37 replies to this topic

[Sam.]

File Name: PS gui
File Submitter: Sam.
File Submitted: 01 Jul 2010
File Category: IE Modding Tools
Forum: http://www.shsforums...17-ps-gui-v304/
Readme: No Information

Please see the readme for more information.

PS gui

This is an all-in-one graphical user interface for various Infinity Engine file conversion utilities. Included are MVE Joiner, MVE2EXE, MVE2AVI, AVI2MVE, WAVC2WAV, WAV2WAVC, ACM2WAV, WAV2ACM, Sound Comparator, WAV2OGG, OGG2WAV, OGG Info, BMU2MP3, MP3Gain, BMP2PLT, PLT2BMP, TIS2TIZ, TIZ2TIS, TIS2BMP, and MOS2BMP. The primary objective of this project was to teach myself (AutoHotkey) programming, but also make something that others will hopefully find useful. It is distributed and Copyright © 2009-2010 Sam Schmitz under the GNU General Public License. Anyone interested in trying it out?

If you experience any errors or problems with my programs, please tell me so I can fix them. Feedback is always appreciated! If you like or don't like something about the GUI, or if you have suggestions for other utilities you would like to see included, please let me know.

Version History:

4 Mar 2009 - Version 1.00:

• Initial Alpha release

31 Aug 2009 - Version 2.00:

• Added batch processing.
• Added the launcher program ("GUI Launcher.exe").
• Fixed a couple misc. problems.

23 Dec 2009 - Version 3.00:

• Combined the programs into one.
• Added WAV2WAVC, Sound Comparator, WAV2OGG, OGG2WAV, OGG Info, BMP2PLT, PLT2BMP, TIS2TIZ, TIZ2TIS, TIS2BMP, and MOS2BMP.
• Added drag-and-drop onto program conversion.
• Added R-Click filetype conversion.
• Added file extension associations.
• Added Version Checker.
• Added Hotkeys.
• Misc. other minor fixes and improvements.

3 Jan 2010 - Version 3.01:

• Made Version Checker compatible with new forum layout.

14 Jan 2010 - Version 3.02:

• Fixed an error in the R-click WAV to WAVC conversion.
• Added BMU to mp3 converter.
• Added MP3Gain utility.
• Added a StatusBar.

24 Jun 2010 - Version 3.03:

• Added conversion complete notifications.
• Started adding "remembered paths".
• Updated OggEnc2 to v2.87
• Updates OggDec to v1.97
• MVE2AVI radio/checkbox selection structure revised.
• Made the R-Click and File Extension Association conversions more silent.
• Made some changes trying to prevent erroneous "File not found" errors.
• Made MANY other updates that I can?t remember the specifics of (I lost my list).

01 Jul 2010 - Version 3.04:

• Made more changes trying to prevent erroneous "File not found" errors.
• Fixed a minor bug where WinActive would activate the wrong window if a folder called "PS gui" was also open.
• WAV2WAVC now outputs to a folder called "WAVC" inside the user-defined output directory when the output dir is the same as the input dir. This prevents the original WAV files from being overwritten by their WAVC counterparts.
• WAVC2WAV now outputs to a folder called "WAV" inside the user-defined output directory when the output dir is the same as the input dir. This prevents the original WAVC files from being overwritten by their WAV counterparts.
• Added support for RAD Video Tools. It must be installed separately by the user.
• Added automatic RAD conversion on 8-bit input to WAV2WAVC conversion.
• Added menu to select which extension association conversions and icons to install.
• Fixed an error where the ACM2WAV outputs went to PS gui's home directory instead of the designated output.
• Ensured file names stay long instead of converting to 8.3 short names on drag&drop conversions as they sometimes did.

Click here to download this file

Edited by Sam., 14 March 2021 - 08:26 AM.

[Sam.]

Anyone interested in trying it out?

Um, based on the "overwhelming" demand to at least try this once, I'll go ahead and attach it here. If anyone actually downloads it and encounters a problem, I'll be happy to correct it as best as I can.

Edited by Sam., 23 December 2009 - 10:44 PM.

[Sam.]

Anyone interested in trying it out?

Um, based on the "overwhelming" demand to at least try this once, I'll go ahead and attach it here. If anyone actually downloads it and encounters a problem, I'll be happy to correct it as best as I can.

Is it working for anyone / everyone? Are there any other programs (not necessarily just for movies) that you would like it to include a GUI for? Other suggestions?

[leahnkain]

Sam, the avi to mve works beautifully. I can get some of my friends to test this more if you like. (remember my OS is in Japanese.) Thank you for making such a useful program.

[Sam.]

I can get some of my friends to test this more if you like.

Only if it's convenient for them. (I realize that there really isn't much of a demand for MVE tools.)

Thank you for making such a useful program.

Would it be worthwhile to expand it to include sound utilities (WAV~ACM~WAVC) or even WizWom's BMP<>PLT converters, or anything else?

[leahnkain]

Including the sound utilities (WAV~ACM~WAVC) is useful. You may want to make it an all in one tool to combione many of the other programs like wizwom's tool into one program.

[Sam.]

Version 2.00 is out! It now includes Infinity audio utilities. See the 1^st post for more details, download, and a screen shot. Post any bugs/problems/issues here, or send me a PM, or send me an E-mail .

Hope someone finds it useful.

Edited by Sam., 02 September 2009 - 07:06 PM.

[Kaeloree]

Moved to IE Modding Tools, hope you don't mind, Sam.

[Deathsangel]

Hm... I love audio tools. I'll give this a go in two weeks or so when I reckon I can finally (half a year or so in between??) back to a decent speed of modding

[xdeathplanetx]

sorry if i ask but for what is needed this program???

[Sam.]

sorry if i ask but for what is needed this program???

While it is true that other programs may have some of the same basic capabilities (DLTCEP can convert between the various sound formats, for instance), several of the movie utilities that I include in my GUI aren't built in to any of the larger, mass-format editors like NearInfinity or DLTCEP. Even while some of the file conversions are supported by these larger editors, the utilities that my GUI is built around support a wide range of parameters (specifying bit-rate, defining the number of sound channels, constraining output size, etc.) that can't be controlled in the larger editors. I have spent quite a bit of time looking for the most "up-to-date" versions of these utilities buried in ancient topics of long-forgotten forums in foreign languages. My package brings them all together where they can be easily found. So, why make a GUI at all? Why not just put all of the utilities in an archive and upload it here? Because many people prefer a GUI to a command-line utility. The AVI 2 MVE converter can get especially complicated if you try to set it up by hand and need to add many of the parameters. Also, my GUI's mass-file batching makes it really easy to convert a large number of files at the same time, a process that would be extremely tedious if done by hand with the command-line utilities.

I am aware that there really isn't much of a demand for these types of file-converters, but who knows, maybe someday someone will want to make a movie to go with their mod... I have made a credits movie for Classic Adventures, but the MVE format has some issues that the converter probably could compensate for, but doesn't. I'd be happy to talk all about it, but I digress.... Did this answer your question? EDIT: Don't take me wrong, shorter movies and movies without a huge number of different colors make great MVE movies. Just not my ~4.5 minute credits with tons of colors.

Edited by Sam., 17 September 2009 - 04:32 AM.

[xdeathplanetx]

ok got it so is a converter if it has been programmed by u great work but yes that kind of fileles are not much used i wanted to try to convert something but i just don't have that kind of files who knows maybe in future... but great work!

[Sam.]

ok got it so is a converter if it has been programmed by u great work but yes that kind of fileles are not much used i wanted to try to convert something but i just don't have that kind of files who knows maybe in future... but great work!

If you really wanted to convert some files just for the sake of trying it , you could use these without having to extract anything from the game:

ACM files (the Infinity Engine music files) can be found in the music folder of the BGII directory. The default location is: "C:\Program Files\Black Isle\BGII - SoA\music".

Several WAVC files (the Infinity Engine sound files) can be found in the sound folder of the BGII directory. The default location is "C:\Program Files\Black Isle\BGII - SoA\sounds".

The other types of files can be extracted from the game (without any trouble) using NearInfinity .

Edited by Sam., 17 September 2009 - 11:17 AM.

[Sam.]

Version 3.00 has been released. See the 1^st post for more details and the download link. Post any bugs/problems/issues/questions here. In particular, I would like to know if the Extension Associations and Version Checker are working for everyone.

Hope someone finds it useful.

[Miloch]

I did find this useful recently, Sam, when I had to convert a bunch of NWN sounds to WAVC format. Granted, I suppose I could've done it with the command utilities but I'm sure it would've taken longer to write batch files or whatever without a wrapper around it.

However, this tool only provided the last step, which was convert WAVs to WAVCs. Don't suppose you could include an MP3 to WAV converter too? I used one called GoldWave which was quite nice but not freeware. It did allow me to do a lot of things like batch convert all the files as mono, 44khz and also reduce the volume by about 75% since NWN sounds are (on average from what I could tell) about that much louder. If you could find or make something that could do all or some of that, it would be handy for future use.

Also, the WAVCs I ended up with were smaller than the WAVs but nearly as much so as the WAVCs packaged in the game. Not sure if it's a function of the utility you've included - maybe it doesn't compress WAVs as well as it could? No idea there, but it seemed to work anyhow (the WAVCs play in NI at least).

[Sam.]

I did find this useful recently, Sam, when I had to convert a bunch of NWN sounds to WAVC format. Granted, I suppose I could've done it with the command utilities but I'm sure it would've taken longer to write batch files or whatever without a wrapper around it.

I'm glad it's helpful. What OS are you running it on and does everything seem to be working properly for you? The "Enable Extension Associations" associates the .mve, .avi, .wavc, .acm, .wav, .raw, .ogg, .bmp, .plt, .tis, .tiz, and .mos file extensions with PS gui (this is in addition to the existing program associations, it does not modify or replace the existing ones). As part of this, it also adds the right-click-on-file-of-particular-file-format menu to allow conversion in this way. Also, it assigns the corresponding PS gui icon (video, audio, or graphic) to the Infinity Engine file formats. All of this is set up for the Windows registry, but I assume Linux for example needs to be set up differently...? If it does then it should be easy to implement if a Linux user can tell me how their registry is set up. I did just find a problem with the R-Click wav2wavc conversion, so if you notice anything else, I'll fix it ASAP.

Also, the WAVCs I ended up with were smaller than the WAVs but nearly as much so as the WAVCs packaged in the game. Not sure if it's a function of the utility you've included - maybe it doesn't compress WAVs as well as it could? No idea there, but it seemed to work anyhow (the WAVCs play in NI at least).

PS gui's default compression rate seems to be a bit better (smaller output) than DLTCEP's. The major difference between the two programs, though, is that the compression in PS gui is adjustable. You can specify between 1 and 100 percent of the input size. Keep in mind though, that the .wavc file format is lossy, so the higher the compression, the more data will be lost and the lower the quality will become.

However, this tool only provided the last step, which was convert WAVs to WAVCs. Don't suppose you could include an MP3 to WAV converter too? I used one called GoldWave which was quite nice but not freeware. It did allow me to do a lot of things like batch convert all the files as mono, 44khz and also reduce the volume by about 75% since NWN sounds are (on average from what I could tell) about that much louder. If you could find or make something that could do all or some of that, it would be handy for future use.

The program I recommend and use on an almost daily basis is RAD Video Tools. It can batch-convert .mp3 files to 8-bit or 16-bit mono, 44100Hz .wav files (as well as much, much more). Best of all, it's freeware. I don't think it can adjust the volume, though. I'll look around for one.

[Sam.]

I don't think it can adjust the volume, though. I'll look around for one.

Alright, try MP3Gain on the .mp3 files before converting them to .wav. It's open source, found on SoruceForge, and has both a GUI and a command-line version, the latter of which I could probably include if it suits your purposes. The command-line parameters include:
 mp3gain_output.txt   2.33K   846 downloads

[Miloch]

I used it on Windows XP. I have a Linux server but I don't do much modding on it due to file conversion issues. Not sure if a Windows executable even would work on Linux - probably not.

I didn't know WAVCs were lossy - I thought they just used some sort of zlib compression on WAVs since the default compression ratio isn't that great. I did know MP3s and OGGs were lossy. But that's what the game uses for soundclips, so we might as well use it.

I'll try MP3Gain next time I have some NWN sounds to convert. Also, they usually need to be converted from BMU (Bioware Music format?) to MP3s first, though I think the formats are quite similar (and they're suffixed as WAVs oddly). The only tool I know that does that is this - dunno if it has a command line version.

[Sam.]

I didn't know WAVCs were lossy - I thought they just used some sort of zlib compression on WAVs since the default compression ratio isn't that great. I did know MP3s and OGGs were lossy. But that's what the game uses for soundclips, so we might as well use it.

As you know, the .wavc file format is just a .acm file with an additional header. Here is part of one of the documentation files found in the source code of ABel's wav2acm converter:

ACM is a lossy sound compression technique. That is it does not provide means for exact restoration of the input sound, but distort it in some way. ACM uses so called pyramid transform in order to represent the sound in a more efficient way, than the simple sequence of sound samples is.

The term "more efficient" means the following: the transform extracts from the input signal some values (we will call them "transform coefficients") that can be compressed and stored in less space than the original signal (under the assumption that the signal is not a random noise). The count of these coeffs is the same as the count of input samples, but a lot of them is so little by absolute value that they can be considered equal to zero.

The transform is multilevel: the coefficients produced by one level are considered to be an input samples of next level and so on. This permits the elimination of redundancy in the input signal. The transform coeffs on each level are obtained by application of special transform filters to input. These filters consist of small number of values, which are chosen in such a way that the inverse transform (recombination of coeffs into output signal) can be performed as fast as possible and only simple additions and bit shifts are necessary for such recombination. Unfortunately, the exact reproduction is impossible, as the transform filters introduces error (very little though) into coefficients, so we can only approximate to the original signal.

...

Before the packing itself begins the quantization is made which reduces the overall count of bits necessary to store the packed image of entire block of coeffs. The quantization replaces the coefficient values with some other values (that are not too far from initial ones) which then can be packed into some limited count of bits. This replacement is not loseless, it introduces the error - quantization error.

Finally the quantized block of coefficients is packed with loseless packing algorithm which relies on the frequencies of values (mostly on the frequency of zero) in the block.

I'll try MP3Gain next time I have some NWN sounds to convert. Also, they usually need to be converted from BMU (Bioware Music format?) to MP3s first, though I think the formats are quite similar (and they're suffixed as WAVs oddly). The only tool I know that does that is this - dunno if it has a command line version.

I'll look into it. Can's NearInfinity convert them to .mp3 when it extracts them?

[Miloch]

Can's NearInfinity convert them to .mp3 when it extracts them?

Yes, though NI doesn't batch convert stuff. One oddity I noticed with WAVC conversion is that they play about half-speed in NI, though the IESDP game says the engine plays them at double speed, which it seems to do (in other words, correctly). Just kind of odd how NI seems to play WAVCs provided with the game at the speed they should be but ones you've added at a slower speed.