All Things Sound Mods

[mrcash2009 0]

Hi everyone,

Cant wait to get Arma 2 (pre-ordered and ready). I'm a sound nut and ive been watching many youtube Arma2 videos. First off who else is getting P'd off with people using fraps with distorted and crappy sound on Youtube? I keep finding plenty A2 videos with it ... very frustrating.

Things that spring to mind are grenade explosion and some bomb explosions, seems the sounds are just one of the same each time? That needs to change. One thing I'm very much into changing as soon as I get the game is the footstep sounds. I don't think I have ever liked any BIS foot sounds in Arma, so that's the first thing for me to change :)

What do you chaps think who have the game and who are an youtube ref the sounds. I have to say there are not many things that seem bad, Helis sound great and jets, weapon sounds from what I hear on videos sound good too, nice to hear more ambient sounds .. in Arma 1 you needed ECS to bring it to life more.

Can anyone confirm if the 3d surround aspect is working well? One video I saw as he turned a distant jet seemed to dip in volume and then come back loud again, are there any issues or things someone can post ref this? Has this game got more EAX support than arma?

Anyway, sound modders, Chammy etc are you looking to port over as soon as you get your mitts on the game? What will you change on first impressions?

[Mark XIII (DayZ) 18]

I think it would depend how much 'ports' are requested. I'd rather make something brand new myself than just a port. Saying that HiFi is modular, so making our modules work with ARMA2 should be easy enough.

I too am very interested in any sound engine advancements BI have made to ARMA2, depending on what they have done, it 'could' make sound modding more interesting and less work (Reverb & Distortion built in?). But we'll have to wait and see I guess.

Anyways, HiFi is planned for ARMA2...but remember, a plan is a list of things that don't happen...:)

[CarlGustaffa 4]

These 'clockety clockety' sounds? I thought they simulated gear and not footsteps.

Agree on the explosions, they sound very equal. Vopsound2 was just released, and there appears to be problems in that the same sound is played until the magazine is changed out, instead of slight variations for each bullet. Maybe BIS is experiencing the same problems for the explosions? I don't this is an area they would typically resort to one sound, but I could be wrong.

[vo.2 0]

These 'clockety clockety' sounds? I thought they simulated gear and not footsteps.

Agree on the explosions, they sound very equal. Vopsound2 was just released, and there appears to be problems in that the same sound is played until the magazine is changed out, instead of slight variations for each bullet. Maybe BIS is experiencing the same problems for the explosions? I don't this is an area they would typically resort to one sound, but I could be wrong.

There are 2 sounds for most handguns played by a 0,5 propability. It does not work in rapid fire though.

Shell, greande and rocket explosions have only 1 sound defined for each class. Too bad.

[CarlGustaffa 4]

Too bad indeed, because it makes everything sound very monotonous (similar).

[moosenoodles 0]

These 'clockety clockety' sounds? I thought they simulated gear and not footsteps.

Those clockety sounds are indeed gear related, and I think they are great now as standard in arma2. I used a sound mod once in arma1 which had these and it was very good then suddenly vanished and wasnt updated.

I thought it was a great atmosphere booster and when you run around with such kit on in real life you do here the rubbing and knocking sometimes of items, so all good as far as I am concerned..

[mrcash2009 0]

For me its not so much the equipment movement sounds but the actual footsteps on concrete / grass / foliage that seem a little like arma1 for me.

I see VOP is out but youtube clips seem to me that footstep sounds are much the same.

I wouldn't mind a simple footstep mod :)

[*tcf*jackal 10]

I wonder how difficult a mod to sort the radio voices would be to create. I dont think BIS will spend much time fixing this themselves but its widely acknowledged that the radio voices are just too inconsistant to be believable.

Good chance for a voice actor to make a name for themselves :D

[Mark XIII (DayZ) 18]

Going on old Arma voice library you'd need at least 12 different voice actors...Alot of work went into the making of it I guess, its a real shame the voices come across like microsoft mike most of the time. I personally feel a moderate approach to the vocals would suit the game better...Like Ghost recon/Rainbow Six. I loved the 'short/tactical' sentences, this is why I enjoyed Nikita's whisper mod so much, made it more immersive for me.

I agree overall though, a stand alone voice mod would be welcome :) . And getting the voice actors is possible. I know this because a good friend of mine got himself a bunch of voice actors for his 'Punisher' mod for Max Payne 2 directly by requesting people via a forum thread...In fact, he even got one of the actors from a punisher movie to work with him...How cools that :)

Abit of topic there I guess, but you see my point. Arma's voice content could be completely & orginally redone, would just require someone to put the effort in to build a team, and some config person to sort the technical aspect out....

LOL...and no..I'm not even gonna look at that myself, to busy making everything else HiFi :P sorry :)

[*tcf*jackal 10]

Awwww come on Mark :pray:

Just kidding, I know you guys must have your hands full with the work you are already doing with HiFi.

I hope someone would consider taking this on. It could be a very cool mod, especially if you had voice actors from within the community who could go down in ArmA II history by actually featuring in the game they love. Cool, and maybe a little wierd at the same time ;)

[mrcash2009 0]

Hey Mark I totally agree with the Rainbow Six/Ghost Recon side of things. Just enough to respond to you, was near perfect for the job.

I would like to see a mod just looking at radio calls fro Arma 2. I did also notice they were a little, ummm .... well .... not that great. I must admit once your in the thick of it it all tends to be less annoying, but watching a youtube video and you have never played Arma it must be an eyebrow raising moment.

Can anyone who has the game please tell me/us/this thread what the settings page options are for sounds please? Unless someone has done this on the site then please link. I wanted to know it the voice volume was separate,as in arma allot of effects/voice was lumped as one volume. Is it more flexible in Arma2 ? (this was a question asked on sahrani radio with the Q&A arma2 interview but it was never made fully clear).

[Mark XIII (DayZ) 18]

Glad you agree mrcash :)

Also, going with the Rainbow six theme, I'd like to see a mixture of accents would be good. I mean in RS voices had more of a international theme, but I honestly think you could at the very least get a good mixture of Amercian voice actors, enough to make a worthy mod.

Also, you'd not have to follow the 'detail rich but staggered' system the original A1 & A2 use. you could make info less detailed but more varied. I think thats important, lol honestly shouting o'clocks at me doesn't help...not when getting 6-7 at once :(

But maybe a more 'tactical' version instead of saying.."Enemy..machine...gunner..at...12..O.clock.." could say, "Enemy Gunner Ahead". I think you set this up so can have multiple sounds for 1 command or request. So..

I got to thinking about this quite abit today, I'm now of the thinking ex or serving miltary should be involved. At the end of the day, even if none of them would be interested in voice acting, building up some simple scripts of commands and responses from guys that ACTUALLY use/d them makes total sense to me..in a game based on realism and personally having an interest in 'realism' I'd love to hear the correct 'rough & ready' terms they use.

Any thoughts? :)

[*tcf*jackal 10]

I like the international idea thats for sure. But the risk would be upsetting the true reality guys when you have the situation of players in-game wearing US camo but speaking with varying accents. Might raise a few eye brows but I think it would be fun to hear a Scot like myself shouting profanities across the battlefield, that nobody else can understand :)

I must admit the euro accents mixed with US camo wouldnt bother me, especially if there is an improvement over the existing sounds themselves, and the system/manner in which they are used.

Getting the genuine lingo from those in the know would be a good move also, as Mark suggests. Authenticity is important in our beloved game.

[PTV-Jobo 820]

Totally agree. :D

[mrcash2009 0]

Immersion would double with radio effected (EQ) calls with some on-the-ground rough and ready call and responses that were created based on personal experience front line troops.

I had to use the clock feature in A1 with the direction calls, no way could I keep up with it with that feature turned off, got totally lost. Especially when they were calling from thw position of themselves and not yours ... first time playing A1 I was confused and taking head shots allot.

Well, I get Arma 2 on the doorstep tomorrow, so finally I can check the sound settings and have a play with frankensteining sound mods (personal use of course) mainly to bring over the foot sounds that I like the most.

Edited June 17, 2009 by mrcash2009

[NoRailgunner 0]

Voices and contact reports arent that good and well implemented. Now its kinda non-military reports with strange word combinations/translation. Voices and spoken/written sentences need a (complete) revision. Hope that with 505 release all can switch to international english and much better and polished sounds/voices and effects. Proper and authentic voice acting imho need some native speakers or at least some who dont over-do it.

[mrcash2009 0]

Well I got the game yesterday only spent 3 hours in it so far and that was tweaking for sweet spots.

Little disappointing that your character voice is still tied to the effects fader yet again :mad:

I want to turn my speaking voice down much like i have the option to turn radio voices/responses up and down ... why cant BIS give us a volume fader for your own voice? Its far to in-yer-face over everything .. right away I wanted to turn it down but cannot .... hhhmf.

Anyway the walking sounds now I hear them in-game are very nice actually I take that back, most sounds out of the box a far better than Arma1 (they were pretty awfull) ... a few variations on the explosions/grenade and supersonic cracks, better rocket launcher & AT weapon sounds and better a10 weapon/engine sounds and I think that's all I would be interested in hearing changed to be honest. HMMV sounds good too, nice wheel/track sounds when moving slow over grass.

I'm very impressed at the sound level out of the box to be honest. When I got Arma 1 the first thing that sprang to mind was just how empty and bland it was for sounds. Not in Arma2 that's for sure.

The ambiance sounds are good too. It took ECS mod to bring life to arma1 and a few sound mods to realy get things sounding juicy. With Arma2 its up to par with what ECS brought to the table (ambiance wise) and already theres only (for me) a shortlist of things Id like to hear changed so its all good.

After hearing RobHammers heli mod progress another thing sprang to mind.

SOUND MODDERS REQUEST

Could sound modders maybe this time round for Arma2 bit alot more modular in the aproach to sounds? For example Rob hammer will have a heli pack, so then maybe a AK sound pack, US weapon pack, vehicle pack, footstep pack, ambience pack ... etc etc. Would be real nice to have modular pbo approach in order to not use what you dont like and change what you do.

Edited June 19, 2009 by mrcash2009

[Mark XIII (DayZ) 18]

:) You know it.

[.kju 3240]

Yes tomorrow you will see the version of the modularSoundTemplate pack out. :)

I hope you sound designers will like it.

[Mark XIII (DayZ) 18]

^^ Whos the man....

EVERYBODY...say THANKYOU!

[*tcf*jackal 10]

Ta much!

---------- Post added at 08:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:17 PM ----------

After playing the game for a few hours there are definately some sounds that need to be added which would help a great deal IMO.

1) When a vehicle knocks a tree down, a nice "cracking wood" sound would be good. Im sure we had that in OFP. You know....like TIMBER!

2) Tyres squeeling. Certainly on the C130 when it lands and probably on most civilian vehicles when cornering hard.

Im sure there will be more.

I know these are minor in comparison to some of the issues. Just thought I'd throw em' out there as suggestions for someones Environment Sound Module ;).

[mrcash2009 0]

Now i've played further I notice there is no sound for when you roll prone? Not even a rustling noise, nothing? Found that a bit odd.

Modular Guide eh? Sounds great mate.

[monty67t 0]

Have you guys played America's Army 3 yet? I would highly recommend checking out the weapon sounds in that. They are the best I've ever heard in a game.

[Mark XIII (DayZ) 18]

Kju

Yes tomorrow you will see the version of the modularSoundTemplate pack out.

I hope you sound designers will like it.

I'm really looking forward to this Kju, I hope that in the near future maybe with some feedback after intital release this could become the defining 'standard' for all soundmods. Finally making it easier to integrate each others work and produce many different versions of each module to offer unsuppassed Quality & Choice!

This is a simple message to ALL veteran/noobie sound modders and gamers at the end of the day..We need a standard, something that works the same way for all. Its like this, we're all better at somethings while in other area's we lack...I've always enjoyed making weapons sounds more than vehical sounds up until recently, I think it shows in my work too :(..So I actively incourage full use of what Kju is giving to the community because I'd love to play a game with Chammy's Explosions, Frommz's Cracks & Hits, FDF's Footsteps and some of the newer guys stuff is really cutting through too...but if we fail to stick to some 'standard' then really all we are doing is denying 'the gamer' & ourselves as a community the brilliance that comes only with BIS games (High Quality community made additional/replacement content). In the past to play the sort of game I suggested above would require about 400mb of sound addons and a single LARGE config file, which unless coded by a master is gonna be real messy too :( . We only have to use the defined modular format and all those pains are gone, no single addons, no need to edit configs just pick what you want to use and play..

WOW, did I just type all that, I must be dedicated..lol..TBH if your going to argue against the modular format then frankly your not 'with' the community as a whole, I could prove the point by releasing the next version of HiFi and force you all to use ALL or NOTHING..But I think I just proved the point right there :)

@ ALL go modular or go back to modding OFP, Kju is giving us all a great gift early on in A2's life... so lets use it ;)

Any thoughts ?

[mrcash2009 0]

Ive been wanting modular and ranted about it in the old forums many a time. Actualy mate I think you requested I didnt use your mod when I made that "mixed sound config" mod and uploaded it :)

Anyway that was my rather sketchy way to tackle it (simple butcher a config to point to multiple pbo sound mods in one folder).

This way modular means there are no issues or arguments about mixing and matching what you like plus modders can focus on getting the best sounds to a certain area of the games sound and put more effort into that. Rather than try to grab all manner of sounds just to say "every sound has been changed" ... when in reality 60 percent of the sounds are not up to scratch.

Maybe Kju could make a thread announcing it as and when and make it a "Sound mod standard for Arma2" title and get it stickied.

If the moderators are behind it then that will push it further, if the fan sites mirror it and add it to news that will also get it into the minds of the modders to start the whole Arma2 sound modding scene from the get go with a new fresh flexible angle on things.