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Is there a way to easily remove specific songs from a psarc archive file using the custom toolkit?

 

if not is there a way of mapping all the files from each song in the archive, so a msdos batch file could be created to list all the songs in an unpacked archive, and then give you a menu that would list all the songs and allow you to delete the ones you dont want any more

Is there a way to easily remove specific songs from a {CDLC} psarc archive file using the custom toolkit?

 

Easy ... not for most.  Is there a way ... yes.   Follow this 25 step tutorial for modding CDLC content:

1. Using CST, select the Packer/Unpacker menu tab. 
2. Check box "SNG to XML".  "Decode Audio" is only necessary if you want to listen to a song (*.ogg) file with a music player.
3. Press "Unpack".
4. Select a CDLC file to modify.  (CST will unpack CDLC in this step.)
5. Open the CDLC content folder (CDLC_NAME_p_Pc)
6. Open the subfolder 'audio'
7. Open the subfolder 'windows'
8. Use my new tool, "Audio Cross Reference for Rocksmith 2014".   Download ACR here.  Drag/Drop the *.bnk files from subfolder "windows" onto the AudioCrossReference.exe file icon.  ACR will tell when it is done working.
9. Now back to CST.  Select the "Creator" tab menu.
10. Make sure Rocksmith 2014 radio button is select.  Select the desired "Platform" check box(es).
11. Click the Arrangements "Add" button.  Click the "Browse" button in the Add Arrangement popup form.
12. Open the CDLC content folder (CDLC_NAME_p_Pc), same folder as step 5 above.
13. Open "songs" folder.
14. Open "arr" subfolder.  Select the arrangement *.xml  file that you want to repackage.  Repeat step 11-14 to add additional arrangements.  Back in CST the "Song Information" should populate.  Be sure to make changes to Song Information (title, artist, album, etc.) that is representative of the modified content before continuing.
15. Click the "Album Art" button.   Again open the Open the CDLC content folder (CDLC_NAME_p_Pc).
16. Open "gfxassets" folder.
17. Open "album_art" subfolder.
18. Select the album_CDLC_NAME_256.dds file and click "Open".
19. Click the "Convert audio on Wwise 2013 for Windows ... *.wem" button.  Again open the Open the CDLC content folder (CDLC_NAME_p_Pc).
20. Open the "audio" folder.
21. Open the "windows" subfolder.  Select the new CDLC_NAME.wem file that was created with ARC tool in step 8.  MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT select the CDLC_NAME_preview.wem file by mistake.
22. Click "Generate".  Now is the time to change the default CDLC file name to be more representative of the content then click "Save".
23. Wait for "Package was generated" message.
24. Move the new CDLC package to the game dlc/cdlc folder.  Remove the original CDLC package.
25. Start the game and play your new CDLC arrangement.

 

Give it a try and let me know if you have questions after you have re-read these instructions 5 times.  Do not ask me about non-PC platforms.  If all the songs from the original CDLC package still show up in the game after modification, then you need to use my Game Save Gigbox tool to Sync your game save with the newly modified CDLC content.

 

The ACR program is for educational use only and may not be sold or purchased.  Any activities that may negatively effect
the original authors, Ubisosft® or Steam content in anyway are not condoned or supported.  Rocksmith users should remember to support Ubisoft® and Steam by purchasing original game content and software releases so that these companies may continue making products that we enjoy.

 

EDIT:  The process of adding or removing arrangements is very easy now.  Using the latest version of the toolkit (CST) ...  select the Creator tab.  Pick a game version.  Then at the bottom of the GUI click on Import Package.  Import a CDLC song into creator then you can add, edit, modify, save or do just about anything you want to the CDLC package.  Like change tones, volume, artwork,  even change album, title, artist information.  Finallly, click on Generate to repack and be able to play the modified CDLC.  Even converts RS1 to RS2 CDLC. 

I've done the above with one archive and got it to work pretty well.  

 

Now I'm trying to unpack another but there doesn't seem to be an audio subfolder.  Would the .bnk files be hidden anywhere else?

Not all "archives" contain bnk files.  CDLC should have them though. ;)

Bummer.  I was picking and choosing songs (and raising the volume) from the RS1 pack and trying to do the same with the converted DLC.

Hi cozy,

 

Great tutorial!

 

Regarding Step 2: Check box "SNG to XML"

 

Considering I never ticked that check box before reading your procedure in this thread I decided to do a back-to-back check of what this checkbox does, and though Notepad++ Compare plugin shows differences in xml  files being due to differences in number of decimal places  here and there as well as some differences in some miscellaneous fields and with some Score Attack tags (heroLevels), the main difference seems to be that when unticking the box, the Transcription Track is populated and ticking the box empties the Transcription track.

 

Can you help me understand what is the strategic use of ticking or unticking the check box for your procedure in this thread and in general. Can you remind me when one wants a transcription track populated or not?

 

Thanks!

That checkbox has changed over the past few releases.  I just looked.  In 2.3 it was "Update SNG", in 2.5 it was "Extract Song Xml", and now in 2.6 it is "SNG to XML".  It probably could be called  "Dump All The XML Files", but the current version "SNG to XML" is pretty good.

 

My observation is that some songs do not give up all the XML files unless this box is checked.   I'm not sure about your Transcription Track question/comment, it did not jump out in the comparisons that I ran.

 

Edit:  @@Chlipouni explains it more fully here.

So I've tinkered around a bit more with the 25 step procedure. , @@cozy1.

 

I'm glad I found out the reason for your ACR software being required in Step 8. If you don't use it you have 2 WEM files with gibberish as names and the toolkit needs two names, one with the suffix _preview and your software takes care of this nicely.

 

Admittedly I am still learning the ropes at opening, fixing and repacking a CDLC but I've made a few observations that may provide alternatives to some of the steps you listed.

 

1. Perhaps this is new since your 19Nov2014 post but I've stumbled upon the Toolkit "Import Package" button which seems to accept a PSARC as input and then you select a folder to extract all the PSARC artifacts to. The folder will contain a TOOLKIT folder with all JSON (tones), WEM's and Album Art, and an EOF folder containing the OGG and XML files. Whether it is better to follow your Step 2 and 3 above, I don't know yet.

 

2. When I use the 25 step procedure above, I noticed that everything works great except for one thing, doing Step 14, everything seems to load up, but if you look at the tones, selecting each one, individually and pressing the Edit button, you'll notice the name of the tone is present but none of the amp/cabinet, rack,pre-pedal, loop pedal information is available. In fact the toolkit won't even let you change the volume and type ok and instead one needs to click the "X" at the top right corner of the dialog box to close it... the volume is the nominal -12 and not the value of the original package imported, same with the scroll speed of each arrangement which reverts to 2.0 speed instead of whatever it was originally. My workaround to get the tones right is as follows, both ways work fine:

 

Method 1: Anytime after Step 3 in your procedure you can Click IMPORT button in the toolkit, select filetype as JSON and go in the /MANIFESTS subdirectory where you unpacked the PSARC and get the JSON tones file you are interested in. Now the tone will have all the amp/cabinet, etc.....& volume information that was missing  by just loading arrangements in Step 14

 

Method 2: If you go in the toolkit and click "Import Package" in the Creator tab, you load the PSARC file, specify the desired destination folder and then you go in that folder and open the Toolkit folder, set the filetype to JSON and select the JSON tone file you want to load into the toolkit. Again, all info and volume from the originally unpacked PSARC will appear unchanged.

 

I am really grateful for your procedure because it gave me the courage to attempt fixing a song I really like! I just wanted to share the challenges I faced and how I resolved it.

 

Thanks @@cozy1 and thank-you for all your helpful tools!!!

 

P.S. A long time ago @@Chlipouni explained something to me (if memory serves) about the transcription track being populated being useful if ever one wants to take a CDLC with DD from DDC and refresh it with a newer DD based on a new version of DDC.... I think that's what he told me. So That's why I asked yesterday about ticking that "SNG to XML" check box since it seemed that ticking it took away the maximum difficulty charting found in the Transcription track in the XML. Whereas unticking it seemed to populate the TRanscription track, leaving me confused about when one should strategically tick or untick that box. I guess I'll research a bit more.

About the "SNG to XML" checkbox :

- Not selected : the XML files are unpacked without modifications (DDC comments are visible in the XML files).

- Selected : the XML files are totally regenerated by the Toolkit with the data contained in the SNG files

 

In my mind, this checkbox is added to unpack older CDLCs in which the XML files were not packed with.

 

For now, DDC is able to generate some XML tags that other tools don't generate :

- transcriptionTrack

- newLinkedDiffs

 

So, I never use this checkbox at a first try to unpack a psarc file.

 

 

 

These are really good observations.  Method 1: I would like to incorporate into the revised tutorial.  I was not aware that the tones were not being imported correctly.  Thanks for pointing this out.

 

Method 2:  I was aware that "Import Package"  could be used to do this.  It is even better in one regard in that it gives friendly names to the WEM files, if memory serves me.  Then you do not need the ACR program.  Again if memory serves me I think the XML files are written the EOF folder.  So it is a little different for output locations.  Either way is good though as long as you can achieve what you want with it. ;)

 

Not to disagree with anything Chlipouni said above, be sure to check the SNG to XML box if you use the current tutorial.

Not to disagree with anything Chlipouni said above, be sure to check the SNG to XML box if you use the current tutorial.

Thanks cozy1. Just wondering why you deem this specific item as important since from what chlipouni wrote it would seem preferable to unpack the song as charted instead of letting the SNG conversion to XML ignore certain thingssuch as the transcription track.

 

Thanks for your feedback!

When you try a CDLC that seems to have no XML's then you will be enlighten.

 

_{"In my mind, this checkbox is added to unpack older CDLCs in which the XML files were not packed with."}

If anyone is still interested in taking out songs from the retail version of Rocksmith please

 

1. Unpack cache.psarc...

2. modify in Notepad songs.hsan...

3. and then repacked cache.psarc using Total Commander http://www.totalcmd.net/ and the psarc plugin http://www.totalcmd.net/plugring/PSARC.html...configured to no 0 compression ratio

 

PS3 test was successful for me

How to remove/hide songs guide:

http://customsforge.com/topic/18217-guide-how-to-removehide-original-rs2014-songs/?hl=extract