(New Hammer User Problem) Change Sound(s) Played When Hitting Surface?

[Bonezee]

I'm fairly new to Hammer (three days new, to be precise) but through online tutorials and just using it myself I have, at the very least, the basics down fairly well. However, in my first map that I intend on releasing to the public, I've finally noticed something that now bothers me to no end. Nearly every surface in my map is a concrete surface, but melee-ing them results in a metallic sound being played. This detail bothers me probably far too much than is necessary, but I'm a stickler for detail and this is a detail I will not let slide by. I came here for help since, as it turns out, a search with the words "valve" "hammer" and "fix" all in it results in a lot about plumbing and not a lot about tf2 maps.
So, I must ask how can I change what sound is played when a brush/entity/et cetera is 'attacked' to better fit what the material is?

 

[DrSquishy]

You can modify the .VMT files to change the surfaceprop value, that'd fix it I believe. You'd need to extract it from the tf_misc_dir.VPK file with something like GCFscape, modify it, then save it into your tf folder with the correct path and perhaps a modified name so you can tell it apart from the normal texture.

 

[Bonezee]

extract it from the tf_misc_dir.VPK file

Where can I find this file?
I'm looking for it within common>Team Fortress 2 but no such file exists there.
Also, is this something all mappers need to do, is it just the particular texture(s) I'm using, or what?
(I'm using predominantly concrete/computerwall003, concrete/computerwall005, concrete/computerwall008 and cp_mountanlab/concrete/concretefloor003. The only other non-concrete texture I'm using is wood/wood_floor002, and even that sounds like metal.)

 

[Dadema]

is it just the particular texture(s) I'm using, or what?

Yes, the sound it plays when you hit a surface is determined by the material, in other words the texture you have selected.
As @DrSquishy mentioned, to change to sound, you will have to edit the material in the game files, and then pack it into the mapfile (which is quite annoying to do, and not many people actually change the sound of existing materials)

 

[Bonezee]

is it just the particular texture(s) I'm using, or what?

Yes

I was fearing this would be the case. Well, I suppose I'll use other textures- at least for now -and if I deem it necessary I'll figure out how to edit the material if I end up wanting to use those specific materials very badly instead.
Thanks for the help!

 

[DrSquishy]

Where can I find this file?
I'm looking for it within common>Team Fortress 2 but no such file exists there.
/QUOTE]
The file is usually found with in Team Fortress 2\tf\, not Team Fortress 2\, just for the future

 

[Bonezee]

Long story short, after a bit of digging on the valve developer wiki I found out that a file which references the available material sounds to a game, specifically surfaceproperties_manifest.txt, is actually missing from my tf folder. Am I chasing a red herring here, or is the absense of this text file the reason every material defaults to a metallic sound for me? (And I mean pretty much every material. I tried at least 50 distinct ones)
If so, how do I recover this file? Do I just verify the integrity of the game files through steam? If not, then what do I do? If it is just an issue on my end, is it something I can simply ignore knowing anyone else without the same problem will have the proper sounds played on their end?

 

[DrSquishy]

Long story short, after a bit of digging on the valve developer wiki I found out that a file which references the available material sounds to a game, specifically surfaceproperties_manifest.txt, is actually missing from my tf folder. Am I chasing a red herring here, or is the absense of this text file the reason every material defaults to a metallic sound for me? (And I mean pretty much every material. I tried at least 50 distinct ones)
If so, how do I recover this file? Do I just verify the integrity of the game files through steam? If not, then what do I do? If it is just an issue on my end, is it something I can simply ignore knowing anyone else without the same problem will have the proper sounds played on their end?

That file is found within tf_misc_dir.VPK. I'd just modify the VMTs if I were you and wanted this to be working properly so badly. Also, have a look in your console to see if there are any odd errors relating to sound files. If not, try just using snd_restart or something similar

 

[henke37]

wood/wood_floor002 already has its surface prop set to wood. If that doesn't do it, then something is wrong on your end.

 

[Dr. Orange]

Most melee weapons make a metallic impact sound separate from the surface material impact sound. This is just an additional attention to detail from Valve.

 

[FloofCollie]

Yeah, try it with the knife and see if it still makes a metal sound.