Progress?

[Guest Karieno]

Okay okay okay, I konw I have posted ONE other time here but you guys know how to fish hook a guys attention.

 

That seems pretty cool you are getting a long on this MOD, so far I think, I would like this one, perhaps, maybe, on the side note, a bit more then the other MOD's out there concidering this and Delainy are like the only interesting ones out there...that and TS3...

 

Anyway rambling on here I thought I would give a updated word of encouragement since you guys are the only people I have actually SOUGHT to get the MOD.

 

.................

 

Right...good luck.

 

Oh and this is for the artists here

[Meira]

Anyway rambling on here I thought I would give a updated word of encouragement since you guys are the only people I have actually SOUGHT to get the MOD.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Thanks for the update!

 

I'll update progress in return:

 

I think beta testing is going very well. There is plenty of bugs, but our testers are doing a wonderful job in finding and helping to crush them.

[Andyr]

I was about to ask how the beta testing was going, but I see from the above post all is well. So, I say again, good stuff!

[Guest Beiht]

If you would like another beta tester, I would be happy to help:

 

busrav at yahoo.com

[Meira]

If you would like another beta tester, I would be happy to help:

 

busrav at yahoo.com

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I'm afraid that you'll have to register before you can be given an access to the beta forum.

[Meira]

Work has been a bit slow on past few weeks because we were preparing for a LARP, but now when that's over and done with Amber will get our full attention again.

[Meira]

Progress has been made in the voicing front! I've just added voicing for Lorraine.

 

Currently these parts have been voiced (in order of appearance):

 

Girl - Irenicus Knightingale

Boy - Harry

Lorraine - Silk

Demon - Darios

Gabriel - Darios

Ymmyrt - Darios

[Undertaker]

And have you any actress for Amber herself?

[Meira]

And have you any actress for Amber herself?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Maybe. I hope we have.

[theacefes]

Will there be music?

[Meira]

Will there be music?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes. Darios has played some preliminary samples for me and I think it will be very nice.

[Bursk]

I've only just discovered this mod and must say that I'm very excited about it.

 

I've had a good read of this forum and have also looked at that fantastic website of yours. I do have a question regarding the volume of voices in the mod. I haven't actually played the beta version, so it could be that what I'm think of may not even be an issue.

 

If you take a look at my thread at CoM - http://chosenofmystra.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1499 - you'll see that I couldn't get past the fact that the voice in the Saerileth mod is just too loud. At first I thought it might just be an issue on my PC, but it seems I'm not the only one who had the problem. It may seem like a non-issue, but when I'm exploring the sewers and Saerileth is shouting at me, it becomes unbearable.

 

So before I get myself too excited about your mod, could you confirm if the voices will be the same volume as all the other Bioware NPCs?

 

Many thanks.

[Darios]

I've only just discovered this mod and must say that I'm very excited about it.

 

I've had a good read of this forum and have also looked at that fantastic website of yours.  I do have a question regarding the volume of voices in the mod.  I haven't actually played the beta version, so it could be that what I'm think of may not even be an issue.

 

If you take a look at my thread at CoM - http://chosenofmystra.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1499 - you'll see that I couldn't get past the fact that the voice in the Saerileth mod is just too loud.  At first I thought it might just be an issue on my PC, but it seems I'm not the only one who had the problem.  It may seem like a non-issue, but when I'm exploring the sewers and Saerileth is shouting at me, it becomes unbearable.

 

So before I get myself too excited about your mod, could you confirm if the voices will be the same volume as all the other Bioware NPCs?

 

Many thanks.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Naturally we will try to get the sound levels as close to the Bioware ones as possible in order to make Amber blend in as well as possible. The reason why some mods stand out in this respect is probably the fact that the Bioware sound clips are actually nowhere near "full volume" (unity gain or 0 dBu), but have their peak volumes somewhere between -5 and -15 dBu with Aerie for example being generally softer in volume than Minsc (who is constantly shouting).

 

Saerileth (and undoubtedly also the other mods that have the same "problem") on the other hand seems to have sound clips whose peaks have been normalised to 0 dBu, yielding a RMS level of around -4 dBu, as opposed to the Biware NPCs' RMS levels ranging from -15 to -5 dBu. At worst this can make Saerileth sound twice as loud as the Bioware NPCs (a difference of 10 dB is usually needed to double the perceived loudness of a sound, depending on frequency).

 

Based on experimenting, I have concluded that normalising a lightly compressed sound clip to around -6 dBu, depending on the dynamics of the clip (clips with high peaks usually need a little more boost to keep the average level suitable) is a good starting point for testing. Of course you'll have to judge every clip as an individual case and use your ears, but since the perceived "volume" of the lines is very much dictated by the tone of voice and the intonation (a shouted passage will create an impression of being louder than a whispered one, even if there is no great difference in their actual level), the overall dynamic variation can actually be rather small without things sounding too strange. Considering the almost constant background music and frequent comments from other characters, it is probably a good idea to keep the dynamics within rather limited boundaries in order to prevent softer passages from getting drowned in the background and louder ones forcing you to turn down the volume.

 

But yes, we will try to make sure that Amber's overall voice levels (as well as those of other voiced NPCs in the mod) will be more or less consistent with those already in the game. This will, of course have to be tested in the final testing round after we have all the voicing done.

 

-Darios

[Bursk]

I've only just discovered this mod and must say that I'm very excited about it.

 

I've had a good read of this forum and have also looked at that fantastic website of yours.  I do have a question regarding the volume of voices in the mod.  I haven't actually played the beta version, so it could be that what I'm think of may not even be an issue.

 

If you take a look at my thread at CoM - http://chosenofmystra.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1499 - you'll see that I couldn't get past the fact that the voice in the Saerileth mod is just too loud.  At first I thought it might just be an issue on my PC, but it seems I'm not the only one who had the problem.  It may seem like a non-issue, but when I'm exploring the sewers and Saerileth is shouting at me, it becomes unbearable.

 

So before I get myself too excited about your mod, could you confirm if the voices will be the same volume as all the other Bioware NPCs?

 

Many thanks.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Naturally we will try to get the sound levels as close to the Bioware ones as possible in order to make Amber blend in as well as possible. The reason why some mods stand out in this respect is probably the fact that the Bioware sound clips are actually nowhere near "full volume" (unity gain or 0 dBu), but have their peak volumes somewhere between -5 and -15 dBu with Aerie for example being generally softer in volume than Minsc (who is constantly shouting).

 

Saerileth (and undoubtedly also the other mods that have the same "problem") on the other hand seems to have sound clips whose peaks have been normalised to 0 dBu, yielding a RMS level of around -4 dBu, as opposed to the Biware NPCs' RMS levels ranging from -15 to -5 dBu. At worst this can make Saerileth sound twice as loud as the Bioware NPCs (a difference of 10 dB is usually needed to double the perceived loudness of a sound, depending on frequency).

 

Based on experimenting, I have concluded that normalising a lightly compressed sound clip to around -6 dBu, depending on the dynamics of the clip (clips with high peaks usually need a little more boost to keep the average level suitable) is a good starting point for testing. Of course you'll have to judge every clip as an individual case and use your ears, but since the perceived "volume" of the lines is very much dictated by the tone of voice and the intonation (a shouted passage will create an impression of being louder than a whispered one, even if there is no great difference in their actual level), the overall dynamic variation can actually be rather small without things sounding too strange. Considering the almost constant background music and frequent comments from other characters, it is probably a good idea to keep the dynamics within rather limited boundaries in order to prevent softer passages from getting drowned in the background and louder ones forcing you to turn down the volume.

 

But yes, we will try to make sure that Amber's overall voice levels (as well as those of other voiced NPCs in the mod) will be more or less consistent with those already in the game. This will, of course have to be tested in the final testing round after we have all the voicing done.

 

-Darios

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Thanks for the response. I'm delighted to see the care and attention that's gone into all aspects of this mod.

 

Can't wait for the release!

[Meira]

The 'beta testers wanted'-thread being all locked up you might bee wondering why nothing seems to be happening.

 

Well, here's what we have to do before public release:

 

Record combat shouts for an evil sorcerer (Darios)

Record music (Darios)

Record voicing for the ghost boy

Record voicing for Amber

Fix a broken effect on one item.