Is PUBg support 7.1 surround sound?

[Aquenno]

Saw few posts about it... what it not working properly

How are things going at the moment? Is it working correctly after all these patches? Is there sense to buy 7.1 headset?

[Killer Imp]

for me, a logitech G430 7.1 but not true 7.1, combined with razer surround pro works incredibly well on PUBG and other games where i need directional sound, hell even forza horizon 3 i can tell the exhaust sound is coming from the rear. so even though this game does not support it (7.1), why do i hear a difference. either way 0 complaints from me, i am just bored reading the discussions.

[luckyj]

Very interesting discussion going on here. I don't know anything about real 7.1 headphones because I haven't tried any. However I understand the concept of binaural sound either captured through a pair of microphones paced inside a dummy head (so the sound is affected by the head and ears shape) or through a Head Response Transfer Function (a way to digitally alter the sound knowing the position of the sound sources).

Now, to the game. I don't know what they are doing right now but I can assure you that in my PC, when I plug in my headphones, the game is not creating binaural sound. If there's a plane to the right of my player, the sound of the plane comes out from my right headphone ONLY. This is extremely unrealistic and it makes me think that the game is creating sounds for a pair of stereo SPEAKERS, not headphones.

To make things worse, Windows Sonic and Dolby Atmos are useless in this scenario because at least in my case the game is not putting out multichannel audio but stereo audio, and there's just not enough information about the position of audio sources from a stereo signal alone. I've confirmed that the game puts out multi channel audio only if the sound card presents itself as 7.1 capable (5.1 in my case). The problem is that Windows is (rightly) telling the game that my Headphone output is stereo. So first step is to connect my headphones to the Front Speaker output instead of the headphones output. But this alone is not enough. If I enable Windows Sonic or Dolby Atmos in my soundcard speaker output, Windows changes the configuration of the soundcard to Stereo again, so the game goes back to stereo sound.

So the way I've fixed it is by using Equalizer APO and installing HRTFs using HeSuVi following this guide on reddit . The advantage for me is that using the HRTF in this program doesn't reconfigure my sound card to stereo, so the game outputs 7.1 sound which can then be resynthesized to something close to binaural sound.

However, this is still a workaround, because 5.1 and 7.1 audio doesn't fully capture the precise position of the sound sources. It can only reduce it to 5 o 7 different positions (virtual speakers), so anything in between two speakers is not correctly represented, and UP/DOWN information is also lost.

What the game should do is implement binaural sounds correctly because only the game knows all the information that's needed to create that effect (precise position in XYZ, plus enviromental data like walls, mountains). Anything other than means that whoever is doing the HRTF (Sonic, Dolby Atmos, or Equalizer APO) is working with "reduced" audio data that doesn't have enough information.

If I'm missing something here, I would love to hear your opinions. Can I trick PUBG to create binaural sounds (for headphones!) so I can turn of any external virtualization?

But so far I have to say that using this method, the quality of the sounds has grown immensely and I can now tell the direction I'm being shot at from (I still get killed, but that's another story :)

[Luke]

luckyj eredeti hozzászólása:

Very interesting discussion going on here. I don't know anything about real 7.1 headphones because I haven't tried any. However I understand the concept of binaural sound either captured through a pair of microphones paced inside a dummy head (so the sound is affected by the head and ears shape) or through a Head Response Transfer Function (a way to digitally alter the sound knowing the position of the sound sources).

Now, to the game. I don't know what they are doing right now but I can assure you that in my PC, when I plug in my headphones, the game is not creating binaural sound. If there's a plane to the right of my player, the sound of the plane comes out from my right headphone ONLY. This is extremely unrealistic and it makes me think that the game is creating sounds for a pair of stereo SPEAKERS, not headphones.

To make things worse, Windows Sonic and Dolby Atmos are useless in this scenario because at least in my case the game is not putting out multichannel audio but stereo audio, and there's just not enough information about the position of audio sources from a stereo signal alone. I've confirmed that the game puts out multi channel audio only if the sound card presents itself as 7.1 capable (5.1 in my case). The problem is that Windows is (rightly) telling the game that my Headphone output is stereo. So first step is to connect my headphones to the Front Speaker output instead of the headphones output. But this alone is not enough. If I enable Windows Sonic or Dolby Atmos in my soundcard speaker output, Windows changes the configuration of the soundcard to Stereo again, so the game goes back to stereo sound.

So the way I've fixed it is by using Equalizer APO and installing HRTFs using HeSuVi following this guide on reddit . The advantage for me is that using the HRTF in this program doesn't reconfigure my sound card to stereo, so the game outputs 7.1 sound which can then be resynthesized to something close to binaural sound.

However, this is still a workaround, because 5.1 and 7.1 audio doesn't fully capture the precise position of the sound sources. It can only reduce it to 5 o 7 different positions (virtual speakers), so anything in between two speakers is not correctly represented, and UP/DOWN information is also lost.

What the game should do is implement binaural sounds correctly because only the game knows all the information that's needed to create that effect (precise position in XYZ, plus enviromental data like walls, mountains). Anything other than means that whoever is doing the HRTF (Sonic, Dolby Atmos, or Equalizer APO) is working with "reduced" audio data that doesn't have enough information.

If I'm missing something here, I would love to hear your opinions. Can I trick PUBG to create binaural sounds (for headphones!) so I can turn of any external virtualization?

But so far I have to say that using this method, the quality of the sounds has grown immensely and I can now tell the direction I'm being shot at from (I still get killed, but that's another story :)

Woah. I have never seen something like this before.

It looks like the guy who made this is saying that it can reproduce all of the listed virtual surround sound technologies listed... If so, that's incredibly awesome. It would also seem to indicate that one does not need to purchase any of those softwares, and a sound card apparently becomes useless at that point.

That said, how can you confirm that the game puts out true 7.1 sound?

[Ernimus Prime]

I have the Hyperx Alpha's and they are not virtual 7.1. I can tell directions of shots pretty easy.

[Trapper]

PUBG outputs stereo only.

https://forums.playbattlegrounds.com/topic/176319-astro-a50-settings/?tab=comments#comment-593289

tldr
Someone asks for surround settings help, is told by another that PUBG outputs stereo only. PUBG_RoboDanjal confirms that and stickies the response.

[Luke]

Trapper eredeti hozzászólása:

PUBG outputs stereo only.

https://forums.playbattlegrounds.com/topic/176319-astro-a50-settings/?tab=comments#comment-593289

tldr
Someone asks for surround settings help, is told by another that PUBG outputs stereo only. PUBG_RoboDanjal confirms that and stickies the response.

I'm not entirely convinced these guys know what they're talking about...

The simulated surround can appear to be better with dynamic volume and such but as far as directional quality stereo sound is king and always will be. If you dont believe me go watch the virtual barbershop on youtube, pure stereo sound goodness.

That was a post from a user, and the PUBG community coordinator said "Bingo! Correct answer right here."

Except, that barbershop video that the user is rerfering to uses a binaural audio recording, which is completely different than a stereo recording/source. So unless PUBG is using HRTF to simulate binaural audio, this analogy doesn't make any sense. And assuming that PUBG doesn't use HRTF (which I don't think it does), then this is not exactly the "correct answer".

I think the community coordinator was probably referring to the part where the user said that PUBG only outputs stereo, but because of the conflicting information it's hard to say for sure. I don't see any options for HRTF in PUBG's menu and when I play PUBG without SBX Pro Studio enabled (Creative's virtual surround sound software) the sounds seem to be localized specifically to either the right or left ear; there seems to be no crossfading between the two channels (which would indicate lack of HRTF).

So we're back to square one, in that it seems that PUBG does indeed not output discrete 7.1 audio. I just wish a dev could chime in and end this discussion, or perhaps let us know when/if it's planned down the road. It seems like such a no-brainer.

That said, using VSS (virtual surround sound) even with stereo sources is not necessarily without merit, because it does crossfade sounds between the right and left channels, making for a less harsh transition of sounds when they move from one channel to the other. I like to play with SBX Pro Studio enabled while using a lower surround quotient (25%) because it doesn't distort the overall sound very much while still providing the aforementioned benefits of crossfading.

[Trapper]

Luke eredeti hozzászólása:

I just wish a dev could chime in and end this discussion, or perhaps let us know when/if it's planned down the road. It seems like such a no-brainer.

No devs here to answer, there's a sticky about it. You'd have to ask on the official forums.

[꧁Midnight Bacon꧂]

No matter what anyone says, Pubg is recorded in stereo. Hence 2 way headphones work the best. Not 5.1 or 7.1.

[ICEMAN]

i have asus 7.1 strix, with last update, i dont hear anything happens behind me.. Thx for ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ this game up in every update man!! thx you so much!!!!

[GLHF]

martydaparty4u eredeti hozzászólása:

Surround headset will be great when we humans grow more ears on our forehead and the back of our head.

Bravo Clap

[GenGamer.com]

Is going to add compatibility with 7.1 headsets?

[The British Viking]

I mean, all Gaming Headsets and Headphones are 5.1 or 7.1 use software to simulate surround sound. There are no true 7.1 Gaming Headsets. You might find a really expensive enthusiast pair of headphones with 7 cnambers, but on your standard "Gaming Headset", nothing exists.

Overall. a games engine and sound design is what determines how good directional audio is. You'll be able to hear the same amount of directional detail with a Stereo headset as you can with a 7.1 headset.

Unless it's a game like Call of Duty which has capable sound design, but it is arbitrarily limited by code to be limited to certain headset brands. Call of Duty for instance for years has shadily allowed their sound design to only work as well on Turtle Beach headsets. But PUBG is not CoD so you will not need a fake 7.1 headset to hear directional audio.

[Luke]

The_Reaper95 eredeti hozzászólása:

I mean, all Gaming Headsets and Headphones are 5.1 or 7.1 use software to simulate surround sound. There are no true 7.1 Gaming Headsets. You might find a really expensive enthusiast pair of headphones with 7 cnambers, but on your standard "Gaming Headset", nothing exists.

Overall. a games engine and sound design is what determines how good directional audio is. You'll be able to hear the same amount of directional detail with a Stereo headset as you can with a 7.1 headset.

Unless it's a game like Call of Duty which has capable sound design, but it is arbitrarily limited by code to be limited to certain headset brands. Call of Duty for instance for years has shadily allowed their sound design to only work as well on Turtle Beach headsets. But PUBG is not CoD so you will not need a fake 7.1 headset to hear directional audio.

I think you are misunderstanding the question here just a bit -

I think most know that gaming headsets don't have multiple discrete drivers in each ear cup. There are some that do. But I don't care about that (because I prefer virtual surround sound, anyways). What I want to know is if the game outputs 5.1 or 7.1 discrete channels. Because even if the headphones only have two drivers (one per ear cup), the game still needs to output 5.1+ discrete channels for virtual surround sound software to encode it with HRTF.

By the way, there is no such thing as directional audio unless the game specifically outputs 5.1+ channels or has native HRTF or binaural audio. And I'm pretty sure that PUBG is straight stereo...

[Sticky]

it doesn't matter what PUBG does. It could record 2 or 24 or 128 channels. Unreal Engine only uses 2 channels and directional sound is recorded in MONO. You people are arguing about what is possible and what is actually done in PUBG which uses an old outdated gaming engine because thats what they had when they started this project.

[NUTMILK]

7.1 works like a stereo in this game.only the virtual 7.1 does not support it and don't work at all in pubg