Post by Vyse on Jun 17, 2009 19:25:42 GMT -5
If you want a shorter but vaguer guide using Audacity, use Slashy's here. If you want clear, precise instructions on getting your loops perfect, use mine. As the Mortal Kombat announcer would say: CHOOSE YOUR DESTINY.
FAQ in second post. Please read it; any thread asking a question already answered in the FAQ or guide will be deleted without warning.
This update includes new information and methods regarding custom looping, simplification of some instructions for all methods, and a few general clarifications. New video forthcoming.
I've also added some color coding to the guide in an effort to make it more streamlined. Let me know how this works, OK?
Green is for button commands.
Yellow is for menu commands.
Teal is for attributes and other important things.
Video Tutorial
This will be easier to follow if you at least attempt reading the guide first, or, ideally, read along with it.
Guide
Table of Contents
Use Ctrl+F and the codes in parentheses next to each section to jump to that section.
1. Needed Tools (#tools)
2. Getting Started (#start)
-- Setting up Androu's tool (#setup)
-- A base brstm (#base)
3. Making a Song (#song)
-- A. Mono
--- Without Custom Looping (#mnoloop)
--- With Custom Looping (#mloop)
-- B. Stereo
--- Without Custom Looping (#snoloop)
--- With Custom Looping (#sloop)
4. Making a Victory Theme (#victory)
-- Mono (#vmono)
-- Stereo (#vstereo)
5. Testing Your Song in WinAMP (#test)
-- Setting up vgmstream (#vgmstr)
-- Playing a song (#play)
6. Adding Your Song to Brawl (#brawl)
-- Note about the SD Loader
7. Changing Music Titles (#titles)
1. Needed Tools: (#tools)
-- Androu1's BRSTM Maker
-- Goldwave (trial version here, full version here)
-- WinAMP and vgmstream (for testing/previewing brstms)
-- Brawl Track List (so you know what you're replacing)
If adding your music to the ISO (still the only way to make custom music titles work!):
-- An SSBB ISO (Make your own or download it)
-- WiiScrubber 1.21 (Note that the key.bin required to make it work will have to be obtained elsewhere; Google it or, if necessary, PM me.)
-- USB Loader (you have to register there to download the program, but the link tells you everything you need to know); or blank DVDs, a good DVD burner, the burning program of your choice (ImgBurn is by far the easiest), and a backup launcher
-- This tool and a hex editor (for changing music titles; PM me if you need NTCompress and can't find it on your own)
-------------------------------
2. Getting Started (#start)
Welcome to the world of music hacking! I'm Professor Vy *shot*
Erhem. Glad to have you; it's always nice to see what other people will bring to the table. To that end, I'll provide you with everything you need to know in order to make your own custom brawling music. You're taking another big step towardsbecoming a Pokemon master making your personal, individual copy of Brawl.
-- Setting up Androu's tool (#setup)
Once you've downloaded the rar from the link provided in Needed Tools, make a new folder at the root of your hard drive (where Program Files and the like are). Give it a name with NO SPACES. Extract the brstm tool into this folder.
You will see a folder with the name "Copy the files in this folder to your SYSTEM folder." These files should go into C:\Windows\System32.
-- A base brstm (#base)
The tool requires one brstm in the OriginalSongs folder in order to function. As far as I know, any brstm (and there are plenty available in this forum) will work, but for your convenience, here is one ripped directly from the Brawl disk: www.mediafire.com/?jmomik5nyle
Once you have this in the OriginalSongs folder, you are ready start your own grand adventure in the world ofPokemon music hacking.
-------------------------------
3. Making a Song (#song)
Now we're ready to get to work.
First, I will explain the key differences between mono and stereo tracks. Mono has a worse sound quality but a smaller filesize -- the quality drop won't be noticeable in many songs, so you can go with mono to save space on the ISO/SD card. Stereo songs have better sound quality but are twice the size of a mono version of the same song. (I make all of mine in stereo, but you can choose whichever you prefer on a song-by-song basis.)
A. Mono
--- Without Custom Looping (#mnoloop)
These instructions apply only to a song that will be looped from beginning to end. Skip to the "With Custom Looping Section" if you want your loop to start somewhere other than the beginning of the song.
Step 1: Editing Your Song
Open your mp3 or wma or wav or whatever in Goldwave. Edit the song however you like. You may want to do things like cutting out extraneous silence at the beginning or end and editing it so that it loops cleanly (in other words, making the end flow into the beginning), but you don't have to -- it's your song. If you choose to do the latter, then clicking on View and going to 10 or 1 second views can make the loop more precise. When you're done, you can press Ctrl+A, then the yellow Play key to make it play the song from beginning to end in a loop so you can see how it sounds. You can speed up the song with F6 and return to normal speeds with F4 to check the loop faster. If you want to make the loop clean, you may need to tweak the song more -- that's why you test it!
Once you're done editing your song, click File > Save As. Change the File Type to .wav, and change the attributes to PCM signed 16-bit mono. Save your song in the root of the music tool. (If you want, you can save another copy elsewhere as a backup; this one will be deleted when everything is finished.)
Step 2: Using the Tool
Get to the folder on your hard drive where you extracted the brstm tool. Double-click Start.bat. Enter A for mono, then enter the name of the brstm in OriginalSongs. It will then tell you to "read the inclosed instruction booklet." Refer to the following paragraphs instead.
Go back to the music tool folder. If you're using thestarter Pokemon brstm I provided, you will see a new file named A01.wav. Delete it and rename the wav you saved earlier to A01.
Go back to the tool and press Enter. From here, follow the instructions in the tool. Use 0 for the starting loop point. When asked to give anickname to the final brstm, you cannot use spaces (though you can rename it with spaces afterward).
And that's it! If you want to check your brstm to make sure it came out properly, skip to the "Testing Your Song in WinAMP" (#test) section. If you want to get right to inserting it into your game, see the "Adding Your Song to Brawl" (#brawl) section.
--- With Custom Looping (#mloop)
If your song has an intro that isn't part of the main loop and you want to keep it, or if it's easier for you to pick out a point within the song to loop (happens to me occasionally; sometimes getting the end and beginning to match precisely is too difficult), this is the place for you.
Step 1: Editing Your Song and Finding a Loop Point
Open your mp3 or wav or whatever in Goldwave. Edit it however you like. You may want to cut out any extra silence, and if the song fades out at the end, you may want to cut that out, too. Go to File > Save As, change the File Type to wav and the attributes to PCM signed 16-bit mono, and save the song in the root of the music tool.
Now you need to find your starting loop point. First, get a general idea (say, a 5-7 second window) of where you want your loop to begin. Left-click at the start of this general area to set your start point (the beginning of the highlighted section) there. Press Shift+E to bring up the Set Marker dialog. Look at Start under Sample based position. Now getyour Pokedex a calculator.
Why a calculator, you ask? In order to loop perfectly in-game, the sample number of your starting loop point must be a multiple of 14336. So take your calculator (Windows Calculator is most convenient for later steps), enter 14336, add 14336 to it, and keep pressing = until you reach the first number that is greater than the one you see in Start. Enter this number into Start (if using Windows Calculator, you can use Ctrl+C to copy and Ctrl+V to paste) and press Enter to make your start point jump to that exact sample number. Do not close or clear your calculator. Now work on finding an end point that flows into your set start point (going to View > 10 second or 1 second will make this easier). You set the finish marker by right-clicking on the spot you want to put it and selecting Set Finish Marker. You can use the yellow Play key to make it play the song from starting point to the end point in a loop so you can see how it sounds. You can speed up the song with F6 and return to normal speeds with F4 to check the loop faster. If it's too difficult, go back to your calculator, press = again, and try again with the new number as your start point. Once you've found one that works, make sure you keep the number you used either in your calculator or in Notepad.
Once you've determined your beginning and ending loop points, make sure your finish marker is where you want your ending loop point to be. Press Shift+E to bring up the Set Marker dialog. Change Start to 0 and press OK. Go to Edit > Trim to delete the rest of the song that you aren't using. Save your song.
Step 2: Using the Tool
Get to the folder on your hard drive where you extracted the brstm tool. Double-click Start.bat. Enter A for mono, then enter the name of the brstm in OriginalSongs. It will then tell you to "read the inclosed instruction booklet." Refer to the following paragraphs instead.
Go back to the music tool folder. If you're using thestarter Pokemon brstm I provided, you will see a new file named A01.wav. Delete it and rename the wav you saved earlier to A01.
Go back to the tool and press Enter. From here, follow the instructions in the tool. Use the number in your calculator/Notepad for the starting loop point. When asked to give anickname to the final brstm, you cannot use spaces (though you can rename it with spaces afterward).
And now you've done a song with custom looping! Goldwave makes it pretty easy. If you want to check your song to make sure it all worked properly, skip to the "Testing Your Song in WinAMP" section. If you want to get right to inserting it into your game, see the "Adding Your Song to Brawl" section.
B. Stereo
Do not choose this option if your song is not in stereo to begin with.
--- Without Custom Looping (#snoloop)
These instructions apply only to a song that will be looped from beginning to end. Skip to the "With Custom Looping Section" if you want your loop to start somewhere other than the beginning of the song.
Step 1: Editing Your Song
Open your mp3 or wma or wav or whatever in Goldwave. Go to File > Save As. Change the File Type to .wav and the attributes to PCM signed 16-bit stereo. Save it in the root of the music tool. Edit the song however you like. You may want to do things like cutting out extraneous silence at the beginning or end and editing it so that it loops cleanly (in other words, making the end flow into the beginning), but you don't have to -- it's your song. If you choose to do the latter, then clicking on View and going to 10 or 1 second views can make the loop more precise. When you're done, you can press Ctrl+A, then the yellow Play key to make it play the song from beginning to end in a loop so you can see how it sounds. You can speed up the song with F6 and return to normal speeds with F4 to check the loop faster. If you want to make the loop clean, you may need to tweak the song more -- that's why you test it!
Now that your song is all set, you need to save it. Press Ctrl+A. Right-click on the left (upper green) channel and click Channel to select just that channel. Go to File > Save Selection As, change the File Type to .wav and the attributes to PCM signed 16-bit mono. Save your song in the root of the music tool with the file name (Song)L. Now right-click on the right (lower red) channel and click Channel. Go to File > Save Selection As, change the File Type to .wav and the attributes to PCM signed 16-bit mono. Save your song in the root of the music tool with the file name (Song)R.
Step 2: Using the Tool
Get to the folder on your hard drive where you extracted the brstm tool. Double-click Start.bat. Enter B for stereo, then enter the name of the brstm in OriginalSongs. It will then tell you to "read the inclosed instruction booklet." Refer to the following paragraphs instead.
Go back to the music tool folder. If you're using thestarter Pokemon brstm I provided, you will see two new files named A01L.wav and A01R.wav. Delete them. Rename your (Song)L to A01L and your (Song)R to A01R.
Go back to the tool and press Enter. From here, follow the instructions in the tool. Use 0 for the starting loop point. When asked to give a name to the final brstm, you cannot use spaces (though you can rename it with spaces afterward).
And that's it! If you want to check your brstm to make sure it came out properly, skip to the "Testing Your Song in WinAMP" (#test) section. If you want to get right to inserting it into your game, see the "Adding Your Song to Brawl" (#brawl) section.
--- With Custom Looping (#sloop)
If your song has an intro that isn't part of the main loop and you want to keep it, or if it's easier for you to pick out a point within the song to loop (happens to me occasionally; sometimes getting the end and beginning to match precisely is too difficult), this is the place for you.
Step 1: Editing Your Song and Finding a Loop Point
Open your mp3 or wav or whatever in Goldwave. Go to File > Save As. Change the File Type to .wav and the attributes to PCM signed 16-bit stereo. Save it in the root of the music tool. Edit it however you like. You may want to cut out any extra silence, and if the song fades out at the end, you may want to cut that out, too.
Now you need to find your starting loop point. First, get a general idea (say, a 5-7 second window) of where you want your loop to begin. Left-click at the start of this general area to set your start point (the beginning of the highlighted section) there. Press Shift+E to bring up the Set Marker dialog. Look at Start under Sample based position. Now getyour Pokedex a calculator.
Why a calculator, you ask? In order to loop perfectly in-game, the sample number of your starting loop point must be a multiple of 14336. So take your calculator (Windows Calculator is most convenient for later steps), enter 14336, add 14336 to it, and keep pressing = until you reach the first number that is greater than the one you see in Start. Enter this number into Start (if using Windows Calculator, you can use Ctrl+C to copy and Ctrl+V to paste) and press Enter to make your start point jump to that exact sample number. Do not close or clear your calculator. Now work on finding an end point that flows into your set start point (going to View > 10 second or 1 second will make this easier). You set the finish marker by right-clicking on the spot you want to put it and selecting Set Finish Marker. You can use the yellow Play key to make it play the song from starting point to the end point in a loop so you can see how it sounds. You can speed up the song with F6 and return to normal speeds with F4 to check the loop faster. If it's too difficult, go back to your calculator, press = again, and try again with the new number as your start point. Once you've found one that works, make sure you keep the number you used either in your calculator or in Notepad.
Once you've determined your beginning and ending loop points, make sure your finish marker is where you want your ending loop point to be. Press Shift+E to bring up the Set Marker dialog. Change Start to 0 and press OK. Go to Edit > Trim to delete the rest of the song that you aren't using. Save your song.
Now that your song is all set, you need to save it. Press Ctrl+A. Right-click on the left (upper green) channel and click Channel to select just that channel. Go to File > Save Selection As, change the File Type to .wav and the attributes to PCM signed 16-bit mono. Save your song in the root of the music tool with the file name (Song)L. Now right-click on the right (lower red) channel and click Channel. Go to File > Save Selection As, change the File Type to .wav and the attributes to PCM signed 16-bit mono. Save your song in the root of the music tool with the file name (Song)R.
Step 2: Using the Tool
Get to the folder on your hard drive where you extracted the brstm tool. Double-click Start.bat. Enter B for stereo, then enter the name of the brstm in OriginalSongs. It will then tell you to "read the inclosed instruction booklet." Refer to the following paragraphs instead.
Go back to the music tool folder. If you're using thestarter Pokemon brstm I provided, you will see two new files named A01L.wav and A01R.wav. Delete them. Rename your (Song)L to A01L and your (Song)R to A01R.
Go back to the tool and press Enter. From here, follow the instructions in the tool. Use the number in your calculator/Notepad for the starting loop point. When asked to give a name to the final brstm, you cannot use spaces (though you can rename it with spaces afterward).
And now you've done a stereo song with custom looping! Goldwave makes it pretty easy. If you want to check your song to make sure it all worked properly, skip to the "Testing Your Song in WinAMP" (#test) section. If you want to get right to inserting it into your game, see the "Adding Your Song to Brawl" (#brawl) section.
-------------------------------
4. Making a Victory Theme (#victory)
Victory themes are the songs that play after a brawl, at the results screen. They do not loop.
-- Mono (#vmono)
Step 1: Editing Your Song
Open your mp3 or wma or wav or whatever in Goldwave. Edit the song however you like. You may want to do things like cutting out extraneous silence at the beginning or end.
Once you're done editing your song, click File > Save As. Change the File Type to .wav, and change the attributes to PCM signed 16-bit mono. Save your song in the root of the music tool.
Step 2: Using the Tool
Get to the folder on your hard drive where you extracted the brstm tool. Double-click Start.bat. Enter C for mono, then enter the name of the brstm in OriginalSongs. It will then tell you to "read the inclosed instruction booklet." Refer to the following paragraphs instead.
Go back to the music tool folder. If you're using thestarter Pokemon brstm I provided, you will see a new file named A01.wav. Delete it and rename the wav you saved earlier to A01.
Go back to the tool and press Enter. When asked to give anickname to the final brstm, you cannot use spaces (though you can rename it with spaces afterward).
And that's it! If you want to check your brstm to make sure it came out properly, skip to the "Testing Your Song in WinAMP" (#test) section. If you want to get right to inserting it into your game, see the "Adding Your Song to Brawl" (#brawl) section.
-- Stereo (#vstereo)
Open your mp3 or wma or wav or whatever in Goldwave. Go to File > Save As. Change the File Type to .wav and the attributes to PCM signed 16-bit stereo. Save it in the root of the music tool. Edit the song however you like. You may want to do things like cutting out extraneous silence at the beginning or end.
Now that your song is all set, you need to save it. Press Ctrl+A. Right-click on the left (upper green) channel and click Channel to select just that channel. Go to File > Save Selection As, change the File Type to .wav and the attributes to PCM signed 16-bit mono. Save your song in the root of the music tool with the file name (Song)L. Now right-click on the right (lower red) channel and click Channel. Go to File > Save Selection As, change the File Type to .wav and the attributes to PCM signed 16-bit mono. Save your song in the root of the music tool with the file name (Song)R.
Step 2: Using the Tool
Get to the folder on your hard drive where you extracted the brstm tool. Double-click Start.bat. Enter D for stereo, then enter the name of the brstm in OriginalSongs. It will then tell you to "read the inclosed instruction booklet." Refer to the following paragraphs instead.
Go back to the music tool folder. If you're using thestarter Pokemon brstm I provided, you will see two new files named A01L.wav and A01R.wav. Delete them. Rename your (Song)L to A01L and your (Song)R to A01R.
Go back to the tool and press Enter. When asked to give a name to the final brstm, you cannot use spaces (though you can rename it with spaces afterward).
And that's it! If you want to check your brstm to make sure it came out properly, skip to the "Testing Your Song in WinAMP" (#test) section. If you want to get right to inserting it into your game, see the "Adding Your Song to Brawl" (#brawl) section.
-------------------------------
5. Testing Your Song in WinAMP (#test)
Now that you've made a brstm (or downloaded one from someone else), you probably want to see if it sounds good before you put it in your game. That's what this section is for!
-- Setting Up vgmstream (#vgmstr)
Download and extract vgmstream. (If you have Androu's tool, included a folder named "WinAMP Plug-in" that has the same files.) Once you've downloaded and installed WinAMP, open this folder and follow the enclosed instructions. The main WinAMP folder is in C:\Program Files\Winamp (or wherever you installed it), and the Plugins folder is inside the main folder.
-- Playing a Song (#play)
Do NOT try to run WinAMP on its own and then open a brstm within it. Due to the added plugin, WinAMP will crash upon startup.
Instead, you must create a file association that makes Windows open WinAMP and play your brstm just by double-clicking the brstm. If you don't know how to do that, follow these instructions:
Pick any brstm. Right-click it and click on Open With. Click Browse in the window that opens. You will then be taken to your Program Files folder. Scroll until you get to the Winamp folder. Double-click it, then double-click Winamp.exe. You will be taken back to the previous window. Click "Always do this for this type of file," then OK. You will be asked to create a name for this file type (I think that's when it asks; I did this a while ago, so I'm mostly going off memory). "brstm" is obviously the best choice.
Once you're done, double-click a brstm to have WinAMP automatically open and play it. By default, it plays the loop once (meaning you'll hear the song twice, and the total length at the top will be twice -- or less if you have a custom loop point -- what the song's actual length is).
-------------------------------
6. Adding Your Song to Brawl (#brawl)
Ready to hear your custom song in action? We're almost ready to play!
Using the SD Loader for your music? See this topic for instructions on usage.
Open your Brawl ISO in WiiScrubber (make sure you have the key.bin to make WiiScrubber work!).
Expand Data (partition 2), then scroll down to and expand sound. Expand strm to find every music file in the game. Use the Track List provided in Needed Tools (#tools) to find the song you want to replace. Right-click it and click Load. Navigate to EditedSongs in the music tool folder and double-click the song you want to put in. WiiScrubber will spend... quite a while on this, so be patient. When it's done, it will give you a message ("Replacing complete, now reparsing" or something very similar). Click OK, and after a moment, you will be back at the root of the ISO. Navigate back to strm and replace the next track you want to change. Repeat for every song you want to add. When you're done and WiiScrubber has reparsed the ISO, click X to close it (click Yes when asked if you're sure).
If using the USB Loader, follow the instructions in the link provided with it in #tools. If using the backup launcher, install it on your Wii. Put a DVD in your disc drive, run ImgBurn, set the burn speed to 2x, and begin. Ignore the message telling you there's not enough space. After a while (about 55% completion), you will get an error saying it ran out of space. Ignore it, then tell it to finalize the disc anyway when prompted. Put the disc in your Wii and play!
Enjoy your custom music!
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7. Changing Music Titles (#titles)
So you've added a bunch of your own music to the game, but you want it to feel more authentic? Look no further! In this section, you'll learn how to change the names of the songs in the game and the My Music menu.
Download and extract the tool provided in #tools. Open the enclosed readme and follow the instructions. The pac files are in Data>menu2 and Data>info2, respectively. Make sure you have NTCompress!
When you have the pac open in your hex editor (I'll use HxD as an example, because that's what I use), use Ctrl+F and search for the first song title you want to change. Make sure you have the Datatype set to Text-string. If you get a "Not found" message," change the direction of the search. Search for the song title exactly as it appears in Brawl. Note that titles with the word "Pokémon" in them have the accent on the e, so you can either include this symbol when you search or just leave it out of your search terms.
When you've found the title, you need to change it. Write out the title you want to use in Notepad, then copy and paste it over the title in your hex editor. But be careful!
You can't change the size of the original file. That means that the number of characters in your new title must exactly match the number of characters in the original title. Consider, for example, changing "Final Destination" to "One-Winged Angel."
Final Destination
One-Winged Angel
The original title has 17 characters. The new one has 16. If you just copy and paste the new title over the original, you'll shorten the file by one character. To fix this, just add a space at the end of the new title, bringing it to 17 characters.
Another situation would be one in which the new title is longer than the original. Consider replacing "Battlefield" with "One-Winged Angel."
Battlefield
One-Winged Angel
Eleven characters vs. sixteen. There are two ways around this. One way is to choose your replacements such that the original title is long enough to accommodate the new one, though that might get more difficult as you add more and more songs. The second way is to abbreviate or be creative with the new title to make it fit. In our example, you could just title it "OWA," though I don't really like that. For this case, I would call it "Sephiroth" (9 characters, so you'd have to add two spaces at the end), since it's his theme.
When you're done, save and close the file and work on the other one. Once you've finished with both, continue following the instructions in the readme.
If you've done everything correctly, you will have a fully customized music selection. Enjoy your game!
FAQ in second post. Please read it; any thread asking a question already answered in the FAQ or guide will be deleted without warning.
This update includes new information and methods regarding custom looping, simplification of some instructions for all methods, and a few general clarifications. New video forthcoming.
I've also added some color coding to the guide in an effort to make it more streamlined. Let me know how this works, OK?
Green is for button commands.
Yellow is for menu commands.
Teal is for attributes and other important things.
Video Tutorial
This will be easier to follow if you at least attempt reading the guide first, or, ideally, read along with it.
Guide
Table of Contents
Use Ctrl+F and the codes in parentheses next to each section to jump to that section.
1. Needed Tools (#tools)
2. Getting Started (#start)
-- Setting up Androu's tool (#setup)
-- A base brstm (#base)
3. Making a Song (#song)
-- A. Mono
--- Without Custom Looping (#mnoloop)
--- With Custom Looping (#mloop)
-- B. Stereo
--- Without Custom Looping (#snoloop)
--- With Custom Looping (#sloop)
4. Making a Victory Theme (#victory)
-- Mono (#vmono)
-- Stereo (#vstereo)
5. Testing Your Song in WinAMP (#test)
-- Setting up vgmstream (#vgmstr)
-- Playing a song (#play)
6. Adding Your Song to Brawl (#brawl)
-- Note about the SD Loader
7. Changing Music Titles (#titles)
1. Needed Tools: (#tools)
-- Androu1's BRSTM Maker
-- Goldwave (trial version here, full version here)
-- WinAMP and vgmstream (for testing/previewing brstms)
-- Brawl Track List (so you know what you're replacing)
If adding your music to the ISO (still the only way to make custom music titles work!):
-- An SSBB ISO (Make your own or download it)
-- WiiScrubber 1.21 (Note that the key.bin required to make it work will have to be obtained elsewhere; Google it or, if necessary, PM me.)
-- USB Loader (you have to register there to download the program, but the link tells you everything you need to know); or blank DVDs, a good DVD burner, the burning program of your choice (ImgBurn is by far the easiest), and a backup launcher
-- This tool and a hex editor (for changing music titles; PM me if you need NTCompress and can't find it on your own)
-------------------------------
2. Getting Started (#start)
Welcome to the world of music hacking! I'm Professor Vy *shot*
Erhem. Glad to have you; it's always nice to see what other people will bring to the table. To that end, I'll provide you with everything you need to know in order to make your own custom brawling music. You're taking another big step towards
-- Setting up Androu's tool (#setup)
Once you've downloaded the rar from the link provided in Needed Tools, make a new folder at the root of your hard drive (where Program Files and the like are). Give it a name with NO SPACES. Extract the brstm tool into this folder.
You will see a folder with the name "Copy the files in this folder to your SYSTEM folder." These files should go into C:\Windows\System32.
-- A base brstm (#base)
The tool requires one brstm in the OriginalSongs folder in order to function. As far as I know, any brstm (and there are plenty available in this forum) will work, but for your convenience, here is one ripped directly from the Brawl disk: www.mediafire.com/?jmomik5nyle
Once you have this in the OriginalSongs folder, you are ready start your own grand adventure in the world of
-------------------------------
3. Making a Song (#song)
Now we're ready to get to work.
First, I will explain the key differences between mono and stereo tracks. Mono has a worse sound quality but a smaller filesize -- the quality drop won't be noticeable in many songs, so you can go with mono to save space on the ISO/SD card. Stereo songs have better sound quality but are twice the size of a mono version of the same song. (I make all of mine in stereo, but you can choose whichever you prefer on a song-by-song basis.)
A. Mono
--- Without Custom Looping (#mnoloop)
These instructions apply only to a song that will be looped from beginning to end. Skip to the "With Custom Looping Section" if you want your loop to start somewhere other than the beginning of the song.
Step 1: Editing Your Song
Open your mp3 or wma or wav or whatever in Goldwave. Edit the song however you like. You may want to do things like cutting out extraneous silence at the beginning or end and editing it so that it loops cleanly (in other words, making the end flow into the beginning), but you don't have to -- it's your song. If you choose to do the latter, then clicking on View and going to 10 or 1 second views can make the loop more precise. When you're done, you can press Ctrl+A, then the yellow Play key to make it play the song from beginning to end in a loop so you can see how it sounds. You can speed up the song with F6 and return to normal speeds with F4 to check the loop faster. If you want to make the loop clean, you may need to tweak the song more -- that's why you test it!
Once you're done editing your song, click File > Save As. Change the File Type to .wav, and change the attributes to PCM signed 16-bit mono. Save your song in the root of the music tool. (If you want, you can save another copy elsewhere as a backup; this one will be deleted when everything is finished.)
Step 2: Using the Tool
Get to the folder on your hard drive where you extracted the brstm tool. Double-click Start.bat. Enter A for mono, then enter the name of the brstm in OriginalSongs. It will then tell you to "read the inclosed instruction booklet." Refer to the following paragraphs instead.
Go back to the music tool folder. If you're using the
Go back to the tool and press Enter. From here, follow the instructions in the tool. Use 0 for the starting loop point. When asked to give a
And that's it! If you want to check your brstm to make sure it came out properly, skip to the "Testing Your Song in WinAMP" (#test) section. If you want to get right to inserting it into your game, see the "Adding Your Song to Brawl" (#brawl) section.
--- With Custom Looping (#mloop)
If your song has an intro that isn't part of the main loop and you want to keep it, or if it's easier for you to pick out a point within the song to loop (happens to me occasionally; sometimes getting the end and beginning to match precisely is too difficult), this is the place for you.
Step 1: Editing Your Song and Finding a Loop Point
Open your mp3 or wav or whatever in Goldwave. Edit it however you like. You may want to cut out any extra silence, and if the song fades out at the end, you may want to cut that out, too. Go to File > Save As, change the File Type to wav and the attributes to PCM signed 16-bit mono, and save the song in the root of the music tool.
Now you need to find your starting loop point. First, get a general idea (say, a 5-7 second window) of where you want your loop to begin. Left-click at the start of this general area to set your start point (the beginning of the highlighted section) there. Press Shift+E to bring up the Set Marker dialog. Look at Start under Sample based position. Now get
Why a calculator, you ask? In order to loop perfectly in-game, the sample number of your starting loop point must be a multiple of 14336. So take your calculator (Windows Calculator is most convenient for later steps), enter 14336, add 14336 to it, and keep pressing = until you reach the first number that is greater than the one you see in Start. Enter this number into Start (if using Windows Calculator, you can use Ctrl+C to copy and Ctrl+V to paste) and press Enter to make your start point jump to that exact sample number. Do not close or clear your calculator. Now work on finding an end point that flows into your set start point (going to View > 10 second or 1 second will make this easier). You set the finish marker by right-clicking on the spot you want to put it and selecting Set Finish Marker. You can use the yellow Play key to make it play the song from starting point to the end point in a loop so you can see how it sounds. You can speed up the song with F6 and return to normal speeds with F4 to check the loop faster. If it's too difficult, go back to your calculator, press = again, and try again with the new number as your start point. Once you've found one that works, make sure you keep the number you used either in your calculator or in Notepad.
Once you've determined your beginning and ending loop points, make sure your finish marker is where you want your ending loop point to be. Press Shift+E to bring up the Set Marker dialog. Change Start to 0 and press OK. Go to Edit > Trim to delete the rest of the song that you aren't using. Save your song.
Step 2: Using the Tool
Get to the folder on your hard drive where you extracted the brstm tool. Double-click Start.bat. Enter A for mono, then enter the name of the brstm in OriginalSongs. It will then tell you to "read the inclosed instruction booklet." Refer to the following paragraphs instead.
Go back to the music tool folder. If you're using the
Go back to the tool and press Enter. From here, follow the instructions in the tool. Use the number in your calculator/Notepad for the starting loop point. When asked to give a
And now you've done a song with custom looping! Goldwave makes it pretty easy. If you want to check your song to make sure it all worked properly, skip to the "Testing Your Song in WinAMP" section. If you want to get right to inserting it into your game, see the "Adding Your Song to Brawl" section.
B. Stereo
Do not choose this option if your song is not in stereo to begin with.
--- Without Custom Looping (#snoloop)
These instructions apply only to a song that will be looped from beginning to end. Skip to the "With Custom Looping Section" if you want your loop to start somewhere other than the beginning of the song.
Step 1: Editing Your Song
Open your mp3 or wma or wav or whatever in Goldwave. Go to File > Save As. Change the File Type to .wav and the attributes to PCM signed 16-bit stereo. Save it in the root of the music tool. Edit the song however you like. You may want to do things like cutting out extraneous silence at the beginning or end and editing it so that it loops cleanly (in other words, making the end flow into the beginning), but you don't have to -- it's your song. If you choose to do the latter, then clicking on View and going to 10 or 1 second views can make the loop more precise. When you're done, you can press Ctrl+A, then the yellow Play key to make it play the song from beginning to end in a loop so you can see how it sounds. You can speed up the song with F6 and return to normal speeds with F4 to check the loop faster. If you want to make the loop clean, you may need to tweak the song more -- that's why you test it!
Now that your song is all set, you need to save it. Press Ctrl+A. Right-click on the left (upper green) channel and click Channel to select just that channel. Go to File > Save Selection As, change the File Type to .wav and the attributes to PCM signed 16-bit mono. Save your song in the root of the music tool with the file name (Song)L. Now right-click on the right (lower red) channel and click Channel. Go to File > Save Selection As, change the File Type to .wav and the attributes to PCM signed 16-bit mono. Save your song in the root of the music tool with the file name (Song)R.
Step 2: Using the Tool
Get to the folder on your hard drive where you extracted the brstm tool. Double-click Start.bat. Enter B for stereo, then enter the name of the brstm in OriginalSongs. It will then tell you to "read the inclosed instruction booklet." Refer to the following paragraphs instead.
Go back to the music tool folder. If you're using the
Go back to the tool and press Enter. From here, follow the instructions in the tool. Use 0 for the starting loop point. When asked to give a name to the final brstm, you cannot use spaces (though you can rename it with spaces afterward).
And that's it! If you want to check your brstm to make sure it came out properly, skip to the "Testing Your Song in WinAMP" (#test) section. If you want to get right to inserting it into your game, see the "Adding Your Song to Brawl" (#brawl) section.
--- With Custom Looping (#sloop)
If your song has an intro that isn't part of the main loop and you want to keep it, or if it's easier for you to pick out a point within the song to loop (happens to me occasionally; sometimes getting the end and beginning to match precisely is too difficult), this is the place for you.
Step 1: Editing Your Song and Finding a Loop Point
Open your mp3 or wav or whatever in Goldwave. Go to File > Save As. Change the File Type to .wav and the attributes to PCM signed 16-bit stereo. Save it in the root of the music tool. Edit it however you like. You may want to cut out any extra silence, and if the song fades out at the end, you may want to cut that out, too.
Now you need to find your starting loop point. First, get a general idea (say, a 5-7 second window) of where you want your loop to begin. Left-click at the start of this general area to set your start point (the beginning of the highlighted section) there. Press Shift+E to bring up the Set Marker dialog. Look at Start under Sample based position. Now get
Why a calculator, you ask? In order to loop perfectly in-game, the sample number of your starting loop point must be a multiple of 14336. So take your calculator (Windows Calculator is most convenient for later steps), enter 14336, add 14336 to it, and keep pressing = until you reach the first number that is greater than the one you see in Start. Enter this number into Start (if using Windows Calculator, you can use Ctrl+C to copy and Ctrl+V to paste) and press Enter to make your start point jump to that exact sample number. Do not close or clear your calculator. Now work on finding an end point that flows into your set start point (going to View > 10 second or 1 second will make this easier). You set the finish marker by right-clicking on the spot you want to put it and selecting Set Finish Marker. You can use the yellow Play key to make it play the song from starting point to the end point in a loop so you can see how it sounds. You can speed up the song with F6 and return to normal speeds with F4 to check the loop faster. If it's too difficult, go back to your calculator, press = again, and try again with the new number as your start point. Once you've found one that works, make sure you keep the number you used either in your calculator or in Notepad.
Once you've determined your beginning and ending loop points, make sure your finish marker is where you want your ending loop point to be. Press Shift+E to bring up the Set Marker dialog. Change Start to 0 and press OK. Go to Edit > Trim to delete the rest of the song that you aren't using. Save your song.
Now that your song is all set, you need to save it. Press Ctrl+A. Right-click on the left (upper green) channel and click Channel to select just that channel. Go to File > Save Selection As, change the File Type to .wav and the attributes to PCM signed 16-bit mono. Save your song in the root of the music tool with the file name (Song)L. Now right-click on the right (lower red) channel and click Channel. Go to File > Save Selection As, change the File Type to .wav and the attributes to PCM signed 16-bit mono. Save your song in the root of the music tool with the file name (Song)R.
Step 2: Using the Tool
Get to the folder on your hard drive where you extracted the brstm tool. Double-click Start.bat. Enter B for stereo, then enter the name of the brstm in OriginalSongs. It will then tell you to "read the inclosed instruction booklet." Refer to the following paragraphs instead.
Go back to the music tool folder. If you're using the
Go back to the tool and press Enter. From here, follow the instructions in the tool. Use the number in your calculator/Notepad for the starting loop point. When asked to give a name to the final brstm, you cannot use spaces (though you can rename it with spaces afterward).
And now you've done a stereo song with custom looping! Goldwave makes it pretty easy. If you want to check your song to make sure it all worked properly, skip to the "Testing Your Song in WinAMP" (#test) section. If you want to get right to inserting it into your game, see the "Adding Your Song to Brawl" (#brawl) section.
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4. Making a Victory Theme (#victory)
Victory themes are the songs that play after a brawl, at the results screen. They do not loop.
-- Mono (#vmono)
Step 1: Editing Your Song
Open your mp3 or wma or wav or whatever in Goldwave. Edit the song however you like. You may want to do things like cutting out extraneous silence at the beginning or end.
Once you're done editing your song, click File > Save As. Change the File Type to .wav, and change the attributes to PCM signed 16-bit mono. Save your song in the root of the music tool.
Step 2: Using the Tool
Get to the folder on your hard drive where you extracted the brstm tool. Double-click Start.bat. Enter C for mono, then enter the name of the brstm in OriginalSongs. It will then tell you to "read the inclosed instruction booklet." Refer to the following paragraphs instead.
Go back to the music tool folder. If you're using the
Go back to the tool and press Enter. When asked to give a
And that's it! If you want to check your brstm to make sure it came out properly, skip to the "Testing Your Song in WinAMP" (#test) section. If you want to get right to inserting it into your game, see the "Adding Your Song to Brawl" (#brawl) section.
-- Stereo (#vstereo)
Open your mp3 or wma or wav or whatever in Goldwave. Go to File > Save As. Change the File Type to .wav and the attributes to PCM signed 16-bit stereo. Save it in the root of the music tool. Edit the song however you like. You may want to do things like cutting out extraneous silence at the beginning or end.
Now that your song is all set, you need to save it. Press Ctrl+A. Right-click on the left (upper green) channel and click Channel to select just that channel. Go to File > Save Selection As, change the File Type to .wav and the attributes to PCM signed 16-bit mono. Save your song in the root of the music tool with the file name (Song)L. Now right-click on the right (lower red) channel and click Channel. Go to File > Save Selection As, change the File Type to .wav and the attributes to PCM signed 16-bit mono. Save your song in the root of the music tool with the file name (Song)R.
Step 2: Using the Tool
Get to the folder on your hard drive where you extracted the brstm tool. Double-click Start.bat. Enter D for stereo, then enter the name of the brstm in OriginalSongs. It will then tell you to "read the inclosed instruction booklet." Refer to the following paragraphs instead.
Go back to the music tool folder. If you're using the
Go back to the tool and press Enter. When asked to give a name to the final brstm, you cannot use spaces (though you can rename it with spaces afterward).
And that's it! If you want to check your brstm to make sure it came out properly, skip to the "Testing Your Song in WinAMP" (#test) section. If you want to get right to inserting it into your game, see the "Adding Your Song to Brawl" (#brawl) section.
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5. Testing Your Song in WinAMP (#test)
Now that you've made a brstm (or downloaded one from someone else), you probably want to see if it sounds good before you put it in your game. That's what this section is for!
-- Setting Up vgmstream (#vgmstr)
Download and extract vgmstream. (If you have Androu's tool, included a folder named "WinAMP Plug-in" that has the same files.) Once you've downloaded and installed WinAMP, open this folder and follow the enclosed instructions. The main WinAMP folder is in C:\Program Files\Winamp (or wherever you installed it), and the Plugins folder is inside the main folder.
-- Playing a Song (#play)
Do NOT try to run WinAMP on its own and then open a brstm within it. Due to the added plugin, WinAMP will crash upon startup.
Instead, you must create a file association that makes Windows open WinAMP and play your brstm just by double-clicking the brstm. If you don't know how to do that, follow these instructions:
Pick any brstm. Right-click it and click on Open With. Click Browse in the window that opens. You will then be taken to your Program Files folder. Scroll until you get to the Winamp folder. Double-click it, then double-click Winamp.exe. You will be taken back to the previous window. Click "Always do this for this type of file," then OK. You will be asked to create a name for this file type (I think that's when it asks; I did this a while ago, so I'm mostly going off memory). "brstm" is obviously the best choice.
Once you're done, double-click a brstm to have WinAMP automatically open and play it. By default, it plays the loop once (meaning you'll hear the song twice, and the total length at the top will be twice -- or less if you have a custom loop point -- what the song's actual length is).
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6. Adding Your Song to Brawl (#brawl)
Ready to hear your custom song in action? We're almost ready to play!
Using the SD Loader for your music? See this topic for instructions on usage.
Open your Brawl ISO in WiiScrubber (make sure you have the key.bin to make WiiScrubber work!).
Expand Data (partition 2), then scroll down to and expand sound. Expand strm to find every music file in the game. Use the Track List provided in Needed Tools (#tools) to find the song you want to replace. Right-click it and click Load. Navigate to EditedSongs in the music tool folder and double-click the song you want to put in. WiiScrubber will spend... quite a while on this, so be patient. When it's done, it will give you a message ("Replacing complete, now reparsing" or something very similar). Click OK, and after a moment, you will be back at the root of the ISO. Navigate back to strm and replace the next track you want to change. Repeat for every song you want to add. When you're done and WiiScrubber has reparsed the ISO, click X to close it (click Yes when asked if you're sure).
If using the USB Loader, follow the instructions in the link provided with it in #tools. If using the backup launcher, install it on your Wii. Put a DVD in your disc drive, run ImgBurn, set the burn speed to 2x, and begin. Ignore the message telling you there's not enough space. After a while (about 55% completion), you will get an error saying it ran out of space. Ignore it, then tell it to finalize the disc anyway when prompted. Put the disc in your Wii and play!
Enjoy your custom music!
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7. Changing Music Titles (#titles)
So you've added a bunch of your own music to the game, but you want it to feel more authentic? Look no further! In this section, you'll learn how to change the names of the songs in the game and the My Music menu.
Download and extract the tool provided in #tools. Open the enclosed readme and follow the instructions. The pac files are in Data>menu2 and Data>info2, respectively. Make sure you have NTCompress!
When you have the pac open in your hex editor (I'll use HxD as an example, because that's what I use), use Ctrl+F and search for the first song title you want to change. Make sure you have the Datatype set to Text-string. If you get a "Not found" message," change the direction of the search. Search for the song title exactly as it appears in Brawl. Note that titles with the word "Pokémon" in them have the accent on the e, so you can either include this symbol when you search or just leave it out of your search terms.
When you've found the title, you need to change it. Write out the title you want to use in Notepad, then copy and paste it over the title in your hex editor. But be careful!
You can't change the size of the original file. That means that the number of characters in your new title must exactly match the number of characters in the original title. Consider, for example, changing "Final Destination" to "One-Winged Angel."
Final Destination
One-Winged Angel
The original title has 17 characters. The new one has 16. If you just copy and paste the new title over the original, you'll shorten the file by one character. To fix this, just add a space at the end of the new title, bringing it to 17 characters.
Another situation would be one in which the new title is longer than the original. Consider replacing "Battlefield" with "One-Winged Angel."
Battlefield
One-Winged Angel
Eleven characters vs. sixteen. There are two ways around this. One way is to choose your replacements such that the original title is long enough to accommodate the new one, though that might get more difficult as you add more and more songs. The second way is to abbreviate or be creative with the new title to make it fit. In our example, you could just title it "OWA," though I don't really like that. For this case, I would call it "Sephiroth" (9 characters, so you'd have to add two spaces at the end), since it's his theme.
When you're done, save and close the file and work on the other one. Once you've finished with both, continue following the instructions in the readme.
If you've done everything correctly, you will have a fully customized music selection. Enjoy your game!
