1. Battle actor sound table
    1. Lookup chain
    2. World-sound id encoding
      1. What category, base and offset mean
      2. Where the audio is stored and how to preview it
    3. The table (BattleActorSoundTable)
    4. Notes
    5. FFNx table override and added monsters
    6. Reference (names & addresses)

Battle actor sound table

The sound effects an actor makes in battle (a monster’s growl, an attack impact, a character’s weapon swing) are not stored in the monster .dat file. The .dat Section 9 and Section 10 hold AKAO sound data that the PC engine parses but never plays.

Instead, the sounds come from a table baked into FF8_EN.exe, BattleActorSoundTable, indexed by the actor’s com_id (the same enemy id stored in each scene.out encounter, offset 0x38). Each com_id owns up to 7 sound slots; the battle animation picks a slot by number, and the table turns that into a global sound.

Lookup chain

An actor sound plays through this chain:

  1. The animation-sequence VM (Section 5) runs a sound opcode (0xB5/0xB6 for an actor-local sound, 0xB8 for a global one). The opcode carries a slot number (0–6) and a flags byte.
  2. BdPlayActorSE takes the running actor’s com_id and the slot number and reads BattleActorSoundTable[com_id][slot]. That value is a world-sound id.
  3. PlayWorldSound passes the world-sound id to GetSoundID_ForWorld, which decodes it into an audio archive sound id (an index into audio.fmt).
  4. PlaySound plays that id through DirectSound.

So the answer to “how does the game know which sound to play” is: the actor’s com_id selects the row, and the animation’s slot number selects the column. The .dat file only decides when to fire a slot, not what the slot sounds like.

World-sound id encoding

The values stored in the table are “world-sound ids”. GetSoundID_ForWorld splits each id into a category (id / 10000) and an index (id % 10000), then adds a per-category base:

Category (id / 10000) Base Used for
1 2150 —
21 150 Character (party) battle sounds
22 180 Monster battle sounds (the common case)
24 370 —
30 710 —
35 980 —
40 1230 Shared battle-effect sounds
41 1510 Shared battle-effect sounds
42 1920 Shared battle-effect sounds
50 2784 —
69 — Special case: 690000 → 2060, otherwise id − 688040
any other 0 index used directly

Final audio id = base[category] + index.

What category, base and offset mean

A world-sound id packs two numbers into one: a category number and a sound number within that category, also called the offset. Here, offset means a number of sound entries, not a byte position in audio.dat.

world id = category × 10000 + offset
category = world id // 10000     (integer division)
offset   = world id % 10000      (remainder)

The category chooses a starting archive index using the hardcoded lookup in GetSoundID_ForWorld. The base cannot be calculated from the category number alone. Category 40 has base 1230 because the game code explicitly assigns it that value.

For example, G-Soldier (c0m071, actor row 87) has world id 400000 in slot 0:

category = 400000 // 10000 = 40
offset   = 400000 % 10000  = 0
base for category 40      = 1230
archive sound index       = 1230 + 0 = 1230
World id Category Offset within category Base Archive sound index
400000 40 0 1230 1230
400025 40 25 1230 1255
220037 22 37 180 217

Categories are numeric groups, not monster identifiers. Category 40 does not mean G-Soldier: other actors can reference sounds in that group too. The “Used for” column above describes observed uses; the conversion function itself supplies numbers, not category names. Category 0, and categories without a special case, use base 0. Category 69 follows the special calculation in the table rather than the general formula.

Where the audio is stored and how to preview it

The resolved index selects an entry in the same PC sound archive used by Julia’s Audio archive tab:

  • audio.fmt describes each entry: format, sample rate, length and its byte offset in audio.dat.
  • audio.dat contains the actual sample bytes.
  • The actor table contains sound references, not audio samples. Categories do not select separate audio files.

In Julia, opening audio.fmt automatically opens the neighbouring audio.dat; both files must be in the same folder. To hear G-Soldier’s slot 0 in Audio archive, select entry #1230, not #400000, and click Play. Other resolved IDs can be previewed the same way if the loaded archive contains a nonempty entry at that index.

The Actor sound IDs tab can also preview a slot directly. Use Import to select both audio.fmt and audio.dat on either tab, select a slot cell, then click Play slot. The tab displays its world id and resolved archive index. An actor slot containing zero is unused; Julia does not preview it.

Worked example: world-sound id 220037 → category 22, index 37 → 180 + 37 = audio id 217 (the first slot of com_id 0x11).

The decoded audio id is the entry index into the audio archive (audio.fmt / audio.dat). This is verified against the retail archive: e.g. index 217 is com_id 0x11 (GIM52A) and indices 158/159 are Squall’s — each an MS-ADPCM, 44100 Hz mono sound. The table below lists the decoded audio ids directly.

The table (BattleActorSoundTable)

160 rows (com_id 0x00–0x9F), 7 slots each. Empty cells are unused slots (value 0). Rows with no entries are silent actors.

  • 0x00–0x0A are the playable characters — in com_id order: Squall, Zell, Irvine, Quistis, Rinoa, Selphie, Seifer, Edea, Laguna, Kiros, Ward. Their sounds are category-21 movement/weapon effects.
  • 0x0B–0x10 are silent (unused actor slots).
  • 0x11–0x9F are monsters. For most, slots 0 and 1 are the actor’s own voice pair (category 22) and any further slots are shared battle-effect sounds (category 40+) such as impacts or elemental hits.
com_id Slot 0 Slot 1 Slot 2 Slot 3 Slot 4 Slot 5 Slot 6
0x00 158 159          
0x01 151 152 153 154      
0x02 168            
0x03 160 161 162        
0x04 155 156 157        
0x05 165 166 167        
0x06 163 164          
0x07 176 179 1783        
0x08 174 175          
0x09 169 172          
0x0A 170 171 173        
0x0B              
0x0C              
0x0D              
0x0E              
0x0F              
0x10              
0x11 217 218 1691        
0x12 288 289 1395        
0x13 211 212 1346        
0x14 191 192 1346 1356      
0x15 213 214 1346 1350      
0x16 207 208 1285 1348      
0x17 229 230 1356        
0x18 255 256          
0x19 185 186 1250 1259 1277    
0x1A 181 182 1257        
0x1B 253 254          
0x1C 253 254          
0x1D 193 194 1309 1453      
0x1E 187 188 1233        
0x1F 195 196 1423        
0x20 197 198 1328        
0x21 215 216 1346        
0x22 199 200 1346 1376      
0x23 267 268 1230        
0x24 203 204 1346 1799      
0x25 231 232 1346 1425      
0x26 205 206 1325        
0x27 209 210 1311        
0x28 201 202 1294 1311 1476    
0x29 251 252 1346        
0x2A 219 220          
0x2B 225 226 1356 1401      
0x2C 249 250 1346 1348      
0x2D 247 248 1346        
0x2E 243 244 1356        
0x2F 304 305          
0x30 221 222 1261 1401 1407    
0x31 233 234 356        
0x32 306 307          
0x33 223 224 1559 1561      
0x34 269 270 1303        
0x35 245 246          
0x36 273 274 1844 1850      
0x37 265 266          
0x38 265 266 1409 1411      
0x39 227 228 1394        
0x3A 263 264 1230 1348      
0x3B 271 272          
0x3C 235 236 2011        
0x3D 237 238          
0x3E 290 291 1303 1311 1500    
0x3F 308 309 1346        
0x40 296 297          
0x41 239 240 1532 1699      
0x42 302 303 1679 1682      
0x43 275 276 1366 1367 1370    
0x44 241 242 1356 1682      
0x45 292 293 1356 1393 1701    
0x46 265 266 1384        
0x47 278 279          
0x48 282 283 1713 1786      
0x49 310 311 1346        
0x4A 286 287          
0x4B 314 315 1356        
0x4C 358 360 361        
0x4D 277 1385          
0x4E 335 365 1532 1684      
0x4F 336 366 1684        
0x50 1255 1261          
0x51 332 1572          
0x52 343 1682          
0x53 300 301 1682 1703      
0x54 1686            
0x55              
0x56 344            
0x57 1230            
0x58 1255 1261          
0x59 1230            
0x5A 1255 1261          
0x5B 345 1346          
0x5C 1230            
0x5D 341 342          
0x5E 1230            
0x5F 339 340 1230 1723      
0x60 1796            
0x61 1796            
0x62 334            
0x63 324 325 1713 1714      
0x64 280 281 1710        
0x65 334            
0x66              
0x67              
0x68 346 1783 1783        
0x69 257 258 1230 1255 1261 1691 1693
0x6A 352 1900          
0x6B 183 184 1348 1356      
0x6C 189 190 1245 1381      
0x6D 261 262 1356        
0x6E 312 313 1689        
0x6F 316 317 355 1356 1706 1708  
0x70 318 319 1356        
0x71 257 258 1230 1255 1261 1691 1693
0x72 257 258 1230 1255 1261 1691 1693
0x73 259 260 1964        
0x74 346            
0x75 294 295          
0x76 294 295          
0x77 320 321 1348 1691      
0x78              
0x79 322 323 1794 1957 1959    
0x7A 1792            
0x7B 1792            
0x7C 1230            
0x7D 298 299          
0x7E 326 327          
0x7F 257 258 1230 1255 1261 1691 1693
0x80 354            
0x81              
0x82 353 1897          
0x83 348 349 1894        
0x84 350 351 1894        
0x85 347 1914          
0x86 359            
0x87 1230 1697          
0x88 1789            
0x89 357 1691          
0x8A 2038            
0x8B              
0x8C 362 363 2041        
0x8D 2036            
0x8E 367 2044          
0x8F              
0x90              
0x91              
0x92 284 285 1532 1699 1701 1967  
0x93 337 338 1691 1792      
0x94 328 329 1682 1703      
0x95 330 331 1679 1682      
0x96 1230            
0x97 1255 1261          
0x98 1230 1697          
0x99 1789            
0x9A 364            
0x9B 364            
0x9C 364            
0x9D 364            
0x9E 334            
0x9F 1230            

Notes

  • Bounds. BdPlayActorSE only reads the table when com_id < 0xA0 and slot < 7; anything outside is ignored (no sound).
  • 3D variant. BdPlayActorSE3D reads the same table but positions the sound in the battle scene when the 3D-sound capability flag is set; otherwise it falls back to the same stereo path as BdPlayActorSE.
  • Global sounds. The 0xB8 opcode path (BdPlaySy) does not use this table; its operand is already a world-sound id and goes straight to PlayWorldSound.
  • Shared rows. Several monster rows are identical (e.g. 0x69/0x71/0x72/0x7F share the same 7 sounds), so a family of related enemies reuses one sound set.
  • Editing the sounds. Changing an actor’s battle sounds means editing the referenced entries in the audio archive (e.g. with the Julia tool in FF8UltimateEditor). Changing which sound an actor points to means editing the actor table, either in the executable or through an FFNx table override when supported; the .dat sound sections have no effect on either.

FFNx table override and added monsters

The implementation merged in FFNx PR #999 extends the array from 160 to 216 actors, covering monsters through c0m199. It exposes the table as direct/exe/battle_actor_sounds.bin, with language-specific direct/<language>/exe/ files taking precedence. This requires a build containing that implementation; it is not a file read by the original FF8 executable.

The file is a raw array with no header: 216 rows × 7 slots × 4 bytes = 6,048 bytes. Each value is an unsigned 32-bit little-endian world-sound id, not an archive index. Character rows are 0–15; a monster’s row is its c0m number plus 16. The original 160 rows are preserved by default, and added rows start at zero for mods to populate.

Julia’s Actor sound IDs tab can create this file using the original values. The audio archive (audio.fmt + audio.dat) remains the main file pair on both Julia tabs; use Import complementary for the BIN side file. The shared Save writes the archive pair on Audio archive and the BIN on Actor sound IDs, asking for a destination when the BIN is new. The panel beside the slot table shows the selected value’s category, offset, hardcoded starting archive sound and final archive index. To give c0m145 G-Soldier’s sounds, copy actor row 87 to row 161. Its slot 0 will then contain 400000, resolving to archive entry #1230. Copying a row changes the references; it does not copy audio samples or import a DAT sound section.

Reference (names & addresses)

FF8_EN.exe:

Name Address Role
BattleActorSoundTable 0xB8A418 Actor sound table: 160 × 7 DWORD world-sound ids, indexed [com_id][slot]
BdPlayActorSE 0x5015A0 Reads BattleActorSoundTable[com_id][slot], plays it (stereo)
BdPlayActorSE3D 0x501640 Same lookup, positional (3D) playback
BdPlaySy 0x501740 Plays a world-sound id directly (global sounds, no table)
linkedToSoundAnimSeq 0x505AB0 Section-5 opcode handler that supplies the slot number and flags
PlayWorldSound 0x46B2A0 World-sound id → channel/panning → PlaySound
GetSoundID_ForWorld 0x46B120 Decodes a world-sound id into an audio-archive id
PlaySound 0x4699A0 DirectSound / ADPCM playback