AlphaSounds

[afp 1]

Footsteps, gear and some ambient sounds for Alpha version.

How to install:

1. Set your speakers / headsets volume to the "normal" volume you use to play other games or listen to music. That should be around 40-60%.

2. Edit you audio settings, make sure the "sound effects" volume is close to default value, somewhere around 80%.

3. Install the mod like any other mod, copy the "@AlphaSound" folder in ArmA 3 folder (mine is "G:\Steam\SteamApps\common\Arma 3").

4. Click on ArmA game properties on Steam and add this to the command line (startup parameters): " -mod=@AlphaSounds;", then launch the game. Or you can start Steam in background then create a shortcut to ArmA3.exe where you can add that to the start command line.

5. Enter the game, tune up the sounds, you need to hear the ambient "buzz" as a "natural" background noise, not disturbing, not the wind, barely hearable, until you have the feeling of space "depth".

For server side you need to use PlayWithSix (check for the last version)

Download AlphaSounds 1.04

Changes log

Version 1.04:

- footsteps and gear adapted to the new Alpha version (+0.60);

Edited June 14, 2013 by afp

[scarecrow398 43]

Do you mind noting down some key differences in your mod from the standard? just as a 'selling' point to people interested?

[Maslofski 10]

Do you mind noting down some key differences in your mod from the standard? just as a 'selling' point to people interested?

isnt point 5 answering your question?

[antoineflemming 14]

Make a video showing the differences. Simple as that. Give people a reason to want to download your addon. Because, quite frankly, your soundmod could be just that great, or what you're saying could be a load of bull. From what you've said, sounds like you simply adjusted how loud or soft sounds were.

[Kommiekat 11]

Or, people could just as simply download the mod and try it out for themselves, regardless of what he did to volumn adjustments or additions to the pbo file???

[afp 1]

Indeed, its easier to install and check. I made a video too, see the first post.

Some sounds still get too loud when you change sound effects volume but I guess its better to hear everything then not to hear some sounds.

Edited March 30, 2013 by afp

[tremanarch 6]

I would like to know the differences in detail too.

I noticed from the vid: louder ambient sounds, and gear sound that wasnt there. the rest I have already in my standard game.

I wanna know what changed cause I wanna cross check it, so you can check for errors, and dont get surprised in Operations etc. Its not a shame if you didnt change much, just tell exactly what..

edit: I made a comparison video of the INF Showcase.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IUvEdBRs0Y

1st 5-6 Minute Part with mode

2nd 5-6 Minute Part standard

I like the new gearsound. While playing though it felt like in standard mode, rifles etc felt more powerful, impact noises where closer and felt more dangerous.

edit: this was recorded with the "Old" @AlphaSounds and Volumefx=12 method.

Edited March 30, 2013 by tremanarch

[Guest]

Release frontpaged on the Armaholic homepage.

AlphaSounds [ALPHA] v1.00

[afp 1]

Thank you, FoxHound. In the meantime I think I've found what the problem with the sound is, I think the "volume" parameter of sound effects doesn't count and only matter the "hearing distance" parameter. Need some other confirmations tho, if so, its an easy to fix bug for the devs too. Based on this I released a new version without the need to tune up all sounds too loud, check the new "install" procedure, you only have to put "sound effects" on default. Updated first post with the new procedure and the new download link.

EDIT: tremanarch, not much changes indeed, added some footsteps set and gear sounds and tweaked some the existing sounds a bit. You can unpack the .pbo file and see the changes yourself in .cpp file. I wanted to make sure there is a balance of audible sounds to improve a bit the athmosphere in game. Untill now, I had to keep the effects volume too low because the gunshots were too loud and I couldn't hear the footsteps.

Edited March 30, 2013 by afp

[Demongornot 10]

Hi, it is my first message on this forum =)

Sorry for my English i'm French and i have learn this Language myself.

Hi Afp and thanks for this beautiful mods, its nice but like someone say on the youtube video the walking sound are not realistic.

I actually own a ghillie suit, a real military one, and some equipment like military boot, tactical vest, holster with airsoft M9, SR-25 sniper fully equipped who are also a nice airsoft replica, etc etc...

If you want, i probably can this afternoon recording myself walking and running with all my equipment, i have a nice camera (Panasonic HDC-SD80).

So if it stop to raining, i will be able to record you some nature sound (in case of) and walking with gear on road, grass and stone path, a highway was a little close but with several times i think i can get a good sound in video and also do it inside a tunnel with nice resonance.

So if you want this just told me some instructions, for example if the feet speed don't count (you can editing it) or if i have to be synchro with the ingame sound.

[tremanarch 6]

Demongornot thats awesome if you could do this.

Maybe try and positioning the camera at different angles or attach it to your knee ;) dunno. best would be to have a small mic at your head recording the footsteps to check the volume of footsteps vs breathing and then the footsteps closely to get the pure sound.

[Guest]

Updated release frontpaged on the Armaholic homepage.

AlphaSounds [ALPHA] v1.01

** installation instructions updated as well (copied from the first post)

[afp 1]

Hi, it is my first message on this forum =)

Sorry for my English i'm French and i have learn this Language myself.

Hi Afp and thanks for this beautiful mods, its nice but like someone say on the youtube video the walking sound are not realistic.

I actually own a ghillie suit, a real military one, and some equipment like military boot, tactical vest, holster with airsoft M9, SR-25 sniper fully equipped who are also a nice airsoft replica, etc etc...

If you want, i probably can this afternoon recording myself walking and running with all my equipment, i have a nice camera (Panasonic HDC-SD80).

So if it stop to raining, i will be able to record you some nature sound (in case of) and walking with gear on road, grass and stone path, a highway was a little close but with several times i think i can get a good sound in video and also do it inside a tunnel with nice resonance.

So if you want this just told me some instructions, for example if the feet speed don't count (you can editing it) or if i have to be synchro with the ingame sound.

Hey Demongornot, thanks for reply. I used to be in the military service in my country when younger plus I go on airsoft games pretty much every Sunday and sometimes at the shooting range. I will explain a bit the feeling of the soldier sounds, as no microphone can really reproduce exactly what you hear and especially what you feel. Same for the weapons sounds, youtube videos are pretty much useless, only a person who used that gun intensivelly can say if a sound is getting close to the real feeling.

So, first of all, soldiers wear boots. You really feel them, even if some of the newest models are very light, you still hear them touching the ground and feel them through your bones when running. So the first part of the step sound shoud be the boot fall, not that intense (even if sometimes this is real) as it is disturbing. This boot fall sound should be combined with the ground sound, for example if its gravel it should be a short bootfall imediatelly followed up (or slightly overlapped) by some short rolling stones sound.

Right after this sound, the gear sound comes in scene, if its sprint, faster and more intense, if its walking, slower and not that loud, maybe even not at every step. This because the gear stops from inertia when the boot stopped into the ground. If you have airsoft gear, you will hear pretty much the BBs sounds, unless you put them in a bag, that's not the case in ArmA. While in military service, the sounds I remember were the part metal of the sling hitting the AK, maybe the canteen, the magazines, the clothes sounds, stuff in your pouches, a combination of all of these.

There are plenity of sound effects on internet about soldiers, remember they were recorded with an external microphone while you play the game inside the soldier. I analized the gear sounds a bit, I felt they are mostly closer to some metalic sounds but depending of what you wear they can be different. A backpack can change the sounds too, I prefered to suggest the ideea of a hardly equipped soldier. In real you may feel the sounds are not that loud, still you are aware of them more than you think, maybe because they propagate though your body as they are made by attached objects. So louder footsteps in game is both realistic and more epic.

Please feel free to record the sounds and put them here, I'm sure there is a lot of room for improvements. Rememeber, in my mod only the "grass" sounds are mine (plus gear), the rest of the footsteps are original Bohemia's with a higher volume but to be honest, I found them good enough.

There will never by some sounds set everybody will agree over, people will always like different sounds.

[Demongornot 10]

Thanks for your excellent reply !

I totally understand what you mean, its not more the sound itself than the feel of really be here and create and feel this sound that you try to reproduce with your mods !

This is really nice and you have a really nice idea for making this !

Thanks again !

I will also record my airsoft version like you say.

And the new sound (except Gatling) of Arma 3 are awesome, i agree !

[Demongornot 10]

Hi here !

I have finally done my video for those who want to see it.

The youtube link here :

French and English video description, i don't talk in the video, at the end some visual bug during the compression was here.

Like i have say, i have put all my equipment, Ghillie suit, Rangers Boots (who killed my feets) tactical vest with some equipment inside, and even a back pack (for transport some stuff like my cam's tripod or the airsoft gas), i shoot with the M9 only at the beggin on the video but i don't shoot with my GR25 (SR-25).

I have try to do my best for obtain a nice sound, i think the quality is correct even if i have compress and convert two time the video, but if people want i can release a better video quality version.

I hope you will enjoy it !

It took me all the afternoon for do it but i have appreciated this little ride !

[bigpickle 0]

I don't think any of that 20 min video could be used, the microphone needs to be traveling with the sound source no Doppler is the key.

[Demongornot 10]

I know but Afp explain why he choose the actual sound for his mod, i finally do it for those who want to see it like Tremanarch and those who want to compare with ingame, not for use in any addon, for do so (in case of, and cause i want one since a lot of time) i have buy a nice quality stereo dictaphone, the Philips DVT1000, i hope i will receive it soon, if any modder confirm that they want my sound i will do a second video with better quality, maybe during several days, with the best quality possible and filter all noise i can and finally try if i can to find a nice terrain far from the highway.

[bigpickle 0]

ok good luck

[zach72 1]

any chance of turning down the in-helicopter sound? it seem overtly loud, as you are wearing a helmet with ear protection.

[SnR 1]

+1 drop Heli

[tremanarch 6]

you need a dead cat for your mic to record good sounds because the wind is destroying the sounds.

its still perefctly good as a referency point!

but nice and thx!

Edited April 3, 2013 by tremanarch

[afp 1]

I'll fix the heli sound, please report others too.
Actually I was surprised by Demongornot recording, it has pretty good quality and you can analize lot of things. First I notice is the the wind/buzz sound that I tried to add too (not this loud, of course), which really creates a spatial sensation. Second, my gear could be a bit less "metalic", and add one or two "metal on wood" or "metal on plastic" sounds instead. Just realized that there is no "walking in the rain" sound in ArmA, the footsteps are completelly different. Still analyzing the video, thats a great addition from an "outside" perspective. I think I even can use some of the sounds in the next gear.
One observation, you should have avoid to carry BBs, they add lot of specific noise, and they alter the "military gear", but its ok, its not that loud and I guess it can be filtered somehow.

EDIT: someone commented there is nothing usable, actually you don't have to take them as they are and put them in your mod, you need to figure out all sounds involved and reproduce them to have the same sensations. Breathing, ambient sounds etc all are good together.

EDIT2: Some other things I noticed:
1. As soon as you get far from the camera, the gear sound is not audible anymore, oposite to the game when you are the soldier and you hear it all the time.
2. The boots sound is not that intense as it is in game, we already discussed this, actually you feel it more then you hear it.
3. Maybe some "rain" steps should be added, the sound of the water splashing by the boot is completellly different from anything else existing in game.
4. All the sounds you recorded are the sounds we actually hear even if sometimes we dont notice, the brain can filter and select some sounds it is interested in (voices) while ignoring the background sounds (ambient, wind, breath, even footsteps). This doesnt mean they dont exist.
5. Very interesting sound inside the tunnel. Edited April 3, 2013 by afp

[Mabe 1]

sounds like the guys have rocks and sheet metal in their pockets when they run.

[afp 1]

Updated with some milder gear sounds, I guess the effect of the last one was too intense. No more "stones bag" effect I suppose. You can download it here:

http://www.filedropper.com/alphasounds102 (I updated first post too)

I will be waiting for the new Alpha version with some sound fixes, I think they fixed some of the internal issues with the sound and some better mods can be done. Right now, I was able to change footsteps volume only but "audible distance", due to a bug.

Edited April 11, 2013 by afp

[Guest]

Updated release frontpaged on the Armaholic homepage.

AlphaSounds [ALPHA] v1.02