# Customising Gun Sounds

Without any modifications, modded guns will play a *default* <mark style="color:red;">shoot</mark> and <mark style="color:green;">reload</mark> sound (or whatever your example gun has as its example sounds). Luckily, changing what sounds they play is quite simple.

Gun sounds are handled by what are known as *gun switch groups*, which determine what sounds play upon certain actions (<mark style="color:red;">shooting</mark>, <mark style="color:green;">reloading</mark>, <mark style="color:yellow;">charging</mark>, etc.). This is accessed via a field in your `gun` object, usually via `gun.gunSwitchGroup`.

## Setting to a Basegame Gun's Sounds

If you wish for your gun to play the same sounds as a different one, or more accurately, think that a certain basegame gun's sounds work well enough for your gun design, you can easily set the switch group from one to your mod. In your gun's `Add()`, or equivalent method, after the first few lines, write:

```csharp
gun.gunSwitchGroup = (PickupObjectDatabase.GetById([ID]) as Gun).gunSwitchGroup;
```

<details>

<summary>What does this code actually mean?</summary>

<mark style="color:blue;">`PickupObjectDatabase`</mark> is a [**class**](https://www.w3schools.com/cs/cs_classes.php) in the base Gungeon's code that stores all of the game's items and guns.

`.`<mark style="color:purple;">`GetById`</mark>`()` is a [**method**](https://www.w3schools.com/cs/cs_methods.php) that <mark style="color:blue;">`PickupObjectDatabase`</mark> has, which retrieves a certain item based on its ID, stored in the game, this returns an object of type <mark style="color:blue;">`PickupObject`</mark>, which is not a gun, and thus does not contain the gun switch group that we need.

<mark style="color:red;">`as`</mark><mark style="color:orange;">`Gun`</mark> is a way to [**cast**](https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/c-sharp-as-operator-keyword/) the <mark style="color:blue;">`PickupObject`</mark> so that it tells the compiler to treat <mark style="color:blue;">`PickupObject`</mark> as if it is a <mark style="color:blue;">`Gun`</mark>, allowing us to access it's `gunSwitchGroup`, which is what the final part does.

</details>

Replace `[ID]` with the ID of the gun you wish to acquire the sounds of. A list of gun IDs can be found on [this](https://mtgmodders.gitbook.io/etg-modding-guide/various-lists-of-ids-sounds-etc./list-of-item-and-gun-ids) page in the gitbook.

So for example,&#x20;

```csharp
gun.gunSwitchGroup = (PickupObjectDatabase.GetById(91) as Gun).gunSwitchGroup
```

Will set the gun's switch group to that of the *H4mmer*, meaning that all <mark style="color:red;">shoot</mark> and <mark style="color:green;">reload</mark> sounds will be the same as the H4mmer's.

## Mixing and Matching Basegame Gun Sounds

Now, let's say that for your custom weapon, the M1's <mark style="color:red;">shoot</mark> sound works *very* well, but for the <mark style="color:green;">reload</mark> sound you would prefer if it played the crossbows. Unfortunately, this means that setting the `gunSwitchGroup` to an existing one will no longer work as you will only be able to take *all* of the M1's sounds or *all* of the crossbow's sounds.

What you used to have to do was to manually play the shoot or reload sound that you wanted, but we have an easier and better solution now:

### Introducing SoundAPI

<mark style="color:blue;">SoundAPI</mark> is a custom API that was developed to create *custom* *gun switch groups*, allowing for easy mixing and matching as well as convenient **custom sound support**.&#x20;

SoundAPI should be automatically built into the latest version of Alexandria - ensure it is up to date, and then put `using Alexandria.SoundAPI;` at the top of your gun's code, where all of the other `usings` are.

Then, set your gun's `gunSwitchGroup` to a [**string**](https://www.w3schools.com/cs/cs_strings.php) of your choice. This will be the *name* of your *custom switch group*. The convention is to use the format `"[prefix]_[gunIdentifier]"` so that cross-mod incompatibility doesn't happen. For example, a mod with a prefix `exp` and gun called `example_rifle` might use the string `"exp_exmplerifle"`.&#x20;

Then on the next few lines, add code in this format:

```csharp
SoundManager.AddCustomSwitchData("WPN_Guns", gun.gunSwitchGroup, "Play_WPN_Gun_Shot_01", 
                                [name of the shoot sound you want]);
SoundManager.AddCustomSwitchData("WPN_Guns", gun.gunSwitchGroup, "Play_WPN_Gun_Reload_01", 
                                [name of the reload sound(s) you want]);
```

The line containing `"Play_WPN_Gun_Shot_01"` will add your desired <mark style="color:red;">shoot</mark> sound to your gun, and the line containing `"Play_WPN_Gun_Reload_01"` will add your desired <mark style="color:green;">reload</mark> sound to your gun.

{% hint style="info" %}
You can find a list of basegame sounds on [this](https://mtgmodders.gitbook.io/etg-modding-guide/sounds/sound-list) page. Don't worry - it will seem daunting at first, and not all the guns have a sound with their name in it, so play around, search using Ctrl + F, and if worst comes to worst, just use a different sound until you can find it. Note that all valid weapon sounds should begin with `Play_WPN_`.
{% endhint %}

So, going back to the initial example, if I wanted my gun to play the M1's <mark style="color:red;">shoot</mark> sound but the Crossbows <mark style="color:green;">reload</mark>, I would type this:

{% code overflow="wrap" %}

```csharp
gun.gunSwitchGroup = "exp_exmplerifle";
SoundManager.AddCustomSwitchData("WPN_Guns", gun.gunSwitchGroup, "Play_WPN_Gun_Shot_01", "Play_WPN_m1rifle_shot_01");
SoundManager.AddCustomSwitchData("WPN_Guns", gun.gunSwitchGroup, "Play_WPN_Gun_Reload_01", "Play_WPN_crossbow_reload_01");
```

{% endcode %}

Note that you can play ***multiple*** sounds per event - just add a comma before the bracket and enter the string of a different sound! For example, if I wanted my gun to have the crossbow's reload sound *and* a spin sound on <mark style="color:green;">reload</mark>, I would write:

{% code overflow="wrap" %}

```csharp
SoundManager.AddCustomSwitchData("WPN_Guns", gun.gunSwitchGroup, "Play_WPN_Gun_Reload_01", "Play_WPN_crossbow_reload_01", "Play_WPN_SAA_spin_01");
```

{% endcode %}

## Using Custom Sounds

The hardest part about making your guns use custom sounds is making and getting them into your mod. To learn how to add custom sounds to your mod, click [here](https://mtgmodders.gitbook.io/etg-modding-guide/sounds/using-custom-sounds-1).

Make sure you know what name your custom sound event uses - it's most likely just going to be its file name or a variant of it (with Play\_ in front of it, for example). Once you've got that, you just use `SoundManager` and add it to your custom switch group.

Say, if I had a `"Play_Custom_Shoot_Sound_001"` and a `"exmplereloadsound"` for my two custom sounds, I would do:

{% code overflow="wrap" %}

```csharp
un.gunSwitchGroup = "exp_examplegun";
SoundManager.AddCustomSwitchData("WPN_Guns", gun.gunSwitchGroup, "Play_WPN_Gun_Shot_01", "Play_Custom_Shoot_Sound_001");
SoundManager.AddCustomSwitchData("WPN_Guns", gun.gunSwitchGroup, "Play_WPN_Gun_Reload_01", "exmplereloadsound");
```

{% endcode %}

And the gun will now use custom sounds!