9 replies to this topic

[lavelinge]

Hello everyone !

 

Im on the beginning of my journey in the fabulous world of modding dawn of war (here, dark crusade), and i still trying to figure how to properly modify the sounds of the game.

(to be more specific, i'm using the titanium wars mod for DC and i try to replace some of the sounds by my own)
As you saw on my previous topic, i wanted to change the heavy bolter sound to use the one from dawn of war 2 (i found it in the sound files of unification wars on soulstorm) and it worked thanks to your help.

I also manage to change the voices for a specific unit as well !

Now, i tried something else : changing the lasrifle sound from the guardsmen, using the same method and from UW too.

And also the auto cannon sound from the Hydra AA tank (new unit in TW, basically a chimera with 4 auto cannon for fire support. here, it uses the autocannon sound from the SM predator).

The thing is : it seems that the game doesn't allow the superposition of the sound from the same unit (or squad, for the guardsmen) or weapon.
So, i can hear the new sound, once. Then again, once, then again...
But actually, the unit or squad has fired multiple times, but i could'nt hear the shooting sound every time it shoots.

 

For the exemple, the original Hydra AA tank can fires its four auto cannons and you can hear the original shooting sound each time it fires.
But if i replace the sound by another, a tank cannon sound i found elsewhere, ive got this sort of delay between each sound.

Same thing with the guardsmen squad and their lasrifles.

 

My wish would like that anytime the unit/squad member fires, we can hear a new firing sound played.

 

Did i miss something ? maybe something with the _default.rat files ? I tried to modify them, little by little, to find out. But in the end, it seems it doesnt affect that, juste sound volume and spacialization...

I didn't notice this before with the heavy bolter sound, because the file is basically multiple shots recorded, and played as it, not a single shot.

Maybe i have to cut all my sound files so the file cut right at the end of the sound, allowing the game to repeat it immediatly after ?

 

I don't know really much
If you have some hints for me ?
 

Again, please forgive my english

Thank you for your time !!
Have a nice day !

[mdcertainty]

Welcome to our beloved DoW and the modding part of gaming,

 

I'm not active modding DoW anymore but some short infos I can give which I do remember.

• to replace sounds make sure all sound files of the unit in question is extracted, better all sound files of the mod to avoid certain issues, best all files for easy adjustments
• ... some mod projects might have packed files together for loading speed purpose... in that case if you just put files where they seem to "should be" won't work
• I assume you are familiar with mod tools?
• Highly recommended to go Soulstorm, but your call if you prefer Dark Crusade of course

very basic but no worries some active veteran modder will probably help you later.

Edited by mdcertainty, 13 January 2024 - 09:49 AM.

[lavelinge]

Hello sir and thank you for your time !

To answer your questions, i'm totally new to this thing, i have just discovered last year that we could install mods on dawn of war !
And last month that i could modify myself somethings like, in this case, some sounds for some weapons.

So im not familiar with any tool... I have just used corsix to extract some files and to try to figure how everything works (path, files, etc)
And DOW sound export to convert fda files in mp3 and reverse

I use dark crusade mainly because i love the game, the solo campaign i mean (Im a single player). I don't feel the same about soulstorm campaign (personal taste !)

"... some mod projects might have packed files together for loading speed purpose... in that case if you just put files where they seem to "should be" won't work"

 

Do you mean that i should "open" everything ? For now i just try to modify some sounds, nothing about weapons or units directly. But maybe the units files itselves have something to do with their sounds ?

Anyway thank you for reply !
Forgive my english

Enjoy your sunday !

[mdcertainty]

You are very welcome. Of course the dark crusade campaign is a good reason to play. Soulstom has code updates though and is advanced, not to mention many completed and updated mods which is a good point for switching to Soulstorm.

 

Let us concentrate on the sound aspect. So you can convert mp3 to fda which is good.

 

Now for instance what I've done and is similar on "how to?" for you. I did replace the Imperial Guard autocannon sound for that to work you need to have the folder structure and the needed files in place (as seen below). My guess is either you are missing a con file or your folder structure might be not matching exactly.

 

of course its just an example but should give you a bit of help.

• inside the weapon folder should be a "_default.rat" file (if its missing copy paste from elsewhere).
• and your converted mp3 as fda like below
• and in the folder where the weapon folder is located the "hw_autocannon.con" file needs to match the folder name or it won't work. Or what you want to replace of course needs to match your folder name.
• best is to extract all sounds of a mod to their folders you can do this with corsix modstudio. Then replace the files you like to. You should be good to go.

Spoiler

 

 

 

[lavelinge]

Thank you very much, i'll try to dig into that and will come back to you !

 

Can you just explain to me what is exactly a .con file and its purpose ? I still try to figure how it works

Can we edit it using notepad or else, like the _default.rat files ?

 

Also, quick question : playing as imperial guard, the command squad starts with the general and you can add various unit to it, as you know.
But when you add someone else, the "voice" changes, and it replace the initial general voice. It is unlikely that the general would let another one speaks, in my mind...

I read somewhere that it was possible to bypass the voice changing, but i dunno how to do it. If you have a clue...

 

Thks and have a nice day !!

Edited by lavelinge, 18 January 2024 - 05:28 PM.

[mdcertainty]

Can you just explain to me what is exactly a .con file and its purpose ?

 

To my knowledge its just an empty file. You can create a fresh empty file and change the filetype to ".con". Check it has the same filename to the folder you want to be played and there you go.

 

The purpose is it needs to be present or folders won't play their content.

 

playing as imperial guard, the command squad starts with the general and you can add various unit to it, as you know.
But when you add someone else, the "voice" changes, and it replace the initial general voice. It is unlikely that the general would let another one speaks, in my mind...

I read somewhere that it was possible to bypass the voice changing, but i dunno how to do it. If you have a clue...

 

Ah yes, I remember me bothered that as well. Easy enough to do. you replace the speech path for the IG cmdr squad to the IG general one in corsix modstudio.

 

Yet you will always have the general voice now, even if he dies and isn't present. If only a commissar for instance is active in cmdr squad its always the general's voice. An aspect to consider.

Edited by mdcertainty, 19 January 2024 - 10:22 AM.

[lavelinge]

All right ! roger that about the con file !

 

thank you !

For cmdr squad : I found in corsix the speech section (still on titaniumwars.module), the folder is called "general", i think this is the one i should use to replace the cmdr squad speech.

I also found the sbps/races/guard folder and i know i have to double click on cmdr squad to access ui folder and speech directory.

 

But i cant find the speech directory to modify it. Did i miss another folder or is the method wrong ?

Also, it may be important to note that my game use local sound and speech, because it is not initially in english. So may be i have to search elsewhere.

 

Thank you !

[mdcertainty]

Recommended you make backup of all files you edit if something goes wrong you can revert.

 

Browes to the path below, find in ebps/troops the members of the command squad. Check in speech the patch and copy & paste the sound path from the general you want to each members of the command squad.

 

You find the default voice path to copy from in the file guard_leaders_captain.rgd

Spoiler

 

 

That should be it.

Edited by mdcertainty, 20 January 2024 - 09:33 PM.

[lavelinge]

Hello and thank you a lot for your detailed explanation !
I have managed to do the replacement, and it doesn't seem to work, the command squad will still get the speech from the last member to join it.
BUT

i think i know whats wrong. As i said earlier, im using the TitaniumWars mod and i make my modifications directly on a copy of the mod module and sga files.
So maybe the original creator made some modifications for the command squad, and maybe on the units that join it as well.

I should copy to back up, and then try to modify every unit (in this case, the commissar will be my target) speech for the captain one and see if it works

[OthoMetz]

Thank you for answering, you helped me out as well. You made my day.