Software design & sound mods - tips for dev team

[Gerfaut]

Guys, Just take it as a little piece of advice, nothing more. IMHO there shouldn't be a direct reference to any engine sound file within the .emd file.

Why not reworking this to let .emd files pointing to a single exchange file containing all sound filenames like this :
.emd file -> exchange file cross-ref between engines & .prs -> .prs file -> engine samples

Using a cross-ref file seems to be better than a direct link for at least two good reasons :

1) This would avoid the necessity of tampering the .emd file just to modify a sound filename (ex: merlin placeholder).
2) This would be easier and much more convenient to work on future sound mods, once the SDK is released.

Alternate suggestions :
a) no reference at all to any sound in .emd : all would be handled from the cross-ref file.
b) replacing the merlin placeholder filename in .emd with - for example - Jumo211 filename, in case the exchange file principle is not taken into account.
Please note that the current Jumo211 samples could be a merlin placeholder at the moment. This is less important an issue than :
- having something hardcoded elsewhere,
- or a direct link to a sound filename within the .emd file.

My 2 cents...

Also on looking at the sound files, there are no inputs scripted for the following that i can see:

Open/Close canopy
Wind/External sounds
Start Up/Shut Down Engine
Flaps Retract/Extend
Gear Retract/Extend

Will these and the many other inputs be added in time when the game is stable?
Or is the sound engine as it is?