Compiling:Surface sounds

By default, Q3 engine does not recognize the materials that map fragments are made of. Wood, concrete, metal - to the game it is just a texture. However, there is a simple tool for assigning textures to certain material types which will result in a different sound when players shoot at or walk on it. Moreover, bullets will leave different marks on the surface, for example with metal material before and after process:

The tool's name is BSP.

Windows version can be [downloaded here.] Linux one can be [downloaded here.]

This tiny little program works with compiled version of your map - *.bsp . After successful compilation, you need to put the BSP into the same folder as your *.bsp map. BSP toll is a command-line program - this means you have to type commands in terminal in order to make it work. On Linux most of the file managers allow you to open the current folder in terminal by clicking RMB and selecting "open in terminal" option.

Note:
Windows users use command bsp.exe. Linux users bsp-redone - which is simply a linux version of bsp.exe.

Create a surfaces file

First of all you'll need to create a basic surfaces file, to do this run BSP with the following arguments:

bsp.exe -se mapname.bsp mapname.surfaces

This will create a file mapname.surfaces, which is a simple text file. It contains a list of all textures used in a map, also the ones which are part of the models. -se means "surfaces export".

textures/YOURMAPNAME/structure/dirtybrickstain = none
textures/YOURMAPNAME/structure/dirtybrick = none
textures/YOURMAPNAME/decals/cokeycola = none
textures/YOURMAPNAME/decals/downwith = none
textures/YOURMAPNAME/grass/grass2 = none

Edit the surfaces file

Value "none" means that texture material has not been specified yet. To change it, simple replace the word "none" with any of the following:

none
tin
aluminum
iron
titanium
steel
copper
brass
cement
rock
gravel
pavement
brick
clay
grass
dirt
mud
snow
ice
sand
ceramictile
linoleum
rug
plaster
plastic
cardboard
hardwood
softwood
plank
glass
water
stucco

Please note: Not all surfaces sounds have a unique sound, most of the metal sounds share the same sound.

Missing sounds

• ice - missing
• rug - missing
• sand - missing
• water - missing

Some of the sounds are missing in the current Urban Terror version. If You use them, you'll get "ding-ding" replacement sound. It's worth noting that the grass sound is a good substitute for rug.

Adding the surface sounds to your map

To add the surface sounds to your map, the command is very similar to that used to extract the initial surface list.

bsp.exe -si mapname.bsp mapname.surfaces

-si means "surfaces import"

Defining surfaces should be done at the end, when you are sure you won't change anything and release your map as an alpha/beta/RC/release version.