Arma 3: Sound: cfgSoundShaders

SoundShader

The SoundShader within the class cfgSoundShaders is the most basic sound entity in the Arma 3 sound engine. Let's look at an example and the parameters.

class cfgSoundShaders
{
	class MX_Closure_SoundShader
	{
		samples[] =
		{
			{ "pathToYourSound1", 1 },
			{ "pathToYourSound2", 1 },
			{ "pathToYourSound3", 1 }
		};
		volume = 0.5;
		frequency = 1;
		range = 10;
		rangeCurve[] =
		{
			{ 0, 1 },
			{ 5, 0.7 },
			{ 10, 0 }
		};
		limitation = 0;
	};
};

samples

Parameter	Unit/values	Default	Description
samples	{ ["path/sound", p], ... }	none	array containing sound file name with paths and probability values (p)

Here you define the path to your sound. The number after the path is used in the random sample selection. When a SoundShader with multiple sounds is called one sound is chosen randomly. The bigger the number behind the sound, the higher the chance of the sound being picked. So { "pathToYourSound1", 10 } is a lot more likely to be picked than { "pathToYourSound2", 1 }.

Also noteworthy here is that in previous Arma sound configuration we had to make sure that all the probability numbers add up to 1. So if we had two sounds their probabilities had to be 0.5. With the new configuration this is no longer needed.

{ "pathToYourSound1", 10 }
{ "pathToYourSound2", 10 }

is the same as

{ "pathToYourSound1", 1 }
{ "pathToYourSound1", 1 }

Both sounds have the same chance of being picked.

volume

Parameter	Unit/values	Default	Description
volume	float (0-5)	1	basic volume value

Volume defines how loud the sample is played in relation to 0dBFS - the highest volume value in the digital world. A value of 1 means 100% means 0dbFS. A value of 0.5 means 50% means -6dBFS. If you want to calculate what values to enter here depending on dB, you can use this calculator.

Any other percentage to dB calculator will work. Careful though, as you can see on this site signal dB is not equal power dB! Always be sure to calculate with the right dB! To ensure you work with the right dB test this in your calculator: -6dB = 50%, always.

frequency

Parameter	Unit/values	Default	Description
frequency	float	1	basic pitch value, 1 = no change = normal pitch. Parameter ignored if more than 1 SoundShaders in SoundSet

Playback speed/pitch of the sound. Low number = low pitch, high number = high pitch. This parameter is ignored when the SoundShader is used together with other SoundShaders in a SoundSet (which can consist of multiple SoundShaders, more on that later).

range

Parameter	Unit/values	Default	Description
range	distance in meters	0	radius of circle around sound source where the sound will be played

The sound will be played in this radius around the sound source. There is no volume falloff configured yet so without any additional configuration the sound would start playing at full volume as soon as you are within this radius.

rangeCurve

Parameter	Unit/values	Default	Description
rangeCurve	{d0,v0}, {d1,v1}	none	array of points or class name defined in cfgSoundCurves

Here you can define the volume falloff depending on distance. The values are given in X,Y pairs. X being the distance, Y being the volume value. In the example the sound will be played at full volume at 0m distance. Note that here relative values (from 0 being o and 1 being 100%) are used. At 5m distance the volume will be 0.7 (70%, -3dB) and at 10m the sound will be silent. You can use hundreds of points to make really smooth curves. You can either use distance values within the range (in the example from 0m to 10m) OR use relative range values, 1 being maximum range. So the above example would also work with:

rangeCurve[] =
{
	{ 0, 1 },
	{ 0.5, 0.7 },
	{ 1, 0 }
};

rangeCurve = myRangeCurve_001;

Attention! In this case { 0.5, 0.7 } means "at half range volume will be 0.7" and { 1, 0 } means "at maximum range volume will be 0". In the 2nd example myRangeCurve_001 has been predefined in cfgSoundCurves which is why we only need to enter a class name here.

rangeCurve is pretty awesome because you can combine multiple SoundShaders with different rangeCurves within one SoundSet and play different sounds depending on distance. Imagine you have two SoundShaders:

		// first SoundShader (close sounds)
		range = 50;
		rangeCurve[] =
		{
			{ 0, 1 },
			{ 25, 0.7 },
			{ 50, 0 }
		};

		// second SoundShader (distant sounds)
		range = 1800;
		rangeCurve[] =
		{
			{ 0, 0.2 },
			{ 25, 0.7 },
			{ 50, 1 },
			{ 1800, 1 }
		};

The close sound will start to become quieter over distance and at 50m it will be completely silent. The distant sound starts off quietly and slowly becomes more loud until max volume at 50m. Max volume factor is kept within the SoundShader until 1800m (max distance of second SoundShader).

limitation

Parameter	Unit/values	Default	Description
limitation	bool	false	if true -> adds SoundShader to group of SoundShaders which will be limited within the SoundSet

If enabled this adds the SoundShader to a group of SoundShaders which will be limited within the SoundSet, explanation of that will be found when we go over SoundSets.