Friday Facts #396 - Sound improvements in 2.0

[Saphira123456]

By the way, as someone who enjoys trains quite a lot and spends a lot of time around them I suggest adding a faint 'metal screeching' noise as they go around corners. Because the wheels will be grinding up against the rails themselves.

Oh and lastly (and certainly most importantly), can we get horns?! If only just for manual use, I wanna beep at the biters! (Also could include an automatic horn that plays if a player is close to train tracks whilst a train is approaching... then again making deaths by your own trains more easily avoidable sounds like a bad thing if only because of how funny it is)

Likewise, I fully endorse the idea of them adding locomotive whistles and bells that play automatically, perhaps even a chuff loop. These are steam locomotives in the game after all. Railcars and locomotives should have the screeching sound added as well.

I'd also like to see an "alert mode" added whenever the Radar sees an incoming attack, whether by Biters, players, or other things like asteroids. Something that will sound an audible alarm, switch on red lighting, and automatically power up defenses when an attack starts, and shut the defenses and alarm off to save power when it ends, plus reset the lights.

[Dixi]

I understand that adding a lot of complex sounds to the game is a lot of work.
But, when you play for many hours, often you wish the game to be less noisy. So only sounds that are informative should be heard.
Base Factorio 1.1 sound is quite comfortable. Nothing is too loud, maybe with exception of rocket launch.
Some addons are much more noisy. For sample, in Industrial Revolution, grinder sounds is awful loud and annoying. I had to cut it down, 3-5 times.
It's nice that Factorio have many different sound levels, and it's possible to tune down most of ambient noises.

[peternlewis]

Most sounds are great, but I'm not at all convinced by the Inventory sounds. Firstly, the inserter sounds way too much like a dentist drill, and anyway, why would you pick up an inserter with a drill? But just generally, I expect a single action of picking something up to have a consistent sound, not a different sound for each item type.

Maybe I'll get used to it (well, apart from the inserter sound), but I'm definitely not convinced at this point.

[LordGideon]

What are the odds that higher resolution sounds could be exported, or have that as an option to install?

[thriem]

Really amazed what unexpected difference the inventory sound makes. Not sure how i feel about the non-hostile critter sounds. Guess I'd be looking around for things whenever i hear a strange noice but cant see where it comes from. Unless the critter becomes visible ofc. Environment in general.

One thing I wonder tho and liked to see - vehicle tracks. Especially heavy machinery like the tank which would rip up earth and spidertron which would stab big holes.

[protocol_1903]

I'm patiently awaiting the FFF that talks about circuit control being added to these.

You and me both.
And undergound belts, that would be awesome.

[jockeril]

Are you a magician by chance?
How would one differentiate temperature by sound...

Steve Mould explains it in 3 minutes

https://youtu.be/Ri_4dDvcZeM

BOOM - fact provided, proof made

[jockeril]

I'd also like to see an "alert mode" added whenever the Radar sees an incoming attack, whether by Biters, players, or other things like asteroids. Something that will sound an audible alarm, switch on red lighting, and automatically power up defenses when an attack starts, and shut the defenses and alarm off to save power when it ends, plus reset the lights.

What you describe is akin to the star trek "red alert" condition that triggers in certain situations automatically (it's fun to see how that is shown to develop in "Enterprise" season 2, I think) - I would not like that drastic a change in the environment, and I think, given the general audience usually playing this and similar games, it will not be accepted well with the community

[jockeril]

I've read through the comments after reading this one because, from experience, sound is very individual - it's a known fact the younger people hear different sound frequencies then older ones and being in my 50th year of life (albeit still playing video games like I'm 15) I know there is a noticeable difference between what I used to tolerate, sound-wise, in the past and what I can endure in the present. Having said that, I'm happy to see\hear the evolution of sound abilities in Factorio.

My personal comment on what was presented in this FFF is that the train sounded different but lacking some of the clicking sounds that some others mentioned - that monotonous repetitive sound of going over tracks in a certain speed - this might need to be considered,

I'm not sold yet on the inventory sounds, but that is possibly because I am viewing this on my tablet and couldn't differentiate the items chosen, so I'm going to take a look at it on a larger screen to understand it better, maybe I'll comment on it later as well, or not

In conclusion - thank you again for sharing the future development of the game with us in expectation for it's arrival, obviously it's loved and welcome by the community and a beacon for other developers to follow and get their communities interested and involved in their games as well

[Justderpingalong]

Oh and lastly (and certainly most importantly), can we get horns?! If only just for manual use, I wanna beep at the biters! (Also could include an automatic horn that plays if a player is close to train tracks whilst a train is approaching... then again making deaths by your own trains more easily avoidable sounds like a bad thing if only because of how funny it is)

But would a factorio train have a horn or a whistle?

Rule of cool.

[FuryoftheStars]

Oh and lastly (and certainly most importantly), can we get horns?! If only just for manual use, I wanna beep at the biters! (Also could include an automatic horn that plays if a player is close to train tracks whilst a train is approaching... then again making deaths by your own trains more easily avoidable sounds like a bad thing if only because of how funny it is)

But would a factorio train have a horn or a whistle?

Rule of cool.

Modern trains do use air horns, and as that would be the easier thing to hear/notice between the two (and to me a horn is better than a whistle anyway), I feel like that kind of answers the question.

[Justderpingalong]

Oh and lastly (and certainly most importantly), can we get horns?! If only just for manual use, I wanna beep at the biters! (Also could include an automatic horn that plays if a player is close to train tracks whilst a train is approaching... then again making deaths by your own trains more easily avoidable sounds like a bad thing if only because of how funny it is)

But would a factorio train have a horn or a whistle?

Rule of cool.

Modern trains do use air horns, and as that would be the easier thing to hear/notice between the two (and to me a horn is better than a whistle anyway), I feel like that kind of answers the question.

Not gonna lie, I somehow managed to read that question as 'Would it?' instead of asking which one of the two it would have. And given the locomotive's general look, it'd definitely be an airhorn. Though some whistles are absolutely capable of giving me the shivers (Main example: Big Boy). Still, I need this if only to scare the crap out of people during multiplayer (because if we get an airhorn sound for trains... just add it to the megaphone thing)

[pleegwat]

Oh and lastly (and certainly most importantly), can we get horns?! If only just for manual use, I wanna beep at the biters! (Also could include an automatic horn that plays if a player is close to train tracks whilst a train is approaching... then again making deaths by your own trains more easily avoidable sounds like a bad thing if only because of how funny it is)

But would a factorio train have a horn or a whistle?

Rule of cool.

Modern trains do use air horns, and as that would be the easier thing to hear/notice between the two (and to me a horn is better than a whistle anyway), I feel like that kind of answers the question.

But since factorio trains use solid rather than liquid fuels, they are clearly external heat engines, where a whistle would be more appropriate. Then again factorio trains do not take water.

Car/tank/train definitely each need their own horn sound.

[FuryoftheStars]

But since factorio trains use solid rather than liquid fuels, they are clearly external heat engines

Are they, though? I mean, as you pointed out, locomotives (and cars and tanks, etc) don't take water. Could be a simplification, could be advanced tech. But they do take what we conceivably would see as a standard combustion engine. *shrug* But that may be splitting hairs or whatever you want to call it.

Regardless of that, in my opinion, an air-horn would be more fitting and noticeable. But that is my opinion. *shrug*

Car/tank/train definitely each need their own horn sound.

Agreed. It's easy enough to have the car horn be similar to today's car horn "beeps", and the train be a nice, "loud" air-horn. Not sure what the tank should be, though.

[pleegwat]

But since factorio trains use solid rather than liquid fuels, they are clearly external heat engines

Are they, though? I mean, as you pointed out, locomotives (and cars and tanks, etc) don't take water. Could be a simplification, could be advanced tech. But they do take what we conceivably would see as a standard combustion engine. *shrug* But that may be splitting hairs or whatever you want to call it.

I'm not sure a steam engine would really make sense as a single part anyway. And a steam engine does not commonly require gears.

And the electric engine recipe makes zero sense but I'm sure that's been discussed before. Should take copper wire rather than engine units.

[BiterKisser]

Foundry, mines and vehicles sound amazing, but I want to echo the sentiment that the trains sound lacking somewhat. In particular, a noise for transition from elevated to ground-level seemed missing in my opinion.

I understand I could definitely be a minority here, but a few of the "bird" noises come across as a bit too creepy in my opinion. The first one that plays in that video sounds a bit threatening for what is, essentially, just a tree. Threatening might be a strong word, but it's substantial, like the breathing of a larger animal. Lack of a visual to match the audio also makes it feel disingenuous, and I think actually serves to pull you out of the immersion that the ambient environment sounds provide. (Water lapping, leaves rustling etc.) When I say pulls you out of immersion, Project Zomboid springs to mind. In that game, there's a random chance that you will hear a gunshot go off in the distance, or animal calls, and if you survive long enough, you will hear them regularly, but there is never an actual person or animal that you can find. I get a similar feeling watching and listening to this preview.

It also sounds like there's audio for several different species of fauna. It could be worth considering limiting the variety of species that can "exist" in any given space. If you can stand next to any tree, and still hear every different species of invisible bird, it's going to make it feel fake. Less is more, but I could be wrong.

Lastly, the inventory sounds are not my cup of tea. The inserter audio needs to be cut in half. That stone/ore placement sound reminds me of someone open-mouthed chewing and makes me cringe. In lieu of revision, a toggle for old UI noises would be immensely appreciated. Thanks for reading.

[Saphira123456]

I'd also like to see an "alert mode" added whenever the Radar sees an incoming attack, whether by Biters, players, or other things like asteroids. Something that will sound an audible alarm, switch on red lighting, and automatically power up defenses when an attack starts, and shut the defenses and alarm off to save power when it ends, plus reset the lights.

What you describe is akin to the star trek "red alert" condition that triggers in certain situations automatically (it's fun to see how that is shown to develop in "Enterprise" season 2, I think) - I would not like that drastic a change in the environment, and I think, given the general audience usually playing this and similar games, it will not be accepted well with the community.

As a Trekkie, most of the stuff you say is true, however it can also be ordered to come on. ("Shields up, Red Alert!")
it's basically a "general quarters" system. Fairly standard even in IRL.

You'll need something like this to happen if things end up coming under attack when you're off-planet.

[BattleFluffy]

I noticed an issue when a large number of sound-triggering events happen all on the same frame, the classic example is throwing a grenade at 50 small bitters causing them all to die at once. The "dying" sound effect then plays multiple (although perhaps not 50) times simultaneously, leading to constructive interference and an overly loud rendition of that sound effect.
In a lot of cases this is leading to bad-sounding digital distortion, or loud clicks when the sample ends. Will you be making any efforts to improve this for the expansion?

[Nova]

I assume this will also be improved with the stuff mentioned under Sound aggregation, BattleFluffy.