AMD Catalyst 13.35 BETA Driver With Mantle and HSA Support Scheduled For End of January

[PorkPieCat]

Sound is very important. I don't understand people who say it's no big deal just because it's not noticeable unless you pay attention to it.

I'll adjust my analogy. Try watching a movie through a tinny little speaker playing mono sound. Now listen to it in DTS and 7.1 on a proper sound system. That's the difference between what we've got today and what we can get with dedicated 3D sound hardware.

Unless you've got something good to compare it too, it's difficult to see the difference. Sound in games nowadays is the bare minimum, it's using whatever resources are left over. Trueaudio should give it a massive improvement.

I agree. I don't think it takes an audio enthusiast to notice the lacking quality of audio in games right now.

I started really pc gaming like a year ago, and the poor quality of audio in games was one of the first things I noticed. Games right now emulate positioning by just lowering or raising the volume of a sound effect in different sound channels... sounds really rubbish at times. At some point down the line, I'm looking forward to games not needing damage indicators anymore because the sound will be so accurate that you'll naturally turn in the direction from where the sound "came from". TrueAudio sounds very cool. It's also nice that it doesn't rely on specific sound cards. Microsoft just reimplemented hardware audio into Windows (8 and above), so ASUS and Creative are bound to come out with new EAX/OpenAL cards at some point, but I'd rather not have to buy another sound card so soon after I spent £200 on my current one... It's great that I can rely on a GPU for DSP and my sound card for sound quality.

So the 290 will just process the audio then pass it back via my motherboards audio devices and put it out via the headphones? or do i need to use headphones plugged into the monitor and its delivered down the hdmi to the monitor?

I think the TrueAudio chip is meant to do the DSP, and then send that to whatever sound output you prefer.

 

[flopper]

I agree. I don't think it takes an audio enthusiast to notice the lacking quality of audio in games right now.


I think the TrueAudio chip is meant to do the DSP, and then send that to whatever sound output you prefer.

Bf4 sound engine for example is awful.
never hear footsteps around you etc..

yea dsp and send out to your own card and headphones etc..

 

[DamnedLife]

That is cool but I don't have that chip and the demo of that Gen Audio sounds stunning.

Geez it's pre rendered, meaning your hw can't proccess it in real time, but that video has it already proccessed before hand and you just play it back as in playback.

 

[Gregster]

Geez it's pre rendered, meaning your hw can't proccess it in real time, but that video has it already proccessed before hand and you just play it back as in playback.

Yer, I was having a blonde moment. Real time sound like that would be cool and I can see the benefit

I wonder if people read threads or just some of it

 

[DamnedLife]

Hahahah I just read the entire thread lol sorry

 

[DamnedLife]

So end of january means what exactly? The last day or somewhere along the line of last week?

 

[Gregster]

No probs and did make me chuckle, as you was the second person

 

[shankly1985]

Bf4 sound engine for example is awful.
never hear footsteps around you etc..

yea dsp and send out to your own card and headphones etc..

The point with BF4 audio it's aim is to sound realistic, so not hearing foot steps when in full out war is understandable.
The foot step sound works fine when no other massive sounds are happening around you.

 

[GoogalyMoogaly]

I have to say that I agree with graphics being more important than audio.
How much varies from one game to another.

If you had to play BF4 with no sound or no display which would you pick?
Yes you may hear someone coming, but you can't hear the doors, walls, windows, etc.

Now consider something like, Civ5, Total War, XCOM or Football Manager. Would you rather have no sound or no display?
I think it's important to remmeber that not every game is a FPS.

I'm not saying it's not better, I'm just saying that using my speakers I don't notice much of a difference, if any.
I believe headphones help, but then if I could be bothered to wear my 3D glasses all the time I could play games in 3D, but I don't want to have to wear 3D glasses and headphones when I play games.

I think games generally look really good in 3D too. I find FPS games really hard to play in 3D though as aiming is awkward...

I'm also struggling to imagine when companies will be able to make 3D sound vital to a game. Same as making 3D display vital to a game, too small a market to be a requirement (or even just a massive advantage).

 

[Confused Stu]

So end of january means what exactly? The last day or somewhere along the line of last week?

From past recent experience, expect last day of January to first 2 weeks of February. Personally, can't wait - new drivers with new features are always cool, even if I have nothing to use them on! Wonder if AMD might release a tech demo of TrueAudio along with the drivers?

 

[Steampunk]

It shouldn't be either or, we should have great sound and great graphics. Up until now, it's only been graphics that have been advanced, while sound has actually gone backwards.

You don't buy a terrific TV and then put up with crappy sound - you go out and get an amp or a soundbar to get the full experience.

 

[GoogalyMoogaly]

You don't buy a terrific TV and then put up with crappy sound - you go out and get an amp or a soundbar to get the full experience.

You don't know me at all do you!

EDIT: But I agree it'd be good to have good graphics and audio. Just pointing out that I disagreed with them having similar importance with regards to my gaming experience.

 

[LtMatt]

From the horses mouth...

Spoiler

Source
http://www.rage3d.com/board/showpost.php?p=1337422811&postcount=35

 

[flopper]

The point with BF4 audio it's aim is to sound realistic, so not hearing foot steps when in full out war is understandable.
The foot step sound works fine when no other massive sounds are happening around you.

No they dont.
I played trough 4 latest Bf games and sound is done wrong.
it just is.
done with dice and their battlefield series as they just suck ass currently thanks to ea.

 

[humbug]

No they dont.
I played trough 4 latest Bf games and sound is done wrong.
it just is.
done with dice and their battlefield series as they just suck ass currently thanks to ea.

I would agree with that, i have thought this myself.

You often hear someone walking about close to you but can't tell where its coming from.

There seems to be very little in the way of directional sound, even stereo.

 

[LtMatt]

You often hear someone walking about close to you but can't tell where its coming from.

You can with a G35 7.1 headset to be fair.

 

[BubbySoup]

If you had to play BF4 with no sound or no display which would you pick?
Yes you may hear someone coming, but you can't hear the doors, walls, windows, etc.

I believe both Rutger Hauer & Denzel Washington would do just fine without graphics in BF4 - so long as the sound was accurate enough

 

[Rusty0611]

You can with a G35 7.1 headset to be fair.

You can pick people out with a good pair of headphones and a good sound card with headphone amp. And then you don't have the drawbacks of poor sound quality from a surround sound headset.

Not to say that TrueAudio won't improve things further but most people buy headsets to game with and the sound quality on them is naff compared to a dedicated pair of good quality headphones.

 

[humbug]

You can with a G35 7.1 headset to be fair.

I'm sure, but even with a stereo headset you should be able to tell if someone is on the left or right. often you can't.

Its like Damage detection, often it shows you being hit from the opposite side from where you actually are.

Very annoying.

On sound, i might try it in virtual surround. see if that helps.

Edit. my headset is a Plantronics Gamecom. its old now but really quite good.

 

[LtMatt]

I use the home cinema setting and have it set to surround below that, in bf4's audio options. Seems to work well with the 7.1 headset.