@RealSoundFilter - Changes low-pass filter

[LtShadow 41]

Opening notes: 

 

Hello ladies and gents,

 

 

This is a very small, yet in my eyes very needed, addon/mod that will increase the roll/falloff of the way the game fades vehicle and weaponry audio.  As of yet there is no object specific low-pass filter variable I can set, so yes - this will change the distance effects on weapons too.

 

I was having issues getting around the new audio update and how the game kept getting me frustrated at the fact my aircraft audio mods were always never loud enough at a distance and were fading way too quickly.  With the help of the guys over at the sound modding thread, I was able to create a stand-alone mod that overwrites the default low-pass filter - which enhances the audio at a distance for my (and Shazer's) projects.

 

I haven't tried this filter change on any other mod (USAF, HAFM, etc..) but I'm sure it will make the aircraft sound better at a distance just like mine are. 

 

This filter is being released to all of you now, because in the very near future I have a few new versions of aircraft that will be released with the USAF mod.  Fuller and his team will more than likely include this filter change as an option, however, this way you guys get a feel for what it does.

 

I started creating sound mods in the late ArmA 2 OA days with the help of Kazmatt1, we always had the mindset that we would have to compensate for the way the ArmA sound engine fades audio - and now that this low-pass filter is set as a global variable, I have no way of changing the filter for just the aircraft we work on so we can continue to bring a realistic experience to the world above ArmA 3.

 

Install: Like any other mod.

 

 

No demo video for now, but I hope you all enjoy this small mod!  

 

 

TL;DR  This mod changes the way the game handles distant sound effects by an edited low-pass filter.

 

A low-pass filter takes a lot of the higher frequency sounds and muffles them when at a certain distance from the source.

 

 

Download: https://www.dropbox.com/s/6f0frwv7ef3lnro/%40RealSoundFilter_1.0.1.zip?dl=0

 

Any issues?  Please let me know! :)

 

Special thanks to my team (Shazer/Matt) as well as megagoth1702 and laxemann for the help!

 

Changelog:

v1.0 - Initial Release

v1.0.1 - Added MP key

 

This is what the mod changes exactly:  (as of v1.0.1);

class CfgPatches {
	class AUDIO_REALSOUND_FILTER_RESET {
		units[] = {};
		weapons[] = {};
		requiredVersion = 0.1;
		requiredAddons[] = {"A3_Air_F"};
	};
};

class cfgDistanceFilters
{
    class DS_defaultDistanceFilter
    {
        type = "lowPassFilter";
        minCutoffFrequency = 150;
        qFactor = 1;
        innerRange = 500;
        range = 7000;
        powerFactor = 32;
    };
};

class cfgSoundGlobals
{
    defaultDistanceFilter = "DS_defaultDistanceFilter";
};

[tinter 186]

Sounds interesting, but it could use a better explanation for people who don't know much about low pass filters or how it will affect sound in game.

[tinter 186]

Also, if suitable for multiplayer use, it should have a key.

[LtShadow 41]

Also, if suitable for multiplayer use, it should have a key.

 

Have not tested in MP, but it should work as I used a similar version in a few of my experimental projects with Shazer in MP.

 

I'll get a key in asap, sorry about that. :)

 

 

Edit:

 

v1.0.1 includes a MP key.  Let me know if you guys need anything else. 

[xxgetbuck123 945]

Download link just takes me to my own Dropbox account for some reason. :( 

[LtShadow 41]

Download link just takes me to my own Dropbox account for some reason. :(

 

For some reason it copied a link that was only usable to logged in users.  Try it now.

[Guest]

Thank you very much for the headsup about the new release :)

Updated version frontpaged on the Armaholic homepage.

@RealSoundFilter v1.0.1

[megagoth1702 252]

Sorry, this mod makes no sense as it is now. You have a problem with YOUR sounds (jets) and try fixing it by changing GLOBAL audio settings, which is something I strongly advise against! You basically disable the whole low pass filter because your range of 7000 makes little sense since there are no sounds with that kind of range in arma3 (unless you are modding sounds in).

 

Sounds interesting, but it could use a better explanation for people who don't know much about low pass filters or how it will affect sound in game.

 

Okay, so what the low pass filter in Arma 3 does.

 

The low pass filter in arma3 removes high frequencies depending on range. The further away a sound, the less high frequency content you hear. This is exactly how it works in real life. And you can define at what distances the filter will work.

 

Right now there is just ONE setting for the low pass filter for vehicles (and all, while weapons (which use the new soundSets technology) already can be assigned custom filters. This will change when we will be able to assign custom low pass filters to soundSets for vehicles. It obviously makes sense to assign ONE filter to the majority of all sounds because this creates a sense of space and distance. "If sound X is this muffled at this distance, I can guess the distance of sound Y by listening to how muffled it is". We all do it when playing video games and it's important.

class DS_defaultDistanceFilter
    {
        type = "lowPassFilter"; //this tells the audio engine what type of filter to use.
        minCutoffFrequency = 150; //the lowest frequency cutoff point the filter will go to
        qFactor = 1; // how steep the filter is, also controls resonance of the filter
        innerRange = 500;
        range = 7000; 
        powerFactor = 32; // don't even know how to explain it, just use the vanilla values from sounds_f config.cpp
    };

So the low pass filter works between 500m and 7000m in this example. Sounds within 500m are unfiltered and then the low pass filter slowly rolls off high frequencies up until 7000m.

 

Problem: sounds at 500m are very muffled in real life, so you want the in game low pass filter to start much earlier. For IFA3 I use an inner range of 20m so the effect starts early, but it's smooth. The range of 7000 makes no sense in arma3 because it's a distance value that is just not commonly used in the game. I will write something up on the topic of choosing "right distances" for audio in the 101 thread. 

 

Basically - most arma3 sounds have a maximum range of 1800-2000, roughly. So they are silent before the filter is even half way closed. So by using this mod everything will sound unfiltered pretty much. One could argue that if you just use "sounds recorded at distance it's fine" but no, a low pass filter smoothly rolling off high frequencies as the distance to the sound increases adds a lot to the realness of the soundscape.

 

So yeah - TLDR - this mod basically removes the low pass filter in order to let the mod creator's sounds shine through wile at the same time totally changing the whole soundscape (which was designed like that for a reason - arma3's distances ARE short) for BI and all other modders, since this mod changes the soundGlobals configuration. The audio lead and me talked about whether we should open these things up to the community and while on one hand modding is great - on the other hand it allows people to break things when they do something they don't really understand but "it kind of works for my sound so I'll do it".

[haleks 8212]

The audio lead and me talked about whether we should open these things up to the community and while on one hand modding is great - on the other hand it allows people to break things when they do something they don't really understand but "it kind of works for my sound so I'll do it".

Opening this to the community with the proper documentation would prevent that.

The way sounds are muffled ingame does need some tweak, and I salute LtShadow initiative (eventhough he got the distances wrong) : you need pretty good ears currently, if you want to hear incoming vehicles...

That being said I'm really happy with the new additions to the audio engine - not to mention the new possibilities for modders (provided, then again, that we have proper documentation)!

[megagoth1702 252]

Opening this to the community with the proper documentation would prevent that.

The way sounds are muffled ingame does need some tweak, and I salute LtShadow initiative (eventhough he got the distances wrong) : you need pretty good ears currently, if you want to hear incoming vehicles...

That being said I'm really happy with the new additions to the audio engine - not to mention the new possibilities for modders (provided, then again, that we have proper documentation)!

The feature is NOW open. But you are right, documentation needs to happen. It's a high priority task right now.

 

Vehicles need a distance boost in general. You can barely hear them, I agree, it's a problem. But really all they need is a boost in distance, not change of filtering.

 

Changing the distances of the low pass filter is tied to changing overall distances of all sound assets, which is why it is not being done right now.

 

I agree that the initiative is great, but I disagree with these numbers and still believe that changing the default filter is not improving anything. I talked to Jan today about this though and there might be a dirty hack some day before we have soundSets for vehicles. So again, initiative was worth it. ;)

[LtShadow 41]

The feature is NOW open. But you are right, documentation needs to happen. It's a high priority task right now.

 

Vehicles need a distance boost in general. You can barely hear them, I agree, it's a problem. But really all they need is a boost in distance, not change of filtering.

 

Changing the distances of the low pass filter is tied to changing overall distances of all sound assets, which is why it is not being done right now.

 

I agree that the initiative is great, but I disagree with these numbers and still believe that changing the default filter is not improving anything. I talked to Jan today about this though and there might be a dirty hack some day before we have soundSets for vehicles. So again, initiative was worth it. ;)

Hi Mega,

While you have some good pointers, I must point out again that this mod is intended for use with our projects and is in no way an official "fix" to the current issue. Thanks for pointing that out. I'm well aware of the sound variables, as if took countless hours of testing and fiddling to get them just right to the point where they were before the big update. All of my audio addons are already amplified to the highest audio levels before clipping occurs, then I adjust the audio levels with the configs to tweak it. Since I was not getting the best out of the game, and I cannot change my distance samples to sound clear at 7000m or similar, then this had to be done for my sake. So, please don't tell me it's an issue with MY sounds... As I've literally spent weeks tweaking my modifications to the point where I didn't want to try anymore. Until I made a post that you and Axe helped with. I'm glad that you're on speaking terms with the devs, but you really should have PMd me instead of making those assumptions and comments. Thanks for your help, though, and your point of view.

Hopefully this clears the air a bit...

[haleks 8212]

@LtShadow : Megagoth will speak for himself - but I don't think he meant to bash your work. Just pointing out that your technique will affect all sounds produced ingame, wich could break a good amount of them.

Besides, as far as I know, he never fails to raise our complaints to the devs - wich is exactly why we might obtain a work-around for those sounds problems (wich will ease your work without touching non-vehicles audio)...

 

I don't see anything wrong in that, really... :confused:

I get that working on config changes can be tedious (believe me); one advice I have : don't work alone, listen/follow discussions between devs & modders.

A lot of tweaks are being made this year to the engine, and devs have never been so receptive to our concerns; plus, a few dedicated people such as megagoth maintain close communication with the dev team.

I'd say all this is quite positive, wouldn't you?

[LtShadow 41]

@LtShadow : Megagoth will speak for himself - but I don't think he meant to bash your work. Just pointing out that your technique will affect all sounds produced ingame, wich could break a good amount of them.

Besides, as far as I know, he never fails to raise our complaints to the devs - wich is exactly why we might obtain a work-around for those sounds problems (wich will ease your work without touching non-vehicles audio)...

 

I don't see anything wrong in that, really... :confused:

I get that working on config changes can be tedious (believe me); one advice I have : don't work alone, listen/follow discussions between devs & modders.

A lot of tweaks are being made this year to the engine, and devs have never been so receptive to our concerns; plus, a few dedicated people such as megagoth maintain close communication with the dev team.

I'd say all this is quite positive, wouldn't you?

Yep, you're right. I did get the vibe that mega was trying to get people to see what a low-pass filter is and how it affects the game as a whole. While I respect that, there were some comments in there I kind of took offense to - though I'm sure that was not in his intentions. I would be extremely thankful if an official work around was added, as this is more of a "band-aid" solution to the problem our team is having. At this point, I could say this mod is for audio enthusiasts looking to see how our (and possibly other mods) sound with a modified low-pass filter.

I am very accepting of any constructive criticism the community may have, in fact I welcome it. However, I just ask that everyone take time to realize how much work goes in to creating just the smallest tweaks in the game - this specific mod may seem insignificant for the most part, but it took a lot of my free time and energy into making sure the future realsound projects sound the best they can. A lot of work goes into this game period, whether that be creating documentation and explaining things like mega here, or official development at BIS. I appreciate what Mega does, as he has helped me a lot with answering questions about the audio portion of the game.

Thanks for your support. :)

[megagoth1702 252]

[...] I must point out again that this mod is intended for use with our projects and is in no way an official "fix" to the current issue.

This clears up everything. Why the extra release then and not "within your projects" if it's intented for use together with them? I must have missed that pointer, sorry.

However, I just ask that everyone take time to realize how much work goes in to creating just the smallest tweaks in the game[...]

We do mate. You hard work got Jan thinking of this more. ;) We might get a dirty hack to do what you wanted to do in the first place. But no promises, since the original A3 new audio engine programmer is now working on other projects.

Anyway, create some videos man. :) Show that stuff!

[xxgetbuck123 945]

All the sound additions that came to the weapons is working its way to vehicles, just have to wait. 

[LtShadow 41]

This clears up everything. Why the extra release then and not "within your projects" if it's intented for use together with them? I must have missed that pointer, sorry.We do mate. You hard work got Jan thinking of this more. ;) We might get a dirty hack to do what you wanted to do in the first place. But no promises, since the original A3 new audio engine programmer is now working on other projects.Anyway, create some videos man. :) Show that stuff!

Well, because now the community has an option to whether or not they want to change the filter. :) I thought about just including the PBO in the future releases, but this way the end user can decide whether or not they want it in. If only you could set the values in-game under the audio settings and those settings could be exported/saved for other people. Instead of an actual mod. One could dream, right?

I can't wait for the future of ArmA 3, more specifically the audio portion of the game.

I may do up a short comparison video on the F-22 I've been working on. (Vanilla vs. My filter)

Thanks Mega! :3

[ducphuli 33]

@LtShadow Hello author, I want to ask if this mod still works?, thanks

[EO 11277]

1 hour ago, ducphuli said:

@LtShadow Hello author, I want to ask if this mod still works?, thanks

 

Thread has been inactive since August 2016, author hasn't been on the forum since May 2018.

Please read the forum guidelines: Threads older than 4 months should not be dug up unless something significant is being added.

  

[ducphuli 33]

2 hours ago, EO said:

 

Thread has been inactive since August 2016, author hasn't been on the forum since May 2018.

Please read the forum guidelines: Threads older than 4 months should not be dug up unless something significant is being added.

  

 

Thank EO, i just want to know if the mod is compatible with new Arma 3 now. I think mods should turn off commenting on this post, if the author requests it will be reopened.