Pathfinding for sounds

[unclegus 21]

This is something I have never seen done well in any game, so I'm sure it's not easy to do and I am sure people have attempted to tackle this aspect of games before, so I won't be offended/disappointed if this idea gets shot down:

At the moment, whether you hear a sound or not is based on absolute distance, so each gun has an audible range. If you are outside of that range, you don't hear that sound. In reality, if someone fires a gun from across an open field, it can be heard even from a couple of kilometres away. Also, if someone fires a gun behind a building, the sound is somewhat dampened.

Would it be possible to have a basic pathfinding algorithm that "searches" for other players within X distance and calculates the number and total angle of "turns" to go through and the total distance that the sound has to travel and then adjust the sound for that player?

This would mean Survivor A fires an Enfield next to a barn. Survivor B standing next to him hears it loud and clear, Survivor C on the other side of the barn hears it a bit quieter, and Survivor D a couple of kilometres away across the field still hears it, but very quietly.

While we're at it, have the sound lagged depending on the distance it travels too, since speed of light > speed of sound.

like I said, I'm sure this is not an easy thing to do, but I reckon it would boost the immersion greatly.

[tommygun9504 8]

The speed of sound has been implemented since ArmA was born, but your idea of sound relating to geometry is great for realism. Perhaps this should go to the Bohemia Interactive forums for ArmA 3, or a patch for ArmA 2.

[RockOn 0]

Hey, I am a bit confused about the audible range in this game. I mean having a pathfinding algorithm would be pretty cool and very useful, but how does it work right now? I am playing with friends who can't hear shots whereas I can hear things well out of "set" range of the guns. Is it currently connected to your settings and how much your computer is loading at the moment or is my sound just better?

Also, the sound lags as it is just through internet lag so even if you see them shooting or hear them, it already happened.

[Badjr 44]

I think we should work on sounds coming from the right direction before we start working on their loudness.

Zombies sound tend to come out of a random speaker, instead of the direction the zombie is for me.

This greatly breaks immersion because I'll hear a sound on my left, but oh wait the zombies 20 feet on my right-back side

Gunshots tend to come from both speakers, which in real life you would be able to tell what direction you heard a gunshot from

[Duckman404 37]

I think we should work on sounds coming from the right direction before we start working on their loudness.

Zombies sound tend to come out of a random speaker, instead of the direction the zombie is for me.

This greatly breaks immersion because I'll hear a sound on my left, but oh wait the zombies 20 feet on my right-back side

Gunshots tend to come from both speakers, which in real life you would be able to tell what direction you heard a gunshot from

You sure you've got your headphones on the right way around? :P

I've never had this problem, but in real life it's not always so easy to pinpoint an exact source of a sound. I live in a valley with a train track on the opposite side, and at times it's like the sound of a train is coming from every direction, not just from over the hill.

At the moment, I would like ARMA 2 to have better sound handling. Loud things like cars or guns should, realistically, be audible from hundreds of metres away. Pistols aren't, rifles barely are, and it's hard to hear a car until it's right on top of you.