EAX and OpenAL - TTLG Forums

ZylonBane on 1/9/2014 at 16:30

Has anyone made a list of EAX presets that work correctly and are actually useful under OpenAL? I've been messing with the EAX types, and jumping around on a tile floor there seems to be no difference that I can hear between Small Live, Small Normal, and Small Dead. I can barely tell the difference between Large Live and Large Dead, but it seems so slight as to be hardly worth the effort of picking one over the other.

I managed to find the EAX 1.0 reverb presets (http://multimediasoft.biz/amewp/help/asost_000042.htm) here (surprisingly hard to dig up!). They don't entirely match DromEd's names. I guess LGS decided to take some liberties with the naming. As near as I can tell, they match up as follows:

Code:

EAX DromEd
0: None -1: default
1: Generic 0: Generic
2: Padded cell 1: Small Dead
3: Room 2: Small Normal
4: Bathroom 3: Type 3
5: Living room 4: Type 4
6: Stone room 5: Large Normal
7: Auditorium 6: Type 6
8: Concert hall 7: Type 7
9: Cave 8: Large Live
10: Arena 9: Caverns
11: Hangar 10: Type 10
12: Carpeted hallway 11: Dead Hallway
13: Hallway 12: Normal Hallway
14: Stone corridor 13: Live Hallway
15: Alley 14: Tunnels
16: Forest 15: Outside
17: City 16: Type 16
18: Mountains 17: Type 17
19: Quarry 18: Type 18
20: Plain 19: Large Dead
21: Parking lot 20: Small Live
22: Sewer pipe 21: Sewers
23: Underwater 22: Type 22
24: Drugged 23: Type 23
25: Dizzy 24: Type 24
26: Psychotic 25: Type 25

Note how LGS accidentally reversed a couple of the names. Their "Large Live" is actually "Cave", and their "Cavern" is actually "Arena". Whoops!

If anyone out there really, REALLY wants to know what each preset actually does, here's the relevant info from the (http://kcat.strangesoft.net/openal.html) OpenAL source code. First, the definitions:

Code:

#define EFX_REVERB_PRESET_GENERIC \
{ 1.0000f, 1.0000f, 0.3162f, 0.8913f, 1.0000f, 1.4900f, 0.8300f, 1.0000f, 0.0500f, 0.0070f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 1.2589f, 0.0110f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.9943f, 5000.0000f, 250.0000f, 0.0000f, 0x1 }

#define EFX_REVERB_PRESET_PADDEDCELL \
{ 0.1715f, 1.0000f, 0.3162f, 0.0010f, 1.0000f, 0.1700f, 0.1000f, 1.0000f, 0.2500f, 0.0010f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 1.2691f, 0.0020f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.9943f, 5000.0000f, 250.0000f, 0.0000f, 0x1 }

#define EFX_REVERB_PRESET_ROOM \
{ 0.4287f, 1.0000f, 0.3162f, 0.5929f, 1.0000f, 0.4000f, 0.8300f, 1.0000f, 0.1503f, 0.0020f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 1.0629f, 0.0030f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.9943f, 5000.0000f, 250.0000f, 0.0000f, 0x1 }

#define EFX_REVERB_PRESET_BATHROOM \
{ 0.1715f, 1.0000f, 0.3162f, 0.2512f, 1.0000f, 1.4900f, 0.5400f, 1.0000f, 0.6531f, 0.0070f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 3.2734f, 0.0110f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.9943f, 5000.0000f, 250.0000f, 0.0000f, 0x1 }

#define EFX_REVERB_PRESET_LIVINGROOM \
{ 0.9766f, 1.0000f, 0.3162f, 0.0010f, 1.0000f, 0.5000f, 0.1000f, 1.0000f, 0.2051f, 0.0030f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.2805f, 0.0040f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.9943f, 5000.0000f, 250.0000f, 0.0000f, 0x1 }

#define EFX_REVERB_PRESET_STONEROOM \
{ 1.0000f, 1.0000f, 0.3162f, 0.7079f, 1.0000f, 2.3100f, 0.6400f, 1.0000f, 0.4411f, 0.0120f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 1.1003f, 0.0170f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.9943f, 5000.0000f, 250.0000f, 0.0000f, 0x1 }

#define EFX_REVERB_PRESET_AUDITORIUM \
{ 1.0000f, 1.0000f, 0.3162f, 0.5781f, 1.0000f, 4.3200f, 0.5900f, 1.0000f, 0.4032f, 0.0200f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.7170f, 0.0300f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.9943f, 5000.0000f, 250.0000f, 0.0000f, 0x1 }

#define EFX_REVERB_PRESET_CONCERTHALL \
{ 1.0000f, 1.0000f, 0.3162f, 0.5623f, 1.0000f, 3.9200f, 0.7000f, 1.0000f, 0.2427f, 0.0200f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.9977f, 0.0290f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.9943f, 5000.0000f, 250.0000f, 0.0000f, 0x1 }

#define EFX_REVERB_PRESET_CAVE \
{ 1.0000f, 1.0000f, 0.3162f, 1.0000f, 1.0000f, 2.9100f, 1.3000f, 1.0000f, 0.5000f, 0.0150f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.7063f, 0.0220f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.9943f, 5000.0000f, 250.0000f, 0.0000f, 0x0 }

#define EFX_REVERB_PRESET_ARENA \
{ 1.0000f, 1.0000f, 0.3162f, 0.4477f, 1.0000f, 7.2400f, 0.3300f, 1.0000f, 0.2612f, 0.0200f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 1.0186f, 0.0300f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.9943f, 5000.0000f, 250.0000f, 0.0000f, 0x1 }

#define EFX_REVERB_PRESET_HANGAR \
{ 1.0000f, 1.0000f, 0.3162f, 0.3162f, 1.0000f, 10.0500f, 0.2300f, 1.0000f, 0.5000f, 0.0200f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 1.2560f, 0.0300f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.9943f, 5000.0000f, 250.0000f, 0.0000f, 0x1 }

#define EFX_REVERB_PRESET_CARPETEDHALLWAY \
{ 0.4287f, 1.0000f, 0.3162f, 0.0100f, 1.0000f, 0.3000f, 0.1000f, 1.0000f, 0.1215f, 0.0020f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.1531f, 0.0300f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.9943f, 5000.0000f, 250.0000f, 0.0000f, 0x1 }

#define EFX_REVERB_PRESET_HALLWAY \
{ 0.3645f, 1.0000f, 0.3162f, 0.7079f, 1.0000f, 1.4900f, 0.5900f, 1.0000f, 0.2458f, 0.0070f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 1.6615f, 0.0110f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.9943f, 5000.0000f, 250.0000f, 0.0000f, 0x1 }

#define EFX_REVERB_PRESET_STONECORRIDOR \
{ 1.0000f, 1.0000f, 0.3162f, 0.7612f, 1.0000f, 2.7000f, 0.7900f, 1.0000f, 0.2472f, 0.0130f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 1.5758f, 0.0200f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.9943f, 5000.0000f, 250.0000f, 0.0000f, 0x1 }

#define EFX_REVERB_PRESET_ALLEY \
{ 1.0000f, 0.3000f, 0.3162f, 0.7328f, 1.0000f, 1.4900f, 0.8600f, 1.0000f, 0.2500f, 0.0070f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.9954f, 0.0110f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.1250f, 0.9500f, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.9943f, 5000.0000f, 250.0000f, 0.0000f, 0x1 }

#define EFX_REVERB_PRESET_FOREST \
{ 1.0000f, 0.3000f, 0.3162f, 0.0224f, 1.0000f, 1.4900f, 0.5400f, 1.0000f, 0.0525f, 0.1620f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.7682f, 0.0880f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.1250f, 1.0000f, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.9943f, 5000.0000f, 250.0000f, 0.0000f, 0x1 }

#define EFX_REVERB_PRESET_CITY \
{ 1.0000f, 0.5000f, 0.3162f, 0.3981f, 1.0000f, 1.4900f, 0.6700f, 1.0000f, 0.0730f, 0.0070f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.1427f, 0.0110f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.9943f, 5000.0000f, 250.0000f, 0.0000f, 0x1 }

#define EFX_REVERB_PRESET_MOUNTAINS \
{ 1.0000f, 0.2700f, 0.3162f, 0.0562f, 1.0000f, 1.4900f, 0.2100f, 1.0000f, 0.0407f, 0.3000f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.1919f, 0.1000f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.2500f, 1.0000f, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.9943f, 5000.0000f, 250.0000f, 0.0000f, 0x0 }

#define EFX_REVERB_PRESET_QUARRY \
{ 1.0000f, 1.0000f, 0.3162f, 0.3162f, 1.0000f, 1.4900f, 0.8300f, 1.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0610f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 1.7783f, 0.0250f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.1250f, 0.7000f, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.9943f, 5000.0000f, 250.0000f, 0.0000f, 0x1 }

#define EFX_REVERB_PRESET_PLAIN \
{ 1.0000f, 0.2100f, 0.3162f, 0.1000f, 1.0000f, 1.4900f, 0.5000f, 1.0000f, 0.0585f, 0.1790f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.1089f, 0.1000f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.2500f, 1.0000f, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.9943f, 5000.0000f, 250.0000f, 0.0000f, 0x1 }

#define EFX_REVERB_PRESET_PARKINGLOT \
{ 1.0000f, 1.0000f, 0.3162f, 1.0000f, 1.0000f, 1.6500f, 1.5000f, 1.0000f, 0.2082f, 0.0080f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.2652f, 0.0120f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.9943f, 5000.0000f, 250.0000f, 0.0000f, 0x0 }

#define EFX_REVERB_PRESET_SEWERPIPE \
{ 0.3071f, 0.8000f, 0.3162f, 0.3162f, 1.0000f, 2.8100f, 0.1400f, 1.0000f, 1.6387f, 0.0140f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 3.2471f, 0.0210f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.9943f, 5000.0000f, 250.0000f, 0.0000f, 0x1 }

#define EFX_REVERB_PRESET_UNDERWATER \
{ 0.3645f, 1.0000f, 0.3162f, 0.0100f, 1.0000f, 1.4900f, 0.1000f, 1.0000f, 0.5963f, 0.0070f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 7.0795f, 0.0110f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 1.1800f, 0.3480f, 0.9943f, 5000.0000f, 250.0000f, 0.0000f, 0x1 }

#define EFX_REVERB_PRESET_DRUGGED \
{ 0.4287f, 0.5000f, 0.3162f, 1.0000f, 1.0000f, 8.3900f, 1.3900f, 1.0000f, 0.8760f, 0.0020f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 3.1081f, 0.0300f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 0.2500f, 1.0000f, 0.9943f, 5000.0000f, 250.0000f, 0.0000f, 0x0 }

#define EFX_REVERB_PRESET_DIZZY \
{ 0.3645f, 0.6000f, 0.3162f, 0.6310f, 1.0000f, 17.2300f, 0.5600f, 1.0000f, 0.1392f, 0.0200f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.4937f, 0.0300f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.2500f, 1.0000f, 0.8100f, 0.3100f, 0.9943f, 5000.0000f, 250.0000f, 0.0000f, 0x0 }

#define EFX_REVERB_PRESET_PSYCHOTIC \
{ 0.0625f, 0.5000f, 0.3162f, 0.8404f, 1.0000f, 7.5600f, 0.9100f, 1.0000f, 0.4864f, 0.0200f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 2.4378f, 0.0300f, { 0.0000f, 0.0000f, 0.0000f }, 0.2500f, 0.0000f, 4.0000f, 1.0000f, 0.9943f, 5000.0000f, 250.0000f, 0.0000f, 0x0 }

Second, what all those numbers actually mean:

Code:

props = &reverblist.props;
effect->Props.Reverb.Density = props->flDensity;
effect->Props.Reverb.Diffusion = props->flDiffusion;
effect->Props.Reverb.Gain = props->flGain;
effect->Props.Reverb.GainHF = props->flGainHF;
effect->Props.Reverb.GainLF = props->flGainLF;
effect->Props.Reverb.DecayTime = props->flDecayTime;
effect->Props.Reverb.DecayHFRatio = props->flDecayHFRatio;
effect->Props.Reverb.DecayLFRatio = props->flDecayLFRatio;
effect->Props.Reverb.ReflectionsGain = props->flReflectionsGain;
effect->Props.Reverb.ReflectionsDelay = props->flReflectionsDelay;
effect->Props.Reverb.ReflectionsPan[0] = props->flReflectionsPan[0];
effect->Props.Reverb.ReflectionsPan[1] = props->flReflectionsPan[1];
effect->Props.Reverb.ReflectionsPan[2] = props->flReflectionsPan[2];
effect->Props.Reverb.LateReverbGain = props->flLateReverbGain;
effect->Props.Reverb.LateReverbDelay = props->flLateReverbDelay;
effect->Props.Reverb.LateReverbPan[0] = props->flLateReverbPan[0];
effect->Props.Reverb.LateReverbPan[1] = props->flLateReverbPan[1];
effect->Props.Reverb.LateReverbPan[2] = props->flLateReverbPan[2];
effect->Props.Reverb.EchoTime = props->flEchoTime;
effect->Props.Reverb.EchoDepth = props->flEchoDepth;
effect->Props.Reverb.ModulationTime = props->flModulationTime;
effect->Props.Reverb.ModulationDepth = props->flModulationDepth;
effect->Props.Reverb.AirAbsorptionGainHF = props->flAirAbsorptionGainHF;
effect->Props.Reverb.HFReference = props->flHFReference;
effect->Props.Reverb.LFReference = props->flLFReference;
effect->Props.Reverb.RoomRolloffFactor = props->flRoomRolloffFactor;
effect->Props.Reverb.DecayHFLimit = props->iDecayHFLimit;

GORT on 2/9/2014 at 19:02
I've wanted to use that Psychotic effect, but sadly not all sound cards with EAX can use this setting. My sound card can since it has the hardware for EAX. It has a deep reverb effect with a pitch shifting up and down. The Dizzy effect is another one. It has kind of the same reverb effect but with a modulation effect on the pitch. These EAX effects can be implemented, but it can cause problems in DromEd. The EAX description could be garbled up or not be shown on the roombrush, or it could cause DromEd to crash.

EDIT: Hmmm... it seems that v.1.22 will label them as type 22-25 for me. Cool.

GORT on 2/9/2014 at 20:48
Just tested all of those from 22 to 25. They all work fine for me without crashing. Maybe OpenAL helped this to work. Can someone please test this out on a non-creative sound card to confirm this? I would like to use some of these effects in a few of my missions. :cheeky:

AntiMatter_16 on 2/9/2014 at 21:15
They all seem to work on my integrated Realtek HD Audio, on Win8.

ZylonBane on 3/9/2014 at 15:36
Updated first post to reflect names displayed by current version of NewDark.

It's curious how some of DromEd's descriptions seem to be flat-out wrong. Stone Room is "Large Normal"? Plain is "Small Live"? Yikes.

LarryG on 3/9/2014 at 18:07
"Wrong" is in the ear of the listener in this case. I don't know the history of the LGS naming, but they may have chosen the names to make it clear to the developers which EAX effect was decided on for Thief room types. Rather than have the developers question the use of "Stone Room" for large, normal thief rooms, they just called it "Large Normal". That name also makes it easy to pick the correct EAX type to match the sound designer's intentions. Thief was revolutionary in its sound design when it was released. The sounds fit marvelously to create the mood. Just my thoughts on the matter.

ZylonBane on 3/9/2014 at 19:19
Quote Posted by LarryG
That name also makes it easy to pick the correct EAX type to match the sound designer's intentions.

Uh, all the EAX presets already had names that matched the sound designer's intentions. The names were picked by the actual EAX sound designers. Then LGS came along and made up their own names. LGS did *not* design the EAX presets.

Quote:
Thief was revolutionary in its sound design when it was released. The sounds fit marvelously to create the mood. Just my thoughts on the matter.

Aaand now you're just rambling about things that have barely anything to do with sound card reverb presets.

LarryG on 3/9/2014 at 23:18
I seem to have made my point poorly and you misunderstood what I was trying to say.

I believe that LGS had a sound designer (IIRC, Eric Brosius's actual title was Lead Audio Designer). And he held audio planning meetings with his design team (a guy named Kemal Amarasingham and another guy named Ramin Djawadi), and they put together both the sound concepts but also the specifications for the rest of the designers to use when adding sound to the levels. This specification as it applied to EAX was encapsulated in the names given to the EAX types. This way there was no need for a look-up table for which EAX setting to use for a specific type of room. The name already reflected the Thief specific sound design. It doesn't matter that is was different from the "standard" list. Done this way made it easier on the developers to get the EAX settings in line with the intended sound of the game.

That's my understanding, and I'm sticking with it until Eric Brosius comes by and corrects me.

john9818a on 5/9/2014 at 04:35
While striking a sewer lamp with a blackjack, I noticed a very faint reverb on Small Live that is not present in Small Dead. Small Normal was actually between Small Live and Small Dead as expected, but the differences are so negligible with OpenAL that it would not make much difference which one was used. I have also noticed that sounds that come from behind closed doors seem to sometimes come from no specific direction as opposed to using the original hardware acceleration with EAX.