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Making music/sounds work in newer patches

Level 18
Joined
Jan 12, 2011
Messages
1,512
Hello fellow wc3 modders, today I will bring you a tutorial for something that is very widely used and has been changed as of recently. Making music and sounds work in your map, yes, as of recently Blizzard has changed which sounds and music work in Warcraft 3, due to that, you are now required to have the files in specific format which Blizzard mp3s use.

This also serves as a tutorial to optimize the music in your map in case this got reverted, because a 320kbps MP3 can go above 10mb even if it is less than 10 minutes, however in this format it will most likely be 1/3rd of the original size, saving you tons of space.

Step 1)
Download and install audacity from here:
Download | Audacity ®
Step 2)
Install it and Run It
step1.JPG

Alright now that we are at our main screen, you will be asked for a DLL once you try to convert music, when you get asked for it, you will have to choose a path to select the DLL in your computer, the DLL can be downloaded from:
free mp3 converter - Lame for Audacity - FFMpeg for Audacity - Free and Safe downloads

step2.JPG

Once you downloaded the DLL, just place it on an easy to access folder and once you are prompted for the missing DLL you just select it.

Alright, let's continue with the tutorial.

First open preferences for Audacity:
step3.JPG
Then set both the default sample rate and default sample format to the following values:
step5.JPG
After that you will open your desired input (original) music/sound:
step6.JPG
step7.JPG
As you can see to the left of the track you can see the current settings of the music/sound, still aren't at our desired Output format that Warcraft 3 supports. So we will resample the music/sound:
step8.JPG
step9.JPG
For the new sample rate, select 22050:
step10.JPG
step11.JPG
step12.JPG
step13.JPG
Now you should be done with almost everything except the bit-rate, for this we will click on export -> export MP3:
step14.JPG
Inside export MP3 you will select the following settings:
step15.JPG

And lastly you just click save where you want the converted and optimized MP3 to be at so you can import it to your map.

(In short, your music/sounds must have its project rate set to 22050 Hz, Bit-Depth to 16 Bit PCM, Bit Rate mode to constant (128 Kbps) and Channel mode to Stereo).

That is basically all that you need to do, of course this can also be done with other sound editors, I did pick Audacity because it is a free and open source software.

(By the way, I prefer mp3s for music, however for sounds instead of exporting as MP3 select export as WAV)
 

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Level 2
Joined
Sep 27, 2010
Messages
14
This doesn't fix the main problem with the new sound bugs.

If you stop the sound after fading it will cut off part of the sound and if you don't it will eventually bug out and not play the sound ever again.
 
Level 2
Joined
Sep 27, 2010
Messages
14
I'm just saying sounds won't work properly currently no matter what you do.

This is also not the only compression format that will play your sounds (albeit bugged as stated). In fact I'm unsure which format even stopped working. Mono, and different Hz value are no problem for sure. Even .wav still plays.
 

Chaosy

Tutorial Reviewer
Level 40
Joined
Jun 9, 2011
Messages
13,183
I think this tutorial could benefit from a few structure improvements.

A few titles/sections, "Introduction" "Requirements" (programs) "Core/Main" and "Summery"
Just a way to easily improve readability and find the specific information you are looking for.

I would say it's a bonus to sprinkle in some color if possible too.

I'll fiddle around and see if the huge file size reduction works out for me, if so this is a must-know trick if you are making maps with third party music.

edit: I tried with a 9.9 mb .mp3 file and it got down to 8 mb, from what my ears tell me there is not a noticeable drop in quality, and it is certainly an improvement but not as big as advertised.
 
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