Modify Hearing Range (Power Type)

Changes how far away the holder can hear — both ordinary game sounds and Simple Voice Chat proximity audio. This is a listener-side power: it changes what its holder hears, not what anyone hears from them.

Type ID: apoli:modify_hearing_range

Fields#

Field	Type	Default	Purpose
modifier	Attribute Modifier	optional	A single modifier applied to the base hearing distance.
modifiers	Array of Attribute Modifier	optional	Several modifiers applied to the base hearing distance.
sounds	Boolean	true	Apply to ordinary game sounds.
voice	Boolean	true	Apply to Simple Voice Chat proximity audio.
bientity_condition	Bi-entity Condition	optional	Decides per speaker whether this power applies, with the holder as the actor and the speaker as the target. Voice chat only — a power that sets it is skipped for game sounds.

What the base value is#

The modifiers are applied to whatever the sound would normally carry, so one power covers every sound at once:

Channel	Base
Game sounds	The sound event’s own range — 16 blocks for most sounds, further for loud ones such as the Ender Dragon or a lightning strike.
Voice chat	The server’s max_voice_distance (48 by default), or whisper_distance (24) when the speaker is whispering.

A result of 0 or less means the holder hears nothing on that channel. There is no upper limit — set it high enough and the holder hears the whole dimension.

Hearing some people further than others#

Without bientity_condition this power changes one number: how far its holder hears everything. With one, the range is decided for each speaker separately — the holder is the actor and whoever is talking is the target — so a pack can give one squad clear comms while everyone else fades out at the usual distance. This one doubles how far the holder hears their own team, and leaves everybody else alone.

{
  "type": "apoli:modify_hearing_range",
  "sounds": false,
  "bientity_condition": {
    "type": "apoli:same_team"
  },
  "modifier": {
    "operation": "multiply_total",
    "value": 2
  }
}

Voice ranges are worked out once a tick, for each listener who holds one of these powers against each player who is actually talking, so the cost scales with conversations rather than with players. That pass is also where apoli:modify_speaking_range is folded in: the speaker’s range is the base the listener’s modifiers are applied to, so a shout heard by keen ears really does compound.

A power with a bientity_condition is skipped entirely for game sounds, because a sound has no speaker to test against — split it into two powers if you want both halves.

Examples#

Deaf — no game sounds, no voice chat:

{
  "type": "apoli:modify_hearing_range",
  "modifier": {
    "operation": "multiply_total",
    "value": -1
  }
}

Keen hearing — everything reaches four times as far:

{
  "type": "apoli:modify_hearing_range",
  "modifier": {
    "operation": "multiply_total",
    "value": 3
  }
}

Hears voices from anywhere in the dimension, but game sounds normally:

{
  "type": "apoli:modify_hearing_range",
  "sounds": false,
  "modifier": {
    "operation": "set_total",
    "value": 10000
  }
}

Deafened only while a example:concussed resource is above zero, and only for game sounds:

{
  "type": "apoli:modify_hearing_range",
  "voice": false,
  "condition": {
    "type": "apoli:resource",
    "resource": "example:concussed",
    "comparison": ">",
    "compare_to": 0
  },
  "modifier": {
    "operation": "multiply_total",
    "value": -0.9
  }
}

The modifier’s value accepts an Expression, so hearing can scale off a resource: "value": "example:focus / 10".

Notes#

• Everything is decided on the server, so it works for vanilla clients and cannot be tampered with.
• Extended voice hearing works by widening how far the speaker’s audio is broadcast and then trimming it back per listener, so a distant listener hears the speaker while everyone else’s range is unchanged.
• For the first tick of an utterance the listener hears at the speaker’s own range; the listener’s modifiers take over from the next tick. At 50 ms it is not audible, but it is why a range change never clips the start of a word.
• Only proximity voice audio is affected. Group chat is a separate channel and is always audible to its members.
• Several active modify_hearing_range powers stack, in the order the modifiers sort.
• The voice-chat half needs Simple Voice Chat installed; the sounds half does not. Without Simple Voice Chat the voice field simply does nothing.

Game sounds are filtered per listener, so while any pack in the world uses this power, every broadcast sound costs one extra power lookup per online player. It is cheap, but it is not free — prefer one power with a condition over several.