[Sims 4] Sound Tool 1.1.27

[Denton47]

This is a tool mainly for animators, it can be used to browse the game files for sound events and play the associated audio recordings, it can also be used to create custom sound events by cloning existing ones. The Audio Configuration (BROBX) resource is much more complex than what is exposed by this tool which is why I clone instead of creating from scratch, apart from sound recordings, the resource also contains all kinds of audio properties and facial overlay animation setup which I know very little about.

 

None of the audio resources in the game have a name field so the tool will read all animation clips in the selected game pack and construct a list of sound events to select from. There are other types of sound recordings like effects, ambient sound and interactive music, but focus is on animation events for now.

 

The tool is still beta, there are still quite a few unknowns about the properties the parent key refers to and more testing is definitely needed, please share any discoveries you may make. If you encounter any bugs/problems please post in this thread, if the program throws an exception please post a screenshot with the details and a short description of what triggered it if possible.

 

How to create a custom sound event
I am going to create a very simple voice sound event which can be looped in a WW animation, I have chosen a single audio sample from vo_cas_loco_walk_sleepy that I will use for all voice types, I am only using one variation to be able to loop the same sound over and over.

 

1. Double-Click on TS4SoundTool.exe to start the tool.
2. Select Base Game pack and then the vo_cas_loco_walk_sleepy Sound Event.
3. Click Clone, enter vo_sound_test as the new Event name (if you enter the same name as the original you will be creating a default override).
4. Click OK in the New Event dialog, you will then be prompted to create a new empty package, create one and click OK.
5. The tool will clone all voice types and variations from the original event which you can now edit. The sample I want to use is Female Voice 1 variation #4, select that and click Save As to store a copy (.snr file), select and click Delete on the other variations so only #4 remain.
6. Select Female Voice 2 and delete all variations, click Add and select the sound sample saved in the previous step.
7. Repeat step 6 for Female Voice 3 and Teen female Voice 1 - 3, delete all variations from all other voice types not used.
8. Click Save to finish the edit, vo_sound_test is now ready to be used in animations.

 

When importing SNR files that has the s4pe filename format, the tool will not actually import the file, it will just add a reference to the resource since it is already in the game files.

 

To edit custom sound events, click Browse and select the package containing them.

 

Importing MP3 files

The MP3 files must be in a specific format, formats I have tested and know works in Sims 4 are:

 

MPEG 1.0 - Single channel (MONO) - 32000 Hz sample rate.
MPEG 1.0 - Single channel (MONO) - 44100 Hz sample rate.

 

but I have seen EA use other formats as well so I think the game supports all MP3 formats actually, but this is not something I have tested. Voices should be MONO for directional sound to work properly but effects can be anything really.

 

When importing a MP3 file it will be encoded in EA Layer3 format (AUD) and added to the package (replacing any previous added versions), the instance ID is generated from the full file path so make sure you have something unique in your path (like your name) to avoid conflicts.

 

Audio Tools

https://www.audacityteam.org/?dom=prime&src=syn

 

Known issues
- When deleting an imported custom sound it is not actually removed from the package, you will need to use s4pe to do that.
- It is not possible to override ingame sounds (AUD), again you will need to use s4pe to do that.

Installation
Extract the zip file somewhere on your harddrive, you will also need to download the EA Layer3 decoder/encoder from the link below and extract the content into the same directory as the tool.

 

https://bitbucket.org/Zenchreal/ealayer3/downloads/

 

Newer version of ealayer3.exe by simmythesim, fixes the problem with long pauses in audio recordings:
https://modthesims.info/download.php?p=5884326#post5884326

 

If you don't have a standard Sims 4 installation you need to create a text file named Install_Dir.txt which contains the path to your Sims 4 installation directory.

Reference
https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/16538847/#Comment_16538847

 

MTS Link

https://modthesims.info/d/639090/ts4-sound-tool.html

 

 

Changelog

 

 Version 1.0.16

• Added more extensive checking and diagnostics for non-standard Sims 4 installations.

 
  Version 1.0.17

• Added option to select all game packs.
• Added Export List button to export all sound event names to a text file.
• Updated tool to handle Audio Configuration version 3.

 

Version 1.0.18

• Added support for Audio Configuration version 4.
• Added support for Eco Lifestyle.

 

 Version 1.0.19

• Added support for Stereo and Joint Stereo.
• Added Sound Effect Lookup function (doesn't work with VFX yet).

 

Version 1.1.0 BETA

• Added support for Nifty Knitting.
• Added support for Headerless audio format (0x01EEF63A).
• Fixed some bitstream bugs.
• Added voice type Elder, not sure where this is actually used.
• Added Cats and Dogs "voices", I am not entirely sure I mapped the voice types correctly, any feedback welcome.
• Added Music Stations.
• Added Modal Music Events.
• Added Instruments.
• Added Audio Bumpers.
• Added Audio Stings.
• Added Audio SFX.
• Added Ambience.
• Added Windows Media Player for playing music as the recordings can be quite long.

 

Version 1.1.1

• Added voice types for special npcs Kylo Ren, Hondo Ohnaka and Rey.
• Added voice types for Droids (not sure where this is actually used).

 

Version 1.1.2

• Added support for Snowy Escape EP.
• vo_karaoke_ sound events will now appear in the Animation Sound Event list.

 

Version 1.1.3

• Fixed some bugs when cloning voice events.

 

Version 1.1.4

• Added support for Paranormal Stuff pack.

 

Version 1.1.5

• Added checking for deleted resources.
• Added support for 16 byte SingleBlock/Headerless resource pairs.
• Added support for Kits.

 

Version 1.1.6

• Added support for CLIP/CLHD version 16.

 

Version 1.1.7

• Added new packs.

 

Version 1.1.8

• Added support for Cottage Living.
• Added voice types for Chicken, Llama, Cow and Fox.
• Minor bug fixes and optimizations.

 

Version 1.1.9

• Added support for looped audio.
• Minor bug fixes.

 

Version 1.1.10

• Changed how the tool detects looped audio.
• Added new kits.

 

Version 1.1.11

• Added support for carnaval music.

 

Version 1.1.12

• Added My Wedding Stories.
• Fixed a bug with Dream Home Decorator.

 

Version 1.1.13

• Fixed some bugs when editing packages with voice events.

 

Version 1.1.14

• Added support for CLIP/CLHD resource version 17 (Werewolf animations).
• Importing sound files is now multi-select.
• Added support for new packs released since 1.1.13.

 

Version 1.1.15

• Added support for Audio Configuration version 5 and 6.

 

Version 1.1.16

• Added support for expansion packs extending Music Genres (Station).
• Added button to load the master track resource accessed from game options.
• Added multi save (SNR/SNS) and multi export (MP3).
• Added support for High School Years expansion.

 

Version 1.1.17

• Added support for skill based voice sound events.
• Fixed naming bug when cloning voice sound events.
• Fixed opening custom sound package combobox initialization.

 

Version 1.1.18

• Added option to edit all Sound Configuration properties.

 

Version 1.1.19

• Added support for foot steps.
• Updated pack list and added Growing Together.

 

Version 1.1.20

• Added Infant voice type.
• Added Milestones (Skill).

 

Version 1.1.21

• Added Horse Ranch and recent kits containing sound.
• Added voice types Horse, Foal, Goat and Sheep.
• Added support for music tracks appearing in multiple genres.
• Added support for importing multiple mp3 files as one interleaved modal track (Interactive Music).

 

Version 1.1.22

• Fixed base game search bug.

 

Version 1.1.23

• Added support for For Rent expansion pack.

 

Version 1.1.24

• Added support for For Home Chef Hustle Stuff, Crystal Creations Stuff, Riviera Retreat Kit and Lovestruck EP.

 

Version 1.1.25

• Added support for Life & Death expansion.

 

Version 1.1.26

• Added support for Businesses & Hobbies EP.
• Added support for Double Modifier Sound.
• Added support for Location Sound.

 

Version 1.1.27

• Added support for Enchanted by Nature EP.
• Fixed Location Sound decoding bug.
• Added UI Sound events.

 

Credits to
CmarNYC for the XmodsData library.
Peter L Jones for the s4pi libraries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TS4SoundTool_1_1_27.zip

Edited July 12, 2025 by Denton47

[lupobianco]

First breast's physics and now this.. I love you Denton47. ?

[millionserved]

I'm not an animator but this sounds like it will be very groundbreaking for anyone who is one.  Thanks Denton.

[Guest]

This is wonderful news! I must try it. Thank you for sharing.

[R-Lo]

Looks pretty cool! How do you learn this stuff? it's pretty intense and shows a lot knowledge ?

A question I've been wondering about is the voice slider in CAS and the sync for the b_Jaw bone,

How are these affected by this mod in your testing so far? Is the voice played at one pitch and tone or will the CAS slider change this for individual Sims? Also will the jaw movements run to the original sample or is a sync still acheived?

Either way great work and it's gonna add some more fun in conjunction with the VFX 

[Guest]

Is this suppose to happen?

 

[Denton47]

22 hours ago, R-Lo said:

Looks pretty cool! How do you learn this stuff? it's pretty intense and shows a lot knowledge ?

A question I've been wondering about is the voice slider in CAS and the sync for the b_Jaw bone,

How are these affected by this mod in your testing so far? Is the voice played at one pitch and tone or will the CAS slider change this for individual Sims? Also will the jaw movements run to the original sample or is a sync still acheived?

Either way great work and it's gonna add some more fun in conjunction with the VFX 

 

If I understand SGMS correctly, the CAS slider maps to the voice types which are then modulated to a certain pitch, I am not sure about the exact mapping, but I think a large part of the middle section of the slider maps to voice type 1, the start part to voice type 2 and the end part to voice type 3, I could be wrong though.

 

I don't think any information about how the lip-sync feature works has been published by EA so I am just guessing here, the Audio Config resource contains the following two named tables:

 

HashMap32_Float     vuMeterFacialOverlayModsOffset;
HashMap32_Float     vuMeterFacialOverlayModsScale;

 

Maybe the jaw movement is constructed from the "volume" of the voice recording played or maybe some of the unnamed properties control it, I guess we will need to experiment to learn more.

 

[Denton47]

12 hours ago, Zheur said:

Is this suppose to happen?

 

 

This is a bug, looks like the resources in Get Famous are in multiple packages like in Cats & Dogs, it will be fixed in the next upload.

[Denton47]

I have uploaded ver. 1.0.1 which contains the fix for Get Famous.

[Guest]

6 hours ago, Denton47 said:

I have uploaded ver. 1.0.1 which contains the fix for Get Famous.

Thank you for the fix Denton47. Did you do it for the some of the other expansions as well? Get Famous isn't the only one with this problem.

 

[Kodenu]

Quote

Known issues
- Importing MP3 sounds is currently disabled as the game crashes after they are played in an animation, more research is needed but I am working on it.

Could it be the Mhz and Kps of the MP3's that you are using is causing the crash?

[SilentAegis]

Wait, what does this mean? I'm a bit lost, does this mean you'll be able to play ambient music and stuff during animations?

[Denton47]

17 hours ago, Zivyx said:

Thank you for the fix Denton47. Did you do it for the some of the other expansions as well? Get Famous isn't the only one with this problem.

 

I have uploaded ver. 1.0.2 and hopefully I have mapped everything correctly now, I separate the clips and audio which is what is causing the problem.

[Denton47]

8 hours ago, Kodenu said:

Could it be the Mhz and Kps of the MP3's that you are using is causing the crash?

The sample rate is 44100 which is the same as EA uses in their recordings, I think it has something to do with the way the external encoder organizes the data but I am still looking into this, as I understand the external decoder/encoder was made to extract and replace music in EA games, I don't think anybody has used it for effects before.

4 hours ago, SilentAegis said:

Wait, what does this mean? I'm a bit lost, does this mean you'll be able to play ambient music and stuff during animations?

This is for sim voices and effects played as part of an animation, ambient sounds are part of the .world files I think and I don't know much about how to trigger interactive music I'm afraid.

[Kodenu]

9 hours ago, Denton47 said:

The sample rate is 44100 which is the same as EA uses in their recordings, I think it has something to do with the way the external encoder organizes the data but I am still looking into this, as I understand the external decoder/encoder was made to extract and replace music in EA games, I don't think anybody has used it for effects before.

Yes, the 44100 Mhz is correct and should be bitrate of 128 Kps or less from what I have experienced. If your speaking of EA layer3 as the external encoder, yes, it has been used for effects, as well as the FFMPEG codec.

 

_SNS and _SNR files have audio. Depending on the way they're coded, they come in different combinations. The most common one is a SNR file, which contains audio, with an AUDTUN. Short sounds are usually coded this way. You can also have a SNS, SNR and AUDTUN files. In this case a SNS file contains audio data, a SNR file somewhat "points" to SNS. AUDTUN files (Audio Tuners) seem to contain some properties of SNS and/or SNR files they reference to, but no audio as such.

 

From what I have read there was a problem in the past with EA layer3 when exporting the MP3 or Wav file for SNR  files. The Hex code is different, here's what I found, if the first byte is 04, that means its using the EA XAS ADPCM codec. If the first byte is 05, that means its using EALayer3 codec. If its using anything else, that means its an unknown codec.

 

The EA sound engine looks to be pretty complicated and I applaud your effort in trying to tame it for animators.

[krivoj]

how can i add a sound in my animation? i use Sim4studio but i got some problem about sound.

[Guest]

I notice they are still sound files in each pack with the not found issue. The base game one as well.

 

It's better than nothing I guess. Thanks.

[Denton47]

On 12/16/2018 at 7:51 PM, Kodenu said:

Yes, the 44100 Mhz is correct and should be bitrate of 128 Kps or less from what I have experienced. If your speaking of EA layer3 as the external encoder, yes, it has been used for effects, as well as the FFMPEG codec.

 

_SNS and _SNR files have audio. Depending on the way they're coded, they come in different combinations. The most common one is a SNR file, which contains audio, with an AUDTUN. Short sounds are usually coded this way. You can also have a SNS, SNR and AUDTUN files. In this case a SNS file contains audio data, a SNR file somewhat "points" to SNS. AUDTUN files (Audio Tuners) seem to contain some properties of SNS and/or SNR files they reference to, but no audio as such.

 

From what I have read there was a problem in the past with EA layer3 when exporting the MP3 or Wav file for SNR  files. The Hex code is different, here's what I found, if the first byte is 04, that means its using the EA XAS ADPCM codec. If the first byte is 05, that means its using EALayer3 codec. If its using anything else, that means its an unknown codec.

 

The EA sound engine looks to be pretty complicated and I applaud your effort in trying to tame it for animators.

Thank you for the feedback, information on this subject seems a bit limited so any input is more than welcome.

 

Audio Tuners don't exists anymore, they have been replaced by a new resource called Audio Configuration in Sims 4, the AUD (0x01A527DB) audio snr resource appears to be unchanged, all voices and effects in Sims 4 are EA Layer 3 version 5 as far as I can tell.

 

I have checked the "header" of the generated snr file, version, channel, sample rate, number of samples and size are all correct, it is the "data/bitstream" part that differs from the original EA snr, I am currently looking into this but I am having a little trouble finding the time at the moment.

 

 

20 hours ago, krivoj said:

how can i add a sound in my animation? i use Sim4studio but i got some problem about sound.

I am not that familiar with S4Studio but I think it goes like this, open your package, go to Warehouse tab, select Clip, in Events click Edit Items, in the popup first select SoundEvent then click Add, in SoundName enter a sound event like vo_cas_loco_walk_sleepy and enter a Timecode in seconds (0 is the beginning), click Save.

 

 

20 hours ago, Zivyx said:

I notice they are still sound files in each pack with the not found issue. The base game one as well.

 

It's better than nothing I guess. Thanks.

One thing to note is that not all voice sound events have a Female Voice 1 audio resource which is what the tool tries to select by default, for example vo_toddler_nap_twitch only has a toddler voice. Some of the sound events are for pets and SGMS didn't reveal those keys unfortunately, there are also events like vo_pirateday* that I don't know where are stored.

[krivoj]

on windows 7 crash application at start.

 

[azmodan22]

Hell Yea !!

 

Awsome Work Denton

 

You can also use this tutorial to convert sounds. I never used it before personaly as I had no idea how to add the new one to the game. Untill now  

http://modthesims.info/t/447344

 

[Denton47]

On 12/18/2018 at 3:29 PM, azmodan22 said:

Hell Yea !!

 

Awsome Work Denton

 

You can also use this tutorial to convert sounds. I never used it before personaly as I had no idea how to add the new one to the game. Untill now  

http://modthesims.info/t/447344

 

Thank you for the feedback, unfortunately, FlyBy in the link you provided hasn't really figured out how to encode a custom sound effect (0x01A527DB) either, maybe he is faced with the same problem I am.

 

What he does is to actually delete the sound effect making it empty, he then encodes his custom sound as "music" (0x01EEF63A), then he writes a piece of code and attaches it to his CC object, the code will then play the "music" instead of the empty sound resource. While this is a clever workaround, I don't think we can use this approach unless someone can figure out how to play the "music" resource (0x01EEF63A) from animation events.

 

[Denton47]

5 hours ago, wild_guy said:

Hi Denton! I finally tried and it doesn't work for me. I always get the notification to close the program once I try to launch TS4SoundTool.exe:

  Reveal hidden contents

Here is the tool folder including ealayer3-0.7.0-win32:

  Reveal hidden contents

Can't understand what am I doing wrong?

 

The first thing the tool does is to try and locate the Sims 4 installation directory, maybe your installation is different than mine because you have Russian Windows, can you please check if you have the registry key mentioned in the code below:

 

            string TS4FilesPath = (string)Microsoft.Win32.Registry.GetValue("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Wow6432Node\\Maxis\\The Sims 4", "Install Dir", null);

 

Also can you please translate the top part of the popup for me, thank you.

[Denton47]

On 12/22/2018 at 12:42 AM, wild_guy said:

My game installed in C:\Games\The Sims 4. Here is what I have in the registry path you mentioned:

 

The popup is the standard windows one which says that program stopped and windows can try to look for a solution in the web. And 2 options: look for solution and close or just close.

 

I have added a fallback to initialization so if the tool can't find the registry key it will look for a file named Install_Dir.txt where you can specify the path to the Sims 4 installation directory, version 1.0.3 has been uploaded.

[Alonely]

Hello, Denton47! Great addition to the modding repertoire!

 

However, when I try and follow your tutorial, my "Add" and "Delete" buttons are grayed out. Do you know why this is?

 

[Denton47]

On 1/3/2019 at 4:50 PM, Alonely said:

Hello, Denton47! Great addition to the modding repertoire!

 

However, when I try and follow your tutorial, my "Add" and "Delete" buttons are grayed out. Do you know why this is?

 

 

I have uploaded version 1.0.4, this should fix the issue when editing custom sound events.