ACCEPTED Audio Overhaul for Skyrim (by David Jegutidse)

[exploiteddna]

not to get off topic, but im curious how MO uses any more storage space than any other manager ..?..?

I redirect all of my downloads to go to my HDD and only use the SSD for actual installed mods (and steam/skyrim/MO). If i saved all the downloads to the default MO directory, I'd run out of space really fast :) (especially since i dont like deleting mod packages, for fear they will abruptly be removed from nexus)

[phazer11]

I just had a lot of mods installed sometimes both the Lite and Ultra versions or sometimes both the Optimized and Unoptimized versions, etc. There were between 500-750 mods listed in Mod Organizer (not active).

 

As for the mod what exactly do you patches cover (I haven't had time to look at them)?

[exploiteddna]

im just trying to patch up everything, which is proving be an endless task. it really started as a favor to the author, but then grew to be much more, and eventually i couldnt continue without the infrastructure/tools that Nexus offers, so i decided just to open a new mod page to host everything instead of bogging down the main AOS mod page. The rest is history. I think Ive got about 20 different patches that cover all the most popular mods.

[phazer11]

Ah I get you, that does make sense. As far as patching SoS for AoS I don't envy you if you do decide to do it.

Oh I forgot, the other thing that makes Mod Organizer take up more space lies in it's functionality. Every mod in mod organizer lies in it's own folder unchanged (unless you do so manually) from the files extracted from the .bsa or the 7z etc archive you got the mod out of they are not overwritten but by hierarchy which is based upon where the mod is in your list of installed mods for the particular profile you're using at the time.

[Nearox]

It's a LOT of patches that you did, great work!

 

@ phazer11, there are only like 25 conflicting formid's between AOS and the 3 SoS esps, I don't know if anything else needs patching in some other way though. If I would be sure what to patch I'd do it myself, but I really don't know between those 2 mods :)

[exploiteddna]

It's a LOT of patches that you did, great work!

 

@ phazer11, there are only like 25 conflicting formid's between AOS and the 3 SoS esps, I don't know if anything else needs patching in some other way though. If I would be sure what to patch I'd do it myself, but I really don't know between those 2 mods :)

yeah, i have never really used SoS myself (not for any real length of time) ... this doesnt help when it comes to making patches. If I have used the mod and know how it works and how it plays in-game, it makes decisions about what to patch a lot easier. Someitmes decisions have to be made about the author's intent, etc. and that type of thing is inherently difficult, much more so if i dont use the mod in my personal game. 

nonetheless, i just finished and uploaded the Requiem patch, so I will get to SoS soon.

 

For now, im going to go actually play some skyrim.. for a little bit :)

[phazer11]

It's a LOT of patches that you did, great work!

 

@ phazer11, there are only like 25 conflicting formid's between AOS and the 3 SoS esps, I don't know if anything else needs patching in some other way though. If I would be sure what to patch I'd do it myself, but I really don't know between those 2 mods :)

yeah, i have never really used SoS myself (not for any real length of time) ... this doesnt help when it comes to making patches. If I have used the mod and know how it works and how it plays in-game, it makes decisions about what to patch a lot easier. Someitmes decisions have to be made about the author's intent, etc. and that type of thing is inherently difficult, much more so if i dont use the mod in my personal game. 

nonetheless, i just finished and uploaded the Requiem patch, so I will get to SoS soon.

 

For now, im going to go actually play some skyrim.. for a little bit :)

Amen to that. I plan on doing a 2 day spree once I get my new Graphics card installed (along with the SSD I have waiting to be put in) in my Desktop which will be after I get back from the boonies for Thankgiving (and consequently after most of my class work).

[Rune11]

One of the main features i love about AOS is that, when you cast the explosive fireball spell (not firebolt), the sound dynamically changes depending on how far you are from the point of impact. When youre in the mountains and the fireball explodes in the distance, it sounds super realistic IMO.. it sounds much more faint and has a "sound traveling" effect to it. But, I have not noticed any sort of problem with the bow, although I use my own custom sounds for bow release/fire.

Based on the fact the author has implemented the type of acoustics that I described for the fireball, I find it odd that they would be lacking from the arrow impact. Either I just simply haven't noticed, one of the other STEP sound mods is overwriting (either the sound files or in the plugin), or you have some record conflict in your load order that is causing this.

 

One of the first aspects of AOS that hooked me is exactly the believable and realistic sound distance attenuation.  I recall that version 1.2 had some issues with the impact sounds happening to "close" to the player but it has certainly been fixed in 1.4.  I wholeheartedly agree with Neovalen on the bow sounds, they are one of my favorite parts of the mod.  It just seems more impactful and...dangerous for lack of a better word.  When you hear an arrow zip by your head, it makes you want to take cover in a hurry!

 

Overall, after playing with this mod for a quite a few hours now, I find that it is a huge improvement over the vanilla system while still retaining the vanilla flavor.  I don't know that mixing and matching would yield an ideal result because AOS just meshes better with the game world in general.  You start throwing too many other sounds in there and it throws off that careful balance.  I think some sounds could use some tweaking here and there (some weapon impacts for instance) but nothing serious. 

 

In order to be able to fully appreciate this mod I think it is important to follow the mod authors advice to just start up the game and play for a few hours.  You really have to let go of what you're so used to hearing after hundreds of hours of playing and after a while you realize how much better everything sounds.  For me, audio is every bit as important as graphics in terms of immersion, and it is all to often left by the wayside these days.  So having a quality sound overhaul like this is paramount in my opinion.

[exploiteddna]

One of the main features i love about AOS is that, when you cast the explosive fireball spell (not firebolt), the sound dynamically changes depending on how far you are from the point of impact. When youre in the mountains and the fireball explodes in the distance, it sounds super realistic IMO.. it sounds much more faint and has a "sound traveling" effect to it. But, I have not noticed any sort of problem with the bow, although I use my own custom sounds for bow release/fire.

Based on the fact the author has implemented the type of acoustics that I described for the fireball, I find it odd that they would be lacking from the arrow impact. Either I just simply haven't noticed, one of the other STEP sound mods is overwriting (either the sound files or in the plugin), or you have some record conflict in your load order that is causing this.

One of the first aspects of AOS that hooked me is exactly the believable and realistic sound distance attenuation.  I recall that version 1.2 had some issues with the impact sounds happening to "close" to the player but it has certainly been fixed in 1.4.  I wholeheartedly agree with Neovalen on the bow sounds, they are one of my favorite parts of the mod.  It just seems more impactful and...dangerous for lack of a better word.  When you hear an arrow zip by your head, it makes you want to take cover in a hurry!

 

Overall, after playing with this mod for a quite a few hours now, I find that it is a huge improvement over the vanilla system while still retaining the vanilla flavor.  I don't know that mixing and matching would yield an ideal result because AOS just meshes better with the game world in general.  You start throwing too many other sounds in there and it throws off that careful balance.  I think some sounds could use some tweaking here and there (some weapon impacts for instance) but nothing serious. 

 

In order to be able to fully appreciate this mod I think it is important to follow the mod authors advice to just start up the game and play for a few hours.  You really have to let go of what you're so used to hearing after hundreds of hours of playing and after a while you realize how much better everything sounds.  For me, audio is every bit as important as graphics in terms of immersion, and it is all to often left by the wayside these days.  So having a quality sound overhaul like this is paramount in my opinion.

yeah man, this is good feedback. Even i havent ever run the mod without some of my other sound mods.. definitely could try this at the beginning of my next character.

[mothergoose729]

The comparison I am doing here is mostly vanilla vs AOS, with a some allusions to STEP:

 

Environmental:

The improvements to wind, storm, and water sounds are really amazing, and much better than anything in vanilla or STEP. The sounds of rushing water next to rivers and waterfall is exquisite (not to exaggerate). It makes the whole thing come to life. AOS in particular is much better than vanilla in varied water sounds. A rushing river is much louder and deeper than a little stream. The big bodies of water different from the latter two.

 

STEP currently includes SoS, which modifies environmental sounds as well. I haven't played much with SoS. The reason I don't really care for SoS is they try really hard to add ambient noises to a lot of places. Sometimes this is really cool, but a lot of times it is, for me at least, rather distracting. In particular, the city ambient noises always confused me. There is the sound of random chatter, shutting doors, barking dogs, and no corresponding producer of the noise. Skyrim does suffer a great deal from a sense of emptiness, but I don't think adding phantom noises is the best way to go about remedying that problem.

 

AOS adds and improves skyrim ambient noises but in a more subtle way. The noises in caves have indistinct echos, and sounds that seemed to be sampled from rocks tumbling down a cavern or splashing in water. In the outdoors, the sounds are mostly insects. Crickets chirping and when you pass by butterflies or dragon flies you can hear a faint buzzing. Its rather quite, so you have to be actively listening for it. Overall I really like it personally.

 

Added Effects:

AOS has added some features to the sound system in skyrim, some of which were already in STEP via other mods and some of which weren't. I want to talk about my favorite first; the echo and re verb for interior cells. I did not realize how much this effect was sorely missing until suddenly it was there. When you are speaking to an NPC in a cave or fort with stone walls, it is infinitely more immersive to hear their voice echoing, the sounds of their footsteps seeming to bounce of the walls, the sounds of combat and havok reverberating and hollowing, ect. All of the sounds, nearest I can tell, echo appropriately in interiors in a wonderful way. Combat sounds in interior with echo is really quite a treat. It is for this reason alone I will probably use AOS from now on, I personally can not live without it.

 

The outdoor voices and sounds have a slight echo too, it you really listen for it. Sometimes I imagined that when next to the mountains or the mouth of a cave the effect became more distinct but I am not sure of it. It sounded to me like the echo effects in some interiors, like the interior of the halls in whiterun, where slightly different from cave interior and others but I am not entirely sure.

 

AOS also has a sound profile for human footsteps depending on the equipment worn by the PC or NPC and by the type of ground they are walking on. I distinctly noticed differences for stone/roads vs land vs wood vs snow. The clanking of armor and packs can be heard with most armors, although not with the lightest armors or clothing.

 

This mod does not, unfortunately, have a sound profile for horses, like the horse steps mods included in STEP. AOS also lacks any kind of splash effects at all. Jumping into water produces no noise and no corresponding visual. This is a flaw I am sure, and I plan to leave a comment on the mod page about it.

 

Combat:

AOS makes a lot of changes to combat. The weapon draw sounds are much smoother and less metallic. I noticed hardly any difference between it and smooth draw mod. The weapon impact sounds are not personally to my liking ( I would prefer something a bit deeper and less metallic) but they are very similar to improved combat sounds. There are different noises for swinging and impacts for different kinds of weapons. The sounds for two handed weapons are really pretty nice but I wish the one handed weapons sounds were deeper, especially for impact.

 

The sound of bows shooting and of bow impact has also been reworked. The best feature is that arrows now whistle as they go by, making shootouts much more exciting. The bows twang very loudly now after each shot, which at first I didn't like (and I have to admit is probably not very realistic) but it does make the game a great deal more exciting. Its is the one feature in AOS I have warmed up to the most.

 

Spells in AOS have been tweaked as well. The sounds of rune explosions is actually really, really loud now. The shock effects has been changed from something resembling a thunder bolt to something closer to a tesla coil (vanilla is more like thunder and AOS is more like electric chair). The fire sounds have a stronger emphasis on burning and crackling and a little less so sound like a blow torch. I am pretty neutral on those changes. Most of the other spells schools sound pretty much the shame, with an exception for summoning creatures in conjuration, which now sounds completely bad ass. The whole sound of summoning has been increased, so it louder, and there is really cool howls and screaming noises, like demons coming from the nether. Its actually pretty amazing.

 

It should be also be noted, that all combat noises are positional now, including impact sounds for arrows and projectile spells. I am not entirely sure if that was in vanilla or STEP already.

 

Creatures:

AOS does creature sounds too. The biggest improvement I noticed was the spider footsteps sounds in AOS are much better than improved animal sounds, imo. It is a scuttling and scurrying kind of noise, I really enjoyed it. The mammoths and giants in AOS sound, simple put, amazing. Really, really really awesome, one of my favorite parts about the mod. When the giants crush their clubs, it sounds like the earth is literally shaking. The depth and bass in their footsteps is also much better in my opinion.

 

I did notice that some of the smallest creatures, like foxes and rabits, had foosteps that were a bit to loud. You should not be able to hear a fox going by, it should be almost imperceptible. Instead I found that it was quite audible. Might come down to personal preferences. The dear and elk by contrast have a much more hoovy sort of sound which I very much appreciated.

 

I mentioned it before and I will mention it again hear, AOS has no foosteps profiles for horses. They sound the same everywhere. It is pretty much exactly like vanilla nearest I can tell, and I am not a fan overall.

 

AOS patches: I used all of the patches from michaelw and they all seemed to work. I think AOS completely replaces improved weapon impacts effects and smooth sheath and draw sounds and so they don't feel necessary. I didn't see the need for the enhanced blood textures patch (nearest I can tell everthing worked find with or without it). I am sure michaelw had reasons for posting it, so its probably necessary. The weapon impact effects patch is definitely needed for some cases, in particular the signs around whiterun will spark inappropriately and arrow heads fail to produce sparks at all with just AOS.

 

I didn't get a chance to go through any dungeons in my playthrough last night. I really wanted to hear the sounds of traps and the ambient noises for tombs in particular. There are a variety of other sounds I either didn't notice or didn't hear as well so there is more testing to be done. The racial power for nords "rallying cry" was really cool, but I didn't get a chance to test any shouts which is unfortunate.

 

The biggest flaws in AOS right now is the bug(?) with spalshes and the lack of horestep profiles that we have come to expect from other mods. I personally am a bit partial to the vanilla flame and shock sounds. I would have liked a slightly tweaked, maybe more baser version of those. The sounds from the smaller animal foosteps are a bit to loud. I would like it if the sounds of bow shots, mainly the twaning of the bow string, was quited a bit. I also think the impact and swing sounds for some one handed weapons could be a bit deeper. I had a sound mods ( I think it was smooth draw) that had a weapon sheathing sound that I really came to love. It sounds like metal on leather until it reached the bottom, with a light dull thud of the hilt hitting ths scabbard. It was the best sound sample I have heard for weapon sheathing, although it doesn't appear to be in AOS or the most recent smooth sheathe and draw in STEP. So if that could end up in AOS somehow that would be pretty cool I think... while I am wishing for things.

 

That being said, overall, AOS brings so much to STEP that it didn't have before. Most notably interior reverb is an amazing feature that should have been a part of skyrim from the beginning IMO. I personally can no longer play without it. The sounds for water are really awesome, the sounds for giants and mammoths are top notch, and the improvements to rune explosions and summoning creatures. Everything in AOS is positional, which adds quite a bit to immersion too. Even with its flaws I hardily recommend it.

[Aiyen]

My only issue with the mod is that I would have to make a patch for my lighting and weather mods.... I finally got this done for SOS, and it is a chore!

 

If not for this I would have tried it already!

[TehKaoZ]

@ mothergoose729

 

there is a splash sound for jumping in and out of water however, I noticed when jumping into water the sound doesn't play frequently and more times than not I just hear a standard landing noise, so maybe it is a bug idono.

 

Enhanced Blood was patched because it was overriding the arrow impact sound, so it sounded like a dull thud no matter what you shoot, it was a minor conflict.

[phazer11]

Hey, Aiyen two words. Blackreach Textures.

Anyways I'm closing in on the halfway point for my tester install so this will be next on my list for candidates.

[Spock]

Audio overhaul is featured on Mod Sanctuary 77. You can find it here:

 

 

The video really made me want to try this out.

[torminater]

How does this compare to Sound Propagation Overhaul?