| Sound News | Press Releases | Archives | Week In Review | Editorials | Articles |
| Reviews | Benchmarks | Interviews | FAQs |Files & Drivers |
| Early Impressions | Game Guide | Search | Links | Forum | Contacts | ADS |



title_3dss.gif (30276 bytes)
dot_yellowish.gif (35 bytes)

A question you want answered? Let us know and we will do our best to get you the answer.

dot_yellowish.gif (35 bytes)

Please support 3DsoundSurge by visiting our sponsors
dot_yellowish.gif (35 bytes)
dot_yellowish.gif (35 bytes)

 


3DsoundSurge FAQ Manager Version 1.0
  • F.A.Q: A3D Console Variables

    If you are looking to tweak your A3D audio in games using the Quake 2, Quake 3 or Unreal Tournament engine then this is where you will find the commands.

    1. What are the variables for Half-Life?
    2. What are the variables for Sin and Wages of Sin?
    3. What are the variables for Heretic II
    4. What are the variables for Soldier of Fortune?

    1. What are the variables for Half-Life? - Top

    WARNING!
    Changing these settings could seriously affect your listening experience of these games. Only experienced users should change these values; please refer to the defaults listed for each variable to return the game to its original settings.

    Brief description of the A3D console variables

    Key
    ******************************************
    ‘variable name, in quotes’
    · default value
    · brief description
    · allowable values
    *******************************

    ‘s_rolloff’
    · 1.0
    · Adjusts the rolloff factor; when the rolloff value is increased,
    the effects of distance are increased: high frequencies are
    filtered and volume is lowered.
    · 0.0 -> 10.0

    ‘s_doppler’
    · 0.00
    · Adjusts doppler - this setting is very sensitive which is why it is currently disabled.
    · 0.0 -> 10.0

    ‘s_distance’
    · 15
    · Adjusts the ratio of game units to meters - affecting velocity,
    positioning, and distance. The higher this number, the closer everything gets (in audio terms).
    · 0.0 -> infinity

    ‘s_min_distance’
    -
    · 8.0
    · Minimum distance a source will be from the listener before rolloff is applied to it. Sources with a value lower than s_min_distance will play at full volume.
    · 0.0 -> s_max_distance

    ‘s_max_distance’
    · 1000.0
    · Maximum distance from the listener before rolloff is no longer applied.
    · s_min_distance -> infinity

    ‘s_2dvolume’
    · 0.9
    · Maximum volume at which 2D sounds are played. By the natureof the filters being applied to the A3D buffers, they are quieter then their 2D counterparts. Hence it is important to quiet the 2D sounds to normalize volume.
    · 0.0 - 1.0


    ****************************************
    2.0-specific Console Variables
    ****************************************

    ‘s_geometry’
    · 1
    · Toggles geometry rendering on/off. When disabled, geometry is
    not processed at all.
    · 0 or 1

    ‘s_occlude’
    · 1
    · Status of occlusions - 1 enables; 0 disables.
    · 0 or 1

    ‘s_reflect’
    · 1
    · Status of reflections - 1 enables; 0 disables.
    · 0 or 1

    ‘s_refgain’
    · 0.42
    · Adjusts the gain on each reflection, where higher number means louder reflections. Remember very loud reflections could cancel out the effect of HRTFs.
    · 0 -> 1

    ‘s_refdelay’
    · 4
    · Delay between a source and its closest reflection. The higher the delay, the more time it takes between when the source and its first reflection are played.
    · 0 -> 100

    ‘s_occfactor’ currently doesn't work. It may work with later patches.
    · 0.25
    · Transmission value of material - the smaller the number, the
    more occluded the sound is (less sound passes through the
    material).
    · 0.0 -> 1.0

    ‘s_numpolys’
    · 200
    · Maximum polygons to be rendered. Polygons will stop being rendered either when there are no more polygons left or s_numpolys polygons have been rendered. Setting this to 0 is the same as turning s_geometry off.
    · 0 -> infinity

    ‘s_bloat’
    · 2.0
    · Bloat factor for polygons. This effectively scales each
    polygon by a certain amount. This is a rough way to fill
    holes left by unrendered small polygons.

    · ‘s_verbwet’
    · 0.25
    · Controls the wet/dry mix of reverb; The higher the number, the more wet (more reverb) the sounds.
    · 0.0 -> 1.0


    - Updated: February 4, 2000

    2. What are the variables for Sin and Wages of Sin? - Top

    WARNING!
    Changing these settings could seriously affect your listening experience of these games. Only experienced users should change these values; please refer to the defaults listed for each variable to return the game to its original settings.

    Brief description of the A3D console variables

    Key
    ******************************************
    ‘variable name, in quotes’
    · default value
    · brief description
    · allowable values
    *******************************

    ‘disable_a3d’
    · disables A3D

    ‘enable_a3d’
    · enable A3D

    ‘snd_restart’
    · restarts the entire sound system

    ‘s_buffersize’
    · 65536
    · size, in bytes, of sound data to buffer ahead. Currently, each secondary buffer has 65536 bytes of data.

    ‘s_rolloff’
    · 0.9
    · adjusts the rolloff factor.

    ‘s_doppler’
    · 0.00
    · adjusts doppler. Note that doppler is extremely sensitive, so for the moment we have disabled it.

    ‘s_distance’
    · 23
    · adjusts the ratio of game units to meters. This affects velocity, positioning, and distance. The higher this number, the closer everything gets to each other (in audio terms).

    ‘s_min_distance’
    · 11
    · minimum distance before rolloff is applied to a source.

    ‘s_max_distance’
    · 10000.0
    · maximum distance before a source is muted.

    ‘s_2dvolume’
    · 0.88
    · the maximum volume which 2D sounds are played at. By the nature of the filters being applied to the A3D buffers, they are quieter then their 2D counterparts. Hence it is important to quiet the 2D sounds to make up for this.

    ‘s_watereq’
    · 0.1
    · Amount of high frequency rolloff to apply when Blade goes underwater. 1.0 is air.
    0.0 -> 1.0

    ‘s_geometry’
    · 1
    · Toggles geometry rendering on/off. When disabled, geometry is not processed at all.
    · 0 or 1

    ‘s_occlude’
    · 1
    · Status of occlusions - 1 enables; 0 disables.
    · 0 or 1

    ‘s_reflect’
    · 1
    · Status of reflections - 1 enables; 0 disables.
    · 0 or 1

    ‘s_refgain’
    · 0.38
    · Adjusts the gain on each reflection, where higher number means louder reflections. Remember very loud reflections could cancel out the effect of HRTFs.
    · 0 -> 1

    ‘s_refdelay’
    · 1.2
    · Delay between a source and its closest reflection. The higher the delay, the more time it takes between when the source and its first reflection are played.
    · 0 -> 100

    ‘s_occfactor’
    · 0.4
    · Transmission value of material - the smaller the number, the more occluded the sound is (less sound passes through the material).
    · 0.0 -> 1.0

    ‘s_numpolys’
    · 400
    · Maximum polygons to be rendered. Polygons will stop being rendered either when there are no more polygons left or s_numpolys polygons have been rendered. Setting this to 0 is the same as turning s_geometry off.
    · 0 -> infinity

    ‘s_bloat’
    · 1.0001
    · Bloat factor for polygons. This effectively scales each polygon by a certain amount. This is a rough way to fill holes left by unrendered small polygons.

    - Updated: February 4, 2000

    3. What are the variables for Heretic II - Top

    WARNING!
    Changing these settings could seriously affect your listening experience of these games. Only experienced users should change these values; please refer to the defaults listed for each variable to return the game to its original settings.

    Brief description of the A3D console variables

    Key
    ******************************************
    ‘variable name, in quotes’
    · default value
    · brief description
    · allowable values
    *******************************
    ‘disable_a3d’
    · disables A3D

    ‘enable_a3d’
    · enable A3D

    ‘snd_restart’
    · restarts the entire sound system

    ‘s_buffersize’
    · 65536
    · size, in bytes, of sound data to buffer ahead. Currently, each secondary buffer has 65536 bytes of data.

    ‘s_rolloff’
    · 0.9
    · adjusts the rolloff factor - when the rolloff value is increased, the effects of distance are increased: high frequencies are filtered and volume is lowered.
    · 0.0 -> 1.0

    ‘s_doppler’
    · 0.00

    adjusts doppler
    · 0.0 -> 1.0

    ‘s_distance’
    · 23
    · adjusts the ratio of game units to meters. This affects velocity, positioning, and distance. The higher this number, the closer everything gets to each other (in audio terms)
    · 0.0 -> infinity

    ‘s_min_distance’
    · 11
    · minimum distance before rolloff is applied to a source
    · 0.0 -> s_max_distance

    ‘s_max_distance’
    · 10000.0
    · maximum distance before a source is muted
    · s_min_distance -> infinity

    ‘s_2dvolume’
    · 0.88
    · the maximum volume which 2D sounds are played at. By the nature of the filters being applied to the A3D buffers, they are quieter then their 2D counterparts. Hence it is important to quiet the 2D sounds to make up for this
    · 0.0 -> 1.0

    ‘s_watereq’
    · 0.1
    · Amount of high frequency rolloff to apply when Corvus goes underwater. 1.0 is air.
    - 0.0 -> 1.0

    ‘s_geometry’
    · 1
    · Toggles geometry rendering on/off. When disabled, geometry is not processed at all.
    - 0 or 1

    ‘s_occlude’
    · 1
    · Status of occlusions - 1 enables; 0 disables
    · 0 or 1

    ‘s_reflect’
    · 1
    · Status of reflections - 1 enables; 0 disables
    · 0 or 1

    ‘s_refgain’
    · 0.38
    · Adjusts the gain on each reflection, where higher number means louder reflections. Remember very loud reflections could cancel out the effect of HRTFs
    · 0 -> 1

    ‘s_refdelay’
    · 1.2
    · Delay between a source and its closest reflection. The higher the delay, the more time it takes between when the source and its first reflection are played
    · 0 -> 100

    ‘s_occfactor’
    · 0.4
    · Transmission value of material - the smaller the number, the more occluded the sound is (less sound passes through the material)
    · 0.0 -> 1.0

    ‘s_corvushears’
    · 1
    · places the listener point where all sounds are positioned in relation to - 1 is on Corvus's head; 0 is on the camera
    · 0 or 1

    ‘s_numpolys’
    · 400
    · Maximum polygons to be rendered. Polygons will stop being rendered either when there are no more polygons left or s_numpolys polygons have been rendered. Setting this to 0 is the same as turning s_geometry off
    · 0 -> infinity

    ‘s_bloat’
    1.0001
    Bloat factor for polygons. This effectively scales each polygon by a certain amount. This is a rough way to fill holes left by unrendered small polygons.

    - Updated: February 4, 2000

    4. What are the variables for Soldier of Fortune? - Top

    Brief description of the A3D console variables for SoF

    **************
    Key
    ‘variable name, in quotes’
    - default value
    - brief description
    ****************

    Vars
    ----
    ‘s_rolloff’
    - 1.0
    - adjusts the rolloff factor.
    - 0.0 -> 10.0

    ‘s_doppler’
    - 1.0
    - adjusts doppler.
    - 0.0 -> 10.0

    ‘s_distance’
    - 50.0
    - adjusts the ratio of game units to meters. This affects velocity, positioning, and distance. The higher this number, the closer everything gets to each other (in audio terms).
    - 0.0 -> infinity

    ‘s_min_distance’
    - 16.0
    - minimum distance before rolloff is applied to a source. Also every doubling of the minimum distance, the source loses 50% of its gain. Make this really large to play everything at full volume regardless of where it is (unless it's occluded).
    - 0.0 -> infinity

    ‘s_max_distance’
    - 1000.0
    - maximum distance before a source is muted. If this number is too small everything will be muted!
    - 0.0 -> infinity

    ‘s_auto_attn’
    - 0.0003
    - Amount of attenuation for autosounds. Lower this number to increase rolloff. Careful, its REALLY sensitive.
    - 0.0 -> 1.0

    ‘s_attn’
    - 0.0007
    - Amount of attenuation for entity sounds. Lower this number to increase rolloff. Careful, its REALLY sensitive.
    - 0.0 -> 1.0

    ‘s_2dvolume’
    - 0.8
    - the maximum volume which 2D sounds are played at. By the nature of the filters being applied to the A3D buffers, they are
    quieter then their 2D counterparts. Hence it is important to quiet the 2D sounds to make up for this.
    - 0.0 -> 1.0

    ‘s_watereq’
    - 0.1
    - Amount of high frequency rolloff to apply when Corvus goes underwater. 1.0 is air.
    - 0.0 -> 1.0

    ‘s_geometry’
    - 1
    - Toggles geometry rendering on/off. When disabled, geometry is not processed at all.
    - 0 or 1

    ‘s_occlude’
    - 1
    - Status of occlusions - 1 enables; 0 disables.
    - 0 or 1

    ‘s_reflect’
    - 1
    - Status of reflections - 1 enables; 0 disables.
    - 0 or 1

    ‘s_refgain’
    - 0.50
    - Adjusts the gain on each reflection, where higher number means louder reflections. Remember very loud reflections could
    cancel out the effect of HRTFs.
    - 0 -> 1

    ‘s_refdelay’
    - 4.5
    - Delay between a source and its closest reflection. The higher the delay, the more time it takes between when the source and its first reflection are played.
    - 0.0 -> 10.0

    ‘s_occfactor’
    - 0.2
    - Transmission value of material - the smaller the number, the more occluded the sound is (less sound passes through the material).
    - 0.0 -> 1.0

    ‘s_numpolys’
    - 400
    - Maximum polygons to be rendered. Polygons will stop being rendered either when there are no more polygons left or s_numpolys polygons have been rendered. Setting this to 0 is the same as turning s_geometry off. This has the highest impact on performance.
    - 0 -> infinity

    ‘s_bloat’
    - 2.0
    - Bloat factor for polygons. This effectively scales each polygon by a certain amount. This is a rough way to fillholes left by unrendered small polygons.
    - 1.0 -> infinity

    ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
    ;; 3.0-specific Console Variables
    ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

    ‘s_geom_reverb’
    - 1
    - Status of Geometric Reverb - 1 enables; 0 disables.
    - 0 or 1

    ‘s_geom_reverb_scale’
    - 25
    - Determines the sensitivity of the geometric reverb effect If this number is too large than the only effects rendered will be no reverb or tiny room reverb. Conversely, if the number is too small the effect will always sound like you're in a large room. 25 is a good number.
    - 0.0 -> infinity

    ‘s_a3d_weapons’
    - 0
    - Turn on this mode to have A3D play all your weapon sounds. Careful with this one: if you have hardware that can render reflections you'll get a really cool effect (Aureal Vortex 2 based cards do this). If you have hardware which supports either EAX or A3D reverb, you'll get the geometric reverb effect rendered on your weapons (Vortex 2 with EAX drivers and all EAX-enabled hardware, even non-Aureal boards). But, if you only have direct path 3D audio hardware, you're weapons may sound a little too soft.
    - 0 or 1

    ‘s_polysize’
    - 50000
    - The smallest area polygon that is rendered for occlusions. This determines the resolution of the occlusion effect. Making this number larger render a better effect but use more CPU. However occlusion polygons are efficient so many more of them can be rendered then reflection polygons. Occlusion polygons may, but are not always, also rendered for reflections. If the occlusion polygon does not meat the min reflect size, it is occlusion only.
    - 0 -> infinity

    ‘s_polyreflectsize’
    - 10000000
    - The smallest area polygon that is rendered for reflections. This determines the resolution of the reflection effects.
    Reflection polygons are much more expensive then occlusion polygons in terms of CPU usage, but they are also much more efficient. Often 50-100 reflection polygons are enough to render a scene, but 400-500 occlusion polygons are needed.
    - 0 -> infinity


    - Updated: February 5, 2000

    [e-Mail me the FAQs] - [Search our FAQs] - [Question Not Answered?]




  • dot_yellowish.gif (35 bytes)

    3dss_small.gif (2549 bytes)All content, design and work is © 2001 - 3D Sound Surge Please respect the copyrights of the articles and writers herein. All copyrights are enforced by 3DSS.  
    View the 3DsoundSurge Privacy Statement

    dot_yellowish.gif (35 bytes)