Soundset

A soundset (also called a voice set when dealing with sentient creatures) defines which sounds are played by a creature in response to various events. When the sound is intended to be intelligible words, there may also be text associated with the sound. Sounds from a set are most commonly heard in combat (battle cries, pain grunts, etc.), but are also commonly heard as a result of quickchat. They are selected for player characters during character creation and for [[non-player characters in the Toolset. (This is one aspect of characters that cannot be changed while a game is in progress.)

Not all soundsets are equal, and most soundsets fail to cover all possible events. BioWare generally had three levels of soundset definitions — complete sets for player characters and a select few prominent non-player characters, partial sets for most other (intelligent) non-player characters, and minimal sets for the remaining creatures.

The circumstances covered by a soundset are the following, in an order that is relevant for custom content makers. Entries that are typically filled in for all soundsets are in bold, while those that are typical for non-player character voice sets are in italics. When a sound can be initiated through quickchat, the key sequence for that sound is given in parentheses. (The battle cry key sequence corresponds to multiple sounds; the game randomly picks one.)

1. Attack command (VWE)
2. Battle cry 1 (VWR)
3. Battle cry 2 (VWR)
4. Battle cry 3 (VWR)
5. Heal me command (VWD)
6. Request help (VWW)
7. Enemies spotted (VWA)
8. Time to flee (VWS)
9. A taunt (VWT)
10. Guard me command (VWF)
11. Hold your ground command (VWX)
12. Grunt when making an attack 1
13. Grunt when making an attack 2
14. Grunt when making an attack 3
15. Grunt when hit by an attack 1
16. Grunt when hit by an attack 2
17. Grunt when hit by an attack 3
18. Dying (only applies to player characters)
19. Dead
20. Poisoned
21. A spell fizzled
22. A weapon hit but failed to inflict any damage (e.g. because of damage reduction)
23. Follow me command (VEE)
24. Something secret was seen (VEW)
25. Suggest grouping up (VED)
26. Request someone get out of the way (VES)
27. Request someone pick a lock (VDW)
28. Suggest searching for secrets (VDE)
29. Suggest hiding (VDG)
30. Something can be done (VDC)
31. Something cannot be done (VDX)
32. Something is done (VDA)
33. Encumbered
34. An associate was addressed by its master
35. A greeting (VSS)
36. "Yes" (VSD)
37. "No" (VSW)
38. Suggest stopping (VSE)
39. Need to rest (VSC)
40. Boredom (VSX)
41. A farewell (VSA)
42. Gratitude (VXX)
43. Laughter (VXW)
44. A curse (VXC)
45. A victorious cheer (VXD)
46. Have something to say (VXS)
47. Acknowledge a good idea (VXA)
48. Acknowledge a bad idea (VXZ)
49. Warn someone (VXE)

Custom content

The list of soundsets known by the game is defined by soundset.2da (the game uses indices into this .2da to identify soundsets, rather than identifying them by name). An individual soundset is defined with a .ssf file, and it is the requirements of this file format that dictate the order of the above list of events. The sounds used by a soundset must be .wav files in mono (not stereo) format.

BioWare adopted a naming scheme for soundsets where the beginning of the name identifies how complete the soundset is: "vs_f", "vs_n", and "c_", for complete (full) voice sets, partial (non-player) voice sets, and minimal (creature) sounds, respectively. This naming scheme limits the name of a soundset to eleven characters, as it also calls for a suffix to be added to the soundset name when naming the sounds used by the soundset. (This scheme is not mandatory, but using it does tend to reduce confusion and keep things organized.) The suffixes used by BioWare are, in order, the following.

1. _attk
2. _bat1
3. _bat2
4. _bat3
5. _heal
6. _help
7. _enmy
8. _flee
9. _tant
10. _gard
11. _hold
12. _atk1
13. _atk2
14. _atk3
15. _hit1
16. _hit2
17. _hit3
18. _dyin
19. _dead
20. _sick
21. _spel
22. _inff
23. _foll
24. _look
25. _grup
26. _move
27. _pick
28. _srch
29. _hide
30. _can
31. _cant
32. _done
33. _encm
34. _slct
35. _hi
36. _yes
37. _no
38. _stop
39. _rest
40. _bore
41. _bye
42. _thnx
43. _haha
44. _cuss
45. _vict
46. _say
47. _good
48. _bad
49. _warn