[RESEARCH] Sounds

[AdmiralTigerclaw]

Okay, so the types, SOUNDS file is pretty straight forward, has directions and everything, but I still hit some annoying roadblocks.


Below is a generic effect of a station/dock. The low hum effect that can be heard from a distance while flying.

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180;0;SFX_3DCONTROL|SFX_LOOP;0;0;0;0; // S_108 Dock;Factory Complex 

And below is a typical M5 and fighter drone engine sound.

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180;0;SFX_3DCONTROL|SFX_LOOP;0;0;0;0; // S_105 M5;Fighter drone 

Asside from nothing particularly interesting to view here, one should note that despite identical entries... the effects can be heard at considerably different ranges. Where a tiny M5 can only be heard at close range, the station can be heard from kilometers away.

Now, I can edit commands such as the Laser shots used in IRE's to be heard from a great distance:

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180;190;NULL;-20;20;5;500000; // 912 Launch laser: Alpha IRE

But no matter what I've tried up to this point, I STILL have no way to control the sound and pitch factors for fighters to account for greater distance and speed factors.

I've tried several variations on editing the fighter command.
1: Assign actual values to the command.

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180;200;SFX_3DCONTROL|SFX_LOOP;0;0;0;300000; // S_105 M5;Fighter drone 

2: Remove the flag 'SFX_3DCONTROL from the properties...

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180;200;|SFX_LOOP;0;0;0;300000; // S_105 M5;Fighter drone 

3: Assign the NULL value in place of the flags in hopes to get any change at all...

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180;200;NULL;0;0;0;300000; // S_105 M5;Fighter drone 

Each of which met with the same exact result. I can't hear an M5 unless I'm right on top of it, and its doppler shift is insane when the higher speed values are applied.


My objectives are two-fold.

-1 : Increase the audible distance of fighter engine sounds to increase the environemtnal feel of nearby spacecrafts. Ideally around the three km range.

-2 : Expand the threshhold of the doppler shift so that higher closing and parting speeds don't effect the shift as much. (IE, go from ultrasonic to subsonic during a single high speed pass.)






(Sound File Key with comments)
-------------------
// Sound data:
// priority; (The ranking of the sound file obviously when several are playing.)
// volume; (Self Explanatory)
// flags; (I don't know all the flags.)
// pitch variation range min; (percentage of one octave, 100=octave up, -100=octave down) (( I didn't make the first comment here, but I must add, that it effects the random range of pitch each time the sound plays.))
// pitch variation range max;
// volume variation; (percentage) (Similar to pitch)
// min distance; (at what distance and how fast sound volume falls off) ((Obviously, the minimum dropoff distance in centimeters. [Or game units, take your pick.] in a sense that three kms is 3000.00 m or 300000.)


Anyone got research to add?

[yeebok]

Check TShips for ship engine volumes ..

[AdmiralTigerclaw]

Not volume, distance.

AK, I can't hear an M4 at 400 meters, but argon one rumbles by three kilometers away.

The sound min and sound max volumes in T ships don't even look to be for those values.

Unless you can explain how they work a bit better.

[Sheazle]

I know this is kind of an old thread, but this is exactly what I am looking for also, and was wondering if you found a solution?

My idea is the the same, but opposite. I want to lower the distance so that you can only hear sounds coming from within your ship, or VERY close (30m or so) since sound doesn't travel in space. I don't know if I would like it, I just want to see how it affects the atmosphere. I want to try and capture the cold harshness and emptiness of space.

You can hear and feel the sounds of your own weapons, because the vibrations travel through your ship into the cockpit (or bridge on larger vessels).

Anyway, back to the question, did you ever figure it out?

[Harlock776]

Actually to know that something like flyby sounds effects even exist in an X game is good news indeed. In X2 there is no flyby sound only the usual distance related sound but in X2 there is no place to control this sort of thing kind of like how every M5 M4 and M3 ship in X2 has a spotlight in front of it but that spotlight is not found in the scene file of the ships.

This is something that I've been wanting to find out how to fix and mess with in X2 like getting a huge front mounted gun on a destroyer to make a big loud bang that is heard across halfway across the sector but no matter how high I set the min and max audio values in Tships the sound is still barely heard unless I switch to external view and pan around to directly in front of that big gun before firing.

I think that the type of sound card someone uses and how that soundcard works will limit someone with X2 and X3. Creative labs soundcards have their e3d audio environments that work a lot better than the el cheapo software sound cards which can't cope with the 3d environment of X2 or X3. If you want to change how X3 works with distances for sounds heard you might try to find out how it works with different 3d audio environment setups. IF you can't find a way to change that in the game files then it's probably hard coded into the exe file like in X2.

[AdmiralTigerclaw]

There's a distance control in the sounds file... And it's a bit misleading. The sound is in meters... plus two zeros. so if you want a clear sound for guns fifteen kilometers away...

15 km
15,000 meters
1500000 in the file.

This however, does nothing for the engines. I don't know why, and haven't been able to figure it out.

[Sheazle]

cool, thanks. I'll have to give it a try...

[Sheazle]

that worked great! I set the falloff distance for all of the sounds to 50m, and it is awesome!

When you fire your weapons you can hear it, but when the enemy ships explode it's eerily quiet. You still hear their death cries over the comm, just no explosion.

When missiles and stuff hit your ship you can hear it too.

Also, if you are in an m1 or m2, you can hear the weapons close to the bridge, but not the ones firing from further away in the ship. It's a neat effect.

The engines are still a problem, as has been stated before, they do not follow the rules. laser blasts flying past are also subject to the flyby sounds also, so it's not the complete effect I was going for, but it's a start.

I'm going to keep looking for a way to change the engine noises, etc.