Gamersgate Version Audio Problems
 

Originally from Deep Shadow forums.
This is just recap of old thread. Go to the next post, if you just need solution.







^There was discussion here, were was concluded that game can't use files unpacked from grp archives, as an override, if their modification date is different then expected. And that can happen when using WinRar for distribution, since it doesn't properly preserve modification date of files, when sharing between different times zones. 7-zip, on the other hand, works great.


Feel free to add something, if I missed it, from old thread.

The fix, all in one place:

Feel free to add something, if I missed it, from old thread.

I tried updating the sound files and go the following error message:

Data error in gf_sounds.grp. File is broken.

Any one have any idea?

FYI, I reloaded the download file to see if it was bad/corrupted and still go the same error message.

Further update, using the file prevents the game from starting, I get an error message.

You need both gf_sounds.grp and main.fat

I have both of them. But I now see I get a message that say I need to start extraction from a previous volume. Is that what you mean? And what does that mean anyway? Thanks.

EDIT: Nevermind, did some googling, think I figured it out. Thanks!

So just to confirm, would everyone say that the full recommended process for installing the GamersGate version and getting all the English Language audio-visual goodness is as follows….?

1. Purchase, download and install Precursors (Hurrah! At last!)
2. Backup up certain files (Precursors.exe, VELoader.dll, vital.dll, resource.qrc)
3. Install Official Russian 1.1 DVD Patch
4. Replace files with backed up versions
5. Download and install Russian sound package
6. Download and install English cutscene sound files
7. Download and install Wesp5's Unofficial 1.3 Translation Patch
8. Install NoFilmGrain and ATI Flicker Fix if required
9. Get lost in virtual universe and forget to eat, sleep and interact with real people.

This will revert any engine related 1.1 changes. Better find another way to circumvent the protection than the crack included with the GG 1.0 version.

That's not necessary anymore with my 1.3 patch…

Many thanks Wesp5, and thanks also for the great work you've put in to bringing this to us!

But hang on a minute… the Gamers Gate version actually uses a CRACK? As in an illegal hack to circumvent anti-piracy DRM?

I presume this must actually be a legal hack produced by Deep Shadows - or couldn't they be bothered to produce a non-DRM version and allowed GG to release it with some script kiddie's dodgy efforts embedded?

I wondered why the files needed to be backed up before installing the patch, as suggested elsewhere. I thought it might be a language issue or something.

Yes. They told me this was because Deep Shadows didn't provide GamersGate with an unprotected executable and obviously the Starforce DVD protection didn't work with the digital distributed version. As far as I know this will be fixed in the upcoming 1.1 patch.

This also explains why patch 1.1 was never used, since there is no "traditional" crack for it. There is some sort of keygen from pirated release, to make 1.1 work, but you can't really pack that with original English game and keep some credibility. Right?

Exactly. But I think they plan on using the same activation mechanism to work with the serial numbers of the GamersGate versions instead of the original Russian ones.

Makes sense. It's digital distribution, anyway.


P.S.
Still, it is obvious that there was some fallout between GDI and Deep Shadows, which led to pretty much botched English release (of both DS games). I wonder what was it?

I don't know. I guess the usual, the developers want more time and money to finish their game, the publishers are annoyed over endless delays and want to see results. Happens frequently!

So this upcoming 1.1 patch is a proper patch for the English version I've got from GG? And did I read somewhere that you are involved in this? And if so, do you know if it will be a definitive patch that will fix the bugs and executables, put all the Russian stuff back but also update the English content, to make it not be crap!

I'm just wondering if I should hold off properly starting to play until that's released. Got plenty of other games to keep me occupied but I've wanted to play this game since I saw the first inklings of it on Gamespot etc. The concept and screenshots really reminded me of Outcast, with a bit of Morrowind and Mass Effect thrown in, all of which I love.

Anyone remember Outcast?

http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/outcast/

EDIT: I'm such a sucker for nostalgia. One look at those screenshots, and then discovering someone's produced a patch to up the original game's max rez from 512x384 (yes really) to full HD, and that was me a new customer of GOG spending $6 on a 10 year old game. They gave me 4 free games for joining too, including Beneath A Steel Sky and Lure Of The Temptress!

Outcast at full HD: http://a.imageshack.us/img521/9436/outcastfhd.jpg

As far as I know this will be a proper patch including the official Russian 1.1 patch executables and my unofficial 1.3 patch translation. The Russian sound files will be offered as a seperate download, because they are quite big.

Thanks Wesp5. I think I'm going to hold off for a bit until that's released - I'm actually having a lot of fun playing Outcast again at a decent resolution :)

Hey, just registered to ask a query on this: I have the Beamdog version of the game, I tried installing the translation patch, but ended up with skipping / missing sounds.

I've downloaded the two archives for the sound packages, as suggested, but I noticed that there are two copies of the sounds.grp file, one with a "<--" sign after it. Do these two files need to be combined and, if so, what software would I require to do so?

I assume that, once these files are installed, i just reapply the translation patch to get the English cutscene voiceovers?

I didn't want to clutter the main thread area with another query, so I thought best to post here. Hope that's ok!

I think that sounds.grp is a split archive. Dl both and just use winrar and it should extract the entire file for you. then install the unofficial patch

Hi,

Well I didn't figure it out. Do you mind posting what you did to get this to work?
I get the same "the crap is broken" message you posted.

And whoever put "u need both filez?". What the F dude?

You have files with the exact same names in both .rar files.
What happens when you extract to the same directory?
It overwrites it. So please explain in more detail what magical thing must be done for this be done the way you are thinking it in your head.

Like I said in the other thread I would help you if you weren't such a jerk. Here's a tip: learn how to use WinRar.

Thanks for this sound fix.

After applying the Unofficial 1.4 patch I hear english voices in the opening scene. After that the radio communication is silent (radio without sound ?). Not sure if this intended. After the training session you can talk with people, but I hear nothing. This can't be true as in the older game Boiling Point there were spoken dialogs. There is even a sound slider control for voices, but setting it at max it won't help.

Downloading the sound files now!

Edit: It works fine now. Radio with sound and talking with sound. Great!

Hey there!
I just picked up Precursors on GamersGate, thinking that a FPS with a bit of open-worldness sounds like a good idea.
Little did I know about the… state… this english version is in…

Like others before I'm trying to make heads and tails of this whole installation ahh… project.

You're saying that there is another way to use the russian 1.1 patch with the GG version, right?
The GG version does not display a game version anywhere I could find so I'm assuming that it's still as screwed-up as ever.
So if I were to patch the russin 1.1 over it, (obviously reinstalling the check for a copy protection that was never installed), what "other way" would I use to make that work?



The reason why I'm asking is that the rather extensive instructions in the OP just don't work for me.

I tried
1. GG version
2. russian language pack
3. english voiceovers pack
4. unofficial 1.4 patch

No go.
Crashes on loading with a
"Sound file 'SOUNDS\CUTSCENES\ABOUTCASSILA\SCENE1.OGG' is not listed in cache\sndlist.dat"

I would assume that sndlist.dat is supposed to be part of the gf_sounds.grp archive in the russian language pack.
It would make no sense to have additional / missing sounds and not reference them there for use.

So like… I DID unpack everything. Took a look.
Turns out that error message was dead on.

A) No file cache\sndlist.dat exists in the "russian sounds" gf_sounds.grp archive.
Instead you have a CACHE\pc\sndlist.dat file but computers are known to be quite literal.

B) This sndlist.dat contains no reference to either "SCENE1" or even "ABOUTCASSILA".

Seems to me like just this one file is from the wrong version.

Any way I could get ahold of a correct one?

Hi Gazz, I haven't looked at this stuff for a while and you might have tried this already, but I seem to recall that simply deleting the "CACHE\pc\sndlist.dat" file used to do the trick for me.

The game will regenerate this file on launch if it's not there, hopefully one that it can get along with…

i had these same errors as well and have gone back a few times in the past month or so, spent close to an hour or so, gave up, and went to something else. i was elated the last time as i at least got to the main menu, of course after that it was zilch.

Try the one from the link below. If this works, I will include it in the next UP…

http://www.gamefront.com/files/20657305/SNDLIST_DAT

Thank you.

Alas this didn't work any better than unpacking everything and removing any trace of sndlist.dat so that a new one would be auto-generated.

I have now uninstalled Precursors and deleted everything related to it.
After tinkering for hours, I decided that it's just not worth it for yet another FPS.

Thanks for trying and for all the work you put in towards turning this mess into a game. =)

hello! i also picked this up on gamersgate and tried to follow the instruction in this thread- but i´m really confused.
i extracted the language packs with 7zip but the second said the file was broken
i re-downloaded them and the same message appeared- i used them nonetheless (which probably was no good idea)
i also installed the override and finally the latest 1.4 patch.

i think i got it all wrong.messed it up :D after two minutes the game crashes. so i uninstalled everything- and deleted all remaining files an i´m doing an fresh install now.

any help on how to proceed and how to unpack the language files without error message would be very much appreciated !! :)

edit - somehow i got it- after some hours of fiddling… :P

+1 for perseverance. :)

Any tips for others with the same problem? Did you need the file I linked to above?

-did an fresh install
-copied over the language fix
-installed the 1.4 patch - still had flickering
-then copied the separate flicker fix - still had flickering,but then i noticed that the postprocess folder was outside precursors main-folder somehow. i grabbed it and put it inside the game-folder
and voilá it works.

… more a less like this :P

my first attempts at unpacking the voice-files it always said "file broken" - but that was because i used 7zip - when i did it with win rar it worked.

This is strange, the patch should include the same fix as posted here. Or which one did you use?

Yeah, some compression tools change the date to correct for daylight saving time which messes the game's file recognition up…

i think it was because some files ended up outside of the precursers folder after installing the patch.probably i didn´t choose the right path.

This may seem like an odd question to ask but is the dialogue meant to be this…strange after applying the 1.4 patch.

I mean, it's all English with quite recognisable (albeit unusual) syntax. But pretty much everyone comes across as rather insane. I have no idea whether it's meant to sound that way or if the translation patch didn't apply properly.

It's sad, but this is like it supposed to be. You see, the translation patch didn't translate the whole game text, it only restored a translation that was already hidden in the Russian release. Which was probably translated by Russians not very firm in English. I improve it whenever I notice something, but redoing all of it is just too much…

So I just bought gamersgate version.

The proper procedure is:

Install GG version
Install language pack downloaded from megaupload on previous page (2 part)
Install 1.4 patch

?

Are those language packs somewhere else? From megaupload I will be downloading them for an eternity..

Oh that's fine Wesp5. I agree and accept that normalising the English of an entire game script would be a herculean undertaking for one individual working in their spare time. I just wanted to be sure that the weirdness I was seeing was as it should be, and it appears it is. I'm cool with that and appreciate the work you're doing.

Now that Megaupload is gone, is there any way to get the sound files still?

Beamdog does offer these files officially on their site, but I don't know if you must have their version of the games to download them.

Thank you for the suggestion. Unfortunately, in their own words:

"You must own the base game before you can get a free expansion"

A shame, really, since I bought the game at Gamersgate.

Edit: I asked Gamersgate if they can make the files available. Would be nice if they can -- and give everyone who bought the English version a completely legal way to improve it. Let's see what happens.

This is probably frowned upon and I'm certainly not advocating piracy, but I'd suggest downloading a torrent of the Russian version of the game, installing it somewhere, and grabbing the relevant sound files from there.

This "English" version being sold is a hack job and you've paid good money for it, so I don't think going the torrent route is unreasonable in this situation.