Help adding Custom sound to specific actions

RedTheSecond

I am playing BGEE for the first time and playing as the anime character Dio as shadowdancer class. I wanted to replace the ability sound for shadowdancer's stopping time sound to the za warudo sound. I looked it up and found some guides for making custom sound sets but i cant figure out how to do this. Can anyone help?

jmerry

The guides you found don't apply here; this is a different system. Only the general tools for working with the game files are the same; I'd recommend using Near Infinity for this.

First, I assume you have the sound effect you want to add already, as a .WAV file. Give that sound a valid resource name (no more than eight characters before the .WAV) and put it in your override.

Then, find the spell (Shadowstep, spsd02.SPL) and add a new effect to its ability. That new effect should be opcode 174 (Play Sound Effect), and its "resource" field should point to your new sound file.

Fields such as "probability", dispel/MR behavior, and save type should mirror the same fields in the spell's other effects. Timing mode and duration shouldn't; you want this sound to play once, so the "instant/limited" timing of doing stuff for a specified duration isn't appropriate. Instead, you either use timing mode 1 (immediately) or 4 (after a specified duration).

As a side effect, any enemies that used the ability would also play that sound. There are a few enemies that could, all in either the Siege of Dragonspear expansion or in Rasaad's BG2EE quests.

RedTheSecond

Thanks for replying man. I have run into a problem tho. I cant find the file for the shadowstep ability in my game directory or in the documents folder for bgee. Where is it located or do i have to start a campaign for these files to be created?

jmerry

That means the file is still packed up in a BIF archive somewhere. Which means you really need Near Infinity or an equivalent tool; that'll let you edit the resource and save your changes as a new standalone file in the override. The copy in that BIF will still be there, but won't be used; the copy in the override folder will, well, override it.

If you want to undo these changes at some later time - perhaps because you're playing a run without the anime theming - then all you have to do is delete the altered files from the override. The game will go back to using the original version of the spell without the sound effect, and everything's normal.

RedTheSecond

Ok i used Near Infinity to find the shadowstep ability and added a new effect to play a sound as you said. I also pasted the WAV file soundtrack i wanted to use in the override in the main game directory. However its not showing up in the list of soundtracks i can add to that effect.

RedTheSecond

All the soundtracks that i can add seem to be from various BIF archives in my main game.

RedTheSecond

Nvm i just had to restart Near Infinity after pasting the WAV file in the override. Its working. Thanks a lot for the help man. I really appreciate it. Didnt think anyone would respond on a forum for such an old game but i am glad you did

jmerry

For future reference, you can also use the "Refresh Tree" option in the "Game" menu if you want to see a newly added file incorporated properly. That'll accomplish the same thing without needing a full restart of the program.

Basically, the program keeps a bunch of reference lists in memory to interpret the various elements of the game's resources; those lists are reloaded whenever you start the program, switch to a new game profile (i.e. going from BGEE to BG2EE), or use "Refresh Tree".