Not hearing distant sounds is really the intent though, as described. They're meant to fade out. This is a feature I don't think I'd want into the release version of the game, either, since it has the potential to make the audioscape sound really poorly done/low quality.
But that's also what the audio log is there for, to ensure you know all sounds that could theoretically be heard, even if they are quite low volume because they're currently far away (or for whatever other reason--like sometimes there might be a number of different ones playing at once and you can't distinguish them quite as easily).
(sorry for late reply)
While not hearing distant sounds is the intent, i'm not hearing sounds that i think aren't far enough to be intently unheard, if that makes sense?
While the audio log is the best way i can think of to solve those other problems, and the audio log allows me to not be handicapped by my low volume, my problem is that i'd like to hear those sounds at a time closer to when a "normal" user does. (I just want to make the reason for this suggestion clear, i can definitely do without, as i already have.)
Seems pretty clear, although I also think you might be overestimating what "normal" users are hearing, because to be honest a lot of individual machines are not entirely audible until you get closer (especially depending on other environmental factors), but the audio log will report them all the same because technically if you
isolated the sound, you would be more likely to hear it at full or near-full range. I don't generally hear them at full range under my normal settings, either
. This is especially true of machines like the Relays, which have a more subdued sound which does get more audible at various points, but is drawn out over a longer period so as you're moving you may not always have time to immediately react to it.
Note there is also another factor at play here: Diffusion. Garrison Relays in particular often have their volume cut because they're hidden behind other features that partially block sound, specifically phase walls, which are what will lead to this issue a
lot more frequently than you find with other machines (since you're not as likely to be looking for other machines to begin with, either). This is a side effect of the Garrison environment itself, not the machine.
I'm now wondering if you need this tweak for any other purposes/locations/machines--is it just this situation? Sounds almost like what you really want here is to remove diffusion inside garrisons, or to disable the diffusion effect of phase walls (though it exists to let you know there is something hidden nearby, which you can tell based on a combination of your knowledge of the local layout
and very low volume, which is intended there).
This is a feature I don't think I'd want into the release version of the game, either, since it has the potential to make the audioscape sound really poorly done/low quality.
Did you not already say it would have to be an advanced option, (i'm guessing specifically to lower that kind of accident?) or do you mean something else?
Actually my point here was that I don't really like the idea of this particular feature being in the game at all, even as an option, because if anyone ends up using it to stream/record the game it could easily give a very bad impression... Anyway, I can test it at some point and we'll see.