The Sound Editor - The Hive Workshop

Bob27 · 08-29-2007, 10:35 AM

The Sound Editor

Contents

Placing a 3D Sound at a Region or Unit

Dawn and Dusk Sounds
Ambient Sounds
Creating a Custom Soundset
Conclusion

Basics
The Sound Editor for Warcraft III has a very important use. This is what you use to use Sounds and Music for Warcraft III, and a place where you can search through the Sounds and Music that are in the Warcraft III MPQ files.

A picture of the Sound Editor (Click to Enlarge).

It is a simple tool to use, and only has a few features that need to be used regularly. However I will go through the other things you can do with the Sound Editor, that you might not know about.
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The Sound Editor

Importing New Sounds to your Map
The Sound Editor can be used to Import Sounds and Music to your Map, but you can also you the Import Manager for this. I am going to go through both ways you can import Sounds to your Map.

Using the Sound Editor

Importing Sounds to your map is very simple using the Sound Editor. All you do is open your map, and then open the Sound Editor. Then click on the Import Sound button (shown bellow).

After this it will allow you to select a Sound, and then you can import it into your Map.

Using the Import Manager

Using the Import Manager to Import Sounds is also very simple. The advantage of the Import Manager is that you can import whole Folders. This is useful for you if you have a lot of sounds you need to import. You just import the Sounds like a Model or a Texture. Just click the Import button (shown bellow).

Then just choose the Sound you want to Import, and click ok. The advantage to importing sounds this way is that you can choose a path for them. This isn't necessary, but if you have a heap of sounds Imported it can be helpful for organization, so you don't have to go through a heap of sounds.

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Using Sounds for your Map
Using a Sound or a piece of Music in your Map is very simple. Just go into the Sound Editor, and then select the Sound you want to use in the Left Window. Then click the Use as Sound button, or the Use and Music button (both shown bellow), depending on which one you need.

Now the Sound can be used by Triggers or some other way in the Map.
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Editing a Sound
Once you have clicked the "Use as Sound" button, you can edit the sound in a number of ways. Simply double click on the sound to see all of the options you can edit. Bellow is an explanation of all the different options you can change.

Fields	Use
File	This is a non editable field that shows the filename of the Sound you are using.
Path	This is a non editable field that shows the path the Sound has in either the MPQ, or the one that you chose if you Imported it using the Import Manager.
Format	This is a non editable field that just tells you some information about the sound file you are using, this doesn't need to be used.
Length	This is a non editable field that tells you the length of the Sound you are using.
Variable	This is the name of the Variable that the Sound will use. This is an editable Field.
Looping	If this is ticked, then the Sound will never stop playing unless you use a trigger to tell it to stop playing. If it is unticked then it will stop after it has played once.
3D Sound	If this is ticked then the Sound will act as a 3D Sound, rather then a normal Sound. For more information on 3D Sounds look at the 3D Sounds section of this Tutorial.
Stop when out of Range	(Only editable if is a 3D Sound) This will make the Sound stop as soon as it is out of range.
Volume	This is a Field that lets you raise or lower the Volume of the Sound.
Fade in Rate	This is how long it will take for a Sound to Fade in.
Fade out Rate	This is how long it will take a Sound to Fade out.
Pitch	You can change this field to make the Sound Faster, or Slower.
Effect	This lets you basically choose a category for the Sound to be placed in.
Channel	This is basically the same as the Above Field, except it is a different group of categories you can choose from.
Min Distance	(Only editable if is a 3D Sound) This is the Minimum Distance a 3D Sound will be able to go.
Max Distance	(Only editable if is a 3D Sound) This is the Maximum Distance a 3D Sound will be able to go.
Distance Cutoff	(Only editable if is a 3D Sound) This is how far the Sound will travel before it is stopped.

Playing Sounds Using Triggers
You can easily play Sounds and Music by using Triggers. There is a simple trigger that will play Sounds.

Sound - Play (Sound)

Playing Music is also simple. To play Music you can use this Trigger.

Sound - Play (Music)

Thats is the basic things you can do with sounds using triggers. However I will go through some of the other things you can do with them.

Other Triggers:

Name	Use	Trigger
Play Sound/Music From Offset	This Trigger let you play a Sound or Music, except you can skip however much of the Music you want to.	Sound - Play (Sound/Music) at 100.00% volume, skipping the first 0.00 seconds
Use Daytime/Nighttime Ambient Theme	This Trigger lets you choose whether you want to use the Daytime or Nighttime Ambient Theme.	Sound - Use the Lordaeron Summer daytime/nighttime ambient theme
Enable/Disable Dawn And Dusk Sounds	This Trigger can Enable or Disable Dawn and Dusk Sounds, so that the Sounds that are playing at Dawn and Dusk won't be played.	Sound - Enable dawn and dusk sounds

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3D Sounds
3D Sounds are Sounds that are played at a certain point on the Map, and will act in a 3D way. For example, if you have a 3D Sound at one point of the Map, and move Far away enough from that point, you will no longer be able to hear the sound.
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Placing a 3D Sound in a Region or Unit.
You can easily play a 3D Sound at a Region using a Trigger. You can also place a 3D Sound at all sorts of places, like the Position of a Unit.

Sound - Play Sound <gen> at 100.00% volume, located at (Center of (Region)) with Z offset 0.00

This Trigger will Play a 3D Sound at a Region.

Sound - Play (Last played sound) at 100.00% volume, attached to (Last created unit)

This Trigger will Play a 3D Sound at a Unit.

You can easily use the 2 Triggers above to play a Sound on a Unit or at a Region.
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Dawn and Dusk Sounds
Dawn and Dusk Sounds are the sounds that are played at the Dawn and Dusk in a map. These can easily be disabled or enabled using Triggers.

Dawn and Dusk Sounds

Events

Conditions

Actions

Sound - Enable dawn and dusk sounds

Sound - Disable dawn and dusk sounds

These two triggers can Enable to Disable Dawn and Dusk Sounds.
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Ambient Sounds
Ambient Sounds are the Sounds that you can always hear in the background. Using normal GUI Triggers, these can only be changed from Day Time to the Night Time Ambient Theme, however using a Custom Script they can either be enabled or disabled.

Here are all of the Triggers that affect Ambient Sounds:

Ambient Sounds

Events

Conditions

Actions

Sound - Use the Lordaeron Summer daytime ambient theme

-------- This Triggers uses the Lordaeron Daytime Ambient Theme. --------

Sound - Use the Lordaeron Summer nighttime ambient theme

-------- This Triggers uses the Lordaeron Nighttime Ambient Theme. --------

Custom script: call StopSound(bj_nightAmbientSound, true, true)

Custom script: call StopSound(bj_dayAmbientSound, true, true)

-------- These Two Triggers stop all Ambient Sounds. --------

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Creating Custom Sound Sets
Well you can not really Create a Custom Sound Set, you have to replace an existing one. Make sure when choosing a Sound Set to replace, you choose one that no other Units are going to be used, something that is really unimportant to your map.

You then find all the Sounds for the Unit in the Sound Editor, for example the Folder that the Footman Sound Set it in is Units/Human/Footman/. Then just right click on the Sounds you want to Replace, and then click Replace Internal Sound. It will then let you find the Sound you want to replace it with, and then your done. Remember that this can be used for any Sound in Warcraft III, so for example you can change some Spell, Ambient or Doodad Sounds.
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Conclusion
I hope that you have learnt something from this Tutorial. If you need any help you can post in the Sound and Music Forum, or send me a PM.
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ragingspeedhorn · 08-29-2007, 11:05 AM

Nice tutorial bob, did you use some of the info from our old tutorial we abandoned long ago?

Bob27 · 08-29-2007, 11:32 AM

Nope, this Tutorial has been made completely from scratch.

Wolverabid · 08-29-2007, 01:46 PM

The Sound Editor is accurate, detailed, helpful and informative.

All aspiring tutorial submitters should take note: aspire to this.

~ Thread moved to General Mapping Tutorials.

**brad.dude03** · 08-29-2007, 05:15 PM

Brilliant work. I'll make sure to link to it a bunch when people post in my forums... if they ever post in my forums....

Bob27 · 08-31-2007, 02:27 PM

Glad that you all liked it :)

**brad.dude03** · 08-31-2007, 04:32 PM

It's kinda hard not too since you did such a damn good job

pig_ninja · 09-09-2007, 06:09 AM

Thanks, I spent many moons trying to find were to make a new sound file, now I know that I have to alter existing ones. (And now I can work on the actual map yippe! (>^o^)>-]===> )

Bob27 · 09-15-2007, 05:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brad.dude03

It's kinda hard not too since you did such a damn good job

Yea, must of been a good job, because you haven't even commented on my grammar or spelling!

Quote:

Originally Posted by pig_ninja

Thanks, I spent many moons trying to find were to make a new sound file, now I know that I have to alter existing ones. (And now I can work on the actual map yippe! (>^o^)>-]===> )

Glad I could help

Flame_Phoenix · 09-15-2007, 11:50 AM

Bob, in my opinion, you should also add here what you explained me in the map forum, about how to make your music play in the game. I think most people would use that useful.