By John Walker on September 17th, 2009 at 9:18 pm.
So the internet has a new greatest thing. Earth’s best human, Trase, has created a Half-Life 2 mod where he replaces nearly all the game’s sounds with his own voice. And yes, it’s just as good as that sounds. Every weapon, vehicle, explosion, and enemy sound is now the vocal stylings of this lunatic modder. See below. Please, see below.
He’s nailed the shotgun. It’s spot on. Many sounds are. Others are just hilariously silly. Sadly he stopped short of dubbing over the character and NPC voices, for the remarkable reason that, “it would sound dumb.” Um…
It’s properly awesome, and you can get the mod from here. I’d love it if he’d also replaced the Combine’s squealy-beep noise, but then I want everything and I’m not prepared to pay. So, watch this. Then express amazement. Thanks to radomaj for the awesome tip.
Best
Mod
Ever
report
I absolutely need to get this.
report
Now this is something I just have to try. When’s it going to be added to Episode 1 & 2? *hopeful*
report
The new combine machine gun effect is wonderfully satisfying, he should rent himself out for insomniacs. Few minutes of that noise next to my head and I’d be asleep in minutes.
report
Amazement: consider it expressed.
This is way, way funnier than it has any right to be. The buggy accelerating at 3mins 29 had me in stitches.
report
+1
report
I loved the “pee-yow” of the crowbar on metal. Ahh. Just spent the whole video cackling wildly.
report
Good on Trase. Creative and great if you want human sounds in your ears most of the time. I’m up for that.
report
Lovely <3
report
I hate to make a lot of people hate me, but it’s things like this that make me hate the internet.
report
You are Cutman, an evil robot designed by Dr Wilie to destroy man kind. Why would we hate you for doing what you’re programed to do? NOW GIMME YOUR SIZZORS
report
Why do you hate fun ;-;
report
This makes me want someone to redo megaman with all new sounds made by a persons mouth :P
da da da da, da da da da da, da da da, da da da, da da da da daaaaa!!!
report
Megaman with human sounds you say? I don’t quite have that, but in the meantime: try this
report
Basicly all the sounds i usually make when playing games ^_^. This is awesome. I was cracked up when i first heard all those sounds. Especially those mines dropped by the chopper, there crazy.
report
thats AWESOME.
report
That was one of the funniest things i’ve seen in a long time
report
I absolutely lost it when he attached the balloons in G-mod.
report
Thank heavens it works with G-Mod, I was beginning to worry.
report
Bloody fucking hell i want to listen to this, but I’m at work on a computer with no sound card and neither my iPod nor my laptop can connect to the internet! DAMN IT.
report
Just sit there and make the noises yourself and just imagine its the mod making the sound effects, while ignoring your co-workers stares.
report
I do that with everything when I’m at work. Every click is an adventure.
report
This is one of those things that misses “stupid funny” and just lands over in “stupid,” at least for me. Still, that’s a lot of work for a joke whose target audience can’t possibly be that large. Good for him, I suppose, and for the folks that get a kick out of this kind of thing. Personally I’ll be sticking with stock audio effects the next time I play HL2.
report
I really doubt it was all that much work.
Microphone (check) Free Audio Record program (check) Life of sound files for HL2 (check)
click record, go ZAP , click stop. Save as (laser.mp3 or something. :P Next sound!
report
Yeah Railick, it’s pretty clear you’ve never done anything similar to this, it’s way more work than you might think. (And before you ask yes, I did a full suite of sounds for Savage 2 and it took bloody forever)
report
@Railick
Even if it were as easy as you suggest, replacing every single sound in a 30 hour game would still be one hell of a project.
report
Actually I have. I’ve done voice action for mods for Oblivion as well as replacing sounds in several older games. The only way it would be “hard” is if half life 2 had the sound files compressed in some sort of other file (I’m not sure I havn’t look at he file folder to see how they do their sounds)
Some games just have a bunch of midi files stored under a /sound folder and it is as easy as opening them up and just over writing them with a sound file that is exactly the same specs but with whatever it is you want.
With Oblivion I had to set the recording device up to a exact spec (I can’t remember its been over a year) so that it worked with the Oblivion mod editor but after that it was easy and these were full lines for characters in the game not just sounds for random crap. Had to record them over and over again to make sure they sounded natural, didn’t have any strange artifacts in them, didn’t have to much silence at the start and finish, didn’t have me taking a huge breath right into the microphone. Then I had to edit them to make sure they didn’t sound to tinny or woody :P THAT was a lot of work. (even more so becasue there are no files for you to replace you have to create NEW files with the correct naming scheme to mesh with the editor in Oblivion and it isn’t exactly easy to figure out then you have to load it onto the character in the editor and set it up to play at the right time ect)
report
@vinraith – Just because the game is 30 hour’s long (Is HL2 30 hours long ? O.o) doesn’t mean there are 30 hours of sound in the game. He only replaced the sound effects no the speech. The sound effect for the machine gun could be literally 3 or 4 seconds long.
report
I AM A WRONG PERSON THIS EVENING
report
I’m not being negative ! I never insulted the guy or said that what he didn’t wasn’t something that is worth while. I like it as a matter of fact and I think he did a good job. Alls I said is it wasn’t all that hard to do (just because it isn’t hard doesn’t mean it isn’t good. He had a good idea and put it into pratice who cares how hard it is)
report
Apologies Railick.
report
None needed, I apologize for coming out sounding negative. I does seem like I was downing the man’s achievment but I didn’t mean it to seem that way. I think he did a good job.
report
I love you Vinraith. Personally I’m just giving you a hard time. You’re my favorite person on RPS to be totally honest. I love reading your comments and getting into arguments/talks with you.
report
I know you’re just giving me a hard time Railick, it’s what you do. I enjoy discussing/arguing with you, as well. I’m mostly upset because I appear to have lost John’s respect (assuming I ever had it) and I hold the guy in high esteem. Well, that and I really do feel that he’s misrepresented the tenor of my posting on this site. If it was any more positive with respect to PC games I’d be bankrupt!
report
No respect lost! You arrived with a big old downer in an upbeat thread. So when you call a thing that’s making people laugh “stupid”, it sort of spoils the fun people are having. Like rushing into a room of people all chuckling at a joke and saying, “I think that joke sucks.”
Relax! Have fun!
report
So it’s more about timing and placement than it is about actual ratios of content (god I am such a scientist). Thanks, that actually makes some kind of sense. It’s my natural contrarian bent, I tend to rush to the defense of things when they’re getting slammed from all sides and throw a bucket of water on things when they’re getting praised from all sides. I’ll try to repress the latter tendency, just remember (when I inevitably fail) that it’s a very small percentage of my overall output.
report
I love you Vinraith! I’m sorry. I was wrong. We all love each other. Let’s all make PEW PEW noises together.
report
I’m looking at this thing and suddenly feel like a terrible attention whore.
Ah well, love you too John, we shall celebrate with pew pew noises and financially irreconcilable purchases of The Longest Journey on GOG. :)
report
bdew bdew bdew!
report
I always suspected that many game sounds are made by people. Why drive out to a farm with a mike when you can just stay at your comfy studio and go moooooo?
report
It reminded me of Jelly Car.
I <3 Jelly car.
report
I love how the glowing ball goes “bounce” if it bounces.
The creator just won an Internets in my opinion.
report
Oh man, this has to be the most ridiculous, and brilliant, mod ever.
However, I doubt I could play the entire of HL2 with it. After a while it would get absurdly annoying. Still, hat’s off to him!
report
Music is crap.
Many of the similar sounds don’t have enough differentiation.
It is, of course, still gloriously mental.
The choo-choo train made me laugh the most.
I think now we need to get the Unskippable guys to do the NPC voices. :P
report
I was in tears because of laughter by the time he drove the buggy around.
That said, this man is clearly insane and a threat to everyone around him. I mean, he might say “pew” and incite terror!
report
For best results, imagine that you are listening to Gordon Freeman making his own sound effects.
report
Delightfully silly, reminds me of watching my brothers play with action figures when we were younger.
report
Oh lawks. I laughed like an idiot. Solid gold.
report
MUST REPLAY HL2 NOW!
and yeah plasma rifle sounds wickedly awesome.
report
Urge. To. Install.
report
Great stuff. Reminds me of the old kids’ show Ivor the Engine, all the sound effects in that were the narrator’s voice: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDWk0BCeblQ
report
I’d love to play Ravenholm with this, though he probably hasn’t redone the voices for the zombies.
Yes it’d sound dumb. That’s the point!
report
Very amusing. Not amusing enough to get Half-Life 2, however. :P
report
BDEWBDEWBDEWBDEW
I love the internet.
report
Reminds me of the a capella version of spelunker that someone cooked up:
http://www.offworld.com/2009/06/offworld-lazyweb-request-can-w.html
report
The emperor is naked!
report
For best results, imagine that you are listening to Gordon Freeman making his own sound effects.
Yeah, I was thinking that too. It reminded me of Freeman’s Mind a bit. I didn’t find this half as great as most people here seem to have, but it was amusing enough I suppose. It’s probably a lot funnier playing it through yourself, too.
report
I’m going to record a full audio replacement mod for planescape.
The voice talent will be provided by me, my 5 year old and my 2 year old. My 2 year old will be performing the role of the nameless one among others.
report
I want in on this. dibs on Vhailor.
report
Downloading now.
And there go my plans to not replay HL2 for at least 6 months.
report
I played a mod like this one, but made with the voice a spanish humourist for doom2 ( chiquito de la calzada)… It was hilarious.
report
I didn’t know you could shoot the birds in HL2. This. Change. Everything!!!
BDEEW!!
report
Yes Rei this takes it to a hole nov-VA, LEV-O!
report
PEW PEW PEW! That was so funny! :)
report
Enjoyably bonkers for about 3 minutes or so and definitely achieved its goal by making me smile. I especially loved the reloading sounds, particularly the revolver.
I’d seriously question the sanity of anyone who played the entire game like that though!
report
Stuff like this is why i’m glad mod scenes exist. Even though it is stark bonkers.
report
Well let me be the probably 100th person in the comments to say that: This is how HL2 sounds to others when I play with headphones…
Awesome.
report
I can’t wait to see Gordon Freeman’s Mind move on to game number 2.
Also, you’re right. it IS way funnier thinking of freeman making the sounds. My favorite by far is the ‘bap’ of the pistol.
report
Basically, it’s the guy from Police Academy mod, right? AWESOME.
report
Oh. My. Goodness!
report
Also this makes me want to watch the fake gun fight episode of Spaced.
report
if your tyring to make a sound video, DONT PUT THE WORST GOD DAMNED MUSIC IN THE WORLD IN THE BACKGROUND OF IT GOD YOU IDIOT
report
It sure is opinion in here.
report
I don’t count System of a Down among the bands I listen to, but you might have come off as less of a raving, opining, capitalizing goon if you’d just written “…don’t put music in it.”
Anyway, have to agree about the shotgun noise (spot on) and that doing the voices would have sounded dumb, silly as that statement sounds. Honestly, let’s try and list the number of mods with even passable voice acting.
report
Thanks Ian
report
Brilliant.
The Macho Madness L4D mod still takes the cake in my book though.
report
The mod’s mildly amusing, although I have no intention of actually using it. But what did strike me is how utterly lovely HL2 still looks. Man, that is an engine with legs.
report
…load of crap.
The only “properly awesome” thing in regards to this spectacle is the incredible amount of sheep it has drawn, all bleating in chorus about how cool it is. This isn’t newsworthy, mate, it’s the kind of rubbish a four-year old does when playing with his toys. Honestly, is there anyone here who doubts their ability to produce such noises when playing, should they desire them? It’s not as though this fool even has a distinctive voice. Sounds like any other prepubescent teen to me.
I’d expect a news-post like this from SomethingAwful or the like, but not the Rock. Color me disappointed.
report
Looks like someone is FILLED WITH RAGE. I think it’s a hilarious idea.
report
It’s fine that you don’t like it, of course. But calling us ‘sheep’ is a bit rich. I find it amusing because, well, I find it amusing — not because other people do.
report
Oh piss off, you self important miserable prick.
report
SHOW ME YOUR RAGE!
report
Yawn.
report
As Railick said on page one (not sure if I love the page dividers on comments, by the way), this probably took a lot less work than you make it out to be. A little bit more than a spur of the moment “let’s photoshop a penis onto someone’s face,” but a little bit less than “let’s completely reskin everyone in the game with a penis.” It just requires recording “pew-pew” over a couple hundred 2 second sound clips. Probably a day’s work, if you’re good with the software and motivated.
report
And your list of achievements is so much more impressive? I doubt it, and if it is, I don’t care. I really like this mod. This has been done exceptionally well. Just because it’s the internet and cynics are “cool” doesn’t mean you have to be a prick. Get over it.
report
^^^
Most pretentious comment on RPS reward for you
report
You almost make it sound like RPS usually doesn’t enjoy blogging about utterly un-important mods and maps!
report
“the incredible amount of sheep”
You mean “the incredible number of sheep”.
You can count sheep.
report
It sounds like SOMEONE, without saying any names, is envious, because didn’t come up with something so spontaneously silly.
report
It takes a lot of work, a lot of spare time, and a whole notta lotta life to come up with this. Color me impressed that he was willing to put the work in, and what the heck, it might be worth it for a stupid lowbrow fun laugh.
report
@Impressive
I, for one, still have an inner 4 year-old that thinks this is hilarious. I’m the type who’s always been disappointed that they don’t make full sized light up sneakers like the ones toddlers always get.
This is rather nifty. That buggy sound effect is pretty much what I do whenever I’m mimicing a car of some sort.
I demand that someone do this for a Star Wars game. It’d be gold with the lightsabers alone.
This reminds me of a TF2 text mod I saw the other day that renamed everything. The RPG man with his missile lawnchair, the sharpshooter with his throwable special sauce, etc.
Also, this: http://butifnot.tripod.com/racecar.html
report
Star Wars game like this? That’s the brilliantist idea I’ve heard all day. Get on it, Internet!
report
Excellent!
The video could have been a bit tighter, but that’s quibbling. This is awesome.
report
Sure you mean the graphics? They look like they could use some tightening up.
report
Level three did look a bit iffy.
report
Why must these Americans always populate their youtube videos with dodgy metal?
Oh the mod? It’s fun.
report
Sigh. He’s Ukrainian.
report
Two words:
Gauss cannon.
report
I tried to convince my friends to make a Half-Life 2: Acapella mod before but they weren’t convinced. Oh well this guy actually went out and did it, and it’s as hilarious/stupid as I thought. Well done!
report
I was just thinking the other day that I needed an excuse to play the game again, and this seems like just the one. I think it’s swell.
report
Umm…. either The Sarcasm Is Strong In This One, or I’m missing something here… 0_o
report
I didn’t watch the whole thing, but I kept waiting for him to yell “BANG” for something appropriate, like the revolver or grenades or exploding barrels, like they do for training artillery officers now to save the $$ that real ammo would cost.
report
Hasn’t this been done for Half-Life (original) already?
report
lol :D good start for a friday :D
report
This is how the HL series has alwasy sounded in my head.
report
haha, funny stuff
report
It amuses me. bleat
report
Yeah that was pretty hilarious, specially when he gets people following him..
report
This is hillarious, I love it. the sounds of the rebels reminded me of the seagulls in Finding Nemo “Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine!”. Also the handgun is suitably mocked. “pop!”
report
Really amusing although it will probably get annoying after a few hours.
I specially liked the gravity gun and the pod.. thingy sounds.. hehe *squish squish*.
report
I think it is entertaining. I laughed a bit and was amused throughout the video.
And another thing: Say whatever you want, but HL2 has aged incredibly well. A game from 2004 still makes some games from 2009 hide in shame.
It’s not only pretty, but there’s also a very solid feel to the visuals.
Now, just bring me Episode 3 already!
*cries*
report
To bad he didn’t dub the voices, that would catapult this from merely amusing to divine.
Though who didn’t replace their voice for all the sounds in Doom when they figured out how to edit wads?
report
Would perhaps be better if it was even original.
Anyone remember Pencil Whipped? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy_tEPkvYhU
That guy did his own sound effects ‘and’ drew all the graphics by hand (I especially liked the guillotine’s “Shing! Shing!” noise)
report
I liked the “Got It” when picking up items the most.
report
Good silly fun. Reminds me of the bored, rainy afternoon years ago that my brother and I spent making our own sounds for Quake. Childish, but strangely satisfying.
report
This story desperately needed to be tagged “pew pew pew”
report
why is this getting such publicity?
this has been done several times before, with several other games including this one. or is it just because he did a LOLOLSORANDUM video?
report
Oh yes, I saw this on the official garrysmod news page, but I never thought it would get on RPS! Maby I do have a chance of getting some RPS coverage when I finally get around to release my Gmod/L4D/CSS/HL2/Basicly-Any-Source-game horror-map…
Probably not. But one can hope.
I got a bit of a laugh out of this vid, didn’t download it though. It’s not like he’s talented about making noises with his voice – but I think that was the point because it would just ruin the fun part.
report
dumb
report
I used to do this with Resident Evil when it was new on the PC. That must have been… More than 10 years ago. Still, it is fun to do.
report
This is the sort of thing that makes me fall in love with humanity all over again. It’s completely pointless, just someone seeing something and wanting to add a little something of themselves to it.
report
This is fucking funny as my ass.
report
It’s great music.
It’s just pathetically inappropriate for a goddamn comedy video. Use Yakety Sax or something if you’ve just got to put music in everything.
report