Following one of the more recent updates, something has happened regarding external sound volume. Before collective input could be heard quite clearly, as well as flares, gear up/down, weapons etc.

I tried various values in the ini regards-

external_sounds_volume=1.0 # volume for external sounds when in cockpit (n = Volume, 1.0 = full, 0.0 = silent) (default = 1.0) (good realistic value = 0.4)

Regardless of what I set this value the externals with the exception of rotors is barely audible.

Also if I add a value to "hdwrbuf=0" I lose sound altogether?

any input appreciated

Confirmed.

Plus...

There seems to be no change in the loadouts (check blackhawks, they still carry hellfires).

Maybe i made some code mistake. I will take a look.

Do you mean in external view? Then yes, that will continue to show Hellfires, as that 3D model of the originally non-flyable helicopters/aircraft only have one loadout. But they should just have rockets when firing.

OK i tested it in latest code and something is fishy - with 1.0 param extrnal sounds in cokpit is still half mutted. maybe i made this itntentionaly. Anyway i will take a look to fix this param to work as it should

Thanks for the update Tomas. I thought I'd take a look at the new GC campaign the other night, but ended up backing out as I couldnt hear any much except rotors and radio comms. Some ambience issues at present.

thx again

I meantioned this problem a while back and got no responses. Nice to see it finally looked at.

Very distracting....any solution yet?

This too, was working as recently as 1.9. Any word?

Please try this http://rapidshare.de/files/48297880/COHOKUM_08SEP09_SND.rar.html

Nope. It didn't help on the external sounds.
Actually, it hosed my install. Now every time I try to access the options menu, the mouse cursor starts leaving trails all over the screen, the choices (sound, graphics, etc.) are not visible until I click on their location, and the screen goes jittery.

I tried rolling back to the previous rev and it is still happening, so I guess its total re-install time again.

Hah.. Will this act differently? http://rapidshare.de/files/48311228/COHOKUM_09SEP09_SND.rar.html

A different exe may influence game.cfg and eech.ini only - I see no need in full reinstall.

I didn't think the update would have done it either but a full re-install did the trick. (Whatever it was?)

Sorry. I tried the new file and still no go. This time it just goes to a black screen. I had to Alt+Tab to close it.

I went back through the revs and I can verify that that the ext. sounds were solid up to 1.11. From 1.11.1 on, they are gone.

Hah... Tried to remove eech.ini and game.cfg before running the new exe?

Always!...but I tried it again, just to be sure. It hangs on the black screen.
If I Alt+Tab and close it, when I return to the cohokum folder, it has created the .ini but it hasn't created the .cfg file.

I have recompiled the exe, maybe it will help.

http://rapidshare.de/files/48325364/COHOKUM_12SEP09_SND.rar.html

OK, your files not working were probably my fault, all along.

This version didn't work either. Why, I asked?!?! I started poking around and I found it.
There was a security lock on the .exe because it was created on another computer. After extracting it to the cohokum folder, I right-clicked, went into the properties of your .exe and "un-blocked" it. Then, I re-named it to just cohokum.exe and voila!

It does seem to make a difference. I can clearly hear the gear come up now.
Although, I would appreciate it if someone else (Colonel_Kurtz?) checked it out, too.

Does your .exe disable the the .ini setting for "external_sounds_volume"?
It seemed like when that was introduced, the sound issues started.
I ask because I tried various values, for that setting, and it made no difference that I could discern?

I suppose the best way is to move MUCH MORE settings to EECH.INI regarding volume control of different sounds.
I will make it for the next version.

Sounds like a good idea FireBird, and many thanks for looking into this for us guys

Ok I tried the last beta exe you posted and the externals are definitly back, and though the sound that im most interested in retrieving is still relativly low. The sound is one that ARNEH added some time back that is the main differance ambience wise from EECH2. Its the sound you hear when collective is inputed. This sound lets you get a little bit of feel for rise and fall with rotor load I guess, if thats what its intended for.

I'd like to be able to tweek this sound and others to taste. I like my gear, flares, explosions, rotor sounds at a certain levels as it adds an immersion factor into the game. I know I can tweak some sound with an editor, but if you could add the ability top tweak via eech.ini it would be a nice touch.

regards

Kurtz

ps- sry for the delayed response as ive been occupied with vistors in town for hols.

Hey ARNEH

Can you tell me which sound/sounds within the "audio" folder that are used during collective input?

The sound named something with turbine (one external and internal sound). For the Apache it's the ones called aprotorit and aprotoret (it = internal turbine, et = external turbine), and for the Mi-28 harotorit and harotoret.

Judging by the file names, and quick listen with adobe they are the rotor sounds for each aircraft.

1. So is it the rotor sound volume that is varied when you input collective?

eg: increase collective internal rotor volume increases, and decrease collective internal rotor volume decreases. Is that correct? or is there more to it?

2. If i edit the volume of these sounds from within my audio folder, do i also need to repack the sound.dat, or is it as simple as editing the selected pcm itself?

No, it's another sound. But can't remember now which one, I will have to dig a little when I get home to figure out which.

But if all you want to do is change the sound level then it's better to just let firebird adjust the volums from inside the game then changing the sound effects.

OK no worries, thanks for the quick response

Can you pleas re-up this?
When trying to download it says:
"This file has been deleted.
Reason: No download for a longer period. Inactivity-timeout exceeded."

Thanks for your efforts!

Link- http://rapidshare.com/files/303119344/COHOKUM_12SEP09_SND.rar.html

Remember this is only a test exe by FireBird. I think we will have to wait for the next update for a more complete fix. Definatly an improvement with external sounds for my hardware though.

Thank you Colonel_Kurtz for the quick response, and thank you FireBird for the test exe!!
It is thanks to people like you one can still believe in the good of humankind
And the sounds are indeed back (except the ARNEH-sounds)!!
Locking forward to the real update, hope it will be here soon.


PS och du ARNEH, även om det inte hör just hit så ser jag verkligen fram emot kommande uppdateringen av Apache:n som jag läst om. Blir spännande att testa dom nya MFD-funktionerna, ser GRYMT bra ut!

Yes thats right. If you like to cold start your heli, then all the ramp start sounds are barely audible. After take off the sound that goes with collective input is also barely audible.

This parameter seems to be invalid from what ive experienced -

external_sounds_volume=1.0 # volume for external sounds when in cockpit (n = Volume, 1.0 = full, 0.0 = silent) (default = 1.0) (good realistic value = 0.4)

I hope its fixed in the next update, as the ambience is of a lesser quality than some previous builds.