Sound mixing of Thief

[NASSER EL SONBATY THE PROFESSOR]

We all know that Thief has great sound design. However, I have a problem with the sound mixing. I like my Thief loud, so I can fully absorb the soundscape and atmosphere. The problem is that, say, if you crank up the ambient volume so that the howling wind sounds just right, you get earraped when you enter a industrial building for example. Same situation with the Horn of Quintus, in the burrick tunnels the horn adds a lot to the atmosphere when you have the ambient volume up, however when you get to the tower where the horn is, it gets so damn loud that the audio starts crackling. Or if I increase the volume to make footsteps louder cause footsteps are a big part of the atmosphere, I get earraped when a zombie starts growling. There's always this inconsitency with the volume of the sound that I keep going to the damn audio settings to lower or raise the volume. Isn't there a patch or something to equalize the audio or perhaps there could be something wrong with my hardware?

[ps47.3dfx]

it might be an issue - one of my test machines, while technically capable of hw sound via OpenAL, just sounds all weird when I enable it.

try to experiment with various settings in the audio options menu, see if you can find one that sounds better.

[NASSER EL SONBATY THE PROFESSOR]

Originally posted by ps47.3dfx:

it might be an issue - one of my test machines, while technically capable of hw sound via OpenAL, just sounds all weird when I enable it.

try to experiment with various settings in the audio options menu, see if you can find one that sounds better.

I've done all the experimenting I can. Turning off EAX hardware acceleration still produces earrapey sound inconsitency, though I wouldn't have turned it off anyways cause I love how it makes the soundscape much more vibrant. There's really no no-compromise volume setting cause I always have to either get my ears raped or lose detail in the sound because of it being quieter.

[ps47.3dfx]

tried a different computer? if so, and it sounds the same, then it might be you.

[Francisè von Spitroast]

I wouldn't say it's a mixing issue. Some thing are meant to be louder than others just like real life. Footsteps don't make a lot of noise irl, but a horn does. It's realistic. A lot of games are like this. Maybe you just need better headphones to hear everything more clearly?

[NASSER EL SONBATY THE PROFESSOR]

Originally posted by Rubber Soul:

I wouldn't say it's a mixing issue. Some thing are meant to be louder than others just like real life. Footsteps don't make a lot of noise irl, but a horn does. It's realistic. A lot of games are like this. Maybe you just need better headphones to hear everything more clearly?

Perhaps. I have a HyperX Cloud so I think my headphones are pretty decent. It feels like like I lose detail in the soundscape and certain sounds necessary to the atmosphere get drowned out when I lower the volume. It's probably just me though.

Originally posted by ps47.3dfx:

tried a different computer? if so, and it sounds the same, then it might be you.

After testing on a different PC I've come to the conclusion that it's just me and I have my volume too damn high.