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Thread Statistics | Show CCP posts - 17 post(s) |
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CCP Antiquarian
C C P C C P Alliance
221
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Posted - 2017.05.08 10:45:05 -
[1] - Quote
Greetings, Capsuleers! This post will discuss the changes coming out for the Audio settings of EVE Online.
In 2014, we released Kronos which provided players with in-depth sound customization options in the form of Advance Audio Settings. We introduced that change because we wanted our players to have more control when choosing what they personally prefer to hear in the game - especially when playing with many clients at the same time - and also because we wanted to encourage the experience of EVE Online's unique soundscape.
The Advanced Audio Settings have been a partial success, functioning as intended but not having all the desired effects. We did indeed make the audio side of the game more flexible for our players, introducing some 30 different sliders for many possible audio mixing scenarios. Despite that customization, however, only a handful of players ultimately ended up using these customization options. Client settings logging reveals that around 9% of total EVE players are using the Advance Audio Settings menu at all. Of them, only a third (3% of all EVE players) are using each individual slider. A large majority of the 9% are only using one or two sliders in the Audio Customization menu. Some are only using sliders for elements they've disabled via the normal Audio settings.
Via survey, self-reporting, and focused testing, it became clear that complexity is the most likely reason for this lack of engagement with the menu options. New players confronted with the already gargantuan EVE Online options menu find the list of sliders daunting, and manual upkeep of the code yields more defects on the development side than the usage merits. Additionally, upkeep of the existing system when upgrading our middle-ware and adding new sounds to EVE is somewhat cumbersome. Frequently it is unclear where a sound should be included, or how to link new sound triggers into the existing system. We are dedicated to empowering EVE players, but in this instance simplification seemed better for both players and developers.
With that in mind, in order to make the menu more inviting for everyone and clear up valuable interface space (not to mention developer hours) we have decided to simplify the Audio Customization menu greatly. This will require adjustment for many of the 9% that have been using the existing sliders, but we've taken steps to minimize that disruption by shifting and grouping the various sounds according to usage and type. The names of the regular Volume Level settings (the UI, Music, Speech, World and Master sliders) are not being changed but some of the old Advanced sliders are being diverted into those controls. For example, Aura's voice will now be controlled by the Speech Volume slider.
The names and functions of the Advanced Sliders change as listed below:
New Sliders: Atmosphere Jump Activation Secondary Interfaces Ship Effects Ship Ambience Turret Volume Warning Sounds
Old Slider -> Appears under New Slider: Turret volume -> Turret Volume Impacts -> Turret Volume Stargates -> Atmosphere Wormholes -> Atmosphere* Jump Activation -> Jump Activation Crimewatch -> (UI Sound Level) Explosions -> Ship Effects Engine.MWD.AB -> Ship Ambience Station Exterior -> Atmosphere Station Interior -> Atmosphere Modules -> Ship Effects Ship Ambience -> Ship Ambience Warping Effect -> Ship Effects 3rd Party warp -> Jump Activation Map and Ship Tree Vol -> Secondary Interfaces Locking -> (UI Sound Level) EVE store -> (UI Sound Level) Planets -> Atmosphere UI Click -> (UI Sound Level) Radial Menu -> (UI Sound Level) UI Interaction -> Secondary Interfaces Aura -> (UI Speech Level) Hacking -> Secondary Interfaces Shield Warning -> Warning Sounds Hull Warning -> Warning Sounds Ship Damage Warnings -> Warning Sounds Cap Warning -> Warning Sounds Atmosphere -> Atmosphere Music Dungeons -> (Music Level) Music General -> (Music Level)
* This indicates general wormhole atmosphere. The wormhole activation sound is controlled by the Jump Activation slider.
We continue to investigate ways to improve this system, including modifying which features are controlled by which sliders and adjusting for popular requests, so do not hesitate to comment on the forums and make your own noise across New Eden. We look forward to streamlining the process of customization for all capsuleers and hopefully bumping that 9% up so that more players can experience all that EVE has to offer.
Fly free!
"Singularity pilots are helpful pilots."
@CCP_Antiquarian - for immediate fulfillment of your archaic social media needs.
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CCP Antiquarian
C C P C C P Alliance
221
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Posted - 2017.05.08 11:51:15 -
[2] - Quote
Sentient Blade wrote:If I'm reading this right, please separate stargates activation from station interiors. There is a gameplay advantage to hearing a stargate fire where as station buzzing is just super-tedious when we're docked for hours at a time.
I would like to see the map volume broken out too. Having that constant whine when the map window is maddening, but I do like some of the UI sounds.
Slight misreading, but the result is positive: The wormhole activation sound (Jump Activation) is completely separate from Station Interiors (Atmosphere).
Map is not lumped in with UI sounds, but is instead part of Secondary Interfaces. Win.
WildStrawberry wrote:...WORMHOLES...(possibly paraphrased)
Thanks for putting this up here. Please have a go at using the set up tomorrow and come back to see how the sliders worked out as far as minimizing the sounds you don't need, then add further comment. CCP Baldur will be monitoring the player response here.
"Singularity pilots are helpful pilots."
@CCP_Antiquarian - for immediate fulfillment of your archaic social media needs.
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CCP Antiquarian
C C P C C P Alliance
224
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Posted - 2017.05.09 11:18:25 -
[3] - Quote
Thanks everyone for adding your voices here. Hopefully you'll have more to add after the update goes live.
I've shared this link directly with the director, but I am also counting mentions of specific pain points to "weight" the responses, so the more direct/clear you are with your comments, the better.
"Singularity pilots are helpful pilots."
@CCP_Antiquarian - for immediate fulfillment of your archaic social media needs.
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CCP Antiquarian
C C P C C P Alliance
226
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Posted - 2017.05.09 15:49:04 -
[4] - Quote
Seraph Essael wrote:Lots of useful specific feedback.
Thanks, Seraph.
"Singularity pilots are helpful pilots."
@CCP_Antiquarian - for immediate fulfillment of your archaic social media needs.
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CCP Antiquarian
C C P C C P Alliance
229
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Posted - 2017.05.09 16:31:39 -
[5] - Quote
Please keep responding here with additional input; I'm not at all wanting to quash responses. I am tallying up the requests for included options. UI Click and Third party warp have the most mentions here (at time of drafting this message) with the combined Atmosphere slider coming in next as a pain point.
That said, a lot of people seem be implying that they have to turn off all UI to limit audio for the probe and scanning interface. The Secondary Interfaces slider controls those sounds, and can be reduced without affecting many other UI sounds.
Again, please continue to comment here, I just wanted to make sure people were aware that that feature was linked to that slider.
"Singularity pilots are helpful pilots."
@CCP_Antiquarian - for immediate fulfillment of your archaic social media needs.
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CCP Antiquarian
C C P C C P Alliance
233
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Posted - 2017.05.10 13:26:02 -
[6] - Quote
Ralph Shepard wrote:So? Another case "Thank you for feedback", which you will ignore?
I've been reading and forwarding points from this thread and Reddit to the Audio Director and to the producer for Team Trilambda.
And not that ethos and pathos arguments are particularly useful in this context, but my main lives in W-space and my playstyle is affected by these changes so I'm personally invested in getting alterations made to the functionality while keeping the necessary backend changes that precipitated this work. Invested enough that I skipped dinner last night going through all the comments to provide support and use cases for iteration.
Speaking of which, thanks Annexe for coming back with more input.
"Singularity pilots are helpful pilots."
@CCP_Antiquarian - for immediate fulfillment of your archaic social media needs.
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CCP Antiquarian
C C P C C P Alliance
240
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Posted - 2017.05.11 11:51:35 -
[7] - Quote
Changes are underway in response to the constructive feedback here.
The Audio Director is working on this directly and expects iterations to be ready for deployment as early as next week. I'll continue to post as the work continues.
"Singularity pilots are helpful pilots."
@CCP_Antiquarian - for immediate fulfillment of your archaic social media needs.
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CCP Antiquarian
C C P C C P Alliance
241
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Posted - 2017.05.11 12:18:20 -
[8] - Quote
https://www.allmystery.de/i/tf9097e_kill-all-humans.jpg
It's not ideal, but it's all I have right now, Ralph.
"Singularity pilots are helpful pilots."
@CCP_Antiquarian - for immediate fulfillment of your archaic social media needs.
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CCP Antiquarian
C C P C C P Alliance
248
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Posted - 2017.05.12 13:36:40 -
[9] - Quote
The first adjustments to this have been made and can be seen on Singularity.
1. Reintroduction of the UI Click slider. 2. Reassignment of the 3rd Party Warp sound to the Jump Activation category.
More to come as the team continues working.
And just to clarify some functionality that is not yet tool-tipped (pushing to get team-approved phrasing for that in for the next localization pass):
Audio Enabled enables (or disables) the entire EVE audio system. This has the same audible effect as turning down the Master volume, but also cuts out any load caused by the audio system.
Volume Levels (settings on the left) control the volume of the entire client (Master) and the four main types of sound in the game: UI elements - controls, buttons, windows, toggles, notifications, timers, warnings Music - prerecorded space, hangar, and CQ music Speech - prerecorded voice, voiceovers, mentor dialogue World (in space and in station) - ship engines, turrets, footsteps
"Quieter Weapon Sounds" reduces the maximum volume level of all weapons.
"Limit Active Sounds" caps the number of active sound emitters, but does not affect the volume of those sounds.
"Override dynamic music..." only permits the music system to play songs included in EVE's initial release.
"Use Doppler shift." increases the frequency of sounds from emitters coming closer to the point of observation and decreases frequency of sounds from emitters moving further away (think of the "eeeEEEOOOooowww" of F1 cars as observed by a stationary spectator)
"Use Combat music" applies only in non-site situations and triggers a music change when the active ship is targeted. Examples: at a regular asteroid belt, slowboating to a gate, getting jumped at your safe, etc.
The sliders in the Advanced Audio Settings menu control specific subdivisions the UI and World sounds. Sounds in those subdivision will be affected by BOTH the main volume sliders and the associated Advanced sliders. No advanced slider is not affected by either the UI or World volume levels. No sound is controlled by more than one advanced slider. Atmosphere, Jump Activation, Ship Effects, Ship Ambience, and Turrets are all World sounds. Secondary interfaces, UI Click, and Warning Sounds are all UI sounds.
"Singularity pilots are helpful pilots."
@CCP_Antiquarian - for immediate fulfillment of your archaic social media needs.
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CCP Antiquarian
C C P C C P Alliance
249
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Posted - 2017.05.12 15:08:17 -
[10] - Quote
It was meant to be there, but was erroneously linked in a separate slider.
"Singularity pilots are helpful pilots."
@CCP_Antiquarian - for immediate fulfillment of your archaic social media needs.
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CCP Antiquarian
C C P C C P Alliance
249
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Posted - 2017.05.13 23:23:06 -
[11] - Quote
HyperFlareX wrote: Thank you so much!
Don't thank me. I am just the guy letting you all know what's happening and helping the Audio team sort through the feedback.
I've added the additional comments to the list for consideration.
"Singularity pilots are helpful pilots."
@CCP_Antiquarian - for immediate fulfillment of your archaic social media needs.
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CCP Antiquarian
C C P C C P Alliance
252
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Posted - 2017.05.14 18:07:18 -
[12] - Quote
Arline Kley wrote:CCP Antiquarian wrote:"Use Combat music" applies only in non-site situations and triggers a music change when the active ship is targeted. Examples: at a regular asteroid belt, slowboating to a gate, getting jumped at your safe, etc.. As an advanced heads up, turning this option off still boots up the combat tunes for Faction Warfare sites. I've submitted a bug report about it, since it seems to ignore all other settings, but the only way to turn it off is to either mute the music or disable/enable the entire audio system.
Thanks for the comment, Arline. You're describing the system working correctly, since sites (missions, anomalies, FW sites) have their own separate music system. |The Combat music option was introduced to bring that type of effect to "ordinary" encounters.
Everyone else, I continue to compile your feedback and deliver it to the audio team. I will keep you informed as CCP Baldur makes additional decisions and changes that affect the menu. Thanks again for coming here and letting us know about your experiences and opinions.
Changes already present on Singularity (like the click slider) should be deployed to TQ at the next update.
"Singularity pilots are helpful pilots."
@CCP_Antiquarian - for immediate fulfillment of your archaic social media needs.
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CCP Antiquarian
C C P C C P Alliance
253
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Posted - 2017.05.16 10:55:42 -
[13] - Quote
Audio has looked over the feedback and has decided to hold off on additional changes for the continuing rework of settings.
After today's (16/05/2017) patch, there will be no further alterations to the Advanced Audio Settings in the current release.
"Singularity pilots are helpful pilots."
@CCP_Antiquarian - for immediate fulfillment of your archaic social media needs.
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CCP Antiquarian
C C P C C P Alliance
253
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Posted - 2017.05.16 17:35:21 -
[14] - Quote
Felyx Ravencroft wrote:So, i just discovered that the informative, and therefore useful, and even relatively pleasant sound of ISK rolling into (and out of) the wallet has been lumped into the UI Click category
Definitely a bug, not a feature.
"Singularity pilots are helpful pilots."
@CCP_Antiquarian - for immediate fulfillment of your archaic social media needs.
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CCP Antiquarian
C C P C C P Alliance
253
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Posted - 2017.05.17 10:14:47 -
[15] - Quote
Felyx Ravencroft wrote: OK, thank you for the response on this - if not a design decision, then it's understandable (bugs do slip/crawl through cracks, after all.) I certainly hope that bug-stomping is exempt from the whole "no further changes" thing...
Bug stomping is always possible. Defect is in and I'm nagging for a fix.
"Singularity pilots are helpful pilots."
@CCP_Antiquarian - for immediate fulfillment of your archaic social media needs.
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CCP Antiquarian
C C P C C P Alliance
258
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Posted - 2017.07.04 13:31:56 -
[16] - Quote
Hey Arline.
No stonewalling. I've been out of the office so not available for general communication work, and the Audio Director is away on leave. Any further work here requires his approval so no changes are presently scheduled for release.
When there is additional news, I will update this thread (possibly with a link to a new one, depending on the time frame).
"Singularity pilots are helpful pilots."
@CCP_Antiquarian - for immediate fulfillment of your archaic social media needs.
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CCP Antiquarian
C C P C C P Alliance
259
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Posted - 2017.07.12 12:40:01 -
[17] - Quote
There was an issue with a recent wwise upgrade that moved partial control for the ship explosions into the UI Sounds Level volume slider. Because of that, the sound isn't attenuating as it should.
A programmer is looking at it now.
https://meta.eveonline.com/t/july-release-issues/9622
I'll forward your feedback about the forums to the forum team.
"Singularity pilots are helpful pilots."
@CCP_Antiquarian - for immediate fulfillment of your archaic social media needs.
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