Some sound events from the Drop 1 2025 experiment have a different volume or max_distance than intended. These fields work together to provide the correct attenuation distance for a sound.
A sound which has a max_distance greater than 16, but only plays at 1.0 volume, will not be heard from farther than 16 blocks away. The sound engine culls the sound because the volume is "too low" to be heard by the player, despite the max_distance setting.
The volume of a sound must be set to at least 0.25 * max_distance whenever max_distance is greater than 16 to avoid sound engine culling.
Affected Sounds:
block.firefly_bush.ambient
This sound has a max_distance of 64, but a volume of 1.0. This means the sound will not play from greater than 16 blocks away.
block.leaf_litter.place
This sound is only supposed to be audible from 16 blocks away, not 64, so the max_distance value needs to be changed to 16.
block.leaf_litter.step
This sound is only supposed to be audible from 16 blocks away, not 64, so the max_distance value needs to be changed to 16.
block.leaf_litter.break
This sound is missing the max_distance field used on the leaf litter place and step, causing it to fade much sooner than the other sounds. This sound should have a max_distance of 16.0.
block.sand.ambient.attached
This sound is missing the "max_distance": 16.0 configuration used for all other ambient block sounds, even the sounds from 1.21.50. This means it will be far too quiet in-game.
block.sand.ambient
This sound has a max_distance of 64, but a volume of 1.0. This means the sound will not play from greater than 16 blocks away.
block.deadbush.ambient
This sound has a max_distance of 64, but a volume of 1.0. This means the sound will not play from greater than 16 blocks away.
Correct Configurations
Sound Event | max_distance | volume |
|---|---|---|
block.deadbush.ambient | 64.0 | 4.0 |
block.leaf_litter.break | 16.0 | 1.0 |
block.leaf_litter.place | 16.0 | 1.0 |
block.leaf_litter.step | 16.0 | 1.0 |
block.firefly_bush.ambient | 64.0 | 4.0 |
block.sand.ambient | 64.0 | 4.0 |
block.sand.ambient.attached | 64.0 | 4.0 |
Expected Result
Drop 1 2025 sounds are configured correctly, so sounds with max_distance greater than 16 are audible from their full range.
Observed Result
Drop 1 2025 sounds are not configured correctly, so the sounds with a max_distance of 64 are actually only audible from 16 blocks away.
Notes
This issue relates to MCPE-190496.
Update: In Java Edition, it turns out that the sand, firefly bush, and dead bush ambient sounds only play up to 32 blocks away, but they are not fully quiet at that distance. This can be recreated with a “max_distance” of 64 and a volume of 2.0.
However, there is a larger issue with these ambience sounds on Bedrock Edition: The sound engine does not even try to play the sounds if you are farther than 16 blocks away. Raising the volume does not fix it. This issue cannot be fixed through sounds.json or sound_definitions.json.
Also, block.sand.ambient.attached (block.sand.wind on Java) should not have any special attenuation or volume configurations. It should be played at 1.0 volume and attenuate after 16 blocks, not 64.
I determined this information through extensive testing on Java Edition. The table in the bug report should be updated to look like this:
Sound Event
max_distance
volume
block.deadbush.ambient
64.0
2.0
block.leaf_litter.break
16.0
1.0
block.leaf_litter.place
16.0
1.0
block.leaf_litter.step
16.0
1.0
block.firefly_bush.ambient
64.0
2.0
block.sand.ambient
64.0
2.0
block.sand.ambient.attached
16.0
1.0
This will cause the sounds to match Java Edition in-game IF the distance issue mentioned in paragraph 2 is resolved.