DiRT Rally Tutorial: How to modify Co-Driver callouts

[Palo Samo]

UPDATE: Wwise Sound Tool BETA v.0.9.9

This tutorial shows how to translate the original DiRT Rally Co-Driver callouts into your own language or switch to a different co-driver voice using Wwise Sound Tool by Xaser (v.0.9.9). If you can find out where the notes are called during a stage then you can tweak them as well. This method does not work for countdown and messages callouts. Tested on Windows 10.

• Create new folder named Original and extract contents of wwise.7z here. Rename Wwise Sound Tool.exe to wst.exe and copy your chosen soundbank to this folder (s_cd_panzerplatte_rally_01_fwd.bnk used as an example). Duplicate the folder and rename it Custom.
• Open Command Prompt within Original folder and run following commands:

wst.exe extract_all s_cd_panzerplatte_rally_01_fwd.bnk
wst.exe decode_all wem​

• Using wav files as a reference create or modify your custom calls in your favourite audio editing software, remembering that they have to be exactly the same length as their counterpart originals. If your call is too short, simply add silence at the end. Export to 16-bit PCM and save as .wav in Custom folder.
• Open Command Prompt within Custom folder and run following commands:

wst.exe encode_all wav
wst.exe pack_all wem s_cd_panzerplatte_rally_01_fwd.bnk​

• If the process of packing files is unsuccessful then compare all your custom .wem files in Custom folder with original ones extracted from the soundbank in Original folder. All of them have to be the same kB as their counterparts.
• Replace the original soundbank in your DiRT Rally installation folder with your custom one. If you want to revert back to original calls use a backup or reinstall your language in Steam.

I strongly advise to use French/German/Italian/Spanish version of Route Notes for translation because they contain only the necessary calls as opposed to English version, which uses 4 intonations of the same call. Although translated calls are not as detailed and correct as English notes this simplifies the job as you would have to translate and replace 4 times as many samples as with other languages (the sound files are scattered all around the soundbank and unless someone can read the binary files inside them it is very hard to establish where the calls appear during a stage).

Use at your own risk, however there is no messing with physics so it is safe, I guess

CREDITS:
Xaser - Wwise Sound Tool BETA 0.9.9
versedi - batch processing code (obsolete)
Codemasters - DiRT Rally!

 

[VCA]

Helo I have a problem I edit the file in wav adobe audition i recorded it in 16-bit pcm wav but using wwisetool.exe encode the program gives me error i is closed which is the exact format for saving files

Thank you

 

[Palo Samo]

I

Helo I have a problem I edit the file in wav adobe audition i recorded it in 16-bit pcm wav but using wwisetool.exe encode the program gives me error i is closed which is the exact format for saving files

Thank you

Is it the same length as the original wave file?

 

[VCA]

I

Is it the same length as the original wave file?

Yes

 

[Palo Samo]

Compare file size in kB of original. wem to your. wem. They have to be identical. If they are not then go back to editor and make sure both wave files match in length. I use Audacity and it works fine.

 

[porridge]

Audacity is indeed very handy when it comes to this length requirement. One way - and probably not the only way - is to duplicate the original sound file first (ctrl+D) and do your custom edits to that duplicate track. Once you're done with that and you can clearly see with your eyes closed that the custom track is shorter, simply silence the original track (ctrl+L), select all (ctrl+A) --> export selected audio and it'll mix down the file as mono for you in the original length. This should be foolproof and you'll avoid a pointless headache.

EDIT. Naturally, having said all of that, wwisetool crashes on me just when I'm about to re-pack the soundbank. Isn't that always the way? Oh well.

 

[Palo Samo]

That's weird, because I tested it and it packs my custom wems just fine. Anyone else having problems with wwisetool? Use total commander or similar to compare your wems to original ones. They have to be the same kB.

 

[porridge]

Found the culprit, I had been a bit careless with one file out of 160, oh what are the odds?

The tool itself and the bat files work brilliantly, absolutely nothing wrong with them.

 

[Palo Samo]

Well, your attention to detail has been awarded. What would you say to Phil Mills in DiRT Rally?

 

[porridge]

Dead against it, of course.

I can't see myself modding DR ever, it is what it is. But who knows, someday I may end up helping some others and that's why I'm now experimenting with one mapping method in a small scale to ease the use of those smaller soundbanks (other than English). I expect nothing will ever really come out of that but it's strangely satisfying to do useless tests.

It's crystal clear that the amount of work a new really well crafted co-driver language would require is just unbearable. There's no way anyone can do it alone, not even for one location only. And then I guess there is always the risk that codies could fix some pacenotes in the coming months which may or may not lead to broken pacenotes and some work would have to be done again. We'll see.

 

[Palo Samo]

When there's a will there's a way, so they say

 

[porridge]

Possibly. I'll buy that as long as "the way" doesn't involve THIS: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/38969486/test.mp3

 

[Palo Samo]

Why do you have a robot as a co-driver? Actually, I have an idea to incorporate one of an old Nokia Ovi Maps voices, he he.
If you listen to our Maciek Handwerker's voice, he's actually doing a decent job. He is a professional rally co-driver after all

 

[porridge]

How dare you insult my co-driver? If only she wasn't so robotic, she'd come to your house right now and hit you with a bag of oranges.

 

[Palo Samo]

I like oranges...

 

[VCA]

when I package with the new notes file soundbank gain weight in the modified notes Kb i no i hear i have the same weight as the original length.

I feel my English is translated from google
Thank you

 

[Palo Samo]

when I package with the new notes file soundbank gain weight in the modified notes Kb i no i hear i have the same weight as the original length.

I feel my English is translated from google
Thank you

Yeah, I can tell. What is your native language?

 

[VCA]

Español

 

[Palo Samo]

ok, make sure you do everything exactly as it says in the tutorial. ALL your custom samples have to be the same kB as originals. compare wem to wem in total commander for example

 

[VCA]

Hey there
While decompressed file webm translates well to wav wav gender note in the same Kb i the same time, the problem is that when I put of wem to wav file weighs remains the same with the same weight in kb , i the original wem weighs less than the original wav i which is generated by your script still weighs just just change the extension i ai is where I think that is the problem, then when the note file is packed gain weight in Kb i the modified notes are not heard.
Informatica understand something, but I can not find fault something happens when the script becomes wab to wem.
Thanks for listening.