February 11, 2017. Thanks for sharing your excitement!
EDIT: If ever I were to cosplay, I would want to dress up as one of the Deepground mages. One of my absolute top favorite designs to come out of Dirge of Cerberus.
It would be either that or dress up as one of the cardinal Officers. Playing with the baton and shouting "Hail P.S.!" would be plenty fun.
The file "lobby.bin" contains another KelStr file. This one has a ton of menu text from the beta phase of the online mode. Decrypting the file reveals that everything was translated into English. Download the notepad at the bottom of this post for the full text (minus the special font for menu-option text that I have not had printed yet).
HIGHLIGHTS
npc
_reserver
_Superior
_Gate Keeper
Officer-East
Officer-South
Officer-West
Officer-North
DGG Sturm
DGG Wald
DGG Vulcan
DGG Berg
DGT Yumi
DGT Aya
DGT Eri
DGT Maki
DGT Void
DGT Kon
DGT Magi
DGT Linden
_Fill Giot
_DGD Tanaka
_Gold Saucer
DGC Soar
_Lenn Ku-Fu
_Kustelo Wani
West-D
DGT Wizz
_Moogle-Doll
_Zangan
_Chocobo
_DGSC Triviarno
_Justice
DGD Hiren
_No_92
_kra
_Cactuar
DGG Cataract
DGG Regis
DGG Iruka
DGG Jingi
For reference, here are the Beta Version NPCs we knew of before today. *EDIT*
Three of the "underscore" NPC names differ between the Japanese and the English file. Japanese:
_Gold Sauser
_Mogu-Doll
_Sabotender
English:
_Gold Saucer
_Moogle-Doll
_Cactuar
Japan
International
Server Name
Players Connected
JP-01 Vincent
JP-02 Cait Sith
JP-03 Cloud
JP-04 Barret
JP-05 Tifa
JP-06 Aeris
JP-07 Red XIII
JP-08 Yuffie
JP-09 Cid
JP-10 Sephiroth
JP-11 Reeve
JP-12 Hojo
JP-13 Lucrecia
JP-14 Weiss
JP-15 Nero
JP-16 Rosso
US-01 Vincent
US-02 Cait Sith
US-03 Cloud
US-04 Barret
US-05 Tifa
US-06 Aeris
US-07 Red XIII
US-08 Yuffie
US-09 Cid
US-10 Sephiroth
US-11 Reeve
US-12 Hojo
US-13 Lucrecia
US-14 Weiss
US-15 Nero
US-16 Rosso
IN-01 Vincent
IN-02 Cait Sith
IN-03 Cloud
IN-04 Barret
IN-05 Tifa
IN-06 Aeris
IN-07 Red XIII
IN-08 Yuffie
IN-09 Cid
IN-10 Sephiroth
IN-11 Reeve
IN-12 Hojo
IN-13 Lucrecia
IN-14 Weiss
IN-15 Nero
IN-16 Rosso
Lobby for domestic players.
Lobby for international players.
Move to %s?
The server is full.
Please select another.
In the Beta Version you only had the first two JP servers. This was expanded to seven servers in the 2006 era. I would never have guessed that so many servers, as shown in the text excerpt, were planned. *EDIT* In the Japanese file, server 06 is named "Aerith". In the English file all these instances have changed into "Aeris".
"Cactuar King" is a curious name that I have not seen in any DoC online mode documentation before. *EDIT*
In the Japanese file, Cactuar is called "Sabotender" and Cactuar King is called "Sapotender". This naming convention of "sabo" vs "sapo" has popped up in other Final Fantasy games, if my memory serves me correctly, so this explains why the Cactuar King reference was surprising to me.
Wallet full. If space is not made, the money will be discarded.
No such notification in the single player.
Medal of Dishonor
First Attack
Iron Seal
Healer
Assault
Slayer
The Finisher
Seeker
Star of Victory
BT
FA
Survival
Super Trooper
Super Armored
Super Sniper
Super Mage
Super Smasher
Turks Chevron
Drone Class Chevron
Tsviet Chevron
General Class Chevron
Commander Class Chevron
Trooper Class Chevron
Scout Class Chevron
The Turks medal is simply described as "Awarded to those who have successfully completed Turks training."
Rest of medal descriptions are in the notepad.
Oh what a great gift to end the year with! I was convinced that the well had dried up in terms of KelStr files but another one was indeed hiding inside lobby.bin all along.
Greetings Lifestream! I came across this thread trying to rip voice lines from my copy of DOC. I see the Audio Library has some snippets from multiplayer, but I was wondering if anyone here has successfully ripped the story mode dialog?
I used QuickBMS + that ff13 script to dump everything in KEL.DAT and found some at3 and at2 files, but wasn't able to play or convert any of them!
Thank you @mal4m for sharing that method of extracting the KEL.DAT content! I was only aware of the method using older versions of Noesis which dumps the same data. The main difference between the two is that Noesis also creates a "misc" and a "models" folder and decides on different naming conventions for the misc files.
Far as I can tell there is no tool to convert the at3- and at2 sound files to a playable format. I tried a method just over five years ago to play at3 files but it was a dead-end.
Shademp said:
Thank you also Cloud_S for linking to a thread that properly explained how to use foobar to play .at3 files. Sadly my attempt at playing the Dirge .at3 files confirmed what I had already heard elsewhere: Foobar can't play the PS2 .at3 files, only the [.at3] files from PSP and PS3.
Cloud_S would play at3 files on his PSP and I never confirmed to check if that might work to play at3 files from a PS2 game.
Cloud_S said:
As for those AT3 files, they should indeed be audio files. I have a player on my PSP for them, which I think also converted them (it's been many years since I booted up that old thing, and I don't think I even have a power cord or a battery for it at the moment).
For lack of a method to convert the sound files I have used Cheat Engine to make the game play the sounds I want. That is how I recorded the online soldier voice samples and Cait Sith's voice lines in his stealth segment. Because the lines are recorded in-game it's possible that the echo in the sound stem from environment reverberations.
Example: Look up the string for Vincent's squatting sound in RAM, "asj_003". Replace the string with whatever sound/voice-line you want to have playing instead when Vincent performs the squatting action. If you want to play one of Cait Sith's lines, you may replace the string with "se_0445". I record with the PCSX2's native recording tool by pressing F12 and the sound ends up in a wav file.
Unfortunately this method does not work for activating cutscene dialogue. Primarily works for sound effects and voice lines during gameplay.
The master code is presumably ECDDB818 148CF818, though the cheat list is a bit messy. The top of the list mentions AR2 (Action Replay Version 2), but this knowledge did not help when trying to use OmniConvert to change the mastercode into a (proper) raw form that's independent of the cheat device. No setting was able to convert the master code into its raw form, so presumably this cheat code was made for obscure cheat software. Or maybe it works on AR2 anyway.
The official Twitter account of Easing Game is suspended due to breaking Twitter's rules. The link to download a game modifier (presumably the intended cheat device) links instead to hackerbot.net which in turn links to CheatWare as the source for its cheat applications. Weird stuff going on here, though I can't confirm if it's malicious.
Looking at the game files indicate that the NTSC-US and PAL versions have a debug mode that's just waiting to be activated. I would not be surprised if some random hacker unlocked debug mode, uploaded a cheat code for a unique cheat device and then made no more noise about it.
At this time I don't have the patience to dig into this "debug mode" cheat any further but I highlight the matter here in case somebody is curious enough to investigate.
Since we're on the topic of the sound files and the debug menu/mode, here are examples of the interesting strings contained inside the debug files related to sound. Many of the options are in Japanese and I've placed auto-translations inside square brackets. "kashitan" is short for Yoshiki Kashitani, the game's main programmer.
リソース名指定効果音再生 [Play sound effects by resource name]
リソース名指定効果音再生(オンライン専用) [Play sound effects by resource name (online only)]
おわり [End]
ループ開始ポイント [Loop start point]
ループ終了ポイント [Loop end point]
テスト再生位置 [Test playback position]
再生 [Playback]
停止 [Suspend]
open debugmenu 0
open debugmenu 1
play BGM
play voice
loop開始(%09d) [loop start]
loop終了(%09d) [loop end]
再生位置(%09d) [Playback position]
.at3
.at2
SELECT {%s]
debug/sound/%s/%s
ファイル転送中 [File transfer in progress]
ファイル転送中 %08d byte / %08d byte
HDDにセーブ中。。[Saving to HDD]
write filesize %d bytes
debug/sound/%s/
FTPサーバに接続中。。[Connecting to an FTP server]
48kHz 144kbps stereo
48kHz 36kbps mono
[%s] [%s] [%d]
[at3 vol dec(0-63db) $c%02d%d$c%02d]
Identical options also appear in the file dbg_sound.ovl. One possibility is that the debug menu interface is derived from the files titled "kel_commandline" and "kel_dbgmenu".
Every PS2 game has an ID file that (usually) match what you'll see on the physical box. In the case of the NTSC-US version its ID is SLUS_21419 and so it has a file called "SLUS_214.19". The file contains the countless function pointers and strings required in order for the game to boot at all from a PS2.
Some strings are involved in function calls while others are probably remnants of a flawed compiler. For example SLUS_214.19 contain these strings that look a lot like source code that just leaked into the file.
libat3dec.c
(unsigned int)iqt < AT2_NQUS+1
(unsigned int)iqt+1 < AT2_NQUS+1
Parts of SLUS_214.19 that are frequently accessed will remain present in memory at all times after initial boot-up. It may be no coincidence then that the reference to the debug menu and its commandline appears only VERY briefly during boot-up and then never shows up in memory again.
From the very end of the SLUS_214.19 file:
kel_sound_section
kel_us_overwrap_extended_program_section
kel_extended_program_section
kel_draw_section
kel_debugmenu
kel_commandline
kel_title
kel_net
If I could find the proper function pointer for debug content on initial game boot-up then that should place the debug menu in memory and make it available during gameplay. At this time I have no plan on how to proceed. There's also a possibility that the debug mode can't be activated on emulator and that it will only work on official hardware. Yet another frightening possibility is that the debug menu requires an extension that's not present on the game disc (this scenario assumes the cheat code mentioned in my previous post to be false).
Hey an update re: AT2 Files if anyone's interested!
A friend pointed me to a thread on a VGM ripping forum and a post specifically about DOC's audio.
Essentially at2 files are headerless raw ATRAC3 files. So via VGMToolbox then vgmstream in Foobar to convert, I now have a whole folder of all the dialog ripped from Dirge in .WAV format is that interests anyone.
I can't thank you enough for sharing all this, @mal4m! Awesome knowledge and resources.
After listening through all the files in the DOC_WAV.zip I can confirm that there are only three unused English lines in the "event dialogue" that actually contain words. All three are from the Tutorial Mode.
ev2030_00110tu
"Proceed to the TTT terminal to receive a formal briefing on your objectives."
ev2030_00128tu
"Proceed to the TTT terminal to receive a briefing on your objectives."
ev2030_00148tu
"You will be issued the following weapon based on your score."
Only the second one, 00128tu, also exists as unused text. 00148tu is intended for when the Tutorial Mode has reached its end. The final game does not issue any reward whatsoever for completing the tutorial, other than ranking how you performed and measuring which difficulty mode you'll be suited for in the main story mode. I wonder if the intention was that you'd be granted a weapon that would then carry over into a new playthrough of the main story? That would have been quite neat. Would feel pretty pointless if all it did was issue a new starting weapon next time you booted up the tutorial.
There is a larger selection of unused, worded voice lines in the Japanese files. Looking to have those translated. Both languages contain a decent amount of unused, non-worded voice lines such as sighs, breathing, cries of pain etc. Though one line that is technically used, but becomes almost inaudible, is ev0410_40419sa.
When Shalua starts speaking about Lucrecia's thesis, her voice becomes partially muted and Lucrecia's voice plays on top instead. Because of this and the loud BGM it's very difficult to make out what Shalua is saying. Her voice is still muffled in the ev0410_40419sa sound file but listening to it in isolation reveals the full line to be this:
Shalua: "However, the theories that she presented in her work were so abstract and complex...
...that no one in Shinra took her seriously. Still, I heard rumors that the brilliant Professor Gast later shared some interest in her findings."
The latter half of the line only exists as audio and does not even exist as unused subtitles. When you know to listen for it in-game, the mention of Professor Gast becomes obvious. With how much Gast's role in the canon was diminished in the Compilation, it's still neat to know that he has ONE obscured direct reference in the Dirge of Cerberus story.
Amazing! I'm glad this was useful to someone besides me. I went ahead and converted every other .at2 I could find as well as all the bgm files that I found via that forum.
Note: You've might've deduced, but I added a prefix to each file that corresponds to the first subdirectory to make browsing easier. So for example "data/zone/z136/sound/se_0216.at2" becomes "data/zone/z136_se_0216.wav"
What an extraordinary day. The BGM folder contains one bombastic track that is not part of the Dirge of Cerberus soundtrack: "title.at3". What is it actually?
Feste romane (Roman Festivals), P. 157: I. Circenses · Riccardo Muti · Philadelphia Orchestra
The first movement, "Circus Games" ("Circenses"), depicts the ancient contests in which gladiators battled to the death, with the sound of trumpet fanfares. Strings and woodwinds suggest the plainchant of the first Christian martyrs which are heard against the snarls of the beasts against which they are pitted. The movement ends with violent orchestral chords, complete with organ pedal, as the martyrs succumb.
I wonder if the track is here merely as part of Masashi Hamauzu's inspiration behind the music for Dirge or if it was actually used for one of the game menus at some point, like for example one of the PlayOnline menus.
*EDIT: According to this site Ottorino Respighi's music became public domain in Europe in 2006, because by then 70 years had passed since his death in April 18, 1936. What a coincidence. I have not looked up copyright/public-domain rules for other parts of the world.*
I'm also glad to finally be able to hear the test.at2 file (in the etc folder). My guess is that we are hearing the voice Yoshiki Kashitani, the main programmer, but it could be anybody. The jsnddb.txt document, which lists all the game's music and sounds, refers to sound test files by Kashitani though those were (at least originally) titled bgm_006 and bgm_007.
test.at2 according to Google's speech-to-text, and double checking with a Japanese speaking friend, is someone (maybe Kashitani) basically saying "One...of my neck bones...is misaligned."
Using the method shared by mal4m I converted the AT2 files from the online mode event dialogue. For the sake of completion I also included the voice lines in folder z220 (the zone in which you battled Shelke in the online mode), though it only has battle lines for Shelke. I can't tell for sure if any of the lines are unique to the online mode. File names have been given the prefix of the folder directory to which they belonged (ev2046, ev2100 etc).
Of greatest interest are the voice lines found in ev2046. They include two scenes from when the player has just created a new player character: Talking to Officer-East, followed by a talk with Argento. At the time of writing, neither scene have been unlocked in the modern day by hacking the game.
Notably, the audio rip lacks Officer-East's first line where he says:
"I am the one who is responsible for the level promotion exams. If you want to raise your level, you need to pass through all the exams given by us, the officers."
We know from the gameplay recording that this line had a voice recording at one point.
When speaking to Argento, she says "I ask thee. Dost thou seekest to become the strongest?" and the player can select OK or CANCEL. In the recording we only hear the response from selecting OK, but with this new audio extraction we also have her response to if the player selected CANCEL.
The girl in the false flashbacks will shout "sister" or "brother" depending on the gender you chose for your player character. The audio conversion confirms that both gender variations were saved for all these flashback scenes. Of course when you view the online mode cutscenes via the Antecedents in the Event Viewer, you will be locked to the gender scenario that is already pre-selected by the game.
The three sound files on318nr, on320nr and on321ws appear to be unused voice lines for Scene 6. In these files Nero is crying out to his brother in a more whimpering tone, Weiss responds, and then we get the used voice line of on322nr where Nero yells out for his brother.
Files one25sk and one26sk are Shelke's voice lines from the presumed Game Over scenario against the Restrictor (at the end of the online story campaign) and the placement of the sound files further support this theory.
With most of the unused Japanese voice clips we don't have event dialogue text to go along with them. Sometimes this may be because the text just isn't loaded into RAM and so I can't access it, other times the text transcriptions may simply not exist.
The magnificent @TurquoiseHammer transcribed and translated the bulk of unused voice clips for me. Many thanks to TH, and thanks to murfy who helped out with the particularly tough voice lines.
Fortunately for the unused lines from Ch2 and Ch3 we do find the corresponding Japanese text in RAM.
ev0200_20142rv
リーブ：は、はい、お願いします！
Reeve: Y-yes, please do!
ev0200_20304rv and ev0200_d0104rv
リーブ：ヴィ、ヴィンセント！$rう、うわぁーーーーーーーー！
Reeve: V-Vincent! AAAAAAAH!
Placing the Japanese and English text side-by-side provides context.
The text entry that used to be "Y-yes, please do!" (voice clip 20142rv), where Reeve reacts to Vincent's previous statement, became the developer note "スクリプトより削除されていました" meaning "It was removed/deleted from the script". This note in Japanese is littered throughout many spots in the English "event text" files.
Reeve yelling out in 20304rv and d0104rv are probably death cries from a game over scenario when you are being chased by guard hounds across the wasteland. Presumably the death cry would play if Vincent's HP reached 0. There are no clear traces in memory of any HP bar being planned for Reeve in this section.
Same as with the text for 20142rv, the note "スクリプトより削除されていました" replaced the corresponding text for 20304rv and d0104rv.
ev0300_30215b0 {boy}
カードキー……
Cardkey...
ev0300_30219vn
ヴィンセント：中に入るのか？
Vincent: Are we going in?
ev0300_30221b0 {boy}
３階からなら……
From the 3rd floor...
The escort mission has the kid lead you to what is essentially the third floor, so the unused line checks out. In the final game Vincent only speaks directly to the kid ONCE. With the unused line that would have made two worded exchanges.
ev0300_30703rs
ロッソ：！？ まさかもう！？
Rosso: Huh! It can't be happening already!
The unused grunts by Vincent can be heard in 30701vn, 30702vn, 30704vn and 30705vn. In the final game he is entirely silent during the fight against Rosso, only making a roaring sound once he attacks as Chaos. Rosso's worded reaction to Vincent's transformation, as heard in 30703rs, is entirely absent as well.
The Deepground assault on WRO HQ is initiated very quickly in Ch4. Alarms go off when Reeve, Shalua and Vincent are in the basement. Very shortly afterwards Azul breaks in through the front gate and the attack begins. The player is then thrown into gameplay on the first floor in quite the disorienting fashion.
The unused Japanese voice lines in Ch4, for which we only have auditory transcriptions, reveal an extended scenario where more time passed between detecting the enemy and the enemy actually breaking through the gates. The player would also have controlled Vincent at this time, exploring the WRO HQ and speaking more to Reeve and Shalua.
ev0460_40615rv
リーブ：扉はどれぐらいいますと思いますか？
Reeve: How long do you think the gate will hold them?
ev0460_40616sa
シャルア：もって十五分といったところだのな。
Shalua: We've got about 15 minutes at most.
ev0460_40617rv
リーブ：待って下さい！
Reeve: Hold on a moment!
ev0460_40618rv
リーブ：シャルアさん、侵入制ようのトラップを解除して下さい。
Reeve: Shalua, please disarm the intrusion system traps.
ev0460_40619rv
リーブ：基地のいくつかの場所に侵入制のようのトラップがあります。
Reeve: There are intrusion system traps at several areas in the base.
ev0460_40620rv
リーブ：打ち壊すことによって爆発するようになっています。
Reeve: They're designed to explode when they're destroyed.
ev0460_40621rv
リーブ：うまく使ってください。
Reeve: Please use them to your advantage.
ev0460_40622vn
ヴィンセント：「おぁ……」
Vincent: [Grunt of assent]
ev0460_40623rv
リーブ：それと、私の方で倉庫の前に"とびっきり"のを仕掛けます
Reeve: Also, I will set up a "superb(＊big thing)" in front of the warehouse.
ev0460_40624rv
リーブ：もしもの時は誘い込んで下さい。
Reeve: If you get in a bind, lure [enemies into them].
The "intrusion system traps" described here would play the same role as the explosive drum cans placed throughout the stage. We can assume they were disarmed so that Vincent could roam the area and memorize the traps without accidentally setting them off.
The fancy name for these explosives, and the fact that they could be disarmed (which is not a reasonable scenario for explosive drum cans), cause me to speculate. When Azul confronts Vincent in the hallway, there is a mine on the floor that Vincent shoots in an attempt to blow up Azul.
This mine, model name "g037", feels awkwardly/randomly placed because it does not appear ANYWHERE outside of this cutscene. The player has not been primed to recognize the mine and so it can be easy to miss especially on first viewing. My theory is that the g037 mine is the aforementioned "intrusion system trap" and that these were the intended explosives of the area before the developers settled on using drum cans.
Another possibility is that g037 is the "big thing in front of the warehouse" Reeve is referring to. This lone mine certainly packs a bigger explosive punch than the drum cans do. The problem with this theory is that this hallway cutscene is quite a distance away from the warehouse where you end up fighting Azul.
The basement room(s) where Reeve, Shalua and Vincent discuss Omega and Chaos is not a spot the player is allowed to enter and explore in the final game. The area is visible on the menu map however. Using cheats to enter the area shows that Vincent can interact with the doors.
At the start of Ch4 Vincent wakes up in one of the three tanks in the other room.
From the inside you can open the door to the hallway but wall collision will still prevent you from leaving.
The idea was probably for the player to roam these two rooms and speak with Reeve and Shalua at their leisure. Access to the basement hallways, and perhaps even the higher floors, would have been available.
ev0460_40701sa
シャルア：すまないが後にしてくれ。
Shalua: Sorry, it'll have to wait.
ev0460_40702sa
シャルア：なんだ？
Shalua: What is it?
ev0460_40703sa
シャルア：休むのなら、向こうの調整槽を使い。
Shalua: If you want to take a rest, use the conditioning tank over there.
ev0460_40704sa
シャルア：ほぉ……
Shalua: [Sound of interest/surprise]
ev0460_40705sa
シャルア：ほ……
Shalua: [Sound of interest/surprise]
ev0460_40706rv
リーブ：頼みましたよ。
Reeve: Please do me this favor.
ev0460_40707rv
リーブ：まだ侵入はさらていません。今のうちに基地の構造を覚えておいてください。
Reeve: They still haven't broken in yet. Please take this opportunity to familiarize yourself with the structure of the base.
ev0460_40708rv
リーブ：隊員たちには貴方に協力するよう指示を出しておきました…よろしくお願いします。
Reeve: I have instructed the members to cooperate with you ... please do.
ev0460_40709rv
リーブ：すみません、後にしてください。
Reeve: I'm sorry, but it'll have to wait till later.
ev0460_40710rv
リーブ：まだ敵の多くは残っています。頼みましたよ。
Reeve: Many enemies still remain. Please take care of them.
At some point the plot would progress so that Reeve was no longer in the basement and he would have moved to the command room/center at the top floor. With how quickly the invasion of the WRO HQ moves along it can feel like Reeve basically teleported from the basement and up to the command center, but in the original scenario there was a more apparent, greater passage of time.
ev0460_41110sa
シャルア：ん、ああ、すまん、局長なら指令室へ向かった
Shalua: Hmm, oh, I'm sorry, the director went to the command room.
ev0460_41111sa
シャルア：私もここは外す。
Shalua: I also remove it here. (Confusing, contextual line)
ev0460_41112sa
シャルア：探し物...... 見つけたかも知れぬだな。
Shalua: The thing I was looking for... I think I may have found it.
While Shalua is probably referring to Shelke in 41112sa, her tone is oddly casual given the circumstances.
Unused fillers to the conversation when Azul confronts Vincent and Reeve and subsequently chase them down the hallway. Only the third line actually exists as text and it's probably intended for when you reach the warehouse.
When Vincent roams the sewers, Chapter 5, he encounters the sahagin and says "Looks like I'm not the only one here." This is voice line d0302vn found under the folder ev0570. The similarly named voice lines in the series are under folder ev0500 though and seems to be unused reactions by Vincent as he roams Shinra Manor and/or the sewers.
ev0500_d0301vn
ヴィンセント：ふん、リーブの言う通りか
Vincent: Hmm, as Reeve said.
ev0500_d0303vn
ヴィンセント：は……ここは変わらない
Vincent: Hah... this place never changes.
ev0500_d0304vn
ヴィンセント：私よりも執拗の者がいるようだ。
Vincent: It seems you're more stubborn than I am.
ev0500_d0305vn
ヴィンセント：これは確か……
Vincent: This must be...
ev0500_d0306vn
ヴィンセント：ここは……
Vincent: This is...
At the end of Ch4, when Vincent is about to leave for Shinra Manor, Reeve says "However, be on your guard. We have reports of Deepground units deployed in that area."
One possibility is that d0301vn is what Vincent would say when encountering Deepground in the manor or near the sewers, confirming Reeve's intel.
One lost opportunity during Ch5 is that Vincent never reacts to the room with the coffins, which is presumably the same place where he rested for so many years. I wonder if d0305vn or d0306vn might have been a planned reaction to the coffin room? Though those reactions could of course apply to any part of the manor visited by Vincent.
These skyboards, called "飛空艇降下ボード in the JP version of the Art Gallery, is described by an unused WRO NPC on the Shera. We do not know where in the airship this NPC was meant to stand, but I like to imagine they would have been situated in the hatch room. It's worth noting that the game never shows us a real-time rendering of the skyboard model: It only exists in FMVs (and official artwork). No sign of the board existing as an unused 3D model.
ev0700_e1701zp
これ、なんだと思います？
What do you think this is?
ev0700_e1702zp
実は降下ようのボードなんですよ。
It's actually a descent board.
ev0700_e1703zp
これを足につけて事情まで飛び降りるんです。
You attach it to your feet and jump down into the fray.
ev0700_e1704zp
かっこいいでしょう！
Pretty cool, huh!
ev0700_e1705zp
んん……足のベルトが緩い気がするな。
Hmm... I think the belt around my feet may be loose.
The other unused WRO NPC appears to be restless from staying on the airship. I wonder if he was meant to be running back and forth? All the WRO NPCs on the airship are stationary in the final game.
ev0700_e2001zs
船内じゃあ…体が鈍っちまうからな…走らないと
Being on board makes you soft. I've gotta run to keep in shape.
The FMV sound files are not part of the current sound extractions. The event dialogue has alternate takes for the Midgar Battle FMV, though this is limited to Cid's first two lines before the battle starts and Yuffie's line before she rides off on the skyboard.
ev0730_70801cd: んじゃあ
ev0730_70802cd: 行くぞ！！
ev0730_70803yf: おっさきぃー！
This pattern of duplicates and/or alternate takes continue with a series of Deepground soldier exclamations intended for Ch9, the Shinra Building.
ev0800_12202s1
ドラム缶を狙え
Aim for the drums
ev0800_12203s1
いたぞ！
There he is!
ev0800_12204s1
中だ！
Inside!
ev0800_12205s1
フロア確保！
Floor secured!
ev0800_12206s1 (kanji & hiragana transcriptions)
増援要請 [ぞうえんようせい]
Request reinforcements
ev0800_12207s1 (kanji & hiragana transcriptions)
橋一帯を捜索 [はしいったいをそうさく]
Search the area around the bridge
The above sound files are very clear, with no echo and no voice distortion. In the "zone" folders, z141 specifically, are corresponding sound files where there is echo and the voice distortion from the Deepground masks/mouth-pieces. These are the sound clips that were actually used. Matching them up...
ev0800_12202s1 -> z141_se_0606
ev0800_12203s1 -> z141_se_0601 (different voice)
ev0800_12204s1 -> z141_se_0602
ev0800_12205s1 -> z141_se_0613
ev0800_12206s1 -> (no equivalent in z141)
ev0800_12207s1 -> z141_se_0610
The 12206s1 event sound almost certainly has an equivalent from some other part of the game. It should be noted that "event" dialogue is typically intended for full-blown cutscenes and NPC dialogue that freeze Vincent in place. Sound files with the prefix "se_" are for audio activated during gameplay and which does not suspend player mobility. The original idea for some of the above ev0800 sound files might have been to include them in cutscenes but in the end they were adapted to live-gameplay segments instead.
The last two unused voice clips from the main story (that are worthy of note) are a bit mysterious.
ev0800_12208s2
キャリアヴィンセント・ヴァレンタインはを確認。
Phone user Vincent Valentine confirmed.
ev0800_12209s2
封鎖開始。
Blockade commenced.
The voice sounds like an automated phone message, yet the postfix/suffix for the sound is "s2" which seems to identify it as "DG Soldier #2". Note that the previous voice clips had the postfix "s1" for "DG Soldier #1". The voice used for 12208s2 and 12209s2 is also familiar from one of the female stock voices used for playable characters in the online mode.
Maybe the intention was for one of the DG soldiers to track Vincent's phone and activate blockades/barriers as he approached? Or perhaps the "blockade" refers to blocking signals to- and from his phone? It's implied that while Vincent descends through the Shinra Building that his phone reception becomes worse.
Shalua: If you want to take a rest, use the conditioning tank over there.
Addendum about the above line. It is unclear if 調整槽 [Conditioning/Adjustment/Regulation Tank) refers to any of the main three water tanks/capsules, one of which Vincent wakes up from at the start of Ch4, and/or the recovery tank placed against the wall. It looks to be containing a liquid but has a different glow compared to the "water tanks". Shalua ends up in this tank at the end of Ch6 after sustaining her injuries.
Shalua when moved to the ECU (Energy Capsule Unit) on the Shera.
No interaction prompts appear when standing next to any of the capsules.
Due to the corresponding official artworks being too low-resolution (and the text of the in-game art gallery tends to be blurred out anyway) we don't have the names for the WRO HQ recovery tanks. Only the recovery capsule in the Shera is given a name thanks to "Energy Capsule Unit" being written in large letters on the adjacent wall. I wonder if Shalua is being fed with the "mysterious energy" that's also powering the airship
Looking at these various tanks reveal to me a pedantic distinction. On the Shera, Shelke will look at Shalua and say:
ほんの少し前まで、あそこに入っていたのは、私だったんですけどね……
And to think, just a few days ago, I was the one who was in there.
Since the capsule design is distinct to the Shera, and Shelke was only kept in one of the WRO HQ capsules, Shelke was not literally "in there". Though this is splitting distinctions without relevant differences, since of course the sentiment expressed is generic and not literal.
While under the lens I also see that the real-time model for the Energy Capsule Unit on the Shera is not *identical* to its FMV counterpart. Is this important? Not at all.
WRO HQ in Ch4 takes place in z134 (zone 134). Meanwhile the heavily damaged version of WRO HQ in Ch6 takes place in z150.
In this latter variation one portion of the hallway has been increased in both width and height to accomodate for the massiveness of Arch Azul. This fact can easily be missed since the transition to the Arch Azul cutscene happens before you are able to reach and explore the widened hallway yourself. Maybe Reeve used Inspire to bring the building alive and shift parts around?
The place where Azul was kept is coordinate H-12 of the z134 menu map. This corresponds to G-12 in the z150 menu map. When considering this it's strange to imagine that Azul transforms into Arch Azul, both in a containment room where he does not fit AND then proceeds to walk out into a corridor where he also does not fit!
Jumping past the cutscene trigger for the ending of Ch6 and exploring the damaged hallway reveals that no button prompts are present for any of the doors. The doors lack collision and so Vincent can simply walk through them. Quite different from the default state of Ch4 (z134) where the button prompts- and collisions are present.
The destruction of the corridor is extensive and continues all the way to the room where you fought Shelke, way past any point that the player is allowed to explore or even observe in cutscenes.
Exploring these areas is nothing new and I have brought it up in the past. (I'm just waiting for the day imgur goes down and all the images I uploaded over there disappear from all my old FF7 posts ) The reason I bring this up now is because of an additional difference I noted between z134 and z150.
Roughly half a dozen of these "WARNING" textures are pasted throughout the corridor. In Ch6 you only have a chance to see one of these signs and it's difficult to see clearly due to the fire. When you know what to look for though, you'll notice the sign is misspelled as "WANNING". If you then use cheats to explore the hallway beyond what is intended, you'll clearly see this error for every instance of the warning sign.
This difference between z134 (WARNING) and z150 (WANNING) is universal across all versions of Dirge of Cerberus.
Thanks for sharing your excitement!
