Misc: For Those Who Need Help With Sound

[Jaymz]

Just thought I'd make a thread where everyone can ask about any sound designing/coding questions they have with the BF2 engine or with anything else.

INDEX:

Arab's Sound Tutorial

[danthemanbuddy]

v.5 and v.6 weapon sounds.

I know that you need .wav sounds stereo for 1p, and mono for 3p.

However what is the right frequency and everything to get a new weapon sound in the mod.

I have replaced the m4 sound ever since v.32 and know with the md5 check im scared to change it.

Is v.5 and v.6 safe to change sounds with?
And with your sound team, I don't think I will have to change it....

[Jaymz]

Well the M4 coming in 0.6 isn't as loud or powerful sounding as it is now because currently it sounds like a machine gun, not a rifle. I also fixed the rate of fire on the sound (the sound was too slow so it sounded like you shoot 25 rounds instead of 30, but getting into how to do that is a bit complex) I hope you'll like it though.

As for changing sounds, go ahead. I've been using 0.5 to test my sounds and I don't get kicked or anything. Now, onto frequencies. Stick to 44khz and 22khz. Sofad always gives out to me when I make 3rdp sounds 44 because he wants me to be conservative for ram and download size =P.

Now, the bitrate needs to be 1411/705kpbs or 1024/512 kbps. Goodluck finding a bitrate converter for wav files for free. I've been using a trial version. Thankfully most of the sounds I work on are previous ones (already the correct bitrate) which I tweak and try to make more realistic.

Anything else mate?

[Jedimushroom]

Originally Posted by [R-CON]Jaymz

(the sound was too slow so it sounded like you shoot 25 rounds instead of 30, but getting into how to do that is a bit complex)

how many firing sounds can you fit into those precious two seconds anyway?

[Jaymz]

Originally Posted by Jedimushroom

how many firing sounds can you fit into those precious two seconds anyway?

It's all the one sound jedi, but you have to define a loop region for automatic weapons. WIthin that loop region is what it repeats over and over for each shot in burst/automatic. The smaller the loop region, the faster the rate of fire. To get the M4 in 0.6 to have a realistic rate of fire (the rate of fire is physically has in game) I had to play around with the loop region over and over until I was able to record myself emptying an entire clip and counting exactly 30 shots on the recording.

Originally Posted by danethemanbuddy

How loud can you possibly get the weapon sounds in the editor? I have been playing around and I can't change the volume or sound itself.

How loud is the current m4 on the 1-10 thing scale?

Could we possibly get all gunshots loud in the engine, or is it dependent on the python code of it?

First thing is first. Don't use the editor, one of my lecturers (the DCON sound artist) told me it's like a minefield that EA layed out for modders, as if they are trying to steer you off course. I know that things like vehicles should be done in the editor because of the directional engine sounds etc. but for weapons I say just stick to the tweak files.

Now, on to volume. In the tweak files you can define the BF2 volume for the sound, rifles are at 0.9 in PR I think, that's loud enough because I want to reserve 1.0 for grenades, tank cannons etc...which I have . For 0.6 I made my new A10 cannon sound 1.0. But what I've learned is that if you want a really loud sound you need to make the actual wav file louder, the 0.6 A10 cannon is as loud as you can get in the BF2 engine, you'll hear what I mean....muahahah. For editing the wavs themselves use Sound Forge, any DAW will do but Sound Forge lets you make the loop regions .

Anywho.The problem with the gunshot volume is that it's not that they aren't loud enough, it's that the sounds fade out over really short distances. In 0.6, all handheld weapon sounds travel twice as far. I did it depending on caliber, 5.56 travels twice the distance it does now, 7.62 a little more and 50cal about 3 or 4 times. Tanks/APC cannons will travel waaayyyy further than before.....I hope everyone will like it


Oh, if you want to learn the tweak files just ask here or PM me =D. Keep in mind though, sofad is still teaching me new things about the tweak files I'm a sound artist first, sound coder second.

[Twisted Helix]

Originally Posted by [R-DEV]Jaymz

But what I've learned is that if you want a really loud sound you need to make the actual wav file louder,

Just to add a little tip to this for those that might not know, there are two kinds of 'loudness' in a sound file ... you have 'peak' volume and 'RMS' volume.

Peak volume is the maximum amplitude that your sound file reaches ... and once this hits 0dB, you cannot go any higher. You can achieve this by 'normalizing' the file ... however once a file is normalized you cannot get anymore peak volume out of it.

RMS volume is the root mean square of the total amplitude in the track. This means that if you take the amplitude of each 'sample' slice (at 44k1Hz that is 44100 samples in a second of time), and then total them up and obtain the mean amplitude (its actually more complicated than this but I will spare you the maths jargon ), you have your RMS level.

Now perception of 'loudness' is based upon RMS level and not upon peak level, as it is perfectly possible to have transient peaks that the ear cannot hear due to the ear having a response time. Increasing RMS level is done through the use of compression or limiting. This has the effect of raising the 'quiet' parts of the sound closer to the 'loud' part of the sound .. and thus increasing the overall energy in the sound file (you can normalize the result or use make up gain to make sure you maintain your peak at 0dB). This has the effect of making the sound seem louder even though the peak has not changed.

One word of warning though ... it is possible to go too far down this path ... and to start making everything louder and louder until you really have nowhere left to go, and sonic integrity suffers as a result. The most important thing to remember is that percerption of volume is a relation ... one sound in relation to another ... and instead of turning something 'up' ... you can actually turn everything else ... 'down'.

[danthemanbuddy]

How loud can you possibly get the weapon sounds in the editor? I have been playing around and I can't change the volume or sound itself.

How loud is the current m4 on the 1-10 thing scale?

Could we possibly get all gunshots loud in the engine, or is it dependent on the python code of it?

[danthemanbuddy]

Wow thanks, you are my favorite modder (sofad equally), The sounds is the main thing I love playing PR.

One question though. You said that in PR that the rifle sounds are .9, is that in v.5 or v.6?

Still i Stress that rifle sounds should be as loud as they can be (not a 10 loud ) Everytime I go to my deer camp, I can hear that rifle shot more than 2 miles away. In PR, its more like 150m. (spare the saw)

[Jaymz]

well it's going to be 300m and above in 0.6 . The problem with distance is that people not using EAX don't have air dissipation. Meaning that they can hear sounds at greater distances. This is what is stopping me fron making the distances realistic. That plus the fact that each sound takes up ram, if you've got 64 people within a mile of you (which they usually are) that's a lot of ram being used for sounds alone. Just remember though, loudness and distance are two different things in game audio....at least for the foreseeable future.

[Desertfox]

Yes I need some help! I cannot hear out of my left ear






lol jk :P Good work helping people out jaymz!