Thread: Sound files

Howdy

I've been messing around with the music files in Left 4 Dead for a while now. You can see an example of what I've done here:

YouTube - Left 4 Dead- New Tank Music 1

Note: my default tank music is no longer Sandstorm- that was just an example. That' actually part of my dilemma if you'll read on...

See, a lot of the sound files in Left 4 Dead are extremely user-friendly. For example, there are only three sound files that pertain to zombies: horde, hordeslayer, and hordedanger. However, each of these files is actually 4 identical sound files played on a loop. This means that if you replace the files in the 'Zombat' folder and its subfolders, you can have four times as much 'zombie music' in the game without even editing a text file.

The sound files just have to be the same length, and the magic number appears to be 5.64 seconds, looping. It has to loop for Horde and Hordeslayer tracks.

So this is an easy way that anyone can add more music to the game.

I've only recently started messing around with the text file 'left4dead\scripts\game_sounds_music.txt' to see if I can change the number of Tank and Witch songs, rather than just replacing them. I was able to add even more Horde music since that's already a playlist.

Does anyone know about editing text files like these that can help me out with changing a 'wave' to a 'rndwave'? Or, in English, making it so that whenever a tank appears a random tank song is selected from, say, 4? There are two tank songs in the game, but one only gets called during the finale I think.

I tried replacing the 'wave' script under the Tank section with a rndwave script containing 3 tank songs. When I tested it out, it seemed like there was usually no tank music at all and when it came on it was very late.

I'll post more videos of what I've done if anyone's interested.

And even if you're not here's my playlist

(5.64 second loops that play for zombie hordes. tempo adjusted.)
Horde01- Page (28 Days Later)
Horde02- Why So Serious? (Dark Knight)
Horde03- Half Life Song 10 Intro
Horde04- Thriller Chorus (Michael Jackson)
Hordeslayer01- Half Life Song 10 end
Hordeslayer02- Paper Planes Chorus (M.I.A.)
Hordeslayer03- Stealing Fat (Fight Club)
Hordeslayer04- Bodies (Drowning Pool)

(5.64 second clip that plays when you get mobbed)
Hordedanger01- Half Life Song 10 middle
Hordedanger02- Thriller intro (Michael Jackson)
Hordedanger03- Thriller outtro (Michael Jackson)

WitchEncroacher1- Battle Without Honor or Humanity intro (Tomoyasu Hotei)
PsychoWitch1- Battle Without Honor or Humanity (Tomoyasu Hotei)
WitchRoast1- (same above, sped up)

(NOTE: the below are temporary alternate witch music files until I figure out how to create a working 'witch playlist.')

WitchEncroacher2- Why so Serious? intro (Dark Knight)
PsychoWitch2- Why so Serious? (Dark Knight)
WitchRoast2- (same above, but I mixed two parts of the song)

Tank- O... Saya (M.I.A.)
Taank- Tank! (Cowboy Bebop)
Taaank- Sandstorm (Darude)

(Again, only one of these can be 'the tank music' at a time.)

Hunterpounce- Help! intro (The Beatles)
Smokerchoke- Help! first verse (The Beatles)
Boomerpuke- Love me Do intro (The Beatles) mixed with the already awesome got-puked-on music

(the below are songs that play when you start the finale/when you're escaping)
yourownfuneral- Always a Catch (Dark Knight)
finalnail- Darkseeker Dogs (I am Legend)
skinonourteeth- The Tunnel (28 Days Later) very intense track for running to the helicopter

I forget what other files I replaced, but I got the eerie theme music from LOST to play in place of some of the random setting sounds, and also Page from 28 Days Later plays randomly at times. Some of my files are corrupted (don't know which) so i occasionally get static, which is why I haven't made any other videos. I will after I re-install.

Anyway, I hope someone here is interested and can make use of the info. Feel free to offer suggestions- especially those pertaining to creating a tank/witch playlist.

EDIT: Can a moderator delete the topic identical to this one? I double-posted. I am pro at this forum.

I'm rather interested, i like messing with files and stuff, especially music files, i want to play with my tank and horde musics if i can, im not sure, but cna you replace the tank music with anything, or is that also restricted to a time limit?

I think everything is restricted to a time limit- I just pointed out the one for the horde sound files because it's rather limiting.

Tank music has a time limit, but I think it's over a minute so not bad. I think the two tank songs have different time limits (the one that plays during the finale is longer)

So yeah, I think every sound file you put in the game has to fit a specified length if you want it to sound pretty on a loop. Witch music is particularly tricky IMO

well, i was thinking, if you didnt have a time limiter, then maybe you could just put in music that either doesnt end quick enough (id think a 5 minute song would be ample time to kill a tank) or find something that loops well on its own (i have a few songs that would do that) but seeing as there is a limit, well, ill just have to try to find a way t fit songs well thanks

Anyone done anything with the music in Left 4 Dead since the SDK was released?

I found out that all sound files have to have the same name as an orignal sound file. This means that you can still extend your playlists, but you're limited to the number of total songs in the game.

For example, say I wanted two different songs to play whenever I get puked. There is only one puke song: sounds/music/terror/pukricide. In order to create another one, you have to replace an arbitrary, disposable song with one of your choice. The songs in the 'contagion' folder (NM_quarantine01, BH_rabies4 etc.) are a good choice.

So replace one of the songs in there with the alternate puke music. You're going to want to find the text file I mentioned in the OP and use ctrl+f to delete all instances of the song you replaced from the rndwaves, lest you have puke music cropping up randomly as ambient noise. Then, you just change the boomer bile 'wave' to a 'rndwave' and add the second filepath to the list. Voila! You've lost a small portion of the game's atmospheric noises in exchange for a boom-playlist.

Of course, the limitation to this is that it can only be done so many times before 1. you lose a noticeable portion of the environmental music in the game because there are only so many sounds, and 2. your music folder becomes jumbled and confused because all of the replaced sound files have to remain in their original folders so nothing is where it should be :rofl:

But until there's a better way. Songs with filenames other than those included in the original game simply don't play when selected by rndwaves.