Guide Getting rid of the missing sound issue in sea battles + new cannon sounds released for every calibre

[Joe Dagger]

Ahoy mates,

Wasn't active for quite some time, but since I was playing and modding aop2 coas lately with the gof mod I was utterly annoyed (again) by the fact the sound was in part missing like cannon/culverin fire sounds in battle or impact sounds in general the sea battles were the issue, that wasn't something new for me that has always been my problem and i remember many other users had similar issues so i tried to figure out why and find a solution. Strange thing was the music always played so it might have something to do with the .ogg and .wav format beeing played both at once.

And while i was at it i deployed new cannon/culverin sounds for each weight (4lbs =>48lbs) and implemented them into the game it worked like a charm, you find the new files attached to this post and a tutorial how to use them.

Sound issues in sea battles
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we've got .wav, and .ogg. I made several tests. If you select the audio drivers and change the priority that might help (.ogg on top priority then .wav you can test here), but its not the best idea since other programs depend on that setting as well.

Solution Part A
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I converted all music files to mp3 since that codec is more trouble free compared to the open source .ogg codec (for me that is). there are tools to convert ogg to mp3 in the web (I used "dBpowerAMP Music Converter", you find the file "music_alias" in your aop2 installation needs addressing too since you changed the format output so as example we've got

[music_bitva]
prior = 192
name = MUSIC\10-Battle.ogg

you simply change to

[music_bitva]
prior = 192
name = MUSIC\10-Battle.mp3

Solution Part B
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All cannons fire sounds need to be converted to mp3 as well, after doing that the " sound_alias" file need the same editing like the music one replacing the .ogg with the .mp3 I suggest you use an auto replacer function like you find in notepad++ only a couple of clicks and every entry is changed.

Solution Part C (optional if A+B alone don't give the full fix)
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The mp3 codec should be put to 1st place in the audio section. Example for WinXP operating system. Like pointed out this might interact with other programs so its the final resort, however i did so and have tested many programs i have no issues and aop2 works nearly perfect without sound issues anymore.




What is the result in doing the above?
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You will always hear the cannon sounds and all battle sounds (splash on water or impact of balls on your vessel/or enemies for instance)

If you fight a battle 4 or 5 ships involved for instance you won't have sound issues anymore no matter how many battles you fight in one gaming session no more missing sounds (without the conversion to mp3 in my case the 1st sea battle was o.k. in the sound department and with the second one i didn't have any sound or only partial only be fixed restarting aop2.)

But if many more ships are involved (like +7) it happens some sounds are skipped though this is not as much a bugger than without this converted mp3 files. The possible reason why its still not 100% fixed might be the sound engine of aop2 it might not be able so handle so many files playing them in milliseconds after another if you consider how many files are played if many ships are involved firing their armament...

Sorry
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My web access is very limited and i don't have hi speed web connection available.

cheers
Joe Dagger

EDIT
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Attached the cannon/culverin sounds so you can check them out and use them if you like. Read me on how to implement those files ingame are included. Added image on the audio codec setting

EDIT2
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Forgot to mention you most certainly need to start a new game to get the full effect otherwise the system might not read the converted files not sure on this one just wanted to add this (1st post updated with this info).

In other words if you want to continue your campaign then do the converting later before you start a new one just to be save.

 

[modernknight1]

I will try this.....willing to try anything....not counting on great success however.

MK

 

[Pieter Boelen]

MP3 files instead of OGG? Not sure if that works.
I know the German modding team managed to make that work, but that required source code changes.

 

[modernknight1]

Actually I found out entirely by accident some time ago that MP3 and MP4 both work in COAS. I think Dagger may have something here if they take up less memory and computing horsepower to activate.

MK

 

[Jan Marten]

Yes, Pieter they are right. I've rebuilt the entire sound system.
It is all converted to mp3. For half a year I have worked on it.
This is a very big expense MK.

I give you only one tip. Let the fingers of codecs.

 

[Joe Dagger]

Well ogg is a good codec and has a good compression/quality ratio plus its a free codec but for some reason it doesn't seem to work that well for aop2 coas on many systems and causes issues like the missing sounds. Like pointed out in my 1st post my guess is its the mixing of different codecs and probably different driver versions that results in trouble. Not sure what you did Jan by rebuilding the entire soundsytem... so you rewrote some .dll files maybe is it possible you can fill us in?

In any case its great to know there is a way to get fully working sound with the game just plenty of extra work to achive it. I changed all files of the game to mp3 previously and tested it but for some reason not all files were loaded maybe i did a flaw or the engine just needs .wav files in some cases... is that what you changed Jan? So the game accepts mp3 for all files?

however if you convert the files i suggest in my 1st post it should help a lot in the sound department not a perfect solution but alot better. Give it a try, sadly i don't have a good connection otherwise i would upload all sound files for you so my appology you have to convert the files yourself.

 

[morgwin]

Thanks for this guide, I've begun converting them, I will upload if anyone wants them.

 

[Joe Dagger]

Forgot to mention you most certainly need to start a new game to get the full effect otherwise the system might not read the converted file not sure on this one just wanted to add this (1st post updated with this info).

In other words if you want to continue your campaign then do the converting later before you start a new one just to be save.

 

[Messiah]

So, can anyone upload the converted files or is there another sound fix?