes between zones (since it is already playing silence).

I was a bit disappointed with that, but figured I'd change the ambient sounds back to the regular non-"_z" zoned sounds.

Now it's still stuck playing silence, even though I reassigned all sounds to regular ambient ones.

 

I figure I'll delete all of the audio values from the location entity and reassign all ambient sounds from scratch.

But I would like to figure out why the actual zoned ambient audio track fails to play after the silence buffer track plays.

Edited December 30, 2013 by PranQster

[RJFerret]

I can't find it now, but a couple months ago someone else posted regarding their sound not working, and had also chosen the silent _z ambients instead of regular. However, as I recall, they were able to change back without issue. :/

[PranQster]

About to dmap and test it after deleting all of the args for the sounds and re-creating them from scratch. Also deleted all but the .map file...just in case.

[PranQster]

Hmmm... All of the new ambient sounds I created tonight do not work. 3 of the 4 original ones I had already created before are still working**. Even after re-creating all of them.

Again. I am using none of the '_z' sounds, just the regular ambient and environmental.

Scenario...

I enter my pub... I get ambient pub sounds for both upstairs and downstairs (2 sounds at 2 volume levels).

I go outside, into town, and I see the location change in the console as well as sound changing to silence

(no errors...sound changes to silence as though it is supposed to.)

I enter the sewers and get my chosen ambient sound as supposed to.

Exit sewers into next zone and get change to silence instead of the assigned sound, just like in town.

Then the rest of the zones stay in silence, despite seeing the zone changes occur properly in the console.

 

**The 4th one which is now broken is one which I had changed to a zoned ambient and then back to a regular one. For some reason the sound for the sewers still works (hum6_loop), even though it had been changed to the '_z' variant. The pub ambient sounds never changed because they didn't have any _z version.

Edited December 30, 2013 by PranQster

[PranQster]

Umm... This is probably going to turn into an embarrassing newbie-error type-thing!

Stand by for my utter embarrassment in a little while.

[PranQster]

Yep. Newbie error.

I had set everything up properly months ago, as far as adding location separators, info_location and the sound names in the location settings entity. I just forgot to point the info_location entities back at their 'ambient' sound names listed in the location settings.

Now using the '_z' option and loving it. Just need to figure out how to best add ambient sound in tunnels. There are multiple locations in each tunnel for adjusting ambient brightness, so I'll have to point them all to another sound than silence.

Edited December 30, 2013 by PranQster

[RJFerret]

Glad you got it sorted and good to know, I've been shying away from the "_z"s ever since seeing that first post having some issue with them.

 

(Yes, underground ambiance is hard, since naturally there's no sound at all in tunnels, just water drips in living caves. I opted for subtle, slow tones.)

[demagogue]

I was going to say something like that. If the info_location can't find a sound, it's instructed to play silence so the mapper knows something is really wrong. So in that respect it at least worked as intended; you knew you needed to fix something somewhere. If it's possible, I may even change it to play "Can't find ambient track" so that is listed in the console, and that would cue the mapper to it more explicitly.

 

I'll admit the "_z" tracks were a guess. They add a short silence buffer at the start in case the initial start & fade_out that all ambients get makes a popping sound, which some did in my testing. For the quiet ambients I don't think it changes anything, but I left them in just in case it might help some, and now that some FMs have used them they need to be left in for legacy reasons. But if you're having trouble, chances are it's not the _z's fault, but something else, as was the case here.

[PranQster]

I love the _z sounds. That added silence fade between sounds saves the day. I now will need to go back to siegeshop and add "_z" to the ambient sounds... Exiting the cave into the grassy area erupts in sudden loud rainfall, the first time crossing that VP. That pissed me off but I didn't know how to fix it at the time.

Now the audio in the new map is working beautifully.

I need to decide what to make the ambient default sound for underground areas, but that's a piece of cake... just need to decide upon environmental, musical, or some combo (drips+mellow music, anyone??). I need to make it perfect for this map. This map is different... huge in scale, and mostly outdoors. I'm aiming for an 'Epic' journey. I'll probably fall short of that goal, but that's what I'm shooting for.

It's still so early in development that there are no readables, loot, town, etc. The AI are all on team 5 still. There are mountains to sculpt, huts to decorate, loot... hmmm... normal loot doesn't even make sense yet. Don't expect any 'thousands-of-loot' objective in this one, but who know what types of precious things may be found in the mountains and the trees