NS2's Sound

OrzOrz Join Date: 2010-03-24 Member: 71069Members
in NS2 General Discussion
<div class="IPBDescription">About how sound is managed, the engine's capabilities, quality etc</div>I was wonder if one of the devs could please give a short runthrough of the sound system in NS2 - like how it's handled by the engine, what it's capabilities are (ie, can it do 5.1 output?), what sort of quality it's capable of, etc.
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Comments

  • simon kamakazisimon kamakazi Join Date: 2009-04-28 Member: 67296Members
    edited March 2012
    hi orz

    we use the FMOD middleware as our sound engine, which is the same sound engine thats used in a bunch of titles, crysis 1/2 the witcher 2 etc.

    it can do a bunch of things that we utilize like realtime room reverbs and DSP effects, reatime geometry obstruction (which every one hates!!, ive tweeked this recently so its barley noticable by the way.. now a wall only only obstructs the dry signal by 20% it was 40% b4 and the reverb signal is not obstructed at all now.)

    the part of the engine that i use is FMOD designer which is a nice gui app for me to adjust all the attributes of the sounds once the game triggers them, volumes pitches, how the sound changes based on distance to the listener wether it loops or is a oneshot whether the sound is loaded into memory or streamed from the hard disk etc.

    it supports 5.1 and im pretty sure 7.1 too, which we will have in the audio options in NS2 soon

    it can play back most sound formats , the highest quality we use is 16bit 44.1k (CD quality) but its capable of playing back very high sample rates, the highest ive put in was 96k. we also use much lower samplerates for things like some ambient sounds to reduce the audio memory footprint, and mp2 and .ogg for some of the music too.

    hope that helps

    :)
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  • OrzOrz Join Date: 2010-03-24 Member: 71069Members
    Awesome, thanks! That's pretty much exactly what I wanted to hear. And I have to say the environmental effects are superb.
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  • KhyronKhyron Join Date: 2012-02-02 Member: 143308Members
    What an awesome, detailed response. :D

    One thing I'd really like to know is when will we be able to balance sound effect volume with voice chat volume? It really bugs me when I can't hear the comm's orders over the sound of skulk bites no matter which team.
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  • internetexplorerinternetexplorer Join Date: 2011-10-13 Member: 127255Members
    <!--quoteo(post=1912447:date=Mar 12 2012, 09:11 PM:name=Khyron)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Khyron @ Mar 12 2012, 09:11 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1912447"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->It really bugs me when I can't hear the comm's orders over the sound of skulk bites no matter which team.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    I consider stuff like this more of a design decision (to create immersion/tension) than a mistake by the developers
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  • KhyronKhyron Join Date: 2012-02-02 Member: 143308Members
    <!--quoteo(post=1912448:date=Mar 13 2012, 12:14 PM:name=internetexplorer)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (internetexplorer @ Mar 13 2012, 12:14 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1912448"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I consider stuff like this more of a design decision (to create immersion/tension) than a mistake by the developers<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    If it is a design choice, fair enough. Obviously teamspeak/vent makes it a non-issue for propper matches. But this game of all games relies on teamwork. Why undermine that?
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  • simon kamakazisimon kamakazi Join Date: 2009-04-28 Member: 67296Members
    its actually is a bug, the thing stopping us from fixing this right now is adding the option to the menus, we are waiting on the new improved main menu b4 we start adding these options.
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  • NecropsYNecropsY Join Date: 2012-01-23 Member: 141746Members
    I want this bad =O

    background sound is way 2 obnoxious
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  • KhyronKhyron Join Date: 2012-02-02 Member: 143308Members
    <!--quoteo(post=1912495:date=Mar 13 2012, 07:43 PM:name=simon kamakazi)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (simon kamakazi @ Mar 13 2012, 07:43 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1912495"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->its actually is a bug, the thing stopping us from fixing this right now is adding the option to the menus, we are waiting on the new improved main menu b4 we start adding these options.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Righto, cheers.
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  • DrakennzDrakennz Join Date: 2012-03-11 Member: 148620Members
    Agree with Khyron here. Also my major sound issue is that the game is too dam quiet - i find myself having to ramp up the volume and when i get back to windows is ridiculously loud? is this just me?
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  • NurEinMenschNurEinMensch Join Date: 2003-02-26 Member: 14056Members, Constellation
    I still have problems hearing skulks right next to me whereas in NS1 I could track skulks across the room blindfolded just from their footsteps.
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  • simon kamakazisimon kamakazi Join Date: 2009-04-28 Member: 67296Members
    <!--quoteo(post=1912859:date=Mar 14 2012, 02:08 PM:name=NurEinMensch)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (NurEinMensch @ Mar 14 2012, 02:08 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1912859"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I still have problems hearing skulks right next to me whereas in NS1 I could track skulks across the room blindfolded just from their footsteps.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->


    my changes to geometry obstruction , and volume fallofs should be in the next patch , it should improve this a lot.
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  • NurEinMenschNurEinMensch Join Date: 2003-02-26 Member: 14056Members, Constellation
    That's good to hear. ;)
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  • SkieSkie Skulk Progenitor Join Date: 2003-10-18 Member: 21766Members, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Shadow
    I felt too that it was pretty hard to hear other players accurately. It's already quite possible to shoot a cloaked skulk to visible from the cloak, and I've managed a couple of shotgun kills that way too. But still, pretty difficult.
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