Make game sounds appropriate

kevin95630 · 04-17-2018, 03:04 PM

I really enjoy having the game sounds, but they are often completely inappropriate to what is happening in the game.

For example, the rally music should not play when the visiting team is up. Edit: I think I discovered why this was happening. Among the game sound files is one named ambient5.ogg, which was an organ song that is really more of a rally sound. I renamed it to backupambient5.ogg and copied ambient1.ogg to ambient5.ogg. Hopefully that will resolve the rally sounds being played at the wrong time (we'll see).

Also, the crowd may boo when there is a close call, or the home team batter is hit by a pitch. But crowds do not boo just because the visiting team hits a home run. This is usually met with simple silence, and booing seems weird. Perhaps it depends on where you watch ball games?

kevin95630 · 04-18-2018, 05:30 AM

Nope. I'm still getting rally sounds while the visiting team is at bat. Need to fire that organist.

beanpj · 04-28-2018, 07:27 PM

I have to concur that the sounds accompanying games have a good deal of room for improvement.

Before getting into the deficiencies, there are some really outstanding qualities to the game sounds that deserve to be highlighted. I think the developers did a really good job of taking microphones out to ballparks to capture actual crowds. It's fun and, when timed right, adds a layer of realism that I enjoy and appreciate. I also love the version of "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" that they installed; it's terrific. The cracks of the bat capture the sounds of being at an actual game. These are just a few of the areas where the developers deserve praise with respect to sound.

That said, I do think there are a few glaring deficiencies that detract from the overall experience in a meaningful enough way that they need to be called out for correction/improvement.

* The developers simply must figure out how to increase the dynamic range of crowd reactions. It's a problem when the audio file triggered by a walk-off grand slam to clinch the pennant is the same audio file triggered by a groundout that advances a runner from 2nd to 3rd base during a Spring Training exhibition. Personally, although I'm a fan of the realism of the live recorded audio samples, if I have to sacrifice some of that realism for a more realistic range of crowd reactions, that's a trade off I can live with.

* The audio experience is consistently plagued by timing issues. This is actually a deficiency that extends to the animation, as well, and my assumption is that the live play experience is going to steadily improve over the next few years. And hopefully those improvements will include corrections of the timing issues in the audio experience. Cheers and boos will at times arrive three to five seconds behind the action to which they are attached. Occasionally the expected audio file fails to trigger at all. Most of these are small issues, but they have an outsized effect on how realistic the overall experience is for the players.

* Audio clips that get triggered frequently should be edited to ensure they are a good fit for usage across a broad range of situations.

One of the audio files for the crowd captures a woman yelling at the top of her lungs. It's glaring enough to induce a reflexive cringe each time it plays, and that particular audio sample gets triggered more than a dozen times per game. Her yelling totally ruins an otherwise excellent audio file. In another audio file, a man in the crowd can be heard moaning, "No way! No way!" Here, too, this one voice manages to stand out among all the rest, to the point where it's impossible not to notice. At times, this isn't a problem, because unlike the screaming lady it's not an audio sample that grates your ears and it's a great fit for the context (for example, in reaction to an unpopular call by an umpire). Unfortunately, the audio sample is not an appropriate fit for a fair number of the situations in which it's triggered.

Both of these examples illustrate the problems of limited sound library, but I mention them more to illustrate the importance of editing these clips a bit, as needed. If the sound library is deep enough and defined enough to include a "No way!" sample, that's great. But where an audio sample is going to be deployed across a wide range of contexts, some of which would not cause a spectator to moan "No way!", then the developers need to edit that sample for broader use. Likewise, where a single screaming lady overwhelms the entire rest of the crowd reaction, the developers need to limit the usage of that sample or - if its going to be used often - edit the audio sample to eliminate or diminish the impact of the obnoxious and overwhelming element.

In conclusion, the developers have done some really great things with the sound experience of live OOTP baseball, but there are a few issues that really detract from the realism of the player's experience enough that they threaten to undermine all the positive elements of the sound experience. Improving the dynamic range of crowd reactions, fixing the timing issues, and carefully editing clips of any voices or noises that dominate a sample in an unfavorable way are all fixable problems that would greatly enhance the quality and realism of the OOTP live baseball experience.

04-17-2018, 03:04 PM	#1
kevin95630 Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Apr 2018 Location: Folsom, California Posts: 37	Make game sounds appropriate I really enjoy having the game sounds, but they are often completely inappropriate to what is happening in the game. For example, the rally music should not play when the visiting team is up. Edit: I think I discovered why this was happening. Among the game sound files is one named ambient5.ogg, which was an organ song that is really more of a rally sound. I renamed it to backupambient5.ogg and copied ambient1.ogg to ambient5.ogg. Hopefully that will resolve the rally sounds being played at the wrong time (we'll see). Also, the crowd may boo when there is a close call, or the home team batter is hit by a pitch. But crowds do not boo just because the visiting team hits a home run. This is usually met with simple silence, and booing seems weird. Perhaps it depends on where you watch ball games? Last edited by kevin95630; 04-17-2018 at 04:20 PM. Reason: Found some of what I suggested was already there just not implemented right

04-18-2018, 05:30 AM	#2
kevin95630 Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Apr 2018 Location: Folsom, California Posts: 37	Nope. I'm still getting rally sounds while the visiting team is at bat. Need to fire that organist.

04-28-2018, 07:27 PM	#3
beanpj Bat Boy Join Date: Apr 2018 Posts: 1	I have to concur that the sounds accompanying games have a good deal of room for improvement. Before getting into the deficiencies, there are some really outstanding qualities to the game sounds that deserve to be highlighted. I think the developers did a really good job of taking microphones out to ballparks to capture actual crowds. It's fun and, when timed right, adds a layer of realism that I enjoy and appreciate. I also love the version of "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" that they installed; it's terrific. The cracks of the bat capture the sounds of being at an actual game. These are just a few of the areas where the developers deserve praise with respect to sound. That said, I do think there are a few glaring deficiencies that detract from the overall experience in a meaningful enough way that they need to be called out for correction/improvement. * The developers simply must figure out how to increase the dynamic range of crowd reactions. It's a problem when the audio file triggered by a walk-off grand slam to clinch the pennant is the same audio file triggered by a groundout that advances a runner from 2nd to 3rd base during a Spring Training exhibition. Personally, although I'm a fan of the realism of the live recorded audio samples, if I have to sacrifice some of that realism for a more realistic range of crowd reactions, that's a trade off I can live with. * The audio experience is consistently plagued by timing issues. This is actually a deficiency that extends to the animation, as well, and my assumption is that the live play experience is going to steadily improve over the next few years. And hopefully those improvements will include corrections of the timing issues in the audio experience. Cheers and boos will at times arrive three to five seconds behind the action to which they are attached. Occasionally the expected audio file fails to trigger at all. Most of these are small issues, but they have an outsized effect on how realistic the overall experience is for the players. * Audio clips that get triggered frequently should be edited to ensure they are a good fit for usage across a broad range of situations. One of the audio files for the crowd captures a woman yelling at the top of her lungs. It's glaring enough to induce a reflexive cringe each time it plays, and that particular audio sample gets triggered more than a dozen times per game. Her yelling totally ruins an otherwise excellent audio file. In another audio file, a man in the crowd can be heard moaning, "No way! No way!" Here, too, this one voice manages to stand out among all the rest, to the point where it's impossible not to notice. At times, this isn't a problem, because unlike the screaming lady it's not an audio sample that grates your ears and it's a great fit for the context (for example, in reaction to an unpopular call by an umpire). Unfortunately, the audio sample is not an appropriate fit for a fair number of the situations in which it's triggered. Both of these examples illustrate the problems of limited sound library, but I mention them more to illustrate the importance of editing these clips a bit, as needed. If the sound library is deep enough and defined enough to include a "No way!" sample, that's great. But where an audio sample is going to be deployed across a wide range of contexts, some of which would not cause a spectator to moan "No way!", then the developers need to edit that sample for broader use. Likewise, where a single screaming lady overwhelms the entire rest of the crowd reaction, the developers need to limit the usage of that sample or - if its going to be used often - edit the audio sample to eliminate or diminish the impact of the obnoxious and overwhelming element. In conclusion, the developers have done some really great things with the sound experience of live OOTP baseball, but there are a few issues that really detract from the realism of the player's experience enough that they threaten to undermine all the positive elements of the sound experience. Improving the dynamic range of crowd reactions, fixing the timing issues, and carefully editing clips of any voices or noises that dominate a sample in an unfavorable way are all fixable problems that would greatly enhance the quality and realism of the OOTP live baseball experience.