How to add speeches in SH4 ?

[Benjamin2557]

Hello all,

I just have a question : i would like to know how the speeches on the game (I'm talking about them : C:\Program Files (x86)\Ubisoft\Silent Hunter 4 Wolves of the Pacific\Data\Sound\Speech) are linked with the words spoken by the submarine crew because I would like to add some.

Any idea ?

[propbeanie]

First of all, that is a difficult proposition. The easier thing to do is, you can change what is there already. The files are in Ogg Vorbis format, and something like "Audacity" can edit the files, or allow you to record completely new ones. The files are listed by "condition", such as quiet, normal and shout, and by position of the crewmember, such as Chief or OOD, etc. I'm not 100% certain, but it looks like the numbered folders were going to be an attempt at different tonality for the voices, such as high-pitched, low-pitched, etc. That can be simulated with Audacity also, by changing a vocal files pitch.

Now, you show that your game is in "C:\Program Files (x86)\". That is not a location conducive to "modding", which is what you would be doing by changing voices. going by your game's path, I'm guessing that you have a disk version, or maybe a download version that is not restricted like a Steam version is, so you should be able to pick-up your "Ubisoft" folder and move it into a folder that you create yourself, and then Windows won't try to "protect" the game from modding. You will lose the use of any shortcuts to the game and / or Mission Editor that you might currently have, but those can be edited to the new path...

[Benjamin2557]

Originally Posted by propbeanie

First of all, that is a difficult proposition. The easier thing to do is, you can change what is there already. The files are in Ogg Vorbis format, and something like "Audacity" can edit the files, or allow you to record completely new ones. The files are listed by "condition", such as quiet, normal and shout, and by position of the crewmember, such as Chief or OOD, etc. I'm not 100% certain, but it looks like the numbered folders were going to be an attempt at different tonality for the voices, such as high-pitched, low-pitched, etc. That can be simulated with Audacity also, by changing a vocal files pitch.

Now, you show that your game is in "C:\Program Files (x86)\". That is not a location conducive to "modding", which is what you would be doing by changing voices. going by your game's path, I'm guessing that you have a disk version, or maybe a download version that is not restricted like a Steam version is, so you should be able to pick-up your "Ubisoft" folder and move it into a folder that you create yourself, and then Windows won't try to "protect" the game from modding. You will lose the use of any shortcuts to the game and / or Mission Editor that you might currently have, but those can be edited to the new path...

Ok I think also it's hard-coding. What I did is that I noticed a change in the speeches between the original SH4 patch (v1.0) and patch (v1.1) so I compared and sorted the new files added by the patches installation I apparently it's related with the sh4.exe and not with SOUND folder or PHRASES folder on Library folder !

So I guess it's impossible unless you know how to edit an .exe file ?

[propbeanie]

No, it's possible, it's just very complicated. It's definitely above my skill level and patience-tolerance. If you have an original v1.0 disk, and you've upgraded to v1.1, you are going to find some very frustrating aspects of the game... You are better off with v1.5, which has the Uboat Missions, but if the money for that is just not to be found for that, then at least apply the Silent Hunter 4 v1.4 upgrade patch from subsim dot com here. I'm not even sure if it's available on the Ubisoft site any longer...

[Benjamin2557]

By the way anyone else knows how to do it ?

[Berserker]

What I would like to see/hear from the crew is "Torpedo in the water..She is running hot straight and normal sir"...