Could a toggle for "3rd Party Sounds" be added to the sound settings, perhaps with a disclaimer stating something like "By enabling this, you (the user) take full responsibility for copyright infringement in the use of 3rd party sound samples"? When enabled, this setting could make the IL-2 sound engine look to a special user-installed directory for alternative sound samples. DT would not make an alternative sound scheme (my understanding is that they don't have much expertise in sound engineering anyways). Any alternative sound samples would be provided by the user and in conjunction with the disclaimer, transfer all responsibility for copyright infringement to the user rather than DT/1C/Maddox. This would allow the user the freedom to pick the sound scheme of their choice and absolve 1C/Maddox of any legal responsibility that way. I think this is the only way to make the whole IL-2 community happy with sounds.

Just a thought,

Fafnir_6

No.
Why?
Because you would enable you to turn off your own engine sound - which would lead to the sonar problem-> You'd be flying a glider and hear any enemy planes approaching you from behind.

TD, please consider modelling the movable horizontal stabilizers for Bf-109s so that "elevator trim" control won't be delayed on them.

I want better damage model and nice looking cokpits for all the planes available.

This person obviously wasn't around during the RBJ 'trim on a slider' days. ;)

(The 1% of players who know what I'm talking about, raise your hand.)

Aviar

If you're flying off-line, who cares if you take advantage of the "sonar" bug?

If you're flying on-line, the server administrator should be able to control sound levels, allowing or disallowing "sonar" as he wishes.

I don't see the "sonar bug" as being in any way incompatible with user-customizable sounds.

While I have tremendous respect for TD, I think that they're being unreasonably cautious about allowing user-developed sound packs.

User-created sound packs are perfectly legitimate and legally defensible. Already, IL2 allows you to add in custom music, which is much more of a source of copyright violations and legal action than sound effects.

Should TD be silly enough to produce their own sound pack, consider:

Copyright on sound effects is much looser than copyright on other recorded works. While it's a copyright violation to use sound effects from a copyrighted work (e.g., a movie or piece of music), copyright courts have been very reluctant to allow copyrights on sounds produced by particular types of machinery. For example, a few years ago, Harley-Davidson got smacked down in U.S. court when it tried to copyright the distinctive sound of its motorcycle engines.

The sounds produced by by Axis equipment WILL be in the public domain, as spoils of war. This means that all the sounds of German, Italian, Japanese, Romanian and Hungarian WW2 equipment will be copyright free.

The sounds of any equipment produced by state-run industries, such as Soviet-produced equipment, will be in the public domain. This means that any Soviet equipment sounds will be copyright free, as will the sounds of equipment produced by other governments' state factories (e.g., the sound of the U.S. atomic bomb or the M1 Garand rifle).

Sounds recorded by radio or movie broadcasts which are now in the public domain are copyright free. This means that you can use any sound from old newsreels and training films without infringing on copyright. This goes double for Axis- or state-produced media.

Sound recorded by private individuals and released into the public domain are copyright free. All you need to do is send a few recorder-equipped IL2 fan-boys to some air shows and a some WW2 reenactment events and you have all the airplane engine and machine gun sounds you want.

So, there you are.

Bat Turn.

ah ... the glory days when RBJ reigned supreme in the skies of HL

Whilst I was never keen on the exact solution implemented, the fact that people actually went as far as mapping the TRIM to their joystick instead of the elevator when flying online was really a sign of a problem.

You, Sir, are unreasonably trusting when it comes to the potential of greed within the human race. ;)

We're playing it by the old maxime "Better safe than sorry" and no amount of bemoaning that will change it. Some of us have signed a contract with 1C which means in the worst case 1C could roast them over a fire if they wanted. But hey, anything's possible as long as you're not responsible, isn't it? :roll:

I've all too wary of copyright trolls, and I understand TD's reluctance to do anything which will get them in trouble with 1C.

But, I still don't understand why 1c allows users to add their own music to the game - and potentially risk the wrath of the RIAA - while they won't allow users to add their own sound effects.