[LE] XWM audio format?

[apSion]

Ok, so I've unpacked the Sounds BSA and extracted the music files...but they're in .xwm format. I tried playback in VLC which kind of worked (lots of skipping), can anyone point me in the direction of a converter for these files please?

[blackrose42]

Since VLC can open them already, just use it to convert the files to something else.

 

The bitrate of the soundtracks aren't good though. If you want, you may get a copy of the 4 CD (?) OST.

Edited November 11, 2011 by blackrose42

[apSion]

Thanks for that and yeah you're right about the bitrate...not so good!

[iroquoispliskin]

If you want good bitrate out of VLC use these settings for conversion:

 

• Encapsulation: MP4(MOV)
  
• Check (Audio Codec)
  
• Codec: MPEG4 (AAC)
  
• Bitrate: 190kb/s
  
• Sample Rate: 48000
  

 

Worked for me. Just remember, when typing what you want the file to be named, append the .mp4 to the end or it might go to something else.

 

Oh ya, and another thing. Sometimes VLC will want to "convert" the song past its actually time (so you'll get two minutes of nothing). Just close it once it's at the normal time for the song. I know this method is far from perfect, but it does work.

Edited November 14, 2011 by iroquoispliskin

[mrhelpesuhcs]

Bump

[JranZu]

Wow... I feel dumb... Please don't read this

 

Audio files are in the XMA format, more information can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XMA_(audio_format)

I haven't tested this but if I am correct you would need to use XACT to edit the audio files correctly,

XACT is part of the directX SDK, I haven't found a separate link for just XACT, so here is the link to the directX SDK:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=23776

Edited November 14, 2011 by JranZu

[MikhailFaulken]

XWM is not XMA.

[JranZu]

  On 11/14/2011 at 9:32 PM, MikhailFaulken said:

XWM is not XMA.

 

Thanks -- I have no idea at what point in my searches I dyslexiad the search term... Grrrr

[MikhailFaulken]

And apparently, there don't appear to be any tools you can use to convert other sound files to it. At least, not any that I have seen. If Audacity can do it, I'll look into making some music mods (none of that adding in final fantasy music nonsense, anyone can do that.)

[GT500]

Just an FYI, XWM is the file extension for Microsoft's xWMA, which is a simple container which normally contains WMA v2 audio (if you check the codec information while playing a XWM file from Skyrim in VLC Media Player then it will say it is Windows Media Audio).

 

The only reason that VLC Media Player can play it is because this guy spent a lot of time to try and figure out how to read the audio and then write an FFmpeg plugin to decode it, so that it could be used with ScummVM (note that the guy mentions that he doesn't know why it sometimes leaves some dead space at the end of a file).

 

If you want to create new XWM files, then read this article from Microsoft. Note that the only download I can find that says it contains xWMAencode is this ancient DirectX SDK. I have no clue if it is in newer DirectX SDK's, however I would assume that it is if Bethesda is using it in new games.

Edited November 16, 2011 by GT500