Flak sounds too loud - Someone help please?

TraurigRitter · Post by **TraurigRitter** » Tue, 6. Feb 07, 13:54

Hi, I recently bought this game and have been having a blast. However, I've been finding the sound of the flaks (I found out recently) to be very disturbing, because they are shockingly loud. Most of the time, I end up having to turn off the sound while around capital ships using flak just to be able to play.

I searched the forums and noted some people found fixes, but I don't understand how to do it myself.

Is there some kind of mod or patch that can adjust the flak sounds to something slightly less overwhelmingly loud?

Any help is appreciated!

esd · Post by **esd** » Tue, 6. Feb 07, 13:57

I have the same issue, but more noteably with IRE's.

The only way to remedy that would be to modify the sound files so their volume is normalised lower. If you want help with that I can shunt this thread to the modding forum for you, if you wish.

Daveofthewood · Post by **Daveofthewood** » Tue, 6. Feb 07, 14:59

just turn the sound down, the whole point of these weapons...well the flak artillery anyway is that they sound Bad Ass, its one thing that a weapon can wipe something but it needs to sound like it can as well.

Fleet of Destiny:

Hyperion-Defiant
Condor - Concordia
Pythons - 1:Galactica 2: Pegasus
Ospreys - Prowlers 1, 2, 3
Nova Vanguards(x6) - Dragon Wing
Jaguar Hauler - Speedy G

esd · Post by **esd** » Tue, 6. Feb 07, 15:02

Daveofthewood wrote: just turn the sound down

I find that if I turn the sound down to the point where the IRE and FAA are in a comfortable range, the other weapons and effects are almost inaudible.

When you spend most of your time flying with HEPT, your nipper's in bed and the sound's at just the right volume - and suddenly you get pelted with FAA and IRE fire, it's damn loud!

Charlie Whiskey · Post by **Charlie Whiskey** » Tue, 6. Feb 07, 15:13

Same issue here, and the flak sound effect tends to cut off quite abruptly as well.

fud · Post by **fud** » Tue, 6. Feb 07, 15:26

I kind of like them that way. Though, the first time I encountered them, I nearly soiled myself.

TraurigRitter · Post by **TraurigRitter** » Tue, 6. Feb 07, 15:30

Hi esd, moving this to the mod forum sounds like a good idea. I'm hoping someone can help me out, either in the form of a mod/patch or else step by step guide on changing the sound!

I have the same problem, to turn the volume down low enough, everything else is pretty much silent. Plus the flak drowns it out anyway. Yet having it on normal, the flak sound is really quite unbearably loud. Not only to my ears, but to other people around the house too!

Theres another gun which I also find a bit loud. I have no idea which one, but ummm, trying to avoid spoilers, but theres a ship where you happen to have 6 of these guns.

Gotcha! · Post by **Gotcha!** » Tue, 6. Feb 07, 15:57

I guess it's supposed to be loud. It's exploding shrapnel, right? Or something. It already made a bunch of noise in WWII. (Not that I was in it, but I've seen documentaries.)

Anyway, yeah, first time I heard it I flew my ship in all directions while screaming: What the *&%$ was that???
I like it though. It's a terrifying sound, and it's probably a terrifying weapon. Makes sense to me!

Fresshness · Post by **Fresshness** » Tue, 6. Feb 07, 16:50

I not 100% sure it's possible, but I think you can change the volume with the script editor, so it would be possible to lower the volume of only a specific weapon and not all of em at the same time.

and I agree, flak sound is way too loud. I always find myself turning volume down when I encounter a ship shooting with it.

Post by **Nanook** » Tue, 6. Feb 07, 17:41

Let me add my voice to the 'too loud' crowd, for both the FLAK and the IRE's. The volume of those should be comparable to the other weapons in the game, and not so outrageously loud that turning the sound down to make them comfortable results in dead silence for everything else. What was Egosoft thinking?

hipperion · Post by **hipperion** » Tue, 6. Feb 07, 18:06

What was Egosoft thinking?

Probably nothing

X3 looks like a game which was not tested very well before publishing

I love the flaks for their effect on enemy fighters and hate them for the soud (which, besides that its too loud its of very poor quality)

japesk · Post by **japesk** » Tue, 6. Feb 07, 19:37

I had a grandfather who flew for the 8th AAF 312th Bomber wing in England during WWII. His diaries were very complete about the experiences of flying thru the flak over German and French cities. In one of his entries, he stated that the sound was so distracting, that it was difficult to fly thru the hail of sharpnel caused by the FLAK. Also, He said that several times, the waist Gunners ears would bleed because the concussion from the flak would blow out the eardrums of the gunners. He also stated that there were may instances of pilots turning their bombers around because the constant booming shattered their will to continue the bomb run. Also he stated that after the 312th was restationed in France, there were several instances where they would capture German fighter pilots. Those pilots would remark that the real reason the cities would discontinue flak in the presence of friendly fighters was NOT becuase of friendly fire, but was becuase the concussive sound from the Flak would dihearten their own pilots. Flak is a devastating weapon, and when it is firing off around your ship, it should scare the S*** out of you. It is seldom talked about, but flak was far more a weapon of FEAR than an effective means of bringin down aircraft (although it did its fair shar of damage). The sound of Flak in the game SHOULD be very frightening if you are in a fighter. If you are on a torpedo run against a capital ship, FLAK should make you think THRICE before continuing on your attack run.

My grandfather also had pictures of bomb runs over Dresden and Berlin, and the sky was litteraly FILLED with puffs of black smoke. In some instances, there was more black smoke than blue skies. There is no doubt in my mind that ALL pilots and crew of those bombers should NEVER be doubted for their btavery becuase from what i've seen and read, Flying into flak, was almost a one way ticket to the afterlife. Many times, my grandfather wrote that he would rather have a rifle, and be on the lines, than fly through the hail of constant flak. My grandfather finished off a complete tour (25 missions) for the 312th. instead of retiring, he re-signed as a p-51 pilot, and flew bomber escort until the end of the war. Until the day he died, I believe that his memories regarding flak were still fresh.

Sorry about the long post, but when it comes to flak, I don't think that egosoft gets even close to the sheer terror of the stuff. Infact, they should make the flak more plentiful (ie put them on stations and laser towers). Making a run against a station should almost litteraly be suicide if you are a single fighter. Station killing in an M3/M4 is too easy IMHO, and should be changed--and the range should be at least doubled--especially with the CIGs now in the game. There should also be a morale constant for uncontrolled fighter pilots that cause them to bolt when they get too scared by the constant pounding of flak.

That's all I have to say about that.

Post by **Nanook** » Tue, 6. Feb 07, 19:53

japesk wrote:...

That's all I have to say about that.

That's all well and good for real war, but I don't want my game to make me deaf, and I don't want my wife getting upset with me everytime some K starts blasting at me. And I don't want to have to turn the sound down and not be able to hear anything else because one particular sound effect is too overwhelming. This is simply a poor design decision, IMO.

Akula87 · Post by **Akula87** » Tue, 6. Feb 07, 20:02

Except... FAA in this game is not composed of shells that explode to produce concussive forces and shrapnel. It states in the information for the gun that it is concentrated energy pulses or w/e. Think about it- if it was shells (like in WWII) then you would need to buy ammo just like you do for Mass Drivers. It's only called Flack because of it's uses and effects is similar to that used in WWII. Either way, there is no sound in space- but then would make for a very dull game.

japesk · Post by **japesk** » Tue, 6. Feb 07, 20:47

Its too bad there is no sounds for creaking of your hull, etc. That would massively add to immersion. And yes, I realize that the FAA is non-ammo related. However, wouldn't the pulse effects have a similar effect as concussion from Ammo?

Post by **Nanook** » Tue, 6. Feb 07, 20:51

Virtually all the sounds you hear inside your cockpit are created by the onboard computer for situational awareness (no sound in space, remember

). So having deafening sounds for FLAK and IRE's makes no sense. Having your computer generate sounds that adversely affect your combat abilities is just bad and cannot be justified!

esd · Post by **esd** » Tue, 6. Feb 07, 21:21

TraurigRitter wrote:Hi esd, moving this to the mod forum sounds like a good idea. I'm hoping someone can help me out, either in the form of a mod/patch or else step by step guide on changing the sound!

Your wish is my command.

I think it can be done though - it'd involve editing the sound file (which is in one of the .dat files, if I remember correctly).

Klyith · Post by **Klyith** » Tue, 6. Feb 07, 21:25

Extract sound 919.wav, edit it to reduce volume, and repack it into a mod. That sound is also the sound of a M6 exploding, so the next time you kill a P it will be a wimpy bang.

Flak guns have a bit of a bug that the boom of their exploding bullets does not attenuate with distance properly. The annoying thing isn't just that they're too loud, it's that they're the same volume whether you're being hit or on the other side of the sector.

Minsc · Post by **Minsc** » Tue, 6. Feb 07, 22:47

Hello everyone, I had the same problem before with the flak/big explosion sound sounding horrible at any level of volume. What I did was to create a small simple mod that replaces the flak explosion sound with another explosion sound from the game. Now both off these sound almost excatly as loud but the one I use dont have the static/high pitched noise.

If I rember it correctly I replaced the sound file 920.wav (used for flak and big explosions and more) with the 919.wav sound file (the sound file is merged into the mod so it doesn't touch anything in the *.cab files).
If yo ureally want it I could send it to you or perhaps you could direct me to a free file hostage site.

Soundfile 920.wav is classed as "very big explosion" and soundfile 919.wav is classed as "big explosion", both have almost the same sound level but the 919 file has no high pitch ear killing noise or what I used to call head-ache generator!

Klyith · Post by **Klyith** » Tue, 6. Feb 07, 23:04

Minsc wrote:If I rember it correctly I replaced the sound file 920.wav (used for flak and big explosions and more) with the 919.wav sound file (the sound file is merged into the mod so it doesn't touch anything in the *.cab files).
If yo ureally want it I could send it to you or perhaps you could direct me to a free file hostage site.

#1 - Flak booms are definitely sound 919.wav, not 920.
#2 - What high pitched sound? Both of those explosions have a sort of swoosh sound in them, but it isn't what I'd call high pitched.

...
As I have written before on this subject, my favorite way to mod this is to heavily reduce the firing rate of the flak guns. The loudness is much more tolerable when there aren't 10 repetitions layered on top of one another.

egosoft.com

egosoft.com

Flak sounds too loud - Someone help please?

Flak sounds too loud - Someone help please?