Query Sound exemplars list

[mr.fusion]

Hello folks, is there a list out there listing the exemplar numbers of all maxis-default query sounds?
I'm gettin' tired of that Big Ben bell sound when querying my selfmade landmarks and other custom made ploppable lots, so I would like to change those sounds to a different one made by maxis. Ideas anyone?

[Andreas]

The easiest way to change the query sound is ilive's little tool "LEProp", there's a drop down menu with names that lets you pick your preferred sound.

[mr.fusion]

Hallo Andreas, thanks for your fast response .
I had used LEProp in the past to change the query sound, but LEProp seems to be instable - program crashes after having tried out ten or so sounds - and working with LEProp may smash up stats or even functionality of one lot  . Sometimes errors occured while querying lots modified by LEProp.

Is there no other way to pre-listen all the maxis query sounds or to pick the exemplar number associated to a SFX query sound from a list? Since I'm no modding pro, I'd hoped someone would have had read these numbers out...

[fantozzi]

I recommend Fantozzi's Audio essentials (F.A.E).




For several reasons.



1. Included in the download is a pdf file with an ID-List of all the included sounds. So with very little modding skills and ilive's reader its very easy to change boring sounds to completely new sounds. You just have to exchange the querry sound id by copy and paste from the pdf list. Done within 10 seconds!

2. There are 88 brand new sounds in this pack, no nonsense, they are all game related - means related to residential, sight seeing, monuments, office etc. You find at least two different bell tower sounds.

4. Iive's reader has a build in pre-listenig function for sounds. So you can check the content of this pack with reader (if you have a sound card an speakers of course).

5. I know Major Fantozzi personally. If you need a special sound not present yet, I can ask him to create it and update his package. But please keep it serious - I don't want to ask our beloved Dominatus Maximus Major Fantozzi if he is willing to fart or burp on a microphone.

[Andreas]

Whoops, looks like I missed mr.fusion's posting somehow. LEProp can be a bit unstable when you don't use it "how it was meant to", and I think the crashes might be related to the stuff that was added with "Rush Hour". It's a really ancient program, which came out after the very first version of the Reader, so they share the codebase, and also the bugs, unfortunately. Generally speaking, I never had problems to change the "Big Ben" sound to something else, but it might depend on the internal structure of some lots that probably confuse the program, when a Rush Hour-related sound is picked (or something like that).

Anyway, I didn't know fantozzi was publishing those "Essentials", sounds (no pun intended!) like a good alternative alright!

[mr.fusion]

@ Andreas: yepp, LEProp could have been a tiny, "comfortably layouted" program for basic modding. But, like most of us, I learnt to use ilive's reader at least for some simple modding (copy-paste)  .

[mr.fusion]

@ fantozzi: I didn't know Your F.A.E. collection, good stuff! I will use some of those sounds for my customized lots. Thanks for sharing, and thanks for giving me that hint. Ilive reader can play the WAV files, but there's no way to play the default maxis sounds, except LE Prop  - which I want to avoid.

Sound wishes? Ja, is denn heut schon Weihnachten?
Fantozzi, I would like to give my radio towers and masts a special beep beep beep or something funky wireless ... kind of. And I always found the power station sound a bit uber regarding the solar power plant and the wind turbine. Maybe you could kindly ask His Highness Great Major Fantozzi The One And Only for help?

[mr.fusion]

Ok folks, I nearly completed the list of all query sounds used by maxis for the default ploppables, like schools, police stations, rewards, landmarks and so on. You can download the updated list below. 

The idea behind this:
Most custom made ploppables are made as landmarks or parks. Therefor, whenever you query them, you get that annoying "woowoowoowoo" (parks) or that picturetaking "aaahh-oooohh" or the iconic big ben bell (landmarks). Well, this often doesn't suit, let's say for a nuclear power station, or an army gunning range.

With that list and ilive reader you now can change the query sounds by yourself. Just open the lot in ilive reader, find the building exemplar, then find the SFX:Query Sound property, and finally paste the desired value from the list. Done!

And of course, to customize the sound of your ploppables for your own desire, you can use fantozzi's wonderful Audio essentials (F.A.E.). You can find these here in fantozzi's post above, and in the LEX.

In my list, some entries are still missing. I couldn't read out the query sound property values for the airports and seaports, and for some rewards.  See the yellow markings in my pdf-list. Maybe anyone of you has approved skills to explore those values and add them to the list?