DROPPED Lucidity Sound FX (by FoggyPath)

[Kesta]

Discussion thread:

Lucidity Sound FX by FoggyPath

Wiki Link

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I just installed this and am about to test. The overall idea sound (see what I did here ?   ) interesting.

Those are remastered audio files from the original game, "cleaned" audio-wise in order to make their sound stand-out, clearer and more accurate/precise.

The authors state that this improvement in quality is essentially aimed at users with headphones or computer-speaker, which tend to build up on the original bad-quality of a sound and make it even worse.

 

The current version contains about 2000 remastered sound file (roughly 38% of the original files according to the authors). 212 of them are already covered by AOS, which should have the priority.

 

Nice context STEP-wise I think, since someone recently brought up the fact that STEP needed a good review of its audio setup.

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Compares for STEP

 

Bow Shooting Sounds: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_Nlyy2ueu0bHF2a295dTA4N2s/view?usp=sharing

 

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List of oddities:

• When traveling between Whiterun and Riverwood at night there is a sound in the loop which sounds like a woman screaming.
• The fires in Inns have a low, bassy roar to them when the fires are nowhere near large enough to create such a roar (experienced in Riverwood Inn)

[Neovalen]

I downloaded and installed this recently as well to check it out... noted a few improvements but need more time with it.

[Nebulous112]

This mod is definitely a keeper. Check out the samples on the Nexus page to see an example of the difference. Currently covers 68% of Skyrim audio (3188 files), and the author is still working on it.

 

This covers a lot of stuff that AOS2 doesn't cover (i.e. ambient sounds).

 

I didn't install the spells optional (found within the main archive), as AOS2 covers that. When I installed, I moved this to the top of the STEP "2.L. Sounds" category so that everything else had a higher priority.

 

Result:

- 470 conflicted files provided by other mods

- 2731 non-conflicted files

 

I haven't even tried to see if this could replace other audio mods in STEP yet. I imagine it could...

 

If STEP is looking at changing anything up on the audio side, I definitely recommend testing this out.

[TechAngel85]

Marked for Testing.

[Darth_mathias]

Been watching this one ever since it showed up on the nexus

 

listening to the before and after samples. All it really sounds like he's done it put the orginal sample through a normalizer then played around a bit with EQ, compression and reverb. but the result is vastily superior to vanillia.

[pt1f4b]

i agree, after hearing some of the samples, it's not significant for all of them, but it's certainly an improvement to vanilla sounds.

[Nebulous112]

An update on the status - the mod is currently up to 81% of all vanilla Skyrim sounds remastered. This does not include the DLC, however FoggyPath has stated that he plans to work on the DLC sounds when the main Skyrim sounds are done.

 

If accepted, the main concern with this mod will be what else to drop in the sounds section (if anything), and where to place it in relation to override priority with the sound mods we do keep. Testing it in relation to the other mods will be a pain, but worse case scenario we can always just let everything else override it.

 

Anyway, I have continued to play with this in my personal setup since I posted about it earlier. I absolutely love it. I still haven't gotten around to testing it vs. AOS or any of the other sound mods in STEP, but I have heard enough to vote.

 

I vote Core for this one.

[Foggypath]

so here i am..


The Mods Author Foggypath


and here is what i have to tell:


Lucidity Sound FX is something that has never been done before. The one and only remastering suite on skyrim nexus.

There are other mods..replacing sounds..changing the game reverb settings, which results in a bigger loss of originality..so i had to do something different.

Lucidity also provides some selfmade sounds, yet those are separated from the main file and the counterparts are remastered.



i would like to reply to the post above

You are partially right..but..there has been no normalizing done as i really hate to do it..

It was not just a BIT of equing the sounds..in fact it took me the most time..running those samples through several equalizers..all carefully adjusted..listening over and over again to the results..dealing with very bad ringing parts in a lot of sounds..in some cases i used more complicated techniques such as splitting samples in low, mid and high range..for better results..this is very time-consuming of course.

as with equing a lot of mistakes can be done..and there still are some samples which i`d like to give a second run..but for the most of it i am really satisfied.

Nevertheless..the most difficult part with remastering those sounds..is the fact that skyrim adds it`s own reverb while playing the game..as such you will not realize the bad sounding parts that much, as they get washed out and are simply put further back on the sound stage..this saved a lot of time for Bathesda`s sound engineer on mastering those..he didn`t need to care too much about shitty tones, and also did not win any awards with it.


The above is the reason why you discover a lot of very loud parts inside almost all of the samples..which really are over the top just to preserve some punch and make them more hearable.

Personally i do not agree with the way it`s been executed..the reverb of skyrim could have been done much better..probably this is what you get when dealing with a timeline to finish the game.


BUT changing the games reverb settings in a wrong way may cause very bad things.


Let me show you a comment by a user :

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For the longest time, dwemer ruins sounds get horrifically distorted over time, and unless your install is very stable, can even cause it to crash. It seems to be an infinite reverb problem. The worst place for it, is Avanchnzel, specifically at the chamber right before the boilery. I have both AOS and v1e installed and initially, it sounded fine. Subsequent zoning back and forth made the problem progressively worse. I had to stop Skyrim. The sound (badly distorted dwemer audio) persisted even after shutdown. I had to terminate Skyrim in background processes since the sound had hooked itself into memory and wouldn't terminate on its own. The problem gets worse longer you stick around, or zone back and forth between cells. If you speed through the cells, it doesn't get a chance to work its problem.

I have mixed feelings about AoS and its many many patches, and lack of updates. My end goal, is a singular, updated, all in one sound mod, and yours is best to come along in a while. Like I say, only sound issue is that dwemer ruins thing. I think Ill run through it again with AoS un-installed. See what happens.

Update. Yup. Dwemer ruins distortion is totally an AoS thing.

Good to loose a bloated faulty mod and free up 4 esp at same time-and improve quality. I cant believe how these dwemer ruins sound now compared to the awful mess that was AoS.

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As you see strange things can happen..and may never be fixed..with Lucidity you do not have any resound issues as such..it does not touch the original games reverb settings..imho there really is no need for that.


However..when you compare Lucidity Sound FX to the original creation..you`ll also notice a big difference in the lowend section of the sounds.

While Bathesda`s sound engineer made it all sound pretty much the same (now this is something which i call normalized)..Lucidity provides an accurately defined low tune with a vast variety.

I do not blame Mark Lampert for not beeing able to invest more time on this..as he already had a lot to do with the creation of those sounds.

Lucidity also creates the illusion of a fatter bass on cheap desktop/laptop speaker systems by shifting it up to a higher frequency range..but at the same time keeps the original bass, which is adjusted to the better.

Keep in mind in nature nothing sounds equal..therefore Lucidity rings truly natural..there is always a vdifference in any specific sound category on how the lowend (let`s say up to 400 hz) twangs.

 

In case of the native sonority, it appears to be just some big hum and nothing really changes in almost all samples.
 

Of course, there is far more going on..it is pretty much described on the mods page..i really do not want to write a book about it.


Now what is gonna happen with Lucidity in the near future?

Well, i am gonna reach the 100%..all of the original game samples will be remastered (right now at 81%)

I am gonna put my ears on the DLC`s..not only that..i try to improve already remastered sounds even further if possible.

 

Lucidity is gonna get updated on a ragular basis, as usual.

 

Give it your vote if you think it is worthy already to be part of the official S.T.E.P...if not right now, then maybe in the future.


If you have any questions or suggestions place a comment or pm me directly.

i am always helping with anything related to the mod.

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/73838/?

Have fun!

Foggypath

Edited July 19, 2016 by Foggypath

[Darth_mathias]

well foggypath I am a live sound engineer (and i have done bit of recording too) myself and I have always hated the vanilla sound stage. Sound mods is one the those areas that not many people tackle so I truly appreciate the work you have been doing of the mod.

 

Edit: just so you also know i have had your mod install for a while now and i would not play the game without it.

Edited July 19, 2016 by TechAngel85

[TechAngel85]

I'm about to start another personal game due to all the changes and updates to various mods so I've stuck this one at the end of the sound section. This is having it overwrite all the sounds in STEP just for testing.

 

Currently it would completely replace:

• Better Horse Pain Sounds
• Lower Sounding Thieves Guild Door
• Ultra Realistic Bow Shoot Sounds

I'll definitely have to remember to test it against Lower Sounding Thieves Guild Door because that one vanilla audio file was terrible and way too loud. I also will be playing an archer character so the bow sounds will be tested right away.

[DoubleYou]

The dwemer awfulness I have experienced, but I also thought I heard it in vanilla, but I could be wrong.

[TechAngel85]

Posted bow sounds to OP. STEP wins this for me so I'll be moving it up above Ultra Realistic Bow Shoot Sounds so that mod wins.

[TechAngel85]

My (very) initial impression of this mod is the ambience is very good. The sounds you hear while just exploring are great. My one negative thus far are the footsteps are too loud in every situation I've heard them in. Ground, wood floor, stone floor, wood walkway...they're all too loud. Just listen to the NPC walk around Dragonsreach on that floor.

[hishutup]

My (very) initial impression of this mod is the ambience is very good. The sounds you hear while just exploring are great. My one negative thus far are the footsteps are too loud in every situation I've heard them in. Ground, wood floor, stone floor, wood walkway...they're all too loud. Just listen to the NPC walk around Dragonsreach on that floor.

I would consider this a nonissue as those sounds have dedicated sliders but that only applies if all the sounds are loud are the same level. Now if individuals stand out, I would consider that an issue.

[TechAngel85]

Footsteps has a dedicated slider?