Matrix Games Forums

Hello there folks!

First let me say that, as far as I am concerned, Distant Worlds has set the new standard for space-based 4x gaming. And now, after writing up my personal wishlist for DW, I come to find it matched point-for-point in the upcoming expansion. How exciting!

But there will be plenty of empire-building in the meantime, and so I am eager to present to you my personal audio mod for DW:Legends. Most combat-related sound effects have been replaced by these custom samples, in addition to a shortened combat alert signal.

I've put many dozens of hours into this package and have play-tested extensively, balancing levels to the best of my ability. Please find the Ardilus Combat Audio Pack .TXT document inside the ZIP package for installation instructions and original sample attribution credits.

Some audio samples are shared by multiple game events (such as planetary bombs using torpedo sounds); these are unfortunately beyond the ability of the modder to edit, though this limitation should not detract from the improvements made here.

I do hope you enjoy these effects as much as I do. Popping cans has never been so much fun!

Downloaded and installed. Done a quick test where I engaged the other big factions (suicide attack sort of). Thanks. I like it a lot! It's different from the original and has distinct sounds and meaty small explosions. If anything, the Ion Bolt is slightly low (don't adjust yet because of my comments, I have just tested a few minutes).

Thank you. Good to have a change in the audio, I kept meaning to change them but I always seem to have to many projects on the go.

There were a few really quiet samples though, ion, missile, a few explosions and phaser sounds, they were really good sounds but were just getting lost in the battles. I have increased the DB on all of them, some of the above were increased by **.**, they were that quiet after calculation, lowest increases were .** DB. No decrease in quality of sound, just subtle amplification, the ion weapons really stand out now in battles.

Note: Ive not touched the message_Alarm.wav, thats why I looked at this post, thought I might find a good sound for it, so its not in the zip.

Download : Ardilus Combat Audio Pack V2

Thanks again

Darkspire

Thank you both so much! I'm pleased you are enjoying this effort and thank you Darkspire for your adjustments. Balancing levels has been pretty tough as the engine sets the final volume based on how many weapons are being fired simultaneously. Some effects, like the maxos blaster, needed to be normalized to 100% volume just to get heard, while others like the ion bolt are much more fickle. Definitely glad to get some other ears on this and I will continue to make adjustments based on your experiences.

Not a problem, I do mix/make demo's for a few indie bands so I'm used to making things sound louder and clearing them up [:D]

Its very easy to go down the normalize route, but all that does is make the sound flat. Calculate the signal and amplify is the best way Ive found with game sounds, if you listen to them through headphones you really notice the difference, thanks again for a really good collection of sounds.

Darkspire

Thanks Darkspire. Yes I've been producing for about a dozen years now, but sound effects are quite new to me. With most items I used compression or band-compression with amplification to keep the audio rich. Where there is a lot of activity / sample triggers (large scale battle) it is also easy to lose definition as frequencies cross. I've tried to keep each sound set within some spectral boundaries; I think this can leave them flat sounding where there may only be a few ships.

Interesting.

I like it a lot. Using the slightly amplified Darkspire version of Ardilus combat audio pack.