Audio types for voices? : V

» Tue Jun 19, 2012 9:24 am

What audio files can we use for spoken voices in Skyrim? wave works for sure. Converting wave to fuz works (but slow process). Ogg Vorbis didn't work for me. How about MP3? If so, what settings? I'm using Audacity to export mp3's, so it presents with these export options:

Bit Rate mode: Preset, Variable, Average & Constant.
Quality: various kbps rates depending on the above selection.
Variable Speed: Depends on Bit Rate mode selection above.
Channel mode: Joint Stereo or Stereo.

» Tue Jun 19, 2012 6:05 am

I want to know this as well. but the problem is, how to import in-game?

» Tue Jun 19, 2012 3:18 am

I want to know this as well. but the problem is, how to import in-game?

There is no import. When you create new voice files from the Dialogue interface, the directory is set up. It wil be something like Data\Sound\Voice\\\
Then just work with the wav file from there.

If we are stuck with wave files, its going to make upload/download time consuming. Thats the main concern. Although wavs is more CPU friendly as there is not much decoding, but possibly more expensive on memory. All swings and roundabouts! Xwm is going to hard to convert to and same goes with fuz. With the fuz encoder/decoder I've seen, you have to have an existing fuz file to pack everything into it. Shame it can't just generate them.

In-game, it should just work. So far, I know wavs, xwm & fuz work for voice files. As for music files, I've no idea.

» Tue Jun 19, 2012 3:07 am

What audio files can we use for spoken voices in Skyrim? wave works for sure. Converting wave to fuz works (but slow process). Ogg Vorbis didn't work for me. How about MP3? If so, what settings? I'm using Audacity to export mp3's, so it presents with these export options:

Bit Rate mode: Preset, Variable, Average & Constant.
Quality: various kbps rates depending on the above selection.
Variable Speed: Depends on Bit Rate mode selection above.
Channel mode: Joint Stereo or Stereo.

In previous games I think it was:

Bit Rate mode: Constant?
Quality: Whatever you want. 192 is best balance of quality and size.
Variable Speed: Wut?
Channel mode: Mono

I'd just do 44100, 16-bit Mono. Blam.

» Tue Jun 19, 2012 2:41 am

In previous games I think it was:

Bit Rate mode: Constant?
Quality: Whatever you want. 192 is best balance of quality and size.
Variable Speed: Wut?
Channel mode: Mono

I'd just do 44100, 16-bit Mono. Blam.

Doesn't seem to work for Skyrim. Looks like we are restricted to wave, xwm & the fuz container then. No idea if the last two are smaller in file size.

The variable speed setting just gives more kbps to areas of sound that need it. Fast changing sounds will get a higher rate, slow sounds don't need that precision.

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 9:46 pm

Xwm is going to hard to convert to and same goes with fuz.

I don't know much about FUZ - unless Skyrim plays at least voice files with the FUZ extension, even if they contain Wave or xWMA data.

And to convert a bunch of files from Wave to xWMA is not that hard. All you need is the command line tool xWMAEncode.exe from the http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=6812.

COPY your Wave-files to where ever you want
copy xWMAEncode.exe to the same directory or have it in your path
remove the "wav"-extension with rename *.wav *.
convert all files into xwma with one single command for /f %i in ('dir /b') DO xWMAEncode.exe %i %i.xwm

*done*

The best way is to create a batch file.
IMPORTANT: In batch-files you have to use %%i - at the command line use %i

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 11:01 pm

There is already a way to pack lip and xwm to fuz?

» Tue Jun 19, 2012 9:23 am

There is already a way to pack lip and xwm to fuz?

..only found a tool to do it vice versa so far: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=950

OUPS... Fuz-Exctractor is also capable of creating a completly new FUZ-File out of a given lip- and xwm-file.

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 10:51 pm

Seiden, I've tried your command to convert all wav to xwm, it works but I get an INVALIDARG (invalid argument) error, is that normal?

» Tue Jun 19, 2012 5:05 am

And to convert a bunch of files from Wave to xWMA is not that hard. All you need is the command line tool xWMAEncode.exe from the http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=6812.

Even easier to just use http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=3159.

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 6:36 pm

the game can also read default wavs? no need to convert them to fuz?

» Tue Jun 19, 2012 3:09 am

Seiden, I've tried your command to convert all wav to xwm, it works but I get an INVALIDARG (invalid argument) error, is that normal?

This will happen on every file in the directory which has neither PCM nor xWMA format (e.g. your batch file or xWMAEncode.exe)
These files will be skipped and you can ignore the error message.

the game can also read default wavs? no need to convert them to fuz?

It seems to me, that FUZ is the only dependable file format.
Lots of people report, that neither Skyrim nor the CK plays their Wave-files. But other people say, both or at least one of them are working fine with Waves.
May be it's a question of luck, belief, weekday and position of stars.

» Tue Jun 19, 2012 12:15 am

It works with wav, I think also it depends on the frequency and bitrate of the wavs. I use 44hz 16 bit mono uncompressed wavs, and it work in both normal folders or bsa archive. But putting everything on a fuz file it make sure that everyone is able to hear those sounds, plus the file size is well reduced.

So for me, I still work with normal wav and lip, but when I'm done i will put everything to Fuz and test.

And thx Seidenweber for the reply.

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 10:24 pm

Even easier to just use http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=3159.

...or this little tool, I wrote for my own, cause I like to do those jobs on the fly. [http://www.autohotkey.net/%7ESeidenweber/Skyrim/wav2xwm.exe]
It′s a compiled http://www.autohotkey.com-script which opens a DropZone. Just drop one or more Wave or xWMA files on it to convert.
The target-bitrate and what to do, if the target already exists, is selectable. Fit's my needs...

Spoiler

;   AHK-Version..:  AHK_L Version 1.1.06.02 x64 Unicode;   System.......:  Windows 7 Ultimate SP1;   Autor........:  Seidenweber	#SingleInstance force	SetWorkingDir %A_ScriptDir%	SoundPlay, *48	Menu, Tray, Icon, %A_WinDir%\system32\SHELL32.dll, 239	Gui, +AlwaysOnTop +ToolWindow +OwnDialogs	Gui, Add, GroupBox, x5 y3 w140 h130 , Drop XWM's/WAV's here	Gui, Add, Text, x5 y140 w70 h20 , Target Bitrate:	Gui, Add, DropDownList, x75 y135 w70 h20 r7 vBitRate choose3, 20000|32000|48000|64000|96000|160000|192000	Gui, Add, Text, x20 y173 w140 h20 , If Target already exists...	Gui, Add, Radio, x5 y190 w140 h20 vBehavior, ...always overwrite!	Gui, Add, Radio, x5 y207 w140 h20 , ...don't touch it!	Gui, Add, Radio, x5 y224 w140 h20 Checked, ...ask me!	Gui, Show, h249 w153, wav2xwm & vice versa	FileInstall, xWMAEncode.exe, xWMAEncode.exe	Return ; end of autoexec header	GuiDropFiles:		Gui Submit, NoHide		Loop, parse, A_GuiEvent, `n		{			SplitPath, A_LoopField,, sDir, sixt, sName			tExt := sixt = "wav" ? "xwm" : (sixt = "xwm" ? "wav" : false)			sFileName := sDir "\" sName "." sixt			tFileName := sDir "\" sName "." tExt			If (!FileExist(tFileName) || Behavior = 1) {				FileRecycle, %tFileName%				Run xWMAEncode.exe -b %BitRate% "%sFileName%" "%tFileName%",, Hide			} Else If (FileExist(tFileName) && Behavior = 2) {				Continue			} Else If (FileExist(tFileName) && Behavior = 3) {				MsgBox, 4132, What to do?, The following file already exists:`n%tFileName%`n`nOverwrite it?				IfMsgBox Yes				{					FileRecycle, %tFileName%					Run xWMAEncode.exe -b %BitRate% "%sFileName%" "%tFileName%",, Hide				} Else Continue			}		}	Return	GuiClose:		SoundPlay, *64		ExitApp

» Tue Jun 19, 2012 3:10 am

thanks for the utility