Event Setup

Last updated: April 3, 2026

Parameters

Parameters in FMOD Studio are variables that control how an event behaves during playback. They can drive changes in volume, pitch, filters, instrument playback, or event logic — making sounds dynamic and responsive rather than static.

Each parameter has a name, a range of values, and a type. During gameplay, your code can set or adjust these values, or they can be driven automatically by game states, distance, velocity, or other inputs.

Parameters are the main bridge between the game and the sound design. They let audio react directly to gameplay, giving you fine-grained, real-time control over how sound evolves.

You can use existing parameters or create your own presets. To view existing parameters, go to Window > Preset Browser or press Ctrl+8 to open the Preset Browser.

Adding Parameters

To add a custom parameter, click New Parameter or press Ctrl+P. This opens the Add Parameter dialog.

Parameter Types:

Additional options in the dialog:

Global Parameters

Global parameters are project-wide variables that exist once, affect any event that references them, and can be read or modified from anywhere.

Local Parameters

Local parameters belong to a specific event instance. Each instance keeps its own value and changes don’t affect any other event.

War Sails Parameters

These parameters only exist in the War Sails DLC module and are not available without it.

Effects Presets

Effect presets are pre-configured DSP setups that cover common use cases without manual configuration from scratch. Instead of building every effect chain yourself, you can apply a preset — such as a compressor, EQ, or reverb — that comes with sensible defaults designed for a specific purpose.

Presets let you get immediate results and fine-tune from there. They speed up workflow, ensure consistency across the project, and give everyone a shared baseline for commonly used effects. You can also create your own custom presets, or modify the existing ones.

To browse presets, go to Window > Effect Presets or press Ctrl+8. In the Preset Browser, select the Effects tab to see all pre-configured presets currently used in Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord.

When adding a new preset, you have these options:

Once a preset is created, give it a unique, self-explanatory name so it can be easily identified and reused across the project.

Effects Preset List

Snapshots

Snapshots let you control the overall mix dynamically based on game states. If you’ve ever seen a digital mixing console where pressing a button moves all the faders to new positions at once — that’s exactly how FMOD snapshots work.

Adding Snapshots

To add a snapshot, open the Mixer window via Window > Mixer or press Ctrl+2. On the left side of the Mixer, switch to the Snapshots tab to see existing snapshots or create new ones.

Right-click on an empty space to create a new snapshot. You’ll be asked to choose between two types:

When multiple snapshots are active simultaneously, priority is determined by their position in the Priority List. Snapshots higher in the list take precedence over those below. For example, GameMinimized sits above CampaignMap in the priority list, meaning it overrides campaign map audio rules whenever the game is minimized.

When a snapshot is selected, the faders in the Mixer change color — this signals that any fader you adjust will only apply when that snapshot is active, not in the normal mix. The same applies to DSP effects and bus sends — for example, you can add a single algorithmic reverb to a return bus and adjust its properties per snapshot.

In the GameMinimized snapshot, all faders are set to −∞ dB, so that whenever the player minimizes the game window, every sound is muted. Once the snapshot goes out of scope, the faders automatically return to their original positions.

Snapshot Events

Snapshots can be triggered by code, but they can also be triggered by events — which is especially useful for reverb zones in a scene. For more on reverb zones, see the Scene Audio page.

To add a snapshot event, first create a timeline event (snapshot instruments cannot be placed in action events). Give the event a clear, descriptive name.

Right-click the track in the timeline where you want to place the snapshot instrument. If a snapshot already exists you’ll see it listed; otherwise you can create a new one. For reverb control, always use blending snapshots.

Once placed, the snapshot instrument appears on the track. You can drag the left and right edges of the instrument to add fade-in and fade-out handles, which smooth the transition into and out of the snapshot.

User Properties

Events in FMOD Studio can carry User Properties — custom variables you define to pass extra information to the game. These act as metadata markers, letting the game code check for them and apply special handling when needed.

Every User Property has a name and a value. The name is always a string (letters and/or numbers). The value is interpreted automatically: if it’s purely numeric, it’s treated as a floating-point number; if it contains any non-numeric characters, it’s treated as a string.

This system lets sound designers embed flexible, game-relevant data directly inside events, reducing the need for programmers to hard-code rules. User Properties are defined in the event’s deck area in FMOD Studio — each row has a name field and a value field.