A.C.R.E - Advanced Combat Radio Environment - 1.4 Stable - Release Thread

[scrim 1]

How do people manage using both a SR and LR radio, as in when acting as RTO for a squad?

I tried putting the 343 in my left ear and the 117 in my right ear but invariably when command was trying to talk to me on the 117, someone would start talking (or already be talking) on the 343 and combined with the local speech from soldiers around me, I mostly was unable to understand anything!

I obviously couldn't only have one radio active at a time because I wouldn't know when someone was trying to talk to me on one or the other.

Well, in reality you wouldn't have a 343. Fact is that practically no units have radios for everyone, neither do most use RTOs, but instead give the radio to the squad leader. What I'd recommend would be turning down the volume as suggested, or toss the 343 away, because you're supposed to stick really close to the squad leader, so you can hear what he says over the 343 without having one yourself.

[123justin321 12]

I was wondering if it was possible, maybe by config, to assign more than one button to use the radio ingame?

I'm asking cause I'm using a controller to fly choppers and planes, and its kinda uncomfortable to use Capslock while, at the same time, using the controller.

Maybe by using some kind of array? Like:

(bold part is the changed one)

class PTTRadio // Talk over radio

{

key = {58, 68}; // CAPSLOCK (please unbind from your normal PTT key)

shift = 0;

ctrl = 0;

alt = 0;

};

I'm not even sure if the syntax is correct, but I think you get the point what I'm talking about.

[hon0 10]

I don't know if you can assign more than one button in the key.hpp.

However I'm sure you can assign your radio key to your joystick. If you can set it up.. What is your joystick/controller?

Edited February 13, 2013 by hon0

[cuel 25]

How do people manage using both a SR and LR radio, as in when acting as RTO for a squad?

I tried putting the 343 in my left ear and the 117 in my right ear but invariably when command was trying to talk to me on the 117, someone would start talking (or already be talking) on the 343 and combined with the local speech from soldiers around me, I mostly was unable to understand anything!

I obviously couldn't only have one radio active at a time because I wouldn't know when someone was trying to talk to me on one or the other.

Turn down the volume on one ear

Learn how to focus on what's more important at the moment

[doveman 7]

Tell the people to shut up (especially the ones next to you). :p

Yeah, I just ran away from them to somewhere quieter last night as it was quicker than getting everyone to shut up ;) Not so practical if we're in a hot zone under fire though.

---------- Post added at 14:10 ---------- Previous post was at 14:04 ----------

Adjust the volumes. Its been a while since I have played as an RTO with a number of people but I usually turn town the volume on the less "important" radio. I am going to guess that being able to listen to multiple radios and understand what is going on is the real skill RTOs have.

It would be cool if there's was a mute function for each radio, so that I could turn the 343 down quickly when I need to receive on the LR. I don't know if they do this but in RL it's probably a lot quicker to do that (or pull the earphone out) than it is in ArmA. I don't think I'll ever be able to listen to two radios at the same time and understand what's being said on both though, other than being able to hear my squad's callsign on the LR and know that I need to shut off the other radio (and tell people near me to shut up) and respond.

---------- Post added at 14:24 ---------- Previous post was at 14:10 ----------

Well, in reality you wouldn't have a 343. Fact is that practically no units have radios for everyone, neither do most use RTOs, but instead give the radio to the squad leader. What I'd recommend would be turning down the volume as suggested, or toss the 343 away, because you're supposed to stick really close to the squad leader, so you can hear what he says over the 343 without having one yourself.

Yeah, a lot of the time it would be easier just to have the squad leader use the radio (even if the RTO carries it, the SL can still access it via his backpack I think) but that's not how it's done on the server I play on.

What you've said brings me onto another problem I'm having though, which is that I'm finding it very hard to hear people properly on local speech. Occasionally if I'm right next to/facing someone they're loud enough but when in formation and maybe 5-10 feet away I can barely hear them at all, certainly not enough to understand what they're saying, whilst other squad members don't seem to have a problem.

I only have stereo headphones so had the TS3 playback setting on "Mono to Stereo" but read something that suggested "Mono to Surround" so tried that last night but it wasn't any better. I've also got "Always set clients 3D positions when available" ticked and "Windows Audio Session" selected for the Playback Mode. Radios are fine, it's just local speech I have the problem with. I've already turned the in-game Effects volume down to almost nothing and the TS3 Voice Volume is set to +14. I suspect it may be a 3D issue as it seems to be better when facing the speaker rather than either side of me.

In my Realtek Control Panel I've got it set to 5.1 with all the Optional Speakers (Center, Subwoofer, Rear Pair) unticked. This is required for it to mixdown the surround to stereo properly in games as if it's just set to Stereo, certainly the Center channel and maybe the Rears as well are lost. I had this problem with several games, being unable to hear the characters talking to me which was on the Center channel, before I found this was what I needed to do.

---------- Post added at 14:29 ---------- Previous post was at 14:24 ----------

I was wondering if it was possible, maybe by config, to assign more than one button to use the radio ingame?

I'm asking cause I'm using a controller to fly choppers and planes, and its kinda uncomfortable to use Capslock while, at the same time, using the controller.

Maybe by using some kind of array? Like:

As hon0 suggests, either using the joystick's own software, Xpadder or AutoHotKey, you can assign Capslock (or anything else) to a button on your Joystick.

---------- Post added at 14:37 ---------- Previous post was at 14:29 ----------

Turn down the volume on one ear

Learn how to focus on what's more important at the moment

Yeah, if there was a quick way to turn down the 343 as I could in RL it would make it a lot simpler. What I was trying was moving my real headphone off my left ear but that doesn't stop the local chat coming in my right ear along with the LR, whereas in RL I imagine the earpiece/headphones would attenuate that to a large extent. I tried putting the ACE earplugs in as well but they didn't seem to affect ACRE radio/local volume.

[doveman 7]

I switched back to "Mono to Stereo" tonight. I'm not sure if it helped or if the circumstances of the mission were just different but it didn't seem to be so difficult to hear people nearby tonight.

However, I'm finding the local chatter carries too far. It's very confusing being able to clearly hear a quiet stream of chatter from an unrealistic distance away as you don't know if it's people right next to you talking quietly, people quite close talking normally or if you've just got your volume too low. Once someone right next to me spoke that was fine, as were the radios.

To give an example, I was standing roughly where shown in this picture, perhaps a bit to the right nearer the bush, facing south-east and could clearly hear a group of people in the barn behind me discussing strategy, which in RL you'd never be able to hear. Even if they were standing on the ridge outside the barn, the most you might hear is a bit of noise from their direction but certainly not distinguishable speech.

http://img802.imageshack.us/img802/3629/arma2oa2013021401274217.png (3267 kB)

Not that it would solve this problem, as really the local chatter needs to not carry so far to avoid overloading players with chat they shouldn't be able to hear but I really hope some way to show the name of the player who's speaking can be implemented sometime. I've tried using the TS3 Overlay but that's pretty useless as the server I play on has everyone in one channel (maybe all ACRE servers do?), so the overlay shows everyone who speaks, not just those in my squad or nearby. Even running in Minimal mode with a short display time, with 50 people on the server inevitably several are talking at once, all showing on the overlay.

[kklownboy 43]

Try "@st_acre_volume". Tho even with out that, I am not experiencing what you are with far away voices being heard. TS does have volume controls.maybe something is on to loud?

[doveman 7]

Try "@st_acre_volume". Tho even with out that, I am not experiencing what you are with far away voices being heard. TS does have volume controls.maybe something is on to loud?

Thanks but I'm already using that and it only affects how loud (i.e. how far it carries) my voice is, not who I can hear. I guess it's possible that the other players have got this on Max but even so I don't think I should be able to hear people in that barn behind me clearly.

I don't think the TS volume controls can be the issue as they should only affect the volume of what I can and should be able to hear, whilst ACRE should be controlling how far away I can hear people.

[mihikle 2]

Does anyone know how to get ACRE to work alongside the Camera.sqs script? At the moment I spawn in as a civvie then become the camera, however I can only hear the local chat and radio chat from my original players position.

Is there a way to pick up the ACRE sounds as the camera rather than the player? I've seen Dslyecxi do it in his pFNG video so I know that it IS possible, I just don't know how lol.

[noubernou 77]

http://tracker.idi-systems.com/projects/acre/wiki/Class_Names_and_API#Unit-Speaking-State-Functions

Look at the spectator functions.

[hon0 10]

Thanks but I'm already using that and it only affects how loud (i.e. how far it carries) my voice is, not who I can hear. I guess it's possible that the other players have got this on Max but even so I don't think I should be able to hear people in that barn behind me clearly.

I don't think the TS volume controls can be the issue as they should only affect the volume of what I can and should be able to hear, whilst ACRE should be controlling how far away I can hear people.

While people shout (St_acre_Volume) I can hear them up to 195m. Tested with a rangefinder.

Without St_acre_Volume I can hear people whispering in their mic at 50+ m....

So for me that's normal.. You don't have a problem. All the others have one.

[galzohar 31]

Is there any way to set the actual speaker unit? To work around the selectPlayer issue.

[major_shepard 82]

Is there a way to give many radios of the same kind to a player by scripting? Picking up a radio from the ground works find but scripting results in one radio only into loadout.

Thanks.

Edited February 16, 2013 by Major_Shepard

[doveman 7]

I'm having an issue with the keys. I have several hotkeys on my keyboard, so I've assigned my Acre key (END) to one and Alt+Shift+2 to another, so that I can use the latter to talk on my secondary/LR radio (if I have one). However, it seems that using Alt+Shift+x to talk on a certain radio makes that radio the default and then pressing the Acre key (END) transmits on that radio, so to make END activate the SR again I have to press Alt+Shift+1.

Perhaps it was intended to work this way but it's a bit of a pain that I've just found out. I guess I need to go through and re-map END on my keyboard, joystick, etc to Alt+Shift+1, so that I have one key that always transmits on the SR/Radio 1 and one that always transmits on the LR/Radio 2. Mind you, I'm not sure if that will always work either as I think I was playing the other night and it had my LR as radio1 and my SR as radio2!

---------- Post added at 03:20 ---------- Previous post was at 03:14 ----------

While people shout (St_acre_Volume) I can hear them up to 195m. Tested with a rangefinder.

Without St_acre_Volume I can hear people whispering in their mic at 50+ m....

So for me that's normal.. You don't have a problem. All the others have one.

Thanks for testing. So do you think it's realistic to be able to hear a conversation clearly (but quietly) from someone shouting 195m away? Obviously it's impossible to make it sound like they're shouting when they're actually talking normally or whispering (or vice versa) but I wonder if, in RL, at that distance you'd hear a babble of noise but not be able to clearly understand each word. If that is the case, perhaps ST_Acre_Volume shouldn't allow us to hear clearly at that distance either and either mask/distort the sound or probably better, just not let us hear it?

[Omer 1]

Any release date for the new update?

[hon0 10]

Thanks for testing. So do you think it's realistic to be able to hear a conversation clearly (but quietly) from someone shouting 195m away? Obviously it's impossible to make it sound like they're shouting when they're actually talking normally or whispering (or vice versa) but I wonder if, in RL, at that distance you'd hear a babble of noise but not be able to clearly understand each word. If that is the case, perhaps ST_Acre_Volume shouldn't allow us to hear clearly at that distance either and either mask/distort the sound or probably better, just not let us hear it?

I can hear them at 195. But without any others noises, as wind or ambiant combat. It seems legit to me. My problem is people don't hearing me during a firefight even if they're close to me <25m. Some people don't know.. Or can't equilibrate their volume to make TS's one prioritary. To set them up correctly I always recommand to make some noise with a chopper and set up the volume till you can hear people talking arround you.

Try to fix that without having your headset or TS master Volume at 100%. So when calibrated you'll be able to turn them up or down depending on the situation.

- Headset volume

- Windows Master Volume

- Teamspeak Master Volume + Acre Radio volume (Double clic on the plugin)

- Arma 2 Effect Volume

---

They're no specific hotkey for Short range or long range radio.

class PTTRadio	// Talk over radio
{
	key = #;  	// CAPSLOCK (please unbind from your normal PTT key)
	shift = 0;
	ctrl = 0;
	alt = 0;
};

// Talk over SELECTED radio

I always had problem with "class PTTRadioAlternate_#".

If you can do macro, script. You should.

if (event == "G_PRESSED") and (arg == G_KEY_NUMBER) then

        PressandReleaseKey("The one you use to switch radio")
        Sleep(10)
        PressKey("The one you use to talk over SELECTED radio")

       elseif (event == "G_RELEASED") and (arg == G_KEY_NUMBER) then

        ReleaseKey("The one you use to talk over SELECTED radio")
        Sleep(10)
        PressandReleaseKey("The one you use to switch radio")

Also if you use Shift and ALT in a combi. Be sure to desactivate the windows keybind that make you keyboard switch from AZERTY/QWERTY.

Edited February 20, 2013 by hon0
++

[Dawks 10]

Not sure this is the best place for this, but:

RFE: AGC

Something like left / right / center, allowing the player to select one radio as prime i.e. when there's a signal coming in on that channel, other radios are turned down. ("Muted" would be wrong; reduced would do the trick. Possible to adjust relative whatever other signal is present? so primary is +6dB or so?)

Effect: less audio clutter.

p.s. trying to post a reply to the Pipe Error comment. It gets appended here. That's a real PITA.

[delta99 34]

How do people manage using both a SR and LR radio, as in when acting as RTO for a squad?

I tried putting the 343 in my left ear and the 117 in my right ear but invariably when command was trying to talk to me on the 117, someone would start talking (or already be talking) on the 343 and combined with the local speech from soldiers around me, I mostly was unable to understand anything!

I obviously couldn't only have one radio active at a time because I wouldn't know when someone was trying to talk to me on one or the other.

Experience and discipline. If it was the first time running with two radios give it more time. You will start to get used to all the chatter. On the discipline side your squad mats should understand that you can be talking/listening on the radio and cut out any unneccessary chatter.

[pyrogt 1]

I need Help

I can hear directional chat through TS3 but I can't hear radio talk. I hear the Sqwuaks when someone starts talking and finishes talking. But dont hear them say anything.

Running ACRE 1.4.10, TS3 3.0.9.2

Yes, I am on the right channel; Yes, the power of the radio is set to max;Yes, the volume is all the way up.

I used to run SixUpdater then moved to Play withSix where I originally installed the ACE mod which also installed ACRE, but at the time I didn't play it. Now i've come back around to it and I decided to play and noticed I couldnt hear anyone over the radio. I can talk to people through TS3 in direct, but when it comes to radio chatter I only hear the sqwuak but not voice. I asked someone to help me out and use the radio to talk to me, and all I saw was the mouth moving but not sound.

I tried downgrading to TS3 3.0.9 and that didnt work either. I can't figure it out.

acre_win32.dll or acre_win64.dll those are in the TeamSpeak 3 Client/plugins/ folder. Im now running SixUpdater as admin.

I am on retail ArmA.

I hope someone can help me out.

UPDATE: Ok, So I discovered my headset is the problem. But I dont understand why I can hear direct through them but I cant hear radio through them.

I switched to my speakers and I can hear all of a sudden. How can i fix this.

Edited February 21, 2013 by pyrogt

[exikutioner 10]

I need Help

I can hear directional chat through TS3 but I can't hear radio talk. I hear the Sqwuaks when someone starts talking and finishes talking. But dont hear them say anything.

Running ACRE 1.4.10, TS3 3.0.9.2

Yes, I am on the right channel; Yes, the power of the radio is set to max;Yes, the volume is all the way up.

I used to run SixUpdater then moved to Play withSix where I originally installed the ACE mod which also installed ACRE, but at the time I didn't play it. Now i've come back around to it and I decided to play and noticed I couldnt hear anyone over the radio. I can talk to people through TS3 in direct, but when it comes to radio chatter I only hear the sqwuak but not voice. I asked someone to help me out and use the radio to talk to me, and all I saw was the mouth moving but not sound.

I tried downgrading to TS3 3.0.9 and that didnt work either. I can't figure it out.

acre_win32.dll or acre_win64.dll those are in the TeamSpeak 3 Client/plugins/ folder. Im now running SixUpdater as admin.

I am on retail ArmA.

I hope someone can help me out.

UPDATE: Ok, So I discovered my headset is the problem. But I dont understand why I can hear direct through them but I cant hear radio through them.

I switched to my speakers and I can hear all of a sudden. How can i fix this.

Do you have 3D positions turned on? And what format is the output set to? Needs to be on Stereo.

[doveman 7]

I can hear them at 195. But without any others noises, as wind or ambiant combat. It seems legit to me. My problem is people don't hearing me during a firefight even if they're close to me <25m. Some people don't know.. Or can't equilibrate their volume to make TS's one prioritary. To set them up correctly I always recommand to make some noise with a chopper and set up the volume till you can hear people talking arround you.

Try to fix that without having your headset or TS master Volume at 100%. So when calibrated you'll be able to turn them up or down depending on the situation.

- Headset volume

- Windows Master Volume

- Teamspeak Master Volume + Acre Radio volume (Double clic on the plugin)

- Arma 2 Effect Volume

Yeah, there's a lot of settings to take into account ;) Even if they're set just right, if someone far away has there St_ACRE on shout I guess there's not a lot you can do, as turning down the headset and you might not be able to hear the person next to you with ST_Acre on Whisper.

They're no specific hotkey for Short range or long range radio.

Yeah, it just threw me as I was only used to using one radio so assumed that key always triggered the SR. Using the Alt+Shift+x is working OK for me thanks.

---------- Post added at 02:22 ---------- Previous post was at 02:21 ----------

Something like left / right / center, allowing the player to select one radio as prime i.e. when there's a signal coming in on that channel, other radios are turned down. ("Muted" would be wrong; reduced would do the trick. Possible to adjust relative whatever other signal is present? so primary is +6dB or so?)

That sounds like a great idea.

---------- Post added at 02:23 ---------- Previous post was at 02:22 ----------

Experience and discipline. If it was the first time running with two radios give it more time. You will start to get used to all the chatter. On the discipline side your squad mats should understand that you can be talking/listening on the radio and cut out any unneccessary chatter.

Yeah, it was just all new and scary ;) Next time I will be more direct with my squad mates about the need to be quiet when I need to use the radio.

---------- Post added at 02:28 ---------- Previous post was at 02:23 ----------

Do you have 3D positions turned on? And what format is the output set to? Needs to be on Stereo.

Talking of settings, if I'm using a stereo headset with my soundcard (Realtek onboard) set to 5.1 but only the front speakers/headphones enabled (which is required so that it mixes down the audio to stereo for some games, such as Skyrim) will it matter what setting the "Mono Sound Expansion" is set to in TS3 for ACRE?

I would think not, as Mono to Center will get mixed by the soundcard driver to both sides of the Stereo as will Mono to Surround and Mono to Stereo is already mixed by TS3 to the two sides but I've had some problems with positioning lately. I had it on Mono to Center last night when I played and that seemed OK.

[pyrogt 1]

Do you have 3D positions turned on? And what format is the output set to? Needs to be on Stereo.

I believe I have 3D positions set on, How do I switch the output to stereo?

[hon0 10]

[doveman 7]

Thanks.

[terox 316]

Him Folks, am after some info

I44 mod has issues running with any later beta than Beta 100697

I am wanting to run I44 with ACRE

I am having problems trying to figure out which Beta the latest ACRE and Jayarmalib requires.

Anyone know ?