Sound configuration

[RN Malboeuf 12]

From my expirience sound configuration is quite tricky task in ofp/arma and always needs a lot tests in game (and i really hate to reload arma to see the changes)

I know  that it's crutical to use wss sound files for vehicle/weapon sounds - in other way fading and sound direction won't work.

Sound is defined in config as an array:

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">sound[] = {"\weapons\Data\Sound\m134loop4_end", 10.0, 1};

"\weapons\Data\Sound\m134loop4_end" - path to sound file

10.0 - some constant that defines sound fading

1 - pitch of sound (usually it's not used)

It can also be defined like that (most fdf sound mod files are configured this way)

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">sound[] = {"\weapons\Data\Sound\m134loop4_end", db+50, 1};

Loudness of the sound can be adjusted only in sound file itself with the help of some Sound Editor (SoundForge, WaveLab whatever) .

My question is about second parameter that defines sound fading (10 or db+50 in my example)...

I can't understand how it works and i don't like simple change&try way to adjust it. What's beind those numbers ? If i want my sound to be heard within 100/200/300m what values shall i use ? Is there any algorithm to set this value ?

[ANZACSAS Steven 396]

Hi,

As far as i can tell the sound setup for arma is really quite simple.

I've been doin OFP sounds for along time and i also have experiance in audio engineering.

This is how i think  the arma sounds work.

the first value in the parameter is for the volume.The second is for the speed at which the soundfile is played at.

The volume works sorta like this-

If the soundfile is too loud to start with the volume parameter will seem to have no effect.There for reduce the soundfile's volume with software.

Then once its around a usable volume you can fine tune the volume with the cfg.

If you think aling the lines of  this it will help somewhat.

volume = energy

More volume = more energy = sound will travel further.

[RN Malboeuf 12]

thanks for answer , but it's not exactly kind of info i'm looking for...

I guess cause Arma sound engine  is based on free OpenAL and there were community tools for wss decoding (DXOFPSound for ex.) there can be possibility to make off game sound viewer or smth... or rat least define exactly how those parameters affect sound in game

I'll try to make an example addon in some days (just a rifle with differents mods with different sound values ) - maybe it will speed up the discussion...

[RN Malboeuf 12]

ftp://www.armedassault.info/_hosted/libmod/bdfy_sound_test.rar (90kb)

Simple test addon. Two east soldiers with two different weapons with wss and wav sounds with several fire modes defined with different sound parameters (db-10 up to db+50).

Test it

It's obvious that second parameter is not the volume. Volume stays the same when you fire the weapon. It's sound fade parameter but i can't think of a good test mission to test how it's faded ((

[RN Malboeuf 12]

ftp://www.armedassault.info/_hosted/libmod/sound_test.Intro.rar

test mission. You can actually here how sound from different positions. Both wss and wav formats are working good.