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Codemasters common .BDL audio archive
Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2015 12:43 pm
by Ferrari formula 1
Hello everyone!
I've been recently looking at the codemasters racing games and found that all of them (DIRT,GRID series) use the same archive type for storing sound data(Like engine revs)
After a long search I couldn't find any extraction tools for this format, so I thought that maybe someone will be able to take a look at them?
![[roll]](./images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif "rolleyes")
I think they should contain a bunch of sounds in one file like they usually do
Here are the examples,I hope someone can figure them out!
http://www.mediafire.com/download/7ctwb ... _DIRT3.rar
Re: Codemasters common .BDL audio archive
Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2015 5:33 am
by daemon1
Latest version. Supports both Codemasters ADPCM & m-law in all files I had. Tested with Dirt 2, Dirt 3, F1 2014.
Re: Codemasters common .BDL audio archive
Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2015 1:01 pm
by Ferrari formula 1
daemon1 wrote:It must be possible. Some kind of ADPCM. I see 19-byte chunks with 3 byte indexes here. Do you know what type of adpcm their engine use? What do they look like?
I don't know...
Since It's an archive with audio files,maybe it's a bit simmiliar to other audio files in the game?
There's a "Ego Audio Tool" which works with .WIM, .WIP and .DIC files from various codemasters games.
They contain music and some sound FX,but not the engine sounds and I can't even get it to work,since it does not have proper function for manual file opening and autodedects the game(I guess,only steam editions can be detected)
(Link for a tool)
Code: Select all
http://www.moddb.com/games/dirt-3/downloads/ego-audio-tool
And there was some research with .WIN files
http://zenhax.com/viewtopic.php?t=795
However, .BDL files are still a mystery
Re: Codemasters common .BDL audio archive
Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2015 1:46 pm
by daemon1
Well, mu-law is interesting, but these DBL files doesn't look like mu-law to me. As I said before, more like ADPCM. What would you like to be decoded first: this or NFS?
Re: Codemasters common .BDL audio archive
Posted: Sat Dec 19, 2015 2:35 pm
by Ferrari formula 1
daemon1 wrote:Well, mu-law is interesting, but these DBL files doesn't look like mu-law to me. As I said before, more like ADPCM. What would you like to be decoded first: this or NFS?
Well,I think that this archive type is more important because it's used by a lot of games from Codemasters and should be common...
So yeah,I'd love to have an ability to decode this .BDL sound format first
Re: Codemasters common .BDL audio archive
Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2015 8:22 am
by daemon1
ok, thats what I was able to decode from your files
http://www61.zippyshare.com/v/g3oOSSQZ/file.html
Please note that this is only the first attempt, assuming it is 44100Hz and decoding is not precise yet. This is really a sort of XA ADPCM designed by codemasters specifically to encode engine sounds. I'm saying that because of the special parameter tables they used in the algorythm.
Re: Codemasters common .BDL audio archive
Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2015 10:42 am
by Ferrari formula 1
daemon1 wrote:ok, thats what I was able to decode from your files
http://www61.zippyshare.com/v/g3oOSSQZ/file.html
Please note that this is only the first attempt, assuming it is 44100Hz and decoding is not precise yet. This is really a sort of XA ADPCM designed by codemasters specifically to encode engine sounds. I'm saying that because of the special parameter tables they used in the algorythm.
That sounded awesome!
Judjing by the game's structure,every car has more than one file for sounds.
I suppose that one of them should include gearbox/etc sounds,another one should be including sounds you just decoded and the last one,well,maybe looped samples from different rpm's? (That would make sence,I don't understand how some games can make car sound like a car by using only 2 sounds
)
I can send more samples If you need. Oh,and seems like the game is using different samples for AI cars and splitscreen mode
Re: Codemasters common .BDL audio archive
Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2015 8:03 pm
by daemon1
Yes I need more samples. Each of the 3 files you sent contain the same type of engine sounds. 4 in each file. And considering their length, all the files on this screenshot are the same.
p.s. there's no need for "loops at different RPMs". These accel/decel files can be used for this. You can hear the idle loop on one side of it, the overrev one on the other. Everything in the middle in used on different RPMs
Re: Codemasters common .BDL audio archive
Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2015 9:16 pm
by Ferrari formula 1
daemon1 wrote:Yes I need more samples. Each of the 3 files you sent contain the same type of engine sounds. 4 in each file. And considering their length, all the files on this screenshot are the same.
p.s. there's no need for "loops at different RPMs". These accel/decel files can be used for this. You can hear the idle loop on one side of it, the overrev one on the other. Everything in the middle in used on different RPMs
Here's a load of different example files
http://www.mediafire.com/download/4d179 ... AMPLES.rar
Well,I never really succeded in looping theese but I will try again
Re: Codemasters common .BDL audio archive
Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2015 9:48 pm
by daemon1
Ferrari formula 1 wrote:Well,I never really succeded in looping theese but I will try again
What do you plan to do with these sounds?
In addition to 4 audio samples, these BDL files contain a lot of tables. Such as 1024-elements table of RPMs, 8 to 14 tables with values about 0.9 - 1.4, and some more. I think they are using some advanced techniques to mix small parts of these samples to loop them into the engine sound needed. At least something similar was going on in NFS.
Now the samples you sent now are all the same type: 4 engine sounds each, but those inside AI & splitscreen folders are simply encoded with mu-law. While All in the root are in this special ADPCM codec. Let's see what can I do with these now.
Re: Codemasters common .BDL audio archive
Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2015 4:45 pm
by Ferrari formula 1
daemon1 wrote:Ferrari formula 1 wrote:Well,I never really succeded in looping theese but I will try again
What do you plan to do with these sounds?
In addition to 4 audio samples, these BDL files contain a lot of tables. Such as 1024-elements table of RPMs, 8 to 14 tables with values about 0.9 - 1.4, and some more. I think they are using some advanced techniques to mix small parts of these samples to loop them into the engine sound needed. At least something similar was going on in NFS.
Now the samples you sent now are all the same type: 4 engine sounds each, but those inside AI & splitscreen folders are simply encoded with mu-law. While All in the root are in this special ADPCM codec. Let's see what can I do with these now.
I want to use them to make a couple of mods for NFS/GTA and just for private use(audiophile
)
Pretty hard and impressive technology in my opinion
I also can hear in the game sounds of engine startups,exhaust and others,are they inside or maybe I'm missing something?
Re: Codemasters common .BDL audio archive
Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2015 4:49 pm
by daemon1
Ferrari formula 1 wrote:I also can hear in the game sounds of engine startups,exhaust and others,are they inside?
No, the only thing inside of these files you sent me is of the type I already uploaded. The engine sound samples, similar to GIN files of NFS.
Re: Codemasters common .BDL audio archive
Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2015 5:30 pm
by Ferrari formula 1
daemon1 wrote:Ferrari formula 1 wrote:I also can hear in the game sounds of engine startups,exhaust and others,are they inside?
No, the only thing inside of these files you sent me is of the type I already uploaded. The engine sound samples, similar to GIN files of NFS.
Well,as I search trough the other files,I found theese,here are the samples
Other files found
Maybe you could make a convertor for both .BDL and .WIP files?
I know that This programm I mentioned should work,but it does not,and can't even autodetect the game or give me an ability to open files manually
http://www.mediafire.com/download/8lp4n ... dd_mec.rar
Re: Codemasters common .BDL audio archive
Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2015 6:04 pm
by Ferrari formula 1
Oh,I found a way to make this programm work properly
Well then,theese .BDL file are the only that need to be converted...
Re: Codemasters common .BDL audio archive
Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2015 6:04 pm
by daemon1
Well, these WIP files are plain PCM. You don't even need any program to open them. Just open in any sound editor as RAW 16-bit mono files. But if you really need it, use this one:
http://www.moddb.com/games/dirt-3/downl ... -extractor (use the link to github)
All of engine start/stop, gears, horns, you will find in WIP files.