The Thing w/ 3D spatial sound 🎧 (OpenAL Soft HRTF audio)
Channel: I Drink Lava - 3D Game Audio
Date: 2020-10-09

USE HEADPHONES ONLY with any virtual surround like Windows Sonic turned off. Actual gameplay starts at 1:04. Best HRTF effects at 1:04, 1:48, 2:43, 5:57, 6:52, 10:36, and 11:48.

Next up on Halloween month 2020 is The Thing with OpenAL Soft's HRTF through DSOAL [IRC_1037 tables]. This was quite a pleasant surprise for me when subscriber "Ominous Onion" first told me about it months ago. I have nostalgia for the game, not because I remember playing it back in the day (this is in fact my first ever run) but because it was one of the first Spoony Experiment videos I ever saw back in 2007. Boy, how time flies, huh? How people change...

I will admit, I'm not a fan of The Thing game and I would wager most people aren't, either. Part of it is because I had a preconceived bias from the Spoony review, but I do genuinely think this game is janky even for 2002 standards. It also kind of spits in John Carpenter's face with its story developments. Mainly, the reason I did this video is because I was worried about Ominous Onion since he hasn't commented in a long time and I don't want to think he died from the recent surge of COVID-19 in India.

One thing I will admit about this game is that the positional audio is amazing. It really immerses you into the game world. Oddly enough, it's one of the rare examples of a third-person game where the listener object is attached to the character rather than the camera. You can actually hear the headcrab things skitter beneath you. I would imagine this would be very grating in a game where the character moves independent of the camera, but for a third-person shooter it actually kind of works.


HRTF grade:
A

Settings:
Windows Control Panel: Stereo

IRC_1037 HRTF tables placed in %APPDATA%/OpenAL/HRTF
(in alsoft.ini located in %APPDATA%)
channels=stereo
frequency=48000
sources=512
stereo-mode=headphones
cf_level=0
sample-type=float32
periods=3
period_size=128
output-limiter=false
default-hrtf=irc_1037_48000
hrtf=true
resampler=cubic
hrtf-mode=full
hrtf-size=0
drivers="-dsound,"

Links:
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/65094
(Personalized HRTF presets are included in HARD_MODE_INSTALLATION.zip)
https://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file/1039-the-thing-suis-wrapper/
https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/The_Thing#Bump_mapping

Credits:
http://scifimoviezone.com/imagethething/thethinglogo.png
(Logo is copyrighted by Universal. Use of this logo falls under fair use laws.)

#3dsound #spatialaudio #binaural #3daudio #360audio #8daudio #hrtf #headphones #audiophile #gameaudio #mod #thething
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