Bug with nested parameters not being editable per-event as expected?

[torley-gallium]

I have an odd problem I can’t quite make sense of:

• I create an event called “Rain” that has one parameter, let’s say this just automates the pitch.
• I drag this “Rain” event inside event 2 called “Weather”, so it’s now nested. So far so good.
• I duplicate “Weather” so there’s now a “Weather 1” and “Weather 2”.
• I go to “Weather 1” and right click the parameter to “Add Automation”.
• I go to “Weather 2” and right-click the parameter, but it only shows “Remove Automation” — it’s being affected by “Weather 1” even though it shouldn’t be… I thought these are independent now?

I go to edit parameter to see what it says, and it looks as expected too:

What am I missing so that each nested event can have its own independently controllable parameters? My intent is to use the parameters to give each event its own unique macro setting.

(I’ve also noticed other strangeness where I’ve had nested events with 9 parameters but only 7 showed up as knobs, and other issues like that.)

[joseph]

@torley-gallium

What am I missing so that each nested event can have its own independently controllable parameters? My intent is to use the parameters to give each event its own unique macro setting.

It sounds like you’re adding automation to the parameter by right-clicking on it in the transport bar of the “Weather” event. This adds automation to the preset parameter, and so affects every parameter based on that preset parameter throughout your project.

To add automation to only the parameter value associated with a specific event instrument, select that event instrument so that its parameter knobs are displayed in the deck, then right-click on the knob of the parameter you want to automate in the deck.

@torley-gallium

I’ve also noticed other strangeness where I’ve had nested events with 9 parameters but only 7 showed up as knobs

Without being able to inspect the event in question, I can’t be sure why this happened.

That being said, there are a couple of common reasons why a parameter knob might not appear in the deck of an event instrument. Built-in parameters are continually updated by your game’s code, and so cannot be usefully set or automated on a per-instrument basis; and global parameters can only have a single value across your entire project, and so cannot be set on a per-event instrument basis. Were two of the parameters of your nested event built-in or global?

[torley-gallium]

@joseph

It sounds like you’re adding automation to the parameter by right-clicking on it in the transport bar of the “Weather” event. This adds automation to the preset parameter, and so affects every parameter based on that preset parameter throughout your project.

To add automation to only the parameter value associated with a specific event instrument, select that event instrument so that its parameter knobs are displayed in the deck, then right-click on the knob of the parameter you want to automate in the deck.

I had a feeling you’d say that! I tried to automate a knob on one event and it “locks it out” from being used on another event. This appears to not be working as expected.

@joseph

That being said, there are a couple of common reasons why a parameter knob might not appear in the deck of an event instrument. Built-in parameters are continually updated by your game’s code, and so cannot be usefully set or automated on a per-instrument basis; and global parameters can only have a single value across your entire project, and so cannot be set on a per-event instrument basis. Were two of the parameters of your nested event built-in or global?

All the parameter events are nested event built-in. I notice that on some occasion, if I open up the source nested event itself and automate those 2 parameters, THEN AFTER they become exposed for the other events that reference the nested event. But time to time they DISAPPEAR and I’m not sure why. This does appear to be unexpected behavior, too.

Also, FMOD Studio sometimes CRASHES in the course of editing these parameters, which suggests to me there’s something more ominous happening.

To substantiate some of what’s happening, particularly with the inability to independently automate a parameter in an event with a nested event, I JUST sent a crash log a few minutes before I wrote this, and will be messaging you the project and a video example of why it isn’t working for me.

[torley-gallium]

I tried it with a simpler setup, and unless I’m misunderstanding something, it still happens:

• I create “Event 1” with a nested event called “Referenced” inside.
• I add a parameter to Referenced’s fader and just title it “Parameter”.
• I duplicate “Event 1” and make “Event 2”.
• I click “Event 1”, show the event instrument, and right-click the knob (like Joseph said) to Add Automation.
• I move the knob and say, set it at 0.50.
• I click “Event 2” and try to do the same as the above.
• I see It says “Remove Automation”… I am not seeing a separate “Add Automation” for this “Event 2”.

Anyone else able to repro this? Here’s a simplified example project:

EventParametersTest.zip

I can automate other aspects of a nested event independently, like Volume, Pitch, etc. — but trying to do it for Parameter isn’t working for me.

[joseph]

Thanks to your test project, I was able to reproduce this bug and discover a workaround.

Fortunately, the workaround is fairly simple to implement: Before adding any automation to the parameter, ensure there is a sheet for the parameter in the referenced event. There doesn’t have to be anything on the sheet; it just has to be there. If you do this, you should be able to automate the parameter differently for each event instrument, as I described in my earlier post. (Don’t add a sheet if the parameter is already automated in the parent event; if you do, the parameter knob will disappear from the instrument entirely, and stay gone until you remove the parameter sheet or automation.)

I’m still investigating the exact cause of this issue, but it definitely seems that FMOD Studio exposes a parameter differently depending on how it’s used in the referenced event. In any case, I’ll add it to our bug tracker.

[torley-gallium]

@joseph My gosh, you’re SO brilliant! In hindsight, it makes obvious sense that the times I could get this to work, there were PARAMETER SHEETS! That was the common factor all along!

@joseph

(Don’t add a sheet if the parameter is already automated in the parent event; if you do, the parameter knob will disappear from the instrument entirely, and stay gone until you remove the parameter sheet or automation.)

This further substantiates weird behavior and crashes I was getting when fiddling around with parameters.

Thanks for tracking this, and I’m thankful it wasn’t just me misunderstanding how to use FMOD.