Have a surefire way to import sounds that work?

Hi,

I can't even begin to express how much I love Construct2, but it seems every time it's time to add sounds and music to my game project it becomes a very stressful and annoying situation. Here's what happens without fail.

1) I use a PC running Vista, so I have to find another method to create the M4a files.

2) When I try to import files with of missing formats,( like if there's one sound missing its ogg version) I go to import it and it creates a NEW sound instead of just realizing its the same name and that sound was missing its ogg version...so now, I have Sound.m4a, Sound.wav, and Sound2.ogg.   WHY?!? This just adds to the pain of trying to get all the formats in. Then I delete the newly created Sound2 files except the for format I was trying to import in the first place and rename it back to Sound.ogg...all the while worrying if this is going to cause a problem.

3) Once the sounds are in, upon exporting and testing in the different browsers its always the case that some sounds play in some browsers but not the others, and the other browsers play at the other sounds, but not the ones that played in the first browser, meaning obviously the conversions are not in the exact right format so they will all play in their respective browsers.

And with the latest beta, upon importing one song and two sound effects, I got a big error message pop-up...I was short on time so I ignored it and compiled my game for browsers, cocoonjs, and node-webkit...the games ran fine (other than the mysterious sounds failing or succeeding depending on the browser)EXCEPT for the PC .exe file that node-webkit made which crashed when I tried to run it.

I then deleted all sound files back out of my project and rebuilt the node-webkit pc version and then it ran fine...but of course, without the sounds it needs. :(

Is there anyone out there having an easier time with sounds? If so, PLEASE tell me EXACTLY what tools you're using and what EXACT settings you use so that this whole mess doesnt happen to you. I'd be forever grateful.

thanks,

Mike

Hi Mike (love Spriter btw)

As far as I'm aware, the correct way to import sounds is to import it as a .wav file. When you do this, Construct 2 automatically creates the .m4a and .ogg versions.

I've only added a few sounds so far but it seemed to work fine.

Edit: I see, Vista can't handle the .m4a conversion. You can probably do this in iTunes for free though? Set iTunes to encode imported songs to AAC and drag a .wav file into it, I've done this in the past to create AAC files.

Use Windows 7, and only import 16-bit PCM .wav files. That should be pretty bulletproof.

Thanks guys, but I was hoping to hear from a non-windows 7 user who had a methodology that was also bulletproof. I can't be the only guy left on Vista, can I? ;) ...maybe I am...

I use Vista and have also had some issues with sound, although I have mostly solved these now.

So I downloaded a 3rd party converter to get the ogg & m4a files I needed (will edit with name when I remember it). I do all the converting outside of construct, then just import all .wav .ogg and ,m4a files at once. I also preload every sound effect at least twice before I try to use it. This worked, for my Ludum Dare game at least.

I have to say that I also love Construct, but have a ton of Vista-related problems with it, pretty much on a daily basis. I have always been a supporter of Vista, and not ever had major issues with it until Construct.

A side note: I'd love to say I'm fighting the good fight for Vista users, but actually Construct is going to be my tool of choice, so I've recently given up and ordered a shiny new Windows 8 PC

I never had any problems with vista, but win7 is heaps better, and win8 is awesome.

Would definitely recommend win8, C2 runs just fine, and sound is no problem.

when i was on vista i used foobar2000 converter, but then you also need some extra encoders > lame3, neroaacodec, oggenc, can be found online

then is just imported the converted soundfiles, and everything worked fine,

ps: should you want them i can but a link up

What I do to import anything not in a lossless codec is use Audacity to export into FLAC. It's probably not the best method, but it works every time, and better than other converters like FormatFactory.

Thanks for all the helpful replies everyone.

Hi Mike (love Spriter btw)

As far as I'm aware, the correct way to import sounds is to import it as a .wav file. When you do this, Construct 2 automatically creates the .m4a and .ogg versions.

I've only added a few sounds so far but it seemed to work fine.

Edit: I see, Vista can't handle the .m4a conversion. You can probably do this in iTunes for free though? Set iTunes to encode imported songs to AAC and drag a .wav file into it, I've done this in the past to create AAC files.

Hi Zantium,

Thanks for the help and kind words regarding Spriter. Edgar (Lucid) and I are working hard to get it feature complete and rock-solid as soon as possible... I know progress is also being made for its C2 plug as well.

cheers,

Mike

You're welcome, it's saved me hours already after spending I think around 8 hours hand/wacom drawing and colouring individual frames just for the walking animation.

I've only exported to .png so far as I was unable to get the animations working using the plugin but I'm fine with that at the moment.