Author Topic: What's up with the Sound?! (Read 14686 times)

Kaldarasha · « **on:** 2013-07-22 09:15:18 »

Everybody might have noticed, that the sound system of FF7PC is worse then in FF7PSX.
The stereo sound in battle is wrong placed sometimes (Barret shoot right and the sound came out of the left speaker, because the enemy is left). The High minigame (Motorbike minigame) has problems to play every sound (slash->hit->enemy fall down, but often with no sound). Then some scenes have background sound, which disappear if another sound is played (take the alarm sound in the mako reactor after setting the bomb, it is disabled after a fight, because of the battle swirl sound.)
Well, actually I want set some immersive background sound to some scenes like the motor noises from the ship to the machine room in the Highwind. I found a channel which isn't cancelled through another sound, but if another sound is played (moving the menu cursor for example)¹ it volumes down (from 100%-->60%?) and then it slowly volumes up.
And the last thing is the another problem I have noticed: after a sound is called, it is stored to the channel. So it plays on other fields too, if I do not disable it. Ok, I thought, if it's there already then I could use it less noisy, so you got even more the feeling to be in a flying working airship. It works, but after a while it ramps up, so that it is same loud as if you would stand in the machine room.

¹ The funny thing is, if I reduce the effect volume, the volume down effect is reduced, too.

I don't know if this problem was there from begin with or not. Because I have played FF7PC only on win7, which does not support directsound and I don't know if the rerelease has these issues, too. But, isn't there a way to make it work with OpenAL? Maybe there is a way to fix the sound issue with it.

Template · « **Reply #1 on:** 2013-07-22 11:46:31 »

Are these sound issues coming up while using ff7music? Have you been doing tests using MIDI instead? Have you looked at the huge_pats timidity++ release?

I am wondering if they fixed some sound effects issues with the new release. Things seem clearer in this area, maybe in conjunction with GameConverter.8 setup. Also, using the MIDI instead of ff7music maybe has a soothing effect on the game's SFX engine. Maybe not, just wondering. This is all speculation and not intended to be opinion-fact.

Kompass63 · « **Reply #2 on:** 2013-07-22 13:08:02 »

Quote from: Template on 2013-07-22 11:46:31

Are these sound issues coming up while using ff7music? Have you been doing tests using MIDI instead? Have you looked at the huge_pats timidity++ release?

Very good questions

(You will always be better template)

I also have another question.
Have you installed any new soundFX with bootleg (or manually)?

Kaldarasha · « **Reply #3 on:** 2013-07-22 13:32:57 »

I speaking about the sound not the music, but I haven't tried yet to disable the ff7music plugin in Aali's driver (was on my to do list, but I have forgot about it). I use some new sounds, but these are not the problem. It's mechanic to play them which do not work correctly. It was the first thing I noticed (actually the second, the first thing was these 'black holes' around my characters) when I played the game on PC.

Kompass63 · « **Reply #4 on:** 2013-07-22 13:49:50 »

Quote from: Kaldarasha on 2013-07-22 13:32:57

I speaking about the sound not the music, but I haven't tried yet to disable the ff7music plugin in Aali's driver (was on my to do list, but I have forgot about it).

You should also rename the folders "FF7Music" and "Ficedula".

Quote from: Kaldarasha on 2013-07-22 13:32:57

I use some new sounds, but these are not the problem. It's mechanic to play them which do not work correctly.

Sorry, I don't understand...

It was the first thing I noticed (actually the second, the first thing was these 'black holes' around my characters) when I played the game on PC.
[/quote]
Possibly a problem with the "transparent" color ...

Kaldarasha · « **Reply #5 on:** 2013-07-22 14:28:38 »

Nope disable the FF7Music does nothing.

Quote

Sorry, I don't understand...

It appears for me that the sound buffer isn't big enough and does not update correctly. I'm a noob in that matter, but hear that it sound is buggy compared to PSX version. The dynamic use of the stereo channels was something, which had impressed when I first played on the PSX. On PSX I could hear every biker is falling down in the minigame, on PC I'm lucky if I could hear only one correctly. So there is something completly wrong with it. The question is, is it fixable?

Quote

Possibly a problem with the "transparent" color ...

I don't know where the shadow is stored (battle.lgp or magic.lgp?). I would update it myself to the PSX look.

Kompass63 · « **Reply #6 on:** 2013-07-22 15:18:47 »

Quote from: Kaldarasha on 2013-07-22 14:28:38

Nope disable the FF7Music does nothing.
It appears for me that the sound buffer isn't big enough and does not update correctly. I'm a noob in that matter, but hear that it sound is buggy compared to PSX version. The dynamic use of the stereo channels was something, which had impressed when I first played on the PSX. On PSX I could hear every biker is falling down in the minigame, on PC I'm lucky if I could hear only one correctly. So there is something completly wrong with it. The question is, is it fixable?

I have noticed no such problems with the PC version until now, but I did not really pay attention.

Quote from: Kaldarasha on 2013-07-22 14:28:38

I don't know where the shadow is stored (battle.lgp or magic.lgp?). I would update it myself to the PSX look.

Oh, you mean the shadow below the Character (again misunderstood

)
How the look with the PSX version?

Template · « **Reply #7 on:** 2013-07-22 16:40:18 »

I notice a GLITCH popup about soundbuffer periodically with those messages enabled. I did a test to try to get rid of it. On 1998 version the glitch message occurs in the field. The rerelease version has the glitch during video playback. I did not know what the glitch might be causing, but it's surely related, no?

Kaldarasha · « **Reply #8 on:** 2013-07-22 17:13:04 »

I have looked a bit on the wiki, but the only thing I understand is, that Eidos might had a hard time to implement the sound. Mostly because of it's own unique structure. So, I guess they were happy that the sound is played and/or they didn't care about it much. Well, that's the only explanation I have.

@Kompass63

Template · « **Reply #9 on:** 2013-07-24 04:40:55 »

By using new ff7 download from SE store and GameConverter .8 I was able to get rid of the GLITCH: Unable to assign sound buffer or whatever it is. Gone. Interesting.

Edit: no, no, no... I must have turned off the popup messages. Retested this and the sound buffer GLITCH is still very much there.

Kaldarasha · « **Reply #10 on:** 2013-07-27 06:48:43 »

Does somebody know, if the re-releases have a better working sound system?

Kompass63 · « **Reply #11 on:** 2013-07-27 21:10:03 »

Quote from: Kaldarasha on 2013-07-27 06:48:43

Does somebody know, if the re-releases have a better working sound system?

"audio.dat" and "audio.fmt" are the same as in 1998-Release, so i think NO

Kaldarasha · « **Reply #12 on:** 2013-07-27 21:59:40 »

As I said, the files are fine, the technique to load them doesn't work correctly.
The new releases does have some extra av.dll's (avcodec-53.dll, avformat-53.dll, avutil-51.dll). I'm not sure if these are only for the ogg support or if they are for the whole sound system.
My question is, is it possible to make them work with the old FF7.exe?

Kompass63 · « **Reply #13 on:** 2013-07-27 22:19:55 »

I maintain that the "av ..... dll" is for videos.

Kaldarasha · « **Reply #14 on:** 2013-07-27 22:41:20 »

Too bad...

Is it possible to make a psx sound plugin workable with FF7 PC?
http://www.zophar.net/utilities/psspuplugins.html

Kompass63 · « **Reply #15 on:** 2013-07-28 11:45:06 »

Do you have read this?

Kaldarasha · « **Reply #16 on:** 2013-07-28 12:25:32 »

Yeah, but the moviecam.lgp is in my movies folder. Besides I do not use bootleg.
I have played the PSX version yesterday, the sound works as I remembered, however I found some problems, because I paid much more intension to it. But they only happened due to the technical limit.
The sound works correctly, no false ramping, no alarm killing after a battle.
I believe the sound buffer doesn't update fast (or slow?) enough as the game needed.

Template · « **Reply #17 on:** 2013-07-28 12:48:34 »

Yah, I have looked at the unconverted rerelease sound effects and it seems a bit random where the sound will come from. This problem was not fixed.

cmh175 · « **Reply #18 on:** 2013-07-28 14:42:53 »

It's not just that it's random, the sound on the re-release sounds like it's filtered. It's most noticeable on the videos they did, they improved the image (even though it resulted in a hazy sort of appearance) but the sound just went to crap. That's why I ripped the psx audio for the remastered videos. FF7 seems to be the rare anomaly that's better on the console.

Rundas · « **Reply #19 on:** 2013-07-28 17:55:42 »

Quote from: cmh175 on 2013-07-28 14:42:53

... that's better on the console.

---

Template · « **Reply #20 on:** 2013-07-28 18:32:48 »

Think I'm going to use that vid for eidoslogo now.

Rundas · « **Reply #21 on:** 2013-07-28 18:41:36 »

I couldn't pass up the chance for a JonTron reference.

Kaldarasha · « **Reply #22 on:** 2013-08-02 09:21:58 »

I have no idea why, but installing the newer version of TiMidity has solved the issue with the sound, which I hear. The complete timing of the sound seems now corrected. There is no false volume ramping anymore. It doesn't repair some background sounds, which disappear when another sound is playing, but most of them can be fixed with some changes in the script.
You don't need to play the music with Midi, you can still use FF7 Music.

Template · « **Reply #23 on:** 2013-08-02 12:10:10 »

Yes, I had this experience... Had no expectation that it would affect the SFX at all, but the new huge_pats set includes sound effects of its own, which are very high-quality compared to the background noises we had already.
If you want to try it out--make sure to use the version of timidity I link to in this post. The front page of that thread has the link for Vexatious's huge_pats.

Kinda funny... I actually reverse the speakers through ff7config. It seems more accurate that way, assuming you are using bootleg and the bootlegged soundFX. For whatever reason, I think they are reversed.

Today I have been experimenting with using the 2012 version of the game without bootleg (I have been using bootleg for quite a while...)
The sound issue seems much improved. Not perfect, but the fact that the redone soundfx from boot40 seem reversed is interesting. Maybe that was a new thing that happened when I started using Timidity, but using all the files from the 2012 game (including the orig. sound effects) and just modding using 7thHeaven has reversed it back to normal. It definitely has a strange effect on the SFX under certain midi conditions. Cannot explain that, don't really want to know.