Compiling:Surface sounds

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Revision as of 15:23, 20 August 2011 by Majkifajki (talk | contribs) (Reworked article, make it newbie friendly, corrected error at the end (-se instead -si).)
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By default, Q3 engine does not recognize the material which are map made off. Wood, concrete, metal - for game it's only textures. However, the is simple tool for assigning textures to certain material types, which result with different sounds while player shoot at it and walk on it. Moreover, bullets will leave different marks on surface. Example with metal material before and after process:

Surfacesounds.jpg

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 BSP into the same folder where your *.bsp map is. BSP toll is command-line program - this means you have type commands in terminal in order to make it work. On Linux most of file managers allow You to open 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 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 simple text files. It contains 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 word "none" with any of the following list:

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 sound are missing in current Urban Terror version. You must remember that. 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 a alpha/beta/RC/release version.