How Night City would feel with more realistic sound design

[Kavinsky303]

We all know that the visual fidelity of Cyberpunk 2077 can be outstanding when running on a high-end PC. At times the crowd and traffic density are really high, yet I always felt like there is something not right with Night City, making it feel lifeless and dull in some way, despite what you see on screen.

For a while I thought the main reason was the lack of proper AI. However, I came to realise that the biggest issue with the immersion in Night City is in fact its sound design. When walking through the dense city center, what you see just doesn't match up with what you hear. Car engines and exhausts are sounding way too calm, they have no idle sounds (despite being petrol engines), you hear no screeching tires or interaction with the asphalt, etc. Also the overall ambient sound of the city doesn't fit the scale of things you see on screen. The city just sounds too small and not anything like a metropole of this size!

So I'm in fact a professional audio engineer and did a quick experiment. I recorded a few clips in-game, loaded them up in Final Cut and did a full audio overhaul on these scenes, adding lots of realistic car and ambient sounds and other effects. Below is the result. I recommend using headphones when watching this to fully feel the immersion.

With such realistic sound design, imo the immersion in Night City would reach a whole new level. It's sad that CDPR had all their focus on the visuals only, while neglecting the audio aspects in so many ways. I hope one day CDPR will provide a proper dev kit for the modding community, so a full audio overhaul mod like this could become reality.

Here is another edit with the ambient noise turned down quite a bit, but all 3D car sound effects untouched:

 

[LeKill3rFou]

I had never really paid attention and it looked pretty good to me. But I must admit that it would change everything indeed
Anyway, real nice work

 

[BigWezz69]

Spot on. One of the biggest things that I hate about the game is how quiet NC feels, its quite flat too.

I'd love NC to sound like that video!!

 

[SpookyFX]

"OK you have some skill"...



Seriously this is very good, please do this as a mod if you ever can.

 

[kaotkbliss]

I haven't watched/listened to the video yet, but come to think of it I don't really recall much crowd chatter when walking down the street. There's the occasional conversation NPC's are having, but just not the background chatter you would expect to hear.

*edit*
Never mind, I do here the chatter in this clip. Just didn't remember there being anything during my gameplay other than overhead announcements and the occasional loud conversations between 2 NPCs

 

[northwold]

We all know that the visual fidelity of Cyberpunk 2077 can be outstanding when running on a high-end PC. At times the crowd and traffic density are really high, yet I always felt like there is something not right with Night City, making it feel lifeless and dull in some way, despite what you see on screen.

For a while I thought the main reason was the lack of proper AI. However, I came to realise that the biggest issue with the immersion in Night City is in fact its sound design. When walking through the dense city center, what you see just doesn't match up with what you hear. Car engines and exhausts are sounding way too calm, they have no idle sounds (despite being petrol engines), you hear no screeching tires or interaction with the asphalt, etc. Also the overall ambient sound of the city doesn't fit the scale of things you see on screen. The city just sounds too small and not anything like a metropole of this size!

So I'm in fact a professional audio engineer and did a quick experiment. I recorded a few clips in-game, loaded them up in Final Cut and did a full audio overhaul on these scenes, adding lots of realistic car and ambient sounds and other effects. Below is the result. I recommend using headphones when watching this to fully feel the immersion.

With such realistic sound design, imo the immersion in Night City would reach a whole new level. It's sad that CDPR had all their focus on the visuals only, while neglecting the audio aspects in so many ways. I hope one day CDPR will provide a proper dev kit for the modding community, so a full audio overhaul mod like this could become reality.

https://www.reddit.com/r/cyberpunkgame/comments/ogiz51
For what it's worth while I appreciate the work you've put into your clip I would find your version truly unbearable to play. And I strongly suspect that's why it was done the way it was done. I've also found the sound design just really bloody good in Cyberpunk beyond, yes, limited crowd chatter.

 

[BarefootWarrior]

I'm into this, good work and Thanks for posting this. I did not use headphones, but I do have a good 5.1 system with sub-woofer. With just the front speakers, the audio that was used in this demo changed the 'feel' of the city, really enjoyed this.

 

[Restlessdingo32]

I hear what you mean. I don't think it's fair to call the ambient/environmental sound in-game bad. Your claim it's a bit dull isn't far off the mark though. The sounds come off a bit, I don't know, washed out, limited and... passive. That dullness isn't consistent across all the various sounds in the game either.

I like your adjusted version much better but could see it coming off a bit too aggressive and amped up for some. It's unquestionably more realistic. Realism isn't necessarily always best though. Perhaps that's why the original sound is as it is in the game. Maybe they were trying to avoid that and went too far with it.

For no particular reason, I feel obligated to mention the default car horn sounds in the game. Perhaps it's a bit nitpicky but I don't think I've ever heard a car horn sound so... cartoonish... in real life. It came off as out of place given the overall feel from the rest of the game. One moment it's, "This is Night City, where everyone ends up starving, suffering, poor, harvested for parts, being someone elses toy, dead, maimed or stuffed in a garbage bin". The next it's, 'Beeep beeep, here comes Bugs Bunny."

 

[Bartinga2077]

We all know that the visual fidelity of Cyberpunk 2077 can be outstanding when running on a high-end PC. At times the crowd and traffic density are really high, yet I always felt like there is something not right with Night City, making it feel lifeless and dull in some way, despite what you see on screen.

For a while I thought the main reason was the lack of proper AI. However, I came to realise that the biggest issue with the immersion in Night City is in fact its sound design. When walking through the dense city center, what you see just doesn't match up with what you hear. Car engines and exhausts are sounding way too calm, they have no idle sounds (despite being petrol engines), you hear no screeching tires or interaction with the asphalt, etc. Also the overall ambient sound of the city doesn't fit the scale of things you see on screen. The city just sounds too small and not anything like a metropole of this size!

So I'm in fact a professional audio engineer and did a quick experiment. I recorded a few clips in-game, loaded them up in Final Cut and did a full audio overhaul on these scenes, adding lots of realistic car and ambient sounds and other effects. Below is the result. I recommend using headphones when watching this to fully feel the immersion.

With such realistic sound design, imo the immersion in Night City would reach a whole new level. It's sad that CDPR had all their focus on the visuals only, while neglecting the audio aspects in so many ways. I hope one day CDPR will provide a proper dev kit for the modding community, so a full audio overhaul mod like this could become reality.

Now this sounds awesome! Always wondered why none of the cars that seem having a combustion engine, never made any sounds. Guess you found it. Great work. Did you happen to have stumbled upon the horn sound of the Alvarado? Still has none till this day.

 

[batouyukinawa]

I've been in cities. They are not that loud.

 

[Hayte]

Now that we can re-pack opuspacks, I considered getting into audio modding (since audio production was the only relevant experience I had when I started modding in early March). You should join the modding discord if you are interested in doing something like this or contributing research towards it.

Are you using stock sound assets from the game?

I've been in cities. They are not that loud.

They are very loud but your brain tunes it out so you don't notice it after a while. A big part of this is how continuous and random it is. In the dead of night you may hear a dripping tap and the obvious pattern of the dripping sound is highly noticeable, even irritating. There are also not a lot of other sounds masking it. Masking is an auditory phenomenon that you have probably experienced before. Its the reason why your friend can shout right next to your head in a nightclub and you can't make out intelligible words because the music is so loud.

Sitting in busy traffic in rush hour, you may not notice how loud the cumulative din of car engines is because there isn't an obvious or repeating pattern to it and your ears adapt to it. But if you were to have that level of noise exposure continuously throughout your workday as part of your job, it would rightly be considered an occupational hazard and you should be provided with PPE.

This segues into something which I think is common in sound design for media like videogames and television. There is a general tendency to prioritize legibility and safety above realism. Its the reason Skippy doesn't actually shout "nooooooooo" at 3x level, because it will shock you and possibly damage your hearing if you have your levels cranked already.

 

[v1ctors]

We all know that the visual fidelity of Cyberpunk 2077 can be outstanding when running on a high-end PC. At times the crowd and traffic density are really high, yet I always felt like there is something not right with Night City, making it feel lifeless and dull in some way, despite what you see on screen.

For a while I thought the main reason was the lack of proper AI. However, I came to realise that the biggest issue with the immersion in Night City is in fact its sound design. When walking through the dense city center, what you see just doesn't match up with what you hear. Car engines and exhausts are sounding way too calm, they have no idle sounds (despite being petrol engines), you hear no screeching tires or interaction with the asphalt, etc. Also the overall ambient sound of the city doesn't fit the scale of things you see on screen. The city just sounds too small and not anything like a metropole of this size!

So I'm in fact a professional audio engineer and did a quick experiment. I recorded a few clips in-game, loaded them up in Final Cut and did a full audio overhaul on these scenes, adding lots of realistic car and ambient sounds and other effects. Below is the result. I recommend using headphones when watching this to fully feel the immersion.

With such realistic sound design, imo the immersion in Night City would reach a whole new level. It's sad that CDPR had all their focus on the visuals only, while neglecting the audio aspects in so many ways. I hope one day CDPR will provide a proper dev kit for the modding community, so a full audio overhaul mod like this could become reality.

This is amazing and so much better than the original, especially the 3D sounds are top notch. If I were a hiring manager at CDPR, I'd be reaching out to you right now.

 

[0248991]

Personally, I don't like this at all

I can't stand the car sounds to be turned up so high - I got a headache just from the video - and yet the other sounds(crowd, traffic lights,...) to be completely...gone/suppressed.

It might have been better to add more unique sounds; to light up player's imagination about the place and stuff...

I find the original audio to be quite repetitive, but (in this case) more interesting, (long-term) tolerable, living,...

 

[Kavinsky303]

For what it's worth while I appreciate the work you've put into your clip I would find your version truly unbearable to play. And I strongly suspect that's why it was done the way it was done. I've also found the sound design just really bloody good in Cyberpunk beyond, yes, limited crowd chatter.

This is not the reason why the sound design turned out the way it did. Don't get me wrong, I love this game and I think CDPR has done an incredible job with some aspects of the game, but sound design is not one of them. They haven't put much effort into it and it was very rushed. You can tell easily by the fact that many sounds are completely missing for events that should have sounds, even in cutscenes. I could give you countless examples.

Post automatically merged: Jul 13, 2021

Thanks for your comments guys. I hear you regarding the ambient noise being too aggressive maybe and I thought about that too. I turned it up in the video to simulate a realistic big city recording, as if you recorded this with a camera in a city of this scale, say NYC or Hong Kong for example.

The ambient noise could easily be turned down though. It could even be added as a separate slider in the audio settings of the game. I've added another edit of the video with lower ambient noise in my original post above.

What would make the big difference in realism and immersion are the car sounds imo. The ones you hear in the game are not just barely audible, they are definitely not realistic and are sounding pretty weak for almost all the type of cars you see driving around. If the game did feature all electric cars only, it would be a whole different story. But this is obviously not the case.

The game also doesn't simulate the echo you should get when walking under a large bridge, or when walking through a cave for example. The audio does not give you much feedback at all over the space you're in.

I'm pointing these things out because I know that the immersion would increase dramatically if this was all done correctly.

 

[Restlessdingo32]

Thanks for your comments guys. I hear you regarding the ambient sound being too aggressive maybe and I thought about that too. I turned it up in the video to simulate a realistic big city recording, as if you recorded this with a camera in a city of this scale, say NYC or Hong Kong for example.

The ambient sound could easily be turned down though. It could even be added as a separate slider in the audio settings of the game.

Well, for illustrative purposes it's beneficial to amp it up as you did. It's a lot easier to understand the point when the difference is... larger. Perhaps the best way to say it is the concept in your edits is a superior one but the... intensity might have to be reeled in a bit for it to really work in the game.

What would make the big difference in realism and immersion are the car sounds imo. The ones you hear in the game are not just barely audible, they are definitely not realistic and are sounding pretty weak for almost all the type of cars you see driving around. If the game did feature all electric cars only, it would be a whole different story. But this is obviously not the case.

The game also doesn't simulate the echo you should get when walking under a large bridge, or when walking through a cave for example. The audio does not give you much feedback at all over the space you're in.

I'm pointing these things out because I know that the immersion would increase dramatically if this was all done correctly.

Pretty much. When playing this game I kept feeling like something was off or missing while exploring the amazing city/environment. I couldn't quite place it. Your little experiment may be onto something. I think it may have solved the mystery. Of course, I've always had really good hearing. I can't see worth a shit but the ears have always functioned surprisingly well .

 

[Surma.]

Sounds great.

They'd have to silence the background by 90% whenever you get a call. I don't think they're doing that currently.

 

[tru3story]

For all the vehicle sounds - perfect. And you were close to the road all the time, so it fits. I wonder what would you enhance if you were further away from the roads. Maybe more footsteps, water sounds in Pacifica, coyotes in the desert, etc? Also what kind of ambience inside of the apartments?
I like it!

 

[Deathlyhearts]

https://www.reddit.com/r/cyberpunkgame/comments/ogiz51
For what it's worth while I appreciate the work you've put into your clip I would find your version truly unbearable to play. And I strongly suspect that's why it was done the way it was done. I've also found the sound design just really bloody good in Cyberpunk beyond, yes, limited crowd chatter.

Completely agree. While I would definitely be in favor of some slight adjustments to the sound design - the video examples are too extreme and would turn the game into an obnoxious experience for me personally. But hey that's why mods exist, so if OP like it that way and can work on implementing it for themselves through mods - great for them. But a big, no from me.

 

[Kavinsky303]

Completely agree. While I would definitely be in favor of some slight adjustments to the sound design - the video examples are too extreme and would turn the game into an obnoxious experience for me personally. But hey that's why mods exist, so if OP like it that way and can work on implementing it for themselves through mods - great for them. But a big, no from me.

It's not about the loudness of sounds, everyone could easily adjust that to taste in their settings.

The point is a realistic simulation of sound sources in 3D space, matching the things you actually see on screen. When a (non-electric) sports car is right next to you waiting in traffic, you would obviously hear the roaring idle sound of that V8 engine for example. That's not obnoxious, that's reality, but it's completely dismissed with the sound design of CP. One example of many.

And when a game developer tries to simulate a world with so much attention to detail in the visual department, I think they should try to achieve the same level of fidelity on the audio side as well.

 

[LeKill3rFou]

And when a game developer tries to simulate a world with so much attention to detail in the visual department, I think they should try to achieve the same level of fidelity on the audio side as well.

I will surely say something stupid, but the sounds, that seems more complicated to me than the visual part. Because the game engine manages what you have in the field of vision, while for the sound, you also have to take into account what is not displayed (like a car who could despawn behind you).
And I think that's why, often in games, the sound is not that well done (well I don't remember anyway).