davidlallen Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 So, I have released version 1.0 of my first mod. See this thread. It has no voice acting, and I have started recording one of the voices myself. I have about 10 lines recorded and working, but I would like some advice on the best way to go about this. When I double click on a response line in the quest dialog, I get the "Edit Response" dialog box, which has a spreadsheet at the bottom (screenshot in case it is not clear which one I mean.) The spreadsheet gives a path like: data/sounds/voice/modname.esp/voicedonotrecordm/filename.wav. I have used a microphone, audio editor, etc and I have created the wav files. I have given them these exact names and put them in this exact directory, and it works. a. Wav files are huge. The filename in there ends in wav and the dialog box will not let me choose a format. How can I use mp3 files instead of wav? Or ogg, if that works? b. What is a good compressed format to use, which the game will support? MP3, at a certain data rate? Ogg? I have tried with some custom sounds (in the sound dialog) and I can only get wav to work, not ogg or mp3. c. Can I edit the directory name? I don't mind that it's long, but it contains "esp" in it. During development I work on an esp file, for release I flip the bit and use esm. That will break all the filenames, which seems retarded. Can I fix the directory name so it doesn't depend on the mod file extension? d. Can I edit the filename? I'm going to be creating like 300 of these files, and I would rather have a little bit of my own directory structure and filenames. Any other advice or threads I should read on the software part of attaching voices? (I'm not worried about the voice acting itself or converting file formats, just how to do it efficiently in geck.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baduk Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 (edited) Hi! Your new mod looks cool. i am going to download it and play! The game sound files are supposeta be mp3 mono cbr@128kbps That means its suposta be a fixed bitrate, There is a converter thingy somewhere that LHammonds uploaded but i havent found the link yet. Anyway when i made this radio station mod that plays songs i had to take the converted files and put em in a folder, and then add references for each sound pointing to the files in geck.I think that will let you use em for what u want. Thats really all i know atm. So on voice stuff, well i just got a pm from andyno and he had some questions about making npc dialogues work but he has voice files and stuff for his npc added in already. So it seems like you two could help each other by comparing notes. I hope u guys post about it tho cause i want to read about some deatails cause i got this mod im on and its gonna need that stuff also. Edited January 24, 2011 by baduk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deadliest Shade Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 (edited) a. Wav files are huge. The filename in there ends in wav and the dialog box will not let me choose a format. How can I use mp3 files instead of wav? Or ogg, if that works?OGG all the way. Obsidian/Bethesda use them themselves. b. What is a good compressed format to use, which the game will support? MP3, at a certain data rate? Ogg? I have tried with some custom sounds (in the sound dialog) and I can only get wav to work, not ogg or mp3.Save as a 123kb (something like that) 44000 Hz Stereo MP3 and convert to OGG using VLC Media Player (open source download). See following link for tutorial: c. Can I edit the directory name? I don't mind that it's long, but it contains "esp" in it. During development I work on an esp file, for release I flip the bit and use esm. That will break all the filenames, which seems retarded. Can I fix the directory name so it doesn't depend on the mod file extension?Nope. You can't. It has to be the name + extension of your mod. Just use the esm you will eventually release. d. Can I edit the filename? I'm going to be creating like 300 of these files, and I would rather have a little bit of my own directory structure and filenames.Nope. Edited January 24, 2011 by Deadliest Shade Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickerhk Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 A little clarification on a couple items:b. If you look at the vanilla sound files, they are Mono, 24000Hz, 16bit ogg files. Use audacity to convert your wav files to this format. As for the extension in the Geck - ignore it. In all my response file names in Geck, the extensions are mp3. I don't have any mp3 - just ogg with the proper name and file path and it works. c/d. You don't have to worry. If you rename your esp to esm, just rename your sound directory also. Both the Geck and the game will look for your sound files with the new directory name. When you look at a response entry, you will see that the path has changed for you to match the name of the plugin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidlallen Posted January 24, 2011 Author Share Posted January 24, 2011 I will try just converting to ogg/mp3, and see if my existing files link up. For esp/esm, it is disappointing that I have to rename. I cannot modify an esm, obviously, but I have found much worse navmesh behavior with esp. So, I already have to add a step to rename esp to esm, each time I want to test in-game. Now I will need to add another step, to rename the sound directory, each time I switch. Based on this feedback, I am sure if there was a way to avoid this renaming, someone would have mentioned. So I guess I am stuck with it. If only bethsoft would fix the problem, leading to poor navmesh behavior in esp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deadliest Shade Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 A little clarification on a couple items:b. If you look at the vanilla sound files, they are Mono, 24000Hz, 16bit ogg files. Use audacity to convert your wav files to this format. As for the extension in the Geck - ignore it. In all my response file names in Geck, the extensions are mp3. I don't have any mp3 - just ogg with the proper name and file path and it works. c/d. You don't have to worry. If you rename your esp to esm, just rename your sound directory also. Both the Geck and the game will look for your sound files with the new directory name. When you look at a response entry, you will see that the path has changed for you to match the name of the plugin.When saving as the highest quality mp3 the quality will be optimal when converting to OGG, which will decrease quality slightly. This way it has the highest quality : size. In my experience VLC is better at converting, though that's just a matter of opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickerhk Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 When saving as the highest quality mp3 the quality will be optimal when converting to OGG, which will decrease quality slightly. This way it has the highest quality : size. In my experience VLC is better at converting, though that's just a matter of opinion. I'll have to give that a try. It never occurred to me to look for any other program since I've used Audacity to slice and dice sound files, and then just using the export function from there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyno Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 In all my response file names in Geck, the extensions are mp3. I don't have any mp3 - just ogg with the proper name and file path and it works. You're right. It's really weird that all the references are in *.mp3 extension but all my files are in *.wav extension. I wonder why is that because the GECK is in most cases very sensitive to such things. Nevermind, at least it works. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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