City Soundscapes

vincentz · Feb 24, 2015

Am I the only one who is annoyed by the city soundscapes?
The dogs, the ambiance, the horses and chickens, the horns, sirens etc

I love the map ambiance, its just the cities that gets on my nerves.

I'm considering making my own and wanted the public opinion (maybe its just me who is crazy

).
examples of Ancient (Early) Small Cities (though without the occasional added chicken/dog):

Vanilla

Vincentz

civfanchambers · Feb 24, 2015

Personally I like the city sound scape. The feeling of being in the city adds emersion to the overall atmosphere.

Seraiel · Feb 24, 2015

I hate the industrial onwards city scapes with the cars and their horns.

TheMulattoMaker · Feb 24, 2015

I generally play with the sound off, but sometimes I go through stretches when I turn it back on. I like most of the music, I love combat sounds, and on occasion I zoom in on someone's city and get entranced by hearing their theme music and the surrounding noise (forests or pigs or whatever) and forget to play the game.

The city screen sounds, on the other hand, annoy me to no end. Not because the sounds themselves are annoying (the church bell and dogs and horses' hooves are cool by themselves) but because I'm very easily distracted by random noises. A lot of times mid-turn I have to kill the sound (music and all) because I'm in decision mode and want to make sure I don't send my stack in the wrong direction. Then I figure out what I need to do, and turn the sound back on.

Well, half the time I'm in a city screen it's because "City X just built Building Y" and I need to figure out what to have that city do next. The other half is calculating GPP, or examining trade routes, or something else that requires thought. But I can't concentrate because woof woof bell clopclopclop.

...now if I could just find the mute button that works on my kids, I'd be all set...

Spoiler :

Pangaea · Feb 24, 2015

Last two options for me (chose the third). I find them annoying, especially the damn dogs, so have turned off ambience. Bit of a shame, because I like other ambience sounds, but I check cities way too often to have that annoying stuff on. Wish it was possible to manually delete the sounds for cities, so I could get rid of that, but keeping other sounds.

Tend to turn off the music too, and play my own. Though from time to time I turn it on for short bursts.

s.bernbaum · Feb 24, 2015

I turned off all of the sounds, including the music, other than the alerts that something has happened, after my first game or two, way back in the vanilla days. I have never turned them back on. I am not a fan of noisy games.

isenchine · Feb 25, 2015

Seraiel said:
I hate the industrial onwards city scapes with the cars and their horns.

So do I (I like the other medieval/ancient sounds but then, I'm a lousy player so I don't spend too much time in the City screen...

)

For those who want to change things, check the XML/Audio folder (yes, create a mod, make copies of the original files and all that jazz).

As an example, in the Audio2DScripts.xml file, change the iMinVolume and iMaxVolume (instead of 100) to something like:

Spoiler :

I also did it for the AS2D_WELOVEKING sound as I'm far too popular and it hurts my ears...

Then, in the file Audio3DScripts.xml, you can change individual sounds like this:

Spoiler :

Note the bLooping set to 0, it prevents the repetition of the same sound over and over.

I also deleted the AS3D_SS_HORN and AS3D_SS_SIREN but then you have to edit the file AudioSoundscapeScripts.xml and the tags where they appear (like ASSS_CITY_LATE_SMALL_SELECT_AMB and ASSS_CITY_LATE_LARGE_SELECT_AMB). You also have to delete them in the file AudioDefines.xml.

I think that's about it. It's a bit arduous but very rewarding in the long term...

vincentz · Feb 25, 2015

TheMulattoMaker said:
But I can't concentrate because woof woof bell clopclopclop.

This. The sounds as such are not that bad, especially taken into consideration how low "resolution" they are (22khz 177 kbps bitrate) .wav files.

@isenchine

One of the things I hate modding civ, is the seemingly redundancy. Why the h.ll did they have to use 3! files for defining audio? And then its only defined. Then it have to be added to building/tech/unit/etc etc.
Why.not.just.use.one.file?! /rant over.

isenchine · Feb 25, 2015

Well, there is the sound to be defined, then the script that plays it (2D or 3D), then they are grouped in "soundscapes"...

Let's not blame Firaxis for the "complex-city" as it might well be the reason why we still play the game!

I'm listening to my music when I play but I love the ambiance sounds (usually) and want to keep them. As it appears that the sound is controlled by the exe, all is left to us is to tweak those pesky long files!

Zacar · Feb 25, 2015

I would much prefer to hear my own diplo music there.

pob · Feb 25, 2015

I like the atmosphere of the city screens, but a bit more variety in the sounds would help.

Cunaxa · Feb 25, 2015

Most annoying for me is that "blabla.. vegetables.. blabla Hemingway in the audience..." thing :lol:

I also disabled the horses etc. a while ago and turned down the volume in the other city ambient soundscapes (because in the audio options you can only turn down the volume together with the normal map ambience sounds and those are not too loud for my taste). Maybe you could add a little fade in effect at the beginning since the music gets interupted so suddenly when entering the city screen (most of the time I bring back the normal music inside city screens by pressing F3 -> ESC)

Pangaea · Feb 25, 2015

TheMulattoMaker said:
...now if I could just find the mute button that works on my kids, I'd be all set...

reddishrecue · Feb 25, 2015

I don't mean to be an antagonist or revolutionary but I kinda like the city scape sounds. :\

Lemon Merchant · Feb 25, 2015

I hate that stupid babbling baby noise in the early game, but I like the city sounds otherwise.

Lennier · Feb 26, 2015

At least they didn't make it a whiny teenager noise.

vincentz · Feb 26, 2015

Pangaea said:

Instructions unclear. I now have 2 strangers tied up in my basement.

Lexicus · Feb 26, 2015

I guess I'm in the minority, having voted for the first option, though I'm not so enthusiastic about it.

It's a feature I approve of, I guess it increases immersion slightly.

Pangaea · Feb 26, 2015

Lexicus said:
I guess I'm in the minority, having voted for the first option, though I'm not so enthusiastic about it.

It's a feature I approve of, I guess it increases immersion slightly.

It does, but it's probably one of those things that when you've listened to it for such a long time, it starts to become annoying. Remember I really enjoyed the music in the game before, but now it's often a nuisance instead and I more often than not have it off.

Lexicus · Feb 26, 2015

Pangaea said:
It does, but it's probably one of those things that when you've listened to it for such a long time, it starts to become annoying. Remember I really enjoyed the music in the game before, but now it's often a nuisance instead and I more often than not have it off.

Well, it hasn't gotten old for me yet

I still listen to the music from Civ III though. So I don't know, maybe I don't get bored as easily as others.

City Soundscapes

The city soundscapes...

... is amazing and gives great atmosphere.

... is ok, I guess. Haven't thought about it.

... gets repetitive and annoying.

.... Uh? I play with sound off.

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