Need some help and advise please.

[Nigelhj]

Purchased BOB2 last week and installed, very impressed with it and would like to thank all those involved in making this an excellent sim.

Unfortunately I left the notes on the questions I have at home so hopefully I can muddle my way through on memory.

I downloaded BOB2 from this site and also downloaded the Version12 patch as well as the V11 Multi_Skin patch.

From my previous post in General Discussions (last week) arquillos advised me to download the above patches and stated that as regards to the cd version of BOB2 (which I was thinking of buying) the version 12 patch is all that is needed to bring BOB2 up to date. Do I still need to install the V12 patch into the downloaded version I have or is it already in there?

Equally from some notes I read it also stated that:

Note 4: The MultiSkin patch should go ON TOP OF Battle of Britain 2: Wings of Victory.
I installed the MultiSkin patch after installing BOB2 but how do I know whether I have got it on top (silly question you may say) or.................How do I put it on top?

Secondly, I cannot get the radio sound to work from the controller or other pilots, all other sounds are functioning properly i.e. guns, engines, hits etc. I have a Creative Audigy Card and have tried a number of times without success to get it working, all that I do get is written instructions that pan along the bottom of the screen. Any help would be appreciated.

I will not be able to get back to the library until Wednesday but would be grateful for any help you can provide for what is turning out to be a great sim!

Regards
Nigel.

[arquillos]

Hi Nigelhj!
I´m glad you are enjoying the sim.!!!

The downloaded version you have should be a v2.08 similar.
The v2.12 only is installed with the patch. There is not exists a downloadable
(or CD) v2.12 version


The needed patches are:
- v2.12
- Multiskin v2.11

Installation order:
- BoB II CD
- v2.12
- Multiskin v2.11

- "put it on top" means install the Multiskin patch the latest one.

- About the audio problems...I have to think about it...I haven´t had
a similar problem.
Could you try clicking on any of the sounds files from, per example,
tower0 directory from windows and see if your windows system play it?

[Nigelhj]

Hi arquillos and very many thanks for replying so quickly.

From your reply I will have to uninstall BOB2 (which is no problem) then reinstall it and apply the V12 patch followed by the MultiSkin Patch of V2.11. Will do that when I get home so I can reply to you fully on Wednesday when I get back to the library.

Concerning the sound files I have tried playing them directly from the folders but with no luck, unfortunately as having left my questions at home I cannot remember what the pop up said but will advise you on Wednesday.

Again, very many thanks for your help.

Regards
Nigel.

[arquillos]

Concerning the sound files I have tried playing them directly from the folders but with no luck, unfortunately as having left my questions at home I cannot remember what the pop up said but will advise you on Wednesday.

This is nice...so the problem is not with the sim. It´s a easy windows problem.
You need some "decoder" program for windows to be able to play the sounds.
I don´t know what is the encoding format this sound files are. When I get back to home
I will look at it and tell you what decoder you need to install.
After installing the decoder you will hear the sounds from windows and from the sim.

[stickman]

It has happened to me once, that I was missing my gun sounds after an uninstall, then a re-install.
I uninstalled again and reinstalled and they were OK again.

So sometimes things can get lost during an install. Rare, but it happens.

[arquillos]

Hi Nigelhj!
I investigated the "sound" files in directories tower0, tower1 and tower2
and discovered that although the files have a "wav" extension, they are no
"normal" wav files.
I suppose these files are related to the radio chatter and the sim. uses
a special technology I haven´t seen yet.
And yes, I have the same problem as you, I can´t reproduce these files
from windows

So the best thing to do is to follow Stickman help...try reinstall the sim.

[Nigelhj]

Hi stickman and arquillos, The sounds that are normally heard i.e. guns, engines etc all work fine however my question is regarding to the sound files found in the Tower Folders.

I uninstalled BOB2 and re-installed but still not receiving any speech from the tower or controller, just getting scrolled instructions at the bottom of the screen when you ask for any trade in area etc.

Tried again to play the wav files and get the following error message in a box:

Window Media Player cannot play the file. The player might not support the file or might not support the codec that was used to compress the file.

It may be due to a missing codec but if these sound files from the tower folders are actually original from when this Battle of Britain Sim was first published then it may be possible that the original codecs that were used are no longer supported and may require tweaking in order to work.

I am no computer expert but looking at the properties of these files they appear no different to those of FSX sound files including add-on a/c that I have installed, the above suggestion is the only explanation that I can think of.

Apart from this little hiccup I can honestly say that BOB2 is proving to be quite a challenge having started a new campaign I lasted just three days when on attacking a formation of Stukas I stupidly folllowed one down in a near virtical dive. I forgot that you do not have a hope in hell chance of catching them in a dive and he pulled out but with my speed being high my pull out was very slow and I ended up the sortie with a cold bath courtesy of the English Channel. I would not have survived that crash so going to start again with slightly more caution than before!!

Regards
Nigel.

[PV]

Hi Nigelhj!
I investigated the "sound" files in directories tower0, tower1 and tower2
and discovered that although the files have a "wav" extension, they are no
"normal" wav files.
I suppose these files are related to the radio chatter and the sim. uses
a special technology I haven´t seen yet.
And yes, I have the same problem as you, I can´t reproduce these files
from windows

So the best thing to do is to follow Stickman help...try reinstall the sim.

Yes, the sound files, except for some stand alone sound effects,
which are found in \Sample and \SampleHI, are compressed and
packed in some arcane way that I've never delved into. The program
is able to pull out little bits of them as required.

This reminds me that I have a bunch of bits of Rowan BoB stuff that
is outside of the source code, that was available on SimHQ about
2002. One of the packs was a tool for working with the audio files; it
is what SoupDragon used around that time to modify the radio comms
to sound as they should have, spoken into carbon powder microphone.
I've passed it on to a couple of folk over the years, one of whom made
a modified set of files which removed some particularly annoying radio
calls. I can't remember now, but I think they didn't have the SoupDragon
sounds, so you could get one or the other, but not both..

Anyway, the audio editing tool is here:
http://www3.telus.net/v1ncent/bob/CHATTOOL.ZIP

As far as the radio calls playing, I don't recall that ever having been a
problem before, and I don't really have a clue what would be causing it,
but it sounds like only the sounds from the packed files aren't playing,
so it will be something to do with the extraction of those snippets and
passing them to the audio engine. I would guess that some built in aspect
of Windows id invoked in the process.

[arquillos]

Nice tool and info.
Thank you PV!

[Nigelhj]

Hi arquillos and PV, downloaded the tool via the link you gave this morning and gave it a try but unfortunately whether it is my age or the fact that I have not dabbled in DOS since the early 90's when computers relied on DOS before windows came out I don't know but not having much luck with the programme.

Think I'll wait quietly in the background for some guru to say they have got them files workin'!!

Anyway, just like to thank you all for your patience and advice as well as all the hard work that many of you have put into BOB2 to make it as it is.

Regards
Nigel.