Mouth calls.

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Elrique64
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Mouth calls.

Post by Elrique64 »

One thing I have noticed in game that I really find frustrating. All of the mouth calls sound exactly the same every time I hit the call. (Except the turkey locator/owl call which has 2 flavors of call to it.) Below I suggest a lot of r-click or right mouse actions for calls. These options can provide a lot of variability to the game, as well as make it seem a bit more "real" to the player.

Roosevelt Elk I've called in have had as many as 3 different vocalizations per animal. (At least according the HunterMate which says it's the same animal.) Yet I can't modulate or vary the pitch on the call I use to lure the animal in. Use the right mouse button as a modulate for the call. Raising or lowering the pitch either at the start or as the call progresses. Most IRL calls allow you to change the pitch by changing the position of the little rubber band on the reed. Higher up the reed, higher pitched, lower on the reed, lower pitched. Modulating the call is easy as pinching the end of the call or covering the opening with your off hand a bit. For those of you that aren't aware of it, a very dominant bull usually is NOT the deep throated call you hear. His is the high pitched almost inaudible bone shaking, ear hurting, dead people walking on your spine call. The lower pitched ones are generally from much younger and smaller bulls. A yearling bull's bugles sound almost like a WT grunt in pitch. (Sort of like the current in-game elk bugle does now.)

The jack call doesn't sound like any jack in distress I've ever used. Of course I use both hands on the call, one to hold it, the other to cup the end and "quack" it like you think of a duck call being used. Here's another idea for the right mouse button on the jack call. The call itself should have more volume, but r-mousing it should "cup" the end of the call and lower the volume as well as "quack" it a little. See this download for an idea of how it COULD sound: https://predatormtncalls.jimdo.com/app/ ... 1422543887 (And perhaps should?) Again, this call should be more aggressive, IMO. It sounds like a piglet in the yard and not a jack rabbit in distress.

Buck calls... Where to start... First off the same thing I mention in the Elk call above. The pitch should be adjustable from one call sequence to the next. Modulating the call should also be an option. IRL I've had WT bucks double grunt me. 2 grunts in under a second. Think unk unk. or uunnnk unk. In game to double grunt there is at least a second or more between the grunts. (Don't know how the game mechanics work it. This might be considered over-calling.) IRL this is a very dominant buck telling the much smaller ones to GTF out of his area. They usually listen, or wind up fighting. Side note: Does will NEVER come to a buck grunt IME. When bucks start grunting, the does will gather around to see who the new boy is and who wins the fight. But they will seldom ever close the range to the call.

Turkey calls... Again, where to start here. (I call this a "mouth call" even though the actual in game luring call is technically a box call.) The only call that can be used to "lure" in turkeys is the hen feeding yelp. But there are a ton of other vocalizations a box call can make. Chuckles and warbles, yelps and sqees. (Not even talking about slates or mouth reeds here...) All of these calls take practice, but they are all producible from a box or slate. (r-click to set the call mode, then l-click to use it.) And where is the gobble? How can you truly turkey hunt without a gobble call? When a big tom cuts loose in the woods, even the deer in the field stop to take notice. It cuts the air almost like a knife. Probably the only sound more "chilling" is a dominant Elk's bugle at under 20 yards. (If you've never heard this before, it's like walking on the train tracks when all of a sudden a train's whistle goes off behind you... Parts of your body want to crawl up inside...) Turkey gobbles can have a similar effect. Yet we can't use this effective call to lure in the toms because the calls aren't in game...

Not going to talk about how poorly e-callers have been implemented here. IRL these things play an MP3 file. change the MP3 file and you change the call's intended prey animal. Not an option in game... :(

Enough for now. I've spent a lot of time getting into this game. But the more time I spend on it, the more frustrated parts of it are becoming.
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Re: Mouth calls.

Post by Tod1d »

Another thing missing is "bad calls". If we could control pitch, duration, rate, etc... then it would be possible to make good/bad calls. With the bad calls having lower odds of being successful.

They did mention that they were considering releasing additional sound files for the e-caller.
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Knut
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Re: Mouth calls.

Post by Knut »

Tod1d wrote:Another thing missing is "bad calls". If we could control pitch, duration, rate, etc... then it would be possible to make good/bad calls. With the bad calls having lower odds of being successful.
I fear another climbing minigame implementation here :D

But I agree with you, the current " press a button to make the animal come to exactly this spot" mechanics is not doing the art of calling in an animal any justice.
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Re: Mouth calls.

Post by Tod1d »

Knut wrote:
Tod1d wrote:Another thing missing is "bad calls". If we could control pitch, duration, rate, etc... then it would be possible to make good/bad calls. With the bad calls having lower odds of being successful.
I fear another climbing minigame implementation here :D
Indeed. Implementation is a big consideration. (from one of the founding members of the "I hate the mini-game club" ;) )

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Re: Mouth calls.

Post by Knut »

Tod1d wrote:P.S. welcome back.
Thanks! Glad to be back.
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Re: Mouth calls.

Post by HooCairs »

At least the length of the calls should matter, and over calling could be penalized.

There are a few callers with variances though. Some have two sounds, some more. Roe deer, wolf, elk, coyote, red deer.
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Re: Mouth calls.

Post by caledonianblues »

HooCairs wrote:At least the length of the calls should matter, and over calling could be penalized.
Those are the two variables I'd go for too. Have a defined ideal duration for each caller and allow a small threshold at either side, resulting in calls that are too long or too short having no effect and adding to a counter. After too many failed calls (when the counter reaches a specific number, which could vary by species) at least one of the applicable animals within render distance would spook, maybe more (could also be a random value) and the counter would be reset. Similarly, overusing a caller within too short a time frame would increment the counter and eventually result in some spooking. It would add some realism to the game, and also create deeper immersion. I always try to make the calls sound realistic, since for me anything else sounds horrible and breaks the immersion. In multiplayer hunts, the counter would obviously increment faster if players were together, spamming the same caller.
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Re: Mouth calls.

Post by ronMctube »

this was talked about a lot when the game first came out.a lot thought it was already in the game and the variation of the call mattered.

while i agree it would add a little to gameplay or being maybe more realistic is it worth changing now ? we are 9 years in.it is a core gameplay element.
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Re: Mouth calls.

Post by Knut »

ronMctube wrote:a lot thought it was already in the game and the variation of the call mattered.
...including the developers - might be worth to add :D :D :D
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Re: RE: Re: Mouth calls.

Post by Flinter »

caledonianblues wrote:
HooCairs wrote:At least the length of the calls should matter, and over calling could be penalized.
Those are the two variables I'd go for too. Have a defined ideal duration for each caller and allow a small threshold at either side, resulting in calls that are too long or too short having no effect and adding to a counter. After too many failed calls (when the counter reaches a specific number, which could vary by species) at least one of the applicable animals within render distance would spook, maybe more (could also be a random value) and the counter would be reset. Similarly, overusing a caller within too short a time frame would increment the counter and eventually result in some spooking. It would add some realism to the game, and also create deeper immersion. I always try to make the calls sound realistic, since for me anything else sounds horrible and breaks the immersion. In multiplayer hunts, the counter would obviously increment faster if players were together, spamming the same caller.
I've always thought this would be a really cool mechanic in any game. Not to complicate things and I know this will almost certainly never happen but if certain animals responded to different calls. i.e. Mr. Aggressive buck responds to a longer, challenging grunt and Mr. Passive buck would flee or ignore that, but check out a short grunt
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