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Please add some sort of visual indicator for sound


Anorak2023

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I love playing this game, but I have a major issue with it, I'm deaf. In most games I'm able to just accept it and deal, but in PZ noise is such a major mechanic that I'm at a major disadvantage. It would be great if there was a  mechanic with a visual indicator that shows directions of sounds and how loud they are. Perhaps a kind of sonar?

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There is a mod that might help you.  It is in the Steam PZ Workshop under the title Sound Direction Indicator. 

Workshop ID: 2560478285
Mod ID: SoundDirectionIndicator

 

Copied and pasted from the Mod page:

This mod will give you a flashing arrow like indicator around your character to help you identify the direction and distance/volume of world sounds. The color and flashing is used to help indicate how close/strong a sound is. Faster blinking/Redder color equals closer/stronger sound.

SOME Possible applications:
- Playing the game muted or without sound could be a lot more possible.
- Also does the same thing for hearing impaired players
- Playing the game with a blind (or just poor vision) character that has good hearing to make up for that.

Things to note.
- Only WORLD Sounds are detected by this system. A WorldSound is what it sounds like, a sound that has a source/position (in the world) and a range and volume. Some more examples of worldSounds would be zombies banging against objects, radios, TVs, vehicle engine noise, breaking windows etc. Ambient sounds for example would not be detected.
- Any sound that was caused by the player himself, will be ignored by the system
- This system takes into account any hearing related traits. Poorer hearing results in lower detection range, keen hearing trait increases it. This mod will do nothing at all if you have the deaf trait.

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I added the mod and played for about 5 minutes in MP.  It works as described.  There is a curved line near your body indicating the direction the noise is coming from and showing different colours depending on how close the noise is.  It appears to catch noise from a decent distant - if you are in a building,  you will be pick up on zombies outside or maybe next door.  

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  • 1 month later...

I have been playing this game for a long time.  While I'm not deaf, I am hard of hearing.

 

I would really love it if the devs would incorporate this mod into the game settings directly as the mod doesn't always work.  They've even balanced it so you can't abuse traits in the mod already.

 

This is an easy accessibility win, and something that could bring a lot of attention both to the game and the need for such accessibility options to be prioritized.  If an indie game company prioritized accessibility features, think how much media pressure that could place on larger game studios.

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On 8/4/2022 at 12:10 AM, Anorak2023 said:

I love playing this game, but I have a major issue with it, I'm deaf. In most games I'm able to just accept it and deal, but in PZ noise is such a major mechanic that I'm at a major disadvantage. It would be great if there was a  mechanic with a visual indicator that shows directions of sounds and how loud they are. Perhaps a kind of sonar?

it would be good as well for not-deaf ones as we are currently unable to estimate from what direction currently sounds come like outside gunshots, screams or zombies especially sometimes is hard to tell where they could be,they still moan and bangs windows/doors.

currently only shaking doors and TV descriptions are only visual indicators right now, rest of sounds can be still heard but hell knows where it coming from,also sounds can be quieter or louder depending how far our character is from sound source but it's still not enough

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  • 2 weeks later...

On a similar note, it would be nice to have an indicator of how much noise your character is making as well. I find some sound effects seem loud audibly, but goes unnoticed by Z, like walking over broken glass, or things that seem silent that are louder in game, like flipping light switches at night.

 

I know the latter example isn't so much supposed to be a sound as it is a mechanic to draw zeds into the light.

 

Maybe once all the sound work is done, these things may be easier to gauge with appropriate sound levels, but presently, I feel there is no accurate way to determine how much noise your currently making.

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