Surround Sound

<div style="max-width: 900px; margin: auto; line-height: 1.6;"><div style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"><h1>Surround Sound</h1> <p style="font-size: 1.1em;">True multichannel audio for <strong><a href="https://www.vintagestory.at/">Vintage Story</a></strong></p> <p>Surround Sound overhauls the game's audio positioning, environmental ambience, and weather systems to create a more immersive and physically grounded soundscape.</p> <hr> <h2 style="text-align: left;">IMPORTANT NOTE!</h2> <p style="text-align: left;">This mod has been superseded by two new mods.</p> <div style="display: flex; justify-content: center; gap: 20px; flex-wrap: wrap;"><a title="Spatial Audio" href="https://mods.vintagestory.at/spatialaudio"> <img src="https://x3200.media/vs-spatial-audio-c-480.jpg" alt="Spatial Audio" width="240" height="240"> </a> <a href="https://mods.vintagestory.at/spatialaudioeffects"> <img src="https://x3200.media/vs-sae-b-480.jpg" alt="Spatial Audio Effects" width="240" height="240"> </a></div> <p style="text-align: left;"><br><a href="https://mods.vintagestory.at/spatialaudio">Spatial Audio</a> replaces OpenAL with Steam Audio, adding richer support for occlusion, reverb, and spatial rendering.<br><a href="https://mods.vintagestory.at/spatialaudioeffects">Spatial Audio Effects</a> takes the positional weather system from this mod and expands on it.<br>They are designed to be consumed together.<br>I will keep this mod up and maintained as a simpler approach for basic multichannel surround, but there will be no new features.</p> </div> <hr> <h2>What This Mod Does</h2> <p>This update is a substantial overhaul of the vanilla audio experience. Sounds are no longer treated as simple static emitters — creatures, weather, foliage, machinery, and environmental ambience now behave more naturally within the world around the player.</p> <p>Whether you're walking through heavy rain, hearing underground drifters muffled beneath stone, or chasing a bowtorn through dense forest, sounds should now feel attached to the things producing them instead of hovering unnaturally in space.</p> <hr> <h2>Surround &amp; Spatial Audio</h2> <table style="width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse;"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="padding: 8px;"><strong>Supported Output Modes</strong></td> <td style="padding: 8px;">Auto • Stereo • Stereo HRTF • Quad • 5.1 • 6.1 • 7.1</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="padding: 8px;"><strong>Stereo Upmixing</strong></td> <td style="padding: 8px;">Optional surround expansion for stereo sounds with configurable gain reduction</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="padding: 8px;"><strong>Listener Offset</strong></td> <td style="padding: 8px;">Slight rearward listener positioning for a more natural sound field</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="padding: 8px;"><strong>Expanded Sound Range</strong></td> <td style="padding: 8px;">Configurable sound distance scaling (defaults to 3x)</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <hr> <h2>Dynamic Entity Audio</h2> <p>Sounds emitted by moving entities are now continuously position-tracked in real time.</p> <blockquote style="border-left: 4px solid #777; padding-left: 12px; opacity: 0.9;"> <div>Previously, long or lingering creature sounds could remain suspended where they were first played — producing an “enderman-like” effect where audio hovered behind fast-moving entities.</div> </blockquote> <p>This overhaul eliminates that behavior by keeping sounds attached to their source while they move.</p> <ul> <li>Creature sounds properly follow moving entities</li> <li>Player footsteps remain centered on the player</li> <li>Looping and one-shot sounds behave more naturally during movement and despawn events</li> <li>Optional tracking inference improves accuracy for rapidly moving sound sources</li> </ul> <hr> <h2>Sound Occlusion</h2> <p>Increasing sound range exposed a major vanilla limitation: underground entities could often be heard clearly through terrain.</p> <p>Surround Sound now includes experimental raycast-based occlusion that filters and attenuates sounds travelling through blocks.</p> <div style="padding: 12px; border: 1px solid #666; border-radius: 8px; margin: 16px 0;"><strong>Effects include:</strong> <ul> <li>Muffled underground mobs</li> <li>Reduced high frequencies through walls and terrain</li> <li>Distance-aware attenuation through multiple blocks</li> <li>Optional occlusion for static machinery and world sounds</li> </ul> </div> <p>Static occlusion can optionally apply to selected sounds such as:</p> <p><em>water • anvils • querns • pulverizers • helve hammers • hammers</em></p> <hr> <h2>Weather &amp; Environmental Ambience</h2> <p>The weather system has been extensively reworked to feel more spatial and embedded within the world.</p> <ul> <li>Multichannel rain, wind, thunder, and low-weather ambience</li> <li>Experimental positional rain emitters surrounding the player</li> <li>Positional leaf and reed rustle emitters</li> <li>Improved foliage emitter distribution and update behavior</li> <li>More convincing outdoor ambience during storms and wind events</li> </ul> <hr> <h2>Important Configuration Options</h2> <table style="width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse;"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="padding: 6px;"><strong>SoundRangeMultiplier</strong></td> <td style="padding: 6px;">Controls overall audible sound distance</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="padding: 6px;"><strong>EnableEntitySoundPosTracking</strong></td> <td style="padding: 6px;">Keeps sounds attached to moving entities</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="padding: 6px;"><strong>EnableEntitySoundBlockOcclusion</strong></td> <td style="padding: 6px;">Applies terrain-based sound muffling</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="padding: 6px;"><strong>EnableExperimentalLeafRustleEmitters</strong></td> <td style="padding: 6px;">Enables positional foliage ambience</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="padding: 6px;"><strong>EnableExperimentalRainEmitters</strong></td> <td style="padding: 6px;">Enables positional rain ambience</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="padding: 6px;"><st