Watchmen The End is Nigh Audio Format (.wav?)

Codecs, formats, encoding/decoding of game audio, video and music
burom
Posts: 17
Joined: Sat Jul 17, 2021 8:41 pm

Watchmen The End is Nigh Audio Format (.wav?)

Post by burom »

I'm trying to extract as much as possible from the Watchmen The End is Nigh games (I'm using Part 2 but it should work on both parts), and after the game file structure was recreated (viewtopic.php?f=9&t=15536) I now have several supposed .wav files containing the game audio. However, the wav files don't have any recognizable headers, no RIFF or anything like that in a hex editor. They can be loaded as raw audio in Audacity (8-bit signed PCM, mono, 44100 Hz) but while the audio is recognizable it's very noisy and playing at about twice the speed it should be.

A sample file is attached.

EN4_THGAttNTO_DOM3_09_uk.zip
burom
Posts: 17
Joined: Sat Jul 17, 2021 8:41 pm

Re: Watchmen The End is Nigh Audio Format (.wav?)

Post by burom »

Another sample file, this time with how it sounds in game (59:40-59:45 of this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQUoSQmGVgI#t=59m40s). Best case scenario for raw import is 8-bit signed PCM, mono, 22050 Hz, but it's still distorted.

NTO_Mission_902_uk.zip
burom
Posts: 17
Joined: Sat Jul 17, 2021 8:41 pm

Re: Watchmen The End is Nigh Audio Format (.wav?)

Post by burom »

I extracted the Xbox 360 version, the audio looks to be compressed differently (maybe XMA?) but still has the same bespoke header at the front instead of anything readable by other programs. Samples attached.

tein2_xbox_audio.zip
BloodRaynare
Posts: 367
Joined: Fri Mar 10, 2017 7:23 am

Re: Watchmen The End is Nigh Audio Format (.wav?)

Post by BloodRaynare »

This is the .TXTH script for your Xbox 360 sample:

Code: Select all

codec = XMA1
channels = 1
sample_rate = @0x94:BE
data_size = @0x9c:BE
start_offset = 0xA0
num_samples = data_size


Save it as ".wav.txth" and put it on the same directory as your 360's wav files. Then drag the wav files to foobar2000 (with the vgmstream plugin installed)
For the PC one, I still have no idea what the actual codec was.
burom
Posts: 17
Joined: Sat Jul 17, 2021 8:41 pm

Re: Watchmen The End is Nigh Audio Format (.wav?)

Post by burom »

Thank you, looks like it works perfectly!

For completeness' sake here's the same files from the PS3 version of the game, although since it looks like there's nothing unique between the platforms the TXTH for the Xbox 360 version is all one needs to rip out the audio.

tein2_ps3_audio.zip
BloodRaynare
Posts: 367
Joined: Fri Mar 10, 2017 7:23 am

Re: Watchmen The End is Nigh Audio Format (.wav?)

Post by BloodRaynare »

It seems TXTH scripts aren't needed for PS3 ones, since it contains MP3 audio streams, and most media players outside foobar2000 should be able to pick it up (Though, I think MPC-HC fails to play the file).