FAQ

If you have a question you think belongs here, DO NOT HESITATE to submit an issue! All suggestions are appreciated!

This is the start of the Resounding FAQ Page. More will follow.

General

What is Resounding?

Answer

I find your failure to README concerning.

Does Resounding have good performance on low-end hardware?

Answer

See below on parallel wave tracing.

What is parallel wave tracing? What makes it good?

Answer

This comes in two parts: "parallel" and "wave tracing".

Basically, when I say "wave tracing" I'm talking about full audio ray tracing, including air absorption, reflection, dispersion, occlusion, etc. it's very analagous to path tracing in shaders. Now you may think that would be awful for performance, especially since the audio system Minecraft uses doesn't support it by default, so I can't use tools like the GPU to speed up the process. And in a way you'd be right.

The reason I can get such good performance out of this without good hardware is twofold: First, you really don't need very many rays to get an accurate-sounding effect. With low settings, I can get convincing reverb with only 64 rays per sound. That's the equivalent of running a high-end shader on the CPU, but with a screen resolution of only 8 by 8 pixels (as opposed to most people's 1920 by 1080) and a framerate cap of 20 FPS. Definitely doable! The difference is that with shaders you need so many rays before it starts to become playable and realistic. But with sound, It's suprising how much immersion I can squeeze out of just a handful of rays!

The second factor that makes the performance so great is the "parallel" part. Parallel Processing (in this case Multithreading) can be tricky to pull off without causing issues. But when done correctly, it allows your CPU to multitask. This means that, depending on your specific processor, you could be tracing a dozen rays or more at the same time! This definitely helps performance, especially for people that have a decent CPU and want that extra immersion.

Versioning

Note: For the most part, Resounding follows the guidelines of Semantic Versioning. If you have a question that is not answered here, try there. The sections below only cover pre-release versioning.

I hear Resounding is in alpha. WTF does that mean?

Answer

This can mean slightly different things for each project, so read carefully. Resounding 1.0.0 alphas (designated 1.0.0-alpha.X) are unstable development versions of the mod. Keep in mind the following about alpha versions:

• Critical bugs are expected
• The code will change and update frequently
• The alpha version is not feature-complete (i.e. it is missing many core features of the parent version)
• User-friendliness is not a concern at this stage, so things like the config may be confusing for inexperienced users.
• Compatibility with another mod is not guaranteed, regardless of the mod in question.
• Help and support is not guaranteed.

However, the stability of the alpha versions will gradually improve as they approach a beta, so you might want to judge for yourself when it is stable enough to use for regular gameplay.

And what about beta versions?

Answer

For the most part, beta versions are just more stable alpha versions. The other major difference is that beta versions are feature complete, so they should have at least basic implementations of every feature planned for that release.

Then what are Milestone Alphas???

Answer

A Milestone Alpha, or Beta Candidate, is an alpha version that has all of the qualities of a beta version, but is not feature complete. These are the only alpha versions that I release to CurseForge and Modrinth, since they are so much more stable than other alpha versions. Milestone Alphas can be expected after I finish implementing one major feature of a version, before moving on to the next feature.

These versions mark a stable "checkpoint" in development, where I can focus on things like usability and bugs to round out the changes I have just made before I move on. TBH I have never heard of anyone else doing this, but I'm sure something similar has been done before.

To maintain consistent, SemVer-compliant versioning, Milestone Alphas will sequentially take the place of an alpha version, but will use a "bc" version designator (for Beta Candidate) to put them between Alphas and Betas alphabetically. For example, you might chronologically see a Resounding version scheme such as this:

• 1.0.0-alpha.1
• 1.0.0-alpha.2
• 1.0.0-bc.3
• 1.0.0-alpha.4
• 1.0.0-alpha.5
• 1.0.0-beta.1
• 1.0.0-beta.2
• 1.0.0-rc.3
• 1.0.0

Note: for those familiar with snapshots and pre-releases, you can think of alphas/bcs as snapshots, and betas/rcs as pre-releases.

Note: unlike beta candidates, release candidates (designated "rc") are only released if major bugs are found in the final testing phase between the last beta and the final release.

Note: bc and rc versions are only released for major versions (i.e. X.0.0)

Can I use a build from GitHub Actions?

Answer

Short answer? No. These builds are designed not to work for normal use, and require a secret developer key to use. Not to mention, they are highly unstable and unpredictable. Also, no help and support will be provided for Actions builds, so if your game crashes and you loose all your stuff, consider yourself warned. They should only be used to aid in developing this mod or another. Contact Dr. Rubisco on discord if you are interested in applying for a developer key.

Compatibility

Does Resounding work with the sounds in my resource pack?

Answer

Yes.

Does Resounding work with mod X?

Answer

Probably, but compatibility is not guaranteed for all mods. A list of guaranteed compatible mods will be added to the wiki soon™. If you find a compatibility issue, please report it in the issues tab.