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Jaheira Recast v3.0

AstroBryGuyAstroBryGuy Member Posts: 3,437
edited August 2018 in BG:EE Mods

Jaheira Recast

A BG:SoD/EET mod by AstroBryGuy

Introduction

Heidi Shannon (the original voice of Jaheira) was unreachable for Siege of Dragonspear, and Beamdog originally cast a new voice actor in the role. Eventually, they decided the new actor was not working out, and left Jaheira's lines unvoiced and her original BG1 soundset. However, many of Jaheira's voiced lines and almost all of her soundset are included in the SoD files. This mod reconnects those files to the dialog lines and gives Jaheira's soundset an SoD update like the other returning NPCs.

Downloads

https://github.com/AstroBryGuy/JaheiraRecast/releases

Components

Jaheira Recast: Character Sounds - Use new SoD Character Sounds

This component gives Jaheira her planned soundset for SoD. Almost all the files for the soundset are available, except the REACT_TO_DIE_GENERAL and REACT_TO_DIE_SPECIFIC sounds. The former is left blank and for the latter, another appropriate voiced line has been used.

Here is a sample:

https://youtu.be/m2YFfolNhOw

Jaheira Recast: Character Sounds - Use BG1+BG2 Character Sounds

This component keeps Jaheira's original BG1 soundset, but supplements it with BG2 sounds for character sound not present in the BG1 soundset (e.g., the "SPELL_FAILED" sound).

Jaheira Recast: Dialog Voiceover

This component adds the available voiced lines to Jaheira's dialogs. There are about 100 lines of voiced dialog/banter in the SoD files.

Note: it is not required to install the Character Sounds component in order to install the Dialog Voiceover component. You can have original BG1 character sounds and new SoD voiced dialog.

Jaheira Recast: Give Jaheira her BG2 Portrait

This component will replace Jaheira's portrait with her BG2 portrait for BGEE and SoD.

Installation

Note: It is recommended to start a new game, or at least install this mod before starting the SoD campaign.

Windows

If the mod was previously installed, uninstall it before extracting the new version. Jaheira Recast is packaged and installed with WeiDU. To install, extract the mod archive, then copy of the contents of the archive into your game folder (the folder which contains the chitin.key file). If properly extracted, you should have a "jaheirarecast" folder and setup-jaheirarecast.exe in your game folder. To install, simply double-click setup-jaheirarecast.exe and follow the instructions on screen.

Please run setup-jaheirarecast.exe in your game folder to reinstall, uninstall or otherwise change components.

Mac OS X

If the mod was previously installed, uninstall it before extracting the new version. Jaheira Recast is packaged and installed with WeiDU. To install, extract the mod archive, then copy of the contents of the folder "OSX-jaheirarecast-v1" into your game folder (the folder which contains the chitin.key file). If properly extracted, you should have a "jaheirarecast" folder, setup-jaheirarecast, and setup-jaheirarecast.command in your game folder. To install, simply double-click setup-jaheirarecast.command and follow the instructions on screen.

Contact Information

Comments and bug reports can be directed to the Jaheira Recast thread in the [BGEE Mods forum at Beamdog](https://forums.beamdog.com/categories/bg:ee-mods). If the thread is inaccessible, you can contact [AstroBryGuy](https://forums.beamdog.com/profile/AstroBryGuy) on the Beamdog forums.

Acknowledgements

To the Beamdog team - Thanks for giving us the Enhanced Editions and now Siege Of Dragonspear! I look forward to playing your next adventure.

To the BG Modding community - you rock! Without you, we wouldn't have the tools to create mods or the examples you have set for other modders to follow. Thanks!

Jaheira Recast is not developed, supported, or endorsed by Beamdog or Wizards of the Coast. All images, sounds, and contents of this mod are copyright Beamdog or Wizards of the Coast.

REDISTRIBUTION NOTE: Jaheira Recast was created to be freely enjoyed by all Baldur's Gate gamers. You may share the mod freely with others, but for-profit distribution is not permitted. You are free to use the code in your own mod or mod compilation. To avoid confusion, any altered version of the mod should not be released under the name "Jaheira Recast".

Version History

Version 3.0 - August 18, 2018
  • Fixes for EET support
  • Re-added Jaheira VO files removed from SoD v2.5 (Many thanks to CamDawg and Isaya for help with the VO!)
Version 2.0 - July 19, 2017
  • Added EET support
  • Fixed an incorrect string reference for #69250.
Version 1.2 - May 30, 2016
  • Fixed issue with blanking Jaheira's biography
Version 1.1 - April 17, 2016
  • Added VO lines for script-banters
Version 1 - April 10, 2016
  • Initial upload
Post edited by AstroBryGuy on
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Comments

  • ALIENALIEN Member Posts: 1,271
    @AstroBryGuy With all due respect, how much more mods would have the same components over and over again? I'm talking about "Jaheira Recast: Give Jaheira her BG2 Portrait" - do we really need yet another mod whit this component?
  • ZoimosZoimos Member Posts: 81
    edited April 2016
    Found some lines you missed for banter with Safana, StringRef 59203 and 59205.

    Sort of checking everytime Jaheira is silence so I will let you know if I find any more

    found 69243 too (short banter with Corwin)
    Post edited by Zoimos on
  • AstroBryGuyAstroBryGuy Member Posts: 3,437
    edited April 2016
    @Zoimos - Thanks. I searched the DLG files, but didn't find these strings referenced, but then I looked in the BCS files. Beamdog has added these banters as scripts.

    OK, I'll have to search the BCS files for more Jaheira lines.

    EDIT: Well, it looks like there's potentially another 72 lines (it may not all be voiced, I haven't checked them all yet).

    When you find 41593, I left that out intentionally. The text is significantly changed from the voiced line.
  • AstroBryGuyAstroBryGuy Member Posts: 3,437
    Ulb said:

    Interesting mod,

    being able to hear a sample of the new voice might help people decide if they want to install the mod or not. Not sure though if you can just upload it on your own.

    @Ulb - I added a YouTube video with one of Jaheira's new character sounds. See the OP.
  • AstroBryGuyAstroBryGuy Member Posts: 3,437
    edited April 2016
    @ALIEN - It's 15 lines of text in the .tp2 and a few tra lines (the image files are included in the game). Unlike BG1NPC, it doesn't require the installation of any required components. It's there as a convenience for users.
    Post edited by AstroBryGuy on
  • ThelsThels Member Posts: 1,422
    @AstroBryGuy: Nice work. However, if you choose to include "redundant" options (which I personally see no problem with, other people may not be using those other mods), you may also consider adding a component to let her use her BG2 stats (Dex 14 -> 17).
  • NildarNildar Member Posts: 33
    Thank you for all the effort you put into adding the voiced lines into the game!

    I am glad you added a preview clip so I could listen to the voice. At first I was pretty sure I wanted to use the voiced lines, since I don't mind it all that much if the voice sounds a bit different. This version of Jaheira's voice is completely different though and to me personally it really doesn't fit with Jaheira, so I am glad Beamdog didn't use it.
  • CaradocCaradoc Member Posts: 92
    edited April 2016
    A cool mod and thank you for doing it. I will definitely install the character sounds (BG1+BG2) part of your mod.

    As for the dialogs, I kind of understand Beamdog's decision. It would be odd to hear such a different voice for such an iconic character. Maybe they could get Heidi Shannon do Jaheira voice work later? Unless she can't be reached at all... Or maybe hire someone who could mimic Shannon's voice better?
    Post edited by Caradoc on
  • woowoovoodoowoowoovoodoo Member Posts: 150
    edited April 2016
    Do you want some scary idea? What if it WAS actually Heidi Shannon? We don't know the name of VO actor. Many years passed by...
  • ZoimosZoimos Member Posts: 81
    they said if they can find Heidi they would add it in a patch but I wouldn't get your hopes up as she hasn't done any voice work since 2002 it seems
  • NightRevanNightRevan Member Posts: 81
    I think Courtenay Taylor could have done it based on her VO for Juhani in KOTOR. She always sounded similar to Jaheria to me (at first I thought they were the same actor until I checked :smile: ). But if they couldn't get Heidi I thought she might do a good job (thpugh it's academic now, and I guess she wouldn't have sounded exactly right).
  • AstroBryGuyAstroBryGuy Member Posts: 3,437
    @NightRevan - Never played KOTOR, but I googled her performance. It sounds like she could do a fine job.


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hv9DwnaZ2k


    Of course, I doubt Beamdog would go back to the studio now unless they got Heidi to return to the role.

    I think the new actor did a good job. She doesn't sound exactly like Heidi Shannon, but expecting a new actor to perfectly mimic the performance of the previous actor is setting the wrong bar. No one expects Daniel Craig to look or sound like Sean Connery. I understand why Beamdog left the VO for Jaheira out, but I'm glad they left the wav files in the game.
  • NightRevanNightRevan Member Posts: 81
    Agreed and hearing the new VO it sounds fine though as you say I understand why Beamdog decided against (and thank you for your effort with this, forgot to mention that in the last post).
  • AstroBryGuyAstroBryGuy Member Posts: 3,437
    edited April 2016
    Updated to v1.1!

    https://github.com/AstroBryGuy/JaheiraRecast/releases/tag/v1.1

    Changes: Added VO lines for script-banters - now over 100 voiced dialog/banter lines!
  • ZoimosZoimos Member Posts: 81
    NightRevan said:

    I think Courtenay Taylor could have done it based on her VO for Juhani in KOTOR. She always sounded similar to Jaheria to me (at first I thought they were the same actor until I checked :smile: ). But if they couldn't get Heidi I thought she might do a good job (thpugh it's academic now, and I guess she wouldn't have sounded exactly right).

    That is a good match tho I can't see them recording lines for her now that the game is already out, would be excellent for any future content if they try a new actor.

    @AstroBryGuy I would strong recommend playing KOTOR, one of the best RPGs I've played and it uses a d20 combat system :)
  • KilivitzKilivitz Member Posts: 1,459
    Jesus rollerblading Christ, these lines do not sound good. They remind me of M'Khiin's voice (probably the same actress), which doesn't fit Jaheira at all.

    With that said, more power to whoever wants to restore them. Kudos to @AstroBryGuy for the mod. Good stuff.
  • smeagolheartsmeagolheart Member Posts: 7,963
    Maybe there's a volunteer out there to try her hand at an alternative take on these lines?

    To me, jahieras voice isn't that unique and should be emulatable - just the person Beamdog picked apparently wasn't up to the job.
  • DhariusDharius Member Posts: 664
    I think the voice from the actress they rejected is just fine, is a good attempt at mimicking Heidi's version, and it wouldn't matter if she sounded completely different anyway.

    Or to put it another way, I think that everyone who complained about the new voice is very silly indeed, and has compromised the quality of the game release to an extent, so congratulations :)
  • smeagolheartsmeagolheart Member Posts: 7,963
    I installed this and I think the voice actress is fine.

    Say @AstroBryGuy I was thinking about a mod for BGEE that allow the use of the SOD voiceset specifically for Safana (eg Safana uses her SOD voiceset) but maybe there are other possibilities as well, it looks like you have the right code to do that. What do you think?
  • AstroBryGuyAstroBryGuy Member Posts: 3,437
    edited May 2016
    @smeagolheart - It could be done. One question would be what to do with her voiced banters with Coran from BG1 and her insult/compliment interactions. You could have an option to silence the voice on those lines or keep the original actor's voiced lines (and deal with having 2 different voices for Safana at the same time).
  • smeagolheartsmeagolheart Member Posts: 7,963
    I'd probably leave it. I don't think I normally have personally both of them (Coran and Safana) in the party at the same time. It's probably pretty short? The insult compliment interactions I'd leave too.. Or it could be a mod option I guess.

    What do you think?
  • AstroBryGuyAstroBryGuy Member Posts: 3,437
    edited May 2016
    Since the insult/compliment interactions are non-pausing, silencing them would mean the player would easily miss her line (unless you obsessively watch the dialog box). You'd just hear the other NPC responding to her un-voiced line. Silencing the banters is far less troublesome, since they are pausing. So, it should not be the default behavior, but I could make it an option for those who really couldn't stand Safana to have two different voice actors at the same time.
  • AstroBryGuyAstroBryGuy Member Posts: 3,437
    edited May 2016
    Update: v1.2 - May 30, 2016

    Fixed issue with blanking Jaheira's biography

    https://github.com/AstroBryGuy/JaheiraRecast/releases/tag/v1.2
  • KaliestoKaliesto Member Posts: 282
    edited March 2017
    Hi, I saw you mention this mod when talking about Modmerge, but I didn't see anything called Jaheira-recast in there. Unless in the beginning I missed something on the Modmerge options. (Unless this mod is separate from Mod-Merge)

    Unfortunately I already installed EET with various mods attached from BWS (I didn't see your mod listed there for some reason now I think about it), so I'm a bit of afraid of throwing something in there that could break everything.

    Would it be safe for me to install this mod or will I need to redo the whole process again?
  • AstroBryGuyAstroBryGuy Member Posts: 3,437
    edited March 2017
    Kaliesto said:

    Hi, I saw you mention this mod when talking about Modmerge, but I didn't see anything called Jaheira-recast in there. Unless in the beginning I missed something on the Modmerge options. (Unless this mod is separate from Mod-Merge)

    Unfortunately I already installed EET with various mods attached from BWS (I didn't see your mod listed there for some reason now I think about it), so I'm a bit of afraid of throwing something in there that could break everything.

    Would it be safe for me to install this mod or will I need to redo the whole process again?

    This mod would not be safe to install on an existing EET install. It should be installed to SoD before the EET conversion.

    The mod makes use of the fact that Beamdog named the voiced dialog sound files as BD#####.wav, where the ##### is the string reference index. The mod reads in the string based on the string index from the filename, then adds the reference to the sound file and writes it back to the dialog.tlk. Since EET adds the BGEE & SoD strings to the BG2EE dialog.tlk, the sound file names and string indexes will not match up on EET, and the mod will not install properly.
  • OlvynChuruOlvynChuru Member Posts: 3,079
    I don't see the point of this mod. All Jaheira needs in order to recast her spells is Wondrous Recall.
  • AstroBryGuyAstroBryGuy Member Posts: 3,437
    Jaheira Recast v2.0 is released, with EET support.

    https://github.com/AstroBryGuy/JaheiraRecast/releases/latest

    Changes:
    * Added EET support
    * Fixed an incorrect string reference for #69250.

    Thanks to @K4thos for advice on how EET handles BG1 + SOD string references.
  • ZaramMaldovarZaramMaldovar Member Posts: 2,309
    Is Heidi Shannon dead? Because I can't find any work of her's after the early 2000's.
  • AstroBryGuyAstroBryGuy Member Posts: 3,437
    @ZaramMaldovar - More likely, she left the voice acting business.
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