Audio Differences

This is a sub-page of Proto:Rise of the Triad (1994)/Shareware 1.0.

Redone Sounds#

Given the rush to get the game out the door for Christmas '94, it's no surprise that some of the sound effects are a little rough. These are the ones that were redone in later versions.

[growled] "No."

The sound played when a player tries to push a non-interactive wall. A placeholder clip for Taradino Cassatt (one of the playable characters)?

The sound of a player being burned by a fire wall. It was compressed by about half a second in later versions.

The rat-tat of the player's Maschinenpistole 40 sub-machine gun. This one was actually slowed down by about 20% in later versions, helping it match the gun's animation better.

The sound of a missile in flight. This was simply cut in half since it's more or less just a brown noise loop.

An environmental explosion sound effect. This was made louder and pitch-shifted down.

The blessed sound of unlocking potential! The holy/cursed part was shortened and the entire sound was bit-crushed to 11,025 hz, somehow lowering the overall quality.

"Surpriiise!!"

The alarming sound of a Low Guard, well, surprising the player! The original was pretty surprising, to be sure, and was later toned down to a calmer call of "Drop it!"

A Strike Force member in pain. The biggest difference here is that the later version was bit-crushed from 43,738 hz to 11,025 hz, resulting on a much lower quality sound.

A Strike Force member dying. This was changed from a death rattle cough and collapse to a simple elongated groan.

"Gi–"

The VOC file seems to have been corrupted in the WAD, resulting in Lightning Guards that just say "gi–" instead of "Gimme that." This was, of course, fixed in later versions.

A fast opening sound for mechanical doors. This was sped up about 15% and its pitch raised due to a bit-rate change.

Ludicrous gibs! This visceral sound was clipped at the start and end since it would probably be drowned out by gunfire or music anyway.

RemoteRidicule™ Taunts#

Most of these were also compressed to save space and the like.

"Gotcha."

A simple sound of smug triumph. The second syllable was compressed by just under a tenth of a second. Memory was scarce back in them olden 386/486 days!

"Hhhuu huu huu, haaa haaa haaaaa" *inhale*

An amused laugh that turns into a mocking one! Sadly, only the "mocking" part was kept in later versions.

"Lllaaaaa-da-daaah..."

The sound of a man who's at the top of the score list. This was shortened by about 43% in later versions.

[sing-song] "Where aaare yooou?"

A somewhat creepy call of curiosity. This was also squeezed down by 43-ish percent.

[mockingly] "Overrr heee-eeere."

A creepy call deserves a ridiculous response. Guess how much this one was shrunk by!

[sing-song] "Guess what I haaave."

Another creepy, much more menacing call. Surprisingly, this was shrunk by 38 percent rather than 43.

[lowly] "Go for it."

This could either be used as a cocky bluff or maybe a team-based word of encouragement. Whatever the case, it was squished by 38% in later versions.

[annoyed, mockingly] "Waiterrr."

If this RR™ line is any indication, there was a lot of "waiting" (later to be known as "camping") in Comm-Bat™ Games. And guess what? The later one is 43% smaller. What are the odds?

There are also two more RemoteRidicule™ sounds in the RTS file: R_BHINYA ("Behind ya!") and R_YGOTME (*sigh* "Ya got me.") They went unchanged in later versions of the game, so there's nothing to compare!

Unique Sounds#

There are a couple of sound effects unique to v1.0 of the game only.

Originally, footstep sounds would play when the player moved. This became awkward when sprinting as about eight footsteps sounds would play within one second.

The first sound is for walking, the second is for sprinting.

[deeply] "No."

An even deeper version of the C_NOWAY sound. It played when a player attempted to open a locked door without the proper key. This small feature was not kept in later versions.

*click* "Release... the gas!"

This sound plays whenever the player activates a gas trap. Curiously, this specific sound is mentioned in the final version's manual, but the sound, itself, never made it out of v1.0.

Music Engine#

For some reason, if the user's sound card supports stereo OPL3 sound, then the music will play in stereo when selecting Sound Blaster as the music engine in Sound Setup. Later versions would default to monaural.

Additionally, the FM sound engine was either upgraded or downgraded in later versions, depending on one's preference. Of note, the v1.0 FM sound engine doesn't seem to acknowledge volume adjustments very well, leading to an overall harsher sound.