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Author Topic: OrbiterSound 5.0 - Frequently asked Questions  (Read 18948 times)

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Offline DanSteph

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31 July 2020, 18:38:07
FAQ for OrbiterSound 5.0 (Or higher)

Note: OrbiterSound 5.0 was specially designed for Orbiter 2016 and was released in august 2020.

I have no sound in Orbiter 2016 after the installation of OrbiterSound 5.0
In "Orbiter.log" you'll find something like:
============================ ERROR: ===========================
Failed loading module Modules\Plugin\OrbiterSound.dll (code 126)
[Orbiter::LoadModule | .\Orbiter.cpp | 600]
===============================================================
In this case install DirectX https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8109
If it still doesn't work, you can also try:
https://aka.ms/vs/16/release/vc_redist.x86.exe
https://www.microsoft.com/en-US/download/details.aspx?id=48145

Does vessel designed for OrbiterSound 4.0 work in OrbiterSound 5.0 ?
Yes, the compatibility is total. A vessel that was designed to work on OrbiterSound 4.0 with the configuration file or the C++ SDK will work without any change on OrbiterSound 5.0 (or higher). You have some new features as animation sound in external view, you only need to add a small distance parameter in the vessel's sound configuration file.

I miss the Calm Spaces music of 4.0 version or the Air on G string of the 3.5
Look into folder "Sound\Mp3\More Web Radio listed by genre", they are both here... copy them back in "Mp3" folder.

Can I install OrbiterSound 5.0 over an old OrbiterSound installation?
No problem if it's Orbiter 2016, the installer takes care of removing the outdated files, even from the 4.0 version,  while keeping your other add-on sounds and MP3s intact.

I don't hear any sounds and the SoundConfig editor complains about a DSOUND.DLL
You MUST have at least DirectX 9 properly installed on your computer. See first question.

Sound is louder or very weak when my head is straight or pan left/right.
Check your window's speaker settings (see doc). OrbiterSound uses the default window's speaker settings so if the model is wrong (for example quadraphonic instead of your two stereo) you might experience such problems.

Sounds are not correct running ->playback<- scenario
There is a bug in playback scenario of Orbiter: the focus change are never called and always stay on the first vessel in scenario. This bug might be corrected by Martin in next version of Orbiter.

Installer says it's not an Orbiter 2016 version
Installer checks for "Orbiter_ng.exe" file; you probably deleted it. Re-install Orbiter and keep Orbiter_ng.exe file even if you don't use it for Orbiter visualization projects. (DX9 clients work well now, you'd miss something)

Is OrbiterSound locked at 22050Hz 16 bits?
This is not true anymore in 5.0 version. By default it runs at 44100Hz. If your computer doesn't support it well you can reduce it to 22050Hz. Edit the file "Sound/cfg/Editable_Advanced_Configuration.cfg"

Is it possible to still have sound when Orbiter's window doesn't have focus?
Yes, again edit the file "Sound/cfg/Editable_Advanced_Configuration.cfg"

How can I change volume or enable/disable sounds in Orbiter?
Launch the Soundconfig.exe editor located in Orbiter's main directory; it contains all the options you want to fully customize sounds in OrbiterSound.

I want to customize a vessel's sound or options
You can do that easily with the vessel's sound configuration file, see documentation ('Doc/OrbiterSound Documentation')

I want a special sound per vessel like for a VC button, an animation etc. etc.
You can also do it  using the vessel's sound configuration file. See documentation ('Doc/OrbiterSound Documentation')
For special events that are not animations or one of the 43 stock sounds of one vessel, you must still use
the C++ sound SDK. This SDK is really simple to use (look the small example provided) and can be found
in the Sound folder of Orbiter installation

I see nn wave into a radio folder and only some of them are played
Check if there is a "Sequential.cfg" into this folder. If this is the case, only the WAVs referenced into this file will be played while it allows to play radio WAV in sequence. You can edit the "sequential.cfg" file to add the missing wave with the Sequential_Editor.exe located in the sound folder (or click the link)
Otherwise remember that only 60 WAVs max are allowed for a radio folder.

I don't have wind sound on Mars or not as same volume compared to OrbiterSound 3.5
Sound intensity vary as the square root of pressure, so you have sound on Mars but it is very tiny; you should put the volume almost at max to hear it. This is more realistic.

I think that some sounds should not behave like that in reality.
Math for sounds in a space-supersonic-multi gas density environment are incredibly complex and cannot be fully simulated yet even on a super computer. Of course it's even less possible on a gamer's computer with a hardware limitation. OrbiterSound is tailored to give a good flight feeling in many situations from low speed flight to mach 24 reentry, flyby, ground camera etc. etc. and this with only ~60 default sounds (included VC sounds). Flight simulators usually don't have to deal with such an incredible range of speed and gas conditions. Unless there is a bug somewhere you'll have to live with some limitations.

Last I didn't want only to simulate space simulator sound but I wanted to do it *very* fast with almost no impact on frame-rate. OrbiterSound is highly optimized and sometimes a sound or a feature lack just because of this: performance care.

I don't have sound in front of the ship when I'm in external camera
Supersonic means the vessel is faster than sound, so in front of the vessel you can't hear it's sound. You can deactivate this effect in the Soundconfig.

When OrbiterSound will feature multi-ship sound? (Sound from ships that don't have focus)
Probably never! Games that do allow that have limited number of objects with limited number of sounds in a limited environment and they control all the objects and sounds directly. OrbiterSound allows up to 120 sounds per ship (2x60) with very complex processes for 3D, in an unlimited environment, speed and atmosphere with no direct control over 50% of the sounds (what authors do with SDK sounds). In many cases such feature would fail, create performance problem and all this for very short flyby in atmosphere only (Orbiter being a *space* simulator, not a MMORPG).

The wind sound stops almost instantly when I zoom out from planet "XXXX"
This is due to an artifact of non-linear camera zoom (zoom difference increase as you are further from vessel) in Orbiter. On planets with high pressure, as the drop from earth's pressure (101kPa) to zero happens at much higher altitude, it means that instead of say 40 zoom key-presses you need only 3 key-presses: it sounds almost instant.

Faq english correction: Marvin42 - Much thanks ! :beer:

« Last Edit: 23 August 2020, 02:22:52 by DanSteph »

Offline jacquesmomo

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Reply #1 - 31 July 2020, 18:56:11
If someone want to correct my typo in this FAQ, you are welcome.

 :wonder: May be just this (the comma) ?

Can I install OrbiterSound 5.0 over an old OrbiterSound installation?
No problem if it's Orbiter 2016, the installer takes care of removing the outdated files, even from the 4.0 version  while keeping your other add-on sounds, and MP3s intact.

No problem if it's Orbiter 2016, the installer takes care of removing the outdated files, even from the 4.0 version,  while keeping your other add-on sounds and MP3s intact.

the rest seems perfect to me! :applause:
 :love:

Mes add-ons sont là !

Offline DanSteph

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Reply #2 - 31 July 2020, 21:35:33
Done, thanks Jacques  :beer:


Offline Ripley

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Reply #3 - 18 August 2020, 17:32:14
Important note
OrbiterSound 5.0 is NOT released yet...
Hi Dan.
This has to be corrected...  ;)


Offline DanSteph

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Reply #4 - 18 August 2020, 17:39:24
This has to be corrected...  ;)

Much thanks Ripley


Offline PhantomFury

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Reply #5 - 19 August 2020, 00:15:10
Heya Dan, so happy to see this great addon back and more things to come! Just wondering, would you consider adding that exterior space music from the 4.0 version? I like the new epic-sounding score for this one too but I kinda miss the calming spacey tone of that one as well. Thanks for all that you do!


Offline DanSteph

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Reply #6 - 19 August 2020, 01:08:18
I kinda miss the calming spacey tone of that one as well. Thanks for all that you do!

Look into "Sound\Mp3\More Web Radio listed by genre" the two last files of the list... "(nostalgia..."  ;)

I'll add this in the FAQ....