Audio Tweaking (dev branch)

[inlesco 233]

 

Long post. Some many things are broken or unfinished.

 

Bugs:

1. Metal plates sounds are played when you change your stance or roll on the ground.

2. Sound of falling bodies is missing (A huge immersion breaker)

3. Healing sound is not interruptible

When unit who performs "healing action" dies, the healing sound is keep playing. (Also a huge immersion breaker)

 

4. Deployment sound is unbalanced (First person only)

When you deploy a weapons the "deployment sound" is more audible from the left channel.

 

5. Footsteps sound is missing when use step over animation (pistol/launcher/binocular/unarmed)

 

Regression compared to A2

 

Breath sounds can only be heard in first person

A.You can't hear them from other characters.

B.You can't hear them from your character in 3-d person view.

 

Great work on reporting those 'small' issues. All of them fixed would make up a better experience overall.

[x3kj 1247]

has someone recently used the armed offroad MG?  I'm getting weird static/distorted sounds right when the reload starts. after a few seconds it continues normally, i think this reload sound is somehow broken.

[fareast 20]

has someone recently used the armed offroad MG?  I'm getting weird static/distorted sounds right when the reload starts. after a few seconds it continues normally, i think this reload sound is somehow broken.

 

also in stable

[St. Jimmy 272]

has someone recently used the armed offroad MG?  I'm getting weird static/distorted sounds right when the reload starts. after a few seconds it continues normally, i think this reload sound is somehow broken.

Is it again (virtual) surround headphone/sets/speakers problem?

[x3kj 1247]

no idea what you mean by "again". But yes i have headphones and a soundcard with surround emulation (but i have it running in stereo atm).

[St. Jimmy 272]

no idea what you mean by "again". But yes i have headphones and a soundcard with surround emulation (but i have it running in stereo atm).

All kind of sound glitches, disortion and stuff that had been reported for year or more were very much related to surround sound, especially virtual surround headsets, or if you used surround emulation. I don't know what's the cause for it but BIS has fixed that stuff in this year couple times with some sounds. The again was that is there again some new sound that does the same stuff. It was usual thing for some new sounds that were introduced couple months ago.

[Kydoimos 916]

Music is cutting out and sounds are repeating: http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=24456

 

It was assigned 3 months ago, and is scheduled for a fix though :)

[CaptainAzimuth 714]

I've noticed a slight, very slight clipping of the end sound of the tails and sounds of gunshots, of course, at the end of their audio. After firing lots of rounds, this clipping sound can become very annoying. Having worked with audio samples before, i'm certain this is because the sample for tails are not faded out, or the samples themselves fade, but the white noise (static) or ambiance just stops. It's very noticeable after you fire many shots. It's more noticeable because the sound isn't actually broadcast in a 3D space either.

[megagoth1702 252]

I've noticed a slight, very slight clipping of the end sound of the tails and sounds of gunshots, of course, at the end of their audio. After firing lots of rounds, this clipping sound can become very annoying. Having worked with audio samples before, i'm certain this is because the sample for tails are not faded out, or the samples themselves fade, but the white noise (static) or ambiance just stops. It's very noticeable after you fire many shots. It's more noticeable because the sound isn't actually broadcast in a 3D space either.

They are probably old samples. Dusa told me that they had a problem with the wav -> wss converter which created a DC offset and it's fixed now. Gotta wait for a new set of sounds I guess. :-/

 

 

Long post. Some many things are broken or unfinished.

Awesome post man, thank you very much for writing tickets and producing perfect showcase videos! This is perfect feedback.

[jumpinghubert 49]

example for good ingame sound

[djotacon 190]

To me the sound in the game is awful right now . I can not place the incoming enemy shots in any way since the origin of the shot not only impacts hear and be heard.

Even in unpopulated areas without background sound - in a valley - just not heard anything about the origin of the shot .

I'm also very tired to see "characters" - children - giving lessons about how sound is perceived when you really are nothing more than personal opinions and literally sink the gameplay.

 

Right now the sound of gunfire in origin similar to that if you can be in a recording studio .

There is no echoes of any kind and using headphones is inaudible .

Steam is full of complaints about the horrible sound we have in the game, with muffled sounds , poor and do not help anything to the game.

[peegee 118]

Echo, we need way more echo. Indoors and outdoors.

[SePiko 0]

I have trouble with music and it stops whenever I save my mission. Also stops on main menu when I select option.

[haleks 8212]

I have trouble with music and it stops whenever I save my mission. Also stops on main menu when I select option.

Same here since a recent update : saving or pausing the game for more than a few seconds will stop or restart sound tracks...

[royaltyinexile 175]

As our recent roadmap (ahem, vaguely) alluded to, Nexus Update will see the introduction of some new audio features. We didn't go into too many specifics in the roadmap; in part, this was to 'keep it simple' but, also, we weren't 100% certain about the timing of the audio updates. 

 

Since then, some features have slipped into the Eden Update; however, a few nice improvements are on the way, one of which has snuck onto Dev-Branch already.

 

• Tweaked: Sound - Engine core update (Stereo Emitter)

 

The goal of this update is to improve the richness / 'texture' of the soundscape, by playing stereo samples at close ranges. In simplistic terms, this technology enables us to define, based on distance, whether a sound source is 'mono', 'stereo', or a 'mix' of the two.

 

 

In our previous implementation (ahem, for 15 years :)), stereo samples were used, but the engine down-mixed these samples (as mono). Now, in the new implementation, the closer you are to the source, the more 'stereo' the sound is (from 0 to 100%). 

• Currently, a sound source will start to 'spread' to stereo at 3 meters (which will be adjusted in future)
• This value is currently global (it applies to all sound sources with stereo samples)
• In future, it will be possible to define it per sound source
• This relates to future changes to the way sound is configured, which we'll share soon
• Once this happens, we will re-balance the ranges and volumes (e.g., a helicopter will be configured differently than a rifle)
• It's more obvious with headphones and recently improved samples, such as explosions and shooting

Our Audio lead, Dusa, will drop by the forums later to consider any feedback, answer some questions, and generally dig down into more of the technical details.

 

By this time, we should also have some clearer sense of the other audio development we expect to make it into Nexus. That being said, we do expect the bulk of the larger improvements to be rolled out after Nexus, on the road to Eden (and Apex).

 

 

Same here since a recent update : saving or pausing the game for more than a few seconds will stop or restart sound tracks...

 

Thanks for the note. We are aware of these issues (caused by the above-mentioned 'core update'), and should push out a fix to Dev-Branch asap.

 

Best,

RiE

[Maxzy 12]

I was a sad panda after reading a roadmap, because there was nothing about sound. But now I'm happy again. Yay to the sound department.

[rebelvg 281]

Also, playSound3D command has some problems too.

If you start a sound file with it and alt-tab the sound file will start playing from the start.

And also it would be awesome if this command could support moving sound sources and if you could stop the sound that is started with this command.

[Kerc Kasha 102]

Also, playSound3D command has some problems too.

If you start a sound file with it and alt-tab the sound file will start playing from the start.

And also it would be awesome if this command could support moving sound sources and if you could stop the sound that is started with this command.

say3d does this too

[haleks 8212]

Thanks for the note. We are aware of these issues (caused by the above-mentioned 'core update'), and should push out a fix to Dev-Branch asap.

Nice! ;)

[rebelvg 281]

say3d does this too

say3d has less control. For example, you can't regulate distance with it. If you'll try play music via say3d players will hear it kilometers away.

Or wait you mean, say3d has the same alt-tabing problem? Yeah, probably.

[Kerc Kasha 102]

say3d has less control. For example, you can't regulate distance with it. If you'll try play music via say3d players will hear it kilometers away.

Or wait you mean, say3d has the same alt-tabing problem? Yeah, probably.

That's 2d. 3d you can set the distance in the description.ext, it's a uhh, undocumented feature.

 

but yes the alt tabbing is the problem I was referring to.

[h - 169]

And also it would be awesome if this command could support moving sound sources and if you could stop the sound that is started with this command.

This, pl0x...

More sound related scripting commands would be grand, for example soundLenght, and/or add sound eventhandlers like there is for music already..

 

 

Also, not sure whether this falls into the already discussed sounds cutting off with save stuff but for example sounds played with say cut off when game autosaves (saveGame)

[froggyluv 2136]

That's 2d. 3d you can set the distance in the description.ext, it's a uhh, undocumented feature.

 

 Mind sharing more info on this?

[oldy41 61]

The following question is probably a bit unusual, but it is something I am really concerned about:

 

My hearing has significantly suffered in the last two years. As in most such cases it is hard to tell the reasons for that. One is certainly age, but than I am not yet that old. ;)

Anyway, I am trying hard to preserve the rest of my hearing capabilities. The only noisy thing I am confronted with in my daily life is ArmA, which I play a lot.

 

Now I am not sure, but I am afraid that some of the rifle gunshot sounds are too loud or too sharp in comparison to the rest of the audio landscape. I.e. when I crank the volume to a level which provides a reasonably good immersion regarding movement sounds, environment sounds etc. I am afraid that firing the rifles may actually be unhealthy loud for my ears.

 

Of course, this would probably be absolutely realistic, but then I am not going to a real war here... :o

 

@BI: I would really be happy if a dev could confirm, that the levels of the gunshot audio samples have been checked against the other sound to make sure, that they are still on a safe volume level when setting the overall game volume reasonably.

 

(And just to make sure I am understood correctly: This is not about how something should sound in the game, nor what would be realistic. I am sure a real war is definitely unhealthy for your ears (and potentially other body parts), but this is not the topic. I am simply seriously concerned about what my ArmA gaming passion does to my ears.  :unsure: )

 

[novahot 1]

@Dusa

 

What can we look forward to concerning overall soundscape like realistic far distant battle sounds?