ACCEPTED Audio Overhaul for Skyrim (by David Jegutidse)

[keithinhanoi]

I'm sorry Octopuss - I had meant to reply to this but I hope you understand when I say that I'm feeling like I've had all the wind knocked out of my lungs due to the events of the last 24 hours.

 

There are quite a few goodies in store for the v2.3 update, 95% of it are improvements to functionality, compatibility and patch updates, and then a couple sound edits from LoRd KoRn.

 

I'll post a full list when I can breathe again.

[Octopuss]

Hey I didn't expect a reply right away. After all I pirated your support for my questions instead of buying it from Steam... :P

[FuzzRocket9]

Hey guys. I noticed that the Combined patch is vague on what is needed and what isn't. The AOS wiki only tells me to grab the Guard Dialogue Overhaul and Weapons and Armor Fixes Remade since the combined doesn't have it. It's only a guess since the wiki doesn't label it as the "Combined Patch". So is that all I need? I just want to make sure.

 

The reason I ask is, because the new version is coming out soon and 2.2.9 might not be kept up-to-date as much.

[keithinhanoi]

I'm happy to report that the next update for AOS should be ready within two weeks.

 

I am in the process of double-checking all the updated and newly added compatibility patches for any edits needed for the last round of changes to the main plugin.

 

Since LoRd KoRn and I have been through three waves of changes / additions / improvements, we've decided the update shall be AOS v2.5.

 

In addition to a number of small fixes and improvements, the three main aspects of the update are:

1. A complete overhaul to AOS' magic sounds implementation to bring compatibility with mods that add magic effects (eg., Perkus Maximus, Apocalypse - Magic of Skyrim, Forgotten Magic Redone, Wintermyst - Enchantments of Skyrim, etc.)
    
2. The addition of an Ambience sound volume slider that controls nearly all looped and random exterior and interior environment sounds
    
3. Improvements to rainy weather sounds - most importantly, the addition of interior thunder sounds heard during rainstorm weather

Here's the complete changelist as it stands right now:

 

 

------------------------------------------------
AOS v2.5 UPDATE CHANGELES (as of 10 May 2015)
------------------------------------------------
Changes and Fixes:
- Completely re-worked the way magic effect sounds are implemented, bringing compatibility with mods that add magic effects, but retaining all of AOS' changes to magic sounds in Skyrim, Dawnguard, and Dragonborn as they were in AOS v2.2
- Added an "Ambience" volume slider for level adjustment of nearly all looped and intermittent exterior and interior environment sounds
- Enhanced Dragon Frost Breath projectile with AOS' custom frostbite sound
- Appplied AOS' edits to Dawnguard's waterfall sounds, and added them to to AOS' "Waterfall & Rapids" sound volume slider
- Changed the two rain sounds used for Skyrim's rainy weathers to be a little heavier and louder
- Added conditions so that when it's raining, some environmental bird and insect loop sounds are quieter and some insects are not heard. However, random ambient bird sounds will still be heard during rain
- Added conditions to interior rain sound to usually be heard where expected, mainly in houses, inns, and shops, but not in most structures with non-wood roofs, such as in Markarth or Solitude
- Added interior thunder sounds played during thunderstorm rain weather, heard mostly in structures made of wood or with windows, but not underground
- Fixed incorrect settings for chance of hearing ambient foliage sounds in areas set to the Fall Forest Riften region
- Reduced the volume of the conjure portal magic effect sound
- Changed fArrowMaxDistance game setting from 2000 to 12288 in case it affects the fVisibleNavmeshMoveDist=12288 tweak many people use
- Added _AOS suffix to EditorIDs of all new Explosion, Hazard, Projectile, Sound Descriptor, and Sound Output Model records added by AOS, for easier identification in Creation Kit and TES5Edit

Installer and Compatibility Patches:
- Added compatibility patch for Climates of Tamriel - Weather Patch by prod80, Ayien, and Saerileth
- Added compatibility patch for Deadly Dragons v6.3.5 by 3jiou
- Added compatibility patch for ELFX Weathers by anamorfus
- Added compatibility patch for Sounds of Skyrim collection (Civilization, The Dungeons, The Wilds) by Cliffworms (many thanks to UnmeiX for sharing the edits from his mod, Weather and Ambience Overhaul)
- Added compatibility patch for Sounds of Skyrim collection plus Climates of Tamriel (weather) by JJC71 (again, thanks to UnmeiX for the edits to make this patch possible)
- Added compatibility patch for Purity by Laast
- Added a "no interior rain sound" option for users of mods that already provide it, such as Wet & Cold
- Updated Weapons and Armor Fixes - Remade (WAFR) patch for compatibility between WAFR v5.1 and AOS v2.5
- Updated ALL weather mod patches for AOS v2.5 compatibility: Climates of Tamriel, Expanded Skyrim Weather, Natural Lighting and Atmospherics, Pure Weather, RCRN AE
- Rebuilt the Fire and Ice Overhaul (FIO) patch, the Traps are Dangerous patch, and the combination TAD & FIO patch to accomodate changes in AOS v2.5
- No changes were needed for the following compatibility patch plugins: Deadly Spell Impacts, Enhanced Blood Textures, Guard Dialogue Overhaul, Improved Weapon Impact EFFECTS Correct Metal, Realistic Water Two, Requiem, SkyRe, Supreme Storms, and Wet and Cold. 

 

 

 

For anyone really interested in the technical details of the magic sound implementation overhaul, here it is:

 

 

AOS 2.5 Magic Sounds Implementation Changelist:

Effect Shaders
- FireFXShaderDUPLICATE001 removed because it is identical to the vanilla FireFXShader record, and updated the reference in the Firebolt magic effect ("FireDamageFFAimed") to refer to the vanilla FireFXShader.

Explosions
- The following 17 modified vanilla Explosion records have been duplicated into unique AOS records to leave the original vanilla records intact:
  + AlduinFirestormImpactExplosion
  + crGiantSlamExplosion
  + DragonFireballAreaExplosion
  + ExplosionDwarvenSpider
  + ExplosionFireBoltExpert01
  + ExplosionRuneFlame01
  + ExplosionRuneFrost01
  + ExplosionRuneShock01
  + ExplosionRuneMass01
  + ExplosionStormAtronachPowerAttack
  + FireBallExp01
  + FireballStormAlduinDeathExplosion
  + FireballStormImpactExplosion
  + FireStormExplosion
  + FXAtronachFireDeathExplosion
  + MAGIceSpikeVolleyExplosion
  + TrapOilExplosion
- The above 17 Explosion records' EditorIDs were renamed to add the suffix "_AOS".
- The other 7 Explosion records were left as edits to vanilla Explosions because the changes to sounds would still be appropriate if these Explosions are used by for magic effects added by other mods.
  
Hazards
- All 16 AOS unique Hazard records' EditorIDs were renamed to add the suffix "_AOS" (and "DUPLICATE001" removed, if present).

Magic Effects
- Added 127 modified vanilla Magic Effect records (87 from Skyrim.esm/Update.esm, 3 from DG, and 37 from DB) which now refer to at least one of AOS' unique Explosion, Hazard, or a significantly modified Sound Descriptor record.

Sound Descriptors
- 2 modified vanilla Sound Descriptors have been duplicated into unique AOS records to leave the original vanilla records intact, because AOS changes their loop type from non-looping to looping:
  + MAGDestructionFireboltDragonProjectile
  + MAGFireboltProjectileSD
- The EditorIDs of all Sound Descriptors unique to AOS were renamed to add the suffix "_AOS". 

 

 

 

A lot of time was spent making and testing the changes, and I even had a small group of volunteer beta testers for the magic sound implementation overhaul, who all confirmed they did not get any looping magic sounds or other issues when using the updated AOS.esp plugin.

 

Also, I am working with fadingsignal to incorporate the system for interior rain and thunder sounds used by AOS in to his True Storms mod, which will help maintain compatibility with AOS, and hopefully be appreciated by anyone who isn't using AOS as well!

 

Finally, I just want to mention that yes, I am aware that CoT v5.0 has been announced, and I promise to make a AOS + CoT 5.0 compatibility patch, but outside of that, after AOS 2.5 is released, I am taking a break from modding while I prepare to move back from Hanoi to the USA where I need to find work and a place to live in order to sponsor a "green card" for my wife, so she can then come over with our daughter hopefully in time to start kindergarten there.

 

If anyone wants a pre-release copy of the main AOS.esp plugin (only for Skyrim + DG + DB right now, sorry) for compatibility patch making purposes only, please PM me, and I'll give you a link. Otherwise, I kindly ask that you wait for the final release that gets posted on the AOS page on Nexus.

[keithinhanoi]

I have just released AOS v2.5.

 

The main new features / improvements are the three I mentioned in my previous post (just above).

 

 

Here's the full final changelist:

 

------------------------------------------------ 
AOS v2.5 CHANGELIST 
------------------------------------------------ 
Changes and Fixes: 
- Completely re-worked the way magic effect sounds are implemented, bringing compatibility with mods that add magic effects, but retaining all of AOS' changes to magic sounds in Skyrim, Dawnguard, and Dragonborn as they were in AOS v2.2 (for more technical details, see the Magic Sounds Implementation Changelist, below) 
- Added an "Ambience" volume slider for level adjustment of nearly all looped and intermittent exterior and interior environment sounds 
- Added interior thunder sounds played during any weather with thunder, heard mostly in structures made of wood or with windows, but not normally underground 
- Added conditions so that the interior rain sound should usually be heard where expected, mainly in houses, inns, and shops, but not in most structures with non-wood roofs, such as in Markarth or Solitude 
- Added conditions so that when it's raining, some environmental bird and insect loop sounds are quieter and some insects are not heard. However, random ambient bird sounds will still be heard during rain 
- Changed the two rain sounds used for Skyrim's rainy weathers to be a little heavier and louder 
- Changed the main and morning pine forest ambience loop to sound less "jungle like" with their bird call sounds 
- Enhanced the Dragon Frost Breath projectile with AOS' custom frostbite sound 
- Enhanced the Firebolt Storm magic effect with AOS' custom Firebolt impact sound 
- Appplied AOS' edits to Dawnguard's waterfall sounds, and added them to to AOS' "Waterfall & Rapids" sound volume slider 
- Fixed incorrect settings for chance of hearing ambient foliage sounds in areas set to the Fall Forest Riften region 
- Fixed the Ice Storm spell to use a special sound when dual casting which had not been implemented in AOS v2.1 as intended 
- Fixed the Firebolt magic effect to use the "no area" flag as set by Skyrim.esm 
- Fixed a number of ice impact effects to use the same non-sound related settings as found in Skyrim.esm 
- Fixed all of the arrow impact effects to correctly use their visual impact effects that were accidentially removed by previous versions of AOS 
- Reduced the volume of the conjure portal magic effect sound 
- Changed fArrowMaxDistance game setting from 2000 to 12288 in case it affects the fVisibleNavmeshMoveDist=12288 tweak many people use 
- Added _AOS suffix to EditorIDs of all new Explosion, Hazard, Projectile, Sound Descriptor, and Sound Output Model records added by AOS, for easier identification in Creation Kit and TES5Edit 

Installer and Compatibility Patches: 
- Added new compatibility patches for: 
-- + Climates of Tamriel - Weather Patch v16 by prod80, Ayien, and Saerileth 
-- + Deadly Dragons v6.3.5 by 3jiou 
-- + ELFX Weathers beta v0.5 by anamorfus 
-- + Purity v1.0 by Laast 
-- + Supreme Storms + Climates of Tamriel - Weather Patch 
-- + True Storms - Thunder and Rain Redone v1.5 (or later) by fadingsignal 
-- + Sounds of Skyrim collection (Civilization, The Dungeons, The Wilds) by Cliffworms, for: 
--- + 1) for users of SoS without any weather overhaul mod 
--- + 2) for users of Climates of Tamriel (weather) by JJC71 
--- + 3) for users of Climates of Tamriel - Weather Patch 
--- + (many thanks to UnmeiX for sharing edits from his mod Weather and Ambience Overhaul) 
- Added a "no interior rain sound" option for users who prefer the method of mods that already provide it, such as Wonders of Weather 
- Updated Deadly Spell Impacts patch to match a minor change in AOS v2.5 
- Updated Realistic Water Two patch for AOS v2.5 compatibility 
- Updated SkyRe patch and SkyRe AFTER patches for compatibility with SkyRe v1.3.x and AOS v2.5 
- Updated Weapons and Armor Fixes - Remade (WAFR) patch for compatibility between WAFR v5.1 and AOS v2.5 
- Updated Wet and Cold patch for AOS v2.5 compatibility and confirmed compatibility with Wet and Cold v2.0 
- Updated ALL weather mod patches for AOS v2.5 compatibility: Climates of Tamriel, Expanded Skyrim Weather, Natural Lighting and Atmospherics, Pure Weather, RCRN AE 
- Rebuilt the Fire and Ice Overhaul (FIO) patch, the Traps are Dangerous patch, and the combination TAD & FIO patch to accommodate changes in AOS v2.5 
- Rebuilt the Requiem v1.7.3 & v1.8.x patches for AOS v2.5 compatibility 
- No changes were needed for the following compatibility patch plugins: Enhanced Blood Textures, Guard Dialogue Overhaul, Improved Weapon Impact EFFECTS Correct Metal. 
- All patches were loaded in TES5Edit v1.3.3, cleaned, and checked for errors 
- The FOMOD / BAIN installers have been re-worked to be more "user friendly" 
- All descriptions and read me text files edited and updated for clarity and accuracy 
- All read me text files are now installed into /Skyrim/Data/AOS 2.5 Read Me Files/ 

------------------------------------------------ 
AOS 2.5 Magic Sounds Implementation Changelist: 
------------------------------------------------ 
Effect Shaders 
- FireFXShaderDUPLICATE001 removed because it is identical to the vanilla FireFXShader record, and updated the reference in the Firebolt magic effect ("FireDamageFFAimed") to refer to the vanilla FireFXShader. 

Explosions 
- The following 14 modified vanilla Explosion records have been duplicated into unique AOS records to leave the original vanilla records intact: 
+ AlduinFirestormImpactExplosion 
+ crGiantSlamExplosion 
+ DragonFireballAreaExplosion 
+ ExplosionDwarvenSpider 
+ ExplosionFireBoltExpert01 
+ ExplosionRuneFlame01 
+ ExplosionRuneFrost01 
+ ExplosionRuneShock01 
+ ExplosionRuneMass01 
+ ExplosionStormAtronachPowerAttack 
+ FireballStormAlduinDeathExplosion 
+ FireballStormImpactExplosion 
+ FXAtronachFireDeathExplosion 
+ MAGIceSpikeVolleyExplosion 
- The above 14 Explosion records' EditorIDs were renamed to add the suffix "_AOS". 
- The other 11 Explosion records were left as edits to vanilla Explosions because the changes to sounds would still be appropriate if these Explosions are used by for magic effects added by other mods. 

FormID Lists 
- Added 3 modified Gas Trap FormID lists to include references to AOS' unique FireLg/FireSm Hazard records. 

Hazards 
- All 16 AOS unique Hazard records' EditorIDs were renamed to add the suffix "_AOS" (and "DUPLICATE001" removed, if present). 

Magic Effects 
- Added 123 modified vanilla Magic Effect records (85 from Skyrim.esm/Update.esm, 2 from DG, and 36 from DB) which now refer to at least one of AOS' unique Explosion, Hazard, or significantly modified Sound Descriptor records. 

Projectiles 
- All 21 AOS unique Projectile records' Editor IDs were renamed to add the suffix "_AOS". 

Sound Descriptors 
- 2 modified vanilla Sound Descriptors have been duplicated into unique AOS records to leave the original vanilla records intact, because AOS changes their loop type from non-looping to looping: 
+ MAGDestructionFireboltDragonProjectile 
+ MAGFireboltProjectileSD 
- The EditorIDs of all Sound Descriptors unique to AOS were renamed to add the suffix "_AOS". 

 

 

 

Please enjoy, and let me know if you have any questions or find something that isn't working as expected!

 

I'll be actively monitoring for comments / questions on Nexus and here for the next two weeks, but after that I will only be able to check in very infrequently.

[pStyl3]

Thank you both for this awesome update!

 

Small typo in the changelog: Appplied AOS' ...

[keithinhanoi]

 

Small typo in the changelog: Appplied AOS' ...

 

You and all are very welcome.  If a misspelled word due to a sticky key is the only issue with the update I will be so ever pleased...

[kylhwch]

Thanks very much for this! I can't wait to try it all out.

[alt3rn1ty]

For anyone who hasn't noticed ..

 

AOS 2.5 is on the streets     

[Shadriss]

Question: With the new AOS, are we still in the same place where the compatibility patches sit? For example - RWT isn't listed in the wiki as required, even if you DONT use the patch, but I'm almost certain that that did not used to be the case.

 

Update required on Wiki page?

[TechAngel85]

The RWT patch was/is probably in the STEP Patch. However, EssArrBee has yet to get them updated for the new AOS version.

[DoubleYou]

Using the correct load order removes the necessity of the patch. At least it used to. I haven't tested the new version yet.

[keithinhanoi]

I have just released AOS v2.5.1.
 
This is mainly a maintenance / bug fix release, with a number of new / updated patches, but still a highly recommended update for all current users of v2.5 (or v2.2).

What is really the most exciting thing about this update for me is a completely re-worked FOMOD "Smart" Installer, which I was inspired to do after seeing what JawZ did with the installer for Immersive Citizens - AI Overhaul by Shurah. I've tried to take it one step further though, by including conditional warning menu steps when the combination of plugins detected in the user's load order may or will lead to a conflict or incompatibility resulting in AOS and/or other mods not working as expected. The update installer will also check for the presence of the AOS.esp plugin and warn the user if it's not found to avoid an incomplete install that doesn't have any of AOS' sound files (a common mistake that's come up in the comments thread numerous times.) 

What's best is - again using FOMOD XML conditions - I was able to keep the full manual installation method in the installer as a option that you pick in its very first menu. A win-win situation!! This does mean that the updater FOMOD XML file is a monster at about 3700 lines and roughly 200,000 characters, however. No fun when it needs updating. ;p

I have tested the "smart" installer code for nearly every possible configuration both in NMM and Mod Organizer, but if you find any bug or seemingly illogical warning messages, please let me know.  Just keep in mind that there are actually a lot of situations in which people may not realize there would be an incompatibility.

(EDIT) PLEASE NOTE: for STEP and SR:LE users, because compatibility patching is handled elsewhere, the new AOS "smart" installer should NOT be used. Please use the Manual Installation option in the first menu, choose AOS for DG + DB in the second menu, and then click through the other compatibility patch menus without selecting anything. Same recommendation for people using STEP / SR:LE with added mods, except you need to select any compatibility patches that correspond to mods you've added beyond STEP / SR:LE.
 
I should also again mention that my big move from here in Hanoi back to the USA is in 3 weeks, so I'm going to be very busy with that and the "aftermath" for several months - I apologize in advance for not responding so quickly.
 
Here's the v2.5.1 changelist:

 

------------------------------------------------
AOS v2.5.1 CHANGELIST
------------------------------------------------
Changes and Fixes to main AOS plugin:
- Added six small waterfall and water spray sounds to the list controlled by the Waterfalls & Rapids sound volume slider (AMBWaterLeakSprayDBLPSD, AMBWaterLeakSprayLPSD, AMBWaterLeakSprayQuietLPSD, AMBWaterStream02WhiterunLPSD, AMBWaterStreamFallsLPSD, AMBWaterStreamFallsMarkarthLPSD) 
- Incorporated one new fix from Unofficial Skyrim Patch v2.1.2 to the Lightning Storm magic effect (USKP Bug #14202)
- Incorporated sound category fix from Unofficial Skyrim Patch v2.1.3 to 11 weapon sound descriptors (USKP Bug #18948) 
- Fixed erroneous data in the records of two daggers (Kahvozein's Fang, Keening - MGRKeeningNonPlayable)

Installer and Compatibility Patches:
- Added a completely new "Smart" FOMOD Installer option for Nexus Mod Manager / Mod Organizer which selects options by checking your load order.
- Added new compatibility patches for:
-- + Unique Uniques v1.8 by InsanitySorrow
-- + Skyrim Climate Overhaul - Summer Edition v1.21 by AceeQ
-- + Sounds of Skyrim collection (Civilization, The Dungeons, The Wilds) by Cliffworms, combined with:
--- + 1) ELFX Weathers beta v0.5 by anamorfus
--- + 2) Natural Lighting & Atmospherics (NLA) v2.0 by Confidence Man (also works with NLA v1.4)
--- + 3) Purity v1.1 by Laast
--- + 4) Pure Weather v2.2 by Laast
--- + 5) RCRN AE v2.1.4 by aLaaa, RPGwizard, PandoraX357 and ZoCks
--- + 6) Skyrim Climate Overhaul - Summer Edition v1.21 by AceeQ
--- + (many thanks to UnmeiX for sharing edits from his mod Weather and Ambience Overhaul)
- Fixed the Dawnguard-compatible version of the Climates of Tamriel v3.1 patch plugin so its masters are in the correct order
- Fixed the Dawnguard-compatible version of the CoT - Weather Patch v16 patch plugin so its masters are in the correct order
- Fixed the Dawnguard-compatible version of the SoS Patch so that the special Dawnguard eclipse wind sound will occur in the WeatherMountains region
- Updated Natural Lighting & Atmospherics (NLA) patch for compatibility with NLA v2.0 (but it still works with NLA v1.4)
- Updated Purity patch for compatibility with Purity v1.1
- Updated Requiem v1.7.3 and v1.8.x patches to include all fixes from Update.esm and USKP
- Updated description of Requiem v1.8.x patch to clarify that it is not intended to be used with Weapons and Armor Fixes - Remade, but a third party patch is available for users of Requiem, AOS, and WAF-R (as well as GDO and Unique Uniques)
- Updated ELFX Weather patch to add conditions for interior thunder sounds that were missed for the AOS v2.5 release
- Updated RCRN and RCRN + ESW patches to add conditions for interior thunder sounds that were missed for the AOS v2.5 release
- Updated SoS + CoT patch to remove one incorrect weather condition used for interior thunder sounds.
- Updated description of "no interior rain sound" to clarify that it is not needed by users of True Storms
- Fixed various errors and edited lanugage for clarity in the description and read me file texts
- Fixed the Wrye Bash BAIN wizard installer so that the RCRN AE patch actually gets installed when selected
- All patches were loaded in TES5Edit v3.1.1, cleaned, masters sorted, and checked for errors

 

 

Edited August 9, 2015 by keithinhanoi

[phazer11]

Thanks for the update!

[GrantSP]

So, should we then address you as @KeithinUSA?