So about separating the volume controls for ambient and effects

Discussion in 'Feedback and Suggestions' started by Sir Knight, Jan 7, 2013.

  1. Sir Knight

    Sir Knight Sir-ulean Dragon

    Hey, I just posted my "first impressions" wherein I expressed gratitude for some sliders and toggles, e.g., on animation speed. Well, I've posted before (and before) about how the sound effects are much louder than the music/ambient sounds, and these are also important for the player to control. When you consider all the violent thudding and screams of pain, it can be very bothersome to the neighbors.

    However, there's only one volume slider, so I have to choose between being able to hear the quiet ambients and keeping my neighbors from thinking I'm killing a pig. (A real one.) Could "music" and "FX" be separated? Please?
     
    Albunim likes this.
  2. Dugrim

    Dugrim Orc Soldier

  3. Jon

    Jon Blue Manchu Staff Member

    Noted.
     
  4. SurgeonFish

    SurgeonFish Automaton Moderator Staff Member

    hes right, when i go into options, the option menu sounds pings my speakers really hard, but when i turn it down the effects of the game are really low.
     
  5. Albunim

    Albunim Kobold

    Thirded+++

    It would be nice if I could take the headphones off for a bit (and use speakers) without bothering/waking/angering about 5-6 people nearby enough to hear the effects sounds. Life in the city, eh?
     
  6. Sir Knight

    Sir Knight Sir-ulean Dragon

    What.

    . . . Spambot, or just a post that needs more explanation?

    ('Cause the volume controls are already in the game. This thread is a bit . . . old.)
     
  7. Albunim

    Albunim Kobold

    There's currently no way to adjust the volume of sound effects separately from the overall volume; i.e. you can turn down music and ambient but not sfx, not without turning down overall volume. It's all in the original post, namely that it would be great to have a separate volume slider for sound effects alone. Currently players can control the following sound settings:
    Volume (overall volume)
    Music volume (volume of background music)
    Ambient volume (volume of ambient sounds, like the background sounds of water dripping in caves)

    I would love it if one more volume slider could be added for just the sound effects (like the sounds Gary utters, cards, attacks etc.). I do love the sounds in this game but without a way to control their volume I just can't play it over my speakers, so if I need a break from the headphones I just play without sound. If I could turn down sfx volume then I could still enjoy the ambient sounds of the locations and hear the sfx in a volume relative or appropriate to the overall volume. It's just a niggle, but it has not been implemented yet if that's what you think.
     
  8. Sir Knight

    Sir Knight Sir-ulean Dragon

    Then I apologize for mislabeling you as a spambot.

    I also thank you for, tangentially, giving me more ammunition for a concern I had with volume controls. Logically, volume sliders should default to the middle: there is no benefit to the players for them to default either to minimum or maximum. But there's been a trend to start all volume sliders at the top, making them pointless for half the players (the half that wants the volume to go up.)

    Card Hunter has sliders start at the top. (I can't remember if it's some of them or all of them; the game has saved my preferences since then.) Now, if they defaulted to the middle, then your problem could have been solved with no effort on the part of the programmers. You the player could lower overall sound, raise music and ambient to compensate, and POOF! You've made a sound effects slider. This workaround used to be a standard solution for any category of sound the programmers overlooked.

    But nope. So, since new games seem to be unaware of the benefits of a middle-defaulting slider (despite now having two arguments in defense while the opposing side has zero), I guess they just have to expand the box in the GUI to include a sound effects slider. No other programming solution is possible . . .
     
  9. Albunim

    Albunim Kobold

    Excellent point. It is a shame that less and less effort and thought is put into these things these days, especially when it concerns multi-platform games.
     

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