Sound engine improvements, more realistic effects.

[Baphomet 0]

Amongst all the common things that come to mind when thinking about all the neat things we'd like to see in ofp. I guess aside from graphics I haven't seen many suggestions to the infrastructure of the game. The core elements that could use improving.

As I speak I'm hearing the air cracking sound of my city's police helicopter flying at a distance. It made me think. Ofp2 would be nice if there were more and better modulation of sound given various criteria and variables. I'm not well versed in this field. In fact the only sound effect I'm really farmiliar with that I know a name for is doppler shift... which if you know what that is... ofp possesses it to a certain extent. If you hear a plane fly by it sounds differently as it passes... that's to my understanding what doppler shift is.

Now I was wondering if in ofp 2 there could possibly be a sound engine that modified sounds based on various environmental variables. Ever notice how a helicopter sounds different at a distance yet sounds more clear and mechanical up close? That's basically the kinds of things I'm talking about.... I guess the easy way of doing this would be to make various versions of a sound to be played under certain circumstances for each vehicle/weapon, but I really wish they'd somehow integrate into the engine some kind of modulator to make one universal sound, like a bomb exploding with a more muted concussive thudding sound at a distance. And more crisp and harsh sounding the closer you get to it.

Anyhow that's my lot.

[Commander-598 0]

Surprisingly, BF1942 has some good "distance sounds". There just to close to be distant...

[bn880 5]

The funny thing is, OFP already provides these doppler and other effects. I remember at least when I had the Creative 5.1 card you could hear the low base sound of choppers that are far away or explosions. Probably the same as long as you enable EAX in any sound card.

Doppler effects are in OFP and are quite powerfull.

However I do think OFP2 needs a rework of the sound engine over OFP1. It doesn't sound completely real yet.

[Wright 0]

First let me say that I appologize for digging up an older thread. If this needs a new thread then I can create a new one.

Bn880 is right in that ofp did have some good basic acoustical properties in place. Doppler shift was represented and Low frequency sounds in the game would carry much farther than high frequency sounds, just like real life. What really needs improving is the basic framework that they designed as far as sound editing in the config file and using sound.pbo.

As it stands right now, we can't edit the config file without getting mp issues. Obviously this is a bigger deal for some than others but since I mainly play mp it concerns me. So all we can change is the sounds that are in Sound.pbo, which is fine for basic changes, but it lacks a lot of options, such as:

- Adding new sounds. Even if BIS doesn't have the time/resources to give every conceivable action a noise, it would be nice to let modders do this. For example I would love to be able to give all of the vehicles start up noises, but that takes config editing. There are many little details you could add, such as using 5 distinct sounds for a vehicle engine, varying depending on your spead or gear.

- Variability. This goes somewhat hand in hand with adding new sounds. What I mean here is having say 6 or 7 different sounds for a man getting hit with a bullet, and having it randomize which it uses. It can kill immersion when every ffar explosion sounds identical, or all the bullets whizzing by sound the same. I'm sure BIS will add a bit of variability in ofp2 but it would be nice to allow us to take it farther than that as well.

- Amplitude. Granted you can do moderate amplitude changes in any sound editor, but if you try to make them too loud that way you will clip the sound and lose dynamic range; a big no-no for anyone with decent speakers. To use an example, I would like to be able to make the Tank cannons much louder than rifle fire, and jets louder than they currently are. For those of us who hook our computers to an excellent home theater system or the like, it's nice to have those options.

I'm sure there are other options it would be nice to have but those are the main ones which come to mind. The best way I can think of to give us that functionality would be to use a seperate sound config file. This would be directly user editable and wouldn't present conflicts in muliplayer games.

I think BIS in general underestimated the immersive factor that sound can have in the original ofp; many people remark when they use a soundpack for the first time it's like playing a whole new game. Now I don't expect BIS to commit the resources it would take to get everything perfect, but I would like the ability for the community to attempt it, without hinderances of multiplayer compatibility and the like. I'm sure with even a few people working together you could create something spectacular. I applaud BIS for taking the time to add elements like the doppler effect, now it's time to take it a step further.

Wright

[SpecOp9 0]

mmm yes.

Sound effects make games that much better.

In BF 1942, if you heard a Huge explosion in the distance, it would have that WWII Muffled sound to it. Great realism. best use of sound ive seen in a game.

Should be cool if they can do it with OFP2. Sirens echoing down a village at a distance.... I'm getting shivers thinking about it....

[Baron Hurlothrumbo IIX 0]

TRESSPASSER SOUND ENGINE = win

It dynamically created sounds on the fly based on the composition, weight and force between the interacting objects. So no two sounds were ever alike.

More EAX style stuff would be good too

[theavonlady 2]

I hope my hardware won't be deemed obsolete by all this!

[Wright 0]

Nice horns baby!

[Drakkhen 0]

The two problems I noticed with sounds are (from less to most important):

- The sound distance dimming. Correctly managed by some 5.1 cards, basses are kept while trembles fade and localisation gets harder with distance (loss of stereo difference), fine but maybe could it be improved to make the sound fade also on the other cards... if possible.

- The soundspeed lag, perfectly rendered with explosions and other short sounds seem not to rule the engine/environnemental sounds of the vehicles. The result is noticeable when you explode a vehicle at distance: you hear the engine stop THEN the explosion. I assume the engine sound don't rely on distance.

It's anyway one of the most immersive sound engine I ever played with and I'm sure that OFP2's sound engine will be at least as surprising.