QUAAF - quieter, balanced AAF soundfx v1.5e

[dosfox]

QUAAF ? - quieter, balanced AAF soundfx v1.5e

 

There is no volume control for AAF.    ?

 

But if you live with kids, a SFW spouse, close neighbours, thin walls, don't like wearing headphones ... if you don't like how AAF animations are louder than artillery and mini-nukes ... you might like QUAAF!

 

This mod normalises and attenuates  2472 sound files from the supported animation packs, resulting in a more balanced and realistic audio gamescape. ?

 

QUAAF is a simple file replacer that does not require an .esp and contains no scripts. QUAAF is easily installed or uninstalled with a mod manager at any point in the game.

 

There are now 4 versions available:

 

Balanced:

This version allows you to hear every sound from every animation pack. All the animation packs' sounds are balanced so the quietest and loudest sounds from any pack are the same volume respectively as the quietest and loudest sounds from every other pack. This version is about -30dB quieter than the average of all the original sound packs. The dynamic range of every Balanced pack is about 20dB. This version is fairly loud, but still quieter than the original AAF soundfx.

 

Quiet:  ? 

The most realistic and natural-sounding version. A few very quiet sounds from some animation packs may not be audible. All packs are about 6dB quieter than the Balanced version, with a dynamic range of about 15dB.

 

Discrete:

Very quiet. More very quiet sounds not audible, but at least the neighbours won't be knocking on the door wanting to join your orgy. All packs are about 10dB quieter than Balanced, with a dynamic range of about 10dB.

 

Mute:

All AAF sounds are silenced to -100dB. Runtime of the files is the same as the originals so should not interfere with animation timing.

 

****************************

 

QUAAF is a proof-of-concept project and still a WIP, so please post any suggestions, request animation packs to be included, or give some much-needed feedback. Thank you!

 

 

Requirements:

• AAF and any of the supported animation packs:

50 Shades of FO4 v1.0.5

Atomic Lust v2.6.1b

BP70s Sex anims v2.7

Brave's Animations v1.2.1

Custom Moans v1.2

Devious Devices v2.0

FO4 Animations by Leito 2.0a & 2.1b

Voice Fix for Leito FF animations v1.1

Indarello's Patch for animations v9.7

NSFW Sound Pack v3.0.1

SavageCabbage's Animation Pack v1.2.6

Stripper Pole v3.0b

TortureDevices v2.0c

Ultimate AAF Patch v2.6.36

Vadermania v1.1

ZazOut4 Beta v.003

 

Installation:

• Choose only one version.
• Install with a mod manager. Answer "yes to all" to replace existing files.
• If you later install new supported animation packs you will have to reinstall QUAAF.

 

Uninstall:

• Uninstall with mod manager. Your original fx files will automatically be restored.

 

DOWNLOAD: 

 

-30db Balanced            QUAAF Balanced v1.5e.rar   

 

or -36db Quiet             QUAAF Quiet v1.5e.rar  

 

or -40db Discrete         QUAAF Discrete v1.5e.rar

 

or -99db Mute              QUAAF -99db Mute v1.5.rar

 

 

Check out the latest Beta Release QUAAF v1.7e03

 

 

Recommended Settings:

You will get the best balance of sound if you set the Master Volume control in FO4 Audio settings to "maximum".

Then adjust the Voice, Music, FX, Footsteps, Radio and VOTW settings to your own liking.

 

AAF animation sounds are independent of all FO4 controls, so QUAAF sound levels are balanced using the maximum Master setting as a reference.

 

 

Changelog:

 

Spoiler

______________________________________________________________________

v1.5e

- Added support for Devious Devices 2.0

- Professional software used for better results.

- 4 levels of volume available, -30db, -36db, -40db and -100db.

______________________________________________________________________

v1.3

- Added missing files.

- New normalisation algorithm for better balance between animation packs..

- New transcoding method for Zazout4.

- Temporarily removed support for UAP.

- Added -99db Mute version.

QUAAF -10db v1.3.rar  QUAAF -15db v1.3.rarQUAAF -99db Mute v1.3.rar

______________________________________________________________________

v1.2

- Added support for Leito Animations v.2.1.b

- New normalising software used for better dynamic range and balance between animation packs.

- More weapons, devices, large creatures, and other miscellaneous sounds excluded from QUAAFing.

QUAAF -10db v1.2.zip QUAAF -15db v1.2.zip

______________________________________________________________________

v1.1

- Added support for 50 Shades of FO4, NSFW Sound Pack, Ultimate AAF Patch, ZazOut4 Beta.

- All large creatures, and animation-related device and weapon sounds are not nerfed by QUAAF.

- Using a slightly different normalisation algorithm.

 

1116516314_QUAAF-10dbv1.1.zip  1344349901_QUAAF-15dbv1.1.zip

______________________________________________________________________

v1.0

Initial release.

QUAAF -10db v1.0.zip    QUAAF -15db v1.0.zip

______________________________________________________________________

 

 

Demo:

 

Demo of QUAAF in the 3rd Rail using -15db v1.0 and Autonomy Enhanced Redux.

 

Credits:

 

AAF Creator:   @dagobaking  ?

 

The Incredible Animators: 

@AlexW95  @Bazinga  @bp70  @BraveBunny  @EgoBallistic @Gray User @Indarello @Leito86 @Rufgt  @SavageCabbage  @Saya Scarlett  @Ulfberto  @ZaZ

  ---- THANK YOU! ❤️

 

? Original Idea & fomod creation: @Ulfberto  ?

 

Beta testing:    @Lordsaddller  ?

     

Edited October 6, 2021 by dosfox
Update Release v1.7e03_beta

[dosfox]

 STICKY: 

• Does anybody know if there is an advantage to animation .WAV files being Stereo rather than Mono? Currently there are a large number of stereo .WAV files among the animation fx, but in most of the ones i've inspected the channels are usually identical. Converting all the files to Mono would make the mod easier to normalise (and a smaller download), but so far i have been careful not to alter the content of files, only the normalised amplitude.     Thanks Jeoshua!
• Ideally QUAAF should be packaged as a FOMOD that detected and replaced only existing animation pack files. But i am just an old file-wrangler, not a coder. Please could anybody help me with setting up a template?   Thanks to Ulfberto FOMOD coming soon.
• QUAAF has been developed using NexusModManager. Could somebody kindly confirm if QUAAF installs and uninstalls OK with Vortex & MO2?   Thanks VaultBait!  Thanks Anonymous!

 

 

Edited September 14, 2021 by dosfox

[Lordsaddller]

What a fantastic little mod. Now my  neighbours  won't be calling the police @ 3am reporting me for having orgys.  

Thanks to @dosfox
For making this great little mod

 

[dagobaking]

If only I had named my mod "EEF"...

[Ulfberto]

Congrats on release, def will help a lot of people out there.

Just wanted to state this doesnt cover UAP moan files, so they will still be loud (unless the author decides to add them as well).

also @dosfox i can help you out with a fomod. If you interested you can contact me in discord Ulfberto#8216

Edited September 4, 2021 by Ulfberto

[dosfox]

2 hours ago, Ulfberto said:

... Just wanted to state this doesnt cover UAP moan files, so they will still be loud (unless the author decides to add them as well)...

 

Thank you for your encouragement @Ulfberto , working on UAP and its requirements now.

 

 

Edited September 4, 2021 by dosfox

[dosfox]

UPDATE V1.1 RELEASE

- Added support for 50 Shades of FO4, NSFW Sound Pack, Ultimate AAF Patch, ZazOut4 Beta.

- All large creatures, and animation-related device and weapon sounds are not nerfed by QUAAF.

- Using a slightly different normalisation algorithm.

 

[vaultbait]

On 9/3/2021 at 10:00 PM, dosfox said:

Could somebody kindly confirm if QUAAF installs and uninstalls OK with Vortex

 

This is working great for me with Vortex. It installs to the correct location and is correctly identified as conflicting with the audio files for all the animations and optional sounds packs I'm using for them. It also uninstalls cleanly, but that's really up to Vortex correctly tracking the files it installs anyway.

 

Thanks for making and sharing this!

[dosfox]

7 minutes ago, vaultbait said:

This is working great for me with Vortex.

 

Thanks for that!

[dosfox]

UPDATE V1.2 RELEASE

______________________________________________________________________

v1.2

- Added support for Leito Animations v.2.1.b

- New normalising software used for better dynamic range and balance between animation packs.

- More weapons, devices, large creatures, and other miscellaneous sounds excluded from QUAAF.

______________________________________________________________________

 

[Lordsaddller]

I have found that Version 1.2 is much better than Version 1.1

[dosfox]

UPDATE V1.3 RELEASE

______________________________________________________________________

v1.3

- Added missing files.

- New normalisation algorithm for better balance between animation packs..

- New transcoding method for Zazout4 files (ZazOut4 uses .xwm files instead of .wav).

- Temporarily removed support for UAP.

______________________________________________________________________

 

Ultimate UAF patch has been temporarily removed from QUAAF while @Ulfberto incorporates optional QUAAFed files into UAP for his next update. If you use UAP and want to try QUAAF before his update is released, please download QUAAF v1.1 from the changelog in the OP.

 

Exciting new developments are afoot with the coming FOMOD-powered version 2.0. Both the Balanced (-10db) and Discrete (-15db) versions will be included in the same package, and may be able to be applied independently to each animation pack. Keep posted!

 

 

 

Edited September 9, 2021 by dosfox
xwm

[dosfox]

QUAAF -99db (Mute) v1.3 added. This version will silence all AAF animation sounds, and will have no effect on any other game audio.

 

 

Edited September 11, 2021 by dosfox
silence

[Nebuchadnezzer2]

Hmm.
A good idea.



One 'request' for this sort of 'treatment': fucking Devious Devices.
Damn thing is so loud, and one of the reasons it gets on my nerves

As for Stereo vs Mono, Mono tends to be louder and 'flatter' (and obviously a bit less 'directional'), from what little I remember.

[dosfox]

2 hours ago, Nebuchadnezzer2 said:

One 'request' for this sort of 'treatment': fucking Devious Devices.

 

No problem. Thank you for the request. Should be out with v1.5 in a few days.

 

2 hours ago, Nebuchadnezzer2 said:

As for Stereo vs Mono,...

 

Yes, that may have something to do with the fade-out over distance problem with a lot of AAF sound. Unfortunately though, less than 10% of the AAF animation pack .wavs are stereo, so the effect is kind of wasted overall. Thanks for the advice. ☺️

 

Edited September 13, 2021 by dosfox
a few days

[Jeoshua]

On 9/1/2021 at 10:56 PM, dosfox said:

• Does anybody know if there is an advantage to animation .WAV files being Stereo rather than Mono? Currently there are a large number of stereo .WAV files among the animation fx, but in most of the ones i've inspected the channels are usually identical. Converting all the files to Mono would make the mod easier to normalise (and a smaller download), but so far i have been careful not to alter the content of files, only the normalised amplitude.

 

If it's anything like previous versions of Gamebryo/Creation Engine, setting audio files to stereo makes positional audio impossible. Not that the sex sounds are specifically meant to be directional but...

 

They should be.

[dosfox]

On 9/14/2021 at 1:52 PM, Jeoshua said:

If it's anything like previous versions of Gamebryo/Creation Engine, setting audio files to stereo makes positional audio impossible. Not that the sex sounds are specifically meant to be directional but...They should be.

 

That is really good news! ☺️  I decided a couple of days ago to standardise all the files to 32kHz sample rate, 16bit, MONO. The difference between 44.1kHz and 33kHz is indistinguishable for AAF soundfx and reduces file size, and mono will reduce the download package size further. Thanks to your input i am more confident that choosing mono was the right choice.

 

For anyone interested, this is one of my worksheets below. The first scribbled line of each modpack shows the original minimum and maximum values (in decibels) of TrueRMS, True Peak, and Perceived Loudness for that soundpack. This gives a good approximation of the dynamic range of each pack. As you can see, they are all wildly different!

 

The second scribbled line is the results after matching the sounds to the average Perceived Loudness of the entire collection of files, less 27db. Just experimenting at this stage, but results are promising. Volume matching a wildly varying collection of sounds like this is like nothing i've done before, and there are no "presets" that work with it. Pornography is the blood on the cutting edge of technology!

 

Spoiler

 

Tonight's worksheet, this time matching each pack of standardised files to -30db TRMS. Next step: try normalising this collection down to game average (-32db?) matching by Perceived Loudness.

 

 

Thanks again @Jeoshua your input is very much appreciated!  ?

 

Edited September 16, 2021 by dosfox
spoiler

[dosfox]

UPDATE VERSION 1.5e UPDATE

______________________________________________________________________

v1.5e

- Added support for Devious Devices 2.0.

- 4 levels of volume available, -30db, -36db, -40db and -99db.

- Now using professional software for better results.

______________________________________________________________________

 

 

[dosfox]

Good news and bad news for QUAAF: Good news is - a fairly good Balanced version will be ready in a couple of days.

 

The bad news is, of course, more complicated:

 

1. All AAF animation mods use different FO4 Sound Output Models.

• SavageCabbage, AtomicLust and Vadermania use the SOM_WPN_Mono10000_SOS model which is very loud and has a fadeout distance of 10000 game units so even the quietest sounds travel unnatural distances! It is the default Sound Output Model for ballistic weapons.
• BP70 & Leito use SOMMono01500Player3rd model which has a fadeout distance of 1500 GU. This model may be the most suitable for "normal" human sexplay animations but is very quiet compared to the SOPMs used by the other authors.
• Torture Devices has its own custom Sound Output Model.
• UAP somehow plays sound files directly through the AAF API?
• All the other packs use different SOPMs between these extremes and overall this results in a very confused and unnatural mix of spatial AAF sound effects at all listening levels.

2. Many of the packs have used variables in the "BNAM - Data" section of the Sound Descriptor SNDR record to attenuate and introduce random variations of volume. It is easy to compensate for the "Static Attenuation" value at normal listening levels by amplifying the .wav files, but the "dB Variance" setting is a real problem. In many cases (BP70 & Leito especially) the lower limit of those variations will completely silence quiet sounds at normal listening levels, and at quieter listening levels can silence even loud sounds.
 

Spoiler

 

 

 

With these limitations it is impossible to make a decent Quiet or Discrete version of QUAAF. The only solution i can imagine would be to write patches for each mod to standardise the ONAM-OutputModel and edit the StaticAttenuation and dBVariance values for each SNDR group (if that is even possible). With access to those variables i'm pretty sure we could could lower levels to Quiet and Discrete QUAAF versions. Unfortunately those xEdit skills are way beyond me, and the use of patches would greatly complicate the making and installation of the mod. So at this stage it looks like only a quality Balanced version is possible for QUAAF.

 

As far as QUAAF being a proof-of-concept project, these are my findings so far:

• - It is possible to adjust the source .wav files to create a balance of AAF sounds between animation packs at normal listening levels.
• - The lack of a standard AAF SoundOutputModel creates a confusing and unnatural mix of the spatial presentation of AAF soundfx.
• - The use of StaticAttenuation and large dBVariance settings make it very difficult to adjust the mix of AAF sounds to lower listening levels.
• - 44kHz 16-bit mono WAV is the correct format for FO4 soundfx files.

 

 

 

Edited October 1, 2021 by dosfox

[dosfox]

UPDATE: QUAAF v1.7d05 BETA Release

 

This is a significant Beta release with two important new features:

 

1. FOMOD installation. Now you can install only the files you want by excluding any animation pack from QUAAF support.

 

2. ESL patches have been written for AtomicLust and SavageCabbage animation packs. The patches give those mods the same Sound Output Model that Leito and BP70 use - SOMMono01500Player3rd. This is a much more natural sound template for human sex that fades sounds out at about 1500 game units. In future releases these patches will give much more control over the actual level of sound generated by AAF animation packs and the ability to balance all the soundpacks into a more realistic FO4 soundscape. Patches may be written for other animation packs as necessary.

 

This is a "Balanced" version of QUAAF - you should be able to hear every sound from every sound pack at normal listening levels. The volume is a bit louder than "natural" but still much quieter than the vanilla packs.

 

This update release is my first attempt at making a FOMOD (thanks for the help @Ulfberto!) and my first attempt at writing patches (thanks to Skyrim Modders@Utube!).  It works fine with NMM, but feedback from MO2 & Vorplex users would be appreciated.

 

These animation packs have not been tested in-game yet:

- Devious Devices
- Hardship Beggar Whore
- NSFW Sound Pack (50 Shades of FO4, etc)
... so feedback from users of those mods is really necessary please!

 

 

DOWNLOAD:  QUAAF v1.7d06_BETA.rar

 

(Using esl-flagged .ESPs now, so should work with Vortex)

(NSFW Sound Pack selection fixed)

 

 

Edited October 2, 2021 by dosfox
fix for loot/vortex +NSFW

[vaultbait]

1 hour ago, dosfox said:

QUAAF v1.7d04 BETA Release

 

Thanks!

 

Note however that since AtomicLust_SOPM.esl is an ESL file rather than merely an ESL-flagged ESP file, LOOT gets confused by its relationship with Atomic Lust.esp., so Vortex complains: "Plugins not sorted because of cyclic rules. LOOT reported a cyclic interaction between rules. Atomic Lust.esp@default -> AtomicLust_SOPM.esl@default -> Atomic Lust.esp@default"

 

Edit: Interestingly, LOOT seems to correctly infer the appropriate sort order for SavageCabbage_animations.esp and SavageCabbage_SOPM.esl, I'm not sure why the difference in behavior there.

Edited October 2, 2021 by vaultbait

[dosfox]

40 minutes ago, vaultbait said:

Note however that since AtomicLust_SOPM.esl is an ESL file rather than merely an ESL-flagged ESP file, LOOT gets confused by its relationship with Atomic Lust.esp., so Vortex complains: "Plugins not sorted because of cyclic rules. LOOT reported a cyclic interaction between rules. Atomic Lust.esp@default -> AtomicLust_SOPM.esl@default -> Atomic Lust.esp@default"

 

Thank you for reporting that. ? I hope somebody with a better understanding of xEdit and Vortex than me might suggest a solution.  I was pleasantly surprised that NMM automatically placed the .esl files directly after their related .esps  in the load order, but it did not alert me to a "cyclic interaction" problem. Thanks again!

 

Edit: Sorry @vaultbait , suffering from some sleep deprivation, you did provide the solution.  Will try to fix it ASAP. BTW, did you manage to install the mod OK despite the warnings?

 

 

Edited October 2, 2021 by dosfox

[vaultbait]

48 minutes ago, dosfox said:

Thank you for reporting that. ? I hope somebody with a better understanding of xEdit and Vortex than me might suggest a solution.  I was pleasantly surprised that NMM automatically placed the .esl files directly after their related .esps  in the load order, but it did not alert me to a "cyclic interaction" problem. Thanks again!

 

I'm reading up and trying to understand it myself, since I have very limited experience trying to make mods with plugins. From what I'm seeing thus far, it's recommended not to have an ESL which declares an ESP as a master, though I'm still attempting to find clear explanations as to the implications of that on load ordering. Edit: The linked article suggests that doing so forces the plugins to be loaded in the wrong order, but it's still not apparent whether that's only the case for Skyrim or also applies to Fallout 4.

 

Separate thing I noticed, the FOMOD installer menu greyed out the option for NSFW Sound Pack even though I have it installed (and animations installed which rely on it).

Edited October 2, 2021 by vaultbait

[vaultbait]

1 hour ago, vaultbait said:

Interestingly, LOOT seems to correctly infer the appropriate sort order for SavageCabbage_animations.esp and SavageCabbage_SOPM.esl, I'm not sure why the difference in behavior there.

 

Nevermind, it wasn't able to sort that cycle either, it just never tried until I solved the first one.

 

A temoprary workaround, if you have enough normal plugin slots, is to rename these ESL files to have an ESP extension and then LOOT will be able to sort them normally. They could probably also be safely converted to ESL-flagged ESP files (a.k.a. "ESPfe" files) with FO4Edit, though I haven't tried yet.

[dosfox]

9 minutes ago, vaultbait said:

... They could probably also be safely converted to ESL-flagged ESP files ...

 

I've remade the patches from scratch as esl-flagged ESPs (QUAAF v1.7d05_BETA uploaded above just now). It still works with NMM, but now it puts the patches at the end of the load order instead of directly under the related .ESPs! No problems though.