[WIP] San Andreas Audio Toolkit (SAAT)

[Squiddy 3]

This is great, but doesnt it mean that you would have to distribute an entire SFX file with your mod for the sake of adding a couple of extra sounds? I cant see end-users of a mod downloading a huge file then messing about with command line based programs to get a couple of extra sounds. Great for personal use though

Shouldn't be too hard to write a batch file that does the job for the end-user.

[tzesun 0]

Noticed in your README, at the "II. SFX Tool" section, it says

 

" 1. Open a command prompt window and cd to the GTASA install directory

2. At the command prompt type the following:

saat_sfx -e audio\streams\GENRL c:\temp\saat"

 

The GENRL file is actually in the "audio\sfx" folder.

 

 

Plus I can't get your thing to export the stuff from the SFX folder.

 

I used to commands "saat_sfx -e audio\sfx\GENRL c:\temp". Only comes up with the same information that appears when you open the program without any commands. How do I get it to work??

 

I managed to extract some files from the streams folder using saat_stream, so I know at least 1 program works...

[Scrag 0]

hi, i'm new to all this. i dont have a clue what to do with all the files in the zip folder. i downloaded the zip, extracted the folder to desktop, but what now? what do i do with the files in folder. im lost! i really want to be able to use this. there are some tracks i want to remove from radio x and put other songs in.

[Simon. 4]

hi, i'm new to all this. i dont have a clue what to do with all the files in the zip folder. i downloaded the zip, extracted the folder to desktop, but what now? what do i do with the files in folder. im lost! i really want to be able to use this. there are some tracks i want to remove from radio x and put other songs in.

so now that the SAAT tool kit is out how would I go about extracting the Marco's Bistro Interior opera music file from the AMBIENCE file in the SA folder to like my destop or hard drive in like MP3 or OGG or WAV format.

@creative: Actually, becuase Nathan is looking for a track from a stream, we know exactly where it is. If it was a sound effect, then he'd have to search. But, in large part because of previous radio extraction tools, the stream contents are now pretty much fully described. Browse through the metadata-full.ini file and you'll see what I mean.

 

Nathan PMed me with this, but since it's a fairly simple example and he also asked here, I'll share my response.

1) Unzip the archive.

2) Copy "saat_stream.exe" to the folder where the game is installed.

3) Open a command prompt window; Start menu > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt

4) Assuming your SA is installed in the default directory, type the following in the command prompt window:

cd "C:\Program Files\Rockstar Games\GTA San Andreas"

5) Now type

saat_stream -e audio\streams\AMBIENCE c:\temp\saat

6) This will create a directory called c:\temp\saat\AMBIENCE. In that directory will be 40 Ogg Vorbis files. The St Mark's Bistro AMBIENCE is called something like "Track_009.ogg"

7) Play it in Winamp or another audio program.

In order to keep things simple and because I already know which track he wants, I'm using the simple extraction mode in the above example. For more practical use, it would make sense to use the RFSA extraction mode and then pick out the wanted file based on the descriptive filename. That process would look like this.

1) Unzip the archive.

2) Copy "saat_stream.exe" and "metadata-full.ini" to the folder where the game is installed.

3) Open a command prompt window; Start menu > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt

4) Assuming your SA is installed in the default directory, type the following in the command prompt window:

cd "C:\Program Files\Rockstar Games\GTA San Andreas"

5) Now type

saat_stream -r audio\streams\AMBIENCE c:\temp\saat metadata-full.ini

6) This will create a directory called c:\temp\saat\AMBIENCE. In that directory will be 40 Ogg Vorbis files. Based upon the filenames, you should be able to identify the St Mark's Bistro ambience quickly and easily.

7) Play it in Winamp or another audio program.

 

I expect to have several questions similar to this, though. That's why I'm thinking drag-and-drop might be a real smart thing to add on for the next update.

 

You do not know what to do with the files? As stated above, you must copy "saat_stream.exe" to the folder where the game is installed. Now continue reading this very well explained tutorial by pdescobar .

 

Suggestion: If you do get to the stage of GUI making, maybe add a play button so you could select/highlight a file in the archive and listen to it without actually extracting it.

 

Excellent work pdescobar .

[AleX AciD 10]

Noticed in your README, at the "II. SFX Tool" section, it says

 

"    1. Open a command prompt window and cd to the GTASA install directory

    2. At the command prompt type the following:

          saat_sfx -e audio\streams\GENRL c:\temp\saat"

 

The GENRL file is actually in the "audio\sfx" folder.

It's really there, like other sfx files.

 

 

I used to commands "saat_sfx -e audio\sfx\GENRL c:\temp". Only comes up with the same information that appears when you open the program without any commands. How do I get it to work??

I get this trouble too, and I solve it

 

saat_sfx -e audio\sfx\GENRL e:\temp\sa-sfx audio\CONFIG\BankLkup.dat

 

pdescobar,

Edited January 8, 2006 by AleX AciD

[tzesun 0]

Thanks very much for the help, that line of code did work!

 

Incase anyone was wondering which folder the weapon sounds are stored in, it's "Bank_137". The chainsaw is "Bank_030" (from the GENRL file).

[Scrag 0]

thanks! this thing is great. i mean how long have we been waiting. this is great. i can extract sound now but can someone tell me how to put my own mp3's (i'll convert them to ogg) in the streams now thanks!

[tzesun 0]

Read the readme and manual, that will help.

 

 

Damn, changing the gunshot sounds is undesirable in the game. As usual, the game resamples them so they play back really strange and horrible ingame... It's even worse than GTA3 and VC!

Edited January 8, 2006 by tzesun

[Scrag 0]

im still having trouble, i deleted all files from radio x put 3 new songs in corrected all ini file everything was perfect right? then get in game and radio x is playing music from radio los santos. whats going on?

[tzesun 0]

About the gunshot sounds - I found out to avoid the gunshot sound changing pitch way too much in game whilst firing (very noticable with full auto, especially the assault rifles) both sound files (each gunshot sound effect uses 2 wav files) need to be a different pitch (when tested with the default ones, swapping the sound round made no difference, though using the same unedited sound for both shots caused the changing pitch effect in game). So make sure that both the sounds are different pitches.

[pdescobar 10]

Noticed in your README, at the "II. SFX Tool" section, it says

 

"    1. Open a command prompt window and cd to the GTASA install directory

    2. At the command prompt type the following:

          saat_sfx -e audio\streams\GENRL c:\temp\saat"

 

The GENRL file is actually in the "audio\sfx" folder.

Thanks for pointing out that copy & paste error; I'll be sure to fix it for the next version's manual.

 

EDIT: Also thanks to AleX AciD for providing the correct syntax. For the example, that line should read

 

saat_sfx -e audio\SFX\GENRL c:\temp\saat audio\CONFIG\BankLkup.dat

 

which in the real world is all on the same line....

 

Website copy of MANUAL has been fixed and the distribution was stealth-updated with the change even though that's generally a bad idea.

 

=================

 

 

im still having trouble, i deleted all files from radio x put 3 new songs in corrected all ini file everything was perfect right? then get in game and radio x is playing music from radio los santos. whats going on?

 

You exported from MR and imported back into a new MR, yes? Can you give any more detail on what changes you made to the import INI?

Edited January 8, 2006 by pdescobar

[GT.Killer 0]

Download link doesnt work at all..

[DexX 48]

Download link doesnt work at all..

i just checked it, and it works for me. what happens when you try it? Does it just fail or what?

[GT.Killer 0]

That comes every time i click the link.

 

could some one host it somewhere else? or someting?

[haasor 0]

Hi Guys,

 

i did read the manual.txt intensively, but i cant match to export the Speech Sounds, for example the dialogs between CJ and OG Loc ... or the screams of the civilists if u shot them down ^^

 

Anybody knows what to do ? I tried it with saat_stream too, but the error message says I should modify the stream_import.ini ... and with the saat_sfx there�s simply no response if i try to export for example the 1 GB file SPC_GA ...

 

Anybody got help for me please, "Homies" ? =D

 

Thanks & Greetz Haasor

[Scrag 0]

i extracted radio x(MR) to C:SCRAG(folder i created) i deleted all ogg files and put in 3 mp3's that have been converted to ogg(used program you recommended) then edited the ini file, i changed num_tracks to 3(since theres only 3 tracks) i changed the names of the ogg tracks(not in the ini files just the actual names) to Track_001.ogg, Track_002.ogg & Track_003.ogg. Then saved everything, imported audio to MR stream, its says everything has worked, i checked the size of MR stream after change it went down to 13mb which means it worked. But ingame it has Radio Los Santos playing, this doesnt make sense, or am i doing somthing horribly wrong.

[pdescobar 10]

Three responses, probably out-of-order

 

@GT.Killer Are you still having trouble? It's my ISP's server and it's occaisionally a little slow but it's generally reliable. Here is a temporary mirror until I look into submitting it to a modding site or two:

SAAT version 1.0 on rapidshare

 

=======================================

 

 

i extracted radio x(MR) to C:SCRAG(folder i created) i deleted all ogg files and put in 3 mp3's that have been converted to ogg(used program you recommended) then edited the ini file, i changed num_tracks to 3(since theres only 3 tracks) i changed the names of the ogg tracks(not in the ini files just the actual names) to Track_001.ogg, Track_002.ogg & Track_003.ogg. Then saved everything, imported audio to MR stream, its says everything has worked, i checked the size of MR stream after change it went down to 13mb which means it worked. But ingame it has Radio Los Santos playing, this doesnt make sense, or am i doing somthing horribly wrong.

What you did wrong was to change the number of tracks. A lot of radio behavior seems to be hardcoded and I'm not surprised that a radio station with only 3 tracks is prone to extreme weirdness. I am kinda surprised that it's picking up stuff from Radio Los Santos though. I guess that's better than crashing. It might be interesting to do some more experimenting along these lines to see if we can learn anything more about internal radio handling, but if you only want a 3-song Radio X it is going to be fairly tricky (if it's possible at all.)

 

=======================================

 

 

i did read the manual.txt intensively, but i cant match to export the Speech Sounds, for example the dialogs between CJ and OG Loc ... or the screams of the civilists if u shot them down ^^

 

Anybody knows what to do ? I tried it with saat_stream too, but the error message says I should modify the stream_import.ini ... and with the saat_sfx there�s simply no response if i try to export for example the 1 GB file SPC_GA ...

 

Some of what you are looking for is actually in the SFX directory. Screams are in PAIN_A banks 2 (female) and 3 (male). And dialogue between CJ and OG Loc are in the various mission banks for the SCRIPT Archive. (Cutscene dialogue is in a stream).

 

To export the screams sounds, you would use a command somilar to this:

 

saat_sfx -e audio\SFX\PAIN_A c:\temp\saat audio\CONFIG\BankLkup.dat

 

and then browse through Bank_002 sounds 089-131 and Bank_003 sounds 070-101.

 

For mission dialogue, instead use something closer to this:

 

saat_sfx -e audio\SFX\SCRIPT c:\temp\saat audio\CONFIG\BankLkup.dat

 

but you have a little more searching to do; the directory can assist you here since all of those banks are reasonably well identified.

 

To get the cutscene tracks (with useful filenames) you would use the stream tool and a command like:

 

saat_stream -r audio\streams\BEATS c:\temp\saat metadata-full.ini

 

 

If you are getting a message about stream_import.ini then you are trying to import rather than export. Also, the stream and sfx archive formats are vastly different so using the wrong tool will fail miserably.

[tzesun 0]

Found out somemore stuff about editing the gunshot sounds. It can be more desireable to use higher quality sound formats (44100 seems to work very well) in the game, the pitch doesn't change nearly as much plus the sounds sound much richer and close to the original wave sound. Now if only someone could figure out how to change the way the engine resamples and reverbs the sound so they don't sound so weird in the game. Would have been more resourceful on the system to just play the sound as it is instead of doing all that reverb crap, that's probaly why GTA: SA struggles so much with sound effects.

 

Great tool Pdescobar!! I noticed it exports and imports the files within a few mere seconds so it's real quick and less tedious to test out modding. Btw do you think it's possible to find out how to change the way the game reverbs the sounds in-game (like how the wave sounds are actually reverbed and altered in the game, making them sound different whilst your playing)? I hope that makes sense.

[pdescobar 10]

Found out somemore stuff about editing the gunshot sounds. It can be more desireable to use higher quality sound formats (44100 seems to work very well) in the game, the pitch doesn't change nearly as much plus the sounds sound much richer and close to the original wave sound. Now if only someone could figure out how to change the way the engine resamples and reverbs the sound so they don't sound so weird in the game. Would have been more resourceful on the system to just play the sound as it is instead of doing all that reverb crap, that's probaly why GTA: SA struggles so much with sound effects.

Thanks for the tips on sample rate for gun sounds. I should probably stick that in the manual someplace (with credit to you of course.)

 

 

Great tool Pdescobar!! I noticed it exports and imports the files within a few mere seconds so it's real quick and less tedious to test out modding. Btw do you think it's possible to find out how to change the way the game reverbs the sounds in-game (like how the wave sounds are actually reverbed and altered in the game, making them sound different whilst your playing)? I hope that makes sense.

I'm pretty pleased with the speed, particularly since I designed it for minimizing memory usage rather than for minimizing speed. I've noticed when I tested on a Windows XP laptop that the O/S must do some decent file-caching because re-importing the same archive after changing a sound or two seems to be much quicker than the initial import. I can't take much credit for that, though. I doubt we can do anything about how the game handles the sounds internally; it's certainly way over my head.

[tzesun 0]

Thanks for the offer, but there's no need to credit me. Someone would have figured it out sooner or later, I just happened to be that person.

[Scrag 0]

i've successfully got about 20 tracks into radio x and they play great ingame. i never thought i hear my own music playing on radio x station in between sage talking rather than using the bully user track player. escobar you rock! you made one of the most important tools in san andreas modding history congrats buddy. all i did was replace some of the radio x adverts and replaced them with my own tracks and corrected the ini. its to hard to replace the original songs because there jumbled into bits with sage talking over. as the audio is hardcoded you cant just delete everything and put a couple of your own songs in, it just confuses the game, just keep it simple. ALSO DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE CJ'S VOICE IS IN SFX I WANT TO REPLACE IT WITH MY OWN WAVE VOICES, SO I CAN MAKE MY OWN PLAYER. i thought of using a tommy vercetti skin and then using his voice from vice city and put it in this game.

[pdescobar 10]

i've successfully got about 20 tracks into radio x and they play great ingame. i never thought i hear my own music playing on radio x station in between sage talking rather than using the bully user track player. escobar you rock! you made one of the most important tools in san andreas modding history congrats buddy. all i did was replace some of the radio x adverts and replaced them with my own tracks and corrected the ini. its to hard to replace the original songs because there jumbled into bits with sage talking over. as the audio is hardcoded you cant just delete everything and put a couple of your own songs in, it just confuses the game, just keep it simple.

You actually could replace the original songs too, but you'd have to mirror the current setup by cutting up your replacement songs into 3 pieces... If I was trying to make a full-blown radio station for a major mod I'd probably do that. But for simply adding some favorite songs to a station, replacing the DJ chatter or station IDs like you've done is a good choice.

 

 

ALSO DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE CJ'S VOICE IS IN SFX I WANT TO REPLACE IT WITH MY OWN WAVE VOICES, SO I CAN MAKE MY OWN PLAYER. i thought of using a tommy vercetti skin and then using his voice from vice city and put it in this game.

Unfortunately, CJs voice is *all over* the SFX. Young Maylay did a lot of recording. To give you some idea of how bad it is:

• PAIN_A Bank_001 is all CJ, although only sounds 065-079 are words; the rest are grunts and groans and other such things.
• SCRIPT archive -- every mission has a separate bank and CJ talks in a lot of missions. The non-mission cellphone calls from each character also have their own banks and CJ has responses in most of those.
• SPC_PA is pretty much exclusively CJ responding to different people in different situations. And there are 20 banks, most of which have over 100 clips; that archive alone is like 175MB worth of CJ.

So, uhh, it's possible but it's one hell of a lot of work to change CJ's voice. I'm sure a lot of SPC_PA is redundant and could use duplicate copies of a given sound, but you'd have to go through each sound to see what's appropriate as the banks are all slightly different.

[bujo 0]

I have very stupid problem (question).

I did everything like you said,copied files where they should be but...

The thing is,i have 2 partitions on my hard drive (c and d).

C is for win and on D i put games etc.

When i open cmd it gives me last path somewhere on C partition and my San Andreas is instaled on D.

"CD D:\Igre\Gta San Andreas" can't change directory becayse it's not on C partition.

I've read help in cmd but couldn't figure out how to navigate to D partition.

I know this is probably stupid but this is first time i used cmd.

I read all post's in this topic just to figure out how to use,and i really wanna' use this program.

[haasor 0]

Thank you Pdescobar, great job you did

 

Greets Haasor

[pdescobar 10]

I have very stupid problem (question).

I did everything like you said,copied files where they should be but...

The thing is,i have 2 partitions on my hard drive (c and d).

C is for win and on D i put games etc.

When i open cmd it gives me last path somewhere on C partition and my San Andreas is instaled on D.

"CD D:\Igre\Gta San Andreas" can't change directory becayse it's not on C partition.

I've read help in cmd but couldn't figure out how to navigate to D partition.

I know this is probably stupid but this is first time i used cmd.

I read all post's in this topic just to figure out how to use,and i really wanna' use this program.

Yeah, that's an oddity of DOS/Windows command shell. Changing to a directory on another drive is a two-step process. First you have to change the drive, then you have to change the directory. The following pair of commands should work.

 

First do

d:

 

which should change the c:\ prompt to a d:\ prompt. Then do

cd "\Igre\Gta San Andreas"

 

which should take you where you need to be.

[AleX AciD 10]

I listen sounds from SCRIPT file (audio\SFX\SCRIPT) and I found that all of them have names listed in AudioEvents.txt (data\AudioEvents.txt).

 

First (SCRIPT\Bank_001\sound_001.wav) from this line

SOUND_ALDEAMALVADA 2000,

Next (SCRIPT\Bank_001\sound_002.wav) from next line

SOUND_ANGELPINE 2001, etc.

Last sound file (SCRIPT\Bank_218\sound_001.wav) have name from last line

SOUND_BLIP_DETECTED 45400

Names are listed continuously (first names from Bank_001, then from Bank_002, etc)

 

It will be great, if next release will use that names

[pdescobar 10]

 

I listen sounds from SCRIPT file (audio\SFX\SCRIPT) and I found that all of them have names listed in AudioEvents.txt (data\AudioEvents.txt).

 

First (SCRIPT\Bank_001\sound_001.wav) from this line

SOUND_ALDEAMALVADA 2000,

Next (SCRIPT\Bank_001\sound_002.wav) from next line

SOUND_ANGELPINE 2001, etc.

Last sound file (SCRIPT\Bank_218\sound_001.wav) have name from last line

SOUND_BLIP_DETECTED 45400

Names are listed continuously (first names from Bank_001, then from Bank_002, etc)

 

It will be great, if next release will use that names

Hmm. Interesting idea. I'm aware of the correspondance between the AudioEvent names and the SCRIPT archive. It's something like (1800 + 200*BankNum + SoundNum -1 == AudioEvent ID num) and the ranges are listed on my SFX directory, but I hadn't thought of using them to name the SCRIPT files. I can definitely see that being an option in the future.

[BMWPower 0]

I just can't understand something with importing my music...

When I import music how can I understand in which radiostation is my song?

10x

[RaifalM3n 16]

i 'cd' the path in command prompt and then when i try the code it says like :

"saat_stream is not a batch" bla bla.. hmm im stupid or what? and i copy/pasted the zip..

 

uh im so confused.... and lol im not new to gta... but this program .. why it dosnt workinG:(

[Scrag 0]

i've tried to import a song into the ambience stream, track 3 which is the guy on the radio inside all the ammunations, but the game becomes unstable when i start, most of all when i go near or in the ammunations. i did manage to get into one of the ammunations i heard the music actually playing it sounded awesome, then nothing, game crashed on me, what can i do?