Audio Tweaking (dev branch)

[bullet purveyor 85]

Damn, someone would've been in the court-martial if that would've happened this side of the gulf

I think in most places a sane range safety officer would never allow that :confused:

[andersson 285]

I been told not to stand up during a live fire assault exercise as another group was shooting over us (Finland). This was during night so the tracers were nice looking with audible snaps. But this is getting OT...

[2nd ranger 282]

Since the tails were introduced, weapon samples can sometimes sound like they abruptly cut off, normally inside or near buildings. This is especially noticable when the shooter is inside a building. A weapon being fired indoors sounds pretty bad from outside. The problem seems to be the audibility of the tail. Up to about 35m, you can hear the tail and the shot sounds normal. Beyond that distance, it's like the tail and the shot are clipping into each other and you can only hear the tail properly when the shooter fires his last round.

Edited April 6, 2015 by 2nd Ranger

[dna_uk 30]

Weapon sounds seem to be incredibly muffled inside buildings with today's build.

[2nd ranger 282]

Well gunshots can be heard from a much greater distance in today's update (over 1km), which is good, but now the filter seems to have been toned down too much. The attentuation effects aren't very noticable up to about 500m.

As noted above, weapons are very muffled indoors. Doors used to be muffled too, but now they're fine. Speech, for example units using directSay, is still muffled in buildings. Also, Land_u_House_Small_01_V1_F is still missing interior tails.

[KeyCat 131]

Like the new sound effects in buildings but as DnA_UK mentioned the volume seems to low. Quite a big difference between indoor/outdoor.

/KC

[nigrinus 10]

Havent posted on Dev Branch Feedback before but i really feel the need to do so now.

I appreciate that you take on the sound overhaul. What the game really needs to get some immersion to the sound especially in firefights, distances and explosions.

Right now in DevBranch the sound of a rifle fired at 100 meters is barely audible at all...looks weird when the snaps are louder and the guy shooting at me from 100 meters is kind a pantomimic.

The distances need a definite rework. Also the explosions sound just fake. Grenades and all sorts of explosions are frightening when using JSRS Dragonfyre. These explosions scare the shit ouf ot me. Would be great if you get some inspiration from LordJarhead.

The weapon sounds themselves in first person sound great now. I like where this is going.

During a firefight though it seems to me that the sound of guns is ending so abruptly which sounds too artificial and the lack of echoes is weird.

What this game needs is also different sounds for different distances.

There are some nice sounds of different distances with a 50.cal.

Nevertheless since 1.40 and the introduction of tails JSRS Dragonfyre is kind of messed up. Which stopped me from playing ARMA3 for a long time now. I can not bear the simple sound anymore. I really hope you get your visions of sound implemented into Arma3 which will be by then the best military simulaction game out there.

It is just feedback from my own perspective.

[DancZer 65]

Like the new sound effects in buildings but as DnA_UK mentioned the volume seems to low. Quite a big difference between indoor/outdoor.

/KC

I agree! It need some tweaking.

[audiocustoms 375]

FYI never f**king ever use youtube videos as sound reference to original guns... This is not how it works, this is how NON of it works... Crapy cam microphones, pathetic sampling rates and horrible compression. Even if the original video source is recorded with propper microphones YT is fucking it up...!

Indoor sounds...

The indoor sounds are not quieter than the outdoor sounds. It's just another high frequency damping but the SPL (sound pressure level) is the same. Lack of high mid and high frequencies feel like the sound is quieter.

I agree, the indoor sounds are a bit muffeling, but when i imagine shooting a rifle with more than 120dB in a room smaller than 25m² and highly reflecting walls... No good for your ears.

But the other hand, highly reflecting walls normaly result in a high frequency flutter echo and almost no damping mut i guess that's weapon tail stuff.

Edited April 8, 2015 by audiocustoms

[NeMeSiS 11]

But the other hand, highly reflecting walls normaly result in a high frequency flutter echo and almost no damping mut i guess that's weapon tail stuff.

This. Currently, the indoor sounds are what you should hear when a gun is fired indoors, and you are outside, only hearing the lower frequencies that penetrate walls better. When you are inside and fire your weapon it should be as you described. So the current situation doesnt really make sense.

[nigrinus 10]

FYI never f**king ever use youtube videos as sound reference to original guns... This is not how it works, this is how NON of it works... Crapy cam microphones, pathetic sampling rates and horrible compression. Even if the original video source is recorded with propper microphones YT is fucking it up...!

Sorry for not being in a war lately, basically videos is all i can get to say in which general direction sound development of weapons should go. No one said: "copy the exact sound of that youtube video"...jeez.

[laxemann 1673]

Seems as if the attenuation is messed up and the sound gets damped even when you're inside the building. Should be easiyl fixed, I guess :)

[fareast 20]

the indoor sound effects is missing in military tower and steel bunker

[DancZer 65]

... I agree, the indoor sounds are a bit muffeling, but when i imagine shooting a rifle with more than 120dB in a room smaller than 25m² and highly reflecting walls... No good for your ears....

Ohh i see. Maybe the sound is lower because it is simulate the ear suppression? This mean, that when i throw a grenade outside and go inside the building and shoot with the weapon, i would hear the grenade blow up at lower volume too? I'm gonna try it and let you inform.

[royaltyinexile 175]

Ohh i see. Maybe the sound is lower because it is simulate the ear suppression? This mean, that when i throw a grenade outside and go inside the building and shoot with the weapon, i would hear the grenade blow up at lower volume too? I'm gonna try it and let you inform.

For a little over a (Dev-Branch) week now, there are two things at play when a player enters a building. Firstly, exterior sounds (i.e. things making a noise outside the building) are less audible. Secondly, some noises made inside the building (such as firing a weapon) reverberate.

Currently, the implementation - partly in the interest of performance, partly due the complexity of implementation - is fairly basic. So far, interior reverb extends to footsteps and weapon tails, an approach that abstracts various real-life factors. Other sounds are excluded from exterior-interior attenuation; it's not true 'occlusion', of course, but it's pointing in the right direction.

Nevertheless, we consider this to be a big improvement upon the previous state; that being said, we're also aware that a more complex solution, simulating more factors and more sound sources, would be more splendid. Finding an agreeable balance between samples / dynamic filters / performance, is always top of our agenda.

Marksmen DLC isn't the end of our audio roadmap - it's a stop along on the way. We've had the opportunity to focus on some important (and, one might argue, long-overlooked) aspects of our sound engine, and along the way, our (growing) team has learned from the experience, which in turn, we hope benefits our community.

This 'learning' applies to both technical expertise (ahem, trial and error), plus getting to grips with developing on an open platform, gathering feedback, and communicating with our players. Perhaps on the cusp of Marksmen DLC's launch, it's appropriate to thank everyone for their feedback!

Naturally - given the reality of our development schedule - we can't make everything a reality, but I know for certain that our game will sound much better than it did before, which we can attribute to the splendid cooperation between our hard-working audio team and dedicated community members! I, for one, am looking forward to continuing along this path!

Best,

RiE

Edited April 8, 2015 by RoyaltyinExile

[DancZer 65]

That's are really good news RiE. I'm really happy that you guys working on the sound engine. Definitely the best thing that have happened with Arma for years. Of course along with the other great features! I can't wait what will bring the Expansion! :D :D You guys are awesome!

[enex 11]

Plus getting to grips with developing on an open platform, gathering feedback, and communicating with our players. Perhaps on the cusp of Marksmen DLC's launch, it's appropriate to thank everyone for their feedback!

I'm curious to what do you consider in this thread communicating with players.You seem particularly active and I applaud you for that,

and audio department mentioned from Audio roadmap comment "Also, we must admit that - compared to other departments - the audio

team hasn't been quite so responsive and communicative." this thread could use some more answers on lingering questions and feedback

that get posted very often (I'm looking at you Mega!).Considering time and priorities I'm extremely happy that Project lead and the other

developers decided to do improvement in audio department.Wooho!

[CaptainAzimuth 714]

Just a stop along the way is fantastic news. The potential for the Audio layer of Arma 3 is very much present.

[St. Jimmy 272]

In stable:

- SPMG audio is quieter than other guns in game (naturally this could be said the other way around). I needed to up my audio from 50% to 90% so it sounds about as loud as other guns.

- GL sounds like the grenade just moves out of the tube and really isn't shot from the tube

Edited April 8, 2015 by St. Jimmy

[2nd ranger 282]

Secondly, some noises made inside the building (such as firing a weapon) reverberate.

I thought I could hear a slight reverb from units' speech inside buildings, that's pretty cool.

[megagoth1702 252]

First of all - great to see a DEV in this thread. Also great to read that audio is really being looked at seriously. It's only going to get better. I really love the tails & attenuation stuff you do (everything based on distance and everything based on indoor/outdoor). Keep it up!

[...] but I know for certain that our game will sound much better than it did before, which we can attribute to the splendid cooperation between our hard-working audio team and dedicated community members! I, for one, am looking forward to continuing along this path!

Best,

RiE

Let's hope that path continues since I did not really feel any of that "cooperation between audio team & community". I offered whatever help & advice I can give via PM more than once, it got forwarded to the audio lead (according to you) but I never heard from anyone.

Pettka is the most responsive guy at the moment, since he replied to very technical questions I had. Much appreciated! <3

(I'm looking at you Mega!)

Thanks for the support. :)

[IHUNTERI 10]

Anyone noticed some strange *pop* sound in the end of tail samples? e.g. MAR-10, mk200. Also Navid in burst mode doesn't have interior tail. Stable version.

[CaptainAzimuth 714]

I thought I could hear a slight reverb from units' speech inside buildings, that's pretty cool.

If only they got Direct chat to do that, it'd be awesome.

[pd3 25]

I've been saying this ever since the old days of OFP, that BI needed to step away from engine based sound modulation and simply go the route that other games had successfully done away with.

The most primitive example from my recollection was Half Life 2, they had separate samples based on distance back in 2004.

I'm not trying to be an asshole for the sake of being an asshole, but since It appears that I've been forced to update, with no recourse, and it's not pretty. I'm going to have to leave my opinion on the matter, I really don't have any other option. I can't even play the game at this point, every sound at this point is just a reminder of how much better it was before this update.

The new sounds are awfully synthetic, they feel "overly" engineered, and the fact that not only does the modulation not apply to legacy buildings (arma/arma2) era buildings, but it's disappointingly substandard. It really does seem like the minimal effort was put through to add some reverb and that's it.

You don't even get sonic echoes when at proximity to "objects".

Like I said, I'm not trying to be an asshole, but this is AWFUL. This does not enhance but detracts from the immersion in the game.

What were you guys doing inviting LJ and then learning absolutely nothing and implementing some of the great concepts he had in the laziest manner possible? I wouldn't even be annoyed here if it weren't for the fact that I'm not even able to play a build that allows me to circumvent this, hence why I'm posting this here.

I don't even know if LJ will be able to re-implement the features that set his mod apart from others at this point. I'd really like to know how the devs could get such a great concept so completely and utterly wrong. They would have been better off simply adding new sounds and leaving the rest alone if they couldn't do it properly.

I've been saying it since HL2 came out, SEPARATE samples for separate instances of fire, it's the only way, software modulation is completely inadequate.

Edited April 9, 2015 by Pd3

[danil-ch 165]

Some sounds (footsteps, gear sounds) are less audible in the First Person mode then in 3-rd person. And radio messages are really quiet now.