Author Topic: Custom Sounds and Voices - Do these REQUIRE haks?  (Read 1047 times)

Baaleos

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1916
  • Karma: +0/-0
Custom Sounds and Voices - Do these REQUIRE haks?
« on: July 19, 2010, 09:21:20 pm »


               Ok, I am trying to get as much custom content into my module, without the necessity for haks.

I have created a downloader application in C# which does the automatic updating of BMU and AmbientMusic.2da on players machines when they run the app.


This being the case, I thought I might be able to get custom ambient sounds into nwn in a similar way.

I see that Bioware forgot, or screwed up SOU ambient sounds, and there was at one point, a patch released, where players had to copy the wav / mp3 files into the ambient folder.


Can I do something similar, or does the system ONLY accept hak packed custom sounds?
I have tried adding a wav file

fe_s_help_pls   in the ambient folder, and added the following line to the ambientsounds.2da

114        ****          fe_s_help_pls      ****              ****              ****              ****              ****              ****              ****              ****              "Somebody Help me Please"

Alas... this didnt seem to work.
The wav was 96k bitrate, and was mono.

If I can get these working minus haks, then my players can get lots and lots of custom sounds and music, with alot of ease, because my app detects where to put the files based on their extension.
               
               

               
            

Legacy_Estelindis

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 935
  • Karma: +0/-0
Custom Sounds and Voices - Do these REQUIRE haks?
« Reply #1 on: July 19, 2010, 10:09:06 pm »


               Custom voices need a special talk table to make them work *perfectly* (that is, to make the floaty text display over your character's head when the various voice chat options are chosen).  However, they work fine in override if you only care for the sounds themselves.  I've verified this by checking my Fall-From-Grace soundset in override just now.

The Custom Content Guide recommends using 44KHz, 16 bit mono wav files.  Personally, I used 22KHz, 16 bit mono wav files, and those were fine.  Anyway, check out the CCG - it gives a long and detailed explanation.

As for ambient sounds, I haven't tried those.
               
               

               


                     Modifié par Estelindis, 19 juillet 2010 - 09:09 .
                     
                  


            

Baaleos

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1916
  • Karma: +0/-0
Custom Sounds and Voices - Do these REQUIRE haks?
« Reply #2 on: July 19, 2010, 10:38:23 pm »


               Hmm, Well thanks anyway.

Had a look at your examples,

Would the override method you mention require edits to 2da and tlk files?



What im trying to avoid, is Haks, and Tlk edits.



What I had hoped, was to be able to add the wav files to the module, via dumping them in a folder, and then having them accessible via PlaySound();



But sofar, my experiments havent worked well.



I place my wavs in ambient  folder,  and add the line to the ambientsound.2da   (Realising now, that it is for area music....),  hoping that it would make the file appear in the sound browser.



Alas, it doesnt appear in the sound browser, or the area environmental/ambient music.

In terms of the wavs that you used for the voice set, where did you put them, if not in a hak?
               
               

               
            

Legacy_Estelindis

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 935
  • Karma: +0/-0
Custom Sounds and Voices - Do these REQUIRE haks?
« Reply #3 on: July 19, 2010, 10:40:21 pm »


               The override method involved 2da edits, but not tlk edits (as tlk files don't go in the override folder).  You also need to edit the .ssf file for the soundset.
As for where I put them - well, in the override folder! ':wizard:'

Bear in mind that this was just a quickie extraction of the hak resources (the voiceset I linked is normally a hak), but it worked just fine at character creation.

One thing you should bear in mind is that, even though you don't make .tlk edits, you may still need to use existing .tlk entries in order to give your voice set a name that appears in-game.  For instance, I used "Harper Scout" - this already appears in the standard game .tlk as a prestige class name, so I don't need to rely on a custom .tlk for this. 

Sorry I don't know anything about ambient sounds, but you should really take a good look at the Custom Content Guide - it'll help you with a lot of things. '<img'>
               
               

               


                     Modifié par Estelindis, 19 juillet 2010 - 09:44 .
                     
                  


            

Baaleos

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1916
  • Karma: +0/-0
Custom Sounds and Voices - Do these REQUIRE haks?
« Reply #4 on: July 19, 2010, 10:55:45 pm »


               Oooooh.

Even though the sound doesnt appear in the list of music or sounds, I am able to call it after all from script.

Cool. Just what I wanted.



Now... is it working cause I have it in override, or in ambientsounds?
               
               

               
            

Legacy_Estelindis

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 935
  • Karma: +0/-0
Custom Sounds and Voices - Do these REQUIRE haks?
« Reply #5 on: July 19, 2010, 10:58:07 pm »


               

Estelindis wrote...
Sorry I don't know anything about ambient sounds

Baaleos wrote...
Now... is it working cause I have it in override, or in ambientsounds?

Um...  Maybe someone else can answer this?  '<img'>
               
               

               


                     Modifié par Estelindis, 19 juillet 2010 - 09:59 .
                     
                  


            

Legacy_AndarianTD

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 725
  • Karma: +0/-0
Custom Sounds and Voices - Do these REQUIRE haks?
« Reply #6 on: July 20, 2010, 12:09:58 am »


               

Baaleos wrote...
Now... is it working cause I have it in override, or in ambientsounds?


Take it out of your override and test it to find out.
               
               

               
            

Baaleos

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1916
  • Karma: +0/-0
Custom Sounds and Voices - Do these REQUIRE haks?
« Reply #7 on: July 20, 2010, 01:10:20 am »


               did, its working cause its in Override.

Now im back in c# coding away at my Updater Application.



Ive got it all planned out.

Because wav files are way too big to download for the clients, I am going to store them online, as mp3s, and then use c# and the ffmpeg open source program, to convert the mp3, back into a wav file, because it seems that nwn wont support mp3.



That way, players get a short download for the mp3, then it gets converted into the usable wav file, which is much bigger.