request: finer control over audio volume

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filbo
Posts: 647
Joined: Fri Jun 20, 2014 10:06 am

request: finer control over audio volume

Post by filbo »

Playing RnD late at night with kids' room in earshot -- I found that even 10% volume sounded louder than I wanted it to. I added the numbers 1, 2 and 5 to the list of volumes. I think this accounts nicely for the non-linear behavior of human hearing vs. what the computer generates; while keeping the Setup -> Sound -> xyz Volume menu's appearance pleasing.

With sound and looping at 1% each and overall system-wide volume at 96%, RnD sounds great.

If I set system volume to 33%(*), I have to set RnD volumes to 10% to reach a similar audio experience (feels like 15% would be identical).

So that's a bit weird, but anyway, I like it better with this non-linear tail at the beginning of the volume scale; gives me much more useful control. Whereas I can't see where it would harm anyone.

Even better, I guess, would be actual 1-100-by-1 counters (like the "how many emeralds?" counter in level creator). But I didn't know how to set that up, so my local bodge will do for now...

(*)33% is about where I keep system volume so I can hear FB chat notices without waking the dead.
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Holger
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Re: request: finer control over audio volume

Post by Holger »

Added 1%, 2% and 5% to volume controls for sound and music settings just as you suggested.

The reason why I did not use counter gadgets (which would allow for setting the volume in single steps from 1 to 100) is that I think it's faster and easier to use with the current list, as you only need two mouse clicks to change volume that way.
filbo
Posts: 647
Joined: Fri Jun 20, 2014 10:06 am

Re: request: finer control over audio volume

Post by filbo »

Thanks, looks great.

Your reason for picklist vs. counter makes sense. But I still yearn for finer control :)

I wonder if there's some way they could be combined? Could there be a pick item that means "user control" and presents a counter widget?

I noticed if I set an odd volume (volume_music: 73) by editing setup.conf; then change something unrelated (I changed fullscreen resolution), then setup.conf is rewritten without destroying the odd volume. But if I actually go to Setup -> Sound & Music (and change nothing), it appears as "100"; if I then save, it's written back as 100.

Just simply preserving such user-entered odd values would be a step forward...
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Holger
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Re: request: finer control over audio volume

Post by Holger »

> I wonder if there's some way they could be combined? Could there be a pick item that means "user control" and presents a
> counter widget?

Either this, or something like the "change page nr" selection widget on the "change" tab of custom elements, which is a (dirty) combination of a selectbox and a counter widget. Unfortunately, the widgets in the setup menu are totally different from the widgets in the level editor (both regarding how they are used and regarding how they are implemented). So I think such thing won't come too soon to the setup menu...

> I noticed if I set an odd volume (volume_music: 73) by editing setup.conf; then change something unrelated (I changed
> fullscreen resolution), then setup.conf is rewritten without destroying the odd volume. But if I actually go to Setup -> Sound
> & Music (and change nothing), it appears as "100"; if I then save, it's written back as 100.

Hm, that's right. And very ugly.

> Just simply preserving such user-entered odd values would be a step forward...

Done -- works similar to the window size option now.

Please "git pull". :)
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