5 réponses à ce sujet

[AlanSJF]

I'm all set to go with a new project, but before I load my area into the cutscene editor and get things moving, I have some concerns regarding sound in cutscenes.

As I understand it, any creature placed in an area and then activated for animation purposes in the cutscene editor should have audible sound effects when it comes to viewing and recording the cutscene in-game. Footsteps, armour and weapon sounds, they should all be there.

The problem I ran into in my previous cutscene/Machinima is one I'm sure folks here are familiar with - barely audible or non-existent sound effects in-game. Last time, I'd say of all the sounds that should have been audible, a good %90+ weren't.

So, is there more to this than simply 'place creature in area, activate in cutscene editor'? Are there any other aspects of the process - in the creature settings, at the area stage - where steps can be taken to ensure that every cutscene sound that should be there in-game is actually there?

If at all possible, I want to avoid getting to the point where I'm ready to export my cutscene to the game only to find that most of it's a silent movie.

[John Epler]

Hey folks. I've pinged a tools programmer and an audio guy to see if I can get a definitive response to this question for you. We tend to leave audio more or less up to our audio team, so we don't do a lot of work with them ourselves - but someone else should be able to answer the question. Everyone's kind of busy so I wouldn't expect a response right away, but I'll keep you posted!

[John Epler]

Hey folks. Just an update - still waiting on a response! Hopefully I'll have something for you soon.

[John Epler]

Hey folks, still waiting on a response from the people involved - unfortunately it's that time of the project where five minutes is a valuable and precious commodity!



I'm wracking my brain to try and figure this one out - the only possibility I've come up with is that it might be a memory issue, but even then I'd imagine there'd be more consistency in when the sounds do/don't play.



I'll keep you posted if I hear anything!

[John Epler]

Yara Cousland wrote...

Thank you very much, John!
A memory issue - that could match our findings. The higher the complexity level, the lower the chance that animation sound plays.

I think the way it works -might- be similar to a priority list. Depending how much memory is available, the engine will cut out certain audio events to preserve memory (possibly by kicking them out of the preload queue). I think maybe animation sounds are close to the 'bottom' of that list? As in, the first to go. However, I'm not a tech guy, but when I get a definitive answer I'll let you know.

[John Epler]

AlanSJF wrote...

JohnEpler wrote...

Yara Cousland wrote...

Thank you very much, John!
A memory issue - that could match our findings. The higher the complexity level, the lower the chance that animation sound plays.

I think the way it works -might- be similar to a priority list. Depending how much memory is available, the engine will cut out certain audio events to preserve memory (possibly by kicking them out of the preload queue). I think maybe animation sounds are close to the 'bottom' of that list? As in, the first to go. However, I'm not a tech guy, but when I get a definitive answer I'll let you know.

In which case, one very quick question: in your experience do exterior cutscenes generally use more memory than interior cutscenes, or is it the overall' complexity' (size of the level/area, number of characters, duration, etc.) of the cutscene that's important? 

I ask because the one interior-based cutscene I've done had no animation sound issues, wheras all the exterior ones did.

I'm tempted to say 'yes', but I'm honestly not sure. As I said, our audio work is mostly done by the audio team - we don't really delve too deeply into it. Though it's possible that it might also be materials based - footsteps sound different on brick than metal, for example, and that might be baked into the animation?

Wish I could be more helpful