Lizard-Of-Oz
commented
1 month ago separate volume slider in the settings
This will not work because different announcers have different perceived loudness. Compare the stock or Atom Smash announcers to Mannsilvania, Selbyen, or Embargo. Mappers need a way to play individual sounds at more than 100% volume without distortion.
A common problem mappers encounter is that custom announcers are too quiet, despite the sound files being processed to sound as loud as they could without peaking/distortion, and despite the loudest sound parameters set in
_level_sounds.txt.Even placing those sounds in special folders like
ui/questgets you only so far.Playing the same sound twice at the same time, while increasing loudness, causes audible peaking/distortion.
It doesn't appear to be a problem with the announcer or the voice lines specifically, it's just that explosions inherently sound louder than speech (speech which often goes through radio or megaphone filters) at the same nominal dB loudness, so, the game needs to be modified to allow to play sounds at volumes "higher than max" without distortion.
Actually, while we're at it, sounds in general could use being able to play louder than 100%, not just the announcer lines. The standard trick of playing the same sound multiple times often results in audible distortion.
Alternatively, the announcer's loudness could be handled by a separate volume slider in the settings, which by default could be set a bit higher than the general audio volume.This will not work because different announcers have different perceived loudness. Compare the stock or Atom Smash announcers to Mannsilvania, Selbyen, or Embargo. Mappers need a way to play individual sounds at more than 100% volume without distortion.