Thoughts on the audio

[Jolan]

so how about all those scary new sounds :D.  Setting aside the heart attack I almost had the first time I heard a steel drum... I'm finding the audio to be much better.  I know some of its new (deer sounds, scary steel drums, etc.) but you can now also tell the depth of the snow you're walking up when you're going up a steep incline.  Assuming you're not wearing crampons it makes that deep crumpf noise.  Very cool.  I don't know if that's new or simply an enhancement, but its cool.  All in all, I'm finding the audio environment to be really spiffy.  Except for on interloper.  Why is the wind so loud on interloper?  Its not that loud on stalker.

[Sito]

Yeah the new deer sounds scared the crap out of me at first. I seem to notice more bird chirping too. The FM ice now makes cracking sounds. Hinterland always keeps adding better and better of everything with each release but often it is very subtle.  One of the things I really like is how an owl hoot in the evening while I am standing on the porch seems to come from behind over my shoulder in the distance.  Excellent 3D audio effects from my 2 little laptop speakers. Well it is an awesome gaming laptop but still...

Good on you Hinterland. You always deliver!

[ChillPlayer]

I find wind (not only blizzards) and waterfalls too loud.

[Serenity]

Those new deer sounds are freaking me out. I always think I'm being attacked.

The wind noises could be toned down a bit in some locations.

Waterfalls being super loud has long been the case. That isn't new. A good example is when you arrive at CH from the Ravine. Your ears are immediately overloaded from that waterfall that's still a bit away. That loudness would be fine when you stand directly in front of it.

[Semple Fi]

[hozz1235]

Spent my first windy night at PV Farmstead - rattling on the roof was very loud!

[fbr]

For me the sound is quite off in the new maps. Sometimes I have a wind sound that is almost unbeareable, even with a -11 windchill or so. Others I have a blizzard with nothing more than a mild wind sound (took me some time to even recognize that a blizzard was coming). And also sometimes all the sound is simply cut for a few seconds. I have the impression that this is particularly offensive around Drifter's Island, but may be just because I spent much time there and the cabin isn't a transition area

The new sounds are great, but there is still a lot to adjust. It's bad not being able to guess wind strenght by the sound, only by the stats.

[stratvox]

There are a couple of locations where the wind really shrieks because of stone passages they pass through. I've noticed that they're not always on; I think the wind actually has to be coming from the right direction to make them howl like that, but yeah, it's really loud in those places.

[fbr]

Well, just as I wrote that, I had the chilliest blizzard ever, enjoying the soft rustle of leaves from the balcony of the Island Cottage...

... and then in the morning after a beautifully clear windy day with blizzard sounds.

[Kranium]

I love the new sounds 😄

[acada]

23 hours ago, fbr said:

And also sometimes all the sound is simply cut for a few seconds.

I noticed it too. Walking down the road and suddenly wind noice stopped. So I went back few steps and again roar. Found exact borders where sound changes abruptly. Reported to Hinterland.

[Sito]

I do wish HL would tone down the waterfalls and the house rattling. I am in HRV and about to head up to Monolith Lake and camp out in the cave behind the waterfall.

I hope I don't go insane. Everything else is great though

[Leeanda]

7 minutes ago, Sito said:

I do wish HL would tone down the waterfalls and the house rattling. I am in HRV and about to head up to Monolith Lake and camp out in the cave behind the waterfall.

I hope I don't go insane. Everything else is great though

Have they sorted out the yapping t-wolves at the cannery in the update?   It drives me nuts!

[Sito]

2 hours ago, Leeanda said:

Have they sorted out the yapping t-wolves at the cannery in the update?   It drives me nuts!

I turned off T-wolves. Can't stand them. My play style is to deal with harsh weather and not with angry wildlife. Although I do take my stomping or mauling as payback if I shoot at a moose or bear and piss it off. I am dreading BI weather as I can barely move around ML until noon or after. In HRV now. Losing condition every day

[Ansible]

I too noticed the sound improvements, as well as visual improvements. For example, meat looks much more realistic now, and moldy meat distinctly shows a green hue to it that it didn't show before. I'm actually surprised that they didn't trumpet these improvements as a new feature!

[Kranium]

I know some folks don't like how loud some of the sounds are, but in all honesty that's pretty much what it's actually like IRL. Try spending the night on our hunt camp (2 old cabins in the remote wilderness) during a big storm - this game has nothing on that experience! Same with waterfalls. News flash: big ones (esp. if they are plunging onto exposed rock, like in the game) are freakin' LOUD.

 

The only actual issue is the transitions. It's like there's no gradient. That's not good at all.

[mfuegemann]

I do like the new sounds. Especially the rattling noise every time I leave a building. That made me look around a couple of times.
The new doe sound is frightening, maybe the cougar will sound similiar, just to spice things up a bit.

I did experience a lot of sound bugs after the update, though. Like missing chopping sounds, if You cut Your first birch or maple in a region. Blizzards suddenly loose all sound while raging on, or (in FA) the sound is indicating a heavy storm but the weather outside is calm enough to light a torch. I reported all that as bugs already.

The sheer amount of bugs and visual errors in the game at this time are astonishing to me. I would have expected a better test routine before a release.

[PiterZ]

Have any of you, Dear ones, also sometimes noticed the lack of birch sapling sound during its cutting?

[MrWolf]

1 hour ago, PiterZ said:

Have any of you, Dear ones, also sometimes noticed the lack of birch sapling sound during its cutting?

It's been happening for me when I come up to a group of birch saplings.  The first one I harvest makes no sound.  Then the others make either a sawing or chopping sound (I have a hatchet and hacksaw).  At the start of my run when I only had a hacksaw, some of the birch sapling harvests made a chopping sound.  I always get the sapling in the end, so I hadn't really thought much of the sounds.

[mfuegemann]

5 hours ago, PiterZ said:

Have any of you, Dear ones, also sometimes noticed the lack of birch sapling sound during its cutting?

It seems that the sounds are not loaded into memory once You start/enter a region. So the first time cutting is muted but after the second sapling all should be fine again. I reported this as a bug.

[hozz1235]

I've noticed that if the last break-down item I used was a hacksaw, and I then cut down a sapling, I would hear the hacksaw sound (even on the 1st one).  If my last break-down item was the axe, like others, I don't hear anything on the 1st sapling but do on others in the group.

[PiterZ]

@MrWolf, @mfuegemann, @hozz1235Thank you very much for your answer. I knew I could count on you, Dear Survivors ❤️

[stratvox]

I too have noticed this, and I think I reported it to their bug tool, but glad to see others have as well. Also been having fun taking debug screenshots of missing textures in the new region

[MarrowStone]

I like all the new sounds (except the deer) but i feel like the levels can be off. Also the sound frequency feels much higher? 

Like I feel like some sounds trigger way too much or the larger library of sounds is causing more to play at any given moment. I dont like it. Theres no moments of relative silence. 

I remeber hanging out inside the maintenance shed and hearing an occasional squeak, but now its a cacophony of noise like the ghosts of the place are moving furniture or something. 

[mfuegemann]

Today I arrived at the FA northeastern fishing hut in a blizzard. The sound volume increased very much as I stepped inside. Going out on the lake lowered the volume again. This was consistent and could be repeated. I will file a bug report.