Firecracker Sound Effects

[Kydoimos 915]

Loving the Alpha, however, has anybody noticed with the recent update that gunfire sounds a bit like firecrackers going off? It sounds authentic, but not at such close distances. It's really grating. And the silenced pistols sound a bit 'clicky' too. That said, the latter, I suppose, is more realistic. It'd be great if rifle 'firecracker' shots sounded that way if they were fired from a much greater distance, say 3 or 4 hundred metres? Perhaps this will change in the Beta?

[dmarkwick 261]

You may be talking about the sonic crack that is additional to the gunfire? That sound only happens when you're in front of the firer, i.e. those are incoming rounds :)

Having never been in the situation, I cannot say if it is still apparent at very close distances. And in the game, to be honest I've usually got other things on my mind :D

[killzone_kid 1326]

Yeah as DMarkwick pointed it is called supersonic crack. If you want to get rid of it you will need to overwrite class files.

[Insanatrix 0]

I'm hoping that with XAudio they can possibly add in environmental effects and reverb.

[comc 1]

Perhaps it could also be that the mechanical sounds of the weapons seem to have been magnified recently, especially for MX series rifles, which explains why it only sounds like that in close range.

[Smurf 12]

For people that see what's under the hood, any changes of sound config files, references to anything? Distant sounds?

[MattWales 10]

Supersonic crack does exist; the bigger the round, the bigger the shockwave, the bigger the crack. 7.62mm sounds like a fair sized firecracker. Not sure about .50 Cal and above; I've only experienced the crack of 7.62mm at about 300m - was still pretty loud. That was on a firing range, it was about 2m above my head, still pretty loud.

I did notice on some videos of it in ArmA 3 that suppressed pistols firing subsonic ammunition (at least, I hope it was subsonic; from the shooters perspective it sure sounded like it was) still had the supersonic crack when listened to from the muzzle end. If its subsonic, you'll still get the "zzzzzummm" sound (the "angry hornet") but no supersonic crack.

If you're reading this BIS, might be worth looking into that.

[BlackLord 0]

Yeah those are supersonic cracks, but they sound awful in my opinion. JSRS got them right.

[PaperPlane 1]

Yeah those are supersonic cracks, but they sound awful in my opinion. JSRS got them right.

Indeed.

[Wolfstriked 11]

With so many different sounds in Arma3 I have no idea where any bullets are coming from.Is that how combat is in real life?I usually run with a squad loaded up with silencers which adds to the confusion.I think this is the reason why soldiers do not use them in combat as it totally removes any kinda placement of weapons being fired for me.

[Insanatrix 0]

For some reason, all of the BI sounds sound like they were recorded through a really thick sock, like they lost all their tone and definition. The gun sounds themselves are spot on to their real life counter-parts, but they have no definition to them, no sense of the environment that they are being used in. That's what most sound mods do, they try to re-institute a sort of sense of environment through the samples. It really needs to be done through the sound engine on the fly, rather than in the prerecorded sample. I'm hoping that since they switched to Xaudio, they can do something like this.

[max power 21]

I did notice on some videos of it in ArmA 3 that suppressed pistols firing subsonic ammunition (at least, I hope it was subsonic; from the shooters perspective it sure sounded like it was) still had the supersonic crack when listened to from the muzzle end. If its subsonic, you'll still get the "zzzzzummm" sound (the "angry hornet") but no supersonic crack.

If you're reading this BIS, might be worth looking into that.

I think that probably means the suppressed pistol was still supersonic at the muzzle. That may change down range.

[bigpickle 0]

I'm hoping that with XAudio they can possibly add in environmental effects and reverb.

xaudio?

Personally the sound files i think are so over driven bass layers break up.

[MattWales 10]

I think that probably means the suppressed pistol was still supersonic at the muzzle. That may change down range.

Ah, good point, didnt think about that!

[hannibal636 11]

Yeah those are supersonic cracks, but they sound awful in my opinion. JSRS got them right.

i like to see a youtube video.... thanks in advance

[das attorney 857]

xaudio?

Personally the sound files i think are so over driven bass layers break up.

Yes I'm hearing that too. The EBR sounds like they've compressed the shit out of it, and it's cranked up so much (in the recording) it's clipping.

[maturin 12]

They're everywhere once you learn what to listen for:

Skip to 1:15 if you want, but this is an incredible video in its entirety.

What you probably assume are distant reverberations are in fact most likely the *pops* of rounds passing by ten or so meters overhead. The really close shots are less likely to be captured on video because the Taliban are shitty shots. They also don't sound that loud in many videos because the camera can't convey the loudness of short, sharp sounds.

A shorter one:

Edited May 28, 2013 by maturin

[Inimical_rize 1]

Supersonic crack happenes at any range of the effected bullet, once leaving the barell the super sonic crack is a constant untill the round hits the subsonic part of flight, during this transition that usually lasts aout 10ft the round will make a 'wuring' noise, after that 10ft tohe round will make no noise. this usually indicates that the round has become slower and increasingly unstable, this is the worse time to be hit by any round in the subsonic stage as a unstable entry to the body will cause a larger tempral cavity causing increased soft tissue damage and bullet track/tumbling.

sources: Me infantry sniper 7 years.

removed

Sorry guys, didn't really think much about the content of this video, apologies to anyone offended.

Edited May 29, 2013 by Inimcal_
video depicts real death

[bigpickle 0]

Yes I'm hearing that too. The EBR sounds like they've compressed the shit out of it, and it's cranked up so much (in the recording) it's clipping.

Almost every audio file has this, de-pbo sounds_f_weapons.

I would imagine that the Alpha is from half a year ago and the real work is going into the Beta, and we get snippets to added to the Alpha to bring it closer to the Beta standards.

[mrcash2009 0]

Are the cracks just a copy and paste fof arma2 vanilla cracks? I hope not because I have never liked them in vanilla since arma1.

[Kydoimos 915]

Quite a response from the thread! And I've actually learnt quite a bit too. I only observed that there's a lot of high-pitched, 'firecracker'-like gunfire in-game. My only experience with firearms came when I fired a blank firing pistol in my bedroom when I was a teenager. Set the smoke alarm off and left my ears ringing for the rest of the afternoon. So, I guess I just felt the gunfire needed to be a bit, I don't know, 'meatier'? The supersonic crack is great - but I'd like to hear a bit more of the 'gunshot'. Hmmm, perhaps I'm not making a lot of sense and rambling! Sorry! I don't have any experience of getting shot at. Noticed that the 'firecracker' sound only seems to emit from rifles. Not so much pistols and heavy machine guns.

[2nd ranger 282]

I think perhaps you're still mistaking the sonic cracks for actual gunfire. The 'firecracker' sounds are not the sound of the actual gun firing, they are the sound of the bullet as it passes close by.

However the sound of distant gunfire (and explosions) was messed up in the last update. The sound becomes very quiet over too short a distance.

[Smurf 12]

However the sound of distant gunfire (and explosions) was messed up in the last update. The sound becomes very quiet over too short a distance.

This. Those huge 50 cal snipers barely make any sound. Hope it's a WIP thing.

[Inimical_rize 1]

Pistols generally have weak muzle velocities, this means they hit a subsonic state at around 40mtrs, most sidearms are effective in untrained hands to 40-50mtrs, trained you can push a little further 60-70 deppendant on environment but don't expect to place every round within a average dinner plate.

Weapon reports are equal to that of the distance fiered at as is any sound over distance in reality, so if you hear a *crack* above your head you can count (when youre not diging in with your eye lids) the seconds between the *crack* and *thump (rifles bang)* and have a rough distance, and obviously being able to hear in 360 degrees you can hear where the thump originated.

that rule doesn't work well if you are getting engaged at from a few valleys away or whilst in a urban environment.

I do agree the thumps or reports from the rifles do need to be a load deeper.

Edit: Once i'm home from where i work i will slice up some videos i took on deployment and create a video to explain and to show you guys and the developers the various noises. Most of the reports are from 7.62 weapons. please wait out for those as I'm not sure of my next leave

Edited May 29, 2013 by Inimcal_
Addition of extra text

[BlackLord 0]

That would be awesome, please make ticket as well on the feedback tracker if you have the time.