Weapon sound volume issue

[jyudoki]

In this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te0mZ5Asa00 you'll notice that weapons 5-9 sound equal in volume to 1-4. In the game however, weapons 5-6 sound much weaker compared to other weapons and other sounds. I've seen a number of videos of vanilla Doom 3 (presumably running on older hardware?) that sound just like in this video.

I can confirm this is an issue with both the vanilla version of Doom 3 on my PC as well as this source port, so not sure if this is due to modern hardware or a bug?

[DanielGibson]

Which weapons do you mean, chaingun and grenades?

Could be due to OpenAL vs old sound backends (Doom3.exe supports both, dhewm3 only supports OpenAL).
Or maybe id Software reduced the weapon sound volumes in an update?

[jyudoki]

The chain gun, rocket launcher and BFG are the most obvious. I have also played around a bit with the equaliser for my headphones and i can make it less obvious. The bigger issue is the ladder bug that I posted thats been in the game since day 1. Any chance of being able to fix that? Get Outlook for iOS<https://aka.ms/o0ukef>

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________________________________ From: Daniel Gibson <notifications@github.com> Sent: Sunday, November 15, 2020 5:12:50 PM To: dhewm/dhewm3 <dhewm3@noreply.github.com> Cc: jyudoki <justin.yu84@outlook.com>; Author <author@noreply.github.com> Subject: Re: [dhewm/dhewm3] Weapon sound volume issue (#326) Which weapons do you mean, chaingun and grenades? Could be due to OpenAL vs old sound backends (Doom3.exe supports both, dhewm3 only supports OpenAL). Or maybe id Software reduced the weapon sound volumes in an update? — You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub<https://nam05.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Fdhewm%2Fdhewm3%2Fissues%2F326%23issuecomment-727521710&data=04%7C01%7C%7Cd72ad5921ca64142a0cc08d8892d7b64%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637410175716307001%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=CaTT3BB22aORY%2F2lAxh8wIVqOCT7hVjpcn8O1AtXvSo%3D&reserved=0>, or unsubscribe<https://nam05.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Fnotifications%2Funsubscribe-auth%2FARW6FSWO2SO6TOULD6EESGTSP5WOFANCNFSM4TSCW5RQ&data=04%7C01%7C%7Cd72ad5921ca64142a0cc08d8892d7b64%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637410175716316985%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=iMzoUE0%2Fhhw8qZ1wEWdZ02DihwiKcaZOXxUJxWx3A8w%3D&reserved=0>.

[darkcharmander]

With EAX enabled, it seems to me that the Shotgun sounds really weak, just like the Chaingun. When I disable EAX, the Shotgun sounds louder, but the Chaingun sounds relatively weak still. It could just be my imagination, but I think that the sound of all weapons should have a bit more volume and 'Oomph'!

[DanielGibson]

dhewm3 doesn't change any weapon sound settings or similar, but it's possible that its EAX/EFX support sounds a bit different than in the original (where EAX only worked with Creative Labs soundcards, IIRC?).

The changes with EAX disabled are probably due to OpenAL - either you're comparing the sound with the old sound backend, or modern OpenAL sounds a bit different to the openal32.dll you used back then.
You said that even Vanilla Doom3 sounds different now, can you try if Vanilla Doom3 1.3.1 sounds like you expect it to if you disable OpenAL in it (enter s_useOpenAL 0 in the console and restart the game)?

[jyudoki]

Just tried original Doom 3 with Open AL off and it sounds the same. The video I linked above and the Xbox version both sound a lot beefier however, with not only louder weapon sounds (chaingun being main example), but also better mixing and separation when it comes to other sounds. For example in Dhewm3 and Doom 3 PC, the chaingun sound is completely drowned out when there are imps screeching or attacking, which doesn't appear to be the case on the Xbox version.

Here's a playthrough of the Xbox version which highlights the differences:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3RACpyfOxw&list=PLIf3-4jwpiyvXUIFI5TblBWHnrDJHApum&index=11

[DanielGibson]

As I wrote in #355, dhewm3 sounds (pretty much) like original Doom3 which is intended, if you want it to sound like XBox Doom3 then creating a Mod (with modified sounds or maybe just sound shaders) would be the way to go.

[itaranto]

As I wrote in #355, dhewm3 sounds (pretty much) like original Doom3 which is intended, if you want it to sound like XBox Doom3 then creating a Mod (with modified sounds or maybe just sound shaders) would be the way to go.

I've just tried the original Doom 3 (1.3.1), and the Chaingun (for example) sounds OK there. While in dhewm3 it sounds lower than the Pistol, Shotgun or Machinegun.

Also, weapons like the Machinegun sounds slightly different, I have no idea why, I tested with a clean config on both cases, no mods. In both cases EAX was disabled.

[DanielGibson]

Are you using the latest version of dhewm3?

Apart from that: Differences are likely due to using OpenAL vs using Doom3's integrated software audio mixer (that has been removed in dhewm3). Or did you try with OpenAL in Doom3 1.3.1 (while using EAX is only possible with OpenAL, using OpenAL should also be possible with EAX disabled).

[itaranto]

Are you using the latest version of dhewm3?

Yes, dhewm3 1.5.2.1305 according to the logs.

Apart from that: Differences are likely due to using OpenAL vs using Doom3's integrated software audio mixer (that has been removed in dhewm3). Or did you try with OpenAL in Doom3 1.3.1 (while using EAX is only possible with OpenAL, using OpenAL should also be possible with EAX disabled).

I used the default config which I presume it has OpenAL enabled in the original?

I disabled EAX trough the UI and also tested with s_useOpenAL 0 in DoomConfig.cfg with no noticeable changes.

I used the AUR package to install the original Doom 3 1.3.1.

[DanielGibson]

Original Doom3 only supported OpenAL on Windows, so you'd have to use that for comparison :-/

Doom3 for Linux used the aforementioned software mixer, dhewm3 only supports OpenAL (the Doom3 OpenAL backend has been modified extensively to support all platforms and to support "EAX effects" via EFX, which openal-soft provides on all platforms)

This issue sounds a bit like #179, but that was already resolved in 1.5.0

[itaranto]

Original Doom3 only supported OpenAL on Windows, so you'd have to use that for comparison :-/

Would it help if I test the original Doom 3 1.3.1 on Windows?

This issue sounds a bit like #179, but that was already resolved in 1.5.0

OK, but this seems to affect certain guns only.

[DanielGibson]

Would it help if I test the original Doom 3 1.3.1 on Windows?

Yes: Comparing OpenAL and the "classic" software sound backend on Doom3 1.3.1 on Windows would help - if OpenAL sounds the same as it does with dhewm3, then we know that it's not a regression in dhewm3. If it sounds the same as the software sound backend, that'd give us a starting point to look for the problem

OK, but this seems to affect certain guns only.

it was the same back then (but for different weapons): it only happened when lots of loud noises were played at the same time, like when shooting with the shotgun at a metal wall thats nearby (=> apart from the shot itself there are loud impact sounds from each pellet)

[itaranto]

Yes: Comparing OpenAL and the "classic" software sound backend on Doom3 1.3.1 on Windows would help - if OpenAL sounds the same as it does with dhewm3, then we know that it's not a regression in dhewm3. If it sounds the same as the software sound backend, that'd give us a starting point to look for the problem

So I installed the Steam version of the original Doom 3 (1.3.1). This version doesn't come with OpenAL, so I copied dhewm3's OpenAL32.dll and placed it in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Doom 3. I made sure seta s_useOpenAL "1" was set in DoomConfig.cfg. The game had already seta s_libOpenAL "openal32.dll" set by default.

The weapons' volumes are correct both with and without OpenAL, I'm pretty sure it's using OpenAL because I remember seeing some log in the game's console complaining about the missing DLL which disappeared after copying the DLL.

At least I can identify the Chaingun and the Rocket Launcher as the "bad" ones, I cannot say much about the others.