TWoK Pulse Phaser Sounds

7/29/2025 - Evening

An updated version has been uploaded and should be available for download shortly (will have July 29th in the download name). All weapon types are now distortion-free in normal fire, FaW, and CRF, however non-heavy Dual Cannons, single cannons, and turrets all still have some slight distortion applied during CSV.

7/29/2025 - Shortly after maintenance

It looks like with today's patch changes have been made to the .fsb that the new Pulse Phaser sounds are contained in, so at this time there will be no audio while using the updated mod. I am investigating now to see what was changed and how easy it will be to update the mod. I will post my findings shortly.

In a recent patch the Pulse Phaser sounds were changed again, most of the distortion effects were removed, and the .fsb was even changed to the type that DSSI is able to edit! I will be uploading a .fsb momentarily that changes these new sounds to the sound I extracted from TWoK, but there are some caveats I would like to mention first:

1. DBBs still have some distortion applied, though not AS bad as it was before.

2. Non-heavy Dual Cannons, Single Cannons, and Turrets all also have distortion applied during normal fire, and seem to use a different sound I haven't identified for Rapid Fire, but most sound correctly in Scatter Volley (Non-heavy Dual Cannons use the distorted sound once every 4 shots or so during CSV).

3. I've silenced the sound now used for Overload charge-up (it plays twice per shot and sounds awful with a full broadside, even unmodded), as well as another sound that was playing during CSV for several weapon types. If either of these sounds are used for anything that I'm not aware of then those too will be silent.

I've tried everything I can think of, but I cannot get it to sound as intended no matter what I do due to the distortions that are being applied by the game when Pulse Phasers fire. I will keep tinkering with it as new ideas come to me, but idk if/when I will find a solution.

If anyone else wants to take a crack at it, I've posted a guide over on the STO Modding subreddit for how to edit this type of .fsb. The files are in Powers_S33_bank02.fsb, and the one being used by Pulse Phasers is cb_22_longbolt_shared.wav

I've found a method of rebuilding FSBs that works with whatever this new type is, however the result (at least with the Pulse Phaser sound) is heavily distorted and unusable. I'll continue tinkering with it tomorrow evening after work.

As of yesterday's patch the pulse phasers now use a different FSB for their sound which sounds more like a modern machine gun than anything from Star Trek, so this mod currently only works for Obliviating phasers. I've spent several hours trying to find which FSB is now being used, but have not had any luck as of yet. If anyone else manages to find it before I do please drop a comment in the 'Posts' tab. They also now use a weird explosion sound for the Beam Overload charge-up sound, but I THINK I know which FSB that's coming from. Interestingly, the actual Beam Overload sound was not changed, only the standard fire and the charge-up sounds.

Edit: I think I've found it, however this FSB is different from most others somehow and I'm having trouble modding it. The FSB in question is Powers_S33_bank02.fsb if anyone else wants to take a look at it, and I think cb22_ultra is the sound file specifically ( was wrong, it's cb_22_longbolt_shared.wav).

After playing with the new Pulse Phaser visuals for a week, it started to bug me that my old sounds were longer than necessary for the updated visuals, so I've edited a new version that is shorter and better matches the length of the vanilla bolt audio.

I also went ahead and made some optional files for Beam Overload, since that uses the Kelvin phaser overload sound it will not be compatible with any Kelvin phaser or torpedo mods. I made two versions of the Overload sound, one that just uses the shortened sound I made and another that uses both the shortened sound and the vanilla Pulse Phaser bolt sound to give it a bit more oomph. I will also be uploading versions with my Vengeance sound on that mod. If any other modders want to make versions of their Kelvin weapon mods that include one of these BO sounds for compatibility you have my permission.

I've recorded a video with both the shortened regular sound and the combined overload sound, which I will be uploading momentarily.

5wiGo70qDrc

2/11/2025 - Afternoon

After some quick testing, the Pulse Phaser beams seem to just use the cannon sounds now, and the relevant FSB has not been modified so the only update that will be necessa