Collision Sound Alerts

[Springheel 4645]

Novice players will pick up more things as they learn what is useful and what isn't. In most cases, veteran players will not pick up typical junk objects unless they need to move them out of the way. Candles/lanterns or stackable crates are the only exceptions I can think of.

 

I'll try to test a value of 150 today.

[Mortem Desino 66]

I've accidentally noticed that my tdm_bounce_sound_min_vel has been set to "80" for quite a long time.

 

After testing in test/impact_alerts and also fully visportal'd FMs, I really like 200. It's a good balance between forgiving and requiring you to be deliberate about making a distraction.

 

But I swear something is wrong with the winebottle (or it's just a unique case). It's either silent when setting it down or makes a very loud CLONK against the table. (which the AI in the testmap register as alert 2: halt for a second or alert 3: traipse over and investigate.)

__________

 

EDIT:

Concerning accidentals: I think we need a noise modifier for objects in-grabber. It'd be fine if they still make noise in your hand, but it should be a little more forgiving.

 

Multiply tdm_bounce_sound_min_vel & tdm_bounce_sound_max_vel by ~2-3 for objects in-grabber. That way: when setting down an object, it can be allowed to touch the surface before it starts a quiet "clank clank clank". That way, we lean to the advantage of a player wanting to be quiet, but also still allow him to start a ruckus just by trying a little harder to bash that caudron against a wall.

 

Go ahead and test tdm_bounce_sound_min_vel "450" max "800" and see if those levels are more appropriate for something in your hands. That bowl in-grabber can be touched to the table a bit before it starts to clink-clink-clink. Call it a damping factor. After all, your hands would naturally dampen something's resonance.

[Springheel 4645]

I've accidentally noticed that my tdm_bounce_sound_min_vel has been set to "80" for quite a long time.

 

That's the current default, isn't it?

[Mortem Desino 66]

I guess it is. And I would highly recommend testing (as mentioned in my edit two posts above)

tdm_bounce_sound_min_vel "450"
tdm_bounce_sound_max_vel "800"

to see if you would like objects in-grabber to use these levels. It may soothe a lot of headaches concerning accidental noise.

[Fidcal 174]

Yes, those higher values are worth exploring. I think I tried 400 earlier but tried to reduce it as much as possible. We need to consider convenience of frequent accidental alerts that are not really the player's fault against the need to be able to bash an object deliberately to make a noise (not sure when you'd want that but it makes no sense to be able to do so silently) plus of course, to throw to divert. I'll do some more testing later or tomorrow.

 

Also, I'm wondering if that wine bottle is because of its low mass. Presumably a grabber force will move it faster. The big urn has much higher alert values but its 16 times the mass of the bottle. Maybe it normally moves to slow. Remember how crates lag when you turn? The urn does the same but not so noticeably.

[Mortem Desino 66]

I meant those min/max levels to be a candidate for only props in the grabber, not in the world. AKA: a new grabber-physics feature in which grabbed objects use EDIT: a multiplied tdm_bounce_sound_min_vel and tdm_bounce_sound_max_vel.

 

I'll also be looking into the winebottle and clay urn.

[Springheel 4645]

Yes, dampening the impact force of objects in the grabber was always the intention; it was just never as high priority.

[Springheel 4645]

Ok, I tried tdm_bounce_sound_min_vel "150", and I have to say I strongly dislike it. I can drop the cauldron two feet onto stone without making any noise at all. That is WAY too forgiving in my opinion. Not only that, it just forces too much suspension of disbelief...drop a cauldron from two feet and it's perfectly silent, but drop it from two and a half feet and it makes a massive clang that alerts every guard in the room.

 

No, I much prefer the default value of 80.

 

But if the max frob distance is shorter than the grabber distance then I think the object is bound to spring away from you a little.

 

I haven't noticed this. After practicing a little bit more, I've found that I can pick up objects completely silently, without knocking anything over. You just need to be centered left/right, and have the object slightly lower than the center of your screen. I have not seen the object jump forward or back at all (doesn't mean it's not possible).

 

I'll try and test this in other situations, like shelves and the like, but on tables it's a synch.

[Springheel 4645]

Tested this a bit more in CoP. Not too much trouble picking things up, even on other surfaces like shelves or the floor. You do have to be careful when picking something up right beside another thing to avoid banging it. I don't have a big problem with that though, because in real life you would also have to be quite careful picking things up if you didn't want to be heard.

 

I notice that putting objects down silently is much trickier if there is no ambient light to provide a shadow. Then you lose depth perception and it's hard to know where the floor is. However, that problem would be modified by the "grabber" modification Mortem is talking about.

 

But I swear something is wrong with the winebottle

 

The volume of that particular impact sound has always been loud. I turned the volume down a while back, but perhaps it needs to be reduced further.

[Fidcal 174]

After more testing I'm inclined to go with this and see what feedback we get after Release 1 and what FM situations develop. If there are problems we might tweak it later. I'm doubtfult that this would seriously break early maps if accidental noise alerts were reduced.

[greebo 61]

After more testing I'm inclined to go with this and see what feedback we get after Release 1 and what FM situations develop. If there are problems we might tweak it later. I'm doubtfult that this would seriously break early maps if accidental noise alerts were reduced.

Agreed. Also, we announced TDM 1.00 to be essentially beta, so let this be our excuse.

[Springheel 4645]

After more testing I'm inclined to go with this

 

Go with what? Not a value of 200, I hope. I'm strongly against the idea of being able to drop a cauldron from table height and have it make no noise whatsoever.

[Fidcal 174]

Go with the current situation as it now is. This has the changed impact alert values - we've forgotten what we're originally testing. I raised the impact levels so medium hard objects, bowls, bottles, could be used to divert. Originally we were too conservative I think and these objects would not divert an AI more than a few feet which is next to useless. So I'm saying stay with this change and not go back to the lower alert values.. And yes, stay with the default tdm_bounce_sound_min_vel of 80 which is the current default.

[Springheel 4645]

Ah, ok. I'm quite happy with the current state of test/impact_alerts, other than the slightly quiet fork or extra-loud bottle...but those are things that can be ironed out later.

[Fidcal 174]

Good. No further action needed here. One less thing to worry about.

[Ishtvan 17]

Some of the loud sounds that come from the Grabber are actually from a bug that creates high-velocity collisions as you're sliding things against other things or the ground. We can fix that later (like we said, this is a beta ).