Unkown sound file format

[uberubert]

Trying to create my first mod "Silent eating", were I basically try to remove all eating sounds from the game.
The way I do this is by loading all the munch1[a-i].ogg files into Audacity, and try to manipulate away the sounds.

Problem: Game freezes with a windows popup showing this error: Unkown sound file format /path/to/my/mod/data/sounds/munch1a.ogg

I've tried saving the files with several export-settings and methods in Audacity for this:
1: Turning down the volume, save as .ogg file with lowest quality (0) => results in the error
2: Turning down the volume, save as .ogg file with default(?) quality (5) => results in the error
3: Delete entire contents of soundtrack, save as .ogg file with max quality (10) => results in the error

I've checked the wiki guide for modding, no information there.
I've checked two seemingly in-depth guides on steam, no information there.
Google has some stray information, but nothing solid or relevant enough. (some people reports this problem to mod-devs, who then reply that they have fixed it, but not how)

So, how to create a sound file that does not result in an error?

[uberubert]

Update: I've been trying with a more technical approach, still no luck.
When testing I load up a prison and wait around a while until it "freezes". Then I can alt-tab to the windows error popup which says "Uknown file format: Full/path/to/mod/data/sounds/munch1a.ogg"

I checked the bitrate of the existing .ogg sound files.
All of them have:
- Bitrate 80kb/s
- Sample rate: 44100Hz
- Channels: Mono

My recent attempt have been to match these specs on the files I export from Audacity (quality lvl 3 seems to produce the identical bitrate on these files)
I make sure I export new sound files with the exact same bitrate and sample rate, and Mono channel.
I tried this with deleted audio content, and I tried just lowering the volume.
All my attempts so far have resulted in the same error: "Uknown sound file format"

THEN, I tried copying the original munch1a.ogg file from the game files, unmodded, into "/mods/silent-eating/data/sounds/munch1a.ogg"
This also produces the same error!

So basically: The sound file is not the issue here, something else is.

THEN, I tried looking at another sound mod, and realised I need a "/mods/silent-eating/data/sounds.txt" file.
So I created that, with this content:

Code: Select all

# =========================================================
OBJECT Prisoner
   EVENT QuickEat
      SOUNDNAME          munch1a
      SOURCETYPE         0
      POSITIONTYPE       1
      INSTANCETYPE       0
      LOOPTYPE           0
      MINDISTANCE        10.00
      VOLUME             PARAMETER TypeFixedValue        0.00  UpdateOncePerLoop
   END
END

I still get the same error during test-play.

So what more can I try? What did I miss?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[murgh]

When I read posts from aubergine18 on this forum, that scripting god who made all those nice guides on steam, seeing that he didn't manage to add new sounds - my thoughts are to leave this chapter for what it is and focus on something else. Looks like a waste of time to bother with sounds...

[uberubert]

I have also tried with just the sounds.txt file, thinking that I could overwrite the parameters and set the volume to zero, without adding a modded soundfile.
This does not produce an error, but the eating sounds are still very much present.

My problem now is this:
- Sound files cannot be modded/overwritten or I'm doing it wrong
- Parameters for sounds cannot be modded/overwritten, or I'm doing it wrong
- In real life, I'm suffering from Misophonia, a "condition" that basically means I hate eating sounds more than anything, despite all sense and logic.

I really enjoy this game on so many levels, and can even manage to work around bugs and quirks and even enjoy losing to a mass prison riot for whatever silly reason.
However, once I hear the in-game eatingsounds, I feel like shutting down the game because of my IRL "condition". I keep playing zoomed out to avoid it, but I enjoy the level of detail when zoomed in.
Muting the game is also not an option, since I enjoy all other sounds, and rely on guard-sounds to alert me to important issues.

So I cannot leave this problem, because this is a problem that haunts me constantly while playing.
I have to stop playing, or stop the sound somehow.

Is there anything else I could do to stop the eating sounds in this game?

[murgh]

Hi,

I've been fiddling around with sounds as well for an upcoming update on the control booths mod. What I've found so far is that it is possible to alter / and to add sound definitions. The trick is to create a folder called DATA in the map where Prison Architect is installed. Then extract the sounds.txt from main.dat and add/change the things you like. Put the altered sounds.txt into the data map and it will work. This works similar to the Harder Parole Hearings mod, where you also HAVE to put the reform_programs.txt file into that same data map because from the mods map it won't work.

At first I just tried to put 1 new definition in sounds.txt but that results in no sounds at all except for the new one added. So your idea of silent eating is possible, you just have to change the parameter VOLUME to 0 on the eating definitions to have it silent. Alternatively you could also remove the whole definition, but I guess that would be a bad idea.