(Or how to change the in-game music!)
[THE FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS ARE FOR PC ONLY. I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT MAC/LINUX, SORRY]
Hello again friends, finally had some free time and thought I'd teach you all one of my favorite tricks, changing the in-game music! It's no secret that I adore the in-game OST for Fall Guys, Jukio Kalio and Daniel Hagstrom are wizards that have never put out a bad tune! Which is why it's such a crime that certain tracks are so rare, or even impossible to hear while playing currently! That's what this guide is for! Now, before we start, you're going to need a few things: - Firstly, you'll need to download this handy Python script here to decode the Production strings file into something actually usable. Just keep this in your Downloads folder! - Second, you need some kind of text editor, more in-depth than Notepad. I reccommend either Visual Studio Code, which is what I use, or Notepad++ - Third, you need Python, which you can get from here! - Lastly, you'll need a program capable of zipping up files. This could either be WinZip, if you have it, or I personally like 7-Zip!
Once you've got all that, we're gonna have to get the Production strings! These can be found in C:\Users\YOURNAME\AppData\LocalLow\Mediatonic\FallGuys_client. In order to ensure you have the latest strings, start up Fall Guys and get to the Main Menu, then close the game. You should see a file called content_v2.gdata in that folder. These are the Production strings. Copy this file to the same place you downloaded the Python script (decode_content_v2.py), which should be your Downloads folder. Now, it's time for some computer wizardry. Find an open your command prompt, this can be done by searching command in the Windows search bar.
Once you find it, type the following command (just copy paste this) WITHOUT the quote marks:
"cd C:\Users\YOURNAME\downloads"
[MAKE SURE TO REPLACE "YOURNAME" WITH YOUR ACTUAL WINDOWS USER]
This command will basically tell command prompt that the next commands will be run in the Downloads folder! Hit enter.
Now copy and paste the following:
"decode_content_v2.py content_v2.gdata music_stuff.gz"
(You could call the file anything in the third piece, music_stuff.gz is just what I use!)
You should now see this "music_stuff.gz" file in your Downloads folder!
Time for the zip program to come into play! Open up the .gz file you just made with your zip program, and then open the "music_stuff" file inside it with your text editor. You should see a huge wall of text, since this file isn't formatted. You'll have to find an extension and format the JSON file yourself. Here are guides on how to do that: VISUAL STUDIO: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/languages/json NOTEPAD++: https://www.w3schools.io/file/json-notepadplusplus/
Once your file isn't a horrible pile of text, and looks nice, hit ctrl-f to get the search function up! Look up the term "levels_round" (quote marks included) and you'll be taken to the list of all the round declarations in the game. What all this means isn't important right now, all we care about here is two variables: "ingame_music_soundbank" and "ingame_music_event" (Shown below!)
As you can probably guess, changing these will change what music plays on that round! I don't fully know what the difference is between the soundbank and the event, but both of these have to match or it won't work! I've taken the time to compile all the track names for you guys in a document here, as well as the internal round names so you can find them! Link to spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wusidMJCEFIgZfC757F08wmsawP5RbqYj1noBzLtdWM/edit?usp=sharing For an example here, let's change the music of Fall Ball to play Survive the Fall instead of Beans of the Round Table. This is harder than you think, as you either need to find the exact version of Fall Ball in Squads, OR you need to change ALL versions of it to be safe. As I know the exact name for Fall Ball in Squads, I'll provide it here so you can follow along. Search for "round_fall_ball_squads_non_final", then click through the results until you find the one that has the music section. It should look like the picture below!
Now all we need to do is replace "BNK_Music_Beans_Round_Table" with the new track we want, in this case "BNK_Music_Survive_The_Fall". We ALSO need to replace the property below it, which starts with "MUS_InGame_" so that it matches the name with the one above. Once you have done both of those, you're all set! Take care not to make any typos in these track names, as that will make the music not work and leave the level silent! If you're using a good text editor like Visual Studio Code, it SHOULD attempt to auto-complete the track name as you type!
Feel free to change as many tracks as you like, then save the file in your Downloads folder as "music_stuff.json"! Once you have done that, first delete the "music_stuff.gz" file from your Downloads, as we're going to be making a new one now! Right click on your "music_stuff.json" file and, using 7-zip or whatever you have, add it to an archive, set the archive format to "gzip" and then rename the file as "music_stuff.gz" at the top of that menu. Just two more steps to go now! Go back to the command prompt that you hopefully kept open, and type "decode_content_v2.py music_stuff.gz content_v2.gdata" without the quotes, then hit enter. You should now have your new, modified content_v2.gdata file in your Downloads! Copy that to your FallGuys_client folder, overwriting the version already there, and you're all set! If you did everything right, the music should now be changed in game! I reccommend starting with a more easily checkable level for your first time, such as Dizzy Heights or The Whirlygig, but you can change whichever you like! I hope this guide was informative and helpful, and enjoy your newfound powers! I would definitely suggest you keep a copy of your modified "music_stuff.json" file somewhere, as EVERY content update Mediatonic pushes will mean you have to redo this process! I will be providing some pre-made versions of this file for certain things soon, though I only have so much free-time, and content updates are very common! For this weekend I posted this, here is a version of Finals Marathon with the non-final music fixed, made by me! Thanks so much for reading and have fun!