XR2 Public Release Candidate Testing

[dbeachy1]

No, I didn't try that -- that's a good idea, though. However, I don't know why bitrate would make a difference (but who knows?) First I'll do a quick-and-dirty test in Orbiter loading and playing the sound effect at max volume.

====

XR2 Beta Team: I just noticed that the XR2RavenstarPrefs.cfg shipped with Beta-1b has a bug: 'HoverEngineThrust=0' is set, which means your hover engines are set to "easy" level thrust by default. This will be fixed for Beta-1c, but you will want to update your preference file and set 'HoverEngineThrust=1' for normal testing.

====

EDIT:
I have confirmed that the 'ReplaceStockSound3' OrbiterSound API call does indeed have a bug both with REPLACE_MAIN_THRUST and REPLACE_HOVER_THRUST: in both cases the new sound effect is played back way too quietly. When I play the engine sounds manually via a new key handler, it sounds normal.

And here's what I can't figure out: Steve, you're right, I do remember we initially tested your new sound effects by replacing the stock mainext.wav and mainextloud.wav files, and they played back quietly in Orbiter. I just re-ran that test, and it still plays back quietly even though I can play the exact same file manually at max volume and it sounds loud, like it should. I don't know what to think. In any case, it looks like the solution is to just play the main, hover, and RCS sound effects manually via new code. I'll implement that for Beta-1c.

 

[Coolhand]

It might make a difference because FL is meant for rendering fairly high quality sounds - the sounds used in orbiter are generally small low bitrate, lower quality files so you might be able to degrade it further than i can. whether bitrate really makes a difference i don't know. but its strange that the engine noises worked fine for me, just the RCS that i could get to play properly, they were all made the same way.


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


doug, just looking at the filenames again, and yep, you've got my RCS effects in there - Attitudecontrolhit and Attitudecontrolsustain.wav are in the XR2 sounds folder, you sure its not using them?


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


ok, it seems to be using the new hit or fire effect and the old sustain effect. replacing my sound with the one from the vessel folder works, sounds just like the xr1's rcs.

btw, here are the old (stock dg etc) attfire and mine if anyone else wants to have a go and see what the problem is with the volume.

 

[dbeachy1]

Now that is really odd, because I just double-checked and I don't have any code in place that references the RCS sounds, and I am not hearing that behavior here. My guess is that the default directory that OrbiterSound looks in is somehow getting switched from "Sound\Vessel" to "Sound\XR2Ravenstar". (I still can't reproduce the problem here.) What if you just delete attitudecontrolhit.wav and attitudecontrolsustain.wav in your Sound\XR2Ravenstar folder? That should have no effect on RCS sounds.

In any case, I am going to add code to play all the new sound manually, since for some reason OrbiterSound doesn't like playing them as replacements for the stock sounds. So in a nutshell, I'm pretty sure that Steve's new sounds are fine. I'll write the new sound handlers to play main, hover, and RCS sound effects for Beta-1c and then we should be good-to-go.

 

[willy88]

The file is named "attifire", not "attfire" (which it should be).

 

[dbeachy1]

Perhaps I am consulting the wrong ethicists.

Does the XR2 have a similar scram ascent profile as the XR1 and XR5?

Sorry I missed this question before now. For the most part, yes, the XR2's SCRAM ascent profile is similar to the XR1's in as much as you engage the SCRAM engines at about 20 km and mach 3.5 (XR1 speeds) and maintain a gradual ascent to 70 km. However, the Ravenstar has a lot of thrust, and with no payload it can pull a peak of 5 G's with both main and SCRAM engines at full power. It can also reach ~mach 20 on SCRAM engines alone, as well as pull 2.5 G's acceleration just on the SCRAM engnes. So you really have to watch your hull temps shortly after you engage SCRAM engines because the ship accelerates so hard. As long as you're careful, though, you will be fine. Also, once payload support is implemented you will typically be carrying the CHM (Crew Habitat Module) at a minimum, which has a mass of 2047 kg, so that will decrease performance slightly. At peak recommended payload of 10,795 kg you will see a noticable difference in performance.

As for current Beta testing, sorry, I already have a crack Beta team assembled. However, I may expand the Beta team by a moderate number for Beta-3 once the team deems it ready for wider testing, so stay tuned. I'll put out an announcement if and when that happens.

 

[C3PO]

The new sounds use much lower frequencies, so they need more amplitude to sound as loud as the originals. You have to match the sound level by ear.
When the new sounds are played back in the simulator, they are going to sound even fainter because of those low frequencies. This is because they get mixed with all the other sounds.

BTW the sample rate is 44000. IMHO everything above 22050 is a waste of memory. I use a max of 11025 in Orbiter.

 

[Coolhand]

yes i know the sample rate is high, still plenty of modern games use high sample rates just like they use high res textures or high detailed models. Orbiter's stock DG sound fx is very old, things have moved on. Personally, i can hear the difference, perhaps not everyone can.

I don't buy that about the sound getting 'lost' simply because when there's no other sounds playing, you still can't hear it. lol.

There's something else at play here.

 

[yagni01]

Since we're on the subject of sound, could you give some thought to replacing the background ambient whine with something a little lower frequency (something more akin to circulation fans) and maybe add some low volume passenger conversation? I've noticed that when I'm in orbit I turn the sound down because its annoying. Would kinda limit my enjoyment of new RCS sounds.

I know, more scope creep. :sorry:

 

[Coolhand]

yep, like i said i'd planned to build a whole new audio environment for it, so new ambient sounds would be part of that.

Passenger chatter might be cool, but doug would have to implement it of course and the converstion would have to be sourced from somewhere, can't really synthesize that... unless you want you ship full of old school type cylons

 

[dbeachy1]

Passenger chatter might be cool, but doug would have to implement it of course and the converstion would have to be sourced from somewhere, can't really synthesize that... unless you want you ship full of old school type cylons

The only cylons I want on my ship are Boomer and Number Six! :lol: I agree some quiet background 'passenger chatter' could be cool, and actually that would be straightforward to implement from a code standpoint. And of course it would be enabled/disabled via a new preference. The hard part would be creating 'chatter' sounds that sound right and figuring out how often to play the wav files. Continuously? Randomly evey 15 seconds to a minute?

Regarding sound sample playback rates, I notice a difference between 22 KHz and 44 KHz, particularly for speech callouts. I have the 'shared playback sample rate' in Vista set to 48 KHz, so sounds with lower samples than that are upsampled to be 48 KHz. So in a nutshell I would like all new sounds to be 44 KHz or 48 KHz, 16-bit so that we have excellent quality. It should also play back fine on older systems as well since Windows can downsample the sound on-the-fly. All of Sally's callouts are 48 KHz, 16-bit.

 

[Coolhand]

How about triggering the effects by event... like, for example: "OMG WE'RE ALL GONNA DIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!!!!" for when i start performing barrel rolls and immelmans over KSC.

Or maybe vomit noises when you hit micro gravity...?

 

[C3PO]

EEEEEEWWWWWWWwwwww.....

ROFL

 

[Urwumpe]

Crew chatter? Like the German accented engineer complaining about your mistreatment of the hover engines? :lol:

 

[Coolhand]

EEEEEEWWWWWWWwwwww.....

ROFL

maybe give it a one in 5 chance that someone will barf eventually - i guess the real number would be higher but hearing a bleeeeeurrrrgh sound effect and maybe some splattering might get on your nerves if you heard it every time

 

[Urwumpe]

Well, if you need an idea how a good space motion sickness should sound like, I recommend the Episode "Spider" from "From the Earth to the Moon". Was really well played by the actor.

 

[SlyCoopersButt]

I really don't think sounds of that sort are exactly neccesary or appealing.

 

[Master of Blades]

I think Cockpit chatter sounds like a cool idea... As long as it doesn't get repetitive, like "random phrases" in many videogames tend to be..

 

[SlyCoopersButt]

Prelude II bases would be a perfect example. They have a very soft background chatter which sounded quite good if you had the volume up when you used internal view. Except a little louder and less distant sounding might be in order

 

[yagni01]

How about triggering the effects by event... like, for example: "OMG WE'RE ALL GONNA DIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!!!!" for when i start performing barrel rolls and immelmans over KSC.

I like it.

Or maybe vomit noises when you hit micro gravity...?

Oh, yes. Absolutely. As long as there's a config parameter to turn it off. . .
Maybe "Are we there, yet?" every five minutes, too. You could always record some girlish screams from a roller coaster ride. . .

I think Cockpit chatter sounds like a cool idea... As long as it doesn't get repetitive, like "random phrases" in many videogames tend to be..

I don't think cockpit chatter works. Unless it pertains to what's actually happening, it just sounds silly. OTOH, Sally's callouts are the kind of things you'd expect Kara to say.

 

[Master of Blades]

[...]
I don't think cockpit chatter works. Unless it pertains to what's actually happening, it just sounds silly. OTOH, Sally's callouts are the kind of things you'd expect Kara to say.

Well, have them bound to different events then, as already suggested?

Perhaps a "are you sure it's UMMU compatible?" Every time you open the airlock?