FF11 ASCII art would suck, so I drew Rydia instead. CCCCCCC(CD CC(CCCCCC--CD CO(CCCCCD|**|(D C(CCCCD''|**|CD (CCCCD''''--DDD CCCD__''''''D''B (CD'l \'''''D"'B (CCD'l ''''''D'BB C CDD''' '''''DBB CDBD''''''''B-- D DD '''''---'' D B-----'VV''' ''''VVv----V ''VVV'''VVV|''VVAV ''VVVVVVAAA|''VVAV VAVV VVVAVV VVAV VAV VV'''' VVAV VVV V''' VAV VV 'LLL VVV VV LLLL VV V LLl VV LL l V -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=FF11 Music Hacking Guide=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- v2.2 by LockeZ ([email protected]) So, you don't particularly like the music in Final Fantasy 11? You'd rather have more Uematsu, or perhaps the Beatles? Maybe you'd like to add music to the areas that have none? Until now you've just had to mute the game and play other music externally. But the problem with that strategy is that when you get in a battle, your CD doesn't change to battle music. In FF11, though, you can easily change what music the game actually uses. No hacking programs needed (though there's one that helps). All you need are some wav format songs. You can change the songs in both the PlayOnline viewer and in FF11 itself, as well as in Tetra Master. Note that this is perfectly harmless to do. It doesn't conflict with Square's rules, and any version updates will still work fine. If POL tries to update your files when you sign on, you did it wrong. It you let it update at that point, it should reinstall whatever files you accidentally deleted. This guide is obviously for the PC version of FF11. I haven't tried any of this on the PS2 version. I don't know of any way to directly access files on the PS2 hard drive, though, so I don't see how it would work. CONVERTING FILES TO BGW FORMAT ------------------------------ FF11, Tetra Master, and PlayOnline use bgw format for their music files. There are two ways to convert files to bgw format. Either way, you need wav files to start with. That's wav, not mp3. Mp3 files will not work. If you want to use mp3s, you have to convert them to wavs first using some program or another. A program at www.mp3fe.com/download/mp32wav.zip has been recommended to me. -=LOW BUDGET METHOD=- The first method, which is direct, simple, and the first method I discovered, is to simply change the file extension on a .wav file to .bgw. Please note that in order to change the extensions of files, you must have your Windows Folder Options set to show extensions for known file types. If done correctly, changing the extension should give you a warning that the file may not work. The problem with the first method is that songs will not repeat. When they get to the end, they just stop, and there is no music until the game plays a new song. This doesn't make a big difference in PlayOnline, but in the games it can be quite a nuisance. The second method, below, remedies this. -=GOOD METHOD=- The second method is to use a program called FFXI Music Converter, or Ximc. I didn't make this program, but rather it was sent to me. It's quite useful. Huge props to some Japanese dude who made the program, and huge props to Vindalesin of Remora for translating and completing the music list that's in the program. Download it at http://burger.sandwich.net/XIMC.zip and use Winzip or a similar program to unzip it. Much of the program is in Japanese, but the "WAV -> BGW" and "BGW -> WAV" buttons are clearly labelled. Uncheck the box in the program if you don't want it to rename each file. This program will sometimes fail to create a file. This is usually because your .wav file's quality is too low. The game uses a bitrate of 187 kbps (48 kHz, 16 bit stereo). If your sound conversion program is totally pimped out, your file quality might actually be too high. A .wav file's quality can be changed by opening it in the "Sound Recorder" program that comes with Windows, and choosing Save As. This second method is REQUIRED to convert sound effects, such as wind files (see the section later about adding music to normally silent areas) or bard songs. To make it convert to and from .spw instead of .bgw, maximize the program. You will see a new option: BGM or SE. Click on SE and it will let you manipulate sound effect files instead of background music files. If you're interested, here are what the other options in that program do: Checkbox by the first button: If this is checked, files converted to .bgw format (or .spw format) will be called music100.bgw (or se000100.bgw). The number in the filename can be changed with the upper-right entry box. If this is unchecked, the file will retain its original filename (with the new file extension, of course). Top-right entry box (defaults to 100): If the box is checked, this controls the number that is given to newly created .bgw files. You will want to change this number each time you convert a file, or else uncheck the box. If the box is checked and you don't change this number, each file will have the same filename, and they will overwrite each-other! The other entry boxes (default to 1, 127, and 0): I have no idea. Frankly these don't seem to affect anything. Maybe it has to do with file quality. I can't read Japanese. IN PLAYONLINE VIEWER -------------------- The files that the viewer uses are listed in the subfolder SquareEnix\PlayOnlineViewer\viewer\data\system\bgm and are in .bgw format. Convert a file to .bgw format, and then rename it to whatever.101.bgw and put it in the folder. Actually, 101 is an arbitrary number; any three-digit number will work. After you put your new files in right folder, open PlayOnline. Click on Navigator, then Options, then Viewer, then BGM. All the songs that PlayOnline comes with will still be listed if you didn't delete them, and all your new songs will be listed as well. Whatever songs you want it to play, select and choose OK. Whatever songs you don't want it to play, select and choose Clear. It now plays your songs instead of the normal ones! The file Dolphin_(by_Noriko_Matsueda).113.bgw is used while you are connecting to your PlayOnline account. If you want to change what music is played during that part, you will need to overwrite that file with a new one. IN FINAL FANTASY XI ------------------- The files that FF11 uses are located in the subfolders SquareEnix\FINAL FANTASY XI\sound\win\music\data (for original version music), SquareEnix\FINAL FANTASY XI\sound2\win\music\data (for Rise of Zilart music), and most likely SquareEnix\FINAL FANTASY XI\sound3\win\music\data (for Chains of Promathea). Convert your .wav files to .bgw. You can't just name the songs whatever you want, though. The filenames have to be exactly the same as the files already in the folder. The new song will replace the old one and be used at whatever times the original would have been used at. For example, if you had a .wav song you wanted to use for the title screen, you could convert it, rename it to music108.bgw, and put it in the folder, replacing the file with that name that's already in the folder. Since music108.bgw is used for the title screen, your song will now be used for the title screen. With a lot of help, I've located every music track in the game up through the Chains of Promathea expansion. A huge shout-out to Lord Skylark for basically giving me the entire list for the original game and Zilart expansion. The rest was pieced together through submissions by about twenty different people. The song files are listed below. Note that this list is also contained within the XIMC program. FF11 SONG LIST -------------- music101.bgw: Battle: In overworld, solo music102.bgw: Battle: In dungeon, in party music103.bgw: Battle: In overworld, in party music104.bgw: Ghelsba music105.bgw: Mhaura music106.bgw: Ship music107.bgw: San D'Oria music108.bgw: Title Screen: Rise of Zilart music109.bgw: Ronfaure music110.bgw: Jeuno music111.bgw: Game Over music112.bgw: Selbina music113.bgw: Sarutabaruta music114.bgw: Batallia Downs music115.bgw: Battle: In dungeon, solo music116.bgw: Gustaberg music117.bgw: Ru'Lude Gardens music118.bgw: Rolanberry Fields music119.bgw: Battle: Shadow Lord music120.bgw: Nation Selection Screen music121.bgw: Approching Shadow Lord music122.bgw: Delkfutt's (Used in cut scenes) music123.bgw: Hopelessness (Used in cut scenes) music124.bgw: Recollection (Used in cut scenes) music125.bgw: Battle: Burning Circle music126.bgw: Mog House music127.bgw: Anxiety (Used in cut scenes) music128.bgw: Airship music130.bgw: Tarutaru Female Creation music131.bgw: Elvaan Female Creation music132.bgw: Elvaan Male Creation music133.bgw: Hume Male Creation music134.bgw: Yuhtunga Jungle music135.bgw: Kazham music151.bgw: Windurst music152.bgw: Bastok music153.bgw: Crystal Prelude music154.bgw: Metalworks music155.bgw: Castle Zvahl music156.bgw: Chateau d'Oraguille music157.bgw: Fury (Used in cut scenes) music158.bgw: Sauromugue Champaign music159.bgw: Sorrow (Used in cut scenes) music160.bgw: Repression (Used in cut scenes) music161.bgw: Despair (Used in cut scenes) music162.bgw: Heavens Tower music163.bgw: Sometime Somewhere (Used in cut scenes) music164.bgw: Xarcabard music165.bgw: Galka Creation music166.bgw: Mithra Creation music167.bgw: Tarutaru Male Creation music168.bgw: Hume Female Creation music169.bgw: Regeneracy (Used in cut scenes) music170.bgw: Pirate Attack on Ferry music171.bgw: Altepa Desert music181.bgw: Chocobo (Short version) music190.bgw: The Sanctuary of Zi'Tah music191.bgw: Battle: Rise of Zilart, In overworld music192.bgw: Battle: Rise of Zilart, In dungeon music193.bgw: Battle: Rise of Zilart, Boss music194.bgw: Raogrimm's Theme (Used in cut scenes) music195.bgw: Belief (Used in cut scenes) music196.bgw: Fighters of the Crystal (Used in cut scenes) music197.bgw: Tu'Lia Restoration (Used in cut scenes) music198.bgw: Eald'narche (Final Dungeon) music199.bgw: Grav'iton music200.bgw: Kam'lanaut's Theme (Used in cut scenes) music201.bgw: Ending music202.bgw: Quest 1 (Used in cut scenes) music203.bgw: Quest 2 (Used in cut scenes) music204.bgw: Quest 3 (Used in cut scenes) music205.bgw: Quest Completion (Used in cut scenes) music206.bgw: Yve'noile's Theme (Used in cut scenes) music207.bgw: Ve'Lugannon Palace music208.bgw: Rabao music209.bgw: Norg music210.bgw: Tu'Lia music211.bgw: Ro'Maeve music212.bgw: Chocobo music213.bgw: Hall of the Gods music214.bgw: Wedding music218.bgw: Battle: Chains of Promathea, Solo music219.bgw: Battle: Chains of Promathea, Group music220.bgw: Battle: Chains of Promathea, Boss Theme music221.bgw: Movapolos music222.bgw: Promyvion music223.bgw: Ballista: Winning music224.bgw: Dusk and Dawn (Used in cut scenes) music225.bgw: Pso'Xja music226.bgw: Ballista: Losing/Draw music227.bgw: Summerfest music228.bgw: The Garden of Ru'Hmet music229.bgw: Carpenter's Landing Raft music230.bgw: Tavnazian Archipelago music231.bgw: Disaster (Used in cut scenes) music232.bgw: The Ruler of the Skies (Used in cut scenes) music233.bgw: The Celestial Capital � Al'Taieu music234.bgw: Happily Ever After music235.bgw: First Ode: Nocturne of the Gods (Used in cut scenes) music236.bgw: Fourth Ode: Clouded Dawn (Used in cut scenes) music237.bgw: Third Ode: Memoria de la Stona (Used in cut scenes) music238.bgw: A New Morning music239.bgw: Christmas Jeuno music240.bgw: Second Ode: Distant Promises (Used in cut scenes) music241.bgw: Fifth Ode: A Time for Prayer (Used in cut scenes) music242.bgw: Title Screen: Chains of Promathea music243.bgw: Grav'iton (Duplicate) music244.bgw: The Mothercrystals (Used in cut scenes) music245.bgw: Tavnazian Safehold IN TETRA MASTER --------------- The files that Tetra Master uses are located in the subfolder PlayOnline\SquareEnix\TetraMaster\data\WIN\sound\music. Convert your .wav files to .bgw. You can't just name the songs whatever you want, though. The filenames have to be exactly the same as the files already in the folder. The new song will replace the old one and be used at whatever times the original would have been used at. For example, if you had a .wav song you wanted to use for the main menu, you could convert it, rename it to music215.bgw, and put it in the folder, replacing the file with that name that's already in the folder. Since music215.bgw is used for the main menu, your song will now be used for the main menu. Props to Fire_element25 for this list. TETRA MASTER SONG LIST --------------------- music200.bgw: Room Select music201.bgw: (unknown) music202.bgw: Card Select music203.bgw: In-Battle music204.bgw: Loss 1 music205.bgw: Auction House music206.bgw: Card Shop music207.bgw: (unknown) music208.bgw: Player Status music209.bgw: Options music210.bgw: Rankings music212.bgw: Win music213.bgw: Loss 2 music215.bgw: Main Menu music216.bgw: (unknown) ADDING MUSIC TO DUNGEONS ------------------------ You can also add music to areas that have none. How, you ask? All the areas without music have a wind sound effect in the background. All you have to do is replace the wind with a song. You can't modify sound effects just by changing the extension in this case; you have to use the program, the second method listed above in the file conversion section. Huge props to ME, I AM AWESOME for thinking up this method and getting it to work. The folder for most wind files is SquareEnix\FINAL FANTASY XI\sound\win\se\se001 but there are also a couple more wind files in SquareEnix\FINAL FANTASY XI\sound2\win\se\se001. I'm fairly sure they're for the Rise of Zilart areas. I would imagine you replace sound2 with sound3 to find the folder for Chains of Promathea wind files, but I don't have that expansion. Convert your wav file to .spw. Rename it so that it's the name of the file you want to replace (se001001.spw or whatever). Move your new spw file to the correct folder and replace the default file. You now have music in that area. Here are all the known issues with this method. 1) The background music you add won't cut out when the battle music starts. You can remedy this by either: a) Using silent .wav files for the in-dungeon battle songs. b) Using short "battle begin" type sounds for the in-dungeon battle music and making them not repeat by manually changing the filename from .wav to .bmg instead of using the conversion program. c) Setting the sound effects to half volume so you can hardly hear the background music over the battle music but can hear it fine otherwise. Use this option if you add music to any "overworld" areas. 2) Sometimes with longer songs you'll get the song playing twice at once, it'll be at two different parts of the song. It's only midly annoying since it usually cuts out after a minute or so and most songs are repetitive anyway. Fix this by not using songs that are not much longer than the original wind files, perhaps. 3) Some areas use the same wind as each-other. Some areas use more than one wind file depending on the time or weather. In these cases, it is highly recommended you use the same song for all of the different instances, unless the one that's different actually is wind. Here is the list of areas that I know which wind sound effect is for. Please help me by changing other wind files in the wind folder and writing down where you hear them, and emailing me. I no longer play FF11, so I need help completing and maintaining the list. FF11 BACKGROUND SOUND EFFECT LIST --------------------------------- Many of the areas that actually have real background music also have wind in the background. You probably don't want two songs playing at once in these areas, so I've marked them with a <music> tag to let you know not to change them. Sound effect 001003 is used in a bunch of places that don't have music, but also in Windurst. Use your own judgement. I leave it as normal wind, but you might want to change it to music and then nullify Windurst's real music file. Number 001065 has a similar issue, but as the caves in Valkurm are few and far between, I just let the songs overlap. This section gets no credits, because you are all worthless choads who don't send me anything. I made this list myself. It's not gonna get updated any more unless you send me more names, though, because I don't play FF11 any more. se001001.spw: <music> Windurst se001002.spw: La Theine Plateau se001003.spw: <music> Windurst La Theine Plateau Pashhow Marshlands Konschtat Highlands se001004.spw: Konschtat Highlands La Theine Plateau se001005.spw: <music> Ronfaure se001007.spw: <music> Ronfaure se001013.spw: Valkurm Dunes se001014.spw: Valkurm Dunes se001015.spw: Valkurm Dunes se001016.spw: Valkurm Dunes se001025.spw: Dangruf Wadi se001033.spw: <music> Ship se001042.spw: La Theine Plateau se001053.spw: <music> Gustaberg se001054.spw: Buburimbu Peninsula Tahrongi Canyon se001062.spw: <music> Ronfaure se001062.spw: <music> Ship se001064.spw: <music> Sarutabaruta Cave se001065.spw: Palborough Mines Outer Horotuto Ruins Giddeus Caves Ghelsba Outpost Caves Valkurm Dunes Caves (played overlapping Valkurm Dunes wind) Probably almost any other caves in existance se001066.spw: Zeruhn Mines se001067.spw: <music> Bastok se001069.spw: <music> Mog House se001070.spw: <music> Gustaberg se001072.spw: <music> San D'Oria se001073.spw: <music> Bastok se001074.spw: <music> Bastok se001075.spw: <music> Gustaberg se001077.spw: <music> Bastok se001078.spw: Buburimbu Peninsula Tahrongi Canyon se001079.spw: <music> San D'Oria se001080.spw: <music> San D'Oria se001081.spw: <music> San D'Oria se001082.spw: <music> San D'Oria se001089.spw: <music> Heaven's Tower se001092.spw: <music> Selbina se001093.spw: <music> Selbina se001094.spw: <music> Mhaura se001095.spw: <music> Mhaura se001104.spw: <music> Windurst Want to help expand this list? The best thing you can do is change undocumented wind files to songs you'll recognize if you hear, and see what songs play as the wind when you go to areas. Email me your results if you find anything I don't have listed. For a while, people were also willing to send me gil to help me get to harder areas so I could test the files. But I've stopped playing. I deleted my account in November 2004. So unless other people find more wind files, this list probably won't be updated any time soon. CHANGING BARD SONGS AND OTHER SOUNDS ------------------------------------ You can change bard songs too. Change them the same way you would change the wind sounds. Open the program, maximize it, change to Sound Effect mode, change a .wav file to .spw, and replace the bard song file. The bard songs are in the folder SquareEnix\FINAL FANTASY XI\sound\win\se\se021. Here's the list of what each one is: se021001.spw: Wind Instrument se021002.spw: String Instrument se021003.spw: Tarutaru Female Singing se021004.spw: Tarutaru Male Singing se021005.spw: Elvaan/Hume Male Singing se021006.spw: Mithra Singing se021007.spw: Galka Singing se021008.spw: Elvaan/Hume Female Singing You can theoretically change any sound effect in the game. But there's 6243 of them, so I'm not going to go through and figure them all out for you. The level up tune is SquareEnix\FINAL FANTASY XI\sound\win\se\se000\SE000007.wav if you want to change that one; put a one second delay at the beginning so it'll line up right. If anyone sends me the filenames for the oh-so annoying "call#" sound effects like the trumpet and such that people use in macros, I will list those. CONVERTING THE ORIGINAL FILES TO A PLAYABLE FORMAT -------------------------------------------------- This is actually pretty easy. You just download the program at http://burger.sandwich.net/XIMC.zip and run it. Right below the WAV -> BGW button is a BGW -> WAV button. Click it and find the file you want to convert. The .wav file will appear in the folder that the original .bgw file is in. You can't convert directly to .mp3. I don't even know why you'd want to. You can make a .wav file have the same sound quality and file size as a .mp3 file by loading it in Windows Sound Recorder, which comes with Windows, and saving it as a lower quality. If you really need .mp3 format for some reason, you're on your own. This might infringe the copyright and probably makes Square mad because they sell fewer soundtracks, so do it at your own risk. I can't be held responsible for you stealing the music. Personally, I went to all the trouble of figuring all this stuff out because I DON'T like the music, but so many people email me about this that I thought I'd add it to the guide. I'm only assuming it's illegal. I mean, you did buy the game, and it came with this music, but lawyers are shifty sometimes. If you can't use that program for some reason or you can't get it to work, there's another way to listen to the songs. Move them from FF11 or Tetra Master into the folder used for PlayOnline music, which is located in SquareEnix\PlayOnlineViewer\viewer\data\system\bgm and rename them from whatever.bgw to whatever.101.bgw. Use whatever file name you want as long as it ends in .101.bgw. Now you can play the song in PlayOnline, or even set it as a random background music for the PlayOnline viewer. Open PlayOnline, and click on Navigator, then Options, then Viewer, then BGM, and all the songs will be listed. Choose the one you want to play, or click OK to set it to play randomly in POL. There's also a plugin for Winamp called in_ffxi.dll that will allow Winamp to play .bgw files directly. I didn't make this, and take no credit for it. It can be downloaded from http://burger.sandwich.net/ffxi_winamp_plugin.zip . Unzip that file with Winzip or a similar program. Move the .dll file to the Plugins folder inside of your Winamp folder. Usually, by default, this folder is Program Files\Winamp\Plugins unless you changed it during installation. Now Winamp can play the original .bgw files from FF11. Copyright 2004 Ben McAlpin. Reproduce freely. If you sell this guide on eBay, I will take your future wife hostage, put balogna on the hood of your car, email your entire porn directory to your mother, drink all your beer, and drop your car keys down the sewer.