Sounds of movement, near or far?

[Herkyl Puuro 52]

Recently I've been going to bed and waking up in funny hours, so the servers I normally play are often empty. Sometimes I start to hear directional sounds, such as gates and doors being opened etc. Checking playerlist confirms that another player or more have logged in. Now it seems like if you play in a populated server you will hear these sounds even there aren't other players nearby, so lulled to a sense of false security by this thought I kept looting one of the small villages when there were only 3 players in the server including me - until I luckily spotted a guy with an AK in his hands on my trail. 

 

While I think I can tell the difference between ambient sounds (like gates clanging in the wind) and action based sounds, it seems it's difficult to judge is the cause of latter sounds near or far. As far as I know, if I hear sounds like gun loading or steps then I know for sure someone is close, but how about other sounds? Are all these sounds more or less buggy or can you use them to help your survival?

[Death By Crowbar 1213]

In the past (and may still exist albeit far less common) you'd hear noises like people eating, drinking, bandaging, or that "jingling change" sound it makes when you're adjusting ammo. Every so often I get one of those when there's noone around, but it used to happen all the time.

 

The chain link fence jingle you can always ignore. The doors opening and closing (usually closing) can also be ambient and I usually ignore that. The squeaky door open is usually a player. Footsteps are also players, but sometimes an animal (cow, etc) can be walking nearby and give you a false positive on that.

 

DayZ has a lot of ambient sounds that really add to the game, but in general the biggest to pay attention to for detecting players nearby are footsteps, eating/drinking/bandaging/ammo/gunclick, and squeaky door opening sounds.

[Herkyl Puuro 52]

In the past (and may still exist albeit far less common) you'd hear noises like people eating, drinking, bandaging, or that "jingling change" sound it makes when you're adjusting ammo. Every so often I get one of those when there's noone around, but it used to happen all the time.

 

True, I played last when 0.54 was on, and non directional eating etc. sounds were pretty common. Now almost all sounds are directional, so it's been another learning opportunity for me lol

 

 

The chain link fence jingle you can always ignore. The doors opening and closing (usually closing) can also be ambient and I usually ignore that. The squeaky door open is usually a player. Footsteps are also players, but sometimes an animal (cow, etc) can be walking nearby and give you a false positive on that.

 

Wooden door closing, a thudding sound, I imagine is ambient too normally. Really close to what the player makes when closing a wooden door.

 

Haven't seen or heard any cows since I came back, thought there are no animals either but then saw a horde of deers near Novy Sobor.

[BeefBacon 1185]

The phantom sounds of players eating, combining ammo, etc have been eradicated - or at least I've not heard them. Think they've been gone since .57 or something.

 

There are a few bullshit ambient sounds, stuff like gates opening, birds flying away, stuff like that. In my opinion these should be removed. All sounds (except wind, birds tweeting, etc) should e caused by a player action. A stick cracking in the woods should be because a player or a zombie stood on one. A gate sound should be because a gate has opened. You get the idea.

 

Of course I wouldn't be against something like, I don't know, a window shutter slamming in the wind, but only if there is actually a source for the sound. Maybe certain gates could be moved by the wind if they're not latched. That'd add tension without being artificial.

[Herkyl Puuro 52]

The phantom sounds of players eating, combining ammo, etc have been eradicated - or at least I've not heard them. Think they've been gone since .57 or something.

 

There are a few bullshit ambient sounds, stuff like gates opening, birds flying away, stuff like that. In my opinion these should be removed. All sounds (except wind, birds tweeting, etc) should e caused by a player action. A stick cracking in the woods should be because a player or a zombie stood on one. A gate sound should be because a gate has opened. You get the idea.

 

Of course I wouldn't be against something like, I don't know, a window shutter slamming in the wind, but only if there is actually a source for the sound. Maybe certain gates could be moved by the wind if they're not latched. That'd add tension without being artificial.

 

Hopefully the devs read this! :thumbsup: :beans:

 

About player created sounds... what I can tell, most sounds a moving player makes play equally loud, there's not much difference if you crouch and move, crawl or walk. Running is a bit louder but sometimes you can have people running right next you and you won't hear a thing or vice versa. I hope they get this fixed too, if you run around on a pavement wearing heavy boots - well there should by sounds! Other thing is at the moment you can be quite soundless, if you nudge your guy by tapping direction keys quickly, and while it works it's stupid. They should add a stealth mode as it's obviously needed. This mode could make your movement more silent but of course very slow as well, as you have to think about every step you take.

[VVarhead 185]

Hopefully the devs read this! :thumbsup: :beans:

 

About player created sounds... what I can tell, most sounds a moving player makes play equally loud, there's not much difference if you crouch and move, crawl or walk. Running is a bit louder but sometimes you can have people running right next you and you won't hear a thing or vice versa. I hope they get this fixed too, if you run around on a pavement wearing heavy boots - well there should by sounds! Other thing is at the moment you can be quite soundless, if you nudge your guy by tapping direction keys quickly, and while it works it's stupid. They should add a stealth mode as it's obviously needed. This mode could make your movement more silent but of course very slow as well, as you have to think about every step you take.

 

 

There is stealth..

Crouch, press shift, your character will walk very slowly and gently almost causing no sound.

It will be fairly loud to you, but a player standing outside of the house you're in wouldn't hear, I tested this.

If you're on the second floor and a player is on the first floor, he will definitely hear you no matter what you're doing to conceal your movement and sounds.

 

It will be more important once zombies are back.

There was a time where you really needed to evade Z's and being loud in general

Edited October 7, 2015 by VVarhead

[Herkyl Puuro 52]

There is stealth..

Crouch, press shift, your character will walk very slowly and gently almost causing no sound.

It will be fairly loud to you, but a player standing outside of the house you're in wouldn't hear, I tested this.

If you're on the second floor and a player is on the first floor, he will definitely hear you no matter what you're doing to conceal your movement and sounds.

 

It will be more important once zombies are back.

There was a time where you really needed to evade Z's and being loud in general

 

Thanks man, this is something I totally forgot or never learned to do.