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Warcraft II Battle.net EditionOriginal Redbook audio restored, junk removed(32 posts)(32 posts)
(32 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted October 05, 2019
del
Post edited October 05, 2019 by QWEEDDYZ
Posted January 20, 2020
Alright, after doing some research, ilwar2 was right, audio does get stored in the MPQ in a lossy compression format. So I have found a different MPQ tool called WinMPQ that allows me to change compression formats. So I have updated my original MPQ with audio stored in a lossless, compressed format for better audio quality. The link in my original post will now point to this updated MPQ. Enjoy!
Post edited January 20, 2020 by jakeximus
Posted January 20, 2020
Re2: What if replaced music filed be stored in extracted Music folder? In GOG version for unknown reason that did for unit voices (folder SPEECH). I dont know (and that why im ask), did Warcraft 2 game use that extracted files? As most games engines do with they're data archives.

*As i remember from my experience with russian unofficial versions, russian voices can be replaced in MPQ and (*or) in extracted folder. Some unofficial russian packs use MPQ probably, but most use separate SPEECH folder. As i remember, it cannot be possible to use separate russian MPQ with separate exe file. Not like in warcraft 3 where mods\voices packs can be installed as separate MPQ+exe = no files replaced = 100% game version and Bnet compatibility. So correct move for Wc2 is using extracted SPEECH folder (or MUSIC for music).

**Im probably wrong. Maybe that folder only used by Sound Extractor tool packed with game distributive and only one way to replace any files in MPQ for Wc2 - replace whole original MPQ with modded one. Probably no any other folders in game root directory can be used by any tool\game...

If extracted folder work (for custom music) - isnt better use that folder distributed just as archived folder? Whole INSTALL.MPQ = whole game. If ilwar2 build it to him game repack - than im just download that repack
Post edited January 20, 2020 by QWEEDDYZ
Posted January 23, 2020
I didn't know about this issue (I haven't bought Gog's version yet and I only own the old physical Deluxe Edition).

Thanks to delicieuxz for reporting the problem, to jakeximus for fixing it and to ilwar2 for the extra tips! : )
Post edited January 23, 2020 by phaolo
Posted March 14, 2020
Perfect! Excellent job on the audio restoration.
Posted April 19, 2020
nice quailty music, although sounds similar to battle net to me, main difference being the music loops
Post edited April 19, 2020 by desktop.592
Posted April 19, 2020
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desktop.592: nice quailty music, although sounds similar to battle net to me, main difference being the music loops
Aye, the difference in quality isn't huge, but I could discern a difference on my pricier headphones compared to the old battle.net music.
Post edited April 19, 2020 by jakeximus
Posted April 19, 2020
Alright, I finally force myself to sit down and finish the OPL3/Sound Blaster 16 Music restoration project. Man it sure turned out to be a much bigger rabbit hole than I was expecting.

You can check it out here: https://www.gog.com/forum/warcraft_ii_battlenet_edition/warcraft_ii_opl3_midi_music_replacement_sound_blaster_16_and_the_like
Posted April 20, 2020
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jakeximus: Alright, I finally force myself to sit down and finish the OPL3/Sound Blaster 16 Music restoration project. Man it sure turned out to be a much bigger rabbit hole than I was expecting.

You can check it out here: https://www.gog.com/forum/warcraft_ii_battlenet_edition/warcraft_ii_opl3_midi_music_replacement_sound_blaster_16_and_the_like
Ok, I`ll see what it`s like
Posted April 23, 2020
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QWEEDDYZ: Re2: What if replaced music filed be stored in extracted Music folder? In GOG version for unknown reason that did for unit voices (folder SPEECH). I dont know (and that why im ask), did Warcraft 2 game use that extracted files? As most games engines do with they're data archives.

*As i remember from my experience with russian unofficial versions, russian voices can be replaced in MPQ and (*or) in extracted folder. Some unofficial russian packs use MPQ probably, but most use separate SPEECH folder. As i remember, it cannot be possible to use separate russian MPQ with separate exe file. Not like in warcraft 3 where mods\voices packs can be installed as separate MPQ+exe = no files replaced = 100% game version and Bnet compatibility. So correct move for Wc2 is using extracted SPEECH folder (or MUSIC for music).

**Im probably wrong. Maybe that folder only used by Sound Extractor tool packed with game distributive and only one way to replace any files in MPQ for Wc2 - replace whole original MPQ with modded one. Probably no any other folders in game root directory can be used by any tool\game...

If extracted folder work (for custom music) - isnt better use that folder distributed just as archived folder? Whole INSTALL.MPQ = whole game. If ilwar2 build it to him game repack - than im just download that repack
Ah, I see what you're saying. Unfortunately it seems the game doesn't allow the use of extracted music from within the directory like it does with speech sounds, so we can't just dish out a copy of the folder with the modified music, sorry. I've not heard any documentation on this, but I thought I'd test it out myself to be sure.

I can tell that the speech sound effects are stored in the War2Dat.mpq with the same directory layout of GameSFX that the W2Sounds.EXE program extracts them into. We also know that the music is stored in the Install.MPQ file and in there, its in a root directory called Music, so based on that, I created a Music folder in the Warcraft 2 directory and placed a wav file in there with the same name as the main menu music, which is OWARROOM.WAV, butI used a different wave file from my music archive (and yes, it was converted into actual wave format, not just renamed to have the .wav file extension), but after loading up Warcraft 2, the old main menu music was the same. oh well. It was worth a shot anyway.
Posted August 14, 2020
I've downloaded the MPQ you provided and it does indeed restore the audio to its former glory. My only question - does it include the two additional songs that were included in the expansion set?
Posted September 15, 2020
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Daedalus_Falk: I've downloaded the MPQ you provided and it does indeed restore the audio to its former glory. My only question - does it include the two additional songs that were included in the expansion set?
Yep it sure does.
Posted May 11, 2021
I tried this out and I can tell the audio has improved significantly, so thanks for this.

One small nitpick that isn't addressed that I wanted to bring up...
In the original WC2 release, the music track played at the final briefing screen (after the ending cinematic) for both Orc campaigns was Orc track 4:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfOaV9QEk4I

However, the BNE release for some reason changed the Orc outro brefings to use Human track 4:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTQ8lago8g0

This change always irritated me, since the original track was much more fitting for the end of the Orc campaigns than the new one. Is there any way to restore which music track that last briefing screen points to?
Post edited May 11, 2021 by LaithArkham
Posted May 20, 2021
Thanks for your amazing work. Is there any possibility you could to this for the german version of Warcraft 2 too?
The briefings in campaign are now in mixed language...
Posted June 22, 2021
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LaithArkham: I tried this out and I can tell the audio has improved significantly, so thanks for this.

One small nitpick that isn't addressed that I wanted to bring up...
In the original WC2 release, the music track played at the final briefing screen (after the ending cinematic) for both Orc campaigns was Orc track 4:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfOaV9QEk4I

However, the BNE release for some reason changed the Orc outro brefings to use Human track 4:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTQ8lago8g0

This change always irritated me, since the original track was much more fitting for the end of the Orc campaigns than the new one. Is there any way to restore which music track that last briefing screen points to?
Unfortunately its beyond my ability to change when the game uses which music files. Sorry.
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jaydee2k: Thanks for your amazing work. Is there any possibility you could to this for the german version of Warcraft 2 too?
The briefings in campaign are now in mixed language...
Yeah that should be easy enough to do. I'll see about getting that done.
Post edited June 22, 2021 by jakeximus
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Warcraft II Battle.net EditionOriginal Redbook audio restored, junk removed(32 posts)(32 posts)
(32 posts)