Over the past month or two, I’ve encountered a frustrating issue that seems to completely disrupt how sounds are expected to behave. After extensive testing, I noticed that sounds in one of my recent experiences randomly play with or without directionality, almost as if they were parented directly to the workspace, even when properly attached to a BasePart or Attachment. As of January 2025, I suspect the issue is related to VolumetricAudio. Below is a detailed explanation of the problem, along with examples and observations:
Expected Behavior
In this first video, you can hear how the audio performs as intended. The directional feedback is working perfectly, with clear separation between the left and right ear channels. This is the desired result, demonstrating that directional audio is functioning as expected under normal conditions.
For reference, my SoundService settings have VolumetricAudio set to Automatic which is the default setting for new experiences. Under these conditions, all sounds behave as expected.
All my sounds are setup similar to this:
The Problem
The issue arises when I switch VolumetricAudio from Automatic > Enabled. After this change, sound behavior becomes highly unpredictable:
- Initially, sounds might play correctly.
- However, when a sound plays in a way that lacks directional feedback (e.g., equally audible in both ears), subsequent sound playback starts behaving unpredictably.
- From that point onward, it’s like flipping a coin—there’s no guarantee that sounds will behave correctly during the next playback.
- Sounds with the
Playingproperty set totrueare also affected in the same manner.
Here’s an example of me enabling VolumetricAudio and running a playtest. It took three attempts for the sound to lose its directionality.
Additional Observations
- Once the issue occurs, switching VolumetricAudio back to
DisabledorAutomaticdoes not resolve the problem. - Placing a sound inside an Attachment yields the same result.
- Changing any other
SoundServicesettings also fails to fix the issue.
Here are two additional playtests where I started the experience with VolumetricAudio set to Disabled. These examples further illustrate the problem:
Example 1:
Example 2:
Temporary Workarounds
The only temporary solutions I’ve found are:
- Creating a New Experience: Avoid changing VolumetricAudio settings altogether. While this prevents the issue, it’s not a practical solution for existing projects.
- Reinstalling Roblox Studio: This resets all Studio settings, which is not ideal as it disrupts the entire workflow and requires reconfiguring Studio preferences.
Conclusion
I’ve seen some bug reports about sound issues with the engine, but I haven’t come across any specifically linking VolumetricAudio as a possible root cause. I’d like to know if anyone else is experiencing a similar issue in their experiences, as my development is currently paused until I can find a solution. Additionally, I’m curious if this issue can be replicated on a different system. As mentioned, I first noticed this problem about two months ago when I started a new experience. Thanks for your help!