Sound Issues
If this needs to be moved, I can move it to the technical issues thread, although I'm not sure if this is a tech issue/bug or just the general nature of the game itself. I'd like to know if anyone else has this happen in their game.
For whatever reason, it feels like the sound in The Sims 4 isn't properly "placed" in relation to where you have your camera/POV set. Like in regular camera mode (not pressing Tab to go into freecam mode or Shift+Tab to go in the POV of your Sims' eyes), the sound seems off-placed. For example, if I pull my camera up to two talking Sims and stay right next to them, their voices are super quiet. But if I simply back up about 10 in-game feet away from them, suddenly their voices become louder and match the correct volume that my PC is turned up to. It's been making gameplay unbelievably irritating since I have a subwoofer speaker setup and turning up the sound on my PC to listen to my Sims chat away, only to get blasted away by my cowplant giving a deep bassy moo or when some annoying townie a few feet away from my global superstar decides to start screeching and blowing my ears out, is certainly a game ruiner.
Strangely enough, it's the opposite in Tab mode. When I'm right next to my Sims talking and their voices/other sound effects with them are quiet, the second I go into Tab/freecam mode, suddenly their voices and sound effects increase back to the volume they're supposed to be. When I'm about 10 in-game feet from them and they sound loud, I go into Tab mode and boom, they quiet down to a volume that makes sense for me being distanced from them.
This happens with everything in the game that makes sound. Up close and personal with the Sim/object making noise = super quiet, hitting Tab increases them to normal volume. Roughly 10 in-game feet away from the Sim/object making noise = normal volume they're supposed to be at when you're close to them, hitting Tab decreases their volume to a level that makes sense for being farther away from them.
I've tried it with my mods turned off and it still does that with the sound. At first I thought it was this camera mod I have (that VASTLY improves the camera and keeps it from acting "floaty"), but the game still quieted my Sims when I had the camera right next to to them. This has been a thing since I got the game in April this year and getting packs and updating with patches has not changed it, or at least it hasn't seemed to change.
I'm so confused why the game is like this, if it's the nature of the game or a bug that slipped by and switched the way the game handles audio for the gameplay camera and freecam mode. Regardless of why it's like that, does anyone know if there's a mod that fixes it? Or has been bothered by it enough to fix it?
I'll screen record what I'm talking about and share it if anyone is confused at what I'm talking about.
