Player activated environment sounds

[Max Planck 7174]

I don't think including scares just for the sake of scaring people and making them nervous goes well with the spirit of the simulator.I wouldn't mind having only natural reasons. like a gunshot or a player or a predator walking underneath a tree, scaring a bird. Make some birds let out a cry if they see you come too close.

I'd rather get rid of all the ambient random sounds like snapping twigs, except maybe the wind blowing through woods or buildings, altogether. A gate shouldn't creak unless it was opened either by a player, animal, zombie or wind.

What I'd also like to ask the op is, why would it be a bad thing for players to always be able to tell by surrounding sounds whether something is amiss near them. That's how it would work in real life.

The problem with having only player activated sounds is that it would be very, very quiet out there. If you take a walk in a real forest you'll notice that it isn't all that quiet at all.

In real life, birds don't sit around waiting for someone to walk by. They react to other birds, themselves, leaves, the wind, everything that sets something off in those twisted little birdbrains they have.

Likewise, dead branches can be broken by the wind, or they can just snap off under their own weight.

All these sounds should be there, not to scare you for the sake of scaring you, but to create an audible backdrop that'll make you feel like you are outside. They would also serve to mask the noises of someone trying to sneak up on you, but only if you aren't jumpy and checking out every little thing you hear.

Picture this:

You are walking around up north, the wind whistling in your ears, when you the sharp crack of a branch snapping some 30 meters away in a thicket. "Shit!" "Should I investigate?" "Nah, probably just the wind..."

The gate sound though, I agree with you about. That should only play when somebody actually opens a gate. Or maybe never.

[joe_mcentire 2074]

ppl are too rarely in the forest these days...

Edited February 19, 2013 by joe_mcentire

[Max Planck 7174]

ppl are too rarely in the forest these days...

Ingame or...?

[BwobBwub 660]

Aww don't make the sounds any scarier.

[joe_mcentire 2074]

Ingame or...?

no no in our nature i wanted to say...

for example. have some of you ever been in the forest when it was raining, or there was light breeze? The noises you get to here are sometimes freakin' scary..

Edited February 19, 2013 by joe_mcentire

[Bat (DayZ) 230]

I like it.

I'd also like to see the already discussed idea of scared birds flying away when a shot is fired. Even if it's not as important as the sounds, it would be both realistic and interesting in terms of gameplay.

[Max Planck 7174]

I like it.

I'd also like to see the already discussed idea of scared birds flying away when a shot is fired. Even if it's not as important as the sounds, it would be both realistic and interesting in terms of gameplay.

Yeah, that would work great in combination with the sounds.

More, and more diverse, wildlife would be nice too.

[thesodesa 99]

Once/ if seasons are implemented I'd be ok with having trees making cracking sounds in the winter when a hard wind is blowing through the woods. Trees tend to do that when they are all rigid from the cold. This is in response to my previous post about not having any random sounds at all.

Edited February 23, 2013 by TheSodesa

[enforcer1975 1111]

no no in our nature i wanted to say...

for example. have some of you ever been in the forest when it was raining, or there was light breeze? The noises you get to here are sometimes freakin' scary..

Don't remind me...i sounds like the forest is living.

[psstloaf 17]

no extra sounds at all apart from things that are really happening. no music, ambient crap just sounds that are happening which you would be able to hear at the time .. if the game cant give an atmos from just this then its almost not worth playing.

Edited February 23, 2013 by psstloaf

[thesodesa 99]

not extra sounds at all apart from things that are really happening. no music, ambient crap just sounds that are happening which you would be able to hear at the time .. if the game cant give an atmos from just this then its almost not worth playing.

Just having a working ecosystem, where the animals in the game interact with each other and react to each other, should cause plenty of noise when travelling in the woods. Just make sure that it's for example an actual npc bird reacting to for example an npc squirrel trying to steal its eggs out of a nest (For those of you who don't know squirrels are the most vicious, sadistic killing machines out there, just like bears). This should work since the map is probably going to be full of animals for hunting purposes anyway.

Also, if seasons are added, why not have birds responding to each others mating calls in the spring. There's all sorts of ways to induce 'natural' sounds that make sense, and I haven't even mentioned player interaction with the environment.

Of course there is the possible issue of performance with all these npcs (animals, zombies) and players on the map causing a ruckus, but I'm sure they could come up with a work around for that.

Edited February 23, 2013 by TheSodesa

[colekern 1364]

Shameless bump.

Also, can anybody with esoteric coding smarts tell if a percentage chance of player activated sound is possible without a large fps drop?

I'm no programmer, but no, I don't think this would an FPS drop. Considering that it would do one calculation and that's it, I think it's good

Edited February 23, 2013 by colekern

[Max Planck 7174]

Just having a working ecosystem, where the animals in the game interact with each other and react to each other, should cause plenty of noise when travelling in the woods. Just make sure that it's for example an actual npc bird reacting to for example an npc squirrel trying to steal its eggs out of a nest...

While I'm not an expert, I'd imagine that having to track thousands of squirrels, birds, hoverflies, dropbears and other branchmonsters would put a tremendous load on the server.

That's why I suggest keeping some of the ambient noises, along with the player triggered ones.

I'm no programmer, but no, I don't think this would an FPS drop. Considering that it would do one calculation and that's it, I think it's good

Makes sense. But what if it has to do the check, say, every 5 seconds? With 150 players on a server, that would be... a whole bunch of extra checks.

Edited February 23, 2013 by Max Planck

[thesodesa 99]

Once/ if seasons are implemented I'd be ok with having trees making cracking sounds in the winter when a hard wind is blowing through the woods. Trees tend to do that when they are all rigid from the cold. This is in response to my previous post about not having any random sounds at all.

I'd be ok with the ambient sounds if the above was true. I just don't want to have them play completely randomly, like if you were in a forest the game would just by chance play the sound of a snapping twig. I'd rather have the game playing these sounds only when it makes sense, like in the quote above. Have the state of the environment have some effect on the sounds being played.

[psstloaf 17]

if i tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it. does the tree still make a sound ? :D

[psstloaf 17]

I'd be ok with the ambient sounds if the above was true. I just don't want to have them play completely randomly, like if you were in a forest the game would just by chance play the sound of a snapping twig. I'd rather have the game playing these sounds only when it makes sense, like in the quote above. Have the state of the environment have some effect on the sounds being played.

all they need is aoe sounds for everything that would be making a sound at that time. weather or not anyone is around to hear it. link that with the aoe of hearing and the player will hear that sound.. this should save on resources because it wouldn't be just random sounds that lead to nothing! .. how much aoe hearing and sound making overlaps is of course how loud that sound would be .. seems easy!.. in theory. :)

Edited February 23, 2013 by psstloaf

[Max Planck 7174]

I wonder if the modified engine for the SA would make it easier to implement this?

Not really sure how it would work.

 

Oh, and *bump*.

[wild_man 4442]

yes :beans:

 

I want system where is possible player sneak like pervert in forest is sound like 'SNAP' for break some wood with foot but sound not happen no player or animal  :thumbsup:  ;)

[enforcer1975 1111]

I wonder if the modified engine for the SA would make it easier to implement this?

Not really sure how it would work.

 

Oh, and *bump*.

 

It would still be the same engine..so adding stuff over and over can only break it. I wouldn't expect too much from them if you have already experienced what they were capable of in ArmA. The only thing that might work in the SAs favor is that a lot of unnecessary stuff is left out so less stress but a lot of stuff is added via script in exchange...so let's see if they finally found someone who can write a good script to manage that amount of players on a server, the loot, the zombies, the connection to the hive and still run on todays hardware.

[bibbish 49]

I really hope the sound side of things will get an overhaul in the SA, but I'm afraid it's not high on the list of priorities.

Has anyone seen Rocket make any noise on the subject?

Good pun.

[Very Ape 748]

Brilliant idea.

 

It'd be cool if those ambient noises were also triggered by wildlife, and sometimes just at random so that it doesn't seem too artificial. 

[SalamanderAnder (DayZ) 1747]

What can I say, I've supported this idea since the mod existed, even if I hadn't thought of it exactly the way you said it. Very easy to implement. We already have some environmental sounds, like wooden and metal floors, why not add more? Gates should squeak, those fence noises should definitely be triggered by collision with said object, and when you go through those broken parts of fences. That stuff makes noise in reality. Oh, and broken glass. I've had first hand experience with broken glass giving away my position. Also they could add a crafting recipe to smash up a whiskey bottle and set a broken glass alarm! I'm getting too excited here...

 

 

 Birds sounds would be good, but I would actually like to see birds that fly away from things and pick on dead bodies. 

 

:beans:

 

Also, I second what Ape just said.

Edited September 19, 2013 by SalamanderAnder

[NagsterTheGangster 388]

This shit right here son! thats fucking great

[OrLoK 16190]

Hello there

 

Where I live at night it is deathly silent most of the time.

 

As i type I can hear something rustling in my garden (probably a muntjac or a fox)

 

So im all for player rustles and noise.

 

Btw I live in the suburbia of a town which boarders countryside so im neither deep countryside nor am I town/city. 

 

Rdgs

 

LoK

[philbottle 430]

I can see myself traversing chernarus woodland at night, only my military torch under a cloudy moonless night sky...and a wolf howls somewhere in the distance...the near distance.

 

Bicycle clip time :o