Sound Radar — accessibility build

A visual danger radar for deaf and hard-of-hearing players.

In Minecraft, most warnings are sounds: the groan behind you, footsteps in a cave, the hiss right before a creeper explodes, an arrow leaving a skeleton's bow. If you cannot hear those, you get hit without any warning at all – not because you played badly, but because the game only told you with audio.

Sound Radar draws that information around your crosshair instead:
a ring with red dots for hostile mobs, and water-like waves the moment a mob notices you. It needs no sound, no subtitles, no server plugin – and it works exactly the same when the game is muted.

Who it is for

• Deaf and hard-of-hearing players – it replaces the audio cue that tells you "something is approaching from behind".
• Players who play with sound off (late at night, on a laptop, in a call).
• Anyone who wants a clearer sense of "is it safe here" while mining, building or exploring dark areas.

It is an assistive tool, not a cheat radar: it only uses information your client already receives, and it reveals nothing the game does not send.

What you see

Ring around the crosshair – Detection radius (default 29 blocks) – Your gaze stays in the middle of the screen – danger is shown where you are already looking
Red dot with black outline – A hostile mob is near – One colour for "danger" – no learning curve, no legend needed
Blinking dot + waves – The mob has noticed you – Water-ripple motion is picked up by peripheral vision, even while you focus on something else
Ring pulsing red – Some mob is currently hunting you – A second, screen-wide cue that does not require reading individual dots
Small arrow above/below a dot – The target is ≥ 3 blocks higher or lower – Cave ceilings and ravines are a common blind spot
White notches – front / right / back / left – Orientation without needing to count degrees
Amber dot with a tail – A hostile sound you might have missed (optional) – Turns a sound you cannot hear into a short visible ping

The moment a mob stops chasing you (you broke line of sight, put a wall between you, or it lost interest), the waves stop. The signal is honest: if the radar is quiet, nothing has seen you.

Built for people who cannot rely on audio

These decisions came from that goal, not from "looking cool":

• No sound required. The mod never plays audio and never needs it. Every warning is visual.
• No false alarms. Aggro needs a real line of sight to you. Standing inside your base while a zombie wanders outside stays calm – otherwise the warning would become noise and you would learn to ignore it.
• Motion before detail. A blinking dot with waves is visible from the corner of your eye, before you have consciously looked at the radar.
• Readable at any GUI scale. Ring and dots are drawn with anti-aliasing, so they do not turn into pixel stairs on a 4K screen or a scaled-down GUI.
• Adaptable to your eyes. Dot size (1.0 – 6.0), dot colour (red, orange, magenta, white, cyan), ring size (20 – 48 px) and range (12 – 40 blocks) are all adjustable.
• Reduced motion option. You can switch the waves and the blinking off individually and keep only the steady dot plus the pulsing ring – useful for motion sensitivity or simply a calmer screen.
• No audio dependency for the settings. Menus, commands and explanations are all visual, with a one-line description for every option.

The three-second check

1. A dot appears on the ring → something hostile is nearby.
2. The dot starts blinking and waves spread out → it has seen you.
3. The waves come from a specific angle → that is where it is coming from.

You do not have to read text, open a menu or listen to anything.

Settings — in game, with live preview

Press O, run /soundradar menu, or use the Configure button in Mod Menu. The screen shows a live preview in the middle, a one-line explanation for the option under your cursor, and Save / Reset / Cancel – nothing changes until you press Save.

Radar on/off – ON / OFF – turn the whole radar on or off
Ring radius – 20 · 24 · 28 · 30 · 34 · 40 · 48 px – distance of the ring from the crosshair
Range – 12 · 16 · 20 · 24 · 28 · 32 · 40 blocks – mobs within this distance are shown (ring = range + 5)
Dot size – 1.5 – 5.0 – size of the mob dots
Dot colour – red · orange · magenta · white · cyan – colour of the dots
Aggro waves – ON / OFF – water waves around mobs that see you
Aggro blink – ON / OFF – the dot blinks when the mob is aggro
Ring pulses – ON / OFF – the ring flashes red while you are being hunted
Line of sight – ON / OFF – only mobs with a free line of sight count as aggro
View cone – 25 · 40 · 55 · 70 · 90° – how exactly a mob has to face you
Black outline – ON / OFF – dark rim around the dots, separates several mobs
Height arrows – ON / OFF – arrow when the target is clearly above or below
Aggro only – ON / OFF – hide everything that is not hunting you
Show players – ON / OFF – other players as cyan dots
Sound pings – ON / OFF – short marker for hostile sounds (e.g. bones)

Commands (every setting without the screen)

Client-side command, works on any server, no OP needed. Alias: /sr.

/soundradar – show the current state
/soundradar on / off / toggle – enable / disable the radar
/soundradar menu – open the settings screen
/soundradar radius <8-120> – ring radius in GUI pixels
/soundradar range <4-64> – detection range in blocks (ring = range + 5)
/soundradar size <1.0-6.0> – dot size
/soundradar cone <10-120> – view cone for aggro, in degrees
/soundradar height <0-20> – height difference needed for the up/down arrow
/soundradar color – cycle dot colour
/soundradar waves on / off – water waves around aggressive mobs
/soundradar blink on / off – blinking of aggressive mobs
/soundradar outline on / off – black outline around the dots
/soundradar pulse on / off – main ring pulses red while targeted
/soundradar backdrop on / off – dimmed disc behind the ring
/soundradar los on / off – require line of sight for aggro
/soundradar mobs on / off – show hostile mobs
/soundradar players on / off – also show other players
/soundradar pings on / off – hostile sound pings
/soundradar aggroonly on / off – only mobs that target you
/soundradar preset aggro / standard / players – filter presets

Without on/off every toggle prints its current state (e.g. /soundradar waves).

Keys

K – radar on / off
J – cycle preset (aggro only → standard → with players)
O – open the settings screen

All three are rebindable in the vanilla controls menu ("Miscellaneous").

What it does not do (honest limits)

• It shows mobs, not every sound in the game. Villagers, music, redstone, minecarts and similar are out of scope – those are what subtitles are for.
• It does not tell you which mob it is – only that something hostile is there and how far away it is. A dot at 6 blocks in a dark cave is a reason to raise your shield, not a nameplate.
• It can not hear for you: an arrow from 30 blocks away or a creeper that ignites next to you still happens fast. The radar gives you distance and direction, but you still have to react.
• It is not a medical tool and makes no claims about compensating a hearing loss – it is a visual interface for data the game already sends to your client.
• Some servers may consider visual aids unfair in PvP situations. It is a client-side mod, so a server admin cannot block it automatically – but respect the rules of the servers you play on.

Requirements

Minecraft – 26.3
Mod loader – Fabric (loader 0.19.0 or newer)
Fabric API – 0.165.0+26.3
Java – 25
Environment – Client only
Mod Menu – optional (≥ 21.0.0) – without it the screen opens with O

No world generation, no registry entries – the mod can be added or removed at any time, also in an existing world. Languages: English and German. License: MIT.

Installation

1. Install Fabric for Minecraft 26.3 and Java 25.
2. Put Fabric API and this jar into your client mods folder.
3. Start the game – the log shows [SoundRadar] aktiv (Ring 30 px, Reichweite 29 Blöcke).

Then press O once to tune the radar to your eyes: size, colour and range.

FAQ

I am completely deaf – will this help me?
That is exactly what it is built for. The radar never uses audio: a red dot means "hostile mob near", blinking waves mean "it has seen you", and the position on the ring tells you where to turn.

Why do the dots only blink when the mob really sees me?
Because a warning that fires through walls is worthless. Line of sight is required, so a quiet radar really means "nobody has noticed you".

Does it show mobs through walls?
It shows the position of mobs within the radius – that is the point of a radar. It only marks a mob as aggro when it actually has line of sight to you.

Can I make it calmer?
Yes: turn off waves and/or blinking (/soundradar waves off, /soundradar blink off) and keep the steady dot plus the pulsing ring.

Are the colours changeable for colour blindness?
Yes – red, orange, magenta, white and cyan are available. Shape and waves stay identical, so the signal does not depend on the colour alone.

Can I turn off the sound pings?
Yes, /soundradar pings off – then only real mob positions are shown.

Does the radar cost FPS?
Version 0.9.0 draws the same picture with about 12× fewer draw commands (~520 per frame instead of ~6,500). You can verify it yourself with /soundradar perf; if the number is high, turn the waves off (/soundradar waves off) or make the ring smaller.

Is it cheating on PvP servers?
That is up to the server owner. The mod only uses information the client already receives, but it makes nearby mobs much easier to notice.