Realistic sound management

[Cleperli]

I don’t know if this has been suggested before, but I think it would be great to have in KSP 2 a “realistic sound mode”. That way, sound coming from a spacecraft would be normal to the human ear on the surface of Kerbin, but would muffle out with altitude (depending on the atmosphere’s thickness), would be muted in vaccum and change in properties depending on the atmosphere’s composition on other planets. This would create several interestingly different sound environments, with each planet having its own sound properties.

So, do you think that sound is an important thing in the gameplay or that it is a waste of time for the developers ?

[FlywheelsGroove]

I think that this is going to go into the category of "game feel" rather than realism. I know that if I released a giant torchship from the gantries, towed it away from the station, and lit the engine, I would expect to hear it rumbling away under my rocket. Anything else would be anti-climactic.

While not strictly realistic from the POV of the camera, you would certainly hear it onboard the spacecraft. 

As for the atmospheric properties changing the sounds, I absolutely want to see that. Not entirely sure if it's somthing they'd work on, maybe if they already have the base sounds finalized they'd have time. It would certainly be cool.

[The Aziz]

Nothing better for player's experience than huge engines firing in complete silence. (Note: some people turn off the music completely)

[mcwaffles2003]

Where are we hearing the sound from? Is it from the position of the camera or from the perspective of the kerbals/probe core? If its from the camera there would still be sound in space up close as some of the exhaust would "hit" the camera instilling a vibration or sound. If it is from the kerbals/probe core the sound would be projected through the structural body of the ship and still remain quite audible in space.

I like the balance KSP struck with it already. Loud on the the ground while muffled and distant sounding in space.

[cubinator]

I would love to have realistic sound available. It is so interesting to NOT be able to hear your rocket in space.

[Bej Kerman]

Sounds over 100-200hz should get quieter, not the whole spectrum, I still want some sort of feedback when doing stuff in space.

[Cleperli]

1 hour ago, cubinator said:

I would love to have realistic sound available. It is so interesting to NOT be able to hear your rocket in space.

That isn’t the whole point here : you can already do that in KSP 1. I think you should still be able to hear your rocket if you wanted to (and you should definitely hear it in IVA view).

The more interesting part would be the variations of sound depending on  the celestial body your rocket is on. (In contrast to KSP 1 where explosions all sound the same everywhere)

 

[StopIteration]

On 7/30/2021 at 4:53 AM, mcwaffles2003 said:

Where are we hearing the sound from? Is it from the position of the camera or from the perspective of the kerbals/probe core? If its from the camera there would still be sound in space up close as some of the exhaust would "hit" the camera instilling a vibration or sound. If it is from the kerbals/probe core the sound would be projected through the structural body of the ship and still remain quite audible in space.

I like the balance KSP struck with it already. Loud on the the ground while muffled and distant sounding in space.

Actually this raises a good question: what do rocket engines really sound like from inside the spaceship when in vacuum?  I would imagine that it might sound quite different (not just muffled).  This is a question I actually tried to figure out before for making sound effects for my own game, but I struggled to find any good source material so I pretty much gave up and made a pretty generic sound like you would hear from a rocket launch in the atmosphere.  But I still wonder what it actually sounds like.

[mcwaffles2003]

8 hours ago, StopIteration said:

Actually this raises a good question: what do rocket engines really sound like from inside the spaceship when in vacuum?  I would imagine that it might sound quite different (not just muffled).  This is a question I actually tried to figure out before for making sound effects for my own game, but I struggled to find any good source material so I pretty much gave up and made a pretty generic sound like you would hear from a rocket launch in the atmosphere.  But I still wonder what it actually sounds like.

From in the cockpit I'd take a guess that it wouldn't be any different than travelling in atmosphere since rockets are outrunning the sound of the engines most of the time anyways.