Sound System

The Sound system in Gothic handles sound effects (SFX) such as footsteps, weapon swings, monster cries, and ambient noises. Unlike the Music system which uses DirectMusic, the SFX system plays standard audio files.

File Formats

Gothic uses WAV files for sound effects.

Extension	format	Description
.wav	PCM Wave	Standard uncompressed audio.

Properties

Original Gothic sound files typically have the following properties:

• Channels: Mono (1 channel)
• Sample Rate: 44100 Hz (44.1 kHz)
• Bit Depth: 16-bit (Gothic 1/2) or ADPCM compressed

info

Stereo files and other sample rates might work but can cause issues or 3D positioning problems. Mono is recommended for all spatial sounds.

File Structure

Sound files are located in _work/Data/Sound/:

• SFX/ - General sound effects (weapons, magic, items).
• Speech/ - Voice lines (referenced by AI_Output in scripts).

Scripting

Sound effects are defined in Daedalus using the C_SFX class. Files defining these instances are typically found in System/SFX/ (e.g., SfxInst.d).

Class Definition

class C_SFX {
    var string file;             // Filename (e.g. "MySound.wav")
    var int pitchOff;            // Pitch offset (semitones)
    var int pitchVar;            // Pitch variance (random variation)
    var int vol;                 // Volume (0..127)
    var int loop;                // Loop (0=no, 1=yes)
    var int loopStartOffset;     // Loop start point
    var int loopEndOffset;       // Loop end point
    var float reverbLevel;       // Reverb amount
    var string pfxName;          // Associated particle effect name
};

Instance Example

instance Mobs_Blacksmith_Hamm_A0(C_SFX_DEF) {
    file = "Hammer_A0.wav";
    pitchOff = 0;
    pitchVar = 0;
    vol = 127;
    loop = 0;
    loopStartOffset = 0;
    loopEndOffset = 0;
    reverbLevel = 0;
    pfxName = "";
};

Playing Sounds

You can play sounds from scripts using various external functions:

• Wld_PlayEffect(effectName, vob, ...): Plays a visual or sound effect at a specific object's location.

  Wld_PlayEffect("spellFX_Fireball", hero, hero, 0, 0, 0, FALSE);

• Snd_Play(instanceName): Plays a sound as a 2D global sound (UI, menu).
• Snd_Play3D(instanceName, vob): Plays a sound at the location of an object.

Speech

Dialogue voice lines (Speech/) are not defined as C_SFX instances. They are referenced directly by filename in AI_Output commands. See the Daedalus documentation for more details.