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# Game.stopHotMic()

[Audio](https://rustic-game-engine.pages.dev/markdown/api/audio.md)

## Compatibility

**Supported languages:** C, C++, C#, Python, JavaScript, Lua 5.4, Luau, Java, PHP and HTML/inline JavaScript (binding spellings and return shapes differ).

Native devices and microphone input require Windows. Game-output recording and the mixer can run headlessly. Other operating systems do not supply the Windows native device backend.

The signature below is the shared reference notation; language examples show the actual binding syntax. Question marks mark optional arguments and explicit defaults are shown where recorded. Do not copy reference notation as a typed declaration.

See [Feature status and compatibility](https://rustic-game-engine.pages.dev/markdown/reference/compatibility.md) for API 1.0/1.1 and per-method restrictions. Engine release tags and Docs v0.1 are independent versions.

## Signature

`Game.stopHotMic(mic?)`

## Setup and usage

Available in every supported gameplay language. Create an Object Component script in `scripts/`, attach it to an enabled scene object, and press **Play**. Start capture in Start or another callback. Native SDKs use their own member syntax; Lua uses colons. Microphone input requires Windows and OS microphone access. Recording captures audio, not video.

## Parameters

| Parameter | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| mic | Optional hot mic handle owned by this script. Omit it to stop all of this script's hot microphones. |

## Return and timing

Closes the input device and discards unread hot mic input. Lua/Luau return the supplied handle or nil; other bindings return no value. Repeated stops are safe.

## Language examples

Choose one snippet at a time and place it inside your language's Start/on_start callback. These are independent examples; each creates its own handles or builders. Follow [Gameplay language bindings](https://rustic-game-engine.pages.dev/markdown/guides/gameplay-actions/language-bindings.md) for imports and callback registration. Python must import the modules used in its snippet from rustic; C# uses using static Rustic; Java examples belong inside a Rustic subclass; PHP callbacks declare global $rustic. HTML snippets go inside an inline script in a ui/ HTML asset.

Use an anchored Part for transform and effect examples, an unanchored collidable Part for forces, and a perspective camera named Camera for camera examples. Create Target for follow examples. Audio examples require assets/music.ogg in the Play snapshot. Replace scene paths with those listed by Game.scene.List(). Animation playback and sequence-animation examples require the Reveal fixture on the [Animation page](https://rustic-game-engine.pages.dev/markdown/api/animation.md); marker callbacks also require its Halfway marker. Run clock controls separately; a paused clock cannot advance a timer.

C callback examples use these file-scope functions before on_start:

```c
static void on_done(void) { rustic.log("info", "done"); }
static void on_sample(RusticValue value) { (void)value; rustic.log("info", "sample received"); }
static void on_event(const RusticValue *args, size_t count) {
    (void)args; (void)count; rustic.log("info", "event received");
}
```

Run inside Start or another callback. Retain the handle across callbacks to record a longer session. Hot microphone input requires Windows; capture samples are interleaved PCM. Native SDKs show their equivalent method syntax. Lua also retains the rustic.game and handle-specific stop aliases. See APIs in every language for setup and platform limits.

### Lua 5.4

```lua
local capture = Game.startHotMic()
Game.stopHotMic(capture)
```

### JavaScript

```javascript
const capture = Game.startHotMic();
Game.stopHotMic(capture);
```

### Python

```python
capture = Game.startHotMic()
Game.stopHotMic(capture)
```

### C++

```cpp
auto capture = Game.startHotMic();
Game.stopHotMic(&capture);
```

### C#

```csharp
var capture = Game.startHotMic();
Game.stopHotMic(capture);
```

### Luau

```lua
local capture = Game.startHotMic()
Game.stopHotMic(capture)
```

### C

```c
RusticCaptureHandle capture = Game.startHotMic();
Game.stopHotMic(&capture);
```

### Java

```java
var capture = Game.startHotMic();
Game.stopHotMic(capture);
```

### PHP

```php
global $Game;
$capture = $Game->startHotMic();
$Game->stopHotMic($capture);
```

### HTML / inline JS

```javascript
const capture = Game.startHotMic();
Game.stopHotMic(capture);
```

## Complete Lua lifecycle example

```lua
local mic
return {
  Start = function() mic = rustic.game:startHotMic() end,
  OnStop = function() rustic.game:stopHotMic(mic); mic:unload() end
}
```

## Capture limits and troubleshooting

- Capture handles belong to their script. Destroying the owner, ending Play or successful reload closes devices, finalizes files and releases handles. Read retained data in OnStop before cleanup.
- Each script may retain at most four capture handles; call `:unload()` after use. Recordings retain at most 64 MiB of PCM, including recordings written to files (about 175 seconds of stereo game audio). Exceeding the limit stops capture and read/stop report an error.
- Hot mic queues at most two seconds of input. Read regularly, using multiple reads if needed. `droppedSamples` reports lost input. Microphone samples are finite floats in `[-1, 1]`; channel count and rate come from the device.
- Default F32, I16 and U16 microphone formats are supported. Missing devices, denied access, unsupported formats, startup timeouts and disconnection raise errors. Catch expected failures with `pcall`.
- A recording destination must be a new `.wav` file in an existing writable directory. Game mixer recording also works headlessly.

See [the recording and hot mic guide](https://rustic-game-engine.pages.dev/markdown/guides/api-languages.md) for full setup and examples.

## Related APIs

- [Audio.get_output_devices()](https://rustic-game-engine.pages.dev/markdown/api/audio/get-output-devices.md)
- [Audio.get_input_devices()](https://rustic-game-engine.pages.dev/markdown/api/audio/get-input-devices.md)
- [Audio.set_output_device()](https://rustic-game-engine.pages.dev/markdown/api/audio/set-output-device.md)
- [Audio.set_input_device()](https://rustic-game-engine.pages.dev/markdown/api/audio/set-input-device.md)
- [Audio.load()](https://rustic-game-engine.pages.dev/markdown/api/audio/load.md)

[All audio APIs](https://rustic-game-engine.pages.dev/markdown/api/audio.md)