Volume

[Tanja]

it would be great, when with the import of the sound effects a volume slider (or similar) could be inserted in the options menu of the compiled game.
this i do miss. also i beg you to consider, that some people (like me) hate it, when they download a game, start it and instantly must quit it, because the sound is much too loud. they have to turn volume down and then start the game again. (not everyone has active boxes)

[bluemonkmn]

Has that been a problem with SGDK2 games?  I thought that SGDK2 games (FMOD) honored the system's volume preferences better than version 1.

[Tanja]

for sgdk2 games i can't say that, i haven't played so many of them. i meant games in general.
but generally i think it is a good thing to have the choice of voluming changing in the games itself. because sometimes one could want to have his system volume at a high level, but not the game sound concurrently. or the other way.

[bluemonkmn]

Well, there's already 3 volume settings, 2 of which the player can control at runtime.  It seems excessive to add another.  Usually, if a person sets their speakers very loud, they will turn the WAV audio volume on the volume control down on their system so those sounds aren't so loud.  SGDK2 honors this so it shouldn't be a problem (version 1 would override this setting, and that was a problem, but version 2 shouldn't have a problem).  And even if the game has a volume control, you're just as likely to hear a really loud sound before you realize that the settings are too loud.  Then you're likely to have to quit the game to fix it (so the volume control in the game would be useless).  It's more likely that a player will want to fix it without the game running than to leave it running with the loud sound and fix it.

I should probably take care of problems that actually exist before thinking about hypothetical problems .

Of course, for people clever enough to think of showing the player their volume settings before beginning the game with real sounds, they have the option of building a volume control into their game.  You could make a screen for the player to set the game's volume level.  You could put the volume level in a counter and use that counter (divided by 100 -- it must be betwen 0.0 and 1.0) in the sound effect's "Volume" property at runtime.  But I don't want to force all games with sounds to implement this the same way, so I don't think it would make sense to hard code it into the options dialog where a player wouldn't even notice it before the game begins playing sounds.

[Tanja]

Well, there's already 3 volume settings, 2 of which the player can control at runtime.

i forgot to mention that i speak of fullscreen games. when the game is running in a window, of course one can adjust the systems volume simply by two clicks.
with a fullscreen game, one cannot. (also not everybody has sound boxes with buttons on them to turn the sound lower by hand)

Usually, if a person sets their speakers very loud, they will turn the WAV audio volume on the volume control down on their system so those sounds aren't so loud. 

of what geek/nerd type of user do you speak? 98% of normal windows users can hardly be presumed to even know they can right-click and open this special window. to say nothing of they would know what the wave slider does.

And even if the game has a volume control, you're just as likely to hear a really loud sound before you realize that the settings are too loud.  Then you're likely to have to quit the game to fix it (so the volume control in the game would be useless).  It's more likely that a player will want to fix it without the game running than to leave it running with the loud sound and fix it.

well, different people, different behaviours. if a fullscreen app suddendly comes with a loud music (of course, not so loud it would harm my ears), i take a few seconds time to search for an options menu to turn the sound lower. i don't like it to quit the game, turn sound lower, start the game again, find the sound too loud still, quit it, turn the sound lower, start the game again....

this is my position. i don't think i'm able to explain it better.
your tip (showing volume level to the user) i will take with thanks 

edit: yeah you may be right. game makers who care how sound behaves, build it the way you suggested. the others not. maybe this is a point to be discussed further. don't know.

But I don't want to force all games with sounds to implement this the same way, so I don't think it would make sense to hard code it into the options dialog

so what alternative can you imagine?

[MadMath]

I just happen to have been one of those unique situations where a volume control would have been helpful. However, your advice about using the counter solves half of the problem. I made the volume counter increment and decrement when the plus and minus buttons are pressed, so that the volume could be changed in game. The only problem is that the sound must be restarted for the change to take effect (not much of a problem with sound effects, but it could be a problem with background music).

[Tanja]

The only problem is that the sound must be restarted for the change to take effect (not much of a problem with sound effects, but it could be a problem with background music).

oh, well. this destroys my great plan to make a screen with real-time volume preview.
well then. i may do the same with sound effects instead of the background music, and connect the effect volume with the music volume. hm, that's just the same as the other way, but not so usual for the user.

(but that there's no ingame chance to change volume for background music is nevertheless bothersome)

[MadMath]

I have found a solution!!! It requires just a little bit of code editing. In the file "fmodbase.cs" you will have to add the following line in the PauseSound class (I'm not much of a programmer so forgive me if my terminology is wrong):

ERRCHECK(Sound.channel.setVolume(Sound.Volume));

Then, add a "Pause" rule after any rule that changes the volume. Set it to false

It may not be very clean coding, but it works.

[bluemonkmn]

Another option is to make another copy of this line inserted between "case SoundReplay.Continue:" and "return;" in fmodbase.cs.
ERRCHECK(Sound.channel.setVolume(Sound.Volume));

Then the volume will be adjusted immediately, if you are constantly calling PlaySound with the continue option.

[MadMath]

I think I like bluemonkmn's option better. Thanks.

[Jam0864]

.....or you could just push FN and page up/down.....
well that's if you have an FN button, all the people around here have one, but different countries have different keyboards unfortunately. 

[Tanja]

there are zillions of keyboard types, all with different prices, and these volume + - buttons are an extra thing one cannot take for granted.

[MadMath]

That is why I use the + and - keys next to the numbers (i.e. the ones I used to type this message) for volume control.

If anyone doesn't have those keys on their keyboard, they probably need a new keyboard.

[Tanja]

You could put the volume level in a counter and use that counter (divided by 100 -- it must be betwen 0.0 and 1.0) in the sound effect's "Volume" property at runtime. 

everything is working perfect, but this. i don't get i working to make a proper float of the counter value. every number that is left, is 0 or 1.
this is my code:

Code: [Select]

protected override float Volume
      {
         get
         {
            return (float)(Counter.Volume_BG_Music.CurrentValue/1000);   // the counter's max is 1000
         }
      }


[MadMath]

Try this:

return (Counter.Volume_BG_Music.CurrentValue/1000f);   // the counter's max is 1000

This worked for me.