Overview
This is a guide for extracting audio files from Before the Storm. Because BtS was developed using the Unity Engine (in contrast to LiS using Unreal Engine 3), audio files (and all other game files) are stored differently. If you’ve been wanting to extract music, voice, and any other audio files from BtS – this could be intimidating. Fortunately; there’s a way to do just that.
Introduction
Before the Storm uses .awb and .acb formats for storing its audio. Essentially, .awb is a kind of library storing additional files, or just one. .acb is just an empty file containing little to no data, ranging in mere kilobytes. While it’s not exactly easy to figure out what folders and containers hold what files as they’re named using hexadecimal, I explain a bit more about this in the “File Structure & How To Find Specific Audio” section. The next section lists the tools you will need to convert your files.
Tools You’ll Need
- QuickBMS (Extracting the .awb files to .hca): [link]
- QuickBMS .AWB to .HCA Script (This is needed in addition to QuickBMS): [link]
- HCA Decoder (Converting .hca to .wav files for playback): [link]
Download/save these and extract them wherever you want.
Decoding The File(s) Using QuickBMS
- Copy the text in the QuickBMS Script (http://aluigi.altervista.org/bms/awb_afs2.bms) and save it as a .txt file, preferably in the same folder you extracted QuickBMS to. Name it whatever you want, I called mine “AWBtoHCA.txt”.
- Run quickbms.exe. It will ask you to locate the script you want to use. Locate the AWBtoHCA script you saved earlier and click “Open”.
- Next it will ask you for the audio files you want to decode. Navigate to your BTS game directory. On Steam (Windows), it’s located at: C:Program Files (x86)SteamsteamappscommonLife is Strange – Before The StormLife is Strange – Before The Storm_dataStreamingAssetsAudioPCEpisode1
***IF YOU WANT TO EXTRACT EPISODE 2/3/FAREWELL AUDIO,***
it’s located at: C:Program Files (x86)SteamsteamappscommonLife is Strange – Before The StormDLCE2 OR DLCE3 OR DLCE4(episodes 2, 3 & Farewell respectively).
- You’ll see some folders written in hexadecimal. For now, select the top folder. You’ll find 4 .acb files, and 2 .awb files. Select any of the .awb files you want and click “Open”.
- QuickBMS will ask you for an output folder. Again, this can be created wherever you want. Once the folder has been created, locate it within QuickBMS and click “Save”. This will then decode the .awb file(s) to .hca, which you’ll next convert to .wav using the HCA Decoder.
Converting The .HCA to .WAV Using HCA Decoder
6. In your downloaded archive of the HCA Decoder there will be multiple versions to choose from – select v1.12 and extract that wherever you want.
7. Drag the HCA file onto “hca.exe”. This will convert the .HCA to .WAV and it will be located in the same folder you extracted the .hca to originally.
File Structure & How To Find Specific Audio
If you go through each folder, you’ll notice there are usually 3-4 different folders containing audio. I will try to explain what these contain.
The first folder typically contains just voice.
The second is another voice folder.
If a third folder is present, this is additional voice.
A fourth folder (or third if there’s only two voice folders) contains the Music for that archive.
Screenshot below for better clarity:
One way to find out if it’s voice or music is to check the length of the audio file as well as the size. Music files tend to be larger and 1-2 minutes long, while voice files are just seconds in length.
Also – in music archives, there tend to be only 3-4 total files, while voice archives tend to contain dozens of short clips of audio. This is another way to determine what audio is contained. Another example below:
Video Tutorial
For those who may have trouble following along with the written guide, I’ve made a short, to-the-point video tutorial with each step shown and explained.
Conclusion
Now you have a way to extract audio files from BTS. Remember to save the .txt script in the same folder as QuickBMS for easy access. While it may be possible to decode the folder names that contain audio (the ones in hexadecimal), this tutorial is purely for extracting audio from the various .awb files. Please note I don’t own any of the tools or code listed and aren’t responsible for any possible storms damage caused. All game contents belong to Square Enix & Deck Nine Games.
If you have any questions or need additional help, feel free to message me, or leave a comment below! If this guide was helpful to you, please consider leaving a like and a favorite. Thanks 🙂
EDIT (May 2019): It has come to my attention that the link for HCA Decoder is no longer valid. I will reupload this tool and update the link very soon. Apologies in advance!
EDIT 2 (May 2019): HCA Decoder link updated!