7.1 Surround sound (does it work properly?)
DemoNn
Montreal Join Date: 2014-02-28 Member: 194432Members
Montreal Join Date: 2014-02-28 Member: 194432Members
The reason I'm asking is because I'm thinking of investing in a Razer Tiamat and a 7.1 surround sound card (mainly for NS2, since it's the only game I play at the moment).
I currently have a Corsair Vengeance 1500 (7.1 VIRTUAL surround sound) and my own footsteps sound like they are coming from somewhere other than myself (I will hear them either coming from the left of me or from the right of me), so I just set my headset to regular stereo.
Thanks in advance for your time.
I currently have a Corsair Vengeance 1500 (7.1 VIRTUAL surround sound) and my own footsteps sound like they are coming from somewhere other than myself (I will hear them either coming from the left of me or from the right of me), so I just set my headset to regular stereo.
Thanks in advance for your time.
Comments
There is your answer.
But any sound that comes from yourself has the origin shifted from the position it should be. You get used to it, but it's not the ideal.
Been using a g35 sin release and I can say that knowing were the loudy skulk is coming from gives you a great advantage.
So yes, it does work reasonably well.
A stereo setup with some virtual surroundsound is the best choice at the moment.
Aslong this bug isnt fixed there is no need for an 7.1 headset at the moment.
"Real" 7.1 didnt change this bug btw. so the result would be the same like with virtual 7.1
What's causing the footsteps problem, though? Are the footstep sounds coming from where my player model is according to the server? If so, couldn't the footstep sounds just be played the same way my voice taunts are played?
Thanks Walsa, Calega and everyone who replied!
P.S. SamusDroid, I beat Metroid for the NES for the first time a few days ago.
I recently swapped to those G35s and after playing every other game i owned, concluded positioning of 1st person sounds were most definitely off.
It can be very disorienting and even confusing to determine if someone else is approaching
I don't think that virtual surround is the best choice for the current NS2 sound system. I have Razer Megalodon, after activating the 7.1 mode the sound indeed becomes surround, but also all game sounds becomes much muffled (like from a barrel). This effect only occurs due to the fact that the game produce only 2.0 sound, not 7.1, and I don't know why. How to force 7.1 sound output in NS2?
Razer Megalodon is virtual surround. And the game does output proper 5 channel audio, havent tested 7 channels.
Your "muffled audio" issue is caused by the way "Megalodon" implements virtual surround, or you havent setup Windows/Razer driver audio correctly.
There are surround audio problems including the already mentioned infamous bug where the sounds you emit yourself come from another point in space than yourself. Theres also some other bugs, but the game does support surround.
Hmmm, my audio setup seems to be correct, and also I know how the games sounds when they provide 5.1/7.1 audio or not. Ok, I plugged my old Speedlink Medusa NX 5.1 true 5.1 headphones and the NS2 gamesound is exactly like in Megalodon 7.1 mode. Also, the games with perfect surround support often have an ingame audio options like headphones/2.0/5.1/7.1, like a CSS or CS:GO, and sometimes ingame audiotests like Dead Space.
In NS2 I can't choose my audio setup manually...
Mb NS2 surround sound correctly works only with analog devices via soundcards...
I'm now trying to get the Kave set up and running on my z87's onboard Creative SB Recon3Di sound card (I don't use this machine for audiophile stuff!). Strangely, though, the 'front' speakers (left and right channels) only play when in headphone mode, and are completely absent in 5.1 surround mode. Trying updated drivers for this now. It's not necessarily a hardware error, as the first time after a driver install, I hear about 0.5 seconds of sound from the left speaker during the speaker test before it all goes quiet again (only in 5.1 mode, working as intended in headphone mode).
The skulk sounds in NS2 seem to play from all around you: you get a component of each footstep from front and rear in addition to the odd side-stepping displacement of steps when strafing.
Cause the bug descibed above it doesnt matter what device you are using:
- "real" 5.1 headphone
- virtual 5.1 headphone
- analog 5.1 to receiver or active speakers
- digital to receiver
- ...
You will have the positioning bug.
Im using a stereo setup on an asus phoebus with an sennheiser pc 360.
The asus card has 3 virtual surround modes (xear, dts ultra pc, Dolby Pceev4)
xear doesnt work well cause it simualates 7.1=7.1 system speaker setup. (this is what most surround headsets with usb soundcard doing)
DTS and Dolby are giving you a relative good surround feeling in stereo.
After deactivating all the "enhancements" in DTS i prefer this, cause better surroundfield.
Now I'm talking not about positioning bug, but about whole "bugged" surround sound system.
I can setup my headphones like a 5.1 or 7.1 in my system, all games with good surround support sounds pretty cool, exept NS2. NS2 sounds like my Megalodon tryes to convert 2.0 sound to 5.1 with not good quality, this never happens with games that output true 5.1 sound.
I need to force NS2 to output 5.1 somehow...
NS2 uses windows sound settings. You can check if you have correct output/audio device by opening console after starting the game.
Mb my "barrel effect" is due to the fact that not only the footsteps are "missplaced" but a rifle sound also? Ambient sound and gun's sounds feel not crisp and not loud.
However my question was that if there are 5.1 settings within NS2 to be used with 5.1 sound cards, could you not do a binaural setting for those that play with just headphones to get a truly immersive experience? Understandably you would need to include a binaural encoder but if you have done all the work for 5.1 how difficult would it be to feed them into the encoder?
"The players camera position is interpreted so it moves from the old position to the new position, and the FMOD listener is set to the camera position.
The origin of the sounds are set to the players moved-to position ... so the sounds originated from where you are going to be in 1-33ms time"
Sounds too complicated... You just tricked the system or fixed it? .D
I personally don't like virtual surround sound. It messes with the frequency response.
1. When I play as marine or alien, footsteps, shooting, biting and other sounds come from the right place now. But, they need to be more loud&crisp because they are a first person sounds.
2. Tauts are still playing from different directions.
My 7.1 headset will only play out the right ear if I disable surround using the physical switch, but if it's enabled it's fine
You have a Logitech G35, right? And you totally pleased with 7.1 mode?
I can see that ingame 7.1 surround is actually works, but it still requires some tuning (your own sounds plus gamer's speech).
Maybe taunts are still playing from different directions while you move, but taunts are the only player's sounds that play nicely loud&crisp in both 2.0 and 7.1 mode! Maybe CDT can use it as a hint somehow...
Yeah im using G35s
And like i said there are just a few outstanding issues, but at least gameplay itself is working correctly for the first time in 4 years.
You aren't getting the sounds in the right ear only still, are you??