I suggest, use no sound at all. most of the time, My speakers dont work, and I play with no hint whatsoever of sound.
talking about your problem, there are some headphones available in the market, that compensate for problems such as yours. look up Amazon, I think they sell those.
and yeah, the 7.1 Surround Idea is good, but I wont recommend it unless you want a fried processor. I will recommend a quad core processor at a minimum for that.
and no, I dont feel much need for sound in any form of Gaming. I am a bit allergic to loud sounds, so, according to me, it doesnt make much difference, save improving the ambience and adding to the fun by, say, 3%.
You play well enough without setting up that bizarre contraption in my opinion, but it's a matter of preference. I think in a large scale FPS like PS2, sound positioning is less effective because there's a lot of sounds going on at any given time. Much more than in your standard FPS. It'll help for squad based FPS like RO2, I'm sure...
Then again, I am a little deaf myself so my opinion may not be the most relevant.
I use a headset with option to switch between 7.1 and 2.0 (external sound card etc. blah,blah...).
And yes, the 7.1 actually has hearable differences in from where sound comes. I use it for FPS and I find it very, very helpful. At times in BF4 I could practically follow someone running behind a wall next to me almost exactly. Only judging whether something is above or below you is difficult (though that might be a problem of the sound mixing in BF4, I don't remember having so many problems with that in any other game)...
Mind you, I don't play many FPS games, but I feel it does make quite a difference. At least when you are able to hear things like footsteps and there is not too much going on. A game like CS:GO I could imagine 3D sound being absolutly vital. It depends on what kind of FPS you are playing. When you don't die very quickly or there is too much going on to properly hear specific things, having no 3D sound is much less of a problem, but in quieter games (or moments), when a single shot can mean you lose, it does help.
I would at least give your methode a test, see whether you like it or not. As you said, your ear is better trained, but still, if you can't make out the differences well enough, there's no point. If you can, on the other hand, I think it can be helpful. Unless it gets confusing for you...hm...I mean, it is pretty different from RL.
(05-22-2014, 07:10 PM)Traxit Wrote: Playing FPS Game's with no sound is like trying to PvP with no mouse
No... Let me tell you what it's like being half deaf and existing.
You can hear everything that happens, just like a person with normal hearing does, however, you have no idea what direction its coming from. Now in social situations where a lot of people are talking at once, the main way humans determine who it is that is talking, is from where the sound is coming from... Without the ability to easily determine sound direction, you find yourself unable to work out who in a group of people is saying what. It means that often communication becomes rather odd. You move around the room a lot more than most people would, so that you get a chance to listen to people talking when they're actually near you and their voice therefore stands out from the amorphous mass of voices through its proximity.
You often find yourself subconciously walking to one side of someone or the other, depending on how much you want to listen to them. You can sleep really well.
And finally, despite having some hearing loss, you can still hear everything that happens in a videogame perfectly, except you cannot work out which speaker the sound has come from, and therefore do not know if the danger/target is to your left or right.
That is all. It's not like trying to walk without legs, or trying to PvP in freelancer without a mouse (although I can guarantee I'd still be better than you at that, even using a touchpad). It's not like trying to see without eyes.
In short, you learn to adapt. Because I do not remember anything different, my behaviour is different. I learned to use other cues in FPS games aside from sound. The whole purpose of this thread is to see if it is worth me bothering to try and consciously adapt the way I play FPS games.
Truth be told, my ear is better trained than yours ever will be (years of training and work in mixing live sound for bands, a year of working in a recording studio)... So learn some god damned decency before you start being a total *snip*.
*snip*.
Edit: Although apparently, using apostrophes without a braincell is like trying to use a can opener on an acorn.
Joe. The staff has decided to take your advice and clean up the forum. Don't be part of the problem. ~Garrett Jax
lol wtf u literally asked 4 ppl's opinions, he didn't even say anything mean to u and u wrote some stangry essay about how 'trained ur ear is' (wow hav trofy). brb barfing from second-hand embarassment =\