MP3s and HAKS

mrtwonder · January 2022

Hey there. I ran into an issue while using mp3 files inside of haks. I want a NPC to play a sound file for a specific conversation line and I've followed this guide:

https://nwn.wiki/display/NWN1/Sounds+and+Music

Also this previous forum post:

https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/67251/mp3-to-bmu

These sound files work in .wav format, I just threw them in the hak (using the default hak editor) and NWN recognized it. It allowed me to select it under Play Sound tab, inside the conversation editor's other actions section.

I want to do this with mp3s instead to reduce file sizes and add more content. I believe NWN has the ability to just use mp3 files now. The wiki guide suggests that I don't need to add anything into .2da files for voice playback.

What I've tried:
-converted .wav into .mp3, mono, stereo, joint stereo (all separate tries) 128Kbit
-tried many audio converters
-when I dragged mp3s in the official hak editor, it gave me a warning that mp3s are not supported and will not work (wav format works flawlessly)
-tried adding the "BMU V.1.0" at the start of the file in Notepad ++ and other editors
-tried changing the extension from .mp3 to .bmu (hak editor allows .bmu to be added)
-tried activating the sound by the PlaySound function in a script
-tried editing 2das - ambientmusic.2da or ambient sounds.2da

After all that the Toolset or the game doesn't seem to like mp3s

I'd appreciate your input. Thank you!

Old_Gith · February 2022

Odd, not a lot of feedback in the BD forums these days. At least I can take a partial stab at this since I've already successfully done it. For music files, simply converting the extension to .bmu is enough. You don't need to do anything else to the file. Slap it in a hak and you're almost done. Depending on the name of your file, you may have to rename it. It should not be more than 15 characters long (minus the extension). So when I was creating my own custom music tracks, I would label them mus_wog_1, mus_wog_2, mus_wog_3, etc... Oh, and every track must begin with "mus_" prefix, as shown in my example.

Then, you must create these entries in your ambientmusic.2da. The entries' names must match your bmu names and vice versa. Make sure they are placed appropriately in this 2da. In the example below, you can see where I added mine after I also made it street legal to recognize both CMP and new BD music tracks. For best results, I would recommend using one of the 2da editors ffound on the Vault.

mrtwonder · February 2022

@Old_Gith - thank you for the input! I will definitely try this for any music track. My issue is with conversation sound files.

For instance here in the pic where we are looking at the conversation editor, merchant.wav will show up or I can activate it using the PlaySound function. When I do the mp3 to bmu method, even with 2da entries, I can't get it recognized by either the game or the toolset. I am getting the feeling that Beamdog has only enabled mp3s for music and ambient files.

MP3s and HAKS

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