Feedback on sound in Sandstorm

What set Insurgency apart (and above so many others IMO) was the sheer intensity of the gaming experience. One of the things that was so intense (for me anyway) in Insurgency was the sound of the weapons. Firing an rifle in Insurgency sounded as close to the real thing as I've ever heard in a video game--it captured the "feel" of firing just about perfectly. In Sandstorm, the gun sounds are just not the same. This seems to be a general trend in video games recently, but the guns are very quiet and don't have the same quality report we heard in Insurgency (worst offender that I've heard in Sandstorm is the FAL). Put the Insurgency-style, realistic gun reports back in.

Another of the things that made Insurgency so intense was the scariness of getting shot. It often made me jump when I got shot out of nowhere--you didn't hear the report of the gun and you didn't cry out. You just heard a loud impact and a crack and it was just lights out. In Sandstorm, you can literally decapitate someone with a headshot and then hear them cry out. When a player gets killed, have them stop grousing about it (see next paragraph) at the moment of impact, at least for headshots.

Also, some of the death cries seem to express just ordinary frustration ("Awwww, Christ" etc.) and don't convey the shock and horror of being shot. I like that there are different sounds when players get shot and some of them are great, but removing the tamer ones would go a long way towards bringing back some of the old Insurgency intensity.

Agreed entirely. The audio downgrade is weird.

Yeah weapon sounds is something that I mentioned several times in this forum. Weapons sound kinda muffled.

However, NWI seems to be happy with how they sound at the moment so I would not be optimistic that anything will change in this aspect.

Even in ins2 I used a mod that added weapon sound echoing to make it much louder and bangier for lack of a better term. It'd be cool if they integrated the sound of weapons firing bouncing off buildings more.

@skillet said in Feedback on sound in Sandstorm:

rgency was the sound of the weapons. Firing an rifle in Insurgency sounded as close to the real thing as I've ever heard in a video game--it captured the "feel" of firing just about perfectly. In Sandstorm, the gun sounds are just not the same. This seems to be a general trend in video games recently, but the guns are very quiet and don't have the same quality report we heard in Insurgency (worst offender that I've heard in Sandstorm is the FAL).

lol I posted something like this a while back and basically got flamed for it. Glad to see that people are finally starting to notice. L85A2 and M16 varients are the worst imo. M16 varients sound like a dude coughing to be honest.

If you notice, a lot of it has to do with the bass, which gives the gun a thump-like "kick". Compare the MK18 in the first game to this one and you'll notice what I mean immediately. A gunshot without a good treble/bass ratio can sound weak, muffled and like something is missing.

The reason I think they did this is because a higher rate of fire causes the bass to overlay and muddy the sounds of the gun and/or perhaps the environment out. Next time you play, do an experiment. Shoot the guns one by one from highest rate of fire to slowest. You'll notice, generally speaking, the lower the rate of fire, the more bass it has and the more full, meaty and high quality it sounds (this is probably why all the sniper rifles sound so sexy).

I imagine this could easily be fixed (I have some backround in music production so I think I'm at least somewhat qualified to speculate) by either shortening the tail end of the bass (this often is helpful in mixing/production when there are other bass sounds in the backround) and isolating the bass with EQ to allow the higher frequencies to shine through. So sound designers, if you're listening, that might be your solution.

last edited by Dark1202

I agree pretty much, i feel like the guns need more emphasis on the high and low range, rightnow its like all middle. would like to get more bass on the low end and more metallic clangs / cracks on the high end.

@dark1202 said in Feedback on sound in Sandstorm:
[all that stuff that dark1202 said]

Hah, there we go. Not being an audiophile, I couldn't really put my finger on what was going on. Nice explanation.

last edited by skillet

I wish all the weapons had the same sound quality than the SKS. That rifle... It's weapon sound porn, really. The Tariq pistol sounds orgasmic too. I also like the G3, both shotguns, Alpha AK even though it could be slightly improved, the SVD... Most weapons sound great !

Yet, some of them feel off.
L85 sounds feeble and muffled. FAL too, to some extent. The sound itself is good, it's just not loud enough. The AKs sound weird. Good, but not really realistic. I'd like them to have more punch.

@Dark1202 is probably right. It may be a problem of bass. I think there is also a problem of loudness on some of the weaker sounding weapons.