1. #1

    8.2 FileDataID changes = custom sounds no longer possible?

    All the custom sound "addons" are broken. They're not really addons per se obviously, but they are on Curse and have been supported and enabled by Blizzard since 2004.
    As of 8.2 the client no longer uses file names, just FileDataIDs. It appears you can no longer simply put new sound files in _retail_/sound folder and WOW loads those custom files.
    For over a decade people have been putting in, say, a different gun sound, or whatever. Curse is full of addons that do this, I have written a few. I've used CASC extensively to make some annoying sounds silent, and change music, etc.
    I haven't seen this discussed anywhere except for some mentions on developers sites & github. But while their focus is mere extraction, mine is the practical implementation of custom sound in game. Is this the end of audio customization? Or has anyone figured out a workaround?

    Edit: found this
    https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wo...rking/207369/2
    TLDR
    "This is an unfortunate consequence of the data mining arms race IMHO.

    Coming in 8.2 they are getting rid of 99% of the filenames. This is why sound file mods are going to break. Sound file mods work as they override existing file paths making your custom sound play instead (or play silence in the case of silence mods) . If there’s no names the code that would normally override an exisiting sound in favour of your custom sound never works as it literally can’t find the sound you want to replace.

    Unfortunately Sound file mods seem to be the only non Addon related mod particularly affected by this. Cursor type over-rides haven’t be possible for years now (afaik) . Custom fonts aren’t affected by this change either (afaik)."

    I really hope this is addressed! If it is not, if player customization and agency are so callously disregarded, then I am very worried about the direction of the game.
    Last edited by Machinelf; 2019-06-26 at 04:45 AM.

  2. #2
    While data-mining might have contributed to it, accessing files via file paths is just slower than accessing them via file ids, so, generally, this change was about performance gains, but killing two birds w/ one stones always is a noice bonus. And UI team, that's responsible for API, UI modifications, and stuff, isn't the one that caused this change, just like us, they're told to deal w/ it.

    And, IIRC, they're looking into ways to reimplement customisation/replacement of sounds, but there's no details on how they're going to do it.

    As for looking for sound or any other files, there's an online file browser which still has file paths for already known files, can be used by people to replace files paths w/ file ids in their addons.
    Last edited by ls-; 2019-06-26 at 08:54 AM.

  3. #3
    You can also just remove all spell animations. Or classes or races. That will also boost performance.
    I can't help but think the performance gain for using numbers rather than file paths is anything more than infinitesimal, at the cost of giving the finger to a significant chunk of the dedicated player base that choose to alters their UIs rather than being force feed WOW's often awful audio. This will only encourage people to turn off sound completely.
    I guess it all depends on whether you as a company puts players first, or not.
    One more step to being a phone game.
    And if Blizzard thinks this will deter anyone who wants to datamine new content, I have a bridge in new jersey i'd like to sell you.
    Last edited by Machinelf; 2019-06-26 at 02:10 PM.

  4. #4
    seriously every xpac they go out of their way to make performance worse and worse. on classic client I get 60fps, on retail I barely get 20. breaking custom sounds did nothing to improve my performance, but removing all the lower graphic options killed it

  5. #5
    Herald of the Titans Alex86el's Avatar
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    Oh crap, i hope my vanilla "deepthroat shotgun" sound file still works.
    I hate the new ""gun"" sounds they added, i think in Cata.
    It sounds like dropping a pebble in the water.

  6. #6
    Reading further down the WOW forum thread, there's a new addon that can silence certain sounds by our main man Funkehdude.
    https://www.curseforge.com/wow/addons/mutesoundfile
    You have to type /msf to open options

    And you cross reference with
    https://wow.tools/

    It's doable for a few sounds, but entering is tedious.
    This may help some get the most annoying sounds in the game out - the GCD "whooshes"
    569772, -- sound/spells/fizzle/fizzleholya.ogg
    569773, -- sound/spells/fizzle/fizzlefirea.ogg
    569774, -- sound/spells/fizzle/fizzlenaturea.ogg
    569775, -- sound/spells/fizzle/fizzlefrosta.ogg
    569776, -- sound/spells/fizzle/fizzleshadowa.ogg

    HOPEFULLY someone with more brains than I will make an addon that integrates Mutesoundfile and WOWtools into one bloaty addon (though options could be separate to address bloat)
    Last edited by Machinelf; 2019-07-02 at 01:39 AM.

  7. #7
    Sorry for necroing this thread, but has someone looked at the Classic folder to see if its possible to replace its sounds?

    As much as i love classic, classic female orcs still sounds like someone taking a hard crap while constipated, and WOD did a great job replacing it.

    - - - Updated - - -

    NVM: You can replace Classic race sounds with the retail ones as long as they are the original filenames
    the original trick still works

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by PelinalWhitestrake View Post

    NVM: You can replace Classic race sounds with the retail ones as long as they are the original filenames
    the original trick still works
    can you explain how you are able to do this?

    I've been trying to use a modified gun sounds pack to lessen the annoyance of guns but I cannot get them to work. I put the sound/spells folder in the main Warcraft directory and also the _classic_ directory but that didnt change any sound. Then I saw a suggestion on curse.com to make another subfolder sound/spells/new files/ to put the sounds files in but it also did not work.

    all the threads on wow general forum end with no resolution.

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