Thread about nothing

[Grasshoppa]

LoD.. You got it partly right. Yes, the various sound files in the Fx directory are sequenced by the game to create the music/ambientness. The part you got wrong is that the sequence does NOT depend on the file names. Most, if not all, of the file names have not changed from SMAC to SMACX. What has changed is either the executable only sequences a "general" theme or there's some special config file laying about with an obscure name containing the sequences to be used. Unfortunately, I think it's the former over the latter.. *sigh*

[Adam_Smith]

Domai's music is different. There is some machine parts clanging or something. Most of them are the same though.

[Grasshoppa]

Okay.. Did a little more hacking and looking around with the music. Here's the deal.. You can get your Believer music in SMACX.


Go to the Fx directory and copy/rename bset1.amb to aset1.amb.


Bingo.. That's it. Yes, it did require a single file rename. *blush* (Hats off to LoD.)


Apparently, SMACX is possibly hard-wired to play the Alien faction's music. Isn't that irritating?!?! I'm not going to try to find a wait to hack the executable or DLLs.. I'll leave that for someone more adventurous. BTW, before I forget.. Make sure you make a backup of the Alien's music or you'll have to copy it off the CD.

[Neptunus]

I'll try that right now... THANK YOU GUYS...

[waynehead]

Ok, let's change the subject. This is a "coffee shop-esque" thread, right?

Here's one: has anyone ever noticed that Santiago builds more sea bases (as the AI, 'course) then anyone else?

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[Neptunus]

Indeed, that was one peculiarity of the game that striked me right from the beginning of my SMACing experience. I don't even remember playing a single game with Santiago one of the AI factions, that she hadn't more than half of her bases at sea. Even in maps of less that 20% sea coverage, she builds one or two sea bases. Quite strange for a pure militarist... And the overall strategy of the AI when playing Santiago is unbalanced (from the military point of view). I mean, the Spartans are not at all strang in the air.

Its because of this, that I ALWAYS hurry for the Maritime control center. But despite that, her bases are almost UNREACHABLE unless I build up a really nasty flock of helicopters. She alone can spread havoc at sea...

[Lord Maxwell]

On the topic of sea colonies I must note that Lal has a disgusting habit of always locating two cities on the sea about the location of the antipodes of his real home. (Or even better, at two totally unimportant places right in the middle of nowhere. The tactical benefits of this can only be understood by mediocre ais...)

[Adam_Smith]

double post
[This message has been edited by Adam_Smith (edited June 19, 2000).]

[Adam_Smith]

I did the Grasshoppa fix, and this is what happened: I get the old Believer music not only for the Believers, but for all the factions. Additionally, it is a diferent sequence that it is in SMAC. Pretty strange. It's cool though. Can anybody figure out a way to just play the Believer music with the Believers and/or make the sequence correct.

P.S. anybody doing this fix remember to back up aset1.amb and bset1.amb

[Adam_Smith]

All of the correct music is playing now for me. I forgot to put the original bset1.amb file back in the folder. Now that it's in there everything seems ok for now.

[Neptunus]

Well, Lal does also something which is very annoying indeed. At mid-game to late-game (assuming of course he has survived up to that time) he keeps building sea bases adjacent to land masses within the borders of the human player.

Another strange thing I've noticed is the significantly higher probability that Gaia's landing is near or within Monsoon Jungle. I don't believe that this is a coincidence any more, after counting five out of ten occurencies of Gains starting very close to the Monsoon Jungle.

[Adam_Smith]

That's strange. Yang is always in the jungle in games I host. It's really wierd that way.

[Grasshoppa]

Adam_Smith.. The "fix" simply replaces the Alien Faction's music with the Believer's. As far as I could tell, no matter what faction you are you get the Alien's music or a slight variation thereof. So, if one wanted Gaia's music they'd have to replace the Alien music with her set. Mind you, this is all "in theory" and I haven't messed with it enough. Why made everything easy to change in text files or using the menus in the game, but not for the music is frustrating. Like usual, audio is an afterthought in games..

As for the Spartans, they've never been a match in any of the games I played against the AI. When I first started playing SMAC, I figured they'd be one of the factions I'd be most worried about. I'm a pacifist most of the time and don't want to go to war. So, I figured they come and knock on my door and then kick the door in. Disappointedly, if they ever came and knocked on my door, it was a wussy knock.. with me just saying.. "Go away." They'd oblige or get obliterated. They're one of the factions I thought the AI is the weakest at playing which is unfortunate. The Spartans are overall a pretty decent faction.

[Adam_Smith]

Grasshoppa,

I made the changes, and I know for sure that Lal's and Miriam's music is now the same as it is in SMAC. So I like that. I don't know if the other factions music has been altered.

[joer]

I never even knew that the different factions had a different music. To me, whenever I played with sound on, the music was this kind of bla background noise. Maybe I should listen closer in the future. By default, I should try the music on SMAC(no X), you say?

Anyways, in my games, the factions somewhat behave as they should: Santiago kicks ass in the early game, since she gets to non-linear mathematics fast and then leashes out with her awesome impact rovers. And she takes a very aggressive, annoying stance with those against a poor, hapless builder like me. However, since she neglects to build any infrastructure, she's usually unimportant by midgame.
Dee has a slow start, but is decent in mid-game. Her research is usually pretty good over the long run (with demo+green) and she has a good knack for getting some SPs before I do. In one of the games where I screwed around with the game file languages, she ended up in FM and got really awesome there. Good thing she can't do that in a regular game.
Yang is excellent in my games if he can expand early, or whip some other AIs around. If confined early on, he overproduces himself and ends up with masses of obsolete garrison units that just wait to be killed by choppers.
Yang in the Moonsoon jungle as neighbour is pretty evil. I remember the first game where that happened to me. Incidently also the first time where I used a PB. Anybody want to take a guess on whose head it landed?
-joer.