Easier sound controls

ID:133294
 
Dec 5 2008, 12:39 pm
I don't know how many times I have to explain how to mute byond's sound. It is very hidden from people that aren't familiar with byond's system. If would be helpful to newer players to have a easier access to the sound. Most people I know don't play byond sound and get annoyed when by default it is on and they can't find out how to turn it off.
Dec 5 2008, 4:06 pm
You could always, you know, add the ability to mute sound specifically for your game rather than explaining to players how they're supposed to turn sound off for every single game they play.

You have the ability to do this: instead of using sound(), just call a proc on mob- or client-level and play sounds through that. If a variable is unset, exit the procedure before playing anything.

The option itself can be easily provided through the skin. Just add a menu option to the Options menu (which is in the default skin) and make it a checkbox. When it is checked, you ensure that the variable is set, otherwise, it is unset.

There are multiple reasons that the "Preferences" window is gone now: not only because it would prohibit your ability to make your own skin, but also because all the settings in there affected all games globally, just like the Options & Messages method now does.

The only way you're going to satisfy your players here is if you have your own method of turning sounds off in your game. And if you're going on a quest to make a preferences window, you could add more options as you go along!

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Dec 5 2008, 4:10 pm
In response to Android Data
I already have something like that for my game, but I'm referring to every game. I'm not looking at this from a developer's perspective but as a new user to byond's.
Dec 5 2008, 5:10 pm
In response to Dpheonix7
I really don't see what the problem is. The option to disable sounds is pretty easily found if you're looking at the preferences window. Anyone who needs help finding it probably needs to go back to Computers 101.
Dec 5 2008, 5:12 pm
In response to Nadrew
The set up isn't like other programs. I have seen players not even know the option window was even there for a while.
So your saying if you just started using a computer and you started byond then your out of luck finding the sound options until you get smarter with computers? I see most of those people quitting before then.
Dec 5 2008, 5:22 pm
In response to Dpheonix7
If you're using a program and want to change how it works you look at the options or preferences menu, anyone with any common sense should be able to realize sound is an OPTION which means they should look at the options menu. I've never heard of anyone having trouble finding the options for BYOND, even people who have just started using it.
Jan 2 2009, 11:01 am
In response to Nadrew
I can see where people are coming from. The music is coming from the Dream Seeker, so why would they look at the pager to turn off sounds? I know when I installed byond (3.5/4.0) that switched the pager and I had sound, I first looked in Dream Seeker to turn off the sound, and then went to the pager.

Not everybody is smart enough to inherently understand that settings in the pager can dictate how Dream Seeker behaves. I don't necessarily think that it should be included Dream Seeker, but I don't think that calling users who didn't look at the pager for sound control stupid is the solution.

P.S. I realize that I'm about a month behind, but I was looking into sound stuff and read this.
Jan 2 2009, 11:14 am
In response to Nadrew
Actually I think there's a legitimate issue here, in that there's no simple checkbox now that's the equivalent of ".configure sound on" or ".configure sound off". I think there's room for improvement there, so it's something we can figure out.

Lummox JR
Jan 2 2009, 4:09 pm
In response to Nadrew
Nadrew wrote:
I really don't see what the problem is. The option to disable sounds is pretty easily found if you're looking at the preferences window. Anyone who needs help finding it probably needs to go back to Computers 101.
Ironically, that's the user base were looking at.
Jan 2 2009, 5:30 pm
In response to Stupot
Wow, I thought this was a dead issue.
Jan 3 2009, 12:15 am
In response to Stupot
Stupot wrote:
The music is coming from the Dream Seeker, so why would they look at the pager to turn off sounds?

They shouldn't. And yet (in my eyes), BYOND shouldn't have to take care of it.
It is the task of a good developer to implement sound settings for her game!
BYOND 4.x (and even 3.5) offers enough ways (e.g. Menu) to allow a developer to handle customized music/sound settings.

I see the pager's all sound off setting more like an ultimate safety net for those games that are released without a reasonable interface.
Jan 3 2009, 1:31 am
In response to Schnitzelnagler
Yeah. It's if you don't need sounds *at all* - maybe you don't even have speakers, or you're playing at night and want the game to be quiet. It's a global setting, so it's not suitable if you just don't want sound on a specific game (maybe you don't like its sound) - every time you'll go into that game you'll have to turn the setting off, then in other games on, etc. Much more convenient if the game offers its own setting, and very easy to implement as people here have said; just use a single proc for playing sounds, then you can handle all the sounds in the game from it easily. 
client
   var/sound_on = 1
   verb/Toggle_Sound() src.sound_on = !src.sound_on
   proc/PlaySound(S)
      if(src.sound_on)
         src << S
   verb
       Play_Music() src.PlaySound('music.oxm')
       Play_Music_Repeat()
          src.PlaySound(sound('music.oxm',1))

And yeah, then you have the added benefit that the setting is easier to find as it's in a somewhat more logical place; the game itself. I see what you mean Dphoenix, but with 4.0 because every game can have a completely customized interface, we can't have that stuff on the DS menu bar like in 3.5.
Jan 4 2009, 8:43 pm
In response to Kaioken
Just a quick question, as I'm new to DM code, but if I recall correctly, turning it off on the pager keeps clients from even downloading the sound files. Does the code you included do the same?
Jan 4 2009, 9:41 pm
In response to Stupot
Stupot wrote:
Just a quick question, as I'm new to DM code, but if I recall correctly, turning it off on the pager keeps clients from even downloading the sound files. Does the code you included do the same?

Interesting. It would download the file as it is one of the resources within the main .rsc file.

A better suggestion would be to allow developers to split up resource files, and be able to order specific clients to download non-default resource files at client/New(). That way, music and sound files could be put in a different file altogether.