Starfield is now available to preload on Xbox Series X/S consoles and PC, meaning we now know its install size. On PC, …
  • @DaforLynx@lemmy.zipEnglish
    4•1 year ago

    You really want lossless audio in games? Do you know how big FLACs are in comparison to OGGs? Could most people really hear the difference? Keep in mind the quality of the average headset or desktop speakers. I don’t think any games store lossless audio. If they did, I’d bet they would be much, much bigger.

    • mcforest
      2•1 year ago

      Actually… no, you’re completely right. That’s why I just wrote “good audio quality”, whatever that means. I actually read in some of those “why are games so big today” posts that people suggested that game devs don’t compress their audio files enough. Some people don’t get that this would come at a cost.
      The average gamer might play with pretty shitty headsets but I think developers should go a little bit further than that and also satisfy enthusiasts. Up to a certain degree of course. That’s why I think it’s completely reasonable to demand ultra wide support or the physics not breaking above 60 fps.

      • @DaforLynx@lemmy.zipEnglish
        1•1 year ago

        (I actually expected a much worse reply) Nah I willingly interpreted what you said in the most extreme way possible. But in my mind there’s something of a ceiling when it comes to noticable improvements in audio quality, especially when compared to visuals, and it’s much lower than lossless. Besides, encoding is far from the only determining factor of audio quality. I think now, as discussed in other threads, the primary factor of ballooning file size is sheer quantity. We want more dialogue, more varied and adaptive music, more immersive soundscapes - and there’s no trick to achieving this other than more content, meaning more disk space. Maybe one day we’ll find an audio compression algorithm that will perform miracles, but until then audio still forms a significant portion of any game’s install, compressed or not.