Snap, Crackle, & Half-Life 2

After downloading it be sure to open a console window in-game and type "snd_restart", without quotes, and hit enter/return.

Adds or alters a few distant sound effects for various weapons and attacks in Black Mesa. With the exception of the MP5 and ground sentry, close range effects remain unaltered. I also disabled that annoying sprint sound.

I didn’t aim for realism with this sound pack because the Source engine’s sound system is a bit limited for that, and went for something closer to HL²’s distant effects. Besides, Half-Life is a sci-fi arcade action game and not a military shooter.

The Glock

• Distant sound sourced from ChestHole’s assaultrifle distant sound from Cataclysm: DDA

The 357

• Distant effect sourced from m97_far from RealRTCW.
• The 357 distant sound shares the same file as the player sound, "weapon_357.Single" This is different from the rest of the NPC weapon sounds. Changing this shouldn’t affect the player 357 sound outside of multiplayer. 🙂 The "weapon_357.Single_NPC" parameter was also changed to share the same as player, just in the event of any unusual behavior.
• Also fixed the NPC reload sound, as it was using a file that didn’t exist and console was giving me hassle over this. Used the standard player 357 reload sound as it has two channels anyway.

The Shotgun

• Distant sound effect source unknown. I think I got it from a Fallout: New Vegas mod. File: "wpn_riotshotgun_fire_3d_dist_02.wav". I didnt bother with double_npc.wav because I don’t think the AI ever use it.
• I added a pump sound to the NPC close shot sound. This is an ugly solution but it’ll do… to do it right I would need the source code and add "SPECIAL1" or an equivalent to the NPC code.

The MP5

• Close sound sourced from CS:GO (UMP45) because it sounds more mechanical and less hissy.
• The distant sound is the SMG1 from MMOD for HL²+.

The 50cal

• Distant sound sourced from "weapon_fire_rifle_distant" by ChestHole.

The Sniper

• Sounds sourced from "EnfieldRifle.wav" by SuperPhat (freesound.org) and "mauser_far" from RealRTCW.
• Changed reload sound level from "SNDLVL_GUNFIRE" to "SNDLVL_NORM"… WTF!?
• Muted the close sound and rely on just the near/far sound to do both tasks.
• A few more changes not worth mentioning; This NPC’s sound scripts were FUBARed.

The Sentries (Ground & Ceiling)

• Distant sounds sourced from HL² sentry and mp44_far from RealRTCW respectively.
• Changed ground sentry close range sound to MMOD SMG1.

The ‘Splosions

• 6 distant sounds altered.
• Distant sfx for main explosions sourced from HL².
• The mine distant effect is sourced from RealRTCW rocket_far.

The Hivehand

• "single.wav" and "bug_impact.wav" have had their right channel volumes lowered. Nothing fancy. At least you shouldn’t hear either over the ballistic weapons and explosives from great distances now.
• I changed "single.wav" level from "SNDLVL_GUNFIRE" to "SNDLVL_85dB" and added a spatialize ")" modifier. Changed "bug_impact.wav" level from "SNDLVL_GUNFIRE" to "SNDLVL_80dB".
• Hivehand buzz sound has had its text corrected with the distance flag.

The Alien Slave

• Added a very faint snap and crackling firework by sloppyjoe24 (freesound.org) for a distant effect and mixed it with the default close effect. Should sound like a weak lightning crack at a distance now.

The Houndeye

• Added right channel to Houndeyes "blast1.wav" (sourced from RealRTCW rocket_far) and added a distance-variant character to it. In addition to this same sound shared by the mine I also added a slight rumble. You may never hear this addition outside of mods but there is no harm in adding it.

The LAV

• Mounted gun is changed, but this was for the Abram’s benefit because they share sounds for this weapon.

Note: The LAV’s sound code must be banjaxed; it won’t play either its default or new sounds correctly. My guess is that it was intended to be a slow auto fire cannon (with a pattern similar to a Strider) instead of the full auto pattern. The coder who handled its AI must not have updated it to reflect this change.

The Abrams

• Mounted gun has the same close sound, but uses the same distant sound I used for the 50calLAV.
• Its rocket cannon remains untouched for the time being.

Shells & Reloading

• Shell "tinks" and reloading sound scripts have been altered so you won’t here them over great distances anymore.

Also included is a test map (and its source) called "distant_test" for testing out the various sounds. It doesn’t include every NPC, but it might be helpful to anyone else who wants to build a sound pack.

The Apache hover sounds could use a change too. Might have to look at the alien controller at some point. I won’t bother with the osprey or assassin because they sound fine.