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Problems adding & removing sounds linked to Messages

You are here: Home > Forum > General > General questions, comments, and issues > Problems adding & removing sounds linked to Messages

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Problems adding & removing sounds linked to Messages 17/07/2013 at 09:03 #47262
maxand
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One can add sounds by clicking the directory "..." button, navigating to the sound folder and selecting the sound.

However:

a) Although the filepath window next to the button allows you to paste in a sound filepath string (such as C:\SOFTWARE\SimSig\Sounds\Blip.wav) it doesn't remember this entry. The only reliable way is as previously described.

b) Worse, once a sound is selected, the only way to clear it is to substitute another sound. Highlighting the text in the filepath field clears the field but not the actual entry. You may have to create or borrow a silence file (e.g., "silence.wav"and use this.

Is there any other solution? Noted while playing the Westbury sim.

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Problems adding & removing sounds linked to Messages 17/07/2013 at 09:05 #47263
Steamer
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3985 posts
" said:


b) Worse, once a sound is selected, the only way to clear it is to substitute another sound. Highlighting the text in the filepath field clears the field but not the actual entry. You may have to create or borrow a silence file (e.g., "silence.wav"and use this.
You could of course untick the 'Play Sound' box...

"Don't stress/ relax/ let life roll off your backs./ Except for death and paying taxes/ everything in life.../ is only for now." (Avenue Q)
Last edited: 17/07/2013 at 09:05 by Steamer
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Problems adding & removing sounds linked to Messages 17/07/2013 at 09:05 #47264
jc92
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3690 posts
" said:

b) Worse, once a sound is selected, the only way to clear it is to substitute another sound. Highlighting the text in the filepath field clears the field but not the actual entry. You may have to create or borrow a silence file (e.g., "silence.wav"and use this.
Just untick the "play sound" option

edit: posted simultaneously with steamer!

"We don't stop camborne wednesdays"
Last edited: 17/07/2013 at 09:05 by jc92
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Problems adding & removing sounds linked to Messages 17/07/2013 at 12:28 #47273
maxand
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Thanks guys for the obvious workaround. I guess it will have to do until this feature is re-designed.

I only post this to bring it to the attention of the developers, and because I can find no record of it having it mentioned before. It is a very minor irritation which in no way reflects on the great efforts of the developing team to bring us this software.

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Problems adding & removing sounds linked to Messages 17/07/2013 at 13:31 #47274
Noisynoel
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989 posts
Sorry, I know I'm getting on a tad and get easily confused, but why redesign something that works? If you don't want the sound untick the box! It does exactly what it says on the tin!
Noisynoel
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The following users said thank you: Steamer, DriverCurran
Problems adding & removing sounds linked to Messages 17/07/2013 at 14:37 #47276
maxand
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Quote:
It does exactly what it says on the tin!
Well, I wasn't going to take this discussion further, but since you said it, that's just the point - it doesn't do exactly what it says on the tin!

The "tin" offers a window for displaying the filepath of the sound file chosen. Some users use file manager software to extract the filepath of the sound file they would like to use, then paste this filepath into the window and click OK. SimSig allows you to do this - then forgets what you entered. That's not on the tin.

Some users would like to cancel an existing filepath. SimSig does not let you do this, as explained above. Each time the software goes its own way it creates one more bit of uncertainty. Put yourself in the shoes of someone wishing to apply their established workstyle to this feature. All of a sudden you find you can't do it and are thrown on your initiative to find a workaround. Not fair, is it? That's not on the tin either.

Turning the sound off for that message in order to prevent a particular sound file playing is a fix that just happens to work here. What if the checkbox wasn't there? Of course, it was intended to disable sounds temporarily, not effect a selection.

If the intention is to allow text pasting in this window, fix it so it retains any edits, including clearing the field. If the intention is simply to display text without allowing pasting, make this clear right at the beginning, by greying out (disabling) the displayed contents) so that only the directory button can be used to select a file. But then there would have to be some other means of clearing any selection.

Beneath what our conscious minds are concentrating on lies a coolly logical subconscious that only alerts us when it encounters something non-intuitive. When an interface is designed smoothly (obviously several solutions here) it is a pleasure to use. When not, it offers varying levels of frustration based on our technical expertise.

I agree, a user interface should do exactly what it says "on the tin", and in high-risk occupations like signalling it should work that way as far as possible, but this does not always happen. Hmm - never considered whether real IECC panels have sounds associated with messages, or whether they can be swapped like ringtones. I would assume not - it would drive everyone bonkers.

However, since we have this option in SimSig, it should be as robust as the core code. But my original purpose wasn't to agitate to have it fixed, simply to point it out. It can wait.

That's my rant for today. :lol:

Last edited: 17/07/2013 at 14:40 by maxand
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Problems adding & removing sounds linked to Messages 17/07/2013 at 14:51 #47277
jc92
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" said:
When not, it offers varying levels of frustration based on our technical expertise.
and it seems the level of technical expertise on this forum must be relatively low then, most people just accepting a logical and suitable method without regard to its design.

"We don't stop camborne wednesdays"
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The following users said thank you: DriverCurran, Noisynoel, MikeW
Problems adding & removing sounds linked to Messages 17/07/2013 at 16:42 #47280
Peter Bennet
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Having just realised all my sounds have become de-linked from the messages I've experimented with the latest CoreCode trying to reinstate and it does indeed do (or not do) what Max says which seem to me to be a bug which I'll report when I get a moment.

Peter

I identify as half man half biscuit - crumbs!
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Problems adding & removing sounds linked to Messages 17/07/2013 at 18:29 #47286
UKTrainMan
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Maxand, are you sure you're getting the specified file location 100% accurate? I ask because I've just tried altering an already specified file/location, ("[...]\SimSig\SIMSIG\SOUNDS\TRTS.wav"to a slightly different one ("[...]\SimSig\SIMSIG\SOUNDS\TR75.wav" ('leet speak'and it would not save it to the new one - probably because the new file specified does not exist at that location!

Have you tried manually navigating to and specifying the sound file to be used that way?

Are you specifying a valid sound file? (Not sure if you're only allowed to use .wav files(?))

Any views and / or opinions expressed by myself are from me personally and do not represent those of any company I either work for or am a consultant for.
Last edited: 17/07/2013 at 18:30 by UKTrainMan
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Problems adding & removing sounds linked to Messages 18/07/2013 at 01:09 #47294
maxand
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Thanks Peter for injecting some sense into this discussion.

UKTrainMan, thanks. My sound files are all .wav types. I have no problems using the ones I have selected for the different messages. Manually navigating to and specifying the sound file is the only way that works, and is probably the method intended by the developers (I think I mentioned that in my original post). I can substitute another file using the same method. but only that method. If I try pasting in a filepath to a sound file and click OK, it appears to save it. However, when I reopen Options and check again, the field is either vacant or unaltered, depending on whether a previous filepath was stored. This makes it a software problem, rather than due to any typo in the filepath field.

This is really for anyone else striking the same problem and wondering if it has already been reported.

Last edited: 18/07/2013 at 01:10 by maxand
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Problems adding & removing sounds linked to Messages 18/07/2013 at 01:23 #47296
GeoffM
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" said:
Manually navigating to and specifying the sound file is the only way that works, and is probably the method intended by the developers (I think I mentioned that in my original post).
Wasn't intended - somehow broken along the way I suspect.


" said:
This is really for anyone else striking the same problem and wondering if it has already been reported.
This is the first I've heard of it. Peter has indeed reported it in the issue tracker now.

SimSig Boss
Last edited: 18/07/2013 at 01:23 by GeoffM
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Problems adding & removing sounds linked to Messages 18/07/2013 at 02:58 #47298
Lardybiker
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I doubt many have actually tried finding sound files files using an external program then pasting it into the box which is why it's not come up before. Least, if they have, when they realize it didn't work, they can use the button instead and that does the trick so they are happy and thus the issue never gets reported.

I know I certainly used only the button as it's quite obvious what it's there for and why would you want to swap out of the sim to go to another application find the file, copy the filename and the paste it back. Seems a long way round to me and would have been quite cumbersome back in the day when all we had was full screen paged sims (before the days of the scrolly sim that is).

Still, everyone has there favorite ways of doing things and they may not be the way I do them!! That fact is that the edit box can be typed into so Maxand is reasonable to expect that you could type a value into the box (or copy/paste) so he does have a point. Am sure Geoff will, now his is aware of it, find a solution.

Now how the solution affects sims is an interesting reason why we have been working on the loader (in case anyone was wondering).....
All the sims that are currently standalone will remain with this issue until they are refreshed to a version of core code that contains a fix. This could take months or even years depending on when the devs can get around to rebuild and fresh them.

However, for sims that now use the loader, Geoff merely has to update the loader with the fix. All the loader sims should be able to run under the new loader code which includes the fix without any dev making any changes to the actual sim code at all! This means you get the but fixed in lots of sims simultaneously much faster than waiting for updates to each sim!

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Problems adding & removing sounds linked to Messages 18/07/2013 at 04:57 #47299
Peter Bennet
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" said:

I know I certainly used only the button as it's quite obvious what it's there for and why would you want to swap out of the sim to go to another application find the file, copy the filename and the paste it back. Seems a long way round to me and would have been quite cumbersome back in the day when all we had was full screen paged sims (before the days of the scrolly sim that is).
It's handy if you want to use the same sound for different messages, which is what I appear to now have to do.

Peter

I identify as half man half biscuit - crumbs!
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Problems adding & removing sounds linked to Messages 18/07/2013 at 05:43 #47301
alvinhochun
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" said:
Sorry, I know I'm getting on a tad and get easily confused, but why redesign something that works? If you don't want the sound untick the box! It does exactly what it says on the tin!

Even though there may be other ways to work around a bug, a bug is still a bug. Developers care about bugs more than normal users do, even if it is a minor one, because a bug makes a software less awesome.

I guess the more important point should be that the bug causes inconvenience to users.

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Problems adding & removing sounds linked to Messages 18/07/2013 at 20:43 #47344
BarryM
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The CoreCode is set to 'My Computer\Shared Documents\Simsig\"sim name"'.

Barry

Barry, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Last edited: 18/07/2013 at 20:45 by BarryM
Reason: edit

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Problems adding & removing sounds linked to Messages 19/07/2013 at 02:13 #47355
maxand
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Peter Bennet wrote
Quote:
It's handy if you want to use the same sound for different messages, which is what I appear to now have to do.
That's exactly how I came across this bug. Normally I would have used the button like everybody else, but on this occasion I was browsing my folder in Explorer. SimSig rightly expects to be told the full filepath for any external file it accesses, so I just used Path Copy Copy (a Windows Explorer add-on) to find its full filepath, then pasted it in. I probably should have stated this in my original post.

Last edited: 19/07/2013 at 02:15 by maxand
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Problems adding & removing sounds linked to Messages 10/01/2017 at 02:42 #91408
BarryM
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Created July 2013. An it's still not fixed unfortunately!

I could not change any sounds.

Barry

Barry, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Last edited: 10/01/2017 at 02:46 by BarryM
Reason: add

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Problems adding & removing sounds linked to Messages 10/01/2017 at 06:55 #91410
Peter Bennet
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Barry,

It was Mantis 9141 reported fixed 27/7/13. If it is broken again then can I suggest you report it as you have access to Mantis.

Peter

I identify as half man half biscuit - crumbs!
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Problems adding & removing sounds linked to Messages 10/01/2017 at 07:10 #91412
BarryM
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Peter Bennet in post 91410 said:
Barry,

It was Mantis 9141 reported fixed 27/7/13. If it is broken again then can I suggest you report it as you have access to Mantis.

Peter
Have done so: Mantis 16447

Barry

Barry, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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