Made the volume controls logarithmic instead of linear.

inc/client/sound/sound.h

@@ -44,6 +44,8 @@ void S_RawSamples(int samples, int rate, int width,
 
 void S_UnqueueRawSamples();
 
+float S_GetLinearVolume(float perceptual);
+
 typedef enum {
     SS_NOT,
 #if USE_SNDDMA

src/client/sound/al.c

@@ -452,7 +452,7 @@ void AL_Update(void)
     AL_CopyVector(listener_forward, orientation);
     AL_CopyVector(listener_up, orientation + 3);
     qalListenerfv(AL_ORIENTATION, orientation);
-    qalListenerf(AL_GAIN, s_volume->value);
+    qalListenerf(AL_GAIN, S_GetLinearVolume(s_volume->value));
     qalDistanceModel(AL_LINEAR_DISTANCE_CLAMPED);
 
     // update spatialization for dynamic sounds

src/client/sound/main.c

@@ -1168,4 +1168,21 @@ void S_Update(void)
 #endif
 }
 
+float S_GetLinearVolume(float perceptual)
+{
+    float volume = perceptual;
+
+    // clamp anything below 1% to zero
+    if (volume < 0.01f)
+        return 0.f;
+
+    // 50 dB exponential curve
+    // more info: https://www.dr-lex.be/info-stuff/volumecontrols.html 
+    volume = 0.003161f * expf(perceptual * 5.757f);
+
+    // upper limit
+    volume = min(1.f, volume);
+
+    return volume;
+}
 

src/client/sound/mix.c

@@ -277,14 +277,13 @@ void S_PaintChannels(int endtime)
     }
 }
 
+
 void S_InitScaletable(void)
 {
     int        i, j;
     int        scale;
 
-    Cvar_ClampValue(s_volume, 0, 1);
-
-    snd_vol = s_volume->value * 256;
+    snd_vol = S_GetLinearVolume(s_volume->value) * 256;
     for (i = 0; i < 32; i++) {
         scale = i * 8 * snd_vol;
         for (j = 0; j < 256; j++) {

src/client/sound/ogg.c

@@ -244,7 +244,7 @@ static OGG_Read(void)
 		ogg_numsamples += read_samples;
 
 		S_RawSamples(read_samples, ogg_file->sample_rate, ogg_file->channels, ogg_file->channels,
-			(byte *)samples, ogg_volume->value);
+			(byte *)samples, S_GetLinearVolume(ogg_volume->value));
 	}
 	else
 	{