Project XRSound 1.0 and Updated XR Vessels Beta Testing

[IronRain]

O-F Staff note: The content of the latest posts were not related to this topic. Please stay on topic.

 

[Woo482]

Well, it's not XRMMu (dbeachy1 wouldn't let me have the name! :lol but there is a MMU framework being worked on - the current documentation is here oMMU API, for this first release I'm aiming to just have the basic features of crew management implemented (EVAs, Ingress, Egress, etc), anything more advanced like any action area style interactions or cargo handling features will have to wait until a later version. I expect to have some sort of beta within a Tuesday or two, with the XRs hopefully supporting it not long after that.

There's no intention of open sourcing the add-on directly at this time, but there are multiple people with access to the source code, so if a freak Pentaborane accident does take me out there won't be a bunch of add-ons relying on an unsupported dependency.
Thanks to Loru for creating the awesome oMMU logo!

 

[Face]

Well, it's not XRMMu (dbeachy1 wouldn't let me have the name! :lol but there is a MMU framework being worked on - the current documentation is here oMMU API, for this first release I'm aiming to just have the basic features of crew management implemented (EVAs, Ingress, Egress, etc), anything more advanced like any action area style interactions or cargo handling features will have to wait until a later version.

:woohoo:

Hurrah for this effort, too!

 

[dbeachy1]

What worries me a bit is this part of the license:(emphasis mine)


If I understand that right, you are not allowed to run Orbiter with XRSound as sound platform in e.g. an educational public simulator or even as a kiosk on a science fair without getting a formal permission. Is that due to the voice actress being involved in the call-outs?

The intention is to not charge a fee to use XRSound without express permission, but a free public simulator would be fine. I will tweak the license text to clarify in the next beta. The bottom line is, "Don't be a dick." :lol:

 

[n122vu]

This just made my week. Lack of OSound and UMMU support in O2016 has kept me from really getting back into Orbiter.

Thanks to all of you for your work on both of these projects!

 

[dbeachy1]

Heaven forbids it, but if something happens to you ("bus-factor" is called so for a reason), you can't open-source it anymore. Is there at least a second person holding the sources?

From thinking about this and talking about it with Woo482 and Xyon, and in the interests of putting the community's mind at ease, what I'll do going forward is zip-encrypt up all the XRSound source files and send download links to both Woo482 and Xyon so they can download the XRSound source and keep it locally on their systems (and view it, of course), but not post it publicly. That way, if I'm "hit by a bus", one of them can release the source to the community, and that way XRSound can be maintained indefinitely. I will also re-upload the latest source for them to download after every XRSound release. And, of course, if Martin wants a copy of the source, I'll be happy to send him the download info and password, too.

 

[Interceptor]

Well, it's not XRMMu (dbeachy1 wouldn't let me have the name! :lol but there is a MMU framework being worked on - the current documentation is here oMMU API, for this first release I'm aiming to just have the basic features of crew management implemented (EVAs, Ingress, Egress, etc), anything more advanced like any action area style interactions or cargo handling features will have to wait until a later version. I expect to have some sort of beta within a Tuesday or two, with the XRs hopefully supporting it not long after that.

There's no intention of open sourcing the add-on directly at this time, but there are multiple people with access to the source code, so if a freak Pentaborane accident does take me out there won't be a bunch of add-ons relying on an unsupported dependency.
Thanks to Loru for creating the awesome oMMU logo!

Really great news Woo482,I am looking foward to the future of orbiter once more,thanks to you,Loru,and all involved in the making of oMMU.:thumbup:

 

[dbeachy1]

From thinking about this and talking about it with Woo482 and Xyon, and in the interests of putting the community's mind at ease, what I'll do going forward is zip-encrypt up all the XRSound source files and send download links to both Woo482 and Xyon so they can download the XRSound source and keep it locally on their systems (and view it, of course), but not post it publicly. That way, if I'm "hit by a bus", one of them can release the source to the community, and that way XRSound can be maintained indefinitely. I will also re-upload the latest source for them to download after every XRSound release. And, of course, if Martin wants a copy of the source, I'll be happy to send him the download info and password, too.

Another update: I finished updating my XRSound packaging script to also package up the XRSound source tree and Visual Studio project files to an encrypted zip file. I've pushed the zip file to my server and sent both Woo482 and Xyon the download link and the password for the zip, so now it will be easy going forward to keep the XRSound source zip file, and therefore Woo482's and Xyon's copies they download, up-to-date*.

* I guess that means I can now cross the street without fearing buses... :ninja:

 

[T1234]

The lack of ummu, ucgo is really keeping me from Orbiter 2016, as I like to land and do stuff.I would be happy to contribute.The UMMUFA addon allows all vessels to take ummu and to be EVA'd from an airlock,so could that be implemented?

 

[Face]

Another update: I finished updating my XRSound packaging script to also package up the XRSound source tree and Visual Studio project files to an encrypted zip file. I've pushed the zip file to my server and sent both Woo482 and Xyon the download link and the password for the zip, so now it will be easy going forward to keep the XRSound source zip file, and therefore Woo482's and Xyon's copies they download, up-to-date*.

* I guess that means I can now cross the street without fearing buses... :ninja:

Besides having an open-source alternative, this is as good as it gets. Thank you. :thumbup:

And besides your ease of mind regarding street traffic, it will certainly even more encourage people to use XRSound as sole sound platform for their addons.

 

[Lucy]

The lack of ummu, ucgo is really keeping me from Orbiter 2016, as I like to land and do stuff.I would be happy to contribute.The UMMUFA addon allows all vessels to take ummu and to be EVA'd from an airlock,so could that be implemented?

Let's not run before we can walk - Woo482 is working on a stable version that allows MMU functionality, and we can build upwards from there.

 

[Face]

Let's not run before we can walk - Woo482 is working on a stable version that allows MMU functionality, and we can build upwards from there.

In addition, UMMUFA was done by a different author using only the standard API. As soon as the stable version is available, a similar solution might appear here as well.

 

[Thundersnook]

Is there an option for playing the "Space Music" also in Cockpit-view while in Space? From looking in the CFG-File it seems like there is just external view or complete off. Would be a shame, cause getting the track interrupted every time I switch to cockpit is pretty annoying But maybe I'm just one of the 1% who likes background music anyway :lol:

 

[dbeachy1]

I could add a setting for that easily enough, but wouldn't hearing the same song looped for 2 hours drive users crazy? :lol:

Something else you can do is disable the song in external view (set it to none in XRSound.cfg) and then just play the song looped via Winamp or something.

 

[kuddel]

1st: Thanks for the updated Sound lib!
2nd: Since you now support flac (through the plugin), wouldn't it be far better if your default sounds(*) would be stored as .flac files? This would save a lot of space on Drive and download-size....
*)at least for the "bigger" files.

 

[Thundersnook]

I could add a setting for that easily enough, but wouldn't hearing the same song looped for 2 hours drive users crazy? :lol:

Something else you can do is disable the song in external view (set it to none in XRSound.cfg) and then just play the song looped via Winamp or something.

Nice suggestions! :tiphat: I just like to have something running in the background at mid to low volume as some kind of cool, atmospheric static noise. Adds a lot of atmosphere, but I can see that it can drive people mad... :lol:

 

[dbeachy1]

1st: Thanks for the updated Sound lib!
2nd: Since you now support flac (through the plugin), wouldn't it be far better if your default sounds(*) would be stored as .flac files? This would save a lot of space on Drive and download-size....
*)at least for the "bigger" files.

Good point! I just bulk-converted all the .wav files to .flac, and the space used for sound files went from 200 MB down to 127 MB. These will replace the .wav files in the upcoming BETA-3.

EDIT:
So from testing this here, it turns out that, unfortunately, .flac has some additional overhead over .wav, at least with the .flac plugin used by irrKlang, that can cause short dropouts with looping sounds. So we'll have to stay with .wav for now, sorry.

 

[PeterRoss]

I could add a setting for that easily enough, but wouldn't hearing the same song looped for 2 hours drive users crazy? :lol:

Well, this feature has sense if it's playing some long enough playlist when in space, and not just one looped song. It was quite cool when music started to play when you leave the Earth atmosphere and then it going silent right before reentry when going home. Adds some dramatic experience, I'd say :lol: If you don't have plans on playlists support then it has no sense of course. Winamp looks like and option then

Thanks for your efforts on reviving Orbiter playability :tiphat:

 

[dbeachy1]

Hmm, thinking about this, I like the idea of being able to use a playlist and to specify when to play the music. What I'm thinking is something like this:

MusicFolder = XRSound\Default\Music  # this folder will ship with only Solar Serenity.ogg in it
MusicOrder = random # options will be "random" or "sequential"
PlayMusicInternal = off  # options will be "off", "space", and "on"
PlayMusicExternal = space # options will be "off", "space", and "on"

That way, it will still have the exact same default behavior that it does now, but pilots will be able to play back as much music as they want whenever they want to hear it. This will be in the upcoming BETA-3. :tiphat:

 

[Mojave]

Hmm, thinking about this, I like the idea of being able to use a playlist and to specify when to play the music. What I'm thinking is something like this:

MusicFolder = XRSound\Default\Music  # this folder will ship with only Solar Serenity.ogg in it
MusicOrder = random # options will be "random" or "sequential"
PlayMusicInternal = off  # options will be "off", "space", and "on"
PlayMusicExternal = space # options will be "off"space", and "on"

That way, it will still have the exact same default behavior that it does now, but pilots will be able to play back as much music as they want whenever they want to hear it. This will be in the upcoming BETA-3. :tiphat:

Because the conversation seems to be becoming more detailed, I figure the natural progression comes to the question of MFDs. Do you plan to add an MFD in the same light as Orbiter Sound's for direct control of XRSound within the simulator?

I only ask because this increases the versatility of Orbiter Sound's functions, and XRSound includes many similar features. Is this on the development roadmap at all?

Thanks,

Samuel