I must say one thing that Insurgency: Sandstorm does significantly better than the original Insurgency is sound design. When I’m playing and I hear one of the characters talking in a different room that’s further away it actually sounds like someone in my house is downstairs saying something I’m not lying it’s incredibly well done
That's mostly engine dependent. There are a lot of tricks to try and get different sounds in different environments, but it's a pretty big stretch in Source. Frostbite was way ahead of its time in this regard.
The sound was very good in alpha version, but it is somehow fucked up in beta. I've noticed a strange sound positioning on several occasions. Yesterday while I was playing I was standing next to car-mounted MG, but the sound of firing was coming from completely opposite direction. I don't know what they changed, but this doesn't play well.
Also +Tyler if you've ever been behind a gun you know it's *much* quieter than anywhere else, the very design of a firearm depends on that kind of direction of force. Someone else's gun usually will sound louder to you than your own.
Jon Marshall yeah that’s the biggest issue I’ve seen. The only way for medium-route gaming rigs to handle anything is to turn down the graphics, which makes he game look like washed out garbage.
i have everything turned down to v low, yeah it looks washed out but that 80 fps is hawt when playing, and id much prefer to be able to kill my targets then have non washed out guns, its in beta and they still need to optimise it so hopefully itll be better or release
@Liam King Well we can't keep talking about arma everyday now can we? The last arma game was released in 2013 and it was pretty popular if I remember. There's not that much to say about it
Those who play Sandstorm will never know the true PTSD of the RPGs, AT4s and C4s/IED in Insurgency Standalone Sinjar map with Insurgents RPG spawnkilling the Security Forces..
The reason I still prefer to play the original. Nothing beats the feeling of chilling on sinjar, finding new ways to exploit the assholes of the security forces, on a chill sunny day.
bullet casing drop sounds were missing (no clue if that has been fixed), and the high pitched noise after the grenade blast sets in too quickly, rather unrealistically.
The sound of the grenade lever/latch hitting the ground in the original is so good but I really like the sound of the fragmentation zipping past you in the second. I wish they combined the two and I think they would have the most satisfying grenade sound ever.
I'm a source engine mapper/ casual modder and UE4 tinkerer and here's my thoughts for if anybody cares: 1:07 "Right away we can see a massive improvement" where in the first image I'd say the source version downright trumps Sandstorms. However, in general, Sandstorm will have improved texture resolutions due to it being a newer game. What I will say is though, that in almost all of the cases, the "artistic" element of the old source engine's versions are let down in sandstorm with much flatter, less interesting textrues. Take for example that tire at 1:16: Yes the source engine one is ancient, and low resolution, but take a look at the added wear and dirt that was added to it. This is a problem I feel a lot of Sandstorm suffers from which are textures that, though high in pixels, are often low in artistic detail. 1:51 Though the polycounts on some of the models may be higher in sandstorm, the aliasing and colour reproduction looks noiceably desaturated and contrast reducted for no reason, not to mention it looks like the old game's scopes rendering distant objects zoomed in no longer appears to be a feature. I'd say that the blacks on almost all of the models look FAR too shiny, as if there's no black paint applied to them, and instead it's black metal (i.e. In UE4's material nodes, they have metallicity far too high for almost all the weapons) I will agree about the animations though, they generally seem to be a moderate improvement to authenticity Not to mention, I feel source handles aliasing on shimmers far better for textures in general, especially on the weapon models 3:23 Again, though the lighting in UE4 is inherently more impressive, I feel the studio's implementation of it is actually substantially poorer. UE4 uses a mix of prebaked lighting and a directional cascade shadowmap, the exact same concept that Source does. However, prebaked lighting in UE4 has a habit of being downright terrible at times, and generally looks far worse than source engine's years of refinement Valve have put into their radiosity Algorithms. Generally, UE4 will thus rely more on their excellent "stationary" and dynamic light systems which absolutely shit on source engine, but as a result of being far prettier, also take the hit of being far more expensive to render. In this case, sandstorm is mostly using the same lighting style for its open environments as what they implemented in their source engine version, plus some other features, at the cost of lighting generally looking flatter, and performing far worse Materials interact with light far better in sandstorm, just due to the way UE4 handles specularity in the PBR system 3:35 Shadows are just straight up better in Sandstorm for softness, but often not nearly dark enough for reality, whereas the original had the opposite problem where cascade shadows were too sharp, and far too strong 4:02 Particles are pretty much a tie in my opinion. Like yourself I disliked the blaring orange flash with the old grenades, but the newer smokes don't have the Source engines fogging effect that hid a lot of the obvious pictures once you were inside of it; a straight downgrade. I feel the smoke particles in the sandstorm due to being so Opaque look more fake with their reaction to light, making them more obviously flat, whereas the older implementation, they were far more transparent making it less obvious, though this is just an artistic choice and easily remedied. 7:01 I personally prefer the newer sound system Though not in this video, I feel the 3rd person animations and the way the game handles movement is actually worse than the source engine for many of the cases, and I've seen that some of the animations they've used look suspiciously like ones I've spotted on the UE4 asset store, which isn't a problem AT ALL, it's just amusing. IN CONCLUSION I feel sandstorm is a technical improvement, with a few new features, but is generally a sidegrade, trading a few new features like vehicles, and stealing a few ideas from Day of Infamy, for what is a £25 sell, and a huge loss of FPS. I understand why they went for UE4 for its ease of use, modern engine, better material, lighting, model import, animation, ... basically everything system, BUT the loss of performance for what little is gained is personally not worth it at all. Insurgency is in my eyes a 8.5/10 shooter This is barely a 6.5 and that's not even mentioning the hideous framerate hitching I and many others have experienced, making the game unplayable and creepy character models but hey ho. Nice try guys, but I don't feel this game is going to live up to the huge jump Insurgency was compared to its old mod days compared to sandstorm to insurgency.
Outstanding post, thank you for the effort. Let me just say that I played the original Half Life 2 mod and it felt great, particularly how crispy and metallicky the gun sounds appeared to me.
I only want to get sandstorm because no one plays the og now Especially tactical operations which is my fav mode Also i appreciate the effort that went into this comment
yeah, both insurgency and day of infamy had some amazing voice acting, in sandstorm though it seems kinda over the top, silly, and you cant even tell foe from ally from the voices
Quality over quantity. While insurgency 2 had less voice actors, they did their job incredibly well. Insurgency Sandstorm might have more voice actors, but if the quality isn't the same, what's the point?
Is it just me, or do the graphics look better in multiplayer compared to local? I agree that the textures are too flat and it seemed worse when I was playing with bots initially.
Something about him having really hurt his voice and not being able to do more sounds. But there are only three voices available to security in the beta, so maybe we'll see him come back as a sound pack; I did hear that there would be cosmetic DLC's to help counter the higher budget of the game.
the brighter look is something a lot of AAA games do in order to make the details pop and not get lost if they were darker. Not saying Insurgency did that because of other games, but it certainly is a trend.
No character model comparison? That what hit me the most of the game was how the characters look better from visuals and personality in the first game compare to Sandstorm. Sandstorm they all look too weird, thin, unnatural and feel unrealistic with their body shapes.
Totally agree. I'd like to do a character model comparison in the future, for the game's full release. I didn't include it this time because I was dealing with the bots running all over the place, and none of my friends have the game atm. But I'll be sure to do a model comparison when the game officially releases :)
Nick930 Thank you for replying and taking consideration in your future videos. I will stay tune to see it. Plus, this would help the Devs understand our feedback as well to improve the game very good. :)
John Mcpudding go watch real life videos of war. It's not the same as most video games. Armas sounds follow real world physics. If it's a explosion 500 metres away, you see the explosion but it takes time for the sound wave to reach you.
I really like this video, straight to the point, no bullshit, condensed into a nice little package. And not an annoying voice by any standard, instant subscribe.
I agree that it's the best one, and probably the most beautiful one, unfortunately for single-players only. But, how do we explain the input lag in ALL UE4-based multiplayer games lately? It can't be that all developers are poorly optimizing their games? The issues are consistent across all UE4 games. Same thing goes for Unity. They seem to share some issues.
i agree, i understand that they want it to look worn but they can make it black color with a lot of scratches and stuff like the 2014 version did, its more immersive in my opinion
They have a lot more punch, which is nice, though the sandstorm ones still have quite a lot of punch. The Sandstorm gun sounds are so much more realistic though. They actually sound eerily similar to how those specific guns sound in real life. The Insurgency effects have more punch, but besides that don't sound very realistic at all.
I think the lighting in Sandstorm is a little too bright. The weapon models look slightly too shiny, as opposed to the darker, flatter look in Insurgency 2014. Overall, it's a pretty good looking game though.
Someone pointed out to me that Sandstorm is now getting closer to any other generic shooter and maybe they are right. I didn't play Insurgency for its looks, I don't think most people did. It was just a very satisfying gameplay experience in its own little niche category. Shit, I still play Rainbow Six 3 Raven Shield and Athena sword, I guarantee you it's not the graphics that have me coming back to it
Sandstorm actually feels like an overall improvement in gun handling and actual game play. What wasn't touched upon is that there is now a commander for each team with different assest available to them in very limited numbers. Keep in mind, these aren't kill streaks either. And map scale has stayed the same for most of the maps with one or two being roughly 2x bigger than the biggest maps in the original. Whoever told you its closer to a generic shooter is flat out wrong and most likely hasn't played the game for themselves. Forming that opinion from watching streams and youtube videos is understandable.. but rhis improved the original in almost everyway from a gameplay standpoint imo.
Playing the beta, I'm inching close to 'it's a generic shooter' opinion. No real incentive to go semi auto, less recoil, increased time to kill. Idk it lost some of that charm.. Co op got better though
Id rather play on a newer much better looking game than one on the shitty source engine. Either you cant afford it or cant run it. Newer game looks much better and more fun. Cant run it? Get a better computer.
Not everyone can just go out an get a better computer. Even then it'd be better to upgrade than get a whole new computer. While Sandstorm is very much funner and looks nicer, I found it overall less enjoyable due to it running like a powerpoint during the Alpha. I have an FX 8350 and GTX 970, not exactly crap.
The audio for Source's Insurgency is actually louder and somewhat harsher but the audio for Sandstorm is more realistic. Also the gunfire dispersion rate, explosions and blood splatter/impact wounds are much more realistic. I play both games but even now while Sandstorm is still in Beta, its already visually better then the 2014 Insurgency. They do need to fix some minor bugs aswel as hitbox detection and some server optimization with Sandstorm but I have full faith it will all be smooted out prefectly by official release time in roughly two weeks. I will continue playing Sandstorm now and will not be returning to 2014 Insurgency.
So weird hearing actual reload sounds instead of anime girls screaming... Honestly, without the massive amount of mods, insurgency wouldn't be a game worth playing for me anymore so I'll be doing that as well if I do get Sandstorm.
Sandstorm improves visually on most departments of the game, and also on the weapon sounds, although the reverberation and echoes lasted too long to be realistic in the environment that you were shooting in, they should’ve died down much quicker IMO
The echo of gun shots, the zipping sound of shrapnel, the thundering sounds of air support (and that A-10 mmmmmmm), you can feel every explosion and holy crap is that sound design glorious.
Of course, it does. Source engine is much lighter and more FPS == smoother gameplay, it's a no-brainer. But the level of detail in Insurgency SS and map sizes are much bigger. But you need more powerful PC, you can't get along with Intel built-in video cards anymore. My 4 years old GTX 770 gives about 50-60 fps (no, settings are not at max).
+Uncle Fword I don't think big maps are strictly a boon. I prefer the tighter CQB focus and blend between long range and short range that Insurgency's map design focused on personally, but I suppose that won't stop people from thinking that bigger = better.
+Plzstandbuy Outside of performance alone, there's something about the mouse and weapon movement in Insurgency source that just feels right. And the movement speeds and acceleration feel more natural. Hopefully it's something they work on in Sandstorm.
+Kaiser Kotaki I like big maps in Insurgency SS. It feels much more realistic than in Insurgency where on any map you walking around in circles through the same buildings back and forth. At most maps in Insurgency you make a full circle around the map and finish close to where you started. I like Insurgency, but after I've started playing Insurgency SS, I stopped playing previous game completely. By the way I play mostly coop, so if you play PvP you might feel different.
My favorite part of sandstorm is the okp when you lean to the left the reticle magically appears if you ads. But it will probably be patched during beta
Exactly, the weapon models themselves are pretty good but the textures look weird. They need to calm down the cube maps on them. I kinda prefer the darker look of the 1st game.
The grenade throwing and bouncing physics in source is somehow still miles better, you feel the weight of it. Also the source model takes into account the irregular shape of the grenade itself, so that it doesn't bounce in a perfect straight line on the ground.
I really enjoyed the voice acting in Insurgency but in sandstorm it doesnt feel as real and rough and like they really are in battle they feel drawn out.
A side note for anyone who hasn't played Sandstorm but noticed on the grenade sound comparison that the striker lever can't be seen or heard pinging off, you can ping it off manually and cook a grenade if you want but the default throw keeps the lever on the grenade until you throw it. Though I reckon it should make the ping noise as you throw it in that case as I can imagine they probably would do that in real life.
The main problem im having right now with sandstorm is the infantry movement speed. I think it needs to come down a bit. Because you are moving way to fast in my opinion.
i played both games, they are amazing but i choose sandstorm because gameplay, weapons customization, dynamic coop, commander supports and sound but map sucks in sandstorm, i miss tell and ministry in insurgency
You're hitting the armor plates. Unlike Ins2, where everyone carried AP and armor may or may not have been the difference between dying to one or three shots, armor in Sandstorm has a legitimate effect in that, while unarmored targets will still succumb to 1-3 shots to center mass, a hit to the plate is unlikely to kill outright, some weapons might see as many as eight shots failing to kill targets through the plate. Hit people in the extremities or the sides or back of their torso if you don't intend to take at least a rifle.
At the very least, Sandstorm's sound design has advanced by miles. The only thing it doesn't capture is just how loud the initial blast of most guns is, but the sounds are much closer to real shoot sounds.
It sounds to me like they used a much better microphone for loud sources in Sandstorm, so the audio sounds cleaner and more relaistic due to the increased dynic range at recording. It makes the initial impact of explosions sounds much harder than the rest of the noise
@@3ATERMINATOR a lot of engines are capable of doing some impressive stuff but ive gotta admit, ive seen the impressive stuff have a lot better fps in non unreal engine games. Seems like even epic doesent know how to run it well as seen in fortnite
The sound design in Sandstorm is superb. The gun's have more oomph to them, the fire support missions sound amazing (BRRT) and add to immersion. When you hear a gun battle happening you really get a sense for the intensity of it, your proximity to it, and its direction. As someone else stated, hearing the voices in rooms far away made me take off my headphones thinking it was in my actual house. The developers have delayed official release until December, and I respect their decision to do so and have decided to not play the beta much until full release so I don't get burned out before they give the game the polish that will make it shine as brightly as the first one.
