Attn dynamic range users

[munger 25]

I've been asked by PitViper (who released the updated config file for Dynamic Range that made it work with Res) to start a thread asking which sounds anyone would like improving from the existing, default DR pack. Basically this means any sound you either don't like or just want changing to a different one. I know a lot of people complained about the rifle sounds for example, so maybe you could suggest new ones which you like better. The idea of all this is to create the best possible general (as opposed to more specialised, e.g. JAM) soundmod out of every sound we have available between us.

PitViper has told me that depending on interest he will be releasing a final version of Dynamic Range both in original and 'enhanced' formats, and as well as this he will include his much wanted config.cpp file for the pack which will allow anyone who wants to use it to merge the soundpack with their own addon/mod config file, so for example Goldmember's realistic explosions could be combined with DR, or the FDF mod could integrate DR into their own mod.

Anyway, please put forth your suggestions, and if possible be specific about the sounds you would like to see used in the new pack, or even provide links to downloads for these sounds.

Cheers.

[bn880 5]

I find the AAA sounds pretty strange and weak. AAA guns are terribly loud in real life...

but other than that, maybe someone can look into the CPU usage the DR adds. It has a very significant impact in missons with many units operating. Perhaps it is a different file format? Like ogg?

[mr burns 131]

I would change the AK and M16 sound at first..it was always hard to identitfy from who being shot at because these 2 sounds didn´t differ very much.

For any other sounds i would suggest to get the best possible (near) real life sound ingame, no matter how it sounds...just for the sake of realism

[andersson 285]

I agree about the vulcan sound. Its too weak.

I love realism but realistic ak and m16 sounds are too weak. You experience it different if you shoot a gun so therefor is it alright to have more powerful sounds. JAM have nice sounds! They give the feeling of punch!

[munger 25]

I agree regarding the Vulcan sound (the Shilka sound is very realistic IMO as it is taken from a real ZSU-23-4 firing), however the original readme by Satchel actually states that the Vulcan uses the AH-64's 30mm cannon sound because he couldn't get it to work with it's own sound. I don't know if this could be fixed by PV, but it's worth a try.

The M16/AK rifle sound effects have always been the main problem with the soundpack, not only because they are quite weak and quite similar to each other but also because they are some of the most used sounds when playing, which makes it really noticeable. These will definitely be changed in the new release. My preference would be to use the FDF M16/AK sounds as they are very realistic and also extremely punchy, which makes using the weapons more satisfying.    

Edit: as regards CPU utilisation, to be honest I think this has to be expected as the config allows the game to randomly choose from several effects for multiple events, and with the scale of some of OFP's battles it's not hard to see how this combined randomisation could eat CPU time. Also, the fact that Dynamic Range is completely separate from the main DTA/Sound.pbo file, both in terms of physical file and directory location would probably cause greater memory usage. I doubt there's much that can be done about this problem, short of upgrading. Any thoughts on this?

[bn880 5]

Yes I think you are correct about the CPU usage, actually I was mistaken as to the actual amount of CPU use it added... so never mind that.

EDIT: And yep, by AAA I meant Vulcan, have not listened to ZSU much.

[munger 25]

Yes I think you are correct about the CPU usage, actually I was mistaken as to the actual amount of CPU use it added...  so never mind that.  

Actually, having spoken to PitViper about this, it turns out that the main reason CPU usage is so high with DR is because it uses ogg sound files and each one of these have to be decoded every time they are played (thanks to Zayfod for figuring this out). So he created a wss based version as a test and found that CPU load was much less. That's the good news. The bad news is that the pack was much larger because wss files are less compressed than ogg's, which would take up more memory space and also be a larger download for 56k'ers. Still, on balance I'd say it is worth it.

[bn880 5]

I think there is a slight problem with the .bin of the current DR and 1.92. Or this is normal:

I have been playing a large CoC mission with 1.92 and DR, and it was kind of frame by frame so I decided to save and resume the game with the sound mod unloaded, when I tired to load I got

"no entry (something) cfgWeapons.NSVT"

(something to do with T80 I guess)

next time i saved under DR and 1.92 and then tried loading without DR the game just booted do windows without a message.

I thought that there should be no difference in the savegame since information from config.bin and resource.bin should not have anything to do with content of save. But hmm... so is the cfg file corrupt for DR?

[bn880 5]

Actually, having spoken to PitViper about this, it turns out that the main reason CPU usage is so high with DR is because it uses ogg sound files and each one of these have to be decoded every time they are played (thanks to Zayfod for figuring this out).

Yeah it's worth it for sure!

hehhe:

but other than that, maybe someone can look into the CPU usage the DR adds. It has a very significant impact in missons with many units operating. Perhaps it is a different file format? Like ogg?

[bn880 5]

Now that I look at the bin file a little, it seems DR defines it's own special weapons, that could be the reason. ;) I suppose there is no way around it, it's probably done to add more sounds than normal, if not, then it should be fixed.

[munger 25]

Actually, having spoken to PitViper about this, it turns out that the main reason CPU usage is so high with DR is because it uses ogg sound files and each one of these have to be decoded every time they are played (thanks to Zayfod for figuring this out).

Yeah it's worth it for sure!  

hehhe:  

but other than that, maybe someone can look into the CPU usage the DR adds. It has a very significant impact in missons with many units operating.  Perhaps it is a different file format?  Like ogg?

LOL, sorry about that.

I've never personally experienced any probs with Dynamic Range and I've been using it since it was originally released by Satchel. The current 1.90 config has worked fine with 1.92 for me. I know it's obvious but perhaps there's some kind of addon conflict at work, or maybe it doesn't like the CoC stuff you were using? Just a thought.

Edit: Just read your last post. PitViper should be reading all this - he just can't post. I'm not convinced there's a problem at all as it works fine for me and I've never heard anyone else refer to such issues, but it's something to look at anyway.

[bn880 5]

You can try it out I think by having a destroyed T80 present on the map when you save. Then load without DR present. Or maybe it is some other addon problem but I doubt it, I was not running any special addons. Hmm.

And I also got reasurred yesterday that OGG is totally unacceptable for large battles, I was getting about 3 fps with 200+ units as compared to about 20 without DR. Went back to Killikki pack for now, until new DR comes out with wss files. That will be sweet, I could convert it myself for my own pleasure but got no time.

EDIT: Right, I opened up the DR config.bin and noticed under cfgWeapons there is NSVT with Bullet12_7 and DR\weapons\NSVT.ogg. Then there is M2MaDuce weapon and M240b wapon. All of these are added to distinguish between the different vehicles gun sounds, and this is why the saves are not compatible. There are not all that many instances of this though. It's a shame that this information is stored in the savegame.

[munger 25]

Ah that explains it then. I was getting worried wondering what could be the problem there for a while.

I'm also looking forward to the wss version. I don't think the size issue will be too bad really. My current modified version is only slightly over 15 megs stuffed with Make PBO (great tool), so you're probably looking at maybe 30 megs for the wss version. Just a guess, but I doubt it will be much larger than that.

[RED 0]

@Munger: Zayfod has made a wss version of the DR soundpack for the ECP, this greatly helps lag. He has been working on an updated soundpack, if you are interested you may want to work something out with him so we don't have two versions

RED

[munger 25]

Cheers RED. PitViper's actually the one who would be making any changes to DR and as far as I'm aware he's also part of the ECP, so I would imagine any changes will be agreed between Zayfod and PV before either a standalone or an ECP release.

[Blanco 0]

I (only for personal use tho) allready changed the m16 an Ak74 sounds in the DR-mod with those from the free game America's army. I like the sounds from AA, I guess they are realistic cause it's the US who made them...

btw,I never had a problem with 1.92 & DR...

[bn880 5]

Right I didn't have any special problem with DR and 1.92 either... was just making ovservations in general. Everything seems to be ok as PitViper knows what's going on pretty well.

[benu 1]

I just switched from DR to Kyllikki soundpack yesterday for testing purposes but did not notice any increase in performance. Any good way to tell if and how much DR might decrease my performance (if at all)?

[bonko the sane 2]

I've used DR for ages and never got any performance decrease,its my favorite soundpack, but due to Golmembers ExplosionMod (incompatible with DR) and the MP modified config message issue in WarGames League I just reverted to Kylliki's sound pack as well, I wish Pitviper and Goldmember would get their Mod's working together, that would improve OFP drasticaly

[bn880 5]

Yes there is a way, have about 100-200 units (different types) engaged in combat where you can hear it. Without DR you may get OK framerate, with DR you will be toast.

EDIT: Just so you know at CoC we work on those kinds of battles quite a lot, and normally performance is not amazing, but with DR in ogg format it's unplayable. Anyway, it will be switched to wss PitViper says.

[westy-SWAF- 0]

Munger, when is this wss version out? and can we chat? msn? icq msn = westy.swaf@ntlworld.com

ICQ - 333580750

brgds Westy