EVE Information Portal

Greetings, Capsuleers! This post will discuss the changes coming out for the Audio settings of EVE Online.


In 2014, we released Kronos which provided players with in-depth sound customization options in the form of Advance Audio Settings. We introduced that change because we wanted our players to have more control when choosing what they personally prefer to hear in the game - especially when playing with many clients at the same time - and also because we wanted to encourage the experience of EVE Online's unique soundscape.

The Advanced Audio Settings have been a partial success, functioning as intended but not having all the desired effects. We did indeed make the audio side of the game more flexible for our players, introducing some 30 different sliders for many possible audio mixing scenarios. Despite that customization, however, only a handful of players ultimately ended up using these customization options. Client settings logging reveals that around 9% of total EVE players are using the Advance Audio Settings menu at all. Of them, only a third (3% of all EVE players) are using each individual slider. A large majority of the 9% are only using one or two sliders in the Audio Customization menu. Some are only using sliders for elements they've disabled via the normal Audio settings.

Via survey, self-reporting, and focused testing, it became clear that complexity is the most likely reason for this lack of engagement with the menu options. New players confronted with the already gargantuan EVE Online options menu find the list of sliders daunting, and manual upkeep of the code yields more defects on the development side than the usage merits. Additionally, upkeep of the existing system when upgrading our middle-ware and adding new sounds to EVE is somewhat cumbersome. Frequently it is unclear where a sound should be included, or how to link new sound triggers into the existing system. We are dedicated to empowering EVE players, but in this instance simplification seemed better for both players and developers.

With that in mind, in order to make the menu more inviting for everyone and clear up valuable interface space (not to mention developer hours) we have decided to simplify the Audio Customization menu greatly. This will require adjustment for many of the 9% that have been using the existing sliders, but we've taken steps to minimize that disruption by shifting and grouping the various sounds according to usage and type. The names of the regular Volume Level settings (the UI, Music, Speech, World and Master sliders) are not being changed but some of the old Advanced sliders are being diverted into those controls. For example, Aura's voice will now be controlled by the Speech Volume slider.

The names and functions of the Advanced Sliders change as listed below:

New Sliders:
Atmosphere
Jump Activation
Secondary Interfaces
Ship Effects
Ship Ambience
Turret Volume
Warning Sounds

Old Slider -> Appears under New Slider:
Turret volume -> Turret Volume
Impacts -> Turret Volume
Stargates -> Atmosphere
Wormholes -> Atmosphere*
Jump Activation -> Jump Activation
Crimewatch -> (UI Sound Level)
Explosions -> Ship Effects
Engine.MWD.AB -> Ship Ambience
Station Exterior -> Atmosphere
Station Interior -> Atmosphere
Modules -> Ship Effects
Ship Ambience -> Ship Ambience
Warping Effect -> Ship Effects
3rd Party warp -> Jump Activation
Map and Ship Tree Vol -> Secondary Interfaces
Locking -> (UI Sound Level)
EVE store -> (UI Sound Level)
Planets -> Atmosphere
UI Click -> (UI Sound Level)
Radial Menu -> (UI Sound Level)
UI Interaction -> Secondary Interfaces
Aura -> (UI Speech Level)
Hacking -> Secondary Interfaces
Shield Warning -> Warning Sounds
Hull Warning -> Warning Sounds
Ship Damage Warnings -> Warning Sounds
Cap Warning -> Warning Sounds
Atmosphere -> Atmosphere
Music Dungeons -> (Music Level)
Music General -> (Music Level)

* This indicates general wormhole atmosphere. The wormhole activation sound is controlled by the Jump Activation slider.

We continue to investigate ways to improve this system, including modifying which features are controlled by which sliders and adjusting for popular requests, so do not hesitate to comment on the forums and make your own noise across New Eden. We look forward to streamlining the process of customization for all capsuleers and hopefully bumping that 9% up so that more players can experience all that EVE has to offer.

Fly free!

That is the only change I have a problem with because sound of wormhole indicates its status unlike rest of atmosphere sounds.

Slight misreading, but the result is positive: The wormhole activation sound (Jump Activation) is completely separate from Station Interiors (Atmosphere).

Map is not lumped in with UI sounds, but is instead part of Secondary Interfaces. Win.





Thanks for putting this up here. Please have a go at using the set up tomorrow and come back to see how the sliders worked out as far as minimizing the sounds you don't need, then add further comment. CCP Baldur will be monitoring the player response here.

Please separate the wormhole ambience from the stargate hum. I live in wormholes on all of my accounts, and stargate ambiance plays no reliance impact on my game and gets turned down to near 0, Wormhole states however... Big deal.

3rd party warp should be its own items. It's not a jump effect there for it doesn't make sense. I keep that setting maxed at all times and turn down my jump effect to 3/4 volume.

Station interior/exterior bound to the same slider as gate/wormhole effects isn't ideal either. I turn that down for sanity sake as the interior/ exterior station chatter don't really matter and can be annoying.

Aww Explosions aren't their own menu item anymore... Dammit. I'd like to hear the satisfying sound of the kill while seperating it from the same silder that my warp effect falls under, because.. I don't need to hear the warp tunnel as long as I visually see myself moving in warp. I know alot people that want the ship skinning effect turned down (especially while watching wormholes)

I'm not seeing anything or incursion radio chatter audio/ Thera ambiance/ Tactical camera ambiance. Where is that bound, just the generic ambiance slider?

Iterating on this as time allows / Once I get hands on time with this after patch day.

EDIT:

When you're looking at your stats and getting on 9% of the player base are you taking into account character age/clone states?

I was at the Toronto meetup on the weekend and one of the attendees who has been active since 2014 said he has barely gone through the menu in that time. Even in the previous thread this item was brought up in some older players weren't even aware the advanced options were there.

Maybe some of us are edge cases in this but never the less our play styles will be impacted by this upcoming change.

Yep this!
I would also like to see jump activation and wormhole activation in separate sliders also. I live in wormholes and have the wormhole activation turned pretty much right up. If I have to turn down the gates (because jesus they get loud) every time I go into K-Space it gets tedious.



I also have 3rd party warp set up high also. This is effective because you can tell when something else is landing on grid that you cannot necessarily see. Say for example, if its a fleet mate or someone is landing on a grid where your overview is cramped.

I notice a few of the things I have turned down / adjusted is the UI sounds. Will there be some sliders for different UI sounds or will UI clicks and Scanning sounds all be in the same category?

Has there ever been any thought of making customizable audio parameters available in the .ini, similar to this: https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=513462

This would allow "power users" to get their settings just right, while taking the pressure off the UI team.

UI Click -> (UI Sound Level) <--- really should be bound to its own item still. cause dammit it's annoying.
UI Interaction -> Secondary Interfaces (From what I assume I'm going to guess that this includes things like that annoying login sound, background sweeps form the scanner etc)

I'll do absolutely anything to separate the dscan ping from everything else. Seriously I'll come to Iceland and do your laundry for a year. Anyone that flies small gang/solo or lives in wormholes needs to dscan every few seconds. I don't want to roleplay a submarine commander. Muting UI interaction already means I don't get killmail dongs and now it's gonna be more on top of that.

If you don't want to spend dev hours is there at least a line I can add to the prefs.ini or something?

I don't think you understand what you're volunteering for. That is laundry made from diets consisting of Hakarl (fermented shark) washed down with Brennivin (Black Death).

Duplicate. Delete please