How Night City would feel with more realistic sound design

[Deathlyhearts]

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.

Since you felt the need to argue over what was clearly stated as personal opinion and sound - I will answer in kind. When I said obnoxious experience I meant that I don't feel the need to turn my game into a cacaphony of car engines, just because someone thinks that will make it more realistic. Consider how many cars there are around at the more busy areas of the city. I don't need any other ambient sound drawn out into the roaring of engines, like it happens in quite few places in your videos. I am playing the game to sink into the ambience of the whole city and not into the engines of its cars. Like I said - if the examples you shown are more to your liking - mods exist for the reason. Personally I don't like it and I have no problem with suspension of believe in visual art products. I am not after 100% hands on real experience in games. Personally I think they striked a good balance in their audio design. Some adjustments here and there would be welcomed, but yours are to extreme imo. Again this is just my personal opinion. Don't feel the need to argue further please. It's fine if different people tastes and views differ after all. Have a good day!

 

[BigWezz69]

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).

To be honest, cars should not be despawning right behind the player either, that would be a terrible design. So if the car's weren't despawning (which I dont believe they do in the game) it would not be an issue. Over a set distance then yes, vehicles do despawn, but the player would be out of the range of the sounds.

Lots of game's have excellent audio, some even specialise in it, such as Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice.

Post automatically merged: Jul 14, 2021

Since you felt the need to argue over what was clearly stated as personal opinion and sound - I will answer in kind. When I said obnoxious experience I meant that I don't feel the need to turn my game into a cacaphony of car engines, just because someone thinks that will make it more realistic. Consider how many cars there are around at the more busy areas of the city. I don't need any other ambient sound drawn out into the roaring of engines, like it happens in quite few places in your videos. I am playing the game to sink into the ambience of the whole city and not into the engines of its cars. Like I said - if the examples you shown are more to your liking - mods exist for the reason. Personally I don't like it and I have no problem with suspension of believe in visual art products. I am not after 100% hands on real experience in games. Personally I think they striked a good balance in their audio design. Some adjustments here and there would be welcomed, but yours are to extreme imo. Again this is just my personal opinion. Don't feel the need to argue further please. It's fine if different people tastes and views differ after all. Have a good day!

But all you would need to do is step away from the traffic and the sound would die down. Its not a good idea to stand in traffic either

 

[Erdrick80]

I loved it man , very good work. Really brings more life to the city in my OPINION. If there was an option from the normal in game sound and one to yours. I would definitely pick your version.

 

[Tirn07Lek]

My ears are high

 

[_Fender_]

I would definitely love to hear more of that in CP2077. Its strange because I think they did a great job in general sound design, music, commercials etc. But I have to agree that a lot of sounds are also missing and kind of feel not finished. I could never understood why cars are so quiet, there are almost no sounds of door slamming and engine starting. Almost every time when you are driving with NPC it is kind of immersion breaking as its so damn quiet.

 

[OdiousMortem]

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:

I've been to every major city in the US. The sounds needs a lot work if you are talking about realism and immersion. It's a lot of work.

Different cities sound different depending on a lot of things.

There's no base thumping coming from cars that pass by. That's a major thing in every city I have been too. No one in Night City likes to thump their stereo. lol

The rest of it, it feels like there is a little too much of a roaring sound, and not enough emphasis on other things like talking, clicking sounds from people walking, and walking at different speeds, cell phones ringing, etc.

Large trucks will make more noise as they drive by compared to cars. They will make squeaking sounds, and you will hear air drain from the brakes.

Different areas of a city will sound differently depending on energy levels, what's nearby, local culture, etc.

Chicago and Detroit are close to the same size, but Chicago will make more noise because it's a higher-energy city. Detroit has more of a vibe like most people just woke up and asked themselves, "WTF did I do last night? Did I REALLY do that?"

 

[krashlog]

Sometimes humans feel that louder == better... many of my favorite music albums were "remastered" in the ealy 2000s and were victims of the Loudness War . I appreciate your efforts, and I love your varied car sounds, but I think that overall the levels are wayyy too high.

 

[Atletikus]

Sounds cool, but ...99 problems...

Don't think the increased loudness would mesh too well with the music which is a focal point of the game. Besides, wouldn't the busy ambient sounds serve to accentuate the lackluster AI activity?

 

[kaotkbliss]

Thinking this over, I think the game would have done good with an addition of car idle sounds and more street chatter. Not necessarily an increased volume of the noises.