Sounds of Nature

Sounds of Nature

Brings the world to life with realistic ambient wildlife audio that reacts to where you are, what time it is, and what season you're in. As you explore, you'll hear distant songbirds at dawn in forested areas, crows calling through the midday heat, hyenas whooping across the desert at dusk, wolves howling on cold winter nights, frogs and crickets singing in warm wet evenings, bats and dripping water deep underground, and much more — all randomized in volume, timing, and position so no two moments sound the same.

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**Status: Active development.** This mod is playable and stable enough to release, but it is still being actively expanded and tuned. Expect new sounds, new creatures, and balance changes in future updates. Feedback is very welcome.

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Changelog — v0.3.0

New wildlife sounds (23 clips added)

- Bumblebees 🐝 — new group. Buzzes on warm spring/summer days, daytime, in open/meadow terrain. (4 sounds)
- Goats 🐐 — new group. Bleats year-round during daylight in open, rocky/low-forest terrain. (3 sounds)
- Hawks 🦅 — new group. Occasional daytime raptor calls across all seasons. (1 sound)
- Temperate Songbirds — expanded the daytime songbird pool with finches, Carolina wrens, mockingbirds, and 2 more cardinal calls. (11 sounds)
- Wolves — added distant howls to the night/cold-season wolf group for more variety. (4 sounds)

Under the hood
- New audio converted to 44.1 kHz stereo Ogg Vorbis to match existing assets.
- Total referenced ambient sounds: 117 across 24 sound groups.

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Client-Side Only

This mod runs **entirely on the client**. It does not need to be installed on a server, and the server does not need to know it exists. Each player installs it independently and hears their own ambient soundscape. It is safe to use on any multiplayer server.

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Sounds Included

73 audio files across 21 sound types:

- Cardinals / Songbirds 
- Crows 
- Crows in Flight
- Ravens
- Owls
- Barn Owl Screeches
- Wolves
- Wolf Pack
- Hyenas
- Frogs
- Frog Chorus
- Crickets
- Cicadas
- Squirrels
- Woodpeckers
- Flies
- Cave Drips
- Falling Stones
- Bats
- Cave Rustling

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SURFACE SOUNDS
Group                    | Biome                        | Time               | Season
-------------------------|------------------------------|--------------------|----------------------------
Songbirds & Cardinals    | Warm, some vegetation        | Dawn – Afternoon   | All
Crows & Ravens           | Anywhere                     | Morning – Afternoon| All
Crows in Flight          | Anywhere                     | Dawn – Dusk        | All
Owls                     | Cool, forested               | Dusk – Night       | All
Barn Owl Screeches       | Temperate, any biome         | Dusk – Night       | All
Wolves                   | Cold, forested               | Dusk – Dawn        | Autumn, Winter, Spring
Wolf Pack                | Cold, forested               | Dusk – Dawn        | Autumn, Winter, Spring
Hyenas                   | Hot, dry, open               | Dusk – Dawn        | All
Spring Peepers           | Cool, wet                    | Dusk – Dawn        | Spring
Summer Frogs & Crickets  | Warm, wet                    | Dusk – Night       | Summer
Frog Chorus              | Warm, wet                    | Dusk – Dawn        | Spring, Summer
Autumn Crickets          | Cool, moderate rainfall      | Dusk – Dawn        | Autumn
Cicadas                  | Hot, forested                | Morning – Afternoon| Summer
Squirrels                | Warm, some vegetation        | Morning – Afternoon| All
Woodpeckers              | Temperate, forested          | Dawn – Afternoon   | Spring, Summer, Autumn
Flies                    | Near gnat swarms (proximity) | Any                | All

UNDERGROUND SOUNDS
Group           | Where                        | Time | Season
----------------|------------------------------|------|-------
Cave Drips      | Underground (low skylight)   | Any  | All
Falling Stones  | Underground                  | Any  | All
Bats            | Underground                  | Any  | All
Cave Rustling   | Underground                  | Any  | All

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In-Game Commands

All commands are typed into the chat window.

| Command | What it does |
| .son status: Shows your current temperature, rainfall, forest density, time of day, season, and which sound groups are eligible at your location. Use this to diagnose why certain sounds aren't playing. |
| .son on: Enables the mod (on by default) |
| .son off: Disables all ambient sounds |
| .son vol 0.5: Sets a master volume multiplier from 0.0 to 2.0. Default is 1.0. Use this to globally scale sounds up or down. |
| .son reload: Hot-reloads soundgroups.json without restarting the game. Useful if you are tweaking the config file. |
| .son nearby [radius]: Lists entity types within the given radius (default 30 blocks) and the distance to the nearest of each. A diagnostic tool for checking what's around you. |

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Tip: Nothing playing?

Run `.son status` and check the output. If your rainfall is 0.00 and forest density is 0.00, you are in a desert or arid open biome — only crows by day and hyenas at night will play there, which is intentional. Move to an area with some vegetation or moisture and you will hear a richer soundscape.

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Customising Sound Groups

The file `assets/soundsofnature/config/soundgroups.json` inside the mod zip controls everything. You can edit it with any text editor to adjust:

- Which sounds play and how often
- Temperature, rainfall, and forest density thresholds
- Time of day and season restrictions
- Volume range and pitch variance

Use `.son reload` in-game after saving your changes so you don't need to restart.

To add new sounds, place `.ogg` files (OGG Vorbis format, 44100 Hz, stereo) into the `sounds/ambient/` folder and reference them in the config.