Cristian Gora
1ccaa8b398
Safety - Writes are serialized (Workspace.lock): two background jobs rebuilding one package (a sound and its subtitle applied side by side) lost an edit. - A store copies a bank file or package as "original" only if it matches the shipped catalog (Workspace.unoriginal_files: in-memory sounds, bank copies of voice lines, subtitles); the editor refuses to switch stores while changes are applied. A second store could otherwise resurrect a reverted sound. - Mod import in the editor asks before overwriting files changed outside the tool (it forced silently). - Revert all in the editor reverts texts too; the uninstaller counts text edits before offering to delete the store. - ackit restore-backup: the full-backup restore decisions.md described; it keeps the sounds of WADs without a full copy recorded. - build_catalog also stops when a subtitle differs from the catalog. Languages and texts - Game.language() returns languages without voices (JPN, RUS, ...) and Game.voice_archive() their INT voices; ackit text --lang JPN works. - Menu lookups parse one cached file (find & replace: minutes -> ms). - Subtitles decode cp1252 as Windows does: the UTF-8-in-cp1252 line Speech_TAPE_J_Answer_1_00 (KOR/POL/POR/RUS) is written back byte-for-byte; SUB_KOR/SUB_RUS rebuilt from the original game (only those rows changed). - Mods exported while another language is loaded keep name and line. Other fixes - Down-mix folds extra channels in at -3 dB (a 5.1 centre voice was dropped). - e2e_editor no longer overwrites the user's settings.json; kill_game waits for the game to exit before reverts. - Recorder handles Int32/UInt8 input and split frames; package block cache locked; conflict messages, CLI help examples, stale docstrings and doc references fixed; tests no longer read this PC's game language. Docs (decisions, user guide, README, subtitles.md, banks.md, catalog README, REPORT, NOTES, CLAUDE.md) updated; check_docs: 102 claims match. 148 tests; e2e_features 9/9, e2e_editor and verify PASS; game original afterwards.
160 lines
12 KiB
Markdown
160 lines
12 KiB
Markdown
# Unheard City - user guide
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Replace voice lines, music, ambience and sound effects, and edit subtitles and menu text in **Batman: Arkham
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City (PC, Steam)**. Everything you change can be put back with one click.
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## Install and start
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1. **Windows:** unzip the download and double-click **Install.cmd**. It installs Unheard City for your user (no
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admin rights), adds it to the Start menu (and, if you want, the desktop) and offers to start it. Running a
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newer version's Install.cmd later upgrades it. To remove it: Settings > Apps > Installed apps > Unheard City.
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You can also skip installing and run `UnheardCity.exe` from the unzipped folder.
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**Linux:** unpack the download and run `UnheardCity`.
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2. The game is found through Steam automatically. If not (other drive, Linux/Proton), a red bar appears at
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the top: click **Choose game folder…** and pick the folder that contains `BmGame` and `Binaries`
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(Linux: usually `~/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Batman Arkham City GOTY`).
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3. **Close the game** while you apply or revert changes (the files are locked while it runs).
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## Language
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There is **one language setting**: the **Language** list at the top of the window. It starts at the language the
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game is set to (Steam > game properties > Language) and applies to everything you edit:
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- **Sounds**: the voice lines of that language, plus the sounds every language shares (music, ambience,
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effects). The game has voices in English (INT), French, Italian, German and Spanish; for the other languages
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(Latin American Spanish, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, Korean) it plays the English voices, so the
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editor shows those and says *voices: INT* next to the list.
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- **Subtitles** and **Menu text**: the texts of that language.
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Changing it reloads the lists; the next start is again in the game's language.
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Some voice lines sound English in every language: the game itself ships the English recording for most
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efforts and grunts, many cinematics and a few other lines, and some in-memory lines exist only once for all
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languages. The editor shows what each language's game files contain.
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## Names
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Every voice line has one name in every language, taken from the game itself (e.g. `Speech_TAPE_JOKER_1_04`, the
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same as in the Subtitles tab): the line `Speech_X` in English is the same line `Speech_X` in French, Italian,
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German and Spanish. Inside a WAD entry the game stores the variations of a line in a different order in each
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language, so the position-based name is kept only as a second name (`Speech_TAPE_JOKER_1#4` = the 4th WEM of
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that entry in this language; search finds both). When the game plays one of two versions of a line, the
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second is shown as `NAME#2`. About 6 % of the lines are named by no game event; they take the name of their
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English recording in every language. A few recordings are stored twice in the game files: both rows belong to
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the same line and are changed and reverted together.
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## Find a sound
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- Type in the **search box** (Ctrl+F): words can be parts of the name, a category, a character, your own
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notes or tags, or an ID like `b49cdf48`. All words must match.
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- Narrow down with **Group** (Speech, Music, Ambience, SFX), **Category** (e.g. *Interview tapes*,
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*Combat barks*, *Cinematics*), **Character**, **Archive** (speech language, SFX or BANK), **Tag**, **Modified
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only** and **Favorites only**. Combine them freely; results update instantly.
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- **Character** is the verified speaker from the curated catalog. Grey `~` names are only *mentioned* in the
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sound's name (useful hints for the many unlabelled lines); tick *Include characters mentioned in names*
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to filter on them too.
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- Click a column header to sort (length, size, status, ...). Ctrl/Shift-click selects several rows.
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- Archive **BANK** holds the short sounds stored inside soundbanks (footsteps, foley, combat,
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weapons, menu sounds, grunts). Many are named after the game event that plays them (`Play_...`), the
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rest after their bank (`CHR_BatclawGrapple_3`). The editor shows the bank and how many copies the game keeps of
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the sound; a replacement is written into every copy.
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## Listen
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The editor under the list shows the selected sound in three columns side by side (drag the dividers to
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resize them): **Listen**, **Replace** and **Subtitle**. Select a row and press **Space** to play the original
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(once a replacement is loaded, Space plays the replacement; Space again stops), or double-click it. Each column
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ends with its own buttons on one line. In **Listen**:
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- **Original** / **Installed** play the game's original and what is currently in the game; **Stop** (Esc).
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Click on a waveform to play from that point.
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- Above them: **A/B** (switch between the original and your replacement at the same position, to compare),
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**Loop**, **Volume** and the playback position. The icon buttons show their names when you point at them.
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## Replace
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1. **Load file…** (Ctrl+O): WAV, FLAC, OGG, OPUS, MP3 or AIFF. (M4A/WMA work only if ffmpeg is installed.)
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Or choose a microphone in the list and press **Record**, then **Stop recording**. Listen with
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**Replacement**; record again as often as you like.
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2. Adjust: **Keep … to** trims (or right-drag on the replacement waveform), **Trim silence**, **Gain**,
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**Normalize**, **Match loudness** (to the original; recommended for voice lines).
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3. **Apply to game** (Ctrl+S). The audio is converted to the original's format and written into the game files.
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The row turns bold and shows *Modified*.
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Size rule: voice lines and effects must fit into the original's size (the *Max size* column), because the
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game reads exactly that many bytes. Longer audio is encoded at lower quality to fit; if it still does not fit
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you are asked to shorten it. Music (`Music_…`) can be any length. A warning appears when your audio is longer
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than the original, since the game may cut it off.
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## Undo
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- **Revert** in the editor puts that sound back exactly.
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- Right-click rows → **Revert selected**; toolbar **Revert all** puts every original back: all sounds,
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subtitles and menu texts you changed, in every language.
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- Originals are kept in your user data folder (`%APPDATA%\UnheardCity` on Windows,
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`~/.local/share/unheardcity` on Linux), so reverting works after updating or reinstalling the app too.
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Uninstalling keeps this folder; use **Revert all** before uninstalling if you want the game back to original.
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Before the first change to a game file, a full copy of it is kept there too: optional for the WAD archives
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(Settings), always for soundbanks, packages and text files (they are rebuilt from that copy). Only files the
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game ships unchanged are copied; a file another tool (or another originals store) has changed is reported as
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*changed outside this tool* first.
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- The originals of your changes are only in the store that made them, so the store folder (Settings) cannot be
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changed while changes are applied: use **Revert all** first.
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- If Steam "Verify integrity of game files" or an update undoes your changes, a bar offers **Re-apply my
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changes** or **Forget them**. Do not use "verify" to undo mods; use Revert all.
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- If the store folder itself is damaged, the full copies can still be put back with the command-line toolkit
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that Unheard City is built on (`ackit restore-backup`, see the project README; not part of the editor
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download).
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## Subtitles
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The **Subtitles** tab lists the subtitle of every speech line in the selected language (see *Language*).
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- Search by text or line name, filter by **Character** and **Category** (taken from the linked speech sound),
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or show **Modified only**. Select a row to edit its text below and press **Apply** (or Enter).
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- Each subtitle replaces the original *in place*, so it can be at most as long as the original (the counter
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shows *used / room* characters). Most subtitles are stored in the Western European character set
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(Windows-1252: accents are fine, other scripts are not); those stored as Unicode (almost all Russian,
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Japanese and Korean ones, most Polish ones) accept any character. The editor says so when a character does
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not fit.
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- **Go to the sound** opens the speech line in the Sounds tab. In the Sounds tab, the editor of a speech line
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shows its subtitle in the **Subtitle** column next to the audio: edit both side by side, **Apply** /
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**Revert** the subtitle there, or **Show in list** to jump back to the Subtitles tab.
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- **Find and replace…** works on the rows the filters show (texts that would not fit are listed and skipped).
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- **Revert** / **Revert all texts here** put the original text back (every copy in every game file).
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- About 30 subtitles per language have no sound in the game (texts such as the Arkham City Stories, unused
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radio reports); they have no linked sound. A subtitle of a line the game plays in two versions belongs to
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both. The game itself has no subtitles for efforts and grunts and for most combat barks and cutscene lines.
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## Menu text
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The **Menu text** tab lists every menu, HUD, bio, riddle and credits string of the selected language (about
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7,000), grouped by **File** (e.g. `FRONTEND`, `GFxUI`, `Bios`). Search, edit, apply and revert work like
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subtitles; menu texts can be of any length but cannot contain line breaks (keep the game's own markers such
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as `\n` as they are).
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## Notes, tags, favorites
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Right-click → **Notes & tags…** (F2): free text and comma-separated tags, searchable and filterable.
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Click the **★** column to mark favorites. These are stored in your user data folder, not in the game.
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## Share your changes (mods)
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- **Export mod…**: choose which changed sounds and texts to include and save a `.acmod` file (the exact game
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data plus the audio, so it also works for another language whose original has a different size).
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- **Import mod…**: shows which sounds match this game, then installs them. You can revert them like any change.
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If a sound or text the mod replaces was changed outside the editor, you are asked before it is overwritten.
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- Changed subtitles and menu texts are exported and imported with the sounds (listed as *Text*); a text stays
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in its language (a French subtitle edit changes the French subtitle).
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- In another language, voice lines are matched by the game's own identity of the line, so the same line is
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replaced even where its position differs. Voice lines from packages made with versions before 3.1 carry no
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such identity: the import lists them instead of guessing (export the mod again with this version).
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## Settings
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Game folder, where originals are kept (changeable only while nothing is modified), the full-backup option and
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the playback device. The recording device
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is chosen next to the Record button. **Background**: show or hide the Arkham City wallpaper behind the filter
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panel; **Background strength**: how visible it is (10 % by default).
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The editor panel opens tall enough to show all its controls; drag the divider above it to change that.
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## Troubleshooting
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| message | what to do |
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| "Cannot write … close the game" | quit Arkham City (and anything else using the file) and try again |
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| "not a Batman: Arkham City folder" | pick the folder that contains `BmGame` and `Binaries` |
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| "audio is too long for this sound" | shorten the audio (see the original's length) |
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| "the text is … characters long but this subtitle has room for …" | shorten the subtitle (the counter shows the room) |
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| "Cannot read … Supported: WAV, FLAC, …" | convert the file to WAV/MP3/FLAC, or install ffmpeg |
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| "changed outside this tool" | the game files were changed by an update or another tool; revert or confirm to overwrite |
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| no sound when playing | choose another playback device in Settings |
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