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Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); New blog post: Simulator Enhancements (03/13/24)

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Messages - StianStark

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1
Discussions / Re: Bass sounds in the game a bit high
« on: September 29, 2022, 01:11:24 PM »
The main menu track will have small tweaks in the next update along with many faction tracks as well.

2
Bug Reports & Support / Re: Audio Popping / Crackling OpenAL issue
« on: September 29, 2022, 12:09:55 AM »
Actually, after doing some testing, it's not just the music playing. The game will pop when different information screens are pulled up. I can replicate it perfectly in the fleet screen. The music will be fine, but if I hover over the info button on a ship, the audio will pop or crackle exactly a second or two after the info card is pulled up. Whether it is a loud pop or small crackle is not consistent, but it does always happen within that timeframe of the card pulling up.

Not all info panels do it though, but most of them correlate to the game pulling up a info a second or two earlier. One place it doesn't follow this is in the Intel screen. When looking at contacts, for example, the game will constantly pop and crackle with no apparent cause.

I really wish I could figure this out.

We did do some fairly intensive testing with this issue. We could only conclude that
a) it's a problem on some systems / audio chipsets but not all
b) it tends to crop up in a variety of places and doesn't seem to be tied to specific game functions, even though the problem can sometimes be easily reproduced
c) the problem is not tied to the audio files themselves as the cracks and pops will occur even with a completely silent audio file (which is pretty bizarre, I know)

Apart from switching to the older .DLL on your own accord there unfortunately isn't a lot more we can do to help as, well, OpenAL is what it is, sorry!

3
Discussions / Re: Bass sounds in the game a bit high
« on: September 25, 2022, 10:38:11 AM »
I admit that there are a few faction tracks where the bass is too loud and am happy to report that this has already been addressed and will be improved in the next update.

Balancing intermittent, loud bass sounds in combat is maybe going to see some improvement as well at some future point, but the problem is unfortunately not something that can ever be completely solved. The audio engine the game is built on doesn't really support dynamically keeping specific frequency ranges in check, so large battles with lots of stuff going on can on occasion sound very boomy. :-\

4
(The Persean League will get its own, unique faction music in the next update)

5
General Discussion / Re: Starsector music -- main theme piano arrangement
« on: February 05, 2021, 09:39:47 AM »
Anything you can tease?  :)

Too dangerous, the overseer has eyes everywhere!  :-X

6
General Discussion / Re: Starsector music -- main theme piano arrangement
« on: February 05, 2021, 06:11:01 AM »
You're not the first to ask this, actually, so I might just have to whip up something! But right now I can't make any promises as to when exactly this might be.

Thanks for the interest and feedback, everyone!

7
General Discussion / Starsector music -- main theme piano arrangement
« on: February 04, 2021, 10:15:57 AM »
Hey everyone!

While composing music for games I almost always start developing ideas with the piano which often leads to quite elaborate piano arrangements of tracks before they get transferred over to orchestra and synths. Rifled through some projects today while doing backups and stumbled on my old Starsector main theme files ! The piano version I did for that seemed to turn out better than most, so thought I'd share it! (This track's orchestral version plays in the main menu when you start the game)

https://soundcloud.com/stianstark/starsector-piano-theme

I recall trying to achieve a kind of television series opening credits feel for this track. Don't know how well that turned out, but ... there it is!

Also, new stuff in the works on the music side so there's more on the way...

8
Discussions / My old chiptune metal tracks
« on: October 10, 2018, 01:23:34 PM »
Hi guys,

A while back I decided to release some of my really old chiptune/guitar/drums tracks on SoundCloud. This is material from the time I was young, stupid, but motivated to practice playing!

Maybe someone in here appreciates this extremely niche genre, you never know:

http://www.soundcloud.com/retronavia

--Stian

9
Blog Posts / Re: Faction Music
« on: August 27, 2015, 06:31:23 AM »
I just quickly wanted to chime in about repetition:

If there's anyone here who has an ultra-low threshold for getting annoyed by repetetive music, it has to be me. :) For everyone who feels like they are part of this club of sharp-eared neurotics I have this to say: I know you've been listening to the one campaign track a lot, but things will also get a lot better. Trust me.

Overall, when Starsector is finished I think it will stand out as a game where the developer (Alex, not me) has truly decided to invest and make sure that the audio side of what is still a small-budget independent endeavour is absolutely top of its class. I'm not talking about whether the music is good or bad - that's for you to decide - but about where the bar of standards for audio is set and how far things are driven. I know so many successful independent and even big-budget games where audio is literally an afterthought, and what we have here is the opposite.

If by the end of it you'll be annoyed by repetetive music, I believe you may be one of those people (like me) who go absolutely mad with audio rage with most games out there, and that can't be totally avoided because we are unable to license a hundred hours of music like GTA5. But you'll be hard-pressed to find another indie game that has gone to the lengths we have when it comes to audio.

I hope I don't sound defensive or eager to silence critics, my main point was just to tell you that - and I know you've heard this before - good things come to those who wait. :)

Meanwhile, keep the feedback coming - good and bad!

10
Blog Posts / Re: Faction Music
« on: August 26, 2015, 02:07:26 AM »
Thanks for the feedback, guys, appreciated!

The Hegemony track in the video is actually slightly re-mixed from the original one in the game as I wanted extra clarity to make all the elements really stand out for viewers of the video. The ingame variant is "wetter" and perhaps more atmospheric.

It's very interesting to me that many people hear a lot of retro gaming vibe in the bassline, which I don't consider to be retro in that way at all :) The sound itself is comprised of 3 different wavetable synth patches with a lot of modulation and effects that I would consider quite modern, even. I suspect its actually the simplicity and certain kind of stubborness of the bassline melody that reminds people of old games. I'm repeatedly fascinated by how differently people perceive music in general, it's a very interesting topic!

11
Blog Posts / Faction Music
« on: August 25, 2015, 04:08:45 PM »
Blog post here.

12
General Discussion / Re: Audio Review - 0.6a
« on: September 14, 2013, 05:00:02 AM »
I actually don't like the new radar "blip" sounds. They used to scream "STUFF'S HAPPENING, WATCH OUT". Now they seem like "There's something. If you have time, just check it out."

There was a discussion about the blips being too loud, but I feel like this is too extreme. I'd rather be overwhelmed by radar pings than a bombing run I've never seen coming.

Do you mean the 'ping' of a new ship on radar or the 'tick' of missiles on radar? The missile sound is designed to be non-intrusive but something that will cut through bigger battles, so you will always be able to hear it. Even though it isn't a big sound I think players will learn to be scared when they suddenly hear a burst of "tiktiktiktiktiktiktiktiktitktktkttktk".

The problem with missile sounds is, that if it's a bigger sound - like the old one - you create a totally false feeling for times when a few missiles fired at you are a total non-issue that causes you to raise shields for a few seconds at most. I feel like the current sound is neutral enough to work for both non-scary missiles and "oh *** oh *** oh *** I'm gonna get hit!".

EDIT: It is also possible that this is just a volume issue. Will look into it.

13
General Discussion / Re: Audio Review - 0.6a
« on: September 14, 2013, 04:46:30 AM »
Thanks for the well written feedback, Cycerin! You raise some very good points.

Let me be the first to admit right off the bat that there is still going to be a lot of work that will go specifically into making sounds work better together and fixing stray, older sounds that don't exactly "fit" right now.

When I started with designing sounds I thought that making them was going to be the biggest hurdle. Maybe it was, but the balancing act of getting a pool of 200+ combat sounds to work together is not a walk in the park either. :) It's definitely a slow process and one where I have seriously needed the help of Alex because my ears have gotten very "sharp" in hearing sounds I've created myself. What I mean by this is, that for me it's incredibly easy to pick out sounds from a huge mess of sound because I've listened to the elements of that mess hundreds/thousands of times, which is something that no player has done. So Alex has been a huge help with noticing balance issues because his ears are good and proper and mine are spoiled to the core at this point.

So in short: The next non-hotfix update to 0.6a will still have a lot of sound fixes in it. Engines and mjolnir are on the list along with a lot of other stuff, like ammo feeder and some system sounds.

But keep the feedback rollin', I read everything although I don't usually have time to reply to all posts.

14
Blog Posts / Re: Combat sound effects in 0.6a
« on: August 31, 2013, 06:58:08 AM »
Oh, by the way, did you get around to revise the character menu sounds for 0.6a? IIRC they were added rather hasty and unfinished to the current version.

I honestly don't quite remember, I probably did touch up those some time. Currently it just feels like I've touched up everything at some point during this release cycle. :)

15
Blog Posts / Re: Combat sound effects in 0.6a
« on: August 31, 2013, 04:21:12 AM »
Did you make new shield sounds for every size/tech combo as well?

Would still like to know this.

Sorry I missed this!

There are currently 3 different sound levels of shields up/down and each is pitch/volume-modulated separately for every size/tech combination. Basically what this means is that two frigates will share the same shield sound source, but if the other is low and the other high tech then there will be slight variations in pitch and/or volume. Will have to see if I get around to fleshing it out more, it's not very high on the list of priorities at the moment since we are still missing some completely new sounds for new game mechanics introduced in 0.6a.

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