Unreal II and XMP
David's Maps:
XMP-DG_Alaska
Level Design:
Meshes
Textures
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The Team
David R. Green
- mapper, mesher, audio/music,
- scripter, texturizer
Jason 'FRaK' Dudley - tester
See the map Readme for other testers
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Contact
You can email us at
dgunreal@lilchips.com
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Unreal Tournament 2004 Level Design -
AmbientSound Actor
Actor Classes - Actor - Keypoint - *AmbientSound
The AmbientSound actor provides you with the ability to assign environmental sounds to
various locations or objects within your map. Common uses would be for sound for
such things as fans, motors, machinery, creaking window shutters, dripping water, etc.
The default behaviour for an AmbientSound actor is to play the assigned sound(s) in a
continuous looping fashion. Because of this, at times ambient sounds can appear to
be too mundane or repetitive, in which case an actor such as the DG_AmbientVoice can be
used instead of, or in combination with, an AmbientSound actor to provide a wider variety
of ambient sound.
Adding the Actor
Select the actor class in the browser, go to your map [T]op view and right-click at the
desired map location, and choose "Add AmbientSound here" from the popup menu.
Make sure that the editor's grid settings are at least 16 or smaller, otherwise the actor
may not place in the map or it may place in an odd location.
Ambient Sound Radius
One of the confusing AmbientSound properties for many mappers is the SoundRadius.
The radius is specified in Unreal Units for where the sound is the specified volume.
In other words, a SoundRadius value of 128 specifies that the sound should be at its
specified SoundVolume value within a radius of 128 Unreal Units.
The sound then falls off to where SoundRadius*100 is where the sound stops.
In other words, a SoundRadius value of 128 specifies that the sound will fall off and stop
at a radius value of 12800 Unreal Units.
The sound will be at approximately 1/2 volume at a radius of SoundRadius*10.
In other words, a SoundRadius value of 128 specifies that the sound should be at 1/2 of
its specified SoundVolume value within a radius of 1280 Unreal Units.
The actual fall off formula is:
FallOff in db = 20 * log10 (1 + RollOff * (current_radius - Radius) / Radius)
Notes
You can also have other actors/objects such as a StaticMesh emit ambient sound by simply
filling in the Sound properties as you would an AmbientSound actor.
However, you may find it easier to place AmbientSound actors in the map so that you can
more easily see within the editor where the sources of sounds are emanating.
Only the AmbientSound actor has the SoundEmitters array as well, which is not available
for standard actors.
While the properties information outlined below are effectively derived from the Unreal
Developer web site, additional information has been included in some areas to hopefully
provide a bit more clarity on the use of this actor.
By using the SoundEmitters array, multiple sounds can be played by a single AmbientSound
actor.
The AmbientSound actor is audible within the Unreal Editor by choosing the RealTime
Preview.
AmbientSound guidelines
AmbientSound actors should be used often and plentiful in maps to increase the amount of
realism and the environmental quality.
Properties
| Sound |
| AmbientSound |
Specifies the sound to
play.
Default = None
Use the Sounds Browser to choose the sound to play and have it added to this slot. |
| bFullVolume |
Specifies whether the
AmbientSound actor ignores the AmbientVolume= settings in the UT2004.ini file.
Default = False
The default value is False and should normally be left at that. |
| SoundEmitters[] |
Specifies a dynamic array
of Sound Emitters that support sound playback at various intervals. Choose the Add
button to add additional Sound Emitters to the actor.
The Sound Emitter properties are:
EmitInterval: the interval or delay in seconds between each time the sound is played.
EmitSound: specifies the sound to play.
EmitVariance: specifies a variance in seconds to the interval value, so that the sound
playback is not too noticeably repetitive. The final interval value is EmitInterval
± EmitVariance. |
| SoundOcclusion |
Specifies the sound
occlusion mode.
Default = OCCLUSION_Default
Occlusion works by dropping the radius by 65% when the actor making the sound is occluded
based on the settings described below. Because the radius of the sound is reduced,
the sound will be quieter. Occlusion does not always take place instantly, the
radius change is interpolated over time to make the transition smooth.
If you are using StaticMeshes for walls and floors etc. in your map, you may have to set
the occlusion mode to OCCLUSION_StaticMeshes.
OCCLUSION_Default: sounds will be occluded by BSP (same as OCCLUSION_BSP).
OCCLUSION_None: sounds will not be occluded at all.
OCCLUSION_BSP: sounds will be occluded by BSP.
OCCLUSION_StaticMeshes: sounds will be occluded by static meshes and BSP. |
| SoundPitch |
Specifies the pitch of the
sound.
Default = 64
The range is from 32 to 128, where 32 is 1/2 the pitch or 1 octave down, 64 is the default
pitch, and 128 is 2x the pitch or 1 octave up.
Values outside of this range are clamped to either 32 or 128. |
| SoundRadius |
Specifies the radius of
the sound.
Default = 128.0
This value is the radius in Unreal Units that the sound is at the specified volume within.
Note that world object occlusion will also change the sound volume. Outside
of this radius value, the sound begins to fall off.
The radius value is 1/100 of the sound's maximum range in Unreal Units. So
SoundRadius*100 is the distance in Unreal Units where the sound stops.
The sound is at approximately 1/2 volume at 10x the radius distance.
For example, a SoundRadius value of 128 will provide "SoundVolume amplitude"
within a circle that is 128 UUs in radius, and will be at approximatey 1/2 volume when you
are 1280 Unreal Units away from the AmbientSound actor, and it will stop when you are
12800 Unreal Units away from the AmbientSound actor. |
| SoundVolume |
Specifies the volume level
of the sound played.
Default = 100
0 is no sound and 255 is the loudest.
Values higher than 255 are simply looped, ie: 256 = 0, 257=1.
SoundVolume is scaled by the AmbientVolume= entry in the UT2004.ini file, which is a 0.0
to 1.0 multiplier for all ambient sounds.
Note that world object occlusion will also change the sound volume. |
| TransientSoundRadius |
Do not modify this.
Default = 300.0
This is the default sound volume for sounds played with PlaySound or PlayOwnedSound.
This volume can be overridden in both these functions. |
| TransientSoundVolume |
Do not modify this.
Default = 0.3
This is the default sound radius for sounds played with PlaySound or PlayOwnedSound.
This radius can be overridden in both these functions. |
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