Submission Guidelines! (Updated: 6/25/2013)

[GrooveMan.exe]

Making this out of formality.

There aren't that many differences between submitting sprites, and submitting Sound Effects, but please bear in mind the following:

1) We can't accept Music/BGM rips.
This section of the VG Resource is for Sound Effects only. Music is somewhat more privvy to protection (what with the use of licensed songs in some games and all that), and you can get hold of that kind of thing from countless other sites.
Note: We also cannot accept instrument samples, as they are what form the music and are not sound effects anyway, so please make sure that your submissions don't contain any.

2) Submit your work in .zip archives.
This is pretty obvious. Although .7z and .rar are formats accepted by Winzip, please do not submit entries in these formats (we want to keep the types of archive as low as possible). I will be able to repack .7z and .rar files myself, but it's a huge boost in work speed if I don't have to.

3) I'll only save complete rips.
Feel free to post works in progress, but to prevent my archives being clogged with fragments of work, I can only save finished items. Make sure that what you're submitting is the finished version with everything there, to save me and others some confusion.
However if you thought you got everything, but later do happen to find something you missed in your submission, I will be glad to update it.

4) Submissions in .wav or .mp3 please!
.ogg might be ok, but that's not really an ideal format for sound effects. Similar to the .7z/.rar issue, I can convert myself; but it's just so much faster if we avoid it entirely, no?
If I see a submission as a .jpg, I'll laugh.
Note: If you submit sounds as .MP3, make sure that they're variable bitrate .MP3s, rather than a set bitrate (such as 128 or 256 KBPS). This preserves the sound quality while staying smaller in size. 320 KBPS is also fine but are larger in size so VBR is recommended. You can use programs like Audacity to convert sound files to variable .MP3s.

5) Feel free to include a Credit Tag.
A small text file or image saying that you ripped the SFX, or when you did, or if it's only allowed to be hosted on the VG Resource is A-ok. Don't go making that tag take up too much memory though - if you somehow manage that.

6) Large Submission? Split it up!
Some games go and put all the sounds in one biiiiiig folder. Which is great for easy ripping; but it's not so hot when it comes to organizing things. Not everyone wants to download the entire sound pack just for the voices or the weapon sound effects. I can go through the folder myself and split everything up; but it'll save me time and your submission will be up faster if the sounds are already sorted into separate folders. In some cases (especially with voice acting); I won't know the correct names of the character the SFX belong to - in which case I'll definitely need your help.
Note: the new archive size limit is up to 130MB, but try to keep it under that if possible. 110-120 is okay, but try to go for roughly around 100. If your submission ends up surpassing the size limit even after compression, please split it into multiple parts until each part is within the size limit.

7) Make your submissions easily accessible please!
Sometimes people use file hosting sites like 4Shared that require an account in order to download -- needless to say, no one wants to create an account just to view a file or two, much less us uploaders since we have multiple submissions to take care of. It may be convenient to you but it's even more inconvenient for the rest of us, so please help save us time and use one of these other fine services:

Filebeam (does not require account to upload)
Dropbox (the installable Dropbox folder is preferred as it allows genuine direct hotlinking but certainly not required)
SendSpace (does not require account to upload)
RapidShare
2Shared (not to be confused with 4Shared -- see above)

[Garamonde]

Update, adding to rule #3, a note to rule #4 about variable .MP3s, and corrected a few typos.

[Garamonde]

Another update, adding to Rule #1 about instrument samples.

[Garamonde]

Update, this time adding to rule #6 (it's in bolded red).

[Garamonde]

added rule 7 and edited rule 1 a bit.

[Garamonde]

updated rule 2 and the note at the end of rule 6 to accommodate for the site's new changes.

[Garamonde]

made small edits to the note under rule 1 and edited the note under rule 4.

[Magma MK-II]

Does voices count as sounds?

[Garamonde]

Yes, certainly. As long as they are just clips and not part of a song or anything then they are very much acceptable!

[FormerUser20]

hey, um, incoming differing opinion here, so hear me out please.

I've noticed that there are sound submissions on here that are completely unnamed and are just... numbered, literally. Like,

sample00
sample01
sample02
sample03
sample04
sample05

for dozens of sound effects for a game on end. Probably asking for too much, but do you think you can add a rule that limits the amount of laziness on a submitter's end when submitting these things? Like, it's a big pain in the butt to find the sound effect I want when they're ALL unnamed, especially if there are lots and lots of files. I'm not saying that the submitter needs to have names for every file, but it'd really be helpful if they show some effort into the naming.

Just my two cents, don't flame pls.

[puggsoy]

While I can see where you're coming from, this is quite the task. Unless the submitter is hand-ripping the sounds (like recording, or cutting up raw data manually), naming the sounds can be really time-consuming, especially if you've got HEAPS.

In my case, usually the sounds are either named already (from PC or mobile games) or are organised within the game itself and can be submitted separately (like the Professor Layton or Henry Hatsworth voices). However, for others, sifting through each and every sound file to categorise it can be more effort than it's worth, especially if the ripping process itself was difficult.

You already know this, but all submissions here are completely voluntary and people are doing this out of their own free will, no payment or anything. The fact that they're ripping sounds at all is great, if they can name them accordingly that should just be a bonus.

Sorry if this all sounds harsh, I'm not meaning to flame or anything. Again, I totally understand what you're saying, but I just think making it a rule is a bit too much to ask. The amount of effort it would take to organise such files would be the same for a submitter as it would for a person downloading them from the site, and chances are that the submitter won't even use them.

(This also just my opinion, btw.)

[Garamonde]

Thanks puggsoy I was waiting for someone to reply who had the right words.
Yea if they don't name them it isn't always because they're lazy, and adding such a rule might discourage submissions.
I mean I can understand that looking for what you need is really bothersome (and yes doing it would save a lot of other people from doing it), but chances are ripping them was even more work/effort to begin with.
So in conclusion... I feel the rules should stay as they are, sorry.

[FormerUser20]

Thanks puggsoy I was waiting for someone to reply who had the right words.
Yea if they don't name them it isn't always because they're lazy, and adding such a rule might discourage submissions.
I mean I can understand that looking for what you need is really bothersome (and yes doing it would save a lot of other people from doing it), but chances are ripping them was even more work/effort to begin with.
So in conclusion... I feel the rules should stay as they are, sorry.

No need to feel sorry, you have a good point and your comment was reasonable.

[Ultimaexe24]

ok I have a question. So if I have lets say Megaman Maverick hunter X five stages of X story voices but not all the other stages I can but it up on here but you won't up load it to the sit unless I have all of the stages voices?

[Garamonde]

Yea we much prefer to have complete submissions. I don't remember how many voices X has in the game but it'd be best if you had all of them in one pack, sorted into folders (unless they amount to be more than the size limit). I think the game has a sound test if you can't get them from the files?