Setting up Attenuations¶
Attenuations allow you to customize how a sound behaves depending on the distance and angle between source and listener. The game has standard attenuations in place for most ActorMixers that you automatically inherit when you select them. Only one attenuation is applied per sound, so it's easy to override the default as needed.
To setup an attenuation, select the Bank/Isolated Node tool and choose Attenuation as the node type. Choose a different ID if you like (the default will already be unique); once created you will find it in the "pinned nodes" panel.
Distance Curves¶
Info
All sound-specific attenuations are distance-angle-driven. Other attenuation drivers like obstruction and transmission are set globally in the init bank. See Attenuations for details.
An attenuation is defined by one or more distance-curves, which are associated with up to 7 different properties:
| Property | Unit | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Volume | dB | The sound's loudness |
| AuxSendGame | dB | Related to effects |
| AuxSendUser | dB | Related to effects |
| LPF | Cents | Low-pass filter |
| HPF | Cents | High-pass filter |
| Spread | Cents | Related to surround sound, distributes virtual sources across spatial cannels |
| Focus | Cents | Related to surround sound, condenses spread and separates spatial channels |
Each curve has the distance on the x-axis in meters, and its property value on the y-axis - so the y-axis' units depend on the property (see units). The effects applied by the attenuation are (like all modifiers) accumulated.
Disabling Distance Falloff¶
Sometimes you want a sound to be heard no matter where the players are (e.g. an ultimate boss attack). TODO check placi, note on ducking
Cone Params¶
Attenuations can also limit the sound to a cone relative to the source's orientation. This behavior is defined by an inner cone, inside of which no additional attenuation applies, and an outer cone, outside of which the full cone attenuation applies. Between these two cones lies the transition zone, which linearly interpolates between zero and full cone attenuation, and no curve can be applied. The cone attenuation will be added on top of the distance attenuation for volume, LPF, and HPF.
Applying to Sounds¶
Attenuations are applied through a property, which you can generally set on any playback node. Simply add the Attenuation property and enter your attenuation's node ID. In addition, you will want to set the following attributes:
- Enable
listener_relative_routing - Enable
enable_attenuation - Set
three_dimensional_spatializationto eitherPositionOnlyorPositionAndOrientation
