Playlist Customization

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It'd be cool to expand the flexibility of the Playlist for ESF. Before, I'd play Winamp and disable the music so I could have more control of my own tunes.

Playlists could be synced to characters and transformations. For example, Goku transforms, and you hear the sound effects of him screaming and what not. It comes with a standard background music that plays. It can either continue playing afterwards or stop, and then other music can begin.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3GT1AeVxFI[/ame]

Goku SSJ1 During: "song" - 'Browse'
-Goku's SSJ Theme

Goku SSJ1 After: "song" - 'Browse'or "Continue Previous" check box.
-Continue

Loop how many times? Numer box or Indefinite.
- Once

After it finishes looping, it goes back to Background Music playlist, either for the Map or the Character. I think there's a good system that could be setup.

Or you could combine songs.
Like SSJ During is something else, and SSJ After a completely different song begins.

This goes along with the idea of choosing Japanese sound effects or American, except players can choose their music now and how it flows in the gameplay. It'd require less work and timing with transformations. You'd just need animations + sound effects, and the music would be freelance.

Personally I'd love to be Buu and hear this play seamlessly during and after transforming.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pzoy26Wj8I0[/ame]

Or be Gohan turning SSJ2 and hearing this.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrorzcG68BI[/ame]

Is it possible to allow different maps to have different songs they play through? In this way, both players and map creators could input their own customized background music. You could also do this with Transformation sound effects to allow people to create their own during the sequence. Maybe they want to use phrases the character says instead of screaming.

I think this would encourage Playlist packs to be made by third parties as well, something I was considering doing myself.
 
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But everything during transformations is an effect. Be it sound or sprites.

So i dont get your idea :s
 
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Setup the Playlist interface so you can manage music and sound effects from there instead of having to do it manually in the folders. Allow the songs to be played during/after the Transformation sequence, loop several times if preferred, or end immediately after. Allow priority of certain song functions, like Transformations, to take priority over Background and Ambiance music.

Right now it's just a simple linear playlist... which my Winamp can do better. Make the Playlist interact with functions in the game, and make it very customizable.
 
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Yeah sorry I probably could've done a better job explaining this. I'm talking about improving the MP3 Playlist feature to sync with Transformations and other functions in the game so that players can customize what music plays, when it plays, how it plays, and how long it plays for.

Like if I transform with Gohan I can make any song I want start playing for any duration I choose. It can end when I untransform or continue for an extra loop, etc.

I was also thinking it'd be cool to allow Sound Effect wavs to be replaced, and maybe even animation sequences as well, so that people can create transformation packs.

And as a side note, allow different maps to have a default ambiance background music, instead of the same playlist being carried over from one map to the next. That gets really boring after awhile, and this would mix things up.
 
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I was also thinking it'd be cool to allow Sound Effect wavs to be replaced, and maybe even animation sequences as well, so that people can create transformation packs.
It's possible to replace the wav files already, why spend time on making another way? Although for transformations in 1.2.3, you need to replace the scream sounds as well and do a bit of editing so it doesn't sound choppy.

Animations are practically part of the models they belong to so to replace them would involve opening the model up and changing it. I'm not certain if it's possible to change the effects going on during transformations though.
 
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Well lets get back on topic here. Change the Playlist to customize songs for in-game functions such as Transformations. Not wavs and sound effects, not animations, etc. The main idea here is playlist customization tailored to the game mechanics instead of some simple, useless linear playlist that's unrelated to what's going on.

Yes you can open the folder and add songs. No you can't put any conditions on when and how the songs play. That's what should be added.
 
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But you have the XML editor for that.

The you can freely edit effects with that thing. Making the damn thing play a song when you are transforming or after you finished is easy.
 
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Cool I'll have to check it out some time.

Is it possible to make a self-install pack that has all of these edited/changed sounds and songs in them?
 
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Ofcourse. Since all effects are XML controlled.
 
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I suggest you read up on it. [ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XML[/ame]

But basically its files that tell the game what to do.
 
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Alright so based on what I read, it's a file that contains script code which regulates how and when certain functions trigger. It dictates what sounds/music plays and when during the game.

Is that right?

Can the Playlist Editor be used to regulate the import/export as well as create and save backups of defaults for XML files? That way I could, say, download a XML file pack made by someone with custom sounds/transformation music, and if I wanted to switch it up to someone else's, I'd just open Playlist Editor and ta da!
 
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The entire MP3 player works from a hardcode basis. It works a similar way than the XML thing only it uses a txt file for the file paths.

But as far as i know the XML system is not used with the actuall MP3 player.

And after all all that the playlist editor does is that it writes the paths of the MP3 files into the txt file that the MP3 player uses to locate them. Meaning the entire playlist editor is an entirely third party program that doesnt have a thing to do with the game appart from making your life a little easier since you dont need to edit the txt file by hand. Ofyourse you can edit it by hand if you choose so. But the playlist editor makes it simpler.
 
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The entire MP3 player works from a hardcode basis. It works a similar way than the XML thing only it uses a txt file for the file paths.

But as far as i know the XML system is not used with the actuall MP3 player.

And after all all that the playlist editor does is that it writes the paths of the MP3 files into the txt file that the MP3 player uses to locate them. Meaning the entire playlist editor is an entirely third party program that doesnt have a thing to do with the game appart from making your life a little easier since you dont need to edit the txt file by hand. Ofyourse you can edit it by hand if you choose so. But the playlist editor makes it simpler.
So there's a lot of room for it to be improved then, since it sounds like it took 10 minutes to write the coding for it. If the Playlist Editor allowed modifying MP3s for certain events in the game, such as each Transformation for each character... etc.

Right now is the MP3 paths for music/sound effects hard coded into the game? Is it based on an editable XML file? Integrate them all together to make it easier for players so they don't have to edit it all by hand.
 
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The XML file sdeal with maps, effects, characters, attacks and all that ****. The MP3 player is a totally seperate system. And it uses a single txt file with paths to the MP3 files you want played by it.
 
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Alright well I feel like we're not on the same thread here. Lets give it another shot.

However you think it'd be easiest or best to do it, the outcome is this: Players can use some type of manager, either in Steam once it's opened or through another .exe file included with the install. This manager will allows players to link their MP3s with functions in ESF, primarily if not exclusively for Transformations.

The layout would look something like this:
Function: -songpath

In this example, the function would be Goku going SSJ1.

Goku During/After SSJ1: "Browse song"
Loop # of Times:
Continue song when Goku is not SSJ? Yes/No
Loops once and then ends

Goku During/After SSJ2... etc. Every character, every transformation.

By default, have every transformation mimic the same as the first transformation unless a checkbox is clicked next to that transformation, which then allows it to be customized.

If there are other functions you'd want MP3s attached to, you can consider that. For now, I think Transformations are the main reason to do this.


ESF is all about adrenaline, and transformations have a badass factor to them. If played right, it can not only make the character stronger, but pump the player up to make them play better. Since there is no one song that pumps us all up the same, players can pick from THEIR songs and put them into the game, maximizing this effect.

Back when I played MUDs, I created a trigger so that when a certain text line appeared, a song in a designated folder would play. If a MUD can do this, I'm sure it wouldn't be too difficult nor time consuming for the ESF Team.
 
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And i told you many times. Thats waht teh XML editor is for. The entire sound effects system is triggered VIA XMLs.

If you want it to play a song when you transform then just edit the transformation effect to include that song.
 
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The more you tell me, the more I'll try to rephrase the suggestion, but it's been pretty much the same thing the entire time.

I'm suggesting that a feature be added which lets players alter the XML transformation effect to include their MP3 files easily from a simple interface. A simple interface like the Playlist Editor, except its purpose is to create song paths and link them to transformation effects... XML style.

You've told me how it's done numerous times, but you haven't commented on whether it's a good idea or not.

I'm not talking about something that already exists. I'm saying... "Hey lets create this new playlist editor-type program that is linked to the XML transformation effects. With it, I can just browse for my songs, and they'll automatically change the XML code to find each song, so next time I play the game, my music will play when I transform! Cool! I love this god damn thing."

Guaranteed at least half the people who play ESF will use this program often. I know I will.
 
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The more you tell me, the more I'll try to rephrase the suggestion, but it's been pretty much the same thing the entire time.

I'm suggesting that a feature be added which lets players alter the XML transformation effect to include their MP3 files easily from a simple interface. A simple interface like the Playlist Editor, except its purpose is to create song paths and link them to transformation effects... XML style.

You've told me how it's done numerous times, but you haven't commented on whether it's a good idea or not.

I'm not talking about something that already exists. I'm saying... "Hey lets create this new playlist editor-type program that is linked to the XML transformation effects. With it, I can just browse for my songs, and they'll automatically change the XML code to find each song, so next time I play the game, my music will play when I transform! Cool! I love this god damn thing."

Guaranteed at least half the people who play ESF will use this program often. I know I will.
Why. Just use our XML editor. Only the create characters/attacks feature will be locked. Youll have full access to all its other features.

Its as simple as changing a few lines >.<
 

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