[RELz] Sounds of Cyrodiil

[Cliffworms]

Sounds of Cyrodiil

Version 1.1 - 07/08/2011

 

 

Download @ TESNexus

 

 

Instructions on how to install and uninstall are in the readme.

 

 

Changelog:

 

 

V1.1:

 

Additions

• Added the sound of rain hitting the roof heard from inside shacks and farmhouses.
  
• Added the looped sound of crickets heard from the houses’ windows in cities at night.
  
• Added the temples’ chants and atmosphere heard from the doorstep.
  
• Added 5 new snoring sound effects for more variety.
  

 

Changes

• Removed exterior doorstep tavern chatters from several wilderness inns.
  
• Updated the Open Cities Reborn to support SoC’s additions.
  

 

Bug Fixes

• Looped city chatter will not play when it’s raining.
  
• Removed a duplicate temple chant in Chorrol.
  
• Restored the original values for the scripts controlling the dungeon sounds. Dungeon sounds will no longer play every 10 seconds or so.
  
• Added more delay between tavern songs in high class taverns to prevent one of the songs from being cut while playing.
  

 

 

V1.01:

• Replaced Several of the tavern songs and re-arranged the existing ones.
  
• Turned down the volume on all sound effects.
  
• Replaced the "Rain Hitting Window" sound effect.
  
• Sounds of Cyrodiil's archive is now compressed in 7z format for smaller size.[/color]
  

 

 

What does it do?

 

 

Sounds of Cyrodiil adds around 200+ sound effects to the game world that are played from 5400+ hand-placed sound emission points. It affects every cell, region and more in the game. From Civilization to the Dungeons; From the Wilds to Special Events, No environment is left soundless anymore. The time of day gives you a different atmosphere. So when walking in the city streets during the day, you’ll hear the echo of people shouting in the distance, doors opening and closing, workers sawing things. While at night, cats fight for territory, dogs bark, drunkards yell.

 

In dungeons, the enemy type that lives in them will make itself heard. In an undead infested dungeon, zombies moan and spirits yell. In a daedric cave, demonic voices are heard around you. Like most sound effects, there is a random delay between each sound and a random direction when it happens so you can never guess what sound will play next, when and where it will come from. Thus, keeping you on the edge in Dungeons and never bored in cities and taverns.

 

The other main feature is being able to hear the outside from the inside. If you get close to windows inside buildings, you’ll hear what’s going on outside. If you’re in a tent, you’ll hear the wilderness around you. If you’re in the entrance of a cave and look outside, you’ll hear the birds and other animals going about their lives. If you're in your house and you look outside, you'll hear what's going in the street. Sometimes you might hear a noisy drunkard who left the tavern and even neighbors yelling each other to shut up as they're trying to sleep.

 

In taverns, patrons chat, yell they want more wine, burp, cough or laugh out loud. When wandering on the city streets in the evening, walk by a tavern and you'll hear the activity from outside. There are also songs that are played in those fine establishments. Depending on the social class of the tavern (Low, Mid, High), you get a different song set and a different sound set. Patrons burp and yell more in low class taverns than in high class ones.

 

In the Wilds, take a stroll on the Gold Coast and listen to the ocean waves hitting the shore. Climb mountains and listen to the wind becoming colder and louder as you get to the peak. Take a walk in the forest and hear small mammals running from you in the bushes and grass.

 

In Special Events, certain quests or events have received some audio goodness. See in the detailed soundlist below for more information, since it contains spoilers.

 

Finally, this mod would never have been possible without the contribution of many sound recorders and artists from Freesound.org. There’s a file in the archive with the credits for everyone who made the sounds. A HUGE thanks to them, otherwise the sounds would not have been as high quality and as numerous as they are now.

 

Sounds of Cyrodiil is about overhauling your Oblivion audio experience. It's about making the game pretty for your ears and immersion.

 

You've got my ear citizen.

Cliffworms :foodndrink:

 

 

Trailers

 

Before checking the soundlist, I invite you to view and hear the video trailers that show each part of Sounds of Cyrodiil in action:

 

(Quest spoilers!)

 

 

Detailed Soundlist

All of the sounds included in the list can be heard from inside if you’re in a building where you can hear them. For instance, if you’re in a farmhouse that has sheep nearby at night, you’ll hear wolves or coyotes howling, owls, crickets and the sheep flock.

 

Click the Spoiler Button to unleash the list.

 

The Wilds

 

• Around 20-25 new bird sounds for forests, mountains, swamps and plains.
  
• Hear the impact of rain on tents.
  
• Insects flying-by your character’s ears.
  
• Nearby birds flapping their wings and flying away.
  
• Strong, constant heavy wind on high mountain tops (Like Dive Rock)
  
• Cold, constant chilling gusts of wind in the mountains.
  
• 6 new short gusts of cold wind heard in northern Cyrodiil.
  
• Rare occurance of hearing an avalanche happening or a strange creature’s scream echo in the Jerall Mountains.
  
• Rodents running in the grass at night.
  
• Calm and strong ocean waves on the Gold Coast and the coast south of Leyawiin.
  
• Water waves’ impact on small embarkations and docks.
  
• Wolves howling in the distance.
  
• Rope bridges’ supports and railing squeaking/being unstable.
  
• Bee nests in several locations.
  
• Water stream sounds for bodies of water where the waterfalls land and the stream themselves.
  

 

 

The Dungeons

 

There’s a standard sound set for each type of dungeon: Cave, Ayleid Ruins, Forts and Sewers. These sounds play in these dungeons regardless of who or what lives in it. To spice it up, dungeons inhabited by Daedras or the Undead have their own sound sets in addition to the standard ones. Undead dungeons have zombies and wraiths screaming or moaning. Daedric dungeons have demonic voices or daedras screaming.

 

 

Standard Caves

• 12 Cave creaking sounds
  
• Rats squeaking about
  
• Bats flapping-by
  
• Rocks falling and hitting ground in the distance
  

 

Standard Ayleid Ruins

• Mystical and magical sounds
  
• Doors being opened and closed
  
• Stones sliding
  
• Rats squeaking about
  

 

Standard Forts

• Rats squeaking about
  
• Doors being opened/slided/closed
  

 

Sewers

• Rats squeaking about
  
• Strange echoed moans
  
• Bugs running-by
  

 

 

Civilization

 

• Chapel bells are heard inside houses
  
• Horses snort and niehg in stables
  
• Flocks of sheep bleat from time to time
  
• Around 60 SFX for city streets. People shout, dogs bark, cats fight, doors open and close, children play, drunkards throw insults at neighbors who are trying to sleep.
  
• Bravil, the Anvil docks and the Waterfront have a soundset that consists of more "loud noises" such as people shouting/yelling, more dogs and cats fighting and a bit more drunkards to better reflect their situation.
  
• A looped city chatter background for the Imperial City's residential and market districts. (Possible to disable it or enable in all cities in the in-game config.)
  
• Listen to the Imperial City's Arena matches from outside.
  
• Listen to the taverns' activity from the doorstep.
  
• Around 40 SFX for taverns. People burp, shout, laugh, cough, break bottles or pull chairs. High Class taverns are quieter than the rest.
  
• 9 songs for taverns with 3 for each class of taverns to give the proper atmosphere. (Possible to disable them in the in-game config.)
  
• Looped tavern chatter to fill the place. (Possible to disable it from in-game config)
  
• Hear what's going on on the taverns' or factions' headquarters first floor if you're in the basement. People walking over your head, chairs being pulled, thing falling on the floor or the front door being opened and closed during the tavern's busy hours
  
• Cold wind whistling through the windows from inside Bruma's houses and Cloud Ruler Temple.
  
• An echoed, looped ambience for castles, Imperial Library and the Temple of the One.
  
• Chants and godly sound atmospheres for temples. (Can be disabled in the in-game config)
  
• Empty, echoed atmosphere inside cathedrals at night.
  
• On rainy days, listen to the rain hit the windows inside buildings.
  
• On rainy days, listen to the rain's impact when it lands on tents.
  
• Hear the blacksmith at work from the street if you pass by his front door or windows during opening hours.
  
• Snoring sound effect for 122 NPCs
  
• Potions boil where NPCs brew potions. Notably in alchemy shops, dungeons or Mages Guild headquarters.
  
• The Arcane University's purple torches now emit a more magical burning sound.
  

 

 

Special Events (Quest Spoilers ahead)

 

 

• More haunting sounds in Benerus Manor before exorcising the place. Hear the invisible spirit bang on nearby walls/doors, run towards you, climb the stairs or breathe in your ears.
  
• A zombie can be heard turning the handle, moaning and banging on the doors from inside Nerastarel's manor in Skingrad.
  
• Rats can be heard from the hole that leads to Arvena Thelas' house in Anvil...considering that they're still alive.
  
• Scamps can be heard causing mess from inside Rosentia Gallenus' House in Leyawiin prior to acquiring the Staff.
  
• Battle of Bruma: Soldiers yell as they charge the daedras then clash against them. In the midst of battle, a looping sound of soldiers screaming and clashing with the daedric forces is played. Upon victory, soldiers cheer you as you leave the Great Gate.
  
• Siege of the Imperial City: Soldiers fight, arrows flying-by hour head, explosions in the distance, the Imperial Legion's battle horns echoing on the battlefield.
  

 

 

 

 

Recommended Mods for SoC and Compatibility

 

Sounds of Cyrodiil affects most in-game areas but other mods do a wonderful job to get the best audio experience in Oblivion. There are also visual mods that blend perfectly with Sounds of Cyrodiil because of the area they affect.

 

 

Storms and Sound by Deathless Aphrodite

Download

Why : Storm & Sound allows you to hear the rain and thunder from inside buildings. It’s even more immersive since SoC places sounds of rain hitting windows inside buildings.

 

Oblivion Stereo Overhaul by Canderoc

Download

Why : Canderoc has provided an excellent sound mod that improves the quality of several sounds by tweaking them and enhancing their stereo. It also adds 42 new sound effects for thunder and wind.

 

Atmospheric Oblivion by PirateLordX

Download

Why: Atmospheric Oblivion adds new sounds to dungeons and the wilderness which add even more immersion when combined with Sounds of Cyrodiil.

 

Better Bell Sounds by Morbus

Download

Why : The default bell sounds emitted from the cities’ cathedrals only have a short range to hear them. This mod makes you hear them from all over the city and also from inside the cathedrals.

 

Symphony of Violence by MigTheGreat

Download

Why : This mod merges the best combat sounds improvements from other authors for a better, more visceral combat audio experience.

 

All Natural by Chong Li, WrinklyNinja, Arthmoor and Brumbek

Download

Why : Not only does it greatly improve the weather system and visuals, but it also gives natural lighting to the indoors, allows you to look at the sky and hear the weather from the windows.

 

Immersive Interiors by SomeWelshGuy

Download

Why : SomeWelshGuy has done an outstanding mod that allows you to look at the city streets from inside, greatly enhancing the immersion when you enter buildings. Immersive Interiors gives the possibility of looking at the streets while Sounds of Cyrodiil allows you to hear the city life from inside. A must with Sounds of Cyrodiil!

Note that All Natural is required to run Immersive Interiors.

 

 

Compatibility

 

Sounds of Cyrodiil comes with an in-game config menu that allows you to disable or enable certain sound effects. Those include the temple music, tavern music, tavern chatter and city chatter. So if you already have a mod that adds one of those and you want to keep them, you can disable Sound of Cyrodiil's.

 

If you use BetterMusicSystem or simply music in general, you'll need to de-activate SoC's tavern and temple music or they'll overlap.

 

The following audio mods are not recommended to be used with Sounds of Cyrodiil as the sounds will overlap. Sounds of Cyrodiil already improves on what these mods offer so they are not needed:

 

• More Immersive Sound (And Edited) by Achanonier or Brumbek
  
• Ambient Town Sounds (And Edited) by Lendrik or Brumbek
  
• Oblivifall - Ambient Dungeon SFX by Cliffworms
  

 

 

 

Sounds of Cyrodiil Add-Ons

 

In this section, I will update the list mods that have been patched to integrate Sounds of Cyrodiil's sounds and scripts. Instruction on how to install those add-ons and what they do specifically are included in their respective archive on the page where you'll have downloaded Sounds of Cyrodiil. If you have a suggestion of mod you'd like to see with a SoC's version, let me know and I will gladly do it.

 

 

- Open Cities Classic & Reborn (You must enable a setting in SoC's in-game config menu for it to fully work. Refer to the readme for instructions)

- Heart of the Dead

- Knights of the Nine

- Mehrune's Razor

- Thieves' Den

 

 

Known Errors

 

Sometimes, it’s possible that a looped sound will stop playing after you pause the game (Opening a menu, talking to people). Leaving the zone and entering again (Or reloading your game) will make the sound return.

When the game is paused like above, no sounds will play except the weather or the NPC’s voice. This is engine-related and cannot be fixed.

When loading a tavern, it is possible that the tavern songs will switch during the loading screen. It returns to normal once you enter the cell.

Looped sound effects that play at specific time will sometimes start playing when you enter the area they're in even though they're not supposed to play. These sounds will quickly fade out as you enter the cell.

 

 

Credits

 

Sounds of Cyrodiil would never have been possible without the kind generosity of many authors on FreeSound.org. This website allows professionals and semi-professionals to upload sound samples under the Creative Commons Sampling Plus License, which allows users to download and use the sounds in their own projects as long as the author is credited for his work. In the spoiler tag are all the authors who contributed to Sounds of Cyrodiil. To know what sound effect they contributed, view the Credits file in the download.

 

Duncan, Galeku, Sofie, Sithjwa, Acclivity, inchadney, Luftrum, Corsica_S, Mystiscool, Robinhood76, Jpnien, Coneybeare, HerbertBoland, LilyMarie, Audible-Edge, Dobroide, Reinsamba, DarkNinjaProductions, JFBSAUVE, Sazman, NoiseCollector, Ronfont, Santuccie, Tomlija, Delphiedebrain, Bowlingballout, Syna-Max, 3bagbrew, ERH, Morgantj, Kozos, Kyle1Katarn, Plingativator, TigerSound, Shades, DataSoundSample, Connum, Sagetyrtle, Klankbeld, Rutgermuller, Johansyd, FaireDesVagues, Jppi_Stu, Linako, BrotherProvisional, Dan Goodale, Eric Heberling, Kirill Pokrovosky,

 

 

But, of course, this project benefited from the help of other people. Here they are:

 

EruditeDragon for the testing

Phitt for the sound script used in dungeons and city streets

Duncan for his Atmospheric Sound Effects mod for Morrowind, which inspired me to do Sounds of Cyrodiil

 

The OBSE team for passing through every barriers they see.

The Construction Set Extender Team for bringing us an outstanding upgrade to the CS

 

Bethesda Game Studios for the best open-world RPGs and Construction Set

Mark Lampert for his superb job as Bethesda's Sound Director. ;)

Edited August 8, 2011 by Cliffworms

[bencebence]

Wow, this look pretty immersive :O

I think I'll delete one-or-two of my sound replacer mods and install your one. I love it :D

Congratulations for such a great job.

[Heartcloud]

I love the wilderness sounds, and the arena sounds. However some are pretty weird, such as interior sounds or the cats/dogs sounds, as they don't really fit in to the environment (there aren't any cats/dogs that i know of that hang around on city streets in Oblivion).

Also the file size is a bit big for 200 sound files in my opinion... after extraction I'd expect to be something like 400mb. =O

[MarkInMKUK]

Hi Cliffworms,

 

A couple of questions:

 

(1) "Scaling" of sounds - e.g. if an inn has only one or two occupants, does the sound reduce to nearly nothing, or do you still get the "pub packed to the gills" ambience?

 

(2) "Dynamic" sound response - e.g. if you enter a goblin cave, and kill all the little blighters, does the "goblin cave sound" drop off as you clear them out leaving just silence?

[Cliffworms]

An update has been released:

 

1. Replaced several of the tavern songs and re-arranged the existing ones.

2. Turned down the volume on all sound effects.

3. Replaced the "Rain Hitting Window" sound effect.

4. Sounds of Cyrodiil's archive is now compressed in 7z format for smaller size.

 

 

Wow, this look pretty immersive :O

I think I'll delete one-or-two of my sound replacer mods and install your one. I love it :D

Congratulations for such a great job.

 

Thanks!

 

I love the wilderness sounds, and the arena sounds. However some are pretty weird, such as interior sounds or the cats/dogs sounds, as they don't really fit in to the environment (there aren't any cats/dogs that i know of that hang around on city streets in Oblivion).

Also the file size is a bit big for 200 sound files in my opinion... after extraction I'd expect to be something like 400mb. =O

 

While you can hear dogs or cats in a city where there is none in the game, it doesn't mean there's a not a single dog in the city in the world it takes place in. Oblivion's places are largely scaled down from how big and populated they'd be in the actualy world. And cats are found in a lot of places in Tamriel. It's not because you don't see one that they're not there. ;)

 

Hi Cliffworms,

 

A couple of questions:

 

(1) "Scaling" of sounds - e.g. if an inn has only one or two occupants, does the sound reduce to nearly nothing, or do you still get the "pub packed to the gills" ambience?

 

(2) "Dynamic" sound response - e.g. if you enter a goblin cave, and kill all the little blighters, does the "goblin cave sound" drop off as you clear them out leaving just silence?

 

1) The looped tavern SFX will indeed play even if there are only 2 occupants. But this sound plays only between 18h and 4am (Or 2am for high class taverns)

2) No the dungeons sounds regardless if a dungeon has been cleared or not.

Edited August 6, 2011 by Cliffworms

[MarkInMKUK]

Thanks for the answer, Cliffworms. I'll give the mod a try, but it may almost be more immersion breaking to hear a loud pub and enter to find just the barman, than to have it quiet when full. Maybe a later update can look at some kind of scaling of sound effects?

[Cliffworms]

Thanks for the answer, Cliffworms. I'll give the mod a try, but it may almost be more immersion breaking to hear a loud pub and enter to find just the barman, than to have it quiet when full. Maybe a later update can look at some kind of scaling of sound effects?

 

There's an in-game config menu that allows you to disable the looped sfx should you find it immersion breaking. The config also allows you to disable other looped sound effects. ;)

 

You'll find information on it in the readme. :thumbsup:

[MarkInMKUK]

Thanks for the info - I'll have a look. Of course, I've yet to see a really busy pub in the Imperial City - they always look half-empty