Modding, Mission Design, and Coding > FS2 Open Coding - The Source Code Project (SCP)

Engine Volume Reversed

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AV8R:

Just wanted to report this rather simplistic "bug" that has been around for quite some time concerning engine volume in cockpit. There are 2 things that should affect ambient engine volume in the cockpit and they are:

1) The amount of throttle being applied at any given moment (the more throttle the louder the ambient engine noise should be in the cockpit)
2) The amount of energy applied to the engine subsystem (the more energy applied to the subsystem the louder the ambient engine noise should be in the cockpit)

While the first factor works as expected (more throttle = more ambient engine noise) the opposite is true for the second factor - shunting more energy to the engines actually makes the engines quieter, which is strange, noticeable and breaks immersion. In fact, the programming of this feature in FSO is effectively backwards: if you adjust the energy settings to give either the weapons or shields more energy (or both), the ambient engine noise increases (you would think that if you're taking energy away from the engines and applying it to other systems, the engines would receive less energy and would thus be quieter in cockpit). Inversely, directing more energy towards the engines (or even ALL of the ship's energy), again, makes them noticeably quieter.

This seems somewhat counterintuitive to what is happening and as was mentioned, is a bit distracting since, if there are times in mission for strategic reasons you need to arrive at a certain area/point as quickly as possible so you direct all power to the engines, then the engines should respond with the loudest possible ambient engine noise to audibly let you know that this is the energy configuration that the ship is currently in (little environmental cues like this help with situational awareness, sometimes even unconsciously). If you have to keep looking at gauges to see what your current energy configuration is, then it defeats the purpose of having sound at all in the cockpit - other than the entertaining pew-pew of the weapons firing. Having correct sound cues for other ship's functions is both useful and practical and helps with situational awareness in any in-game situation.

Anyway, does anybody else see (hear) this as a bit odd? I really feel that, although this is a minor oversight, that it should still be given some attention at some point in a future release of FSO.

Goober5000:
Sounds like this should be posted as a github issue.

Asteroth:
It's not quite a bug per se, but the volume is based on your proportion of your max speed you currently are. When you futz with your engine energy, you change your max speed. This is why if before you were cruising at 50m/s out of 100m/s youll hear 50% volume but if you suddenly shunt power away from your engines your max might become 50m/s, so despite not touching your throttle you jumped to your maximum speed which is why it gets louder. It could be the proportion of your maximum overclock speed, which never changes, but then you wouldn't hear 100% at your normal max speed, which is, I dunno, better than before I suppose.

AV8R:

--- Quote from: Asteroth on April 03, 2022, 01:07:22 am ---It's not quite a bug per se, but the volume is based on your proportion of your max speed you currently are. When you futz with your engine energy, you change your max speed. This is why if before you were cruising at 50m/s out of 100m/s youll hear 50% volume but if you suddenly shunt power away from your engines your max might become 50m/s, so despite not touching your throttle you jumped to your maximum speed which is why it gets louder. It could be the proportion of your maximum overclock speed, which never changes, but then you wouldn't hear 100% at your normal max speed, which is, I dunno, better than before I suppose.

--- End quote ---

I see what you're saying but, taking that into consideration, maybe a better (and easier) solution would be to make the ambient engine noise an absolute instead, based on the highest speed of the craft you are in. In other words, the higher the speed value, the louder the ambient noise no matter what energy setting are used. For example: if a Herc can go 50m/s at full throttle, but it can go 62m/s at full throttle with all energy directed at the engines, then when it's doing 62m/s, that is when the ambient engine noise should be loudest (100%). If energy levels are all set at normal and the ship is a full throttle (50m/s), the engine volume level should be roughly 80% of the highest volume level (mathematically speaking). So for a Herc, the loudest engine noise level would be when it is travelling at it's highest possible speed (62m/s), anything lower would simply be a lesser percentage of 62, regardless of throttle/energy settings.

AV8R:
As an example, here is a simple matrix of how absolute speed would effect absolute engine volume for a given ship (again, in this example, a Herc):

Speed     Engine Volume
62m/s     100%
50m/s     80%
47m/s     75%
31m/s     50%
16m/s     25%
6m/s       10%
<6m/s     10%

(The speed values above can be replaced with the typical speed values of any ship in the game)

10% should be the lowest possible volume value since you don't want engine silence at zero speed because the idea is, the engines are still on (and still creating minimal ambient noise), they just aren't producing enough output to provide thrust.

Also, there can obviously be more gradual gradients in between these values, but I just want to present what would seem to be an easier method of calculating engine volume than whatever method is currently being employed (which seems counterintuitive and needlessly complex).

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