Thief + Sensaura audio = WOW!
Jason Steele
my experience of the Manse was so darn unsettling to me. :^) (see my
glowing review a month or two ago) And why when i've tried to show it
to others the effect has more often been less substantial than I
hoped. And the soundcard's 3d positional audio seems to be a major
difference. Enough of a difference that I almost think it's worth
having a recommended hardware mention for a Sensaura card if there's
any Thief FAQ's out there.
Why is this so important? It adds massively to the immersion,
especially in a game where sound is more important than sight. And
the difference seems to be more than linear - being that much more
immersed in a normal castle mission where you hear several guards
walking around with such perfect accuracy that you know exactly which
room they're in, whether they are on your level, one floor up, two
floors up, or three floors up, and so forth, yeah it can raise your
adrenalin. But that much more immersion in an undead mission is very
unnerving, and in the Manse (being full of Haunts, hallucinations,
disembodied screams and so forth) was so unsettling to me it was the
first time I ever remember having to sleep with the lights on that
night RL. And no i'm not kidding. ;P
Note that most of these comments will apply more to headphones than
speakers. The immersion effect is alot more (Garret speaking from
'inside your head' sounds like that, and the outside world sounds like
it's outside. Vs. speakers where everything is outside), there is
less coloration of position or echoes from the speakers or the room,
and the near-field effects that are exclusively in Sensaura are far,
far more realistic. (when a sound is supposed to be right by your ear,
hearing it from speakers 3 feet away is hard to simulate) Finally,
the positioning isn't screwed up by moving your head around.
(although it would seem that it should add to immersion, at least for
me the combination of my own ear's positional information with the
simulated soundcard stuff detracts some)
---
Having had a chance to compare the SoundBlaster Live to Sensaura-based
audio cards (actually found on alot of inexpensive and supposedly
'inferior' hardware including some built-in motherboard sound),
Sensaura is vastly superior. And probably superior to the Audigy as
well since fancier echoes (also to my knowledge, EAX 3.0 isn't
supported in Thief unless it's possible to enhance existing data up to
the EAX 3.0 standard) and nicer DAC's do not make up for inferior 3d
positional sound.
My normal gaming rigs have alternately used an SBlive and a cheap
ESS1688 (I think) based audio card which I got for $10 and the drivers
for which had Sensaura audio support. Both are normally played thru
speakers. But a few months ago I started playing exclusively through
headphones since I was too lazy to reconnect a pair speakers after
moving the computer to another room. (they're big :P) This was not
long before I replayed Manse btw. (this is called foreshadowing ;)
well actually you probably already know my review, the post about the
FM that made me want to play videogames again) And the combination of
superior 3d positional audio (therefore much more immersion) combined
with Manse (which is way up there on the "most terrifying movies or
games to actually get immersed in" list) to seriously mess with my
head because it felt more real than any game i'd ever played, any
movie i'd ever gone and seen, or any book i'd ever read.
Technically, perhaps the biggest difference is the up/down positional
support. Move Garret's head slightly up or down and all the
enviromental audio changes as if you were moving your head up or down.
This alone makes you feel like you're actually in the enviroment that
much more, because the rendering of it is very realistic. You can
also tell fairly easily whether a guard, Haunt or whatever is on your
level, one floor up/down, two floors, three floors, whatever.
Soundblaster included a demo which (supposedly) shows off up/down
positional audio support, but it's not used in DirectSound3d or in
Thief, and i'm not even sure if it's in the drivers at all. And even
if it was, the effect is not very convincing. Even with moving sound
sources, I couldn't reliably tell (blindfolded) if the sounds were
above or below me until they crossed the Z-plane level of my ears and
went from above to below or vice versa. Sensaura I had no problems
knowing where things were.
Furthermore, Sensaura cards have far more accurate 3d positional sound
in terms of left/right/front/back than the Soundblaster or
DirectSound3d software has. If I suddenly hear a sound out of the
blue, I can almost instantly place it even if it's not moving whereas
with the other two it needs to move around substantially until I
figure out where it's "supposed" to be coming from. The other two
also sound 'stepped' when panning, as if there are jumps in the audio
rendering rather than a smooth transition for moving sound sources.
With Sensaura I can place things almost immediately, and always if
they are moving. Very subtle differences are easily discernable. A
guard takes a single step a floor above me and I know which way he
went.
There are other differences as well - Sensaura apparently has special
algorhythms for near-ear effects which is where the other algorythms
seem less convincing. Although a near object moving past your ear is
usually loud enough and panned in a way that you know where it is, it
sounds like a panned object, not like something actually there moving
around you. When things are too close the positional audio seems to
break down (with directsound or SB) but in Sensaura it's perhaps even
more realistic. (ie - thinking of when i've had a haunt chase me in
Manse, running RIGHT behind me, screaming, as i'm trying to run away,
and no it doesn't feel like you're playing a videogame then ;P Not
for people with heart conditions.) And the transition between the
distant and near-field effects is seamless. (why I say apparently -
it's in the docs but I can't tell where the shift occurs)
I wonder if those who hate undead missions are actually running
Sensaura cards more often than not? ;) I'm somewhat serious - the
difference while playing Manse (speakers or headphones) w/o Sensaura
was yeah, pretty creepy, but not the level of immersion and terror I
had with the Sensaura card and good headphones. The added jump of
realism seems to be more unsettling when you're dealing with catacombs
full of Haunts rather than just more boring guards. At least you can
outrun guards to make the yelling quiet down. ;)
Both Thief 1 and 2 supports Sensaura. Thief 1 will specifically say it
if you have a sensaura card (a splash screen) and Thief 2 doesn't say
it but does support it. (and Thief 3 had better! If it doesn't the
game will lose ALOT of it's immersion, I don't care about the EAX 3.0
echoes or anything else if the positional sound itself, the bread and
butter, is not up to snuff) I'm told that any DirectSound3d
application supports it indirectly, since it accelerates those streams
and uses the Sensaura algorythms, but I don't think there is any
up/down panning or very-near-field support.
Note technically Sensaura supports everything, since it will
accelerate DirectSound3d streams but replace the crappy Microsoft
algorhythms with it's own, but I don't think it will allow the up/down
support which adds alot to the experience. I'm aware of other
algorythms (Qsound, A3d) but to my knowledge they ONLY work with the
proprietary algorythms and normal directsound3d is.. well.. normal
directsound. But don't quote me on that. (btw i'd love to hear if
someone finds out that Thief also supported one of those two formats
just to compare)
--
It's only to say that Sensaura isn't perfect yet (but then graphics
aren't either :), EAX 3.0 DOES solve one of the issues - that sounds
coming from different rooms, say through an airvent below you,
shouldn't necessarily have the same echo processing. In the real
world you could tell a sound coming from a small metal vent vs
elsewhere in the room even in total mono just by the echoes. And only
in a few places do you ever lose that total immersion into Manse, or
any other mission. (where one enviroment crosses into another notably
different, sounds are coming from both, and the echoes don't quite
sound right)
If any cards come out that both have Sensaura positional audio AND EAX
3.0 (and I don't see why not, since EAX 2.0 is supported by mine and
others) that will easily be the ultimate card for Thief 3. :) (if
there smart and include Sensaura anyways : P) Btw does anyone know
how to ask the devteam or post where they'll see it on that subject?
Just curious...
Feel free to share your own comments, comparisons, or if you think
otherwise. It's possible that some of the differences are due to
different ear shapes. 3d audio algorythms are all based on a "virtual
ear" and the way it changes the sound whether it's coming from above,
below, front, back, or whatever. But those virtual ears vary and may
or may not be perfectly compatible with your own.
Jason Steele
Roger Squires
> others) that will easily be the ultimate card for Thief 3. :) (if
> there smart and include Sensaura anyways : P) Btw does anyone know
> how to ask the devteam or post where they'll see it on that subject?
Check on the ttlg thief3 forums.
Jason Steele
not work under Windows 2000 or XP. ;P
The fault is Microsoft putting out incomplete drivers though that
don't fully support the cards. My ESS1688 based card works under
both, but only supports Sensaura under win98. If you actually go and
look into a Sensaura based card due to my recommendation and you're on
2k or XP, try and find someone who has one, who can tell the
difference, and who can verify whether the algorhythms are supported.
Jason Steele