XR2 Public Release Candidate Testing

[dbeachy1]

I have the same experience. Volume is not high, and its not consistently on the same callouts. Normally I can get it during or right after takeoff. I disabled the custom engine sound and it didn't recur.

Are you running onboard sound, or a discrete sound card? The sample rate of the engine sounds is twice that of the default OrbiterSound versions (44 KHz vs. 22 KHz), so perhaps some cards have trouble with that while playing 44 KHz voice callouts? It works perfectly for me here, so I don't know what to think.

In any case, if anyone has trouble playing the new engine sounds, just configure the ship to use the default sounds instead in the XR2RavenstarPrefs.cfg file. I will add a note about this in the Troubleshooting section of the XR2 Ravenstar Flight Operations Manual.

On another note (sic), I've been shooting approaches with full payload and really like the aileron tweak. I was wondering about the gear collapse energy. Is that fixed or 'roll the dice'? The reason I ask is I noticed that I had many touchdowns at up to ~3.9 m/s but one failure at 3.18 m/s.

Touchdown/gear collapse energy is fixed; there is no fuzzy logic in the computation. Touchdown energy is computed using two things: 1) the ship's total mass (including payload, LOX, crew members, etc.), and 2) the vertical speed of the ship when the wheels touch the ground. If the energy (i.e., momentum) exceeds a certain threshold, gear collapse, ship damage, crew injury, or ship destruction will occur depending on the impact energy. The only reason it would work at 3.9 m/s and later fail is 3.18 m/s would be due to increased ship mass on the latter attempt. There is no fuzzy logic at all in the computation.

 

[C3PO]

I get distorted callouts too when using XR2 engine sounds.

 

[yagni01]

Are you running onboard sound, or a discrete sound card? The sample rate of the engine sounds is twice that of the default OrbiterSound versions (44 KHz vs. 22 KHz), so perhaps some cards have trouble with that while playing 44 KHz voice callouts? It works perfectly for me here, so I don't know what to think.

In any case, if anyone has trouble playing the new engine sounds, just configure the ship to use the default sounds instead in the XR2RavenstarPrefs.cfg file. I will add a note about this in the Troubleshooting section of the XR2 Ravenstar Flight Operations Manual.

Onboard sound. And its not annoying enough for me to disable that great engine sound.

Touchdown/gear collapse energy is fixed; there is no fuzzy logic in the computation. Touchdown energy is computed using two things: 1) the ship's total mass (including payload, LOX, crew members, etc.), and 2) the vertical speed of the ship when the wheels touch the ground. If the energy (i.e., momentum) exceeds a certain threshold, gear collapse, ship damage, crew injury, or ship destruction will occur depending on the impact energy. The only reason it would work at 3.9 m/s and later fail is 3.18 m/s would be due to increased ship mass on the latter attempt. There is no fuzzy logic at all in the computation.

Strange. :hmm:

 

[Countdown84]

Are you running onboard sound, or a discrete sound card? The sample rate of the engine sounds is twice that of the default OrbiterSound versions (44 KHz vs. 22 KHz), so perhaps some cards have trouble with that while playing 44 KHz voice callouts? It works perfectly for me here, so I don't know what to think.

I'm using onboard sound (Realtek HD audio chip in my laptop).

 

[Arrowstar]

If you run the WAV files on their own (say, media player or whatnot), do you still get the distortion? The answer to that might help prove if it's some combination of OrbiterSound and hardware or just hardware...

 

[C3PO]

The sample rate of the engine sounds is twice that of the default OrbiterSound versions (44 KHz vs. 22 KHz), so perhaps some cards have trouble with that while playing 44 KHz voice callouts? It works perfectly for me here, so I don't know what to think.

In any case, if anyone has trouble playing the new engine sounds, just configure the ship to use the default sounds instead in the XR2RavenstarPrefs.cfg file. I will add a note about this in the Troubleshooting section of the XR2 Ravenstar Flight Operations Manual.

It's not the sample rate. The main engine sound is normalized at 0dB, and that causes trouble for most amplifiers. When the engines are at 100%, all sounds are going to be distorted.
I tried going to -1dB, and the distortion is gone.

 

[Chas]

If you run the WAV files on their own (say, media player or whatnot), do you still get the distortion?

I too get the sound distortion on callouts at full engine thrust. I have an onboard sound chip (Avance AC'97 Soundmax).

Tried playing the WAV files on their own and they sound perfectly clear.
Similarly when the new custom engine sounds are disabled in the XR2RavenstarPrefs.cfg the distortion is gone.

 

[Countdown84]

It's not the sample rate. The main engine sound is normalized at 0dB, and that causes trouble for most amplifiers. When the engines are at 100%, all sounds are going to be distorted.
I tried going to -1dB, and the distortion is gone.

The .WAV files play perfectly clear by themselves (or while playing Orbiter as long as the main engines aren't at full blast)

C3PO - how did you make the adjustment to -1 dB? I'd like to try that but I'm not sure what you mean.

 

[C3PO]

My guess would that the problem is the D/A converters are getting "over-driven". Some cheaper D/A converters have a lot of headroom, but a low S/N ratio.


-----Posted Added-----

C3PO - how did you make the adjustment to -1 dB? I'd like to try that but I'm not sure what you mean.

That's just what the wav file's built-in amplitude (volume) is called.

If you open the file in an editor,(Wavosaur is a nice freeware) you will see that the wave goes to 100%. That's called 0dB. The scale is logarithmic so -1dB would be just short of 100%, but -6dB is 50%.
Old analogue equipment could go briefly over 0db without distortion, but a digital signal should stay below that at all times. That is, if you don't want a distorted sound.

 

[dbeachy1]

OK, if I understand correctly here, if I normalize the engine sounds to 99% it should fix the distortion you guys are hearing? If so, I can do that pretty easily and put up a new build for you guys to try.

 

[Cale]

OK, tried 1-C for a re-entry using AutoFCS...for the first time, I noticed real re-entry heating concerns. Will try dumping fuel to lighten the spacecraft to see if that makes a difference. Other than the heating problem (I know, at this point, that sounds like "Other than that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?"), the automated re-entry, approach and landing went without a hitch.

BTW, Doug, where can I get my hands on a copy of the new Altea logo? I see some re-issued repaints in my future

Cheers,

Cale

 

[dbeachy1]

OK guys, I just uploaded Beta-1d -- the reason for this release is to give the normalized engine sounds a try. Please check your inboxes for the download link.

Changes for this release are:

* Normalized three new engine sounds to 98%: RCS hit, main engines, SCRAM engines.

* Added new configuration settings to allow fine-grained control over voice callout behavior. Here is a list:

#--------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Sets the master voice callout volume, from 0 (mute) to 255 (maximum).
#
# The default is 255 (maximum).
#--------------------------------------------------------------------------
AudioCalloutVolume=255

#--------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Set 'You are cleared to land' voice callout altitude in meters; to disable the callout,
# set it to 0. Valid range is 0 (disabled) to 10000 meters.
#
# The default value is 1500.
#--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ClearedToLandCallout=1500

#--------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Set wav filename of liftoff and landing audio callouts. These are the voice callouts that
# play when the ship's wheels leave the ground or touch down. You can substitute your own
# wav file as well if you put your new custom wav file(s) in your C:OrbiterSounddg-xr1 directory.
# (Note: "Wheels Up" and "Wheels Down" are pilot terms that refer to the time that your main gear lift off the runway
# or touch down on the runway again.)
#
# If you don't like the default callouts you can change or disable them here.
#
# Available pre-installed wav files for LiftoffCallout:
# Wheels Up.wav (default)
# Liftoff.wav
# Positive Rate.wav
#
# Available pre-installed wav files for TouchdownCallout:
# Wheels Down.wav (default)
# Touchdown.wav
#
# To disable a callout, set value to NONE; e.g.,
# LiftoffCallout=NONE
#--------------------------------------------------------------------------
LiftoffCallout=Wheels Up.wav
TouchdownCallout=Wheels Down.wav

#--------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Enable or disable the audible sonic boom as the ship crosses Mach 1.
# 0 = sonic boom disabled
# 1 = sonic boom enabled
#--------------------------------------------------------------------------
EnableSonicBoom=1

#--------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Enable or disable specific categories for voice callouts
#
# 0 = callouts for named category disabled
# 1 = callouts for named category enabled (default)
#--------------------------------------------------------------------------
EnableAudioStatusGreeting=1
EnableVelocityCallouts=1
EnableAltitudeCallouts=1
EnableDockingDistanceCallouts=1
EnableInformationCallouts=1
EnableRCSStatusCallouts=1
EnableAFStatusCallouts=1
EnableWarningCallouts=1

Please let me know if the normalized engines sounds fix the callout distortion you guys are hearing.

OK, tried 1-C for a re-entry using AutoFCS...for the first time, I noticed real re-entry heating concerns. Will try dumping fuel to lighten the spacecraft to see if that makes a difference. Other than the heating problem (I know, at this point, that sounds like "Other than that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?"), the automated re-entry, approach and landing went without a hitch.

What is your AoA, mass, bank angle, slope angle, and deceleration (G's) during peak heating? That will give me an idea if what you are seeing is expected. I can easily adjust the heating rate if necessary, however, all of the other testers who have commented so far think the heating rate is about right. That's why I'm curious about how AutoFCS is flying the ship during reentry.

BTW, Doug, where can I get my hands on a copy of the new Altea logo? I see some re-issued repaints in my future

The logo will be included in the XR2 paint kit coming later. However, I'll go ahead and send you the logos that Steve sent me so you can get a head start.

 

[Countdown84]

OK, I tried Beta 1d and I think the distortion problem is better, but definitely still present with the main engine sound.

I did not notice any problems with the SCRAM or RCS sounds, only the mains.

 

[dbeachy1]

Well, it was worth a shot...the sounds were normalized to 98%, which should have fixed any D/A overdrive issues. You can always fall back to the default sounds.

I have been testing the custom sounds here on two different systems and both sound fine, even without the normalization: one is Vista x64 with a Sound Blaster X-Fi and the other is XP 32-bit with onboard sound on an Asus P5W DH Deluxe motherboard, which uses a Realtek ALC882M CODEC. Maybe the problem only occurs under certain onboard sound chipsets?

 

[yagni01]

Nits. I just noticed the external resupply hatch close status message occurs first instead of last. Also there's an hatch open callout, but no hatch closed callout?

EDIT: I have a P5 mobo, too. I normally have the SoundMax HD software running, but turning it off had no effect.

 

[dbeachy1]

Nits. I just noticed the external resupply hatch close status message occurs first instead of last.

That occurs due the order in which internal events occur: first the user clicks the "close hatch" switch, and as a result the fuel stops flowing. In technical terms the events occur within the same timestep; the reason the "hatch closed" message is printed before the "refueling systems offline" message is because that is the order in which the events occurred. Changing that would require the hatch switch to be aware of the refueling code itself and vice-versa, which would be messy and inelegant, so it will not be changed.

Also there's an hatch open callout, but no hatch closed callout?

That is because the callout for hatch closure is "Refueling systems offline" or "LOX resupply systems offline" rather than a simple "Hatch closed" callout. There is only one callout per event.

EDIT: I have a P5 mobo, too. I normally have the SoundMax HD software running, but turning it off had no effect.

What is the audio codec chip on your motherboard? (Not all P5 boards use the same audio chipset.) At this point it must be either an audio chipset issue or a driver issue, so I don't know what else we can do from a code or wav file standpoint.

 

[Cale]

Hey Doug,

AFCS sets the pitch angle to 40 degrees. This is the setting I've always used when flying re-entries regardless of the spacecraft I'm using. You can, however, alter this setting as well as the distance from base that entry interface takes place. I've used 6.95M (same settings as used for the XR1) for the EI distance, but will play around with that if necessary. I won't fool around with that particular setting too much as it will likely entail changing the trajectory to compensate. Will fool around with this tomorrow night and report back any progress.

BTW, thanks to you and Steve for providing me with the new Altea logo. Will get some screenies up later this week when I've had a chance to do a few paints.

Cheers,

Cale

 

[yagni01]

What is the audio codec chip on your motherboard? (Not all P5 boards use the same audio chipset.) At this point it must be either an audio chipset issue or a driver issue, so I don't know what else we can do from a code or wav file standpoint.

Analog Devices AD1988B. Can't think of anything but add the troubleshooting note, as you mentioned.

 

[Chas]

OK, I tried Beta 1d and I think the distortion problem is better, but definitely still present with the main engine sound.

I did not notice any problems with the SCRAM or RCS sounds, only the mains.

I had the same results with Beta 1D. I feel it has improved to the point of not being a major concern, and I shall now leave the new sounds enabled.

 

[C3PO]

* Added new configuration settings to allow fine-grained control over voice callout behavior.

A volume controller for the main engine sound would be more useful, if the D/A-verters really is the problem.

I still get some distortion with the 98% file.


-----Posted Added-----


[nitpick]I also have a thing about those hinges.{cringe} The thought of hypersonic flight with external hinges fills me with horror. :lol:[/nitpick]

But that's in the tire-thread category.