GTA Wave file

-----------------------
GTA Wave - Version 2.01
18 May 1999
-----------------------

by Adrian Grucza

Gta.stomped.com
gtawave@hotmail.com

GTA Wave is freeware
--------------------

WHAT IS GTA WAVE?
========================================================================
GTA Wave is a program that lets you listen to, modify, and save sounds
from the game "Grand Theft Auto".

UPGRADING TO VERSION 2.01
========================================================================
To upgrade from version 2.0 to 2.01, just extract the contents of the
ZIP file into the folder where you installed GTA Wave, replacing the
existing files.

Please note that to upgrade from version 1.0, you must first download
and install version 2.0.

Changes in version 2.01 are listed at the end of this file.

RUNNING GTA WAVE
========================================================================
To run the program, click on GTA Wave, under Programs in the Start menu.

The first time you run GTA Wave 2.xx, the Backup Wizard will appear. You
should complete this Wizard even if you have already made backups of the
GTA sound files. It enables you to restore the original sounds
individually or all at once.

HOW TO USE GTA WAVE
========================================================================

Opening a GTA sound file
------------------------
Click the Open button (or click Open in the File menu). Then navigate to
the folder where GTA is installed, look in the GTADATA\AUDIO folder, and
open one of the SDT files.

Playing a sound
---------------
If Auto Play is switched on, then sounds are played when clicked. Auto
Play can be turned on by pressing the toolbar button with a picture of a
cassette.

Editing a sound
---------------
Editing a sound opens it in your default Wave File editor (usually Sound
Recorder). When you have finished editing the sound, close the editor
and you will be asked if you want to keep the changes.

Clearing sounds
---------------
Clearing a sound reduces its size to zero. It does not remove the sound
from the list, so you can still modify the sound later. You can clear
multiple sounds at once by selecting more than one.

Changing pitch
--------------
Changing the pitch of a sound just changes its sample rate. The actual
sound data does not change. You can change the pitch of multiple sounds
by selecting more than one.

For some sounds, changing the sample rate has no effect on that sound in
the game. For example, car engines and radio vocals will not sound any
different. This is because for these sounds, GTA disregards the sample
rate in the file and uses its own sample rate. In this case you must use
a sound editor to change the pitch. In Sound Recorder this is done by
choosing Increase Speed or Decrease Speed.

Importing a sound
-----------------
You can only import a sound if its sampling size (8-bit/16-bit) and
number of channels (mono/stereo) match those of the sound you are
importing into. All the GTA sounds are in 8-bit mono format, except for
those in LEVEL000. The sounds in this file are 16-bit, the first three
being stereo.

A quick way to import a sound is to drag the file onto the sound you
want to replace, from an Explorer window or the desktop.

Exporting a sound
-----------------
You can export sounds as Wave Files. A quick way to export a sound is to
drag it into an Explorer window or onto the desktop with the mouse. You
can export multiple sounds by selecting more than one and dragging them.

Restoring sounds
----------------
Once you have completed the Backup Wizard, you can restore the original
GTA sounds individually by choosing Restore. You can restore multiple
sounds by selecting more than one. To restore all the sounds in the
current file, choose Restore All.

Options
-------
You can change the GTA Wave options by choosing Options from the Edit
menu. Here you can change which action a double click performs, your
sound backup folder, and the GTA program file. You should not need to
change the backup folder entry. If it is empty, run the Backup Wizard
from the File menu.

TIPS
========================================================================

Sorting the sound list
----------------------
You can change the order in which GTA Wave displays the sounds by
clicking on the column headers. To sort the list in ascending order,
click on the category name you want to sort by. For descending order,
click again.

Playing sounds
--------------
You can control how GTA Wave plays sounds using the Play menu or the
corresponding toolbar buttons. For example, click on the Loop button to
play a sound repeatedly, such as a car engine or a music loop.

File size limits
----------------
Grand Theft Auto will exit with an error if the size of one of the
LEVEL???.RAW files exceeds 1 MB (1,048,576 bytes). You can keep an eye
on this file size and how much it is under/over the limit by looking at
the status bar.

If you are over the limit, first sort the sound list in order of
descending size, by clicking on the Size column header twice. There are
two things you can then do:

* Look for large sounds which you don't mind clearing. Some sounds are
never heard in the game.

* Reduce the sample rate of large sounds. This is done with your sound
editor (not with the Pitch command), and reduces the quality of the
sound. In Sound Recorder, this is done by choosing Properties from the
File menu, and clicking Convert Now. Make sure you only change the
sample rate, and not the sampling size (8-bit/16-bit) or the number of
channels (mono/stereo).

Using Sound Recorder
--------------------
If your default Wave File editor is Sound Recorder, you may notice that
it adds noise to the end of some sounds when you edit them. This is not
a bug in GTA Wave. You will have to trim off the noise manually or
import the sound directly into GTA Wave.

UNINSTALLING GTA WAVE
========================================================================
Open the Control Panel, go to Add/Remove Programs, select GTA Wave, and
click Add/Remove.

CHANGES IN VERSION 2.01
========================================================================
* Fixed a bug which crashed the program when trying to open the Options
dialog box once a double-click action other than Open Sound was chosen
* Created a Help menu with an item to view the ReadMe.txt file
* Moved the About box from the File menu to the Help menu
* Changed the GTA Wave URL in the About box
* Changed the background colour of the Backup Wizard picture to blue
instead of the current desktop colour

CHANGES IN VERSION 2.0
========================================================================
* New Explorer style interface:
sound descriptions from DMA Design and sound information shown
sound list sorting
drag and drop importing/exporting
right-click pop-up menu
multiple selections
show/hide toolbar
sizable window
Select All/Invert Selection
* Backup Wizard
* Restore original sounds
* Change pitch (sample rate)
* Run GTA from within GTA Wave
* Options:
double click behaviour
file locations
* Close current file
* Stop playing current sound
* Preferences saved to disk:
last open/import/export folder
options
show/hide toolbar
sound playing settings
window position and size

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please send any comments, suggestions or bugs to: gtawave@hotmail.com