Problems with sound editing

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So guys, I have been working on a movie sounds mod for SWG, however I have ran in to a very annoying problem. When I put the files in to the folders they need to go and test them in game, I have no sound effect at all for it.


I have made sure they are the correct file type and names, and even checked multiple files for testing to make sure they were not broken files. However I tried changing the file from stereo in to mono and I did get something, though it was all crackles and pops, it shows I got all the file details right as "something" come through. I have tried all the different Hz levels and no difference. I shorten the files, no difference. I also did try MP3 files but that does nothing at all which I expected as files for weapons must be in .WAV format. I have done music mods and they work perfectly however.

The sounds im changing are some of the blaster sounds in game, at the moment the E-11 Blasters are what im changing.

wep_e11_blaster and wep_e11_blaster_2



Any ideas?
 

DavinFelth

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RE: [Help] Problems with sound editing

I'm not sure how much help I can offer on this since I've only really messed with music modding and not sound effects as far as sounds go. I think the WAV files SWG uses must have something weird about them though as sometimes even when you try to listen to them through TRE Explorer they will sometimes play crackles and horrible sounds as it sounds like you've experienced in-game.

There may be a couple of things you can try that might narrow the problem down. Try exporting the e11 sfx from TRE Explorer and just dropping that in the SWG directory as you would if modding it (so replace it with the identical file). Also, try exporting the original then saving it as a new file in whatever editor you're using without editing it in any way and see if that screws things up still. Try and check what the sample rate etc. is on the original file and emulating that exactly for the new file. The only other thing I can think of that may be messing stuff up is the .SND file that references the WAV files for the E11, though the SND files haven't been completely reversed as far as I know so there would be some guess work and experimenting involved here. One other thing to try that might be useful is replacing a different sound effect (like a different weapon or even a UI sound) and see if you still encounter the same problem.

Sorry I can't be more help, but hopefully we can at least figure out what's causing it :)
 

Timbab

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RE: [Help] Problems with sound editing

Found this on the old modsource forum, no idea if it'll be of help.

http://web.archive.org/web/20070505213604/mods.mandalorians.de/system/forum/viewthread.php?forum_id=19&thread_id=2630
 
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RE: [Help] Problems with sound editing

Tried doing all that, I still got the problems. I can link the sound files here if you want to see if you can mess with them and make them work. As its a shame, I have a load of sounds I plan on changing, including some of the starship laser sounds to be more movie accurate.

Anyway, these are the files I want to get working for now:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/j358oj1myhl5ed6/LjGUrRHX6b/wep_e11_blaster.wav

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/j358oj1myhl5ed6/dmKDGIk6jI/wep_e11_blaster_2.wav
 

Timbab

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RE: [Help] Problems with sound editing

I'll check 'em out later tonight, trying to finish the NGE effect swap.

My GOD it's time cosuming, rofl. Spent like 2 or so hours just editing the main weapon.iff, because I created completely new links for all weapons, before they were mostly linked into one file.

Totally went the complex route for future ease of modding capability.

I don't even know if the visual effects are that noticable, but it queues the NGE sound effects at least and I/we have a base for easy access to every weapon.

But goodness... So. Much. Text. Editing.

Edit: Sorry, gonna look at it tomorrow, I'm beat after 8 hours of mindless clone>rename>edit>repeat, haha.

Stupid thing is crashing now, gotta figure it out tomorrow. Thank God for crashdumps though, I'd hate to manually go through 1000 files.
 

Timbab

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RE: [Help] Problems with sound editing

Double post to stick it to the mods. Oh wait...

I swapped the second file with all my CDEF carbine files and it definitely played, but it had a lot of static and the sound itself was really muffled.

Comparing the game file with yours, the first obvious thing that is a clear difference, are the bitrates. 705kbps (yours) vs 352kbps (default).

Opening it in a hex editor, you can also see that there is a massive gap of 00 (nothingness, I believe) between the header and the actual sound. Might be bitrate related, I'm not sure, I really lack any knowledge of audio.
 
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RE: [Help] Problems with sound editing

Yeah its crazy, I even changed the bit rate to try and match and didn't work either
 

Timbab

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RE: [Help] Problems with sound editing

You don't even hear them though right?

I heard them, they were just muffled and overtoned by a loud static.

Try running it through a different program and exporting it again.

Really odd though, makes me scared to think of how I'll do my sound mod then, lol.

I'll look into it soon.

But if you open it in a hex editor, the header really looks different, has different values, but editing them kills the audio data, so no idea, at the moment. What comes after the header has a really long series of 00's in your file too, totally not what's in the originals.
 
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RE: [Help] Problems with sound editing

Yeah, I do hear those particular files I sent you, exactly how you hear them, though the original files have no sound at all, and they were higher bit rate, these files were lowered in bit rate and hence we now have "some" sort of sound. So its workable, its just figuring out how to get it to the perfect bit rate.
 

Timbab

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RE: [Help] Problems with sound editing

Hm, how odd.

And, the originals don't? In game you mean? They played fine in my audio player.

Might be something to do with the .snd of it then.

Might also be worth researching similar problems with other mods, for games that use the Mss32.dll v6.5e.
 
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RE: [Help] Problems with sound editing

By originals I meant "my" original sound files. It was the same files you tested, just originally they had a higher bit rate I meant to say.

and yeah, the files work fine in media players, just not in game, I don't think the game can take high bit rates in terms of wav formats. Though if I put it really low, it don't seem to change anything
 

Timbab

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RE: [Help] Problems with sound editing

Oh, sorry, mixed them up.

Yeah I don't know then. Like I said, might be a general thing that needs a further step then just exporting, with the Mss32.dll v6.5e, like if other game mods have that issue, or the program you're using isn't friendly with the game.

Try getting .wav's from elsewhere just to see if those are accepted, then open those with a hex editing program, then compare the header/beginning of the games, yours and the third.

I'm certain the problem can be solved, I mean if other music can be loaded, why not sound files. Just a question of finding the bugger.
 
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RE: [Help] Problems with sound editing

Well music is done via MP3, and the game seems to have no problems with MP3 bit rates and has no limits for them, where as wav files in this game tend to be picky
 

Timbab

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RE: [Help] Problems with sound editing

Another thing I just saw, your .wav is in 32bit, their is in 16bit.

Might want to check that out too.

I'll look more into the .snd files, see if I can find some more information.


Edit: Yup, 32bit was the culprit.

I just converted your file as 16bit and it worked.
 
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RE: [Help] Problems with sound editing

Wow it did? when I did that it didn't work and the sound had been degraded when I played it in a media player. heh, but at least its working, and it means they will work, when you have time, perhaps you can assist me with the converting of all the sound files I plan in doing, at the moment I have changed many of the starship laser sounds to be movie accurate too.
 

Timbab

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RE: [Help] Problems with sound editing

Sure, whatever you need help with, let me know exactly what you need.

What are you using to convert files? I used Audacity.

Here is one of the files you uploaded, swapped with the cdef carbine file, just to test it in game.
 
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RE: [Help] Problems with sound editing

Ok, timbab, when you have time (and there is no rush as we dont have JTL yet) could you convert these files for me as you did the E-11 files, as when I do it on my PC they mess up. All these sounds are for the ship lasers in JTL. be sure not to change the file names for these.


https://www.dropbox.com/sh/j358oj1myhl5ed6/TPUGWKYZwN/SWG%20mod%20sounds.7z
 

Timbab

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RE: [Help] Problems with sound editing

How odd, it's not working at the moment for me, I'll look into it tomorrow.

Also, there has to be a way to get 16 bit 22050hz wav's without the quality loss. I mean all the game files are much higher quality at those settings.

By the way, go download 'MediaInfo', it'll show you the exact information on the audio file.
 
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