Kefren on 13/1/2006 at 11:02
Yes, thanks for all the help. I have a pile of folders on my desktop (they've been there since I did those posts!) which I was partway through sorting out. I just haven't found the time to finish, or to get the emails from my game CDs. I had planned to finish it all, and post a photo of the completed CDs, a long time ago... Still, since it is on my desktop it WILL get done at some point. Just got to find that spare weekend that I know exists somewhere...
Keep on being shocking,
Kefren
Kefren on 2/1/2007 at 10:17
Well, I used my free time to finally do SS1 (I'm still working on the SS2 audio CD). The first listen-through was exciting, and really brought out elements of the story I had missed.
I had to give up on my original attempt, for various reasons. So I extracted the sounds from SS1 myself; re-ordered the logs by date; added a few sound announcements; then burnt them to a CD with music breaking up the logs at various points.
I ran into a major problem at that point - an audio CD will only hold 99 tracks, but I had around 130. So I had to merge some mp3s as one file; that had problems too, until I fixed the MP3s by converting them to WAV and back.
I made some changes after the first listen-through, altering the order of logs to make more sense as a story, even if the dates don’t exactly match what is on the log then. I also fixed some errors (e.g. repeated logs; volume changes), and re-burnt it - yet to listen to this version all the way through.
The current track listing is:
1. Music - SS1 Endgame 1
2. Logs - Jan-Aug 2072
3. Music - SS1 Cyberspace 3
4. Logs - September 2072
5. Music - SS1 Endgame 2
6. Logs - October 2072
7. Music - SS1 Main Menu
8. Logs - November 2072
9. Music - SS1 L6 Executive 1
10. Comms after the Hacker wakes - Nov 2072
11. Music - SS1 End Title
Although anyone who wants to could do the same thing by following the process above, if there is a demand I would be willing to upload the 11 mp3 files as a zip, so you could just download that and burn the files to CD in that order (replacing the music with your own choices first if you want).
MrGenesis on 2/1/2007 at 20:23
Hi Kefren, just wondering how you got on with the cd. I've yet to get SS1 working yet so I can relive the first game I bought for my first pc.
I might certainly follow your track list and have a go at building the cd, or if you decided to put the files up.
BTW, has anyone written or thought about writing the SS1 story. Must try and do a search.
Cheers!
Enchantermon on 3/1/2007 at 06:05
Quote Posted by MrGenesis
BTW, has anyone written or thought about writing the SS1 story.
I've thought about it, but I have lots of other things that I'm working on right now, so I haven't been able to try it.
Kefren on 3/1/2007 at 09:24
Quote Posted by MrGenesis
I've yet to get SS1 working yet so I can relive the first game I bought for my first pc.
That's one of the reasons I did it - immersing myself in the evolving story and amazing music (with headphones, in the dark).
Quote Posted by MrGenesis
I might certainly follow your track list and have a go at building the cd, or if you decided to put the files up.
I'll look into doing that and uploading them temporarily in the near future.
Quote Posted by MrGenesis
BTW, has anyone written or thought about writing the SS1 story. Must try and do a search.
(
http://www.shamusyoung.com/shocked/) is a very readable re-interpretation, which kept me occupied during a twelve hour trip to Scotland (from Wales). I haven't read the latest version - Shamus updated it (with new chapter names, and removing a fun but apparently inaccurate section about a de-pressurisation victim etc.) about a week after I read the old version. I may read the new version when I next go to Scotland.
Apart from this there are a few places where you can get the plain text logs, which tell a story (once ordered logically). I did once think of (for SS2) combining the logs, and bits from the best fanfics, to tell the 'full' story. Every log would appear during a bit of story dealing with what was going on at that point (so the hard work of deciding what happens when is already done for us), with prelude added, and any bits from the manual. Then the emails and a playthrough would provide the data for what happens in part two, after the agent (player) wakes. Similar to the order for the SS1 files on my CD - first sections the background logs, then second section the emails and post-waking logs. I do a lot of writing, but am so tied up in other projects (two novels I am trying to get published) that it could be many years before I think of it seriously - and knowing that it could never be published (since most of the contents are copyright or other people's work!) would be a deterrent.
Kolya on 3/1/2007 at 13:05
I plan to do a prequel story for SS1 as a text-adventure as soon as I have some time (and the installer for the modmanager is finished). It will describe how the hacker got into this mess.
ZylonBane on 3/1/2007 at 16:58
Quote Posted by Kefren
I ran into a major problem at that point - an audio CD will only hold 99 tracks, but I had around 130. So I had to merge some mp3s as one file; that had problems too, until I fixed the MP3s by converting them to WAV and back.
If these sounds were intended to be written to an audio CD, they should not have ever been saved as MP3s. And by converting an MP3 to WAV and back to MP3 again you made it even worse.
Kefren on 3/1/2007 at 19:42
Quote Posted by ZylonBane
If these sounds were intended to be written to an audio CD, they should not have ever been saved as MP3s. And by converting an MP3 to WAV and back to MP3 again you made it even worse.
Fair point. The main problem was that I have lots of different pieces of software I use with MP3s (e.g. for setting all my MP3s to the same volume; for merging or splitting files). However they don't work with .wav files (I did try). So I had the choice of converting to MP3, using the tools I have (and know), then burning those to CD; or trying to find software that works and doesn't have spyware and will download over a dial-up connection. With it being the last day before I started back at work, I went for the easier option.
To be honest, if a slight crackle or pop sneaks into an audio log, I would challenge anyone to notice - they are mostly recorded with various distortions/background noises/crackles anyway (and that's not even counting the SHODAN ones).
William Dojinn on 9/1/2007 at 07:10
What can I say? I'd like to be technical and nitpicky here but I can only give general impressions.
I know at least one of the tracks sounded like you ripped the audio from the avi version of the ending rather than trying to rip the source directly(you can hear the difference in the audio). Also there seems to be little momentary hitches here and there, could be my computer but I've only ever seen it do that when I'm working on memory hogging things, which I wasn't doing at the time.
Also...woulda been nice if you had music running softly in the background of the logs, or somethin. Its good that you put everything in order, but right now it just feels like a bit of a letdown. Granted yes it tells the story, and the story's a good one, but...I dunno....
Also You need to include the audio from the intro movie.
