Sound Files - XCOM:EU 2012

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Revision as of 00:27, 10 April 2014 by Dubiousintent (talk | contribs) (Overview)
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Overview

[This information has been developed from the 'X-com soundbites?' thread on the Nexus XCOM General Discussion Forum, and the 'Working on replacing a sound file thread on the Nexus Mod Talk Forum.]

The OGG (open source format) sound files are stored in the UPK files located in \XCom-Enemy-Unknown\XComGame\CookedPCConsole\, so look for a UPK filename with the .SoundNodeWave extension that might contain the sounds you're after. Several of them have "sound" or "music" in the filename, so that would be a good place start.

Bear in mind that the game treats the Strategy and Tactical phases of the game separately, so anything you hear on a mission is probably coming from Tactical UPK files specific to that mission. (The Unreal Development Kit calls these "levels".)

Strategy related sounds like the XCom alarm (AbductionMissionAlert.SoundNodeWave) are found in SoundStrategyCollection_SF.upk; specifically SoundStrategyUI.

Removing a sound *.UPK file from the \CookedPCConsole folder *will* remove the sound from the game. Tested this with the HQAmbientEngineering.SoundNodeWave file. When removed from "Cooked", the engineering ambient sound is gone in the game. When returned / replaced, the sound returns.

However, care must be taken when choosing to remove files as experience in other games has shown the the lack of an expected sound file can result in timing problems with some aspects of the game, such as dialogs. The replacement with an equivalent length of silence (named the same as the file it replaces) may prove necessary to correct such a situation. The effect of differences in file size or length of particular sounds has not yet been determined.

For example, in tests the "HQAmbientEngineering" file CAN be replaced with its decompressed *.UPK file version, and it will play in the game just fine. This follows the pattern of other UPK files: decompressed loose files are used instead of the compressed version when found by the game engine as a method of patching the game.

So far, nothing has been attempted in modding replacement sound files. All that is discussed here is how to locate and extract existing sound files. Further development and testing is needed.

Programs and Tools

Details

Download and install the tools listed, or their equivalents. You will need:

  • A UPK package extractor,
  • An OGG formatted sound file extractor,
  • A sound file editor/converter from OGG compatible with the desired final sound file format (i.e. WAV, or MP3).
  • Optionally, a music player (like KMPlayer) to listen to the OGG sound file to avoid having to convert to determine it's nature.

Extract the embedded OGG sound files, and convert them to your preferred player format as needed. This has been successfully done with AbductionMissionAlert.SoundNodeWave.ogg and plays back in KMPlayer without any other conversion.

Extract & Convert

While specific tool names are used in this description, substitute your equivalent tools as needed.

  1. Locate a target sound file in, or at least a likely, UPK file.
  2. Drag and drop the UPK files onto Unreal Package Extractor (also known as UPK Extractor: filename extract.exe). Sound files will be extracted with a ". SoundNodeWave" file extension.
  3. Drag and drop the ".SoundNodeWave" file onto oggextract.exe. Sound files will be extracted with a ".OGG" file extension, which can be played in a compatible music player such as VLC.
  4. Convert the ".OGG" files into a different format ("WAV", ".MP3") using an editor/conversion program like Audacity or similar.

References

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