[All] Creatures should use unique 2DA soundset codes

skellytz

I've done an extensive research on soundsets and this report comes directly from it. If you would like to read more, go to: http://www.shsforums.net/topic/58583-issues-with-bg1-monster-animation-attack-sounds-bg2-bgt/

This report applies to BGEE and BG2EE. It is a long-standing oversight dating back to the original BG2:

1. Start a new game with the Abdel pregenerated character.
2. Summon a Wolf ("WOLF01.CRE") with CLUAConsole:CreateCreature("wolf01").
3. Summon a Dire Wolf ("WOLFDI01.CRE") with CLUAConsole:CreateCreature("wolfdi01").
4. Summon a Worg ("WOLFWO01.CRE") with CLUAConsole:CreateCreature("wolfwo01").

Observed
All three wolf variants have the exact same soundset because they share the same animation code: "MWLF."

Look inside "MWLF.2DA." It becomes clear that they all use audio files intended only for Dire Wolves. This should not be the case as there are separate audio files for each wolf variant available as game resources.

Expected
All the different creature variants should have unique animation codes and, by extension, 2DA soundset codes. Wolf, Dire Wolf and Worg share the same code and lose their unique sound effects.

Thankfully, Winter Wolf, Dread Wolf and Vampiric Wolf all have their own unique codes: "MWLF2," "MWLF3" and "MWLF4," respectively.

Need more proof?
1. Start a new game with the Abdel pregenerated character.
2. Summon a Brown Bear ("BEARBR01.CRE") with CLUAConsole:CreateCreature("BEARBR01").
3. Summon a Black Bear ("BEARBL01.CRE") with CLUAConsole:CreateCreature("BEARBL01").
4. Summon a Cave Bear ("BEARCA01.CRE") with CLUAConsole:CreateCreature("BEARCA01").
5. Summon a Polar Bear ("BEARPO01.CRE") with CLUAConsole:CreateCreature("BEARPO01").

Observed
All four bear variants use the exact same soundset because they share the same animation code: "MBER."

Just like the three wolves described above. Now take a look at "MBER.2DA." This proves that all the bear variants use the soundset intended only for Brown Bears.

There are unique audio files for each bear variant in the game resources and these are lost because of this oversight.

Expected
All the different creature variants should have unique animation codes and, by extension, 2DA soundset codes. Brown Bear, Black Bear, Cave Bear and Polar Bear share the same code and lose their unique sound effects.

Notes
There must have been a clear intention to assign unique codes to creature variants as many of those are separate in the reference file "ANISND.IDS." Note, however, that the reference file does not reflect the code inside the game executable and contains many errors.

The spider variants, for example, all have unique codes and retain their proper soundsets. This is probably how all the other creatures' soundsets should work.

Here are some other creatures affected by this bug:

Lesser Basilisk and Greater Basilisk share "MBAS.2DA"

Wild Dog, War Dog and Moon Dog share "MDOG.2DA"

Doppleganger and Greater Doppleganger share "MDOP.2DA"

Ghoul, Ghast and Revenant share "MGHL.2DA"

Wyvern and Baby Wyvern share "MWYV.2DA"

And there may be more.

When playing BGEE, many of those issues are not instantly audible as most creatures use soundsets embedded in the CRE file. Unfortunately, this is also related to two other bugs I described earlier:

https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/48865/all-creature-attack-sounds-from-2da-files-should-not-overlap-attack-sounds-stored-in-cre-files

https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/48864/all-creatures-should-use-alternative-attack-sounds-cre-soundset

Edit: added Wyvern and Baby Wyvern to the list of affected creatures.