TUTORIAL : Assigning ring announcer call names to custom superstar slots .REVISED.

[BlindedByTheGrace]

Hi,

As promised, I am putting up a tutorial about editing the ring announcer data file. I will try to break it down as much as possible.

The sound.pac file contains commentary data, ring announcer data and some other bit, some which I;ve not been able to decipher, but I will share what I have already discovered or what I know.

With the dlc releases , the sound_p30.pac file in the pac/audio folder will supersede the others, so we want to edit this file rather than the sound.pac file. I will outline the steps and some explanations below.

TOOLS REQUIRED : Pac Editor, HxD.

CCT - You need to open CCT so you can look up the ch ID's of each character slot which you will need to convert to hexadecimal using the windows calculator set to programmer mode.

I will also assume you know how to use pac editor and its decompress\reinject functions.

It is also assumed you know how to convert decimal ID's to Hexadecimal and vice versa using the Windows calculator.

Here is a copy of an un modified sound_p30.pac file https://mega.nz/file/RQwQ3YwR#fXaUytSvEsySzs6yTOcBt1ehG7QqaaW2JNiZ07UiP9k

 

1. Open the file using Pac Editor. Click on MASS EXTRACT to decompress all it's contents.

2. browse into the folder and subfolders created. You will need to open the @0BFD09BF523F7140.pac folder

3. You will see a list of folders . The two I have worked with are the C8 and 012C files. The C8 file contains the ring announcer data while the 012C contains the commentary data. This is the file I edit to modify the commentary call name for moves during matches. But what we need is the C8 file.

Click on the @C8.pac folder created to view it's contents.

4. You will see a lot of files beginning with ra. This stands for ring announcer. Each of these files control various ring announcer functions in the game.

The 15.rass file holds ring announcer data for character name announcements.

Open this file in HxD. You will be presented with the following. Please take note this is an unmodified file. The sound file in the ported moves and entrances pack has been modified.

I will explain the data entries in this file. 

Each Superstar in the game has a ring announcer ID. this ID is linked to the announcer names you find when you open the ra_m.pck file in sound editor and search for the superstar's name. 

These are not the ID's you see listed in sound editor. 

The first entry   64 00 00 00 04 1C 89 CC is for The Rock . Each entry is 8 bytes long. 64 being the 1st byte, 00 2nd byte, 89 the 7th byte and CC the 8th byte etc.

 

    His CH ID is 100, which is 64 when converted to Hex. The bytes are flipped (00 64 written as 64 00) .

   The last 4 bytes in orange 04 1C 89 CC  is the ring announcer ID for The Rock. This value hasn't changed since WWE 2K16.

   The next 8 bytes 65 00 00 00 BC 7E 4E 98 is the second entry for CH ID 101 (convert 65 to decimal ). This is Steve Austin's ID. The ring announcer ID for steve Austin is 

     BC 7E 4E 98

Lets look for the ID's for 2 other characters. Roman Reigns and Charlotte. 

First you need to look up their ID's in CCT and convert the value to hexadecimal. Roman Reigns CH ID is 368. Converting this to hex gives 170. Charlotte's CH 1D is 612. Converting this to Hex gives 264. In both cases we need to flip the bytes (01 70 becomes 70 01, 02 64 becomes 64 02)

If you look up 70 01 you will find this entry   70 01 00 00 8B 27 5E 3D and for 64 02 (Charlotte)  64 02 00 00 55 8D 25 23

Now If I replaced the bytes 8B  27 5E 3D with 55 8D 25 23 so Roman Reigns entry reads 70 01 00 00 55 8D 25 23, Roman Reigns  will get  announced  as Charlotte. 

All the ID's in this file are ring announcer ID's for superstars shipped with the game. There are no mod slots listed in this file. It also doesn't include ID's for removed characters.

But the good thing is we can insert slots for modded characters and include ID's for other superstars. We can't create custom ID' as we can't add sound without replacing so that's out of the question here.

For instance if you look in the Superstar list in CCT you will see slot 460 is marked as Cody Rhodes and 468 is marked as CM Punk. Lets say you have these two mods in your game, we first convert the ID's to hex. 460 is 1CC , 468 is 1D4. We can insert 8 bytes for each. 

TAKE NOTE THE CH ID'S ARE ARRANGED IN NUMBERICAL ORDER. IF YOU PLACE DATA JUST ANYWHERE, IT WON'T WORK.

Going by numerical order, CC 01 (1CC) is the next hex number to 01 CB (CB 01) . You can copy these 8 bytes of zero's and PASTE INSERT after the CB 01 entry as shown.          00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

Now we have ID's but no ring announcer ID's.

Luckily the developers left over ring announcer names for removed superstars who were in 2k18. There are about 30 wrestlers removed. The announce names are still linked to their 2K18 ID's so they work in 2k19.

I looked up the ring announcer ID's for all the 2k18 removed superstars and compiled them on this sheet. 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/163Y444q_0ODalgKxhG58gDJTz0Ko5ZUwcR7gc0qc6iU/edit#gid=0

 

We can use any of these for any slot we add. Lets say I wanted to use RVD and Darren Young's ring announcer names for Cody Rhodes and CM Punk, the ID's need to be copied to the blank spaces as shown here.

With this, any superstar placed in slot 460 will be announced as RVD while any superstar placed in slot 469 will be announced as Darren Young. Al that needs to be done is serach for those names and inject the announcer name audio over those names with Sound editor. 

I will have to assume you have been using sound editor.

After entries are added , you need to modify two data values. First, you need to scroll to the footer of the file and look up the last offset row. This will change after new entries are added. from this sheet, the last offset row is 00000840. We note down the value 840 ( we will flip the bytes as 40 08 when modifying)

.We need to scroll to the top , change the 28 08 to 40 08 

You will also need to take note of the value 05 01. This is the default number of entries in Hex. Since we added two entries we add 2 to 01 05 which will give 01 07. This is written as 07 01. These are important steps. If not done correctly, the last rows of ring announcer ID's wouldn't work.

if you are working with a modified sound_p30.pac file , these values will be slightly different as ring announcer ID's will have been added to the file.

 

Save the file, Open the 00C8.pac file in the folder with pac editor, locate the 0015.rass, select the INJECT FILE function and select the modified 0015.rass file.

Open the 0BFD09BF523F7140.pac file in pac editor, select the INJECT AS ZLIB function and inject the 00C8.pac file.

Open the sound_p30.pac file in pac editor and inject the 0BFD09BF523F7140.pac using the INJECT FILE function.

Place the file in the pac\audio folder.

 

Edited June 24, 2020 by squaredcirclefan
Added additional information 8th June

[TheVisitorX]

Thank you @squaredcirclefan for sharing your knowledge with us - again! That's the sense of a community, I think. I would like to add that the ID you mentioned is a reference to the soundbank (bnk file). There, the events and sounds are merged.  The entry points to an ID and this contains the announcements (sound ids). If you have the time, export the soundbanks with SE. I've experimented a lot here for the last few months, but unfortunately I have not been able to add new sounds. Maybe we can do it together somehow? I see the biggest chances at this point to really add 'new' sounds.

Edited February 8, 2019 by TheVisitorX

[BlindedByTheGrace]

1 hour ago, TheVisitorX said:

Thank you @squaredcirclefan for sharing your knowledge with us - again! That's the sense of a community, I think. I would like to add that the ID you mentioned is a reference to the soundbank (bnk file). There, the events and sounds are merged.  The entry points to an ID and this contains the announcements (sound ids). If you have the time, export the soundbanks with SE. I've experimented a lot here for the last few months, but unfortunately I have not been able to add new sounds. Maybe we can do it together somehow? I see the biggest chances at this point to really add 'new' sounds.

Thank you for the valuable info @TheVisitorX. I never knew this. I will check this out and see how further progress can be made as regard audio in the game

[DDK78]

Hi I first want to say thanks for this tutorial as I’m not very experienced  with hex editing besides modifying a few trons and ch files. I now understand how to interpret hex values and how they work relating to other data.

I followed your steps for looking for the announce data and ch ID for the removed stars in the 2k18 rass.pac file and like you described I inserted Tommaso Ciampas data into the 2k19 file. The only difference is I’m using slot 465 for his mod and not 461 because this slot has a render that I use for him. After reinjecting the proper files as you described with PAC editor I started up the game, picked Ciampa and started a match, but I heard no change, just the same announcement without his name. 

The 465 slot is D1 01 in hex and I inserted in numerical order like you said along with Ciampas announce data. Is there something I’m missing or didn’t do? Or is it possibly the slot I’m using him in, as it’s not a custom slot or in game playable character? Any help would be great thanks.

[BlindedByTheGrace]

1 hour ago, DDK78 said:

Hi I first want to say thanks for this tutorial as I’m not very experienced  with hex editing besides modifying a few trons and ch files. I now understand how to interpret hex values and how they work relating to other data.

I followed your steps for looking for the announce data and ch ID for the removed stars in the 2k18 rass.pac file and like you described I inserted Tommaso Ciampas data into the 2k19 file. The only difference is I’m using slot 465 for his mod and not 461 because this slot has a render that I use for him. After reinjecting the proper files as you described with PAC editor I started up the game, picked Ciampa and started a match, but I heard no change, just the same announcement without his name. 

The 465 slot is D1 01 in hex and I inserted in numerical order like you said along with Ciampas announce data. Is there something I’m missing or didn’t do? Or is it possibly the slot I’m using him in, as it’s not a custom slot or in game playable character? Any help would be great thanks.

Hi,

I will check this out and get back to you.

UPDATE : I performed tests with this slot  465 with Tommaso Ciampa and can confirm the name announcement works. I suspect you have not set up the hometown announcement. One thing I have found out is the name will not be announced without the hometown announcement.

I will be putting up a tutorial on the Hometown announcement later today as it seems to be vital to the name being announced on any slot.

Edited February 10, 2019 by squaredcirclefan

[DDK78]

4 hours ago, squaredcirclefan said:

Hi,

I will check this out and get back to you.

UPDATE : I performed tests with this slot  465 with Tommaso Ciampa and can confirm the name announcement works. I suspect you have not set up the hometown announcement. One thing I have found out is the name will not be announced without the hometown announcement.

I will be putting up a tutorial on the Hometown announcement later today as it seems to be vital to the name being announced on any slot.

Ah ok so that would explain it, since indeed I have not applied the hometown announce data. I had figured it wasnt a slot problem as I just now tried with Brian Kendrick in the 727 slot and still didnt work. Thanks so much for the update I'll be looking forward to your tutorial for it.

EDIT: Ok something else just came up, after inserting those files for the mods I ran into a problem...ring announce audio for Lio Rush and Richochet is now silent...meaning JoJo announces their hometown and weight as they enter but doesnt say their name! Looking at the rass file I see that they are the last 2 entries, does that mean their files are not being read anymore?

Edited February 10, 2019 by DDK78

[DDK78]

Yeah now Ricochet and Lio Rush are not being announced just their hometowns and weight...something I modified wrong in the file? 

Just want to confirm before I make the hometown modification.

[BlindedByTheGrace]

7 hours ago, DDK78 said:

Yeah now Ricochet and Lio Rush are not being announced just their hometowns and weight...something I modified wrong in the file? 

Just want to confirm before I make the hometown modification.

Hi, 

I have noticed this too in testing. I have posted an update to the tutorial above highlighting the bytes to edit for each additional entry. This is independent of the Hometown announcement.

[DDK78]

My friend I cant thank you enough, everything is working great now! I have to say your tutorial skills are a huge asset to this community, especially for noobs like me lol!

[BlindedByTheGrace]

7 minutes ago, DDK78 said:

My friend I cant thank you enough, everything is working great now! I have to say your tutorial skills are a huge asset to this community, especially for noobs like me lol!

Great man. Good news. If you found the tutorial simple enough to understand, that's great. Thanks for the compliment. 

[Fawuwu]

so i am copying the current usos ra id to retro uso so i can use thier retro for mods.

this is the first time i have done this and i wanted to check that i have the steps right (will be using jey for example)

 jey14 id is 451 =1c3 in hex flipped is c3 01 so i copied everything in row 2-7 to a text so that i can use it for my mod

jeys current id is 333=14d  or 4d 01 so i copied row 2-7 and pasted it over c3 01 row 2-7 

so jey 14 should now use his current jojo files

did i do this right

[BlindedByTheGrace]

3 minutes ago, Fawuwu said:

so i am copying the current usos ra id to retro uso so i can use thier retro for mods.

this is the first time i have done this and i wanted to check that i have the steps right (will be using jey for example)

 jey14 id is 451 =1c3 in hex flipped is c3 01 so i copied everything in row 2-7 to a text so that i can use it for my mod

jeys current id is 333=14d  or 4d 01 so i copied row 2-7 and pasted it over c3 01 row 2-7 

so jey 14 should now use his current jojo files

did i do this right

That’s correct. I will post a link later today for the ID’s of all 2k18 characters which will serve as additional names to use.

[kevymatts]

I've fixed the announcer call name to my mod but the commentary is still being referred to the el mago slot instead? any suggestion?

[BlindedByTheGrace]

30 minutes ago, kevymatts said:

I've fixed the announcer call name to my mod but the commentary is still being referred to the el mago slot instead? any suggestion?

Ring announcer ID’s and commentary ID’s are separate in the game. So even if you change the ring announcer ID, you still get the superstar commentary. This is handled by a different file. I will put up a guide in a day or two about removing the commentary for the slot.

[kevymatts]

20 hours ago, squaredcirclefan said:

Ring announcer ID’s and commentary ID’s are separate in the game. So even if you change the ring announcer ID, you still get the superstar commentary. This is handled by a different file. I will put up a guide in a day or two about removing the commentary for the slot.

Thank  you means alot mate

[BlindedByTheGrace]

15 hours ago, kevymatts said:

Thank  you means alot mate

Hi,

I have put up a tutorial on removing commentary. Hopefully its not too hard.

 

[jackandnikkibella]

Can you make a video tutorial on this please

[BlindedByTheGrace]

2 hours ago, jackandnikkibella said:

Can you make a video tutorial on this please

Hi,

This procedure, whether described in a video tutorial or not is based on manual hex editing offsets. I will have to assume the user has been editing hexadecimal data previously. 
If you’re just beginning to mod the game and you haven’t got the basic knowledge of hexadecimal data or knowledge of the tools used , then it’s going to be a bit daunting.

[myk13]

ok, I'm trying to add a call name. The slot I'm using is 782 which was for Raven. I'm following the tutorial and when I get to the HxD section, the audio is already there, listed at 0E 03 00 00 CA 74 C2 7D. Meaning there is already audio supposedly there for the mod. How can I figure out which wem to replace using that string? how do I see what the corresponding file is for CA 74 C2 7D

Edited September 12, 2020 by myk13

[BlindedByTheGrace]

5 hours ago, myk13 said:

ok, I'm trying to add a call name. The slot I'm using is 782 which was for Raven. I'm following the tutorial and when I get to the HxD section, the audio is already there, listed at 0E 03 00 00 CA 74 C2 7D. Meaning there is already audio supposedly there for the mod. How can I figure out which wem to replace using that string? how do I see what the corresponding file is for CA 74 C2 7D

Hi,

There is a link in the tutorial to a spreadsheet containing the ring announcer ID’s for the 2k18 removed characters.

If you look up the CA 72 C2 7D, it’s for Mankind. You can remove that and replace it with another in the sheet.

[myk13]

20 hours ago, squaredcirclefan said:

Hi,

There is a link in the tutorial to a spreadsheet containing the ring announcer ID’s for the 2k18 removed characters.

If you look up the CA 72 C2 7D, it’s for Mankind. You can remove that and replace it with another in the sheet.

Thanks, I saw that sheet, and looked it over twice.  Guess I kept just missing Mankind.

[myk13]

One more question.  Everything was working fine until the last step where the numbers rolled over.  What do i do there?  Example, i changed the bottom row (which was 940) on my modded string to 40 09 but then the last part was at 29 and then when I added 1 (because I added one string) to 30 01 it stopped working for the last row.  Is there something that has to be done different since it went up to a new number that reset it to 30? Not sure I'm wording the last part right but it worked fine on all the previous strings I added going from 27 to 28 to 29 etc.  

Edited September 16, 2020 by myk13

[BlindedByTheGrace]

Just now, myk13 said:

One more question.  Everything was working fine until the last step where the numbers rolled over.  What do i do there?  Example, i changed the bottom row (which was 940) on my modded string to 40 09 but then the last part was at 29 and then when I added 1 (because I added one string) to 30 01 it stopped working for the last row.  Is there something that has to be done different since it went up to a new number that reset it to 30? Not sure I'm wording the last part right but it worked fine on all the previous strings I added going from 27 to 28 to 29 etc.  

Hi,

In hexadecimal notation, adding 1 to 29 gives 2A not 30.

If there are issues , can you post a screenshot of the top and bottom rows of the file you are working on?

Edited September 16, 2020 by squaredcirclefan

[myk13]

56 minutes ago, squaredcirclefan said:

Hi,

In hexadecimal notation, adding 1 to 29 gives 2A not 30.

If there are issues , can you post a screenshot of the top and bottom rows of the file you are working on?

[BlindedByTheGrace]

Just now, myk13 said:

Hi,

Can you also post a screenshot of the bottom section where the last entry is?