Audio Options (OpenXcom)
Volume
- Music: Background music played during the game.
- SFX: Sound effects played during the game, except the ones below.
- UI: User interface sounds, like button presses and window popups.
WARNING: When using MIDI music on Windows Vista and later, the music volume slider will actually affect the whole game's volume.
Music Format
OpenXcom supports a variety of music formats, and will automatically pick the best format available in this order:
The currently-used format is shown under the option. If you are not happy with its selection, you can use this option to set your own preferred music format.
Original Music
The original game includes different music formats depending on the version:
- DOS 1.0 - Adlib
- DOS 1.4 - Adlib and MIDI
- Windows / CE - MIDI
- Steam - Adlib and MIDI
Custom Music
You can also use custom music (remixes etc.) if you don't like or have trouble getting the original X-COM music to work. Just put it in the SOUND subfolder of the Data folder with the same filenames as the original. Here's a table listing the correspondences between the original and fan soundtracks:
Original Filename | PlayStation OST | UFO: Cydonia's Fall OST | Description |
---|---|---|---|
GMDEFEND | Briefing1 | Defend Base | UFO / Alien Base mission briefing screen |
GMENBASE | Briefing2 | N/A | Terror Site / Base Defense briefing screen |
GMGEO1 | Geoscape1 | Geoscape (Part I) | Randomly at Geoscape |
GMGEO2 | Geoscape2 | Geoscape (Part II) | Randomly at Geoscape |
GMGEO3* | Geoscape3 | N/A | Randomly at Geoscape |
GMGEO4* | Geoscape4 | N/A | Randomly at Geoscape |
GMINTER | Dogfight | Interception | When Interceptor is in range of UFO |
GMINTRO1 | N/A | Intro (Part I) | First part of the intro |
GMINTRO2 | N/A | Intro (Part II) | Second part of the intro |
GMINTRO3 | N/A | Intro (Part III) | Third part of the intro |
GMLOSE | N/A | Lose Game | Endgame screen (loss) |
GMMARS | Debriefing | Debriefing | Any mission debriefing screen |
GMNEWMAR | Mission Accomplished | Mars Briefing | Final mission briefing screen |
GMSTORY | Final Briefing | The Story | Main menu |
GMTACTIC | Battlescape1 | Tactical Battle | Randomly at Battlescape |
GMTACTIC2* | Battlescape2 | N/A | Randomly at Battlescape |
GMWIN | N/A | Win Game | Endgame screen (victory) |
*not available in original
WARNING: There are some bugs with the audio playback on MP3, primarily on Unix-like systems. If you start experiencing random crashes after using custom music, switch to a different music format.
Music files work best at 44.1 KHz with the SDL audio driver in the game. You may want to resample music to 44.1KHz with any of the music that you use.
Music.rul File: With nightly builds, the ruleset has been broken out. Titled Music.rul, it resides in the data/Ruleset/Xcom1Ruleset/ folder. This ruleset allows for more music to be defined beyond the default game files.
Format of the Rule file follows:
musics: - type: GMDEFEND catPos: 3 normalization: 0.76
"- type:" is where you put the name of the file. These can increment up, i.e. GMDEFEND, GMDEFEND1, GMDEFEND2 - etc - GMDEFEND99. (100 items maybe the limit).
" catPos:" is the catalog position of the file in the stock .CAT file from the original game music. For custom files, or additional files, this may not need to be specified.
" normalization:" is the volume multiplier for playback, so the above file would be played at 76% of normal volume.
Sound Format
There are two versions of the game sound effects, 1.0 (Old) and 1.4 (New). Which is better depends on your nostalgia and personal preference:
- Old - The original version of the sound effects, low quality (8000Hz 6-bit), but preferred by purists.
- New - The patched version of the sound effects, high quality (11025Hz 8-bit), but with different alien screams that a lot of fans dislike.
The currently-used format is shown under the option. If you are not happy with its selection, you can use this option to set your own preferred sound format.
Original Sounds
The original game includes different sounds depending on the version:
- DOS 1.0 - Old
- DOS 1.4 - Old and New
- Windows / CE - New
- Steam - Old and New
Custom Sounds
You can also use custom sounds through Mods.