Sven Co-op 4.5 Release Countdown 3 news

We're currently testing a pretty promising release candidate... In the meantime, here are details of some of the sound-related changes coming in version 4.5.

• All known sound-related crashes have been fixed.
• Steam issues causing auto_soundlist.txt to be downloaded repeatedly have been remedied.
• The sound engine is now much more error-tolerant than in Half-Life.
• Ambient sounds are now automatically refreshed for new players joining the game.
• Added distinct footstep sounds for walking on Wood and Flesh materials, and added a new 'Snow' material type.
• Changed priority levels for game music / player weapon sound effects to keep them from cutting out.
• Fixed most cases of turrets' sounds not working correctly.
• Fixed fan sounds' pitch not ramping up during func_rotating's spinup sequence.
• Improved sound engine compatibility with some sound cards.
• The in-game media player now supports all of the following sound types (including tracker formats) : AIFF, ASF, DLS, FLAC, IT, M3U, MID, MOD, MP2, MP3, OGG, S3M, VAG, WAV, WMA, XM

Speaking of which, a new Playlist Editor has also been created for 4.5 (by AdamR). In addition to supporting the above formats, it can check for missing files, import playlist files from other programs, etc. Try it out right now if you'd like, and prepare a playlist in advance of the release:

DOWNLOAD SC PLAYLIST EDITOR

Just place PlaylistEditor.exe in your \SvenCoop\ folder before loading it. To use your existing SC playlist (mp3.txt), rename it to playlist.txt or use the program's 'File > Import' option to import it. Report any issues in this thread.

• The following sound formats are now fully supported for use in maps: AIFF, ASF, DLS, FLAC, IT, M3U, MID, MOD, MP2, MP3, OGG, S3M, VAG, WAV, WMA, XM
• Non-WAV sounds (excluding some tracker formats) no longer loop by default. This means they can easily be used as weapon sounds, monster sounds, etc. (A legacy hack prevents this from adversely affecting existing maps)
• Added a way for mappers to set material types (vent, dirt, grate, metal, slosh, tile, wood, computer, glass, flesh, or snow) for custom textures. Affects footstep sounds, impact sounds etc.
• The global sound-replacement file (globalsoundlist) can be set in map CFGs, now, as an alternative to worldspawn.
• Ambient_generics can force sounds to 'Loop' or 'Play Once' with a simple setting.
• You can also force a sound to loop by adding "_loop" to the end of its filename, e.g. "mysound_loop.mp3". Useful for monster sounds etc.
• Looping WAVs can be forced to play once by adding "_once" to their filenames.
• Optional 'Linear Rolloff' options have been added to ambient_generics. These give mappers fairly precise control over sound radii. Sounds play at maximum volume within the specified Min Radius and can't be heard at all from outside the End Radius. Especially useful for music.

Some of the recently completed features missed from the last news post were posted on our Steam Community Group a few days ago, by the way, including such things as "Fixed Sniper Rifle Autozoom". While you're waiting, why not sign up for timely updates? Also, have I mentioned The Legend of Princess?