Unheard City - user guide

Replace voice lines, music and ambience in Batman: Arkham City (PC, Steam). Everything you change can be put back with one click.

Install and start

Windows: unzip the download and double-click Install.cmd. It installs Unheard City for your user (no admin rights), adds it to the Start menu (and, if you want, the desktop) and offers to start it. Running a newer version's Install.cmd later upgrades it. To remove it: Settings > Apps > Installed apps > Unheard City. You can also skip installing and run UnheardCity.exe from the unzipped folder. Linux: unpack the download and run UnheardCity.
The game is found through Steam automatically. If not (other drive, Linux/Proton), a red bar appears at the top: click Choose game folder… and pick the folder that contains BmGame and Binaries (Linux: usually ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Batman Arkham City GOTY).
Close the game while you apply or revert changes (the files are locked while it runs).

Find a sound

Type in the search box (Ctrl+F): words can be parts of the name, a category, a character, your own notes or tags, or an ID like b49cdf48. All words must match.
Narrow down with Group (Speech, Music, Ambience, SFX), Category (e.g. Interview tapes, Combat barks, Cinematics), Character, Archive (speech language or SFX), Tag, Modified only and Favorites only. Combine them freely; results update instantly.
Character is the verified speaker from the curated catalog. Grey ~ names are only mentioned in the sound's name (useful hints for the many unlabelled lines); tick Include characters mentioned in names to filter on them too.
Click a column header to sort (length, size, status, ...). Ctrl/Shift-click selects several rows.
Most short effects (footsteps, foley, weapons, menu sounds) are stored inside soundbanks and are not listed yet; the list covers voice lines, music, ambience and the effects of the SFX archive.
Language (top left) switches the speech language. Speech is read from the language the game is set to.

Listen

Select a row and press Space (or double-click) to play the original. In the editor below:

Original / Installed play the game's original and what is currently in the game. Click on a waveform to play from that point. Loop, Volume and Stop (Esc) work for everything.
A/B switches between the original and your replacement at the same position, to compare.

Replace

Load file… (Ctrl+O): WAV, FLAC, OGG, OPUS, MP3 or AIFF. (M4A/WMA work only if ffmpeg is installed.) Or choose a microphone in the list and press Record, then Stop recording. Listen with Replacement; record again as often as you like.
Adjust: Keep from / to trims (or right-drag on the replacement waveform), Trim silence, Gain, Normalize, Match original loudness (recommended for voice lines).
Apply to game (Ctrl+S). The audio is converted to the original's format and written into the game files. The row turns bold and shows Modified.

Size rule: voice lines and effects must fit into the original's size (the Max size column), because the game reads exactly that many bytes. Longer audio is encoded at lower quality to fit; if it still does not fit you are asked to shorten it. Music (Music_…) can be any length. A warning appears when your audio is longer than the original, since the game may cut it off.

Undo

Revert to original in the editor puts that sound back exactly.
Right-click rows → Revert selected; toolbar Revert all puts every original back.
Originals are kept in your user data folder (%APPDATA%\UnheardCity on Windows, ~/.local/share/unheardcity on Linux), so reverting works after updating or reinstalling the app too. Uninstalling keeps this folder; use Revert all before uninstalling if you want the game back to original. Before the first change to an audio archive, one full copy of it is also kept there as a fallback (Settings).
If Steam "Verify integrity of game files" or an update undoes your changes, a bar offers Re-apply my changes or Forget them. Do not use "verify" to undo mods; use Revert all.

Notes, tags, favorites

Right-click → Notes & tags… (F2): free text and comma-separated tags, searchable and filterable. Click the ★ column to mark favorites. These are stored in your user data folder, not in the game.

Export mod…: choose which changed sounds to include and save a .acmod file (the exact game data plus the audio, so it also works for another language whose original has a different size).
Import mod…: shows which sounds match this game, then installs them. You can revert them like any change.

Settings

Game folder, where originals are kept, the full-backup option and the playback device. The recording device is chosen next to the Record button. Background: show or hide the Arkham City wallpaper behind the filter panel; Background strength: how visible it is (10 % by default). The editor panel opens tall enough to show all its controls; drag the divider above it to change that.

Troubleshooting

message	what to do
"Cannot write … close the game"	quit Arkham City (and anything else using the file) and try again
"not a Batman: Arkham City folder"	pick the folder that contains `BmGame` and `Binaries`
"audio is too long for this sound"	shorten the audio (see the original's length)
"Cannot read … Supported: WAV, FLAC, …"	convert the file to WAV/MP3/FLAC, or install ffmpeg
"changed outside this tool"	the game files were changed by an update or another tool; revert or confirm to overwrite
no sound when playing	choose another playback device in Settings

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