Changing or removing specific sounds

Alonso

I'd like to change or remove some sounds from the games (playing BG2 now). Right now the one which annoys me most is the Grease spell sound. The spell is so useful, but the sound is so loud and unpleasant that every time I use it I end up switching off my speakers until the duration wears off. Another pet peeve of mine is the inventory full complaints.

I already know how to do it thanks to @Artemius_I's advice: I replace the "offending" sound file with a blank sound file or another sound file of my choice. The problem is figuring out which file sound corresponds to which sound.

Ideally, I'd like to find some kind of reference table (maybe in NearInfinity) that tells me which file belongs to which sound. That way I'll be able to remove any sound I want in the future. Failing that, I'd appreciate if someone just tells me which files correspond to the sounds I mentioned above.

Tresset

I believe the grease sound file you are looking for is "eff_m31c.wav".

Inventory full complaints would take a bit longer for me to look up since there are so many of them.

I don't think a sound reference table would be a plausible solution here. You would just need to know your way around the engine enough to find what you are looking for. There are, after all, over 14000 sound effects in BG1:EE and over 17000 sound effects in BG2:EE

Alonso

@Tresset: Thank you for checking. Doesn't look like that's the file, though. I placed a blank wav with that name in my override folder and Grease keeps making the same noise.

Tresset

Well, there are two other files it could be I guess... Grease also seems to use "eff_m31a.wav" and "eff_m31b.wav". Not knowing which sound it was that bothered you I assumed it was the one I mentioned earlier.

Alonso

@Tresset: I'm afraid those didn't work either
I attach a recording of the sound. The quality is not great, but it should be enough to recognize it.

Tresset

Ok... that is quite unexpected... If I am not mistaken then the Grease spell is using the wrong sound effect in both games! It is currently using "cre_m01.wav", which would be your offending sound file (even I found it rather offensive), when it should be using "eff_m31c.wav" (which I have tested in game and it is much less offensive). I have made an override file of the grease spell which you can use in both games that should fix the issue; I will even add it to my tweaks. You can find it there under "General Tweaks".

Riamaijin

Tresset said:

Ok... that is quite unexpected... If I am not mistaken then the Grease spell is using the wrong sound effect in both games! It is currently using "cre_m01.wav", which would be your offending sound file (even I found it rather offensive), when it should be using "eff_m31c.wav" (which I have tested in game and it is much less offensive). I have made an override file of the grease spell which you can use in both games that should fix the issue; I will even add it to my tweaks. You can find it there under "General Tweaks".

Sorry for the necromancy, but I edited the spell in DLTCEP and saved the new version into my overrides to no effect. I also edited every instance in the mod folders, along with SPWI101b and c and added those to the override. Yet still whenever I cast it, I get the same effect and my ears bleed. I also downloaded and added the tweak to my override folder as a last resort, then used EEKeeper to remove the spell, saved a new file in game, then use EEKeeper to add the spell back to my character. Ears still bleed. Has anyone found a suitable workaround, or am I misunderstanding how the override folder works?

kjeron

There are 4 sound files associated with Grease:

• EFF_M01.wav
  Manually specified by the Grease spell (SPWI101.SPL) to play every time it hits a creature. Delete the opcode 174 effect from the spell to remove.
  
• EFF_M31a.wav
  Manually specified by the Grease projectile (GREASE.PRO) to play when the projectile is initially fired. Empty the field at 0x10 to remove.
  
• EFF_M31b.wav
  Manually specified by the Grease projectile (GREASE.PRO) to play when the projectile is initially triggered. Empty the field at 0x18 to remove.
  Default for the Grease fireball (Explosion effect #4) as it's Area Sound if no other sound file is specified. Fill in the field at 0x238 of the projectile with a non-existent(but not empty) filename to remove.
  
• ARE_M01.wav
  Hardcoded for the Grase fireball (Explosion effect #4) to repeat for the duration of the AoE. I am unaware of which sound slot this occupies, so replacing file "ARE_M01.wav" with blank sound file may be the only option. This file does not exist in BGEE/SoD, which is why it only plays in BG2EE.
  

Riamaijin

Thanks Kjeron, that was extremely helpful. Makes sense that it's not a single sound, when the looping only affects part of the sound. My ears don't bleed as much anymore.