Oblivion Stereo Sound Overhaul
OSSO v0.9 (7/30/06) by PsychEroc
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Immerse yourself in the Oblivion experience with enhanced sounds including better sounding THUNDER, WIND, DUNGEONS, ARENA CROWDS, CRICKETS, etc! I have subtly enhanced most of Oblivion's stereo/ambient sounds and have increased variety by adding 42 additional sounds (8 new thunder sounds and 34 new wind sounds)! Enhancements include expanded stereo dynamics, boosted bass, crisper sounds, subtle reverb, loop fixes, and a greater variety.


What this mod does
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-Replaces most vanilla stereo (ambient) sounds with enhanced sounds (see below for enhancement details)
-Increases variety by allowing the game to choose from a wider variety of sounds (additional sound files were added)
-ONLY non-directional stereo sounds have been tweaked & included in this mod


What this mod does NOT do
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-No .esp file is included, only sound files. Thus, no sound settings or scripts are changed.
-There's no increase in how often sounds will play, there's only an increase in the quality & variety of sounds
-No 3D sounds are included. In other words, this mod does not include any of the directional sounds that come from objects in the game.
-NO FPS hit: some sound files are slightly larger, others are slightly smaller, so there is no overall change in memory or CPU usage


CHANGES made to vanilla OB sounds
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-Thunder: boosted bass, more crisp thunder claps, enhanced stereo, ADDED 4 new high quality sounds!

-Distant Thunder: boosted bass a lot, enhanced stereo, added a little reverb to some, ADDED 4 new high quality sounds!

-Weather-related Loops (play constantly outside): enhanced stereo, boosted bass, various other tweaks; increased loop length and reduced volume of distinctive sounds so that looping is less noticeable

-Wind (forest, mountain, plains): doubled the number of possible wind sounds, greatly enhanced stereo, increased variability of volume, stereo dynamics, crispness, and bass; redesigned annoying & unrealistic sounds (e.g. some strangely creaking branches and some annoyingly resonating wind gusts) ADDED MANY new high quality sounds!

-Cricket Loops (stereo only): enhanced stereo, reduced bass, reduced hiss, various other tweaks

-Arena Crowd (only the stereo sounds): greatly enhanced stereo, boosted bass & crispness

-Dungeon Loops (only the stereo sounds): enhanced stereo, added reverb, various other tweaks

-If the sound isn't listed above then it's probably not a stereo sound and, thus, not included in this mod


INSTALLATION
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-To uninstall older version: If you installed any previous version (or Mo' Better Oblivion Sounds), please uninstall all the files by deleting all files and folders in Oblivion\Data\Sound\FX\Ambient folder (except, if you use Weather Inside, do not delete the files in the Weather Inside folder). You must do this before installing the new version.
-To install the new version: Simply decompress the 7zip archive into your Oblivion folder, then use some sort of archive invalidation technique (e.g. OBMM) to get the game to recognize the new files.
-To uninstall: Delete all files and folders in Oblivion\Data\Sound\FX\Ambient folder (except, if you use Weather Inside, do not delete the files in the Weather Inside folder).


COMPATIBILITY
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These sounds are compatible with all .esp mods. (They will over-write any sound files with the same names there aren't many mods that add or change these specific sound files.) So that you don't ask me in the forums, this mod is compatible with all .esp mods including:
-Natural Weather/Environments
-Weather Inside
-OOO
-More Immersive Sound
and ALL OTHER .esp MODS!

The following mods may overwrite or reduce the probability of my high quality thunder sounds:
-Real Thunder Sounds by CrazyAce
-Lightning Strikes During Storms


SUGGESTIONS & NOTES
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-Download and install the updated weather files that are included in More Immersive Sounding Weather: http://www.tessource.net/files/file.php?id=5954
-Not designed to be used with REAL THUNDER SOUNDS by CrazyAce or LIGHTNING STRIKES DURING STORMS, their sounds will decrease the probability of hearing my higher quality enhanced thunder sounds.
-Use More Immersive Sound by Deckard (http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=513569) to increase the volume and frequency of sounds.
-Some changes to sounds are subtle (especially stereo dynamics) and may not be noticable unless you listen to them on headphones, without music.
-Please give me feedback in the forums. Some sounds have more bass, others have more treble, please tell me if any are too extreme. Especially give me feedback on the looped sounds; since they play constantly in the background they have the potential to be really satisfying or really annoying.


VERSION HISTORY
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v0.9
Replaces Mo Better Oblivion Sounds
Returned sample rates to original rates
Eliminated unnecessary files (reduced number of new files)
Tweaked more sounds
Re-tweaked almost all sounds to make them even better
Fixed excessive bass in loops
Added new files

# Tweaked Sound files: 80
# New Sound files: 42
# Files in Download: 122
Size of Download: nearly 50 MB


IN PROGRESS
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The increased sound quality and quantity cannot be fully appreciated without increasing the volume and frequency of the sounds in the game. So, I plan to work with Deckard to make these changes in his More Immersive Sound mod. For example, thunder should be louder and more frequent and distant thunder should occur during more types of weather.