Lost NPC voices, How to get them back

[FortifiendWolf]

Ok, So, converted some NPCs to my new race, Felien. Since that they lost ability to talk, I even made a folder inside the Data - Sounds - Voices specifically for felien, but they are still mute...

How to fix this? I want them to talk again.

I just need to find the voices of original NPCs and somehow gather them in felien folder?

Where to search, Or, Where to create such folder?

 

[Surilindur]

Each line an NPC delivers has (from what I can remember at the moment):

• a sound file, usually .mp3 I think they were, you can check (this needs to be in a specific format, I think it was 44100 Hz, 64kbps constant bitrate mono or something like that for the game to actually play it!)
• a lip sync file, .lip, that is responsible for the lipsync when they speak (generated based on the sound file and the text for the topic, I think - and the sound file has to be in .wav format or such, if I remember correctly, for the .lip file generation, not .mp3, you will need two versions of the voice, the .mp3 being the final redistribution and the .wav one the one to use in .lip file generation)
• a dialogue 'line' object defined in an esm/esp file, that contains the text for it, and ties it all together

The path and name for the sound and lip sync files associated with a dialogue line depend on the dialogue line itself, as well as the race of the NPC that should deliver the line. For example, if I remember correctly (it has been a while since I last added voiced dialogue), the path and name of the lip sync and sound files contain the esp/esm name, the quest the dialogue line object is associated with, the race of the NPC, as well as the form ID of the dialogue object itself. It was something like that.

 

Changing the name of a race is enough to break the dialogue topics, for example. From what I have noticed, various people have had issues when using a mod that has changed the name of a race, for example a mod created with a French version of the game, where the name of a vanilla race has been changed to the French one, resulting in the sound and lip sync files being in the English version path, but the game looking for them somewhere else because the name of the race was something different.

 

Oh okay so I did find an example, for example my follower management mod! Without having to go hunting for anything. Great. Here are the paths to a pair of sound and lip sync files:

Data\Sound\Voice\Fluffy Follower Frill.esp\Breton\M\FluffyQuest_FluffyTopicA_0002F150_1.lip
Data\Sound\Voice\Fluffy Follower Frill.esp\Breton\M\FluffyQuest_FluffyTopicA_0002F150_1.mp3

But what are the different elements of the path? They are:

• the normal game voice file directory: Data\Sound\Voice\
• the mod name (esp/esm): Fluffy Follower Frill.esp
• the editor ID (I think) of the race: Breton
• male or female speaker (M/F), in this case, male: M
• editor ID of the quest under which the dialogue topic has been created: FluffyQuest
• editor ID of the fialogue topic: FluffyTopicA
• I think this is the form ID of the response for that topic (as in, the upper list on the right in the topic editor), but I am not completely sure: 0002F150
• the line number of the line under that response (the lower list on the right in the topic editor starting with 1, not 0): 1

So in theory, you could pick the files you need from a single existing race and put them in a folder that has been named after your race (editor ID). For example:

Data\Sound\Voice\Oblivion.esm\YourRaceEditorID\M\
Data\Sound\Voice\Oblivion.esm\YourRaceEditorID\F\

But it is not that easy, there is a plot twist: if you edited multiple NPCs with different original races, and if those NPCs happen to have unique dualogue to them, then you would need to go through all the unique dialogue for all the NPCs and also copy them under your new race voice directory, or otherwise they would still have silent dialogue when it comes to their unique dialogue. Also, copying existing sounds, all the NPCs will, of course, keep their original voices.

 

Hopefully that helps a bit, or at least gives you an idea of what to maybe ask next. And hopefully someone else can help you more. :smile:

 

Edit: The Construction Set Extender by shademe features working .lip sync generation, too, so you do not need the old Construction Set itself separately (CSE already includes it, I think, for exactly lipsync purposes).

 

Edit 2: As for where to find the base game sound files, I think you should be able to find them in the Voices BSA archives, for example "Oblivion - Voices1.bsa", "Oblivion - Voices2.bsa" and "DLCShiveringIsles - Voices.bsa". But there might be voice files elswhere, too, for example in the Unofficial Oblivion Patch or the Unofficial Shivering Isles Patch. So you might alwo want to look at those for any bugfixed voice and/or lip sync files.

Edited June 11, 2017 by Contrathetix

[FortifiendWolf]

Thanks, So if i get it right, the path should be

 

Data\Sound\Voice\DLCFelien.esp\Felien\M\

Data\Sound\Voice\DLCFelien.esp\Felien\F\

 

And in there I need to move all felianted

Those being :

 

Ardaline

C. Perrick

Edla Dark Heart

E. Renoit

J. Fanis

M. Rian

Captain Renault

R. Bantien

R. Faleria

R. Bradus

Selene

E. Vautrine

J'bari

L. Broad

Brother Martin

S. Bantien

Sinderion

[Surilindur]

Yes, you need to copy there all the mp3+lip file pairs those NPCs will be using, without changing the subpath. That should solve it, I think. You can test it with something simple, like one of the standard greetings one of those NPCs uses all the time. When you have one dialogue line for one NPC sorted out, you know it works, and can start copying all the relevant files. But you can start with one.

 

However you will probably need the Construction Set (Extender) to track down the dialogue line you want, so that you can find the files related to it.

 

Edit: But then again, there has to be an easier way. It would end up being an awful lot of detective work and copying... :psyduck: I really hope someone else has a better solution. In the meanwhile, you can test it with one single line to get an idea of how it works.

 

Edit 2: I think the the Construction Set (Extender) has a window somewhere to filter all dialogue in the game. You could try using that one to filter out all dialogue for a specific NPC, maybe, if it allows that?

Edited June 11, 2017 by Contrathetix

[Striker879]

Don't know much about it, but perhaps Lazy Voice Finder will be of some help.

[FortifiendWolf]

Can you guys help me with searching for the names?

PS, Thx striker, That program is very useful

[FortifiendWolf]

Can someone tell me where to find Breton F voice folder.. It does not exist in any archive

[FortifiendWolf]

Ok, i tried what you told me, and it did not work.. still mute

[Surilindur]

The Breton females use the voice of females of some other race, I cannot remember which one, might have been either Imperial or some of the Elven races. So there exists no Breton female sounds. It can be a bit confusing. The same goes for Argonian and Khajiit females, if I remember correctly, that they use the same voice.

 

When I have the time later today, I will try to make a simple new race record, convert an NPC to that race, fix something the NPC says to not be mute, and then write instructions on how I did it. Just to make sure it works, although I think it should work. Hmm. Might take closer to twelve hours, though, I need to do some other things first...

 

This is actually quite an interesting issue. :)

[DrakeTheDragon]

It might also be worth keeping in mind that for every race record in the CS you also select the race the voice of which should be used, which needn't necessarily have to be the same race you're editing at that point.

 

Lots of Vanilla races, as you already observed, use other Vanilla races' voices that way for some or all of their genders. Voice Actors must've been quite costly back when the game was made, as there are only so very few.

 

I don't know how voice files for NPCs and voice files for races interact exactly, but I recall when I turned Viconia De'Vir into one of my dragons I had to switch around quite some folders and settings before everything was working again.

 

If I find the time, I'll go take a look at my files and try to figure out what all it was I did to it. But it's already more than 5 years ago, and my memory's not exactly the best.