Panning footstep sounds left to right

[xenogia]

As Alan .V. Drake stated in the AGS 3.3 wishlist the functionality of the panning footstep sounds depends where you are on the screen.  So for example far left (x = 0) would be panned to -100 and then get to 640 it would a full 100 pan.

The game is at 640x400 so I need to figure out the equation to do this.  But for the life of me I can't figure out.  I know I can use channel.panning function and to put this functionality in repeatedly_execute_always().  Any ideas?

[Calin Leafshade]

its called normalisation.

Code: ags

panning = (x / 3.2) - 100;

[Milo87]

You can get around the equation part of it by looking at it logically: Dead center (x = 320) panning would be 0, obviously, and since the values in question are between 0 and 100 each direction, you can work it out like a percentage. 100/320 = 0.3125 so to get the correct pan depending on x location it would be:

pan = -100 + (0.3125 x player.x)

So say the player is at x position 200 (so slightly to the left of the center), the equation would be -100 + (0.3125 x 200) = -37.5

Hope this helps!

Edit: Damn beat me to it!

[xenogia]

I thought that was the equation Calin.  I just wanted to make sure   Thanks for the confirmation

[Calin Leafshade]

although you may want to avoid hard pans.. even if the character is on the left side of the screen that doesnt equate to a full left pan.

Subtley is key with shit like that.

[xenogia]

What do you suggest Calin?

EDIT: I tried applying that equation to coding, but I cant seem to compile.  I figured you would need a float variable of some description.  But for example this doesn't work.

Code: ags

float PanFoot = (cEgo.x / 3.2) - 100;

[Calin Leafshade]

try this

Code: ags

int PanFoot = (cEgo.x / 6) - 50

That would give you a pan of about -50 to +50

[tzachs]

You should go with what Calin said, but just to explain why yours did not compile, it's because you mixed floats and ints, you should have done:

Code: ags

float PanFoot = (IntToFloat(cEgo.x) / 3.2) - 100.0;

[Calin Leafshade]

yea tzachs is 100% right.

The reason I elected NOT to use floats was simply because that level of accuracy wasnt needed and it would look messy and have functions and brackets all over the place.

[Alan v.Drake]

This is a sketchy code I use to calculate the panning position (adjusted to 640)

Code: ags

int PanningPosition(int x){
	int panning = ((x-(320+GetViewportX()))*10)/32; //...because I hate floats
	if (panning > 100) panning = 100;    // In the case the character is off the viewport
	if (panning < -100) panning = -100;  //--
	return panning;
}

[xenogia]

This is a sketchy code I use to calculate the panning position (adjusted to 640)

Code: ags

int PanningPosition(int x){
	int panning = ((x-(320+GetViewportX()))*10)/32; //...because I hate floats
	if (panning > 100) panning = 100;    // In the case the character is off the viewport
	if (panning < -100) panning = -100;  //--
	return panning;
}

Hi Alan,

But how do you integrate the panning with the associate sound effect without actually have to play it initially?

Don't you have to have like

Code: ags

Footstepsound = aFootstep.Play();
Footstepsound.Panning = PanningPosition;

[Alan v.Drake]

Either you play them manually or you'll need to make a script that scans the audio channels to see which one is playing footsteps and then checking how many characters are walking and do a little magic, in theory it should work, but I haven't tried it yet.
That's why it would be better if ags did this by itself.

EDIT: Check here for a pratical approach.