X-Wing Alliance Sound Upgrade - Out Now!

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X-Wing Alliance Sound Upgrade - Out Now!

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Ace Antilles
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Post by Ace Antilles » Mon May 31, 2021 2:01 am

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20 years ago, I released my first sound upgrade download and now I’ve finally made a totally new improved update! The XWA Sound Upgrade replaces over 230 of the original sound effects in the game with brand new versions! The sounds featured are used in various areas of the game.
From in-flight, to the menus and Concourse announcements. There are new Hangar background noises, lasers, explosions, flybys, missiles, Droids, beams, sound effects and more! I’ve included sound files I’ve found from many various sources to try and create an authentic Star Wars experience.

The installer will automatically place the necessary files into the relevant folders for you and replace any existing versions.
I realise many veteran players have probably already customised some XWA sounds already, maybe some of my old ones! That is why the installer will place all the overwritten files into the Backup folder where you can restore them if you wish. This upgrade is only for the “High” quality sounds folder. The installer will alter the options setting for you.

I've spent a long time trying to make sure as many sounds as possible are timed correctly to match in-game events. So I do suggest giving my sounds several tests before going back to any previous ones please.
With so many sounds and things happening in game it’s been hard to test them all properly. In particular areas like Beam weapons which need the player to be hit by another to hear it. Also, the game can slow sounds down in some places. So if anyone finds something weird sounding then please let me know here.


XWA uses sounds in an odd way at times as I discovered, several sounds can be used for other areas of the game. So you can make one sound unique for a craft and then find it’s featured on another craft or area and that sounds wrong.
Also, if you look at the files themselves some may seem very short. This is because XWA often loops the sound files many times over and many triggered events are timed. For example, you could have a great sounding long Millennium Falcon take off sequence, but then that sound will still be playing once you are in space. The same with Flyby noises, when your ship is no longer anywhere near the other. It’s been a learning experience of what sound is used where, so I’ve had to take great steps to ensure things play as best as possible in the game.

I was originally going to include new Engine sounds with this upgrade but I’ve left them out for now. Getting the effects to sound right in-flight in the game is proving tricky, so look for those to be updated at a later date too.

I’ve included FlyBy3D sounds for the main ships, but with a disclaimer. I can’t test the 3D properly as I’m on a simple 2 Speaker system. Early feedback is they may not sound right on surround setups. I will be getting some help from the XWAU Team with these for a future release. I would love more feedback from users if they sound ok or not in this post.


XWA Upgrade Improvements
Working with JeremyaFr from the XWAU on sound improvements, his genius knowledge of the game engine has unlocked new amazing features! Now we can assign select unique sound effects to every ship in the game. This includes the Hangars. Each Station with a hangar opt in game now can have its own version of the Hangar ambience background sounds.
In v1.0 of my Upgrade I have included new sounds for the Rebel Calamari hangars and the Azzameen Family Station. This means when the player is in the Calamari hangars the sounds will be more Rebel orientated but not affect other Stations.
There will be more great sound improvement features to come from the XWA Upgrade that will really help improve the game sounds!

Please see the Readme file for more. So head over to my Website now and you can download the new Sounds pack. I hope you enjoy it!
https://www.xwingoutpost.com/
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Oldcode
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Post by Oldcode » Mon May 31, 2021 6:11 am

Thanks! :D

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Post by haui » Mon May 31, 2021 9:21 am

Thanks will try it now :-)
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Post by marcop000 » Tue Jun 01, 2021 10:35 am

Excellent work !! Do you think to add it in the next mega patch ?

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Post by Ace Antilles » Tue Jun 01, 2021 8:39 pm

Glad you guys are liking it so far :)

marcop000 wrote:
Tue Jun 01, 2021 10:35 am
Excellent work !! Do you think to add it in the next mega patch ?
Thanks. No it won't be in the next mega patch. Most of the stuff on my site are personal projects designed to compliment the XWAU.
I've agreed to include a few like the Interface update to get it out to the masses to use.
Never say never but I doubt we would ever completely agree on all the sounds used anyway lol
As said on the main section there will be new sound features coming from the XWAU in the future. A few ship sounds may get used.

I'm also looking at the best way to distribute your HD menu videos in the near future too.
The XWAU Mega patch isn't including videos at this time due to the increase in file sizes. Maybe sometime though.
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Post by marcop000 » Wed Jun 02, 2021 10:13 am

Thank you !1 if you have time can post a comparative video that show the difference beetween the old and new sound ? Or simple post 2/3 file sample original and re-made ?

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Post by Ace Antilles » Wed Jun 02, 2021 10:29 am

marcop000 wrote:
Wed Jun 02, 2021 10:13 am
Thank you !1 if you have time can post a comparative video that show the difference beetween the old and new sound ? Or simple post 2/3 file sample original and re-made ?
Hmm a tricky one. The XWAU board doesn't allow members to display videos or sounds. Good idea though.
The best way right now is to look in the backup folder for the original sounds and then play an old one and then the new one.
I've replaced nearly ALL of the sounds in the Wave\FE_HIGH_RES folder. Mostly kept a few salvage yard ones.
That plus the SFX folder. So hopefully you will notice a few new beeps and boops in the menus.
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bren
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Post by bren » Sat Jun 05, 2021 4:01 pm

HI I was wondering as I have just installed the Mega pack, are the sounds updated already?

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Post by Forceflow » Sat Jun 05, 2021 4:29 pm

bren wrote:
Sat Jun 05, 2021 4:01 pm
HI I was wondering as I have just installed the Mega pack, are the sounds updated already?
No, the sound update is not included in the XWAU. This is one of Ace's special projects. It may be included in the official XWAU sometime down the line but for now it is a separate project.
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Post by Ace Antilles » Sat Jun 05, 2021 6:50 pm

bren wrote:
Sat Jun 05, 2021 4:01 pm
HI I was wondering as I have just installed the Mega pack, are the sounds updated already?
What Forceflow said is correct :) I've recently labelled projects on my website that are included in the XWAU.
There will be some extra custom sounds to do with the ships added to the XWAU in the future though.
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Post by Charger116 » Mon Jul 05, 2021 5:02 pm

Awesome work, Ace! Played a few missions with the new sounds and it really adds a new layer of enjoyment!

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Post by Ace Antilles » Sat Nov 13, 2021 10:15 pm

Charger116 wrote:
Mon Jul 05, 2021 5:02 pm
Awesome work, Ace! Played a few missions with the new sounds and it really adds a new layer of enjoyment!
Sorry for not replying sooner. Thanks for your feedback, I'm glad you are enjoying them :)
I'll be working on new sounds to go with XWAU in the future and hope to release other older sound packs on my website sometime too.
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