[Audio✓] Asking for Tools & Methods about changing the sound effect in the decomp files.

セケツ · Apr 25, 2022

Hello everyone.
The question is just as the title, if anyone having a look upon this thread doesn't get its meaning, I would explain it below.
These days I have noticed that some hacks making changes not only in music but also in sound effects (SE). Like the cries of the pokemons, the opening & calls-receiving of the pokenav, the throwing & popping up of the pokeballs in battle, the scroll & checking of the pokedex, and the sing of Bard in the pokecenter of Mauville city and so on.
Well, since I have done some researches on them and found that most of them are single midi files, while some of them (especially for the pokemons' cries & the Bard's song) are audio files in a format named .aif, which can be played by the media player in my computer but I know nothing about.
Here is my question in detail.
Now what I have are some brand new sound effect files which have been converted to 16-bit .wav files that can be played by the computer. Some of them are new cries of the fakemon I made, some of them are single sound effects that I want to add or replace the original one in the decomp files. All in all, the basis of doing above is to know the ways & get the tools to insert them into the decomp files, which I know nothing about until now.
Could anyone here give some information or help me with this problem?
Thanks here with any assistance.

Edit: For the cries of Pokemons, I have know that a tool named "the cry editor" can deal with it in the Binary Rom hacking. But it's a shame that I don't know whether it still works in the field of decomp.

Lunos · Apr 25, 2022

セケツ said:
Hello everyone.
The question is just as the title, if anyone having a look upon this thread doesn't get its meaning, I would explain it below.
These days I have noticed that some hacks making changes not only in music but also in sound effects (SE). Like the cries of the pokemons, the opening & calls-receiving of the pokenav, the throwing & popping up of the pokeballs in battle, the scroll & checking of the pokedex, and the sing of Bard in the pokecenter of Mauville city and so on.
Well, since I have done some researches on them and found that most of them are single midi files, while some of them (especially for the pokemons' cries & the Bard's song) are audio files in a format named .aif, which can be played by the media player in my computer but I know nothing about.
Here is my question in detail.
Now what I have are some brand new sound effect files which have been converted to 16-bit .wav files that can be played by the computer. Some of them are new cries of the fakemon I made, some of them are single sound effects that I want to add or replace the original one in the decomp files. All in all, the basis of doing above is to know the ways & get the tools to insert them into the decomp files, which I know nothing about until now.
Could anyone here give some information or help me with this problem?
Thanks here with any assistance.

When it comes to Pokémon cries, you can convert audio files into .aif using a program like Audacity.
1) Open your .wav in Audacity, go to File -> Export -> Export Audio.
2) Set the "Save as type" field to "Other uncompressed files"
3) In the Format Options section of the window, set the Header to "AIFF (Apple/SGI)"
4) Set the Encoding to Signed 8-bit PCM.
5) After exported and assuming that you don't have file formats hidden on your Windows' folder settings, rename it to "(whatever filename you want).aif".

If after building a new ROM you notice some "cracks" when the cry plays (I believe you shouldn't because this was fixed long ago, but still), you'll have to open the original .wav file and apply a Low-Pass Filter before exporting it again following the process I explained above.
To do that, you simply select the entire audio track with Ctrl+A, go to Effect -> Low Pass Filter, configure it if you want and hit "OK".

セケツ said:
Edit: For the cries of Pokemons, I have know that a tool named "the cry editor" can deal with it in the Binary Rom hacking. But it's a shame that I don't know whether it still works in the field of decomp.

It doesn't. Cry Editor modifies stuff inside the games' ROMs directly.

セケツ · May 6, 2022

Lunos said:
When it comes to Pokémon cries, you can convert audio files into .aif using a program like Audacity.
1) Open your .wav in Audacity, go to File -> Export -> Export Audio.
2) Set the "Save as type" field to "Other uncompressed files"
3) In the Format Options section of the window, set the Header to "AIFF (Apple/SGI)"
4) Set the Encoding to Signed 8-bit PCM.
5) After exported and assuming that you don't have file formats hidden on your Windows' folder settings, rename it to "(whatever filename you want).aif".

If after building a new ROM you notice some "cracks" when the cry plays (I believe you shouldn't because this was fixed long ago, but still), you'll have to open the original .wav file and apply a Low-Pass Filter before exporting it again following the process I explained above.
To do that, you simply select the entire audio track with Ctrl+A, go to Effect -> Low Pass Filter, configure it if you want and hit "OK".

It doesn't. Cry Editor modifies stuff inside the games' ROMs directly.

Sorry for my late reply & VERY appreciate for your answer in detail. I finally used audacity to convert & insert the new cries at last. Luckily there is no crack & glitch for me when I heard it from the emulator.
As for the sound effects, I have found that most of them are .midi files played by some certain & special soundfonts. And I think there must be something to do with the tools for midi-editing, such as the anvil studio and domino, both of which I always used when it came to music-hacking.
I will keep my eyes on how to change them. if I make some progress or get some shallow comprehensions (Please forgive my ignorance since they may be wrong) on this question, I will go back and post what I have found here.
Thanks again for your help genuinely.

WiserVisor · May 6, 2022

セケツ said:
As for the sound effects, I have found that most of them are .midi files played by some certain & special soundfonts. And I think there must be something to do with the tools for midi-editing, such as the anvil studio and domino, both of which I always used when it came to music-hacking.

You are correct in saying that the sound effects are based on certain soundfonts. While midis are used to create the files necessary for the ROM to read the sound data for music, for a sound effect, we don't have to create a midi. If you want to add your own sound effects, here's the simplest way of going about it.

Spoiler:

Similarly to how you converted your Pokémon cries, you will do the same with your custom sound effects.

Add your newly created .aif file to sound/direct_sound_samples, and then open up sound/direct_sound_data.inc and add in the data for your new sound effect, following the pattern of the other entries in the file.

You have two options for the next step, one a little bit risky, the other a bit wasteful in terms of memory:

Risky

Spoiler:

Go into sound/voicegroups and pick out a voicegroup that has at least one line of this:

Code:

voice_square_1 60, 0, 0, 2, 0, 0, 15, 0

These lines are (generally) unused voices. Replace one of these lines with:

Code:

voice_directsound 60, 0, [The name of your soundeffect that you put in sound/direct_sound_data.inc], 255, 255, 255, 0

Remember the index of the voicegroup where you put your sound effect, as that will be important for later. This will add your sound effect into this voicegroup. This is risky, because there is a very small chance that there is a song/sound effect that actually uses that voice. It's unlikely, but possible.

Wasteful

Spoiler:

Go into sound/voicegroups and create a new voicegroup that looks like this:

Code:

	.align 2
[name of your voicegroup]::
	voice_directsound 60, 0, [The name of your soundeffect that you put in sound/direct_sound_data.inc], 255, 255, 255, 0

Notice that the index of your sound effect within the voicegroup is 0, since that will be important later.

After you do this, go into sound/songs and create a copy of se_dex_page.s. Change the contents of your copy to be this:

Code:

	.include "MPlayDef.s"

	.equ	se_dex_page_grp, [THE NAME OF THE VOICEGROUP THAT HOLDS YOUR SOUND EFFECT]
	.equ	se_dex_page_pri, 5
	.equ	se_dex_page_rev, 0
	.equ	se_dex_page_mvl, 127
	.equ	se_dex_page_key, 0
	.equ	se_dex_page_tbs, 1
	.equ	se_dex_page_exg, 0
	.equ	se_dex_page_cmp, 1

	.section .rodata
	.global	se_dex_page
	.align	2

@********************** Track  1 **********************@

se_dex_page_1:
	.byte	KEYSH , se_dex_page_key+0
	.byte	TEMPO , 100*se_dex_page_tbs/2
	.byte		VOICE , [INDEX OF VOICEGROUP THAT HOLDS YOUR SOUND EFFECT]
	.byte		VOL   , 90*se_dex_page_mvl/mxv
	.byte		TIE   , Cn3 , v064
	.byte	W96
	.byte		EOT
	.byte	FINE

@******************************************************@
	.align	2

se_dex_page:
	.byte	1	@ NumTrks
	.byte	0	@ NumBlks
	.byte	se_dex_page_pri	@ Priority
	.byte	se_dex_page_rev	@ Reverb.

	.word	se_dex_page_grp

	.word	se_dex_page_1

	.end

You will also want to change every instance of "se_dex_page" to be whatever is the name of your copied file. You may want to make your sound effect louder or quieter than this. To change the volume, just increase or decrease the value of VOL or the value of "TIE , Cn3 , v". If the sound effect seems to be cut off, you can add more instances of ".byte W96" after the first instance of the same text until the sound effect plays for the correct amount of time.

You will next need to open ld_script.txt, and then search for for "song_data :". Add your new sound effect into the data below, following the pattern of the other sound effect entries.

Finally, go into include/constants/songs.h and add a constant for your sound effect. Now, whenever you want to play your sound effect, you just need to run the function PlaySE(SOUND_EFFECT_CONSTANT); and your sound effect will play!

Hopefully this helps you add in your sound effects!

セケツ · Jul 18, 2022

WiserVisor said:
You are correct in saying that the sound effects are based on certain soundfonts. While midis are used to create the files necessary for the ROM to read the sound data for music, for a sound effect, we don't have to create a midi. If you want to add your own sound effects, here's the simplest way of going about it.

Spoiler:

Similarly to how you converted your Pokémon cries, you will do the same with your custom sound effects.

Add your newly created .aif file to sound/direct_sound_samples, and then open up sound/direct_sound_data.inc and add in the data for your new sound effect, following the pattern of the other entries in the file.

You have two options for the next step, one a little bit risky, the other a bit wasteful in terms of memory:

Risky

Spoiler:

Go into sound/voicegroups and pick out a voicegroup that has at least one line of this:

Code:

voice_square_1 60, 0, 0, 2, 0, 0, 15, 0

These lines are (generally) unused voices. Replace one of these lines with:

Code:

voice_directsound 60, 0, [The name of your soundeffect that you put in sound/direct_sound_data.inc], 255, 255, 255, 0

Remember the index of the voicegroup where you put your sound effect, as that will be important for later. This will add your sound effect into this voicegroup. This is risky, because there is a very small chance that there is a song/sound effect that actually uses that voice. It's unlikely, but possible.

Wasteful

Spoiler:

Go into sound/voicegroups and create a new voicegroup that looks like this:

Code:

.align 2 [name of your voicegroup]:: voice_directsound 60, 0, [The name of your soundeffect that you put in sound/direct_sound_data.inc], 255, 255, 255, 0

Notice that the index of your sound effect within the voicegroup is 0, since that will be important later.

After you do this, go into sound/songs and create a copy of se_dex_page.s. Change the contents of your copy to be this:

Code:

.include "MPlayDef.s" .equ se_dex_page_grp, [THE NAME OF THE VOICEGROUP THAT HOLDS YOUR SOUND EFFECT] .equ se_dex_page_pri, 5 .equ se_dex_page_rev, 0 .equ se_dex_page_mvl, 127 .equ se_dex_page_key, 0 .equ se_dex_page_tbs, 1 .equ se_dex_page_exg, 0 .equ se_dex_page_cmp, 1 .section .rodata .global se_dex_page .align 2 @********************** Track 1 **********************@ se_dex_page_1: .byte KEYSH , se_dex_page_key+0 .byte TEMPO , 100*se_dex_page_tbs/2 .byte VOICE , [INDEX OF VOICEGROUP THAT HOLDS YOUR SOUND EFFECT] .byte VOL , 90*se_dex_page_mvl/mxv .byte TIE , Cn3 , v064 .byte W96 .byte EOT .byte FINE @******************************************************@ .align 2 se_dex_page: .byte 1 @ NumTrks .byte 0 @ NumBlks .byte se_dex_page_pri @ Priority .byte se_dex_page_rev @ Reverb. .word se_dex_page_grp .word se_dex_page_1 .end

You will also want to change every instance of "se_dex_page" to be whatever is the name of your copied file. You may want to make your sound effect louder or quieter than this. To change the volume, just increase or decrease the value of VOL or the value of "TIE , Cn3 , v". If the sound effect seems to be cut off, you can add more instances of ".byte W96" after the first instance of the same text until the sound effect plays for the correct amount of time.

You will next need to open ld_script.txt, and then search for for "song_data :". Add your new sound effect into the data below, following the pattern of the other sound effect entries.

Finally, go into include/constants/songs.h and add a constant for your sound effect. Now, whenever you want to play your sound effect, you just need to run the function PlaySE(SOUND_EFFECT_CONSTANT); and your sound effect will play!

Hopefully this helps you add in your sound effects!

Genuinely appreciate for your research & help.
Recently I am not working in the sound hacking since I have some other changes to do for my hack. But Having completely (may be) looked through the answer & advice that you gave me, I found that it is aimed at changing / adding a totally new voicegroup to the ROM itself, which is special for the sound effect that I want to add.
To be honest, I think the method you gave me would be practicable & feasible. And I believe it should work based on my own little understanding & knowledge about the music-hacking. Moveover, I also have searched the whole community and found a post in the old binary rom-hacking forum, which also converyed the simlar method to me. The link is below:
https://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=346172
All in all, I will certainly try your method later, Very appreciate for you reply.
Thanks again Sincerely.

[Audio✓] Asking for Tools & Methods about changing the sound effect in the decomp files.

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セケツ

ポケハック初心者

Lunos

Random Uruguayan User

セケツ

ポケハック初心者

WiserVisor

セケツ

ポケハック初心者