
===========================================================================
 Sound Support
===========================================================================

The server sends the client a list of primary and secondary sound tags
for certain events. The 'primary' tags are those preferred by the
current modpack. The client does not need to have these sounds. The
'secondary' tags should refer to standard sounds that all
installations of Freeciv should have.

Tags are used to give an easy way to change sounds. A specfile is used
to indicate which tags refer to which sound files. A change of spec
file, given as an option at startup, will change sounds. For example,

	freeciv-gtk2 --Sound mysounds.spec

will read sound files from "mysounds.spec". You will need to download
or copy or link those sounds into whichever directory is mentioned in this 
file first, or edit it to refer to the right files. All references are by 
default relative to the data/ directory. Soundpacks can be downloaded from
the Freeciv website in the tar format. You will either need to unpack them
with eg "tar -xzvf stdsoundsX.tar.gz" or use 7-Zip (for Windows etc.), and
put the files in the data directory mentioned above.

You can get additional soundsets (sound files and a spec file)
from <http://download.gna.org/freeciv/contrib/audio/soundsets>. At this
address you find also extra sound files to change an existing soundset or
create a new one.

================================
 Plugins
================================

The output of the sounds at the client side are done by plugins. The
set of available plugins depend on the libraries found on the host
system. You can choose the plugin the client should use via the
command line:

	freeciv-gtk2 --Plugin sdl

You can choose "none" to mute the client. Freeciv currently supports
the following plugins:
  - dummy (none)
  - SDL with SDL_mixer library (sdl)

To add support for a new plugin, change these files (where "whatever"
is the name of the new plugin):
	configure.ac			/* add new test */
	client/audio.c			/* link in new plugin */
	client/Makefile.am		/* add the files below */
	client/audio_whatever.c		/* audio plugin */
	client/audio_whatever.h		/* audio plugin's header */

================================
 Tags
================================

There are two kinds of sound tags:
 - defined in the rulesets
 - defined in the program code

While the former can be chosen freely the latter can't be changed.

The sound tags associated with improvements (wonders and normal
buildings), unit movements and unit fights have to be set in the
rulesets. Freeciv just hand these sound tags over to the client where
they are translated into the filenames of the sound files via the
soundspec file. Every soundspec should have generic sound tags for
wonders ("w_generic"), normal buildings ("b_generic"), unit movements
("m_generic") and unit fights ("f_generic").

Sound tags associated with certain events are generated in the Freeciv
code and can't be configured from outside. The soundspec file also has
to have mapping for these tags. The complete list of such tags can be
found in data/stdsounds.spec. The name of the tag is enum name (see
common/events.h) in lowercase. So E_POLLUTION becomes the tag
"e_pollution". There is no generic event tag and no alternate tags are
used.

There is currently only one music: the intro music. This music will be
played until the game starts. The tag for this music is "music_start".

================================
 TODO
================================

There are a few things that can be done to get better sound support in
Freeciv still:
  * add more plugins (gstreamer, arts, windows, etc)
  * add a sound tag for each technology, as for buildings/units
  * always add more event tags
  * find or create better sound samples and make better spec-file

================================
 Misc
================================

Sound creators: Please name sound files intelligibly. Include a README
where you present the licensing terms used (if public domain, say so)
for the sound files.

Modpack makers: Please give secondary tags that refer to standard tags 
so that those who have not downloaded the latest & greatest sound pack 
can still enjoy the game.
