bugfix(audio): Fix particle cannon being inaudible after saveload

[stephanmeesters]

• Closes Particle Cannon Sound is not audible after saveload #2023

Fixes issue where sound from the particle cannon is not audible after saveload.

A savegame can be made during any of combinations of STATUS_ and LASERSTATUS_ below. Sounds are triggered only during state change, so when loading a savegame any of the sounds in the Active column need to be added.

Tested with a savegame for each STATUS_.

Repeating sequence of the particle cannon

STATUS_	LASERSTATUS_	Add sound	Clear sound	Active sound
PACKING (1)	NONE	none	none	none
CHARGING	NONE	powerupSound	unpackToReadySound firingToIdleSound annihilationSound	powerupSound
PREPARING	NONE	unpackToReadySound	firingToIdleSound annihilationSound	powerupSound unpackToReadySound
ALMOST_READY	NONE	none	none	powerupSound unpackToReadySound
READY_TO_FIRE	NONE	none	powerupSound firingToIdleSound annihilationSound	unpackToReadySound
PREFIRE	NONE	none	none	unpackToReadySound
FIRING	NONE BORN	firingToIdleSound annihilationSound¹	powerupSound unpackToReadySound	firingToIdleSound annihilationSound
POSTFIRE	BORN	none	none	firingToIdleSound annihilationSound
PACKING (2)	DECAYING DEAD	none	annihilationSound²	firingToIdleSound annihilationSound
IDLE	NONE	none	powerupSound unpackToReadySound firingToIdleSound annihilationSound	none

¹ Sound added at LASERSTATUS_BORN
² Sound cleared at LASERSTATUS_DEAD

PACKING appears twice for some reason.

Status meanings

• PACKING (1): Particle cannon is inactive and fully reset. Idle state.
• CHARGING: Early pre-ready phase; charging loop plays.
• PREPARING: Antenna/deploy preparation phase.
• ALMOST_READY: Near-ready phase before final ready state.
• READY_TO_FIRE: Weapon is available and waiting for fire command.
• PREFIRE: Transitional pre-shot state (defined and checked, typically brief/rare in this flow).
• FIRING: Main active attack phase while beam is operating.
• POSTFIRE: Attack is decaying after firing window ends.
• PACKING (2): Pack-up phase after attack/ready path.
• IDLE: Another form of idle, used to reset audio, lasts very short.

Laser status meanings

• NONE: No orbital beam lifecycle started yet for current cycle.
• BORN: Orbit-to-target beam was created and is in active phase.
• DECAYING: Beam is in decay/shutdown window.
• DEAD: Beam lifecycle is finished (end state before reset to NONE on next cycle setup).

Sound meanings

• powerupSound: Charge, at particle cannon.
• unpackToReadySound: Prep, at particle cannon.
• firingToIdleSound: Firing/packing, at particle cannon.
• annihilationSound: Beam-impact, at origin beam.

Todo

• Replicate to Generals

[greptile-apps]

Greptile Overview

Greptile Summary

Restored particle cannon sound playback after saveload by re-creating audio events in loadPostProcess() based on the saved state. The fix implements conditional sound restoration for four sound types (powerupSound, unpackToReadySound, firingToIdleSound, annihilationSound) across all possible STATUS_ and LASERSTATUS_ combinations.

• Added sound restoration matching the state table documented in the PR description
• Follows existing patterns from setLogicalStatus() and createOrbitToTargetLaser()
• Includes proper null checks for event names and drawable IDs
• Correctly uses setObjectID() for cannon-positioned sounds and setDrawableID() for beam-positioned sounds

Confidence Score: 5/5

• This PR is safe to merge with minimal risk
• The implementation correctly matches the documented state table, follows existing code patterns for audio management, includes proper validation checks, and addresses a well-defined bug without introducing new logic paths or modifying existing behavior
• No files require special attention

Important Files Changed

Filename	Overview
GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngine/Source/GameLogic/Object/Update/ParticleUplinkCannonUpdate.cpp	Added sound restoration logic in loadPostProcess() to fix missing particle cannon sounds after saveload, correctly implementing state-based sound activation

_{Last reviewed commit: 169ce11}

[xezon]

Why POSTFIRE and PACKING ?

Can you explain how the statuses relate to the lifetime of the 2 sounds?

[stephanmeesters]

Added a table of all possible states and all associated sounds, tried to keep this as simple as possible. More code was added for some other sounds I missed and handling of PACKING which appears twice in the sequence

[xezon]

Good work. Wow that is complicated.

[xezon]

This is really difficult to maintain correctness, because it needs to manually mirror the logic correctly and when the audio logic changes then this code would need to be adapted again, which then carries the risk of creating new bugs.

Instead, I suggest adding an Xfer function to AudioEventRTS and handle the state save/load in there for all possibilities. This will not work for legacy save files, but going forward it should be much simpler to maintain and be robust for any logic changes.

This also means that Xfer can be used for other module sounds as well. I expect Particle Cannon is not the only object that has this audio issue. But it is very obvious for it.

[stephanmeesters]

That sounds like a much better solution.

Perhaps keep this code but put it behind RETAIL_COMPATIBLE_CRC or similar, so we know to drop it after breaking compatibility?

[xezon]

With RETAIL_COMPATIBLE_XFER_SAVE old Xfer version, if we think it is worth it? I would personally not bother with the legacy saves, but since you already did all this work...