[Hicks]

I've been tinkering with the sound in GtC for a few days now and thought it would be good to share it.

Here's an initial link until it can be hosted: https://www.sendspace.com/file/l5kk5o

---
Close Combat: Gateway to Caen Sound Mod v1.0

Within this package should be the following:

Readme.txt
DATA --- BASE --- Weapons.txt
LOCALFX --- Sound.sfx

The purpose of this mod is to replace the weapon sound effects in Close Combat: Gateway to Caen. I've gone through videos of the relevant weapon demonstrations and edited the sound files to replace the effects for in-game weapons. There is a change from the samples already present to effects that sound like they are being heard from a distance - from the game's player perspective.

All the small arms sound effects have been replaced with recordings of their real-life counterparts. The Kar98 and Enfield 4 bolt action rifles also include the sound of the bolts being cycled. Explosions are unaltered.

The included Weapons.txt file was necessary to split the references to sound files to allow for more unique sound effects as opposed to one sound file being shared by numerous weapons or coaxial and bow weapons.

Some of the included changes are;

Man portable and vehicle mounted flamethrowers have their own sound effects.

.30 cal, MG34 and BESA machine guns have different sounds for bow, coaxial and AA variants.

Heavy, light and storm variants of the MG42 have their own sound effects.

Tank canons and AT guns are separated for greater variety, the sounds having for the most part been sourced from the Historical gun sounds mod v.1.967 by Gnomefather for World of Tanks

The PIAT makes use of the sound effect from Last Stand Arnhem.

To install extract the archive into your Gateway to Caen folder. Alternatively, drag and drop the files into the relevant folders individually. Remember to make a backup of the installed files prior to using the mod for ease of replacement if you desire.

I hope you enjoy the changes made.
---

There are some other changes that I would like to make, most notably with the grenades. I've got sound effect for the German potato masher and am almost done with smoke grenades. However the game uses one sound-effects for all three grenades. I'm not sure what I'd need to do to split them into separate items that could then have their own unique sound effects. Any guidance on this would be great as it would be nice for a potato masher to sound different to a Mills grenade.

Anywho, suggestions on how to make grenades unique would be great. In the meantime I hope you enjoy the sound mod.  

[ScnelleMeyer]

Thanks for making a sound mod for GtC Hicks.

I have yet to test it out.
To make grenades have individual sounds in CC I think you need to add them as a weapon with a unique sound number in weapons.txt and assign this grenade weapon to the individual Soldier in Soldier.txt

[Hicks]

Hope you enjoy it!

I did some more poking around in the files and I'm struggling to find any individual references to the individual types of grenades, even the smoke grenades. I looked through the CC3 files as well to see if there was anything (there tend to be legacy references that haven't been cleaned up left over in CC files) and no joy there either.

I'm guessing that when a unit is asked to use smoke it checks its held inventory, use the grenade which has a different triggered outcome as opposed to a unique usable weapon. A variable function rather than a unique one. I'll keep on poking around but I'm pretty stumped.

It's been fun getting the files together for a sound mod for Close Combat 3 as well. Some were a pain in the arse to find and there are some oddities with sounds assigned to mortars but I'll keep tinkering.

Not having much luck with CC2 though. Is there a listing of what weapon uses what sound effect? As when I checked the weapons.txt it didn't match up to the numbered files - unless I'm missing something.

[ScnelleMeyer]

I havent poked around that much with grenades, so I might be wrong about some things here: (Other pls correct)

The regular grenades are hardcoded to an index number in weapons.txt - and have hardcoded sounds as well - this means the sound index number needs to remain the same, but you can change the sound by replacing the wav.file.
If you want each grenade to have a unique sound you need to do as I was trying to explain in my last post: Create a new grenade weapon and assign it a sound, then change the grenade weapon that each soldier is given. - Edit: I think you need to assign the new grenade as a secondary weapon to make it work.
This has been done for most mods, so check out some of the weapons and soldier files from mods.

For CC2 you need to look at Qclone and the Wpn sound number coloumn. This should indicate the correct sound number.

[sample]

[Hicks]

I've looked at the files for CC2 and am having a headache with them. I've unpacked after renaming the sound file with the CC3 tool as well as checking it with the CC2 Hack tool. I've cross referenced it with QClone and the entries for weapon sound IDs don't match up with the file names - they're all over the place. I've been able to identify some of them but thought it would be worth asking if there's a complete list already which correctly matches the file names e.g. 121.wav with what it actually represents, as weapon Sound ID 32 most certainly isn't 0032.wav unless the M1 Carbine exclusively fires mortar rounds that only hit water I think it's the muddled nature compared to CC3's weapon sound ID and file name matching up that's thrown me.

I'll see what I can find with the grenades, with a little luck I'll get there

[ScnelleMeyer]

Do you have this program Hicks?

http://www.closecombat.org/Downloads/index.php?dirpath=./CC2/modding/&order=0

[Hicks]

[ScnelleMeyer]

Yeah, I was thinking about the Index file that was included - With tinkering it can be paired up with the correct sound numbers.
Sound like you have thought of a good way to find those last sounds that cant be identified otherwise.

Did listen a bit to your sound mod - great work there - I like most of the new sounds you added:)
Hard to better the original sounds in GtC because the developers also used recordings of real weapons.
Constructive criticism:
- MP-44 was too weak compared to other weapons.
- Could need more bass or deeper tone on some of the light infantry weapons in my opinion.

Keep it up Hicks!

[Hicks]

Thank you    It's been fun putting these together for CC3 and for GtC's 1946 mod as well.

There could easily be some increase to the bass adjustments. Any that particularly stand out?

The MP40? is the weakest effect I think, there isn't an Stg44 in Gateway to Caen though outside of a reference to it in the weapons.txt along with the FG42 etc - at least as far as I'm aware. I've got a couple of different recordings of the MP40 and I was surprised how relatively weak they sounded, almost an underpowered 9mm round for specialised use with a suppressor. :edit: I did some more searching and it seems that the blank firing demonstrations are much punchier and louder than the ballistic loads. I've got a mixture of sounds to play with now though.

I'm still on the fence with including the cycling of the bolts on the standard infantry rifles as well. It's nice and distinct but at first sounds a little odd. I remembered that in CC2 they had some rifle effects that started with the bolt cycle, but it made more sense to me to have the bolt after the weapon discharged.

Finding demonstrations of the Japanese infantry weapons has been interesting and don't even get me started on the MG37 in CC3

Time for some more tinkering! Thank you for the feedback.

[sample]

[RD_Knights-X]

Hicks,
I'm having difficulty with your file format.  It appears from your description that it should be a zipped file containing 3 separate files.  Unfortunately, the DL'd file doesn't appear to have a ".zip" format since it won't open.  Suggestions?

[ScnelleMeyer]

Mine opened just fine with 7zip. Did you try right clicking and open on the file?

[RD_Knights-X]

Well, how dumb can I get   !  I should have realized you needed 7-zip,,,although I hadn't heard of it until now. Anyway, thx ScnelleMayer!!!!!

[mooxe]

Hicks... I'd like to make an auto-installer for your sound mod and add it to the database of mods here. The installer would work with the Matrix download, not the Steam download.

[Hicks]

[mooxe]

Ok Hick's we're good.

http://www.closecombatseries.net/CCS/modules.php?name=Downloads&op=getit&lid=4251
 
Still deciding on what to do for a Steam version.