https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=45311
Bug ID: 45311 Summary: Skyrim Special Edition: ambient sounds do not attenuate with distance Product: Wine Version: 3.9 Hardware: x86-64 OS: Linux Status: UNCONFIRMED Severity: normal Priority: P2 Component: xaudio2 Assignee: wine-bugs@winehq.org Reporter: forestcode@ixio.org Distribution: ---
In Skyrim SE, ambient sounds are supposed to attenuate based on the camera's distance from the source, so that distant sounds will be barely perceptible, nearby sounds will be loud and clear, and moving closer or farther from the source will gradually change the sound's volume accordingly.
When running on wine with builtin xaudio, distance attenuation does not work; any time the camera enters a certain (fairly distant) radius from a sound source, that sound will suddenly start playing at full volume, as if the source was in the player's ear. This results in disturbing situations like startlingly loud footsteps and voices produced by distant NPCs, or a sudden roar of water rushing the moment the player crosses an invisible threshold in the vicinity of a river.
When running with Microsoft's native 64-bit xaudio libs, distance attenuation works properly.
Note: While winetricks xact is probably the easiest way to install the native xaudio libs for testing purposes, recent versions of winetricks do not install the 64-bit versions. (See wine bug 41618#c5.) Reverting this commit is therefore necessary in order to get the libs needed for Skyrim SE's 64-bit executable: https://github.com/Winetricks/winetricks/commit/f2b3d268d941120d13b4c3c3960b...
I have identified a few locations in the early part of game where this bug is prominent:
1. A point on the road from Helgen to Riverwood where the rumbling of a nearby river cuts in suddenly as the player approaches it. 2. A point on the same road, closer to the river, where the whooshing of rushing water cuts in suddenly as the player approaches. 3. A point in Riverwood where the creaking of the wooden water wheel cuts in at full volume as the player approaches.
When standing at any of these points, one can hear the ambient sounds cut in and out either by walking closer/farther from the sound source, or by zooming out to third-person view and rotating the camera around the player, such that the camera enters/exits the sound's radius.
I will attach screen shots showing these locations.