[MOD] Restore HQ Sound Clips for BG2EE Extended Content

argent77

Overview
For some reason BG2EE since patch v1.3 contains sound clips for the BG2EE-specific content in much lower quality, which includes voice files for the new EE NPCs and related characters as well as for the Black Pits II campaign (and probably more).

This mod installs high quality sound clips based on the original files from BG2EE patch v1.2. The files have been optimized to reduce file size down to 40% of the original size without a noticeable loss of quality. A total amount of 7659 sound files will be restored. Later game patches added another 9 sound clips (mainly for Rasaad) which are still in low quality.

The mod can be installed on BG2:EE and EET (Enhanced Edition Trilogy) installations.

Installation
Simply unpack the mod archive into the BG2EE root folder and execute "setup-HQ_SoundClips_BG2EE.exe" (Windows) or "setup-HQ_SoundClips_BG2EE.command" (macOS).

Alternatively the mod can be downloaded as .iemod package for a managed installation via Project Infinity.

Download: HQ SoundClips BG2EE (latest) (197 MB)

Flashburn

Man. You've got to be my favorite modder. This has bothered me ever since that patch and I've stayed away from the EE content as a result. I'll be much more inclined to use Dorn and Rasaad again.

Baptor

Flashburn said:

Man. You've got to be my favorite modder.

Isn't he though? I am thinking of starting a fan club.

Cahir

Yeah and as a tribute I decided to translate ALL of Argent's mods into Polish. But boy, Afaaq is gonna take a while

argent77

@Cahir was so kind and provided a Polish translation for this mod. Download link in first post has been updated.

Garvin77

I have this same problem for the first BGEE; would it be possible to restore the higher-quality sound files for that game as well (assuming it got the same treatment)? I should probably point out that I'm playing BG1EE on Win10 through the Beamdog client (most of the people who complained in this topic had it through Steam). Thank you for your time! You are a real Gods-send!

argent77

@Garvin77 Voice files of new NPCs in BG1EE (and SoD) were always available in higher quality. They haven't changed in v2.5 (beta) either. It could be a local problem on your end.

Garvin77

@argent77: I'd read that just after I posted; thanks anyway! I'm getting a new computer soon, hopefully that will solve things.

P.S. I just now realised that we use the same number in our usernames! Must be popular . . .

P.P.S. No, I did not base my name on yours; I merely created it on a whim well before I started browsing the forums. I guess that I just happen to have a greater sense of ESP than I thought (when I dream, it's a vague, metaphorical prediction of my immediate future).

Baptor

I looked through the 2.5 patch notes. Sadly restoring the higher quality soundsets in BG2EE is not among the corrections they chose to make. At least we have the mod!

argent77

Looks like they processed the bug report after a reminder, so there is still hope.

Baptor

@argent77

Thanks man for reminding them. Holding out a ray of hope.

Nortalud

I created a forum account just to say how much I love this mod. Maybe I just have an overly sensitive ear, but the EE portions of BG2 have been almost unplayable for me because of the tinny, muffled VO.

Thank you thank you thank you!

argent77

Patch 2.5 for BG2:EE has been released, but unfortunately it does not include the higher-quality soundclips from earlier patch versions of the game. In other words, this mod is still essential if you care for good sound quality.

The latest patch added another 9 sound clips (and a soundtrack), which already appear to be of higher sound quality. The additional 9 soundclips from an earlier patch version are still in low quality though.

Baptor

argent77 said:

Patch 2.5 for BG2:EE has been released, but unfortunately it does not include the higher-quality soundclips from earlier patch versions of the game. In other words, this mod is still essential if you care for good sound quality.

The latest patch added another 9 sound clips (and a soundtrack), which already appear to be of higher sound quality. The additional 9 soundclips from an earlier patch version are still in low quality though.

Does the mod still work with the most recent patch?

I saw on Redmine they fixed a bug with Comet that I had submitted at the same time as the one for the sound clips, but they never addressed the sound clips. That bugs me (pun intended )

argent77

The mod should still work with the latest patch. It covers only soundclips from Beamdog's extended content (i.e. Black Pits 2 or EE NPCs). Original content was not affected by the drop in quality.

Arthas

Heya, are your mod added into bWS?

argent77

Yes, all my mods are listed in BWS and should be up to date.

Baptor

argent77 said:

Yes, all my mods are listed in BWS and should be up to date.

What's BWS?

argent77

Big World Setup (BWS) is a mod manager. It takes care of downloading and installing mods in the correct order.

Baptor

@argent77

I loaded up my old save on BG2 and the terrible soundsets are back. Do you think the patch over-wrote them? Should I just re-install your mod or re-install the game? Thoughts?

Edit: Tried re-installing the mod. Game crashed on loading.

Edit: Did a clean install, the mod works.

Moral: Do a clean install. Then do the mod. Then you get pretty voices.

argent77

The mod has been updated to version 1.2.

It adds Project Infinity metadata and can be downloaded as a .iemod package. See the first post for the download link.

Baptor

argent77 wrote: »

The mod has been updated to version 1.2.

It adds Project Infinity metadata and can be downloaded as a .iemod package. See the first post for the download link.

Thank you so much for continuing to work on this for us!

Mordekaie

Preparing my EET modlist and install order. Where would you put this mod ? Early after UI mods (as it is mainly a fix) or much later ? Any consideration ?

GraionDilach

Doesn't matter, as long as it's after EET. No other mod touches the resources this mod does, there's no conflict possible here.

Mordekaie

OK great. I consider it as a mandatory fix and will place it very early. Thanks for the confirmation.

ChosenUndead

Hello I've tried doing a clean install on a new save and it's still not working...

Can anyone help me out here?

argent77

ChosenUndead wrote: »

Hello I've tried doing a clean install on a new save and it's still not working...

Can anyone help me out here?

What exactly isn't working? The sound files are automatically biffed by the mod, so they won't show up in the override folder of the game. You can check whether the mod is installed successfully if there is an entry for this mod in the WeiDU.log.

ChosenUndead

argent77 wrote: »

ChosenUndead wrote: »

Hello I've tried doing a clean install on a new save and it's still not working...

Can anyone help me out here?

What exactly isn't working? The sound files are automatically biffed by the mod, so they won't show up in the override folder of the game. You can check whether the mod is installed successfully if there is an entry for this mod in the WeiDU.log.

Oh didn't realize it was only for the EE content T_T

Did the original sound files in BG2 sound this bad?

argent77

Update: HQ-SoundClips for BG2:EE v1.3

Changelog:

• Added Brazilian Portuguese translation (thanks Felipe)
• Added labels for Project Infinity

Isewein

How odd they still haven't fixed this with 2.6! How did this downgrade even happen in the first place? It's as if we were back in the old days were sound files were compressed for the sake of disk space...

argent77

Isewein wrote: »

How odd they still haven't fixed this with 2.6! How did this downgrade even happen in the first place? It's as if we were back in the old days were sound files were compressed for the sake of disk space...

My impression from their vague responses back when the issue was reported was that they downgraded the voiced lines intentionally. Maybe to match sound quality with the voiced lines from the original game? I don't think they accomplished that goal though.