LPM Question, Any Sound Engineers/modders out there?

[Hamakua]

Hi all,

 

I recently installed Enhanced Mighty Dragons but was dissatisfied with the lack of a "custom" wav dragon breath for the shock/electric based dragons.

 

I engineered my own and pulled the stock mag_flamesdragon_fire_01_lpm.wav from the skyrim.bsa file for timing.

 

There are three portions to a dragon's breath cast in the sound LPM structure, the beginning, the loop section, and the "end" where it stops but fades out.

 

This allows the dragon to cast long and short breaths without it sounding off. When I started I thought this was going to be 3 separate files but learned it was only one. I thought maybe there was simply a "standard" LPM amount so I matched up my timing with the stock one.

 

It turns out that, no, it's not even that, there is some meta data that lets you define exactly where the 3 sections start and end, etc.

 

My problem is I don't know how to inject this data into my .WAV fils so the creation kit/skyrim.exe can access it properly. Just sticking _LPM on the back end does not help.

 

http://www.creationkit.com/Sound_Descriptor

 

That's the CK wiki article on what little I could find on the subject.

 

Any programs out there that would allow me to see *any* meta data from a .wav, all that comes up is the itunes/artist BS which is not what I think is needed.

[Hamakua]

Figured it out!

 

Depending on the program that you use you can imbed loop markers into any .wav file, but not many programs use them so information tends to be lacking. Upon further research, the technology and technique has been around a while. My first search for a program that could apply this function brought up a program (apparently free) called Wavosaur.

 

Once you have your file ready for integration for the game you can open it up and insert loop (beginning and end loop points) VERY precisely, down to the individual hz sample position.

 

The next step, I found easier but you can get lost doing it.

 

To have game assets use your sound you need to attach a sound descriptor to it. The best way I found to do this, and not get lost, is to find an NPC type that you plan to have the sound used by, then follow back its spell skill set to the point of choosing sound descriptors. It may be as many as 5 or 7 jumps backtracking through the creation kit.

 

If you do not want to completely replace a particular sound, but instead have a new sound for a spell *for NPCs*, you will need to create a new NPC template that npcs can access. That means either importing (duplicating) or creating from scratch an NPC base template. (Spell lists, attributes, AI packages, etc.) It is much easier to duplicate and re-name using Bethesda naming conventions than it is to simple start building from the ground up.

 

Test the new NPC in game and adjust what you "forgot" to adjust as the need arises.

 

If there are any questions, feel free to ask, I'll see if I can organize what I have learned into a useful format and add it to the Wiki