FAQ: Half-Life's A3D CONSOLE VARIABLES

For A3D console variables for other A3D2 games go to our A3D console variable page.

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.

Remember that you need to run Half_Life with the -console parameter (hl.exe -console) to be able to write any of these commands.

Be sure to check out Aureal's recommended settings for people complaining about muffled sounds.

If you prefer you can download the Word95 document.

Brief description of the A3D console variables

Key:

"variable name, in Bold quotes"

• default value
• brief description
• allowable values

"s_enable_a3d"

• Turns A3D on.
  

"s_disable_a3d"

• Turns A3D off.
  

"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 12/09/98.
Copyright (c) 1998 Aureal Semiconductor.

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