[BlazeHedgehog]

I did a search and didn't see a topic about this (save for somebody asking for a PAC unpacker in 2006 that was locked), so I dunno if this has been posted about elsewhere or not - sort of fell out of the whole hacking/lost stuff scene outside of the big stuff posted on Sonic Cult's main page.

Anyway! I downloaded the Sonic Heroes PC demo just to fool around with (felt too lazy to go down stairs and hook up the GC to my TV). Since I just lost my old HDD not long ago I've been down on sound effects to use for Fangames, so I set about trying to rip audio from Sonic Heroes.

The PAC files were my first target. I hunted around for a decompressor/unpacker to no avail, so I tried an old trick - I simply opened the PAC file in Goldwave. When you try an open a file format Goldwave doesn't understand, it gives you several generalized options in which to open the file with in hopes it will find something useful.



Since most games still use WAV, if you find the right audio format and sound rate, you'll often be presented with several minutes of game sound effects, each one nestled in between static - header data, no doubt. If you get the format wrong, you'll just hear static, so it helps to go through each option one at a time until you get something usable. Usually you'll know if you're getting close because you'll be able to hear a distorted version of the normal WAV files on certain options.

For Sonic Heroes' PAC files, we're looking for these options:

Quote

File Type: Raw (snd, raw)
Attributes: PCM Signed 16 bit, little endian, mono
Rate (hz): 22050

And hey, would you look at that!


(click to download bank3e.wav)

Bank0 = Menus, etc.
Bank1 = Level objects (rings, springs, etc.)
Bank2 = Character moves (Blue Tornado, Homing attack, etc.)
Bank3 = Character voices
Bank4 = Enemy sounds
Bank5_01 = Audio exclusive to Seaside Hill (waves crashing, seagulls, etc.)

Beyond that I dunno - I don't want to waste space on my HDD re-installing the PC version. :P In them, we get a couple of alternate voice clips I've never heard before, but most interesting is in Bank4 - we run in to a handful of sounds presumably for enemies, including some weird synthetic voices.

Distorted Laughter (?)
Synthetic voice saying "Nice Job!"
Creepy synthetic voice saying "Ouch-ie! Nngh!"
Synthetic voice saying "Great!" in mild engrish ("Gu-reat!")
I don't know what this one is saying.
This sounds very organic for a PAC containing mostly robot sounds.
A distorted "Grrrr!"
Your guess is as good as mine.


There's one more oddity in there, too: What sounds like a stabbing noise. It actually sounds like the knife stab sound from Counter-Strike.

So yeah. Hopefully this isn't old and I'm not totally making an ass out of myself. :P

[Acaeris]

The first one you couldn't make out says 'System Error'

[BlazeHedgehog]

I hear the "System" now that you mention it, but the second word is far too short for "Error".

[theSTHguy]

BlazeHedgehog, on May 18 2008, 11:16 PM, said:

Your guess is as good as mine.

That to me sounds like 'Oh what?!'

[BlazeHedgehog]

Also on the subject, has anybody dug through the AHX files yet? I went through the ones in the demo (eg: Team Sonic's in-level dialog and cutscene dialog for the whole game). It sounds as though originally teams were supposed to split up more often. I don't ever remember there being a place where the game gave you instructions on how to play as characters individually, but there are voice clips that say things like "Press and hold the B button while Sonic is alone to spin, and release to do a kick." This also applies for Tails ("Press the B Button while Tails is alone to stun an enemy with a dummy ring bomb"), but oddly, they never mention anything about Knuckles being alone (probably because he can punch just fine without Tails or Sonic). There's also a handful of voice clips along the lines of "Where you guys been?" (from Knuckles) "Whew, I thought I lost you." (from Tails) and "Hey, what took you guys so long?" (from Sonic), further hinting that this may have been a lost feature.

This post has been edited by BlazeHedgehog: 19 May 2008 - 06:11 PM

[Tweaker]

Irixion, on May 20 2008, 12:31 AM, said:

Where can I find the actual voices? You know the ones in the game? Hasn't someone RIPPED them?

I'm pretty sure that's precisely what he did.

[Irixion]

Heh, I found a site with some RIPPED Voices. I mean other voices not just those ones =P

[Qjimbo]

Cool stuff =)

Does this mean we can finally redub Tails' voice? =D

[Acaeris]

I listened to is again and it still sounds like 'System Error', there's almost no space between the words though. (So it sounds a little more like 'Systemrrer')

[PowerChaos]

If you get teams to another guy's part, most of the time, they have comments. For example, the Chaotix say something about the huge turtles.

[XCubed]

Some of those voices, like "Great Job" would seem appropriate for the Bonus/Special Stages, like a cleared checkpoint.

[SonikkuForever]

I don't think any of them are "voices", just robot sounds. The "gu-reat" one sounds pretty close to what you hear when you get too close to a robot.

[Polygon Jim]

BlazeHedgehog, on May 19 2008, 06:08 PM, said:

Also on the subject, has anybody dug through the AHX files yet? I went through the ones in the demo (eg: Team Sonic's in-level dialog and cutscene dialog for the whole game). It sounds as though originally teams were supposed to split up more often. I don't ever remember there being a place where the game gave you instructions on how to play as characters individually, but there are voice clips that say things like "Press and hold the B button while Sonic is alone to spin, and release to do a kick." This also applies for Tails ("Press the B Button while Tails is alone to stun an enemy with a dummy ring bomb"), but oddly, they never mention anything about Knuckles being alone (probably because he can punch just fine without Tails or Sonic). There's also a handful of voice clips along the lines of "Where you guys been?" (from Knuckles) "Whew, I thought I lost you." (from Tails) and "Hey, what took you guys so long?" (from Sonic), further hinting that this may have been a lost feature.

Well, since this thread was bumped, might as well point this out.

Wasn't that when a character dies, and later comes back, they say those lines?

[Namagem]

Yeah, when your teammates die, you can play as the individual characters. When a teammate is revived, you get the other messages you mentioned about coming back.

[BlazeHedgehog]

I've never had that happen before. I didn't even know they could "die" - just get stunned by the grabber robots.