Would anyone happen to know where the tape sound files are?

[Glam Stachee☆]

I got some urge to play FC2 again lately and now also to try modding it some more, and I always had this idea of replacing the Jackal and Predecessor tapes with actual music so I got some tunes to listen to while driving from one half of the map to the other.

Problem is I have no idea how to access wherever those files are hidden, of course I'm expecting it to be all trial and error sorting through millions of sound bites and converting them to something my computer will actually play, but that's going to be easy if I could just get a hold of them. I don't suppose anyone here can help me?

[thirdkeeper]

I haven't looked myself, but wouldn't that be in Boggalogs' Almost Complete Guide
To Modding ?

https://steamcommunity.com/groups/FarCry2Crew/discussions/6/2269193447675272541/

[Glam Stachee☆]

Originally posted by thirdkeeper:

I haven't looked myself, but wouldn't that be in Boggalogs' Almost Complete Guide
To Modding ?

https://steamcommunity.com/groups/FarCry2Crew/discussions/6/2269193447675272541/

Nope, it's the guide that taught me how to do anything with the game in the first place, but doesn't mention sound files.

[Boggalog]

For my english version of FC2 the tapes are found by unpacking sound_english.fat/.dat. They're within the "_UKNOWN" folder as unknown files. Each line back and forth with the journalist is a seperate file, so a tape like Necessary Evil which is only the Jackal is one file, but one like Career Counselling where the journalist and Jackal have one part each is two files.

I had a quick look through and found these:

0CCC015F.unknown - Necessary Evil

0CF76928.unknown - Economics

1265016B.unknown - Stability - Jackal 1 (2/4)

23DE394E.unknown - Career Counselling - Jackal 1 (1/2)

32867871.unknown - Predecessor tape?


This also spurred me onto looking into sound editing in general and while I know you will know most of this I'm going to post it here for the record.

There are two sound file types for FC2, .spk and .sbao. Everything I'm talking about here applies to .sbao files which are generally used for longer audio like dialogue or music.

To find the right audio file use DecUbiSndGui which you can find at the following link and then download "DecUbiSndGui-0.81.zip": https://bitbucket.org/Zenchreal/decubisnd/downloads/

Once you have your .fat/.dat files unpacked you can point that program at the extracted folder and listen to the files.

Once you find your file go and get a .SBAO<>.OGG converter from here, getting the 'ConvertSBAO' option: https://www.nexusmods.com/watchdogs/mods/127?tab=files

To convert the .unknown file first edit the file extension to .sbao. You can then drag it onto "hV_WD_sbao2ogg_converter.exe" from the converter download. This creates two files, a '.ogg' audio file and a '.hdrsbao' file which contains the data of the .sbao.

Open the audio file you want to add in something like Audacity and extract it into .ogg format. I've found that if you want to edit the tapes then you need to increase the track speed by 100% (x2) for it to play correctly. For the main menu music you need to reduce the track speed by -8.120% (x0.919).

Once you have your .ogg file you can replace the .ogg audio file from your extracted .sbao. Then you can drag that onto "hV_WD_ogg2sbao_converter.exe" and that will give you your complete .sbao. If it was originally a .unknown file you need to edit the file extension accordingly.

After all this it can go into your unpacked patch files in the corresponding folder that it came from.

I also found that when replacing the tapes the full track length wouldn't play. For example when I replaced a 33 second track with a 5 minute one it played for around 90 seconds before ending.


These instructions are a bit rough but one day I'll get them edited and put into the guide. This is a good record for me to come back to anyhow.


Edit: And if anyone is interested, the main menu music is 004b177b.sbao

[thirdkeeper]

Came through like a champ ! - Extra Helpful - to say the least 8 )

https://steamcommunity.com/groups/FarCry2Crew/discussions/6/3182361055544934985/

[Glam Stachee☆]

Originally posted by Boggalog:

For my english version of FC2 the tapes are found by unpacking sound_english.fat/.dat. They're within the "_UKNOWN" folder as unknown files. Each line back and forth with the journalist is a seperate file, so a tape like Necessary Evil which is only the Jackal is one file, but one like Career Counselling where the journalist and Jackal have one part each is two files.

I had a quick look through and found these:

0CCC015F.unknown - Necessary Evil

0CF76928.unknown - Economics

1265016B.unknown - Stability - Jackal 1 (2/4)

23DE394E.unknown - Career Counselling - Jackal 1 (1/2)

32867871.unknown - Predecessor tape?


This also spurred me onto looking into sound editing in general and while I know you will know most of this I'm going to post it here for the record.

There are two sound file types for FC2, .spk and .sbao. Everything I'm talking about here applies to .sbao files which are generally used for longer audio like dialogue or music.

To find the right audio file use DecUbiSndGui which you can find at the following link and then download "DecUbiSndGui-0.81.zip": https://bitbucket.org/Zenchreal/decubisnd/downloads/

Once you have your .fat/.dat files unpacked you can point that program at the extracted folder and listen to the files.

Once you find your file go and get a .SBAO<>.OGG converter from here, getting the 'ConvertSBAO' option: https://www.nexusmods.com/watchdogs/mods/127?tab=files

To convert the .unknown file first edit the file extension to .sbao. You can then drag it onto "hV_WD_sbao2ogg_converter.exe" from the converter download. This creates two files, a '.ogg' audio file and a '.hdrsbao' file which contains the data of the .sbao.

Open the audio file you want to add in something like Audacity and extract it into .ogg format. I've found that if you want to edit the tapes then you need to increase the track speed by 100% (x2) for it to play correctly. For the main menu music you need to reduce the track speed by -8.120% (x0.919).

Once you have your .ogg file you can replace the .ogg audio file from your extracted .sbao. Then you can drag that onto "hV_WD_ogg2sbao_converter.exe" and that will give you your complete .sbao. If it was originally a .unknown file you need to edit the file extension accordingly.

After all this it can go into your unpacked patch files in the corresponding folder that it came from.

I also found that when replacing the tapes the full track length wouldn't play. For example when I replaced a 33 second track with a 5 minute one it played for around 90 seconds before ending.


These instructions are a bit rough but one day I'll get them edited and put into the guide. This is a good record for me to come back to anyhow.


Edit: And if anyone is interested, the main menu music is 004b177b.sbao

Yo coming again with the life-saving info. Your knowledge on how this mess of a game is cobbled together is impressive to say the least.

[Boggalog]

No worries mate, I'm glad to help. I learnt most of that a while back from Hunter, I've just updated it and filled in some gaps with my own testing.

And thank you thirdkeeper for your reliable support!

[Elbmek]

you get nothing for finding them except a pat on the back from Rueben. There was a bug which continuously played the same tape in Act 2. That was fixed with the brilliant multifixer

[Glam Stachee☆]

Originally posted by Elbmek:

you get nothing for finding them except a pat on the back from Rueben. There was a bug which continuously played the same tape in Act 2. That was fixed with the brilliant multifixer

Yeah I know, that's why I want to replace the tapes with actual music so I can listen to something different while driving. And the tape glitch is so easy to fix I just fixed it myself through a simple edit in the hex editor.

[BigTinz]

Simple fix, but took almost a decade to find. Fox Ahead really saved the day on that one.

Makes it even more embarrassing for Ubi to have not fixed it.

[Glam Stachee☆]

Originally posted by Hunter:

Simple fix, but took almost a decade to find. Fox Ahead really saved the day on that one.

Makes it even more embarrassing for Ubi to have not fixed it.

Reminds me of that broken AI in Aliens Colonial Marines that was caused by a typo in the code lol.

[BigTinz]

Oh man that was so bad. I'm sure Pitchford was responsible...somehow.

Much better games with that fix + mods. Kind of like FC2...

[Elbmek]

Originally posted by Hunter:

Simple fix, but took almost a decade to find. Fox Ahead really saved the day on that one.

Makes it even more embarrassing for Ubi to have not fixed it.

UBI = fix = does not equate

[TheSorrow55]

Originally posted by Boggalog:

For my english version of FC2 the tapes are found by unpacking sound_english.fat/.dat. They're within the "_UKNOWN" folder as unknown files. Each line back and forth with the journalist is a seperate file, so a tape like Necessary Evil which is only the Jackal is one file, but one like Career Counselling where the journalist and Jackal have one part each is two files.

I had a quick look through and found these:

0CCC015F.unknown - Necessary Evil

0CF76928.unknown - Economics

1265016B.unknown - Stability - Jackal 1 (2/4)

23DE394E.unknown - Career Counselling - Jackal 1 (1/2)

32867871.unknown - Predecessor tape?


This also spurred me onto looking into sound editing in general and while I know you will know most of this I'm going to post it here for the record.

There are two sound file types for FC2, .spk and .sbao. Everything I'm talking about here applies to .sbao files which are generally used for longer audio like dialogue or music.

To find the right audio file use DecUbiSndGui which you can find at the following link and then download "DecUbiSndGui-0.81.zip": https://bitbucket.org/Zenchreal/decubisnd/downloads/

Once you have your .fat/.dat files unpacked you can point that program at the extracted folder and listen to the files.

Once you find your file go and get a .SBAO<>.OGG converter from here, getting the 'ConvertSBAO' option: https://www.nexusmods.com/watchdogs/mods/127?tab=files

To convert the .unknown file first edit the file extension to .sbao. You can then drag it onto "hV_WD_sbao2ogg_converter.exe" from the converter download. This creates two files, a '.ogg' audio file and a '.hdrsbao' file which contains the data of the .sbao.

Open the audio file you want to add in something like Audacity and extract it into .ogg format. I've found that if you want to edit the tapes then you need to increase the track speed by 100% (x2) for it to play correctly. For the main menu music you need to reduce the track speed by -8.120% (x0.919).

Once you have your .ogg file you can replace the .ogg audio file from your extracted .sbao. Then you can drag that onto "hV_WD_ogg2sbao_converter.exe" and that will give you your complete .sbao. If it was originally a .unknown file you need to edit the file extension accordingly.

After all this it can go into your unpacked patch files in the corresponding folder that it came from.

I also found that when replacing the tapes the full track length wouldn't play. For example when I replaced a 33 second track with a 5 minute one it played for around 90 seconds before ending.


These instructions are a bit rough but one day I'll get them edited and put into the guide. This is a good record for me to come back to anyhow.


Edit: And if anyone is interested, the main menu music is 004b177b.sbao

ConvertSBAO is gone , do u still have the tool ??

[Alex]

Hey, how do I obtain weapon and game sound effects? I've used various tools but all I can seem to obtain are music and dialogue. In fact doing heavy amounts of research I can't find ANYTHING online regarding sound effects.

[thirdkeeper]

Originally posted by The_Sorrow:

Originally posted by Boggalog:

For my english version of FC2 the tapes are found by unpacking sound_english.fat/.dat. They're within the "_UKNOWN" folder as unknown files.

- - - - - - - - - - - - <Snipped for brevity> - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Originally posted by Boggalog:

These instructions are a bit rough but one day I'll get them edited and put into the guide. This is a good record for me to come back to anyhow.


Edit: And if anyone is interested, the main menu music is 004b177b.sbao

ConvertSBAO is gone , do u still have the tool ??

These the tools you need ?

Originally posted by Hunter:

I get a lot of questions about tweaking existing mods, and folks wanting to make their own from scratch.

There are some really good tools out there, all based on Rick's (Gibbed) efforts. Unfortunately, many of these are based on earlier versions that contain a serious flaw that will cause a mod to crash.

For archive purposes, I've uploaded a custom mashup of existing tools that should provide a balance between access and stability.

https://www.moddb.com/mods/far-cry-2-redux/downloads/far-cry-2-mod-tools

These tools do not include the "enhanced" filelists or definitions from the Enhanced Gibbed Tools, but they also don't have the bugs.

For graphics (.xbt/.dds), or .rml/.bin stuff, Fino's Dunia Tools is still the way to go.

Hope this helps..


- Best of Luck -