Stop the Fizzle - Page 2

• Chicken · 03/29/07, 6:44 AM

Originally Posted by Acustar

That's so incredibly tempting...

I don't think I could pull myself to do it though, losing my account would pretty much blow.

I don't think you'll get into much trouble for it, there's already been changes to a lot of files so that Kalman's method wouldn't work, so the ones it does still work for are probably not considered game-breaking to be able to change.

Kalman · 03/29/07, 9:14 AM

Originally Posted by Acustar

That's so incredibly tempting...

I don't think I could pull myself to do it though, losing my account would pretty much blow.

If they ban for overriding sound files to suppress an error sound, then I don't think I want to play their game any more anyway.

Miaxi · 03/29/07, 4:10 PM

Could you please explain how to get rid of the "click"?

Acustar · 03/29/07, 4:17 PM

Originally Posted by Kalman

OK, one fix that does work is to nuke a particular sound file; this fixes the cooldown noise you get when you try to use a spell that's on cooldown.

Put a blank sound file (like the one attached) into the following directory, named:

C:\Program Files (x86)\World of Warcraft\Data\Sound\Spells\Fizzle

The sound file needs to be named FizzleHolyA.

This seems to nuke the sound.

edit: This is of course technically against the TOS, but then again, so was the blank sound fix for the PVP queue noise.

edit2: I spoke too soon. You need to make 5 files in that directory to fully protect, as each school has a different fizzle effect (Holy and Arcane apparently share theirs): FizzleFireA, FizzleFrostA, FizzleShadowA, FizzleHolyA, FizzleNatureA. Each with a .wav extension.

edit3: You still get a quiet click, which I think is the uEscape sound; you could replace that as well if it bothers you.

Originally Posted by Miaxi

Could you please explain how to get rid of the "click"?

I can't tell if what smiley that is (I'm at work) but the thread is only 2 pages long

Acustar · 03/29/07, 8:26 PM

Edit2: Stopped working randomly, worked for like 5 min. :sad:

It worked for me, my friend didn't read through the TOS but he said something to the extent that you're not changing their files it's just reading from a different location, still technically against the TOS most likely, but thank god I can have my sanity back now.

Edit: Decided to actually do some searching:

Exploitation Policy: Data Stream Manipulation and Data Mining

Manipulation of the data stream involves a player altering the flow of information between the World of Warcraft servers and his/her computer while data mining involves a player extracting information from said information that is not intended to be public. Data stream manipulation can be the alteration of either the incoming information or the outgoing information, and can be as minor as the manipulation of one byte of a packet, or the "sniffing" of packets for any reason.

If a player is found to have altered the data stream or performed any data mining, he/she may:

* Be temporarily suspended from the game
* Have further action taken, up to and including account closure, based on the intent of the data manipulation.

From the TOS

You agree that you will not (i) modify or cause to be modified any files that are a part of the Program or the Service; (ii) create or use cheats, bots, "mods", and/or hacks, or any other third-party software designed to modify the World of Warcraft experience; or (iii) use any third-party software that intercepts, "mines", or otherwise collects information from or through the Program or the Service. Notwithstanding the foregoing, you may update the Program with authorized patches and updates distributed by Blizzard, and Blizzard may, at its sole and absolute discretion, allow the use of certain third party user interfaces.

NOTE: Those are the most relevant ones I found, didn't look real hard, it's 99% likely it's against the TOS but I'm happy I found a way to turn it off after hearing to it for far to long.

Kalman · 03/29/07, 8:57 PM

The relevant section is quite definitely "You agree that you will not (i) modify or cause to be modified any files that are a part of the Program or the Service;". Like I said: technically, against the TOS, but most likely to be considered part of Blizzard's blind eye. Use at your own risk.

Acustar · 03/29/07, 9:01 PM

Any clue why it would just randomly stop working? I've checked the files, restarted wow 2x and no change, I was so happy it worked to

Kalman · 03/29/07, 11:39 PM

Originally Posted by Acustar

Any clue why it would just randomly stop working? I've checked the files, restarted wow 2x and no change, I was so happy it worked to

No. :/ I didn't test in depth last night; I might screw around with it some today and see if it stops for me too.

edit: Farmed for 15 or so, no change in my sound, still blissfully quiet.

edit2: I wonder if unpacking all your MPQ files would in theory allow the game to run faster.

♦ pewsey · 03/30/07, 1:29 AM

As far as I can tell replacing the sound files using the "overriding via directory approach" is an undocumented extension point. It appears to be making use of some searching code within the game that looks for unpacked files first.

FishPing has used this for ages (you can change the fishing sound to be louder/softer/different) and various Font packs work this way so I _doubt_ that you're going to get into trouble for this.

Yes, I've got FishPing and Font packs installed, and my life is so much better and I don't feel like I'm abusing WoW, or getting any advantage over it other than my old eyes being able to read the fonts so much easier.

I did remember reading on an AddOn forum about FishPing not working recently, so maybe Blizzard has changed something in their resource loading algorithms.

Of course, if Blizzard bans you, it's not my fault.

• Shalas · 03/30/07, 9:54 AM

Originally Posted by Kalman

edit2: I wonder if unpacking all your MPQ files would in theory allow the game to run faster.

It would be far more likely to slow things down. MPQs are very fast to extract, and doing so would result in significantly more HD read time, which is the main bottleneck on loading. If you comment out the file writes, StormLib can unpack all of the WoW MPQs in well under a minute, and I certainly hope Blizz's code is better optimized than Ladik's.

Miaxi · 03/30/07, 10:32 AM

Originally Posted by Acustar

I can't tell if what smiley that is (I'm at work) but the thread is only 2 pages long

There is a difference between the gong and the click sounds. -.-#

Pater · 03/30/07, 10:37 AM

Thanks a lot, Kalman! Like one poster above, I macro my (melee) trinkets and this makes gameplay much more enjoyable!

Jo · 04/01/07, 5:22 PM

Originally Posted by Kalman

edit3: You still get a quiet click, which I think is the uEscape sound; you could replace that as well if it bothers you.

Would we put a blank wave file named 'uEscape.wav' in C:\Program Files (x86)\World of Warcraft\Data\Sound\Spells\Fizzle ?

Kalman · 04/02/07, 10:33 AM

Originally Posted by Jo

Would we put a blank wave file named 'uEscape.wav' in C:\Program Files (x86)\World of Warcraft\Data\Sound\Spells\Fizzle ?

Nope, need the appropriate path; for uEscape, I believe the appropriate path is \Data\Sound\ but I may well be wrong.

Jo · 04/05/07, 10:40 AM

Originally Posted by Kalman

Nope, need the appropriate path; for uEscape, I believe the appropriate path is \Data\Sound\ but I may well be wrong.

Unfortunately that's not it. What program are you using to search the MPQs?

Kalman · 04/05/07, 10:43 AM

Originally Posted by Jo

Unfortunately that's not it. What program are you using to search the MPQs?

I forget if it was WinMPQ or MPQEditor that worked for me.

Stanz · 04/09/07, 10:50 AM

I thought Blizzard stopped the client reading data files outside an MPQ since 2.0?

Either way, I managed to fix the fizzle and uescape sounds by doing the same thing others have done here but inside an MPQ file instead (named patch-3.MPQ) which managed to disable them in-game with no problems, however, I'm quite sure warden has the capability to pick this up now and I am a little worried about using it. Perhaps if the new sound files could be made to be the exact file size as the originals it might stop warden picking it up.

Kalman · 04/09/07, 11:57 AM

Originally Posted by Stanz

I thought Blizzard stopped the client reading data files outside an MPQ since 2.0?

Either way, I managed to fix the fizzle and uescape sounds by doing the same thing others have done here but inside an MPQ file instead (named patch-3.MPQ) which managed to disable them in-game with no problems, however, I'm quite sure warden has the capability to pick this up now and I am a little worried about using it. Perhaps if the new sound files could be made to be the exact file size as the originals it might stop warden picking it up.

If they stopped non-MPQ data then my method wouldn't work, and it does. I'm actually more comfortable with the seperate files than with a patch.mpq technique, since it's more obvious what files are being changed.

I believe I said it earlier in the thread but: if Blizzard bans me for replacing sound files to work around the fact that there's no way to turn off fizzle sounds in their game, then I don't think I want to play it any more.

Taantric · 04/10/07, 8:08 AM

Place a blank wave file named :

uEscapeScreenOpen.wav under

"\World of Warcraft\Data\enUS\Sound\interface"

This is to stop the mind numbing error sound which plays during macro spam or if there is no fall through condition.

Demi9OD · 04/15/07, 12:19 PM

I've been looking for the Inner Focus sound but have not been able to fine it. My icon of the silver crescent is macro'd with a spell cast and the looping inner focus sound stays on till I pop another trinket. Any idea which sound file this is?