I have the holy grail! (WWise older versions)....now help me Hex Edit these audio files!

[denbigh7]

After I posted about wanting to edit WWE2K14/Wrestling Legends audio files (entranace calls, commentary, etc) @stlpowercat was extremely kind and generous enough to share with me 2 of the older versions of WWise that were used to edit audio files on 2K14. These versions are WWise2016.1.0.5775 and WWise 2015.1.9.5624. (We still don't have the holy of holies, which is WWise version 5073, but power cat said that he edited audio files using versions 5775 and 5624, so let's roll with that.)

He also shared with me some spreadsheets that list all of the audio file locations for both vanilla 2K14 and the modded Wrestling Legends. This includes announcer call names, championship belt names, etc. Here is a link to all of these files, along with a PDF created a number of years ago by @UndertakerWLF, which gives an indepth tutorial on how to replace audio via hex editing.

https://mega.nz/folder/gAEH0ZxY#2GgycKymRdcOCRt9D6gY5A

Decryption key: 2GgycKymRdcOCRt9D6gY5A

Once I got all these files and began going over the tutorial, I'll be honest.....I was lost. I felt like I was trying to learn how to perform brain surgery. @stlpowercat and the ever amazing @Red Rooster both helped walked me through things, and I've just got to say.....we have some incredible members here in this forum. I thank you both for taking time to help me figure things out.

So, here's where I'm at......

Though my ultimate goal is to try and edit the commentary, I wanted to start small. I attempted to change Davey Boy Smith's call name from "The British Bulldog" to his actual name...."Davey Boy Smith". (I'm also including a wav file and wem file of Davey Boy Smith in the link above, in hopes that someone smarter than myself can figure this out.)

The first step was trying to create a wem using one of the older versions of WWise and following @UndertakerWLF's tutorial. As best I could, I followed those instructions and created a wem. I was able to test this wem via the 2019 Sound Editor, using the audio player in the tool section. Each time I attempted to create a wem, it would always play in the Sound Editor. (Now, whether or not it was made correctly enough to play in WWE2K14 is another story, but we'll talk about that in a minute.)

The next step, per Undertaker's tutorial, is to open the Game_Sound_M.pck file in a Hex program. (Side note: I've been using HexD but @Red Rooster turned me onto Hex Workshop, which seems much more straightforward. Once open, I needed to find Davey Boy Smith's "superstar ID" number. Thankfully, the ingenious creators of Wrestling Legends have already done that leg work, and it's very easy to locate in the spreadsheets. Davey Boy Smith's main call name by Fink in Hex format in WL is 2B6405F2. (If you're looking at the spreasheet, you'll notice that his slot was originally Chris Jericho in the vanilla 2K14.)

When I search for Davey's superstar ID in Hex, here's what it brings up:

The highlighted area is his superstar ID. Per Undertaker's tutorial, I need to make a note of both the size and offset of Davey's file. In the image below, here's an example in the tutorial. My best understanding is that you have 8 digits of superstar ID, then 4 zeros, then a 08, then 4 more zeros, then the size of the file, which is 6 digits. Then 2 more zeros, then 6 digits which is the offset. (Apparantly, "offset" is another way of saying "where to tell the game to start playing a specific audio file". I also think offset may be referred to as "header" as well. Not positive about that yet.)

After this, I need to open my created Davey Boy Smith wem in Hex. And this is where things get really, really tricky.

I need to go to the very end of my Game_Sound_M.pck file in Hex and see where it ends. It ends at 44EF93B6, which I think also indicates its size. We then need to use the built in Hex calculator in Hex workshop to divide 44EF93B6 by 8, and it gives us 89DF276. This is an invalid header, because it needs to end with 00. The next Hex number after 89DF276 that ends with 00 is 89DF300. So now, we do the calculation in reverse 89DF300 x 8, which gives us 44EF9800.

We then need to fill the end of the file with 00s until we get down to 44EF9800. Once there, I go back to my Davey Boy Smith wem in Hex, copy the entire file, go back to Game_Sound_M.pck and paste it right after 44EF9800. 

I also need to make note of the size of my Davey Boy Smith wem file. To do so, select all and look in the bottom right corner where it says SEL: 0000AEA0. I believe you can also get this size by placing your cursor after the last zero at the end of the file.

Now, going back to my Game_Sound_M.pck file, I go back to Davey's superstar number. At the end of his number, I go past the 4 zeros, past the 08, past 4 more zeros, and now this is where I start entering the new size of the file. Davey's wem is 0000AEA0. But it's confusing to me, as the example in the tutorial is 6 digits, and my size is 8, even though 4 of those digits are zeros. If I take the last 6 digits, it's 00AEA0. Then I skip 2 zeros, and enter the new offset, which is 89DF300. This is also confusing, because my number is 7 digits, but the tutorial only has 6. Nevertheless, I try to enter it.  Here's what it looks like when I'm done:

The red digits indicate the ones that I've edited. 

Now, I save the file and place the newly edited Game_Sound_M.pck file back into my game.

And...........

It doesn't work. Which, I'm pretty certain, is because of user error. I've tried editing both the size and the offset multiple ways....starting in column 13 instead of 14, etc. But so far, I haven't had any luck. When I choose Davey Boy Smith in the game, instead of saying "Davey Boy Smith" or even "The British Bulldog", it just goes blank.

If you've read this post this far, here's what I'm asking:

Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong? Am I not editing the file correctly? Am I putting the size and/or offset numbers in the wrong place? Am I not dividing and multiplying correctly? (math was never my thing). Do I even have the correct size and offset numbers? Could it possibly be that the version of WWise I'm using is not creating a wem that can be read in the game? So many variables. 

I would love for someone else to give this a try and help me see what I'm doing wrong. After all these years, it would be awesome to once again be able to mod the audio in 2K14/WL. Please feel free to download the files I've provided and give it a go yourself. 

Thanks!

Edited June 7, 2022 by denbigh7
grammar

[justYn1893]

Nice that the correct Wwise version has finally been found. My first test run by just following the tutorial worked perfectly fine for me. 

But I would recommend maybe using another file hoster instead of Mega, since it's over 7 GB it will definitely exceed the daily bandwidth limit

[denbigh7]

25 minutes ago, justYn1893 said:

Nice that the correct Wwise version has finally been found. My first test run by just following the tutorial worked perfectly fine for me. 

But I would recommend maybe using another file hoster instead of Mega, since it's over 7 GB it will definitely exceed the daily bandwidth limit

Thanks for the tip on Mega....any thoughts on what to use as an alternative?

And hang on one sec........ARE YOU SAYING THAT YOU GOT IT TO WORK??????? You got the audio modded?? Please tell me how you did it!! I have been wanting for so long to mod it, but even following the tutorial has not helped. 

My understanding was that the two versions of WWise I was given weren't *quite* the original versions used to mod audio from 2K14, which I thought were the reason it wasn't working for me. But if you got it to work, I'd give anything to know how you did it!

Edited January 13, 2023 by denbigh7

[justYn1893]

39 minutes ago, denbigh7 said:

Thanks for the tip on Mega....any thoughts on what to use as an alternative?

And hang on one sec........ARE YOU SAYING THAT YOU GOT IT TO WORK??????? You got the audio modded?? Please tell me how you did it!! I have been wanting for so long to mod it, but even following the tutorial has not helped. 

My understanding was that the two versions of WWise I was given weren't *quite* the original versions used to mod audio from 2K14, which I thought were the reason it wasn't working for me. But if you got it to work, I'd give anything to know how you did it!

You could try Google Drive, 15 GB free and that's what I'm always using for bigger files.

And yep, to get the hang of it I exactly followed the tutorial and created a new wem with the Wwise 2015.1.9.5624 build. 

https://streamable.com/ndb1ud

[denbigh7]

29 minutes ago, justYn1893 said:

You could try Google Drive, 15 GB free and that's what I'm always using for bigger files.

And yep, to get the hang of it I exactly followed the tutorial and created a new wem with the Wwise 2015.1.9.5624 build. 

https://streamable.com/ndb1ud

In the video link you shared, what did you add....Triple H's theme? By replacing AJ Lee's music? 

If I sent you my audio file for Wrestling Legends (which is somewhat modified from vanilla 2k14) would you be willing to try and edit it for me? Something small, like my Davey Boy Smith entrance name like in my post above. I'm curious to see if I'm just doing it wrong or if the WL audio file is vastly different and not able to be changed anymore, etc. I have been at my wit's end with this issue for almost a year now.

If you're willing to give it a try, here's the link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/13K6HGVqNb8EmGknNOWlx7LA1vLEQq8le?usp=share_link

I'd be eternally grateful if you can help me figure this out!!

Edited January 13, 2023 by denbigh7

[justYn1893]

1 hour ago, denbigh7 said:

In the video link you shared, what did you add....Triple H's theme? By replacing AJ Lee's music? 

If I sent you my audio file for Wrestling Legends (which is somewhat modified from vanilla 2k14) would you be willing to try and edit it for me? Something small, like my Davey Boy Smith entrance name like in my post above. I'm curious to see if I'm just doing it wrong or if the WL audio file is vastly different and not able to be changed anymore, etc. I have been at my wit's end with this issue for almost a year now.

Nah I replaced Triple H's with Chris Benoit's theme.

Also just tried the Davey Boy Smith call name, converted it to wem using Wwise, replaced Jericho's call name, and with using the empty valid offset 3462A000 it's basically a no-brainer and directly worked for me. But after I tried it with what I thought was the next empty valid offset it didn't work. So that's what I'm not fully understanding yet. (btw. not with yours yet)

Edited January 13, 2023 by justYn1893

[denbigh7]

8 minutes ago, justYn1893 said:

Nah I replaced Triple H's with Chris Benoit's theme.

Also just tried the Davey Boy Smith call name, converted it to wem using Wwise, replaced Jericho's call name, and with using the empty valid offset 3462A000 it's basically a no-brainer and directly worked for me. But after I tried it with what I thought was the next empty valid offset it didn't work. So that's what I'm not fully understanding yet. (btw. not with yours yet)

Well, at least that's telling me that version of WWise is working and converting wems ok. That eliminates one of the things that could be the problem. So now for me, the problem is either the way I'm trying to edit the audio in HEX, or perhaps the WL audio file. 

I remember once when trying edit the string file for WL and having issues, Red Rooster let me know that I had to use an untampered *magic* string to inject into. However, I'm guessings that wouldn't apply to a sound file, especially since we aren't using Xpacker or anything. Just curious to know what my issue might be. 

Glad to know it's working for you, though! I feel one step closer to figuring it out!

[justYn1893]

20 minutes ago, denbigh7 said:

Well, at least that's telling me that version of WWise is working and converting wems ok. That eliminates one of the things that could be the problem. So now for me, the problem is either the way I'm trying to edit the audio in HEX, or perhaps the WL audio file. 

I remember once when trying edit the string file for WL and having issues, Red Rooster let me know that I had to use an untampered *magic* string to inject into. However, I'm guessings that wouldn't apply to a sound file, especially since we aren't using Xpacker or anything. Just curious to know what my issue might be. 

Glad to know it's working for you, though! I feel one step closer to figuring it out!

Actually might have it figured out. I've successfully replaced the Chris Jericho call name in your audio file with Davey Boy Smith's. The only thing that's left is to figure out how to increase the volume even more, I think I used the max volume value in Wwise and it's still not as loud as it probably should be.

 

https://streamable.com/kd9je4

 

Edited January 13, 2023 by justYn1893

[denbigh7]

15 minutes ago, justYn1893 said:

Actually might have it figured out. I've successfully replaced the Chris Jericho call name in your audio file with Davey Boy Smith's. The only thing that's left is to figure out how to increase the volume even more, I think I used the max volume value in Wwise and it's still not as loud as it probably should be.

 

https://streamable.com/kd9je4

 

That's amazing!! Heck, if the only problem now is just volume, perhaps I can just boost the wav file in audacity before converting to wem. 

Would love to know how you accomplished this! Are you on Discord? Might be easier to chat that way.

[XIII XHP]

I can adjust the call names volumes for you if you send me the .wav files.  That's what's up yo

[denbigh7]

21 hours ago, XIII XHP said:

I can adjust the call names volumes for you if you send me the .wav files.  That's what's up yo

Thanks for being willing to help. That's what I love about this forum!

I can adjust the wav volumes easily enough....it's just hard to know how they are going to sound until you get them into the game. But again, thanks!

[justYn1893]

1 hour ago, denbigh7 said:

Thanks for being willing to help. That's what I love about this forum!

I can adjust the wav volumes easily enough....it's just hard to know how they are going to sound until you get them into the game. But again, thanks!

As a reference just use a random audio from the game, (depending on what you like to replace) import them both into Audacity and adjust the volume until it's quite the same like the original. Like that you pretty much can't miss.

[XIII XHP]

On 1/20/2023 at 1:42 AM, justYn1893 said:

As a reference just use a random audio from the game, (depending on what you like to replace) import them both into Audacity and adjust the volume until it's quite the same like the original. Like that you pretty much can't miss.

I would use Adobe Audtion to see what the wav files look like & match them up as best as I can.  Try to get the best source footage as possible to work with.