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GeneRally Sound Pack Pro v8.0 Released!

Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2011 11:56 am
by Rich Nagel
I finally got off of my butt and updated my GeneRally Sound Pack Pro to version 8.0 :)

One thing to note:

Most of the sound packs included with the GeneRally Sound Pack Pro v8.0 use stereo WAV sound effects files, which results in much fuller sound within the game (especially if you have a sound card that supports "Environmental Audio Effects" (EAX) and/or "Creative Multi-Speaker Surround" (CMSS) effects).

The current version 1.10 of GeneRally does NOT support stereo WAV files for the games' sound effects... the Simple DirectMedia Layer runtime (SDL.dll) that is now required for GeneRally v1.10 currently mixes the stereo sound effects files down to mono, resulting in EXTREMELY muddled sound.

James and Markku will hopefully be fixing this problem sometime in a future release of GeneRally, so's you can fully enjoy the stereo sounds.

Nevertheless, the GeneRally Sound Pack Pro v8.0 works fine with GeneRally v1.05 or higher, and even in v1.10 sounds quite impressive :)

Brief description directly from the included readme:

Code: Select all

P R E P A R E  T O  B E  R O C K E D !
--------------------------------------
The GeneRally Sound Pack Pro v8.0 consists of forty-nine sets of replacement
16-bit sound effects for Hannu and Jukka Räbinä's EXCELLENT freeware racing
game "GeneRally" v1.05 or higher.

All of the game's sound effects have been replaced with new ones that sound
*MUCH* better than the originals.

The overall effect that I was trying to create with these sound packs was
simply a "smell the exhaust, thundering, trackside ear-shattering,
black-powdered-tire-rubber-in-yer-Coke" type of thing <grin>. Personally I
think these new sound packs come fairly close... as close as you'll get without
a pit pass :)

In other words, the GeneRally Sound Pack Pro v8.0 is a compilation of
absolutely the best, top-notch, most awesome, ear-shattering, and rockin' sound
effects that you've ever heard for GeneRally!

Race on over to http://gene-rally.com or http://forum.gene-rally.com on the
Internet to find out all about this great freeware game!

Forty-Nine Sound Packs
----------------------
The GeneRally Sound Pack Pro v8.0 now contains a total of forty-nine seperate
sound packs, and currently has grown to more than a whopping 65 megabytes of
ear-shattering sound effects goodness for GeneRally after it's installed!
OGG Vorbis Preview:

http://www.cmoo.com/snor/weeds/grspak80_preview.ogg

This OGG Vorbis format audio file is simply a low-quality preview of the GeneRally Sound Pack Pro v8.0, and will give you an idea of what it sounds like while playing GeneRally. All of the sound effects were recorded from within the game (GeneRally v1.05) during a full-field race.

OGG Vorbis Preview Index:

00:00 = Sound Pack Pro 1
00:37 = Sound Pack Pro 2
01:08 = Sound Pack Pro 3
01:26 = Sound Pack Pro 4
01:52 = Sound Pack Pro 5
02:23 = Sound Pack Pro Diesel
02:51 = Sound Pack Pro MicroMachines Beach Buggy
03:09 = Sound Pack Pro MicroMachines Formula One
03:25 = Sound Pack Pro MicroMachines Helicopter
03:43 = Sound Pack Pro MicroMachines Sportscar
04:03 = Sound Pack Pro MicroMachines Tank
04:17 = Sound Pack Pro MicroMachines Warrior
04:35 = Sound Pack Pro Music
05:00 = Sound Pack Pro PC Speaker Indianopolis 500
05:24 = Sound Pack Pro PC Speaker Stunts
05:51 = Sound Pack Pro Remote Control Electric Car
06:10 = Sound Pack Pro Remote Control Gas Car
06:29 = Sound Pack Pro Sailboat
06:55 = Sound Pack Pro Warhead
07:18 = Sound Pack Pro ZipZaps

...and here's yer files:

The full readme, also included in the ZIP (NOTE: Read this for full installation instructions!) -> http://www.cmoo.com/snor/weeds/grspak80.txt
ZIP -> http://www.cmoo.com/snor/weeds/grspak80.zip

P.S. Feel free to distribute this pack and mirror it where ever you want... simply trying to save a little bandwidth on my buddy's server :)

P.P.S. I hope that the included crude installer (a simple batch file) works with the Vista and 7 abominations!

Re: GeneRally Sound Pack Pro v8.0 Released!

Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2011 6:21 pm
by XYY
For some strange reason, I encounter following problem at XP SP3. When all files are in the sounds folder, the bat gives me following text:

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The GeneRally Sound Pack Pro v8.0 installation program must be executed from
your "GeneRally\Sounds" directory!

The GeneRally Sound Pack Pro v8.0 has NOT been installed.

Press any key to exit...
What's wrong? I guess you have got some software installed that can extract the files, but my system hasnÄT got that program. But why can't you give us the files directly? would they be too big?

Re: GeneRally Sound Pack Pro v8.0 Released!

Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2011 5:58 am
by Rich Nagel
XYY wrote:For some strange reason, I encounter following problem at XP SP3. When all files are in the sounds folder, the bat gives me following text:

Code: Select all

The GeneRally Sound Pack Pro v8.0 installation program must be executed from your "GeneRally\Sounds" directory!
The GeneRally Sound Pack Pro v8.0 has NOT been installed.
Press any key to exit...
Hehe, I was waiting for a reply like that <grin>. My extremely basic installer does a simple little check to ensure that the user unzipped the files to his "GeneRally\Sounds" directory on their hard drive.

Previous versions of my Sound Pack Pro used the same type of check, that's why I was familiar with the problem <grin>... previous posts from other folks throughout the years with that problem.

Anyhow, the Install.bat installer batch file looks for the file "howto.txt"... if it doesn't find that file, it reports the error message that you posted above. "howto.txt" comes with a fresh/stock installation of GeneRally, and chances are that you've probably deleted that file from your "GeneRally\Sounds" folder on your hard drive.

Simply copy any file to the new filename "howto.txt" (or unzip it from a release version ZIP of GeneRally), copy it to your "GeneRally\Sounds" folder, and all will be well with the world :)

Anyways, that method (seeing if the file "howto.txt" actually exists in the users "GeneRally\Sounds" folder) was the simplest and easiest way that I could see/check if the user indeed unzipped the files to his "GeneRally\Sounds" folder :)

XYY wrote:What's wrong? I guess you have got some software installed that can extract the files, but my system hasn't got that program. But why can't you give us the files directly? would they be too big?
I'm simply trying to trim down the download as much as possible (to conserve on bandwidth on my buddy's server, who has so graciously allowed me virtually unlimited web space for the past ten years). There are a lot of files that are/get duplicated during the installation, and with the included utility "WavUnpack", I was able to trim down the download from 65.5 megs to around 22 megs :)

That is the only purpose of the installer.


Anyways, it should work fine on XP SP3 (that's what I'm running, Windows XP Pro SP3), and with my little bit of experimentation with Vista, I *THINK* it should run fine under that OS as well :) Not sure about W7, but I'm *assuming* that it should install without a hitch under that OS as well :fingers_crossed:

GeneRally Sound Pack Pro v8.0 OGG Vorbis Preview!

Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2011 9:18 am
by Rich Nagel
OGG Vorbis Preview:

http://www.cmoo.com/snor/weeds/grspak80_preview.ogg

This OGG Vorbis format audio file is simply a low-quality preview of the GeneRally Sound Pack Pro v8.0, and will give you an idea of what it sounds like while playing GeneRally. All of the sound effects were recorded from within the game (GeneRally v1.05) during a full-field race.

OGG Vorbis Preview Index:

00:00 = Sound Pack Pro 1
00:37 = Sound Pack Pro 2
01:08 = Sound Pack Pro 3
01:26 = Sound Pack Pro 4
01:52 = Sound Pack Pro 5
02:23 = Sound Pack Pro Diesel
02:51 = Sound Pack Pro MicroMachines Beach Buggy
03:09 = Sound Pack Pro MicroMachines Formula One
03:25 = Sound Pack Pro MicroMachines Helicopter
03:43 = Sound Pack Pro MicroMachines Sportscar
04:03 = Sound Pack Pro MicroMachines Tank
04:17 = Sound Pack Pro MicroMachines Warrior
04:35 = Sound Pack Pro Music
05:00 = Sound Pack Pro PC Speaker Indianopolis 500
05:24 = Sound Pack Pro PC Speaker Stunts
05:51 = Sound Pack Pro Remote Control Electric Car
06:10 = Sound Pack Pro Remote Control Gas Car
06:29 = Sound Pack Pro Sailboat
06:55 = Sound Pack Pro Warhead
07:18 = Sound Pack Pro ZipZaps

Re: GeneRally Sound Pack Pro v8.0 Released!

Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2011 5:47 pm
by Rich Nagel
Gawd... I mean, I hate to be a post-fishing w***e (lord knows we severely frowned upon this over at RSC); but, almost a day and a half, 100+ thread views, and only one comment?

Re: GeneRally Sound Pack Pro v8.0 Released!

Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 11:07 pm
by LongBow
Finally, I have been waiting for years for this one!

Not rally much to say except this: GREAT soundsets...THE BEST :bowdown:

I find that they sound much better in GR 1.05 than in 1.10. Apart from that stereo/mono issue I find the engine sounds to be played higher pitched than in 1.05.

BTW, the "music" soundset is just hilarious :rofl: :up:

Re: GeneRally Sound Pack Pro v8.0 Released!

Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2011 11:06 am
by Rich Nagel
LongBow wrote:Finally, I have been waiting for years for this one! Not rally much to say except this: GREAT soundsets...THE BEST :bowdown:
Glad you liked it, LB :)

LongBow wrote:I find that they sound much better in GR 1.05 than in 1.10. Apart from that stereo/mono issue I find the engine sounds to be played higher pitched than in 1.05.
Hmmm... I'll have to check into that. I didn't really notice that, but will give it a whirl to hear what you're hearing. Anyhow, they do indeed sound a lot better in stereo :)

LongBow wrote:BTW, the "music" soundset is just hilarious :rofl: :up:
Hehe, that was a last minute thing <grin>... I figured, since I was releasing a new version of my SPP, I might as well create a new sound pack to go along with it :)

Heh, I was tossing around all sorts of ideas for the new addition (thinking along retro lines): the ancient Intellivision game cartridge "Auto Racing" from 1979 by Mattel (WAY too "plain" sounding), "Stewart's Iron Man Offroad" (I discovered that there are NO engine sounds in the PC version of that game), as well as the original "Slicks 'N Slide" (sounded way too muddled together in GeneRally).

I finally decided on that novelty sound pack, "Music" <grin> :)


(edit) P.S. Almost forgot: BTW what OS are you running? Just curious how well the simple batch file installer works on other operating systems (I'm running XP Pro SP3).

Re: GeneRally Sound Pack Pro v8.0 Released!

Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2011 12:22 pm
by egamad
I finally took time to test this gem, it's great. The batch script worked fine for me on W7, didn't even say anything about any .bat file missing or unable to run or something similar you mention at the end of the installation process. :bg:
The only thing that wasn't very smooth was the .zip file I downloaded, when I unpacked it, it said "archive corrupt" or something like that, but it still somehow extracted all files (size: 64,6MB, size on disk: 65,3MB?).

One thing about the pack is confusing me though - why include the mono sound sets? The way I see it they only take up valuable space and bandwidth, and sound worse than stereo sets.. or am I missing something here? :shrug:

Anyway, good job updating the pack since 2003, and the music sound set is great and frustrating at the same time (couldn't find a track with a long enough straight to enjoy the melody.. :shout: ).

Re: GeneRally Sound Pack Pro v8.0 Released!

Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2011 1:55 pm
by Rich Nagel
egamad wrote:I finally took time to test this gem, it's great.
Glad ya liked it :)

egamad wrote:The batch script worked fine for me on W7, didn't even say anything about any .bat file missing or unable to run or something similar you mention at the end of the installation process. :bg:
Thanks for the report... good to hear that it works properly under W7! :)

That error message about "batch file missing"; it prolly flashes by so quickly that you normally wouldn't be able to see it. On a slower PC you would prolly be able to see it, and I didn't want to alarm the end user, so's I added the message in the installer.

BTW, what's happening is, when the installer is deleting the temporary installation files, the last step is for it to actually delete itself <grin> (Install.bat).

egamad wrote:The only thing that wasn't very smooth was the .zip file I downloaded, when I unpacked it, it said "archive corrupt" or something like that, but it still somehow extracted all files (size: 64,6MB, size on disk: 65,3MB?).
Heh, I have a hunch that you used WinRAR to unzip it? I've had a few reports about other things (ZIP files) that I've released previously where the user had similar error messages (I think most of them were using WinRAR).

I "digitally" sign all of my archives with my own personal "digital certificate", and some unzipping utilities (such as WinRAR) don't understand the digital certificate, hence the error message. Nevertheless, like in your case, the files usually unzip just fine :)

I dunno why I bother with the certificate... I suppose just for the sake of being a geekazoid LOL!

egamad wrote:One thing about the pack is confusing me though - why include the mono sound sets? The way I see it they only take up valuable space and bandwidth, and sound worse than stereo sets.. or am I missing something here? :shrug:
When I first included the stereo packs in the SPP (version 3.0, IIRC), a lot of folks didn't like the "stereo-fied" sound. So's I simply left the mono versions in the pack as well.

Some of the packs use *actual* stereo sounds (such as the "SoundPackPro 5"), while some of the others I "stereo-fied". The way I did/do this; convert the mono WAV to a stereo WAV, and then add a wee bit of digital silence to the left channel (about .025 seconds or so).

The result is a surround-sound type of effect that a lot of folks don't care for.

egamad wrote:Anyway, good job updating the pack since 2003, and the music sound set is great and frustrating at the same time (couldn't find a track with a long enough straight to enjoy the melody.. :shout: ).
LOL! In actuality, I really wanted to use one of my *true* (rather "high-browed") music compositions (re: "X-Formers" over at my web site -> http://www.richnagel.net ) :) But alas, they sounded horrendous when used as an engine sound for GeneRally LOL!

Re: GeneRally Sound Pack Pro v8.0 Released!

Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2011 1:11 pm
by Tonga
Cheers Rich,

just wanted to inform you about the fact that your Installer unfortunately doesn't work for 64bit systems (tested it on Win7 Home Premium 64bit). The "Choice.com" doesn't support 64bit systems and therefore won't start.
A workaround is to drag the WV-files belonging to a certain sound set over the "WVUnpack.exe" and have them opened this way. This gives the according WAV-Files which one can then use in an own folder for the sound set. It lacks a bit of the comfort provided by an install script, but at least it works, so I thought I'd leave a message in case anyone else comes across that problem.

The sounds themselves are really great, I am currently using the Sound Pack Pro 3 Engine sounds along with the other sound effects from your SPP 1 package. Due to the lack of a really proper touring car sound package with fully consistent engine sounds I guess this is what comes at least quite close to what I'm imagining. :)
The other sound sets are great as well, however for me it feels weird having a downshift sound right in the fastest section of a long straight, lets say at Brands Hatch for example. It just sounds strange, your car rumbling downrange going at top speed and suddenly it sounds like your engine's dying. :D

All in all, you did an awesome job on that sound pack, thank you very much for the effort you put in this! :bg:

Re: GeneRally Sound Pack Pro v8.0 Released!

Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2011 6:52 pm
by Rich Nagel
vxl wrote:The sounds themselves are really great
vxl wrote:All in all, you did an awesome job on that sound pack, thank you very much for the effort you put in this! :bg:
Glad ya liked it! :)

vxl wrote:The other sound sets are great as well, however for me it feels weird having a downshift sound right in the fastest section of a long straight, lets say at Brands Hatch for example. It just sounds strange, your car rumbling downrange going at top speed and suddenly it sounds like your engine's dying. :D
Hehe, that's why for several of the packs I included versions that didn't have the "extra" engine sounds in them :)

Hehe, I myself throughout the years have always enjoyed simply setting up GeneRally for an AI-only race, and watch them race by themselves <grin>. The sound packs with the extra sounds in them is ideal for this... sounds like you're right there at the track. Add a bit of Sound Blaster Live EAX reverb, and WOW! :) Bear in mind, this is with v1.05 of GeneRally, as the newest version doesn't support the stereo WAV files (it mixes them down to moono, so it doesn't sound as good, and is a little muddled).

vxl wrote:just wanted to inform you about the fact that your Installer unfortunately doesn't work for 64bit systems (tested it on Win7 Home Premium 64bit). The "Choice.com" doesn't support 64bit systems and therefore won't start.
vxl wrote:A workaround is to drag the WV-files belonging to a certain sound set over the "WVUnpack.exe" and have them opened this way. This gives the according WAV-Files which one can then use in an own folder for the sound set. It lacks a bit of the comfort provided by an install script, but at least it works, so I thought I'd leave a message in case anyone else comes across that problem.
Thanks for that report. "CHOICE.COM" was included/shipped with all versions of DOS, and some versions of Windows. It's a DOS program, so I'm assuming that W7 has removed all support for running DOS programs?

What about the batch file itself (INSTALL.BAT)... can W7 run simple DOS batch files? If so, I could create a seperate installer that simply bypassed all of the "CHOICE.COM" commnads; which is only there for user-prompting (e.g. "Do you wish to continue? YES/NO" etc...).

I suppose that I could get even a but fanicer and create a native WinDoZe installer using something like "NeoBook", but I dunno.

Re: GeneRally Sound Pack Pro v8.0 Released!

Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2011 10:01 pm
by Tonga
The batch file itself works, Win7 still supports batch files and scripts, and also the CHOICE command itself is available in Win 7 again (afaik). The problem with CHOICE.COM probably is that it still is a 16-bit application. DOS in general is also supported under Win7, however it depends on the version you are running. While 32-bit versions of Vista and Win7 still support 16-bit DOS applications, this is not the case for 64-bit versions. For the fun in it, I tested this on Vista 32-bit, Vista 64-bit and Windows 7 64-bit.
So in short: At least all 64-bit versions of Vista and Windows 7 (not sure about WinXP in this case) are unable to run 16-bit DOS applications.

In order to support 64-bit versions you would probably either have to try a workaround within the batchfile or to build another installer... but to be honest, the workaround with simply dragging the files onto the "WVUnpack.exe" really isn't as time-consuming as building another installer. So at least for me this is an absolutely acceptable solution - the only thing is that people should be informed about those circumstances. :bg:

Re: GeneRally Sound Pack Pro v8.0 Released!

Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2011 1:07 am
by Rich Nagel
vxl wrote:also the CHOICE command itself is available in Win 7 again (afaik)
If that is the case, simply deleting the version of CHOICE.COM that is included with the SPP before running the installer should do the trick :)

Re: GeneRally Sound Pack Pro v8.0 Released!

Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2011 6:00 am
by Tonga
And here we go...

Code: Select all

Preparing to install the GeneRally Sound Pack Pro v8.0.

Do you wish to continue?

[Y,N]?Y

Have you read the installation instructions contained in the "GeneRally Sound
Pack Pro v8.0.txt" readme file, and manually deleted and removed any previous
versions of the GeneRally Sound Pack Pro?

[Y,N]?Y

Preparing to decompress WAV files.
Press any key to continue...
:bsmile:


Works like a charm! Thank you very, very much! :bg:

Re: GeneRally Sound Pack Pro v8.0 Released!

Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2011 10:59 am
by Rich Nagel
vxl wrote:Works like a charm! Thank you very, very much! :bg:
Most excellent! :) Thanks for the report :)

Re: GeneRally Sound Pack Pro v8.0 Released!

Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2011 7:07 pm
by Tonga
You're welcome! :)

Btw - are you planning on doing other sounds, too, or is the compatibility issue with v1.10 the main focus at the moment?

Re: GeneRally Sound Pack Pro v8.0 Released!

Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2011 11:02 pm
by Rich Nagel
vxl wrote:Btw - are you planning on doing other sounds, too
Hehe, that last update took me *EIGHT YEARS* to get off of my arse and release... I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for one/any <grin>.

vxl wrote:or is the compatibility issue with v1.10 the main focus at the moment?
As far as 'official' bug fixing, it's not really a main focus. But anyone who knows me knows I'm a 'sound/music guy'... I'll definitely be hounding James about it <grin> :)

Re: GeneRally Sound Pack Pro v8.0 Released!

Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2011 6:52 am
by Rebellion765
A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!! :bowdown:

Re: GeneRally Sound Pack Pro v8.0 Released!

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 8:56 am
by GeneSuomi
This works for you correctly? If I choose any sound (from this pack or some old) it still sounds general when I drive..?

Re: GeneRally Sound Pack Pro v8.0 Released!

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 12:46 pm
by Rich Nagel
GeneSuomi wrote:This works for you correctly? If I choose any sound (from this pack or some old) it still sounds general when I drive..?
I'm not sure what the problem could be. Did the installer appear to work properly when you installed the Sound Pack Pro?

Re: GeneRally Sound Pack Pro v8.0 Released!

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 2:11 pm
by GeneSuomi
Yes, Installed it and I can choose sounds in Generally option menu. The problem might not be in this pack because some old sounds didn't work either


Edit: Old sounds works but your sounds sounds the same... (they are recognizable, aren't they?)

Re: GeneRally Sound Pack Pro v8.0 Released!

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 3:24 pm
by Rich Nagel
GeneSuomi wrote:(they are recognizable, aren't they?)
Yes, they sound *quite* different (to say the least <grin>) than any of the stock sound packs that come with GeneRally.

Re: GeneRally Sound Pack Pro v8.0 Released!

Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2011 3:16 am
by Palm
Thanks :) :)

Re: GeneRally Sound Pack Pro v8.0 Released!

Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 10:16 am
by Cooltys
links down :weep: ! reup please!:)

I know i am new at forum, but i think reuploading isn't only for me, so I and others will be glad if someone can reupload this Sound Pack:)

Greetings!:)

Re: GeneRally Sound Pack Pro v8.0 Released!

Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 1:13 pm
by Rich Nagel