114 lines
7.7 KiB
Markdown
114 lines
7.7 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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## 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 ~15,400 short effects 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_Bane_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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- **Language** (top left) switches the speech language. Speech is read from the language the game is set to.
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## Listen
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Select a row and press **Space** (or double-click) to play the original. In the editor below:
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- **Original** / **Installed** play the game's original and what is currently in the game. Click on a
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waveform to play from that point. **Loop**, **Volume** and **Stop** (Esc) work for everything.
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- **A/B** switches between the original and your replacement at the same position, to compare.
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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 from / to** trims (or right-drag on the replacement waveform), **Trim silence**, **Gain**,
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**Normalize**, **Match original loudness** (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 to original** in the editor puts that sound back exactly.
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- Right-click rows → **Revert selected**; toolbar **Revert all** puts every original back.
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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. Before the first
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change to an audio archive, one full copy of it is also kept there as a fallback (Settings).
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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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## Subtitles
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The **Subtitles** tab lists the subtitle of every speech line (11 languages; choose one with *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). Latin-1 subtitles accept Latin-1 characters only (accents are fine);
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Russian, Polish, Japanese and Korean subtitles accept any character.
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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 under the audio: edit both side by side and use **Apply subtitle**, or **Show in
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Subtitles** to jump back.
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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 8 % of the subtitles belong to lines the game never plays (placeholders); they have no linked sound.
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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 chosen 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 to include and save a `.acmod` file (the exact game data plus
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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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- Changed subtitles and menu texts are exported and imported with the sounds (listed as *Text*).
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## Settings
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Game folder, where originals are kept, the full-backup option and 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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| "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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