The Bizarchivist Sound Project Steam Group

Bizarchivist Maintenance: Potential Downtime Ahead

Unfortunately, while I have at least managed to avoid taking over two years to provide 'Bizarchivist Maintenance' "reports", I seem to be unable to keep them as brief & timely as I had hoped. That said, before I address what's arrived, what's changed or what issues have become known, I do need to preface this with my present circumstances, as they might impact my ability to be as available as I typically am until they're fully addressed.

Largely due to the fact that I am still using Windows 7 [64bit] as my operating system at the time of writing, which of course has to change due to the Steam client having ceased official support for it as well as Windows 8 & 8.1, amongst other reasons, I may have limited access to Steam in the near future. Although, to my surprise, I can still run the client and my Steam games along with it, I must assume that I am doing so at my own risk and that it won't be long before any future Steam updates might render me entirely unable to do so.

I've likely mentioned the desire to upgrade to newer hardware since the turn of the decade, which now that my storage is hitting capacity limit (I did try to address this before, but the replacements came with an unforeseen drawback) and my operating system is now finally seeing what little remaining support it has largely come to an end, it is now becoming more of a necessity for me to make this a priority.

However, with my less-common storage set-up, my very high capacity requirements, my desire to accommodate hardware recording in my set-up (I've got a lot of catching up to do from the days of FRAPS & Blackmagic Intensity Pro) and my keenness to choose my next operating system wisely (It's likely to be "Fight with Windows 11 to get some decency from it & scoop what nonsense out of it I can", although I am still considering options such as "Using the well-known Windows 10 for what short time it's being given", "Seeing which Linux Distro among the many Distros such as Mint, Debian or Arch suits my use-case" & "Running a dual-boot setup of Linux & Windows to let one cover the drawbacks of another"), this is likely going to be a major investment & a complete upgrade from monitor to processor that I want to consider carefully, so it might be possible that I'll be still pending this desired upgrade even into the earlier half of 2024, meaning that I may only have browser access to Steam at best.

I have other desires such as exploring alternative options to MediaFire (It has been failing to upload through Firefox recently, which I have tested on two computers, one of which runs Win10, both with UBlock Origin disabled, but the error has been consistent & continues at present), with IceDrive & Internxt two such options I'm considering, but this will likely come later as I do need to consider which ones I can transparently share non-parsed links for without alarming Steam's Automatic Content Checker as I have managed to do in recent months, even with URLs Steam allows for (I am aware that Dropbox & Google Drive are ones Steam allows for, but I know little of Dropbox outside of it's existence & I do not consider Google a good option at all). Rest assured, everything I have available via MediaFire will continue to be available if I have anything to say about it.


LONG STORY SHORT
After my set-up lasting me nearly nine years, I need an upgrade across the board to hopefully last me as long, if not longer.


Anyway, all twaddling aside, let's get to what you more likely care to know. Firstly, I'll start with a mistake I've recently spotted and have yet to address:

Only recently, I discovered that I made an oversight for my extraction of Halo 3: ODST and I had failed to extract what I could from 'l300.map', AKA 'Coastal Highway', leading to the dialogue from the final mission being missing. It appears that I had confused 'c200.map' as the 'Coastal Highway' file I was looking for and had simply missed adding 'l300.map' to my collection as a result. Nevertheless, it's a mistake that I've failed to spot for past 9 years.

However, with the release of The Master Chief Collection on PC and newer tools such as Reclaimer[github.com] having been developed since the days I was using Adjutant (v4.0.0.0), I believe I have much catching up to do & possible improvements to make beyond just a corrected reupload, so this will not be an issue I will be resolving just yet.

If you would like to have a try for yourself in the meantime, CE3 has a .MAP file archive[haloce3.com] for the console releases of Halo 2 to Halo 4 and Halo: Custom Edition for PC, which the aforementioned Reclaimer[github.com] tool should be much better equipped to extract audio from both these original releases & possibly The Master Chief Collection versions than the predecessor tool Adjutant that I used with the former back around 2014.


Next, some unfortunate news that I have yet to fully adapt & update my available information for:

ZenHAX sadly closed down their forums earlier this year with no archive of it being left in it's place, taking a lot of records of shared knowledge & tools in the specifics of reverse engineering & accessing data for video games with it.
Although the QuickBMS tool[aluigi.altervista.org] & relevant resources remain available as usual, a video provides what developer & ZenHAX host Luigi Auriemma had to say in response to the author's direct query on the situation back in 24th August 2023.

Unfortunately, the recommended XeNTaX forums have met a similar end more recently, although that appears to have been successfully archived as far as I've so far looked into it. I have since also come across a 'ResHax' forum that looks to pick-up where both ZenHAX & XeNTaX left off with 'id-daemon', a well-known engineer involved or having provided work for such tools as Wrath & it's various forks I've known to be active on at least ZenHAX, being present on them, so perhaps that might provide the next "hub" of such information in their place.

Although the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine has been so far helpful regarding what topics I had bookmarked for ZenHAX, this does mean that I will have to comb back through the Sound Collection, Sound Acquisition Guide & Other Archivists to make sure anything I've recommended courtesy of them still survives in this manner, has not been newly provided or even updated elsewhere, or otherwise requires me to provide a back-up. I'll make sure to follow this up when I am able.


And now, we can finally get to what you're mostly likely reading this for; what has newly arrived & what has changed since my last 'Bizarchivist Maintenance' "report":

Full audio extractions from versions 4.5, 5.0, 5.1, 6.0 & 7.0 of Squad as well as the audio from the 'Tactical Collective v6' update for the Middle Eastern Escalation mod have now been added to this particular Sound Collection.

You can quickly navigate to the collection here:
Sound Collection: Squad (Various Versions)


Following the surprise announcement that development for Post Scriptum was being restarted by Mercury Arts[mercury-arts.co.uk] & Offworld Industries in place of the original & now-closed developer Periscope Games, now under the name Squad 44, I have both updated the relevant Sound Collection's name to "Sound Collection: Post Scriptum & Squad 44 (Various Versions)" and added a full audio extraction from the Battle of Rethymno (v0.1.0.227771) update that accompanied the announcement.

You can quickly navigate to the collection here:
Sound Collection: Post Scriptum & Squad 44 (Various Versions)


I've updated this Sound Collection with the full audio from Update 14.3 & 14.6 of Hell Let Loose.

Additionally, all previous extractions have been reuploaded in 7-Zip (.7z) compression format instead of the original .ZIP compression format due to three of them receiving "This file has been restricted due to copyright claim" notices (That although never actually cause any obstruction that I've ever been able to encounter, no .7z packages I have stored there have yet gotten these, even when completely deserved), along with disclosing Team17 as the IP Holder, Cover 6 Studios as the developer and Expression Games as the co-developer for the relevant extractions following Black Matter selling the IP to Team17 & then moving on from the game following Update 14.

You can quickly navigate to the collection here:
Sound Collection: Hell Let Loose (Various Versions)


An audio extraction from the full game of Project Wingman (The launch day build of the GOG release to be specific, which only additionally contains a flubbed dialogue line that has since been removed for the current 1.0.4D version of the game) has been newly made available, along with the unique voice recordings as part of the 'More Prez Lines' mod by Lavernius Regalis & Madeline Dorroh[www.madelinedorroh.com] (Voice Actor for Hitman 1 President or 'Prez').

You can quickly navigate to the collection here:
Sound Collection: Project Wingman

Composer Jose Pavli has the Project Wingman Official Soundtrack, the Live Orchestra Anniversary and the Project Wingman: FRONTLINE 59 Official Soundtrack available on his Bandcamp[josepavli.bandcamp.com], along with an MP3 & FLAC release of the Project Wingman Official Soundtrack on Steam (Hopefully, Project Wingman: FRONTLINE 59 shall arrive on PC & Xbox in the future, perhaps once the v2.0 Update to the game exits the Steam Public Beta Branch).


This collection has now been updated to include an audio extraction from

• The full game's Launch Day build ("Build#: 2168, Build Date: June 18th 2023 10h", according to the in-game main menu)
  
• The full game's Patch 1 build (No further information)
  
• And the full game's Patch 2 build ("Build#: 22248, Build Date: October 29th 2023 20h", according to the in-game main menu)

Along with a collection of work-in-progress, scrapped, used-for-promotional-material or joke music files shared by composer Brandon McKagan such as 'Charge Set', 'Insertion v1' & others on the official Trepang Studios Discord Server as collected by 'SilentStalker'.

Additionally, all previous extractions have been updated to now bear the name "TREPANG²", as despite the fact that I still remain confused as to how the game is actually named (Perhaps as Trepang Studios intends), they do refer to the game as "Trepang²" when possible, leading me to believe it is intended to be "²" rather than "2",with the latter understandably used due to keyboard limitations & search engine convenience. This doesn't appear to have caused any unintended issues with Windows Folder or File Archivers, so it should be no different than encountering characters from a language that differs to your preferred settings such as Türkçe or 日本語. Nonetheless, if this does cause any disruptions, I can revert back to "Trepang2" if necessary.

You can quickly navigate to the collection here:
Sound Collection: TREPANG²

You can also fetch the Official Demo Soundtrack & post-launch Halloweener Soundtrack for free (or 'name your price') from composer Brandon McKagan's Bandcamp: Bandcamp[brandonmckagan.bandcamp.com], which can also be heard here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8Zze1V9Jb4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-CDgRo6a34

The full Official Soundtrack is otherwise also available from composer Brandon McKagan's Bandcamp[brandonmckagan.bandcamp.com], which can also be found on Steam & GOG in both MP3 128kbps or WAV [16bit] as separate Music/DLC or as part of the 'Banger Edition', as well as be heard here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHPdODKf8W4


After much, much too long, I finally have brought due mention of 'Navaro' (or previously 'Иavaяо'), a sound designer for games such as Ready Or Not, and his available collection of sound packs on Gamebanana & sound overhaul mods on ModDB & the Steam Workshop that many, especially in the Source & S.T.A.L.K.E.R modding scenes have made extensive use of over the years (Some of which I continue to personally use & enjoy).

You can quickly navigate to the Other Archivists topic here for more details & referrals:
Navaro's Collection of Sound Packs, Overhauls & Mods


Although not all remain easily available, there are numerous sound mods, along with other provided creations by Vladislav Zharkov (previously known by the pseudonym 'Patrick Hunt') I believed may nonetheless worth mentioning or remain desirable, especially with their kindly permissions of usage.

You can quickly navigate to the Other Archivists topic here for more details:
Vladislav Zharkov's Collection of Sound Mods


After discovering that I was missing a good amount of audio due to it being instead packaged within the Maps' .BSP files themselves rather than the game's .VPK files and how to extract them with GCFScape (Something I still need to update my How to Acquire: The Audio of Most Source Engine Games once I determine if there are other methods besides the one I was informed of), I've been able to not only update my 'Team Fortress 2 & Community' extraction with the audio added with the Scream Fortress XV & Smissmas 2023 updates, but have now also managed to include the audio from the many officially-added Community Maps over recent years as well as some other not-added Community Maps such as those for the Mayann Project. Notable examples include:

• Updating the original voice files for Saxton Hale, by Dreux 'DruoxTheShredder' Ferrano Jr, from original sources for the Versus Saxton Hale community game-mode, as well as those included for the Mayann Project
  
• The voice files for Saxton Hale & Gray Mann as voiced by Matthew 'MegapiemanPHD' Simmons and the Mercenaries by James 'McGuinnsBook' McGuinn for the now-officially-implemented Versus Saxton Hale mode
  
• The Map-Specific announcers & characters for numerous maps including Bread Space, Crasher, Cursed Cove, Farmageddon, Galleria, Krampus, Mannsylvania, Selbyen & Sinthetic
  
• SFX & Music from such maps as Sandcastle, Slime & others.

All placed in 'Community > Maps' or 'Community > VO (WAV & MP3) > [Voice Actor/Actress]'.

I have also added official links for community projects Open Fortress[openfortress.fun] and Team Fortress 2 Classic[tf2classic.com] as their mod data doesn't utilise Valve's .VPK packages and leaves their game data, including their original music & added audio as part of contributed or self-developed assets, open to explore.

You can quickly navigate to the collection here:
Sound Collection: Team Fortress 2 & Community


DotA 2 (Reborn/Source 2) has been updated to include audio as part of the game's updates up until 19th December 2023, which largely only include audio additions across the year such as The International 12 (or 2023) and the Frostivus 2023 Update since my last update made in April 2023.

You can quickly navigate to the collection here:
Sound Collection: DotA 2 (Legacy & Reborn)


After having the opportunity to test Legion+[github.com] for myself and discovering the improvements from it's predecessor, which include:

• Changing the WAV format from 32bit to 16bit (Halving it's size)
  
• Offering BinkA as an additional format
  
• Possibly now supporting more language files than the original English (I have not tested this for myself, but hopefully that is indeed what the 1.2.0 Changelog[github.com] indicates and the Steam release will provide you the opportunity to confirm that if EA App still doesn't)

I have now updated How to Acquire: The Audio of Titanfall 2 & Apex Legends to account for & primarily recommend Legion+ as a means of extracting the audio for both games, especially as development on the original Legion has ceased as of v2.43 (7th December 2021).

I would like to additionally warn here that my Anti-Virus (AVG) & even MediaFire has recently been very unhappy with versions of Legion from v2.13 (The Legacy Version with Titanfall 2 support fully intact) to v2.43 (The final version), but I have safely used it in the past to my probably-limited knowledge, so while I believe it is a false positive, please use this tool only if you feel safely assured to do so. It's Source code was released[github.com] once development ceased, so you should have the opportunity to review it for yourself and see if you can spot what might be raising alarm bells.
Nevertheless, I have had no such alarm bells during my use of Legion+ (v1.7.0), so whatever maybe raising them in Legion appears to have since been resolved in Legion+. The Source Code for all versions of Legion+ is fully available for you to compile yourself, so you do not at all have to take my word for it.

You can quickly navigate to the guide here:
How to Acquire: The Audio of Titanfall 2 & Apex Legends


Alright, that should be everything to disclose for the time being. But before I close this off, I would like to at least provide:

Although there is much I would love to recommend that I have come across this year, at least besides the aforementioned soundtracks for Project Wingman & TREPANG² that I strongly do, this 'Bizarchivist Maintenance' "report" has likely gone on far too long to provide more than one this time around. And, for myself, it was a wonderful surprise.

If anyone reading this loves the music of Ace Combat as much as I do, then the recent 'Anthems of Liberation[thetiberiansons.bandcamp.com]' cover album by The Tiberian Sons could prove as sheer a delight as the tributary works of Lucas Ricciotti, Vincent Moretto, Synthetic Mind or even D.A.R have, if not more so! The 10 track album can be heard on YouTube, or even purchased & downloaded from their Bandcamp[thetiberiansons.bandcamp.com] page.

Alright, alright. I cannot help but also give a mention to a synthetic cover of Alexander Brandon's 'Jazz Castle' from the Jazz Jackrabbit 2 soundtrack by Synethic Mind, feat. Mateusz Pisulak:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56cTFWO8A1g
And if you want the real thing for all of the games, including the cancelled Jazz Jackrabbit 3, in place of their current & foreseeable nonavailability, 'InfamousStar' should have you covered with MP3 & FLAC options: https://infamousstargamerips.tumblr.com/


Hopefully I have not made too long a wall of text for your Steam Activity feed (Apologies if I have, yet again), and until next time, farewell.