link down :o

problem with demos upload?

Temp fix I added them as a misc file at end of post, works now til ESR is fixed up to allow demos to be downloaded again, its a serverside issue with the permissions.

frag^m doesn't seem to have OpenAL enabled there. There are many times where you can hear the enemy in the demo but frag^m doesn't react to it and pays for it.

is openAL that big of an advantage?

Apparently yes.
What I don't understand is what OpenAL stands for in _this_ case.
I know OpenAL from linux as Open Audio Library, which doesn't have much to do with Hardware. But it seems you need to have special HW in Windows to use OpenAL?

Btw.: Audio works perfectly on my linux machine with an old Emu10k1 (SBLive) sound card :)
(Un)fortunately I don't have a windows machine to compare, but I have no problems to hear where a sound comes from in the Game. A Thing that seems to be a big deal in Windows...

The OpenAL in linux is basically a software wrapper; emulated as opposed to being hardware driven. On windows, OpenAL comes as part of the drivers for certain cards, because it is actually hardware accelerated, and its associated processing is done in hardware, but only a few cards support it. Since the openal in linux is just a software layer, it is much worse quality, uses more resources and processing power; it doesnt have any of the benefits it has on windows. But it does mean that almost any linux system can use openal, but at a cost.

Also, if you do have an openal compatible card, but you are using linux, then it is quite a waste, since it will still be emulating it in software, even though you have a card which could perfectly support it in hardware with better performance and quality.

Also, if you do have an openal compatible card, but you are using linux, then it is quite a waste, since it will still be emulating it in software, even though you have a card which could perfectly support it in hardware with better performance and quality.

Well unless somebody is willing to code linux drivers for those sound cards, once creative starts to give out specs (or does OSS drivers on their own, like with emu10k1).

But it explains why sound in quake4 at least is not "broken" on my linux machine. Thx for the explanation.

My AC 97 seems to dont support openal, can anyone post here a list of cards that work with it?

http://www.openal.org/platforms.html

It's huge.

Oh you naughty boy.

no plus sorry. great try though

Q4's unplayable without it.

I have kind of got used to the sound in Q4 and not being able to hear anthing within a decent range :(

:/

id really like to know whether that soundproblem gets solved or not. am i forced to buy a new soundcard with openAL support to play quake4? :(

will the CPL have openAL compatible soundcards at their World Tour events?

Yes
and
no

Hmm I was under the impression that CPL has the XFI - fatal1ty Gaming souncard, at least they sent it as a free sample to CPL for "testing". So i would presume the CPL has hardware openAL cards.

Thats is for the gaming rig thing they pulled off as a pr stunt
the tourney comps have intel onboard sound which does not support openal

I truely wish they will pull of something to change this so the players will have openal but i highly doubt it

Really?!?!? rofl, thats hardly a "PRO" setup is it, CPL should reduce the amount in the prize pools and get good computers. I'm sure that everyone would prefere to earn a little less for better hardware on the tour wouldn't they?

you think you'd get a 'yellow card' for smuggling in an audigy 2 and a screwdriver.... it's not like your stealing a mouse or anything

Even with openal it sounds crap compared to other games.

Indeed it does, and for many reasons. Most people probably agree on that the sounds are not exactly "inspiring", and definitely not well suited for multiplayer (for instance, the mg in Q3 has a very wimpy sound, point being it shouldn't trash your ears since you'll hear it a lot; can't exactly say the same about the Q4 mg sound). Furthermore, the adjustment of sound intensity with distance seems inconsistent (though this one advantage of using OpenAL; even though you certainly won't hear "well", you'll at least hear a little bit better).

But the most disturbing thing, in my opinion, is the positioning. I noted on a match on Galang that while I clearly heard the other player use the jump pad at the rl (I was standing near the hb), he was in fact using the jump pad at the ra. Ok, so the positioning might be a bit bad...how bad?

I tried this; fired up the edge (being an old Q2 player, that's where I feel at home), fetched the rl, and went up to stand near the gl, facing across the arena (towards the entrance to the mh room). Then I fired a rocket, and went down the passageway so I stood on the floor above the lg when the rocket exploded. In that position, still facing the same direction, the rocket will hit the wall roughly 45 degrees to my left.

The sound of the explosion comes almost directly from the right.

I have an X-Fi Elite Pro, and I tried this with and without OpenAL, with and without EAX. Same result in all cases. I somehow doubt this is unique for my system (but of course, I could be wrong).

Now one could argue that hey, it's realistic that the sound travels from the point of the explosion through the mh room, bounces off the wall and hence hits the player from the right. However, in that case, one should hear the sound from behind as well, since it travels across the arena and bounces off the wall at the gl; this is not the case. And anyway, playability should always be favoured over realism - at least in a Quake game. :)

Doing a similar thing in Q2 will of course result in the player hearing the sound exactly from the point of explosion. This is also true for Q3, UT (any flavour), and every other first person shooter I ever tried.

The sound behaving in this way means you can't be certain that the sound really comes from where you hear it. At least for me, this makes the game rather unplayable - especially in duels.

..and yes, I wear the headphones the right way... :)

..and yes, it might be the case that I'm just a whiny sunuvabitch writing long posts stating the obvious. :(

out of interest... I have no idea what effect this has... do you have s_useocclusion set to 1?

Yes, both s_useOcclusion and s_useEAXOcclusion are set to 1 (as per default). Setting the latter to 0 yields no different results, however, and the former "can't be changed in multiplayer".

The sound is awesome on 5.1 speakers though :) Just useless at comps :(

Strange. I found that OpenAL with an Audigy 4 gives excellent sense of direction and distance. Definitely better than Miles :)

If you're refering to that many Quake 4 sounds are just lame, then yeah.

wp jay ;o

Is there any ut player that is not going to be steamrolled by the quakers in q4?

well give them some time ... i mean it would be the same if some quake players instantly switched to ut ... the ut players are at least able to compete at the same level as the oldschool quake players, their aim is at the same level, they just lack a lot of experience with the quake series ...

frag^m wasn´t any dominating force in UT duel either, of course he was good in duel, but never in the real top. He has always been known for his amazing TDM skills, where IMO (and alot of others) he is truly the best.

well let's not mention mouz vs EYE from the other day...

frag^m wasn´t any dominating force in UT duel either

Neither was Jay (In Q3 obviously :))

What's your point? You have 2 non-dominant duellers :) one coming from q3 and one from ut/ut2k*, guess who's gonna have the hardest time adapting to q4.

watch out for winz i reckon he'll do well (1-0 on cb ec atm)
and ofc ill own when i eventually start playing q4 again

winz has played Q3 for nearly 3-4 years, used to be strong there.

yeah .. winz is the perfect example that a good player from one game can also be really good in another ... but he also needed some time to catch up and overcome the ut players

The time to learn the game ? :)
Don't wanna sound harsh but you're pretty much pointing out the obvious. :)

This discussion is retarded, I think most people should realise success in a game comes down to more then the point of what game you played before. Dont you think so?

I do think beeing from a Quake background - a strong Quake background that is - is helpful in any DM FPS, although of course it is far from beeing just about that.

regardless of the results, frag^m played really well I think, and can beat a LOT of quake players.

Players like TeveT allready seem to be doing pretty well in quake 4. I don't see any reason why players with a ut background couldn't be top contenders in time. It's not like quake 4's movement is that hard to master.

lauke vs cooller would have been swell to watch, no matter the outcome. i feel robbed.

huh?

huh what. just continuing the ut vs quake theme. they were in the same eurocup group and would have played this week had things not changed.

a hardware win at it's best

what a nice demo

i type playnetdemo blablabla
he load map..
and go in too main men
on console: Failed to spawn entity with classname 'moveable_item_rocketlauncher' of type 'idItem'
wtf?

i had the same.. worked after reinstall :/

full q4 reinstall ? :(

aye

Damn you really wanted to watch this demo :P
I think those spawn errors are caused to older x battle or q4max files or something as far as i know

demo_enforceFS 1 .. try that and see if it works .. :) enter before the demo

SetRestartChecksums failed: no pak for checksum 0x308ea715
:xxxx

THX!
on xbattle all work! :]

lol @ frag^m crouches, camp, and leavin the server as soon as the game has ended