GPL Headache Sounds

Well GPL has hit Brisbane Australia and so it now graces my HDD. The wait is over and I can now assess the real thing for myself. My first impressions are mixed but as I recall my first impressions of GP1, ICR1, ICR2, GP2, NC2, were mixed as well, and so I'm willing to see how things pan out in time. These former sims all have their user hated elements, eg the canned spins and terrible menus in GP2, yet all have become standards in their own right and much loved by their fans. After driving GPL for a while there is one thing that seems to me to be rather desirable. That is a way to turn down the engine volume level without affecting the level of the other sounds - tyre squeal etc. The reason for this is simple. After a while I get a headache from the engine sounds drilling through my skull. I live in a house with other people who have no interest in race sims, and who don't appreciate the noise of such. Consequently I drive these sims with headphones on. This is not usually a problem. While the engine sounds sound good they do tend to wear one down after a while. Yet one needs to hear the tyre squeal so you can't simply turn down the volume altogether. I assume it's a case of manipulating the .INI files somehow if it can be done at all. If anyone knows the procedure for this I for one would appreciate the info. Now you might say that in real life the actual drivers did have headaches with their ears ringing for two days after a race was over. Well that may be so but that's not necessarily a part of the true experience I wish to duplicate if I can help it. Best Regards Phillip McNelley

Hi Phillip, the best way to do this is to copy the SOUND.DAT file out of your GPL sound directory into another directory and unpack it. BACKUP the SOUND.DAT file first!! Then use the SOUND RECORDER in Windows95 to alter the volume levels of the sound files you want to alter. Repack it and copy it back to the SOUND Directory and all will be well. If you have any problems, or need any help, just drop me an email and i will help you sort it out.... Cheers, Ron

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> I agree with your suggestion to make it possible to lower the engine sounds > or even make the tire grip sounds louder.I dont know why Papyrus has made the > sim this way as the tire grip sounds are the only way we can "feel" the slip > angles of the tires.With my headphones set to low,so I dont blow out my > eardrums,and the Ferrari engine screaming in first gear,I find it hard to > tell when my rear tire's are starting to slip.I really hope someone comes out > with a way to lower or raise certain sounds for GPL.

From what i've heard people say about poking around with the .wav files for the engines in GPL, the engine samples have been sampled too loudly and clip quite badly, hence the hissey noises some people report. If someone created new engine sounds that didn't clip, they'd neccessarily be quieter, and thus would solve this problem here about the balance of volumes as well. Have you tried out the Viper Racing demo? best tyre sliding sounds i've heard in a sim yet. I am pretty certain each of the four wheels has it's own slidey sound, the pitch varies with loading, the volume varies with level of slip, etc. pretty darn cool:) and i saw something in the .ini file about using D3DSound... not entirely sure about that, don't have a 3d sound card to try it out on.

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> Have you tried out the Viper Racing demo? best tyre sliding sounds > i've heard in a sim yet. I am pretty certain each of the four > wheels has it's own slidey sound, the pitch varies with loading, > the volume varies with level of slip, etc. pretty darn cool:) > and i saw something in the .ini file about using D3DSound... not > entirely sure about that, don't have a 3d sound card to try it out > on.

To me that sounds as if they got it really right :o). Hopefully we'll see this in GPL2 and I'm sure we'll see it in GP3, cause Geoff had pretty much nailed it already in GP2. /Christer -- http://home4.swipnet.se/~w-41236/ (Read all about the "Global online racing"-proposal under "For developers". Read it a couple of times, cause noone has understood it the first time they've read it yet :o))

Hi I have the tools to do the audio stuff but what do I use to unpack the sounds? Craig

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>Hi Phillip, the best way to do this is to copy the SOUND.DAT file out >of your GPL sound directory into another directory and unpack it. >BACKUP the SOUND.DAT file first!! >Then use the SOUND RECORDER in Windows95 to alter the volume levels of >the sound files you want to alter. >Repack it and copy it back to the SOUND Directory and all will be well. >If you have any problems, or need any help, just drop me an email and i >will help you sort it out.... >Cheers, >Ron >> Well GPL has hit Brisbane Australia and so it now graces my HDD. The >> wait is over and I can now assess the real thing for myself. My first >> impressions are mixed but as I recall my first impressions of GP1, >> ICR1, ICR2, GP2, NC2, were mixed as well, and so I'm willing to see >> how things pan out in time. These former sims all have their user >> hated elements, eg the canned spins and terrible menus in GP2, yet >all >> have become standards in their own right and much loved by their >fans. >> After driving GPL for a while there is one thing that seems to me to >> be rather desirable. That is a way to turn down the engine volume >> level without affecting the level of the other sounds - tyre squeal >> etc. The reason for this is simple. After a while I get a headache >> from the engine sounds drilling through my skull. I live in a house >> with other people who have no interest in race sims, and who don't >> appreciate the noise of such. Consequently I drive these sims with >> headphones on. This is not usually a problem. While the engine sounds >> sound good they do tend to wear one down after a while. Yet one needs >> to hear the tyre squeal so you can't simply turn down the volume >> altogether. I assume it's a case of manipulating the .INI files >> somehow if it can be done at all. If anyone knows the procedure for >> this I for one would appreciate the info. >> Now you might say that in real life the actual drivers did have >> headaches with their ears ringing for two days after a race was over. >> Well that may be so but that's not necessarily a part of the true >> experience I wish to duplicate if I can help it. >> Best Regards >> Phillip McNelley

Hi Craig, To get the unpacker, go to the PITS http://www.theuspits.com/stockcar.html and download the file: Dat file Pack/Unpacker by Corey Rueckheim.. That should cure all your problems... Have fun! Cheers, Ron