general question regarding sound mods

[canuck97]

I'd like to compile my own sound mod for CMBN (and CMFI as well if possible) by re-arranging sounds from the various awesome mods already available in the repository.

However I still have one question that I wasn't able to answer myself by reading the varous posts etc.: I noticed that the various mod-packs consist of totally different numbers of sounds etc. So I was just wondering how the game "knows" which sound file to use in case not every e.g. weapon has it's own sound file in the mod-package inside the data folder.

For example I'd like to use several files from Mod 1 and Mod 2. In Mod 1 package there is a sound called "gun 7 assault rifle" which is not available in Mod 2 package. However in Mod 2 package there are two soundfiles called "gun g43 1" and "gun g43 2". So is it possible that "gun 7 assault rifle" - as a "general" sound for assault rifles has a conflict when several specialized files for assault rifles per model (e.g. G43 as mentioned above) are available?

I hope my question is halfway clear? So is it neccessary (regardless of mod oder original game files) that every weapon etc. has it's own sound file? Or will some e.g. weapons be represented by a "general" sound file?

Geez, the text is a bit complicated I guess. But maybe someone can shed some light. Thank you very much in advance!

[Erwin]

AFAIK If you have a mod "package" that doesn't have a particular mod, then the game uses the default "vanilla" mod.

So, when you create your own personalized mod package you can select whatever you want from wherever you want (so long as there are not two mod files named exactly the same in the same folder).

If there happen to exist two mod files with exactly the same name in your main mod folder (Z) the system will select the one that has a name that starts later in the alphabet. So, "z-mod" will overwrite or be selected instead of "a-mod".

Hope that helps...

[canuck97]

Hello Erwin,

thank you for your quick reply. That confirms what I've already understood so far. Thank you. Still one scenario is a bit confusing to me. Maybe I can just explain this by a small example:

I got a sound mod package which includes some (at least for my understanding) specific sounds (like a G43 sound) and some "generic" sounds (at least referring to the name of the file, e.g. "gun assault rifle".

So my question is what does the program do if there's a specific sound file for one specific weapon for example and another sound file which refers to a whole weapon "category" in which the specific weapon mentioned before is already included. Does it use the specific sound for the G43 when fired in game or does it use the generic assault rifle sound?

I think the answer would be clear if there's a fixed number of sounds for every weapon for example. So then the program would try to find a specific sound for each weapon until it can't find one and then switches to the vanilla sound.

I know it's a bit complicated but maybe anyone can understand my question. Thank you!

[Erwin]

Well, if in doubt, simply rename the sound file (or any mod file) that you want with a "z" in front of it so hat it loads last and will therefore appear in the game.

My question is whether it is sufficient to rename a FOLDER with a "Z" in front of its name and then ALL the mod files in that folder will load last and appear in the game? Or, does the system choose each file based on its name, regardless of the folder it is in?

[canuck97]

That's a good qestion indeed. Since many mod packages use their very own file/directory structure I always thought that the system chose each file based on its name - regardless of the folder.

[Erwin]

I am not certain, but I think that mod bmp files can't be renamed as they wouldn't work. So, am hoping that any file in a Z MOD folder would load last and appear in the game - assuming there is no other Z MOD folder in the main folder.

In addition to having a folder full of (mostly) Aris mods, I also have ZFX, ZSOUNDS, ZUNIFORMS, ZTERRAIN, ZUI etc. folders. But, then I have a ZZ DESIRED MODS folder where I put all the mods that I want to test.

I am hoping that everything in the ZZ DESIRED MODS folder is what is loaded last and appears in the game.

I hope someone more knowledgeable can confirm this...

My follow-up question is what about subfolders that are inside the ZZ DESIRED MODS folder? Will anything in one of those subfolder also be loaded last simply cos the folder is inside ZZ DESIRED MODS, or does one have to also rename the subfolders to ZZ SUBFOLDER etc???