How to create custom gun sounds?

[Wardawg]

Can anyone shed some light on how I would create gun sounds for the game. I do other sound moding for different games but I wanted to give it a try in this game as well. What do I need? And were do I go to replace the current sounds with news?

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I made some custom gunshot sounds for DOD:S a while ago but I had a really good source of core effects like core bass, hi-fi, mechanical, reflections etc. from BF3 and BF4. I just blended all these core sound effects into one stereo track. You can hear them here:
http://youtu.be/qFdr91FGYCQ

I slightly modified some sounds for a few weapons in Insurgency just adding more thud to some sounds and added a velcro rip in some reload sound files for when the charcter reaches for another mag.
I used an OldMetal clock tick noise that had a good thud sound to it and blended it a gunshot for a little extra bass. You can use whatever sound that makes the noise you want to construct a gunshot sound effect.

It also depends on what kind sound you're going for in the effect. Like for example I like to add the mechanical sound of the gun, slide kick, trigger pull etc. to the gunshot effect to convey a more mechanical metalic sound with a loud and deafening gunshot.

You'll want an effect that sounds good in both urban/close quarter areas along with open areas and leaving most of the reverb and reflections up to the dsp effects in the Source engine.

You'll need GCFScape to go into the insurgency_sound_dir.vpk. Once in there you can extract the Weapons folder in the Sound folder from the vpk in GCFScape by right-clicking on the weapons folder and selecting Extract.
I put the weapons folder in a new custom folder in insurgency2/insurgency and created another folder (you can name it whatever you want) and made a Sound folder within that putting the Weapons folder inside the Sound folder. So: insurgency2/insurgency/custom/my_custom_stuff/sound/weapons.

You can:
1. Name your new custom sound the same as the default sound and replace it. (just put an underscore before the old sound effect name so you'll have it just in case for whatever reason)

2. Extract the ins_sounds_weapons script from the insurgency_misc_dir.vpk and modify the script for the weapon sound you are customizing by chaging the sound name in that script if you want to name your sound something other than the orignal sound name.

For example:

"Weapon_AK47.SingleLocal"
{
"channel" "CHAN_WEAPON"
"volume" "1.0"
"pitch" "100,105"
"soundlevel" "SNDLVL_GUNFIRE"

Replacing this: "wave" "weapons\ak47\ak47_fp.wav" <----- Deafult
With this: "wave" "weapons\ak47\MyNewGunshotfx.wav" <------ Custom
}

If you want multple gunshot sound effects you'll need to add in "rndwave" wrapping the new sound directories in brackets. Like this:
"Weapon_AK47.SingleLocal"
{
"channel" "CHAN_WEAPON"
"volume" "1.0"
"pitch" "100,105"
"soundlevel" "SNDLVL_GUNFIRE"

"rndwave"
{
"wave" "weapons/ak47/AK47_fp.wav"
"wave" "weapons/ak47/AK47_fp1.wav"
"wave" "weapons/ak47/AK47_fp2.wav"
}
}


You'll need to create a scripts folder in your my_custom_stuff folder and place the modified ins_sounds_weapons script in it just like you did with the Sound folder.

Here is some more info about Soundscripts: https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Soundscripts

You can pack your custom stuff into vpks for quicker reading and better performance but I haven't got into to doing that yet so I can't help you out there.

[Wardawg]

Thank very much for the detail instructions. I actually want to make firing sounds but if that works out I might move to try other options. I will start now actually and see what I can come up with.

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Originally posted by Randy Orton with the RKO!!:

Thank very much for the detail instructions. I actually want to make firing sounds but if that works out I might move to try other options. I will start now actually and see what I can come up with.

There are 3 gunshot (firing) sounds:
First Person (which will be fitted with the suffix *_fp)
ak47_fp.wav
Third Person (suffix *_tp)
ak47_tp.wav
Distant (*_dist)
ak47_dist.wav


The audio files will need to have a (at the most) 32bit Sample Rate and 44100hz Sample Frequancy in Stereo (2 channel)

[Wardawg]

Ok Im lost what do I need to do to get the game to use the new weapon sounds instead of the default ones?

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Originally posted by Randy Orton with the RKO!!:

Ok Im lost what do I need to do to get the game to use the new weapon sounds instead of the default ones?

http://nemesis.thewavelength.net/index.php?c=169

Click on the bIstaller(591 KB) link

While installing it make sure the vpk box is checked for associated file types.

Once installed head to the insurgency directory:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\insurgency2\insurgency.
Scroll down and double click on insurgency_sound_dir.

GCFScape should lauch a file browsing window. You can find all the sound effects in it. Click on the Sound folder then right click on the Weapons folder and extract it to your desktop.

Go back C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\insurgency2\insurgency
and create a folder. Name it custom. Open that folder and create another folder. Name it whatever you want. Open that folder and create another folder and name it sound. Drag & drop (or copy & paste) the weapons folder from your desktop into the sound folder.

Replacing existing sounds with your new sounds: Your new sounds have to have the same name as the original sound. So you can either overwrite the orignal sound or change the name of the orignal sound to "hide" it from the game.
If you want your new sounds to have a differnt name or you have multiple variations of your new sound you'll need to edit the script (ins_sounds_weapons.txt).

You get the script the same way you got the sounds but the script is in the insurgency_misc_dir. You'll need to create a new folder in the same folder you made the sound folder in but you need to name it scripts and then place the edited ins_sounds_weapons.txt file into the scripts folder you just created.

For info on writing or edited soundscripts go here: https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Soundscripts