4b. BGM/SE FAQ

Higurashi Music and Sound Effects Changes / April Update¶

What was the April update?¶

In April 2019, all the Higurashi games received a major update. This update changed the Background Music (BGM) and sound effects (SE). The changes made were:

Some BGM/SE were replaced with completely different or new BGM/SE
- In some cases, duplicates replaced existing BGM, resulting in less variation of BGM tracks
Some BGM/SE are modified or re-recorded versions of the same BGM/SE
Some BGM had their audio clipping and distortion fixed - but at the same time different sounding instruments or samples may have been used in the new version.
The game script was modified in some places to play different songs. Since the mod uses it's own script, we are unaffected by this.
MangaGamer forgot to update the game for some store + chapter combinations (such as GOG's Tsumihoroboshi Ch.6). So just because you downloaded the game recently, it doesn't mean you have the April 2019 update.

For more detailed information:

We have an google doc which lists the name of every BGM used by our mod:
- "Higurashi BGM Filename to Music Name Mapping" spreadsheet
- Please note this list is automatically generated and might not always be correct
- Please read the first sheet to understand the table
Googling "April Update Higurashi" will give some forum posts with more information

What options does the mod provide to fix this issue?¶

We offer the GIN's BGM/SE fixes which bring the BGM/SE closer (but definitely NOT identical to) the original Japanese release and/or Pre April Update - please see the below table. This option was previously called "Original BGM/SE" or "BGM Fix".

You can switch to this BGM/SE using the F10 mod menu, under the 'Audio' tab.

If you want exactly the same BGM/SE as the original Japanese release, we would suggest you play the original Japanese release, as the mod cannot replicate that BGM/SE exactly.

Summary of GIN's BGM/SE changes¶

	Question Arcs (Ch. 1-4)	Answer Arcs (Ch. 5-8)	Rei (Ch. 9)	Hou+ (Ch. 10)
GIN BGM	BGM files have been replaced with the pre-april update BGM†, which is mostly equivalent to the original Japanese Game (Hou 2014).	BGM files have been replaced with the ones from the original Japanese game	Differing BGM files have been replaced with the ones from the original Japanese game (Rei 2006)	Differing BGM files have been replaced with the ones from the original Japanese game (Hou 2014)
GIN BGM Timing	No Change - will play with Console timings	BGM will play at times matching the original Japanese Game	The original Japanese Game and our mod have the same timings, so no changes necessary.	† No Change - will play with Console timings
GIN SE	SE have been replaced with the pre-april update SE		Differing SE files have been replaced with the ones from the original Japanese game (Rei 2006)	Differing SE files have been replaced with the ones from the original Japanese game (Hou 2014)
GIN SE Timing	No Change - will play with Console timings		The original Japanese Game and our mod have the same timings, so no changes necessary.	† No Change - will play with Console timings
Details	† If the BGM or Sound Effect was replaced with an entirely different one, we have reverted it to the pre-april update version † If the BGM or Sound Effect suffers from severe audio issues, and the new file is roughly the same minus the issues, we use the new version.		For the Rei BGM, only three 'musical' BGM differ - most of the differences are in background ambience or short sound effects	† We have not reviewed if there are any timing differences between our mod and the original Japanese game (Hou 2014), so no changes have been made.

Why are the Answer Arcs BGM fixed differently to the Question Arcs?¶

Question Arcs¶

The Question arcs have been fixed only by file replacement. No Timing changes have been made.

This is because the question arcs BGM changes are less severe, so it was decided it wasn't worthwhile to fix the timing.

For this reason, the question arcs BGM timing does not fully match the original game.

Answer Arcs¶

The Answer arcs have been fixed by both file replacement and adjusting the BGM timing

This is because major changes were found which couldn't be fixed any other way, even though doing so was time consuming

Why are the Sound Effects taken from the Pre-April Update and not the original JP release?¶

Currently, the Sound Effects match the Pre-April Update (NOT the original JP release), and the Sound Effect timings have not been updated at all.

The two main reasons it's difficult to fix this are:

The sound effects are very messy in the game scripts, and would take a long time to fix
Our mod has changes to match the Console game, which further complicates fixing the SE

For these reasons, we have decided to leave the SE as the Pre-April Update versions.

Higurashi BGM History¶

Because there are so many versions of Higurashi with different sets of BGM, I've decided to list them here in chronological order:

Original JP Higurashi Release (~2002) / MangaGamer EN Higurashi Question Arcs (Before April 2019)¶

When 07th Expansion originally released the question arcs, they had music from two different sources: AI-D-IA and Nerve. Nerve's tracks were released as MIDI files, which needed to be converted to wav files so they could be played in game. It's generally accepted that this conversion was not very good.

Before the April 2019 Update, MangaGamer releases also used this music for the Question arcs.

JP Higurashi Hou Compilation (2014)¶

The Japanese version of Hou still uses the AI-D-IA tracks, but Nerve's tracks were newly converted, apparently with his involvement.

More info on the Hou compilation: Fandom "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Hou"

MangaGamer EN Higurashi Question (After April 2019 Update)¶

In April 2019, MG updated all their releases on request from 07th Expansion. I can't tell you what changed in the answer arcs, but the question arcs now had all of their AI-D-IA tracks replaced with new stuff. Some of these tracks never appeared anywhere else. Furthermore, they now used the Hou versions of Nerve's tracks.

JP Hou+ Demo (2020)¶

When 07th Expansion released the Hou+ demo, they also replaced all of the AI-D-IA tracks. Some of them with somewhat different versions of the tracks from MG's update, but many others with entirely new tracks.

Some info on the Hou Demo here: Fandom "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Hou+"

JP Hou+ Compilation (2022) / MangaGamer EN Hou+ Compilation (2023)¶

When 07th Expansion released the full version of Hou+, some of these replacement tracks saw slight alterations. And while most of Nerve's tracks stayed the way they've been since Hou, "Lie Lies-Lies Lie" and "Facism" were replaced with a new conversion for some reason.

More info on the JP/EN Hou+ compilations: Fandom "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Hou+"

List of BGM/SE Oddities¶

This section explains some unexpected behavior you might encounter when using GIN's BGM/SE.

GIN BGM/SE Oddities¶

Click Sound¶

The "click" sound (wa_037.ogg) and the "children laughing sound" (wa_038.ogg) are different between the Question and Answer arcs

The pre-april update unmodded game had this same behavior. Because GIN's BGM/SE copies the SE from the pre-april update unmodded game, it has the same behavior for these two sound effects.

Title Screen Sound¶

The title screen background sound (sound of cicadas) is different between the Question and Answer arcs (lsys11.ogg/higurashi.ogg)

This is probably because the Question arcs use the pre-april update MangaGamer BGM, while the Answer arcs use the BGM from the original Japanese game.

Answer Arcs - GIN's BGM option sometimes plays BGM from the unmodded BGM folder¶

For the Answer Arcs, GIN's BGM does not override every single BGM (unlike the Question Arcs).

This means some BGM will be taken from the 'unmodded' BGM folder (BGM), and some BGM will be taken from the GIN BGM folder (OGBGM), even if you have GIN's BGM option selected.

For example:

In the April Update (BGM folder), 1.ogg and cafe.ogg are the same BGM, "Boy in the Windmill".
But in GIN's BGM (OGBGM folder), 1.ogg is "Afternoon in Paris", and cafe.ogg is missing (so cafe.ogg falls back to the April Update version "Boy in the Windmill").
- In the right-click menu, it will state BGM/cafe.ogg is playing, even when GIN's BGM is selected

In this example, I think MangaGamer replaced 1.ogg with cafe.ogg in the April Update, so to fix this change, only 1.ogg needed to be overriden.

The following tracks are not overriden when using GIN's BGM option:

Chapter 5-8	Chapter 5-8 (cont.)	Chapter 9
03_cele	keihou	03_cele
air_pizz_ver2	liberating	amber
amber	livescene	as_time_goes_by
as_time_goes_by	live_2	attack_2dj-san_t
b08_izyou	maturi_01_ver2	bellflower
b10_giwaku2	mienai	bigbear
bellflower	msys044	birth_and_death
birth_and_death	nazo	cafe
b_dive	omake2	cradle_song
cafe	omake_01	demo_48khz
cradle_song	pros	depressive_paranoia
deadend	samayoi	er_ver3
demo_48khz	search_and	fearlessnessl_e
demo_long	sheep counts	gray_2
depressive paranoia	sora-yume-	hgrs01
door	sora_no_mukou	hgrs_03
er_ver3	sora_v2_nonloop	hidebu14
fearlessnessl_e	soul_scour	hidebu17
feel	t1	hidebu20
getting_mad	t1_requiem	hidebu22
gray_2	t2	hidebu23
g_operation	testament	hidebu25
g_tactics	tuika01_ver3	hitoe_2
hgrs01	typewriter	iru
higurashi_soundscape	utage_sample	liberating
higurashi_utu	years_ver2	live_2
hig_sample_kyouki	you	live_scene
hitoe_2	you_nonloop	omake2
instict	z01_iwakan	pros
instict2	z02_kyousou	search_and_destroy
iru	z2_hig1	sora_no_mukou_201ver2
it_move2	z2_hig2	suzu
it_moves	z2_hig3	t1
	zero(nonloop)	t2
		tsutaetaikoto_loop
		u2_2
		u2_3
		u2_rika
		z2_hig2

How do I check if the unmodded game has the Pre or Post April update BGM¶

The below checks (as far as we know) will tell you if you have the Pre or Post april update BGM

For the Unmodded Question Arcs, you have the Post-april update BGM if the file StreamingAssets/SE/wa_003.ogg has CRC32 0F8F4B01 (7zip can calculate CRC32's by right-clicking). Otherwise you have the Pre-April update BGM.
For the Unmodded Answer Arcs, you have the Post-april update BGM if the file StreamingAssets/BGM/bellflower.ogg exists. Otherwise you have the Pre-April update BGM.

The GOG version of Ch.6 Tsumihoroboshi still has the Pre-April Update BGM as of 15/07/20203. This implies they forgot to update the game for some stores (eg. MangaGamer, GOG). So just because you have the latest install of the game, it doesn't mean you have the April Update BGM.

`heigen2gm` by KeNji (`msys29.ogg`)¶

heigen2gm by KeNji (msys29.ogg) is present in nearly every release of Higurashi unchanged, except for MangaGamer's release of Hou+ and ancient versions of MangaGamer's Higurashi.

Other BGM options¶

Hou+ Demo BGM (by Kilicool64 - Added 2023/06/24)¶

This option replaces 16 BGM with BGM from the Higurashi Hou+ Demo. It uses the same tracks from nerve as the New MangaGamer BGM, but the AI-D-IA tracks are different.

Some are remastered versions of MangaGamer's replacements, while others were newly composed by xaki.

This option is not available for Chapters 5-8 and Rei because most of their music isn't in the Hou+ demo.

All other tracks will use the New MangaGamer BGM and GIN's/Original SE.

Remake BGM¶

This option replaces nine BGM with handmade remakes of nine tracks from the original release (pre-2019).

You can listen to these tracks on Radiata Alice's "Hinamizawa Syndrome Vol.1" BandCamp page.

All other tracks will use the GIN's/OG BGM BGM/SE.

The following tracks are replaced:

Tell a thing (piano solo ver.)
Snow #3 'First snow'
Days of Children #3
Rainy Days
Fascism
Sunrise
Gear
Theme of Owner
Dawn

This option is not available for Onikakushi Ch.1, as the chapter does not use any of these tracks. This option is not available for Chapters 5-8 as an OST remake for those chapters hasn't been created.

Question Arcs BGM Changelog¶

Click to Expand Question Arcs BGM Changelog

Version 1.3 - 2024-04-14 - drojf¶

Various updates from Kilicool64 to ensure BGM consistency and add new BGM options. SE have not been changed.

GIN's BGM / OGBGM¶

msys30.ogg/Meditation has been normalized to use the Hou Compilation (2014) version instead of the Original JP release/Old Mangagamer BGM version(2002) for consistency (all other tracks are already from the Hou Compilation (2014))
Other BGM have been re-converted at a higher bitrate, but otherwise are the same BGM

April 2019 BGM¶

Added "April2019BGM" folder containing one BGM file, msys29.ogg / "Heigen wo Iku (Going to the Plains). This file is the same as the one that comes with the unmodded game, but higher quality.

Hou+ Demo BGM¶

Renamed folder from HouPlusBGM to HouPlusDemoBGM to avoid confusion with Hou+ BGM option. Otherwise unchanged

Hou+ BGM¶

Add Hou+ BGM (from Kilicool64)

Version 1.2 - 2023-06-24 - drojf¶

Add Hou Plus Demo BGM

Version 1.1 - 2022-11-05¶

Add BGM and OGBGM bgmInfo.json folder

Version 1.0¶

Initial Release - unknown date

Answer Arcs BGM Changelog¶

Click to Expand Answer Arcs BGM Changelog

Folder Descriptions¶

ExtraBGM/ExtraSE: This folder contains BGM which does not come with the game. For now, it contains some Question Arcs BGM/SE, and also some Console BGM. If we need to override any BGM in the BGM folder, we can also put those files here.
OGBGM/OGSE: This folder contains BGM/SE which plays when you have the OGBGM/GIN BGM option selected. This will override all the other folders.

Version 1.6 - 2023-04-22¶

Add missing BGM/bgmInfo.json file to fix "Unknown BGM" when using Mangagamer/unmodded BGM option

Version 1.5 - 2022-01-06¶

Revert the previous change - We already include the April Update BGM/SE in the MangaGamer-Answer-BGM-SE-Restore.7z, and the installer has been updated to make sure it is installed when needed.

Version 1.4 - 2022-01-02¶

It was found that the GOG versions of Chapters 5 and 6 have the pre-april update BGM.

To keep BGM consistent across all versions, the BGM pack now includes the April Update BGM in the BGM folder, which will overwrite whatever existing BGM the game comes with.

Version 1.3 - 2022-12-13¶

See https://github.com/07th-mod/higurashi-assembly/issues/100

We had a problem where certain BGM were not playing on Linux - the game expects all assets to be lowercase and the following were not: - primal-beat-of-horrow_T.ogg - BIGBEAR

I also updated the bgmInfo.json accordingly

This only affects the answer OGBGM archive.

Version 1.2 - 2022-11-13¶

See https://github.com/07th-mod/meakashi/issues/80#issuecomment-1312598536

I just noticed there are the following BGM and SE in the Ch8 Voices archive (previously I thought there were no extra BGM/SE used in ch8):

SE/wa_003.ogg
BGM/msys06.ogg
BGM/msys32.ogg

Unfortunately, msys32 is not included in the BGM archive I updated, so I'll need to update it to add that one.

Version 1.1 - 2022-11-04¶

See PR https://github.com/07th-mod/meakashi/issues/80
Add 'ExtraBGM' and 'ExtraSE' which mostly consists of BGM from the question arcs, but also a few BGM from the console game. These contain the post-april update BGM and SE of the question arcs tracks.
Add corresponding SE to the 'OGSE' folder to mirror the SE in 'ExtraSE' - these are taken from GIN's BGM
Update OGBGM folder (GIN BGM) msys17, msys23, msys27 to be consistent with question arcs
- NOTE: I don't think the question arcs BGM (msysXX) are used if you have the OGBGM enabled, due to GIN's version of the script never using them. But I'm making them consistent anyway.
- Previously, the OGBGM Question arcs used the remastered versions of these three songs, and the Answer arcs OGBGM used the original midi Japanese release's version. Now both OGBGM will use the remastered version.
  - There is an issue related to this: https://github.com/07th-mod/meakashi/issues/49
Add bgmInfo.json for BGM folders

Version 1.0 - 2021-03-20¶

Merge the BGM and SE packs together
Rename 'BGM' and 'SE' to 'OGBGM' and 'OGSE', so the folders are separate can be switched between with the new DLL

Hou+ BGM Changelog¶

Click to Expand Hou+ BGM Changelog

Version 1.3 - 2024-04-21¶

Add Post April 2019 BGM (so users who used this option in question arcs can have same BGM)
Add Hou Plus Demo BGM
Update OGBGM
- msys30.ogg/Meditation has been normalized to use the Hou Compilation (2014) version instead of the Original JP release/Old Mangagamer BGM version(2002) for consistency (all other tracks are already from the Hou Compilation (2014))
- Some BGM have been re-converted at a higher bitrate, but otherwise are the same BGM

Version 1.2 - 2024-03-10¶

Add missing SE.

Copied from Question Arcs BGM

wa_037 wa_038 wa_039

Copied from existing WAV folder to root folder

a5_13391 door down down2 down3 finish kira kyupirn pou se051 se137 suzu_1 tataku thisikuki

Note: cracker3 (sound of firecracker) has no non-hou version, since it is only used in mehagashi which is exclusive to Hou+ Note2: The following not added despite being referenced in the engine, since I can't find them in the SE folder sysse04 sysse02 sysse01 sysse05

Version 1.1 - 2024-02-18¶

Add Hou (non-plus) OGSE

The OGSE does not cover all sound effects.

Also, many of the SE are the same between non-plus and plus versions

Version 1.0 - 2024-01-30¶

Initial Release

ok I've created an OGBGM pack here, complete with bgmInfo (bgm names) for both the original BGM and the Mangagamer BGM:

See https://github.com/07th-mod/hou-plus/issues/2

Note on used/unused Hou+ SE¶

The below expandable section lists which SE are used/are not used in the game (listed in the game script)

Please note that are a few wa_XXX SE which are used in the engine which are NOT listed below, and these must be considered when making SE packs.

Click to Expand Hou+ BGM Statistics

Used SE:
02se_umi
03se_umi
05_se_umi
a1_07130
a1_07131
a1_07132
a1_16258
a1_17270
a5_01023
a5_01026
a5_04105
a5_04107
a5_07201
a5_07202
a5_08263
a5_10315
a5_10316
a5_10317
a5_13391
a6_24636
ahaha
ahaha_hi_delay
b1
b5
b7_04050
bb
boyon
chi4
chime2
cracker3
daidageki-kai2
danmaku
denwa_juwaki_age
doon1
door
down
down2
down3
enrai2
finish
goriri3
heavy1
heavy2
heavy3
heavydoor_close2
horror
ju-
kagitaba2
kassai1
kira
kyupirn
min_garagara
pou
raihuru3d
rakurai3
reload_fast
reload_late
rena-swing
se051
se137
se_101
se_201
se_2105
se_5001
se_5402
se_5403
se_5406
se_5408
se_5502
se_5610
se_5613
se_5614
se_5615
se_5801
se_5802
se_5807
se_dageki_01
se_dageki_02
se_dageki_03
se_dageki_05
se_dageki_07
se_zangeki_01
se_zangeki_02
se_zangeki_03
searchlight
shatta_toji_zan1
suzu_1
sys_se/page
sys_se/zs1
tataku
telepo
thisikuki
wav/a5_07205
wav/bell
wav/boyon
wav/dageki
wav/daidageki
wav/door
wav/down
wav/down2
wav/down3
wav/finish
wav/fly
wav/furu
wav/garasu
wav/hikaru
wav/iwakannnohatuga
wav/jikuunosakeme
wav/kamera
wav/kami
wav/kaminari2
wav/kan
wav/kaze
wav/kira
wav/kirinomeikyuu
wav/koruku
wav/kyupirn
wav/lf164
wav/lf226
wav/mc071
wav/metal41
wav/metal43
wav/nageru
wav/pou
wav/se194
wav/sinzouappaku
wav/sword
wav/taitoru
wav/tatakiwaru
wav/tataku
wav/thisikuki
z1

Unused SE:
01se_umi
04_se_umi
07_se_umi
24chime
_se068
a1_07133
a1_21333
a5_02047
a5_04138
a5_06196
a5_07205
a5_07212
a5_08234
a5_14445
a6
a6_14395
anahori
autorock5
b4
b_long
barrier_02
barrier_03
bell
bell1
boyoon
car_stop
chaimu
clash
clock_grand_fathers3
dageki
daidageki
daiken_zangeki_01
daiken_zangeki_02
daiken_zangeki_03
densya
denwa_toru
doa_s1
doon3
enrai
final
fly
furu
gakuen_bell
garasu
gun-2
gun_zan2
hakushu
heri1
heri2
hikaru
himeraretakyousou
hit_s08_d
houseki1
houseki5
interfon
iwakannnohatuga
jakinimititahaikyo
jikuunosakeme
kamera
kamera1
kami
kaminari1
kaminari2
kaze
kinzokupaipu
kinzokupaipub
kinzokupaipuc
kirinomeikyuu
kiteki
knock2
koruku
kusari
lf164
lf226
lowclick
mc071
metal41
metal43
min_asioto
nageru
nata_otosi
nokku
patipati
rakurai
riv_castanets_rythm
se068
se149
se194
se4
se_102
se_103
se_104
se_105
se_106
se_107
se_108
se_109
se_2001
se_2002
se_2003
se_2004
se_2005
se_2006
se_2007
se_202
se_203
se_204
se_205
se_206
se_207
se_208
se_2101
se_2102
se_2103
se_2104
se_2106
se_2107
se_2108
se_2201
se_2202
se_2401
se_2402
se_2403
se_301
se_302
se_401
se_402
se_403
se_404
se_5101
se_5102
se_5103
se_5301
se_5302
se_5303
se_5401
se_5404
se_5405
se_5407
se_5409
se_5410
se_5411
se_5412
se_5413
se_5501
se_5503
se_5504
se_5601
se_5602
se_5603
se_5604
se_5605
se_5606
se_5607
se_5608
se_5609
se_5611
se_5612
se_5701
se_5702
se_5703
se_5803
se_5804
se_5805
se_5806
se_5901
se_5902
se_5903
se_5904
se_5905
se_5906
se_5907
se_5908
se_5909
se_5910
se_6001
se_6002
se_6003
se_6004
se_6005
se_6006
se_6007
se_6008
se_6009
se_601
se_6010
se_602
se_603
se_604
se_605
se_606
se_801
se_802
se_803
se_804
se_805
se_806
se_901
se_902
se_903
se_904
se_905
se_dageki_04
se_dageki_06
se_dageki_08
se_gun01
se_gun02
se_gun03
se_gun04
se_gun05
se_gun06
se_gun07
se_gun08
se_gun09
se_gun10
se_gun11
se_gun12
se_gun13
se_zangeki_04
se_zangeki_05
se_zangeki_06
se_zangeki_07
se_zangeki_08
se_zangeki_kazekiri_01
se_zangeki_kazekiri_02
se_zangeki_kazekiri_03
se_zangeki_kazekiri_04
se_zangeki_kazekiri_05
se_zangeki_kazekiri_06
se_zangeki_kazekiri_07
se_zangeki_kazekiri_08
shatta_ake_zan1
shatter
shogeki
sinzouappaku
siren
sizuku
suzume
sword
sys_se/2
sys_se/clock_grand_fathers2
sys_se/clock_ticking
sys_se/da_kane
sys_se/da_kane2
sys_se/kamera
sys_se/kt1
sys_se/mizu_d
sys_se/mizu_d2
sys_se/mizu_ijou
sys_se/one_re
sys_se/web_minpoke_knock
sys_se/z2
sys_se/zs2
sys_se/zs3
sys_se/zs4
sys_se/zs5
sys_se/zs6
sys_se/zyosys1
sys_se/zyosys3
sys_se/zyosys7
sys_se/ネジ
sys_se/柱時計の鐘
sys_se/柱時計の鐘2
system2
system3
syunkan06
taitoru
tatakiwaru
tr018b
tubazeri
wa_037
wa_038
wa_040
warai_wet2
waru
wav/_se068
wav/a5_07212
wav/a5_13391
wav/a6
wav/anahori
wav/bb
wav/boyoon
wav/chaimu
wav/densya
wav/final
wav/himeraretakyousou
wav/hit_s08_d
wav/interfon
wav/jakinimititahaikyo
wav/kaminari1
wav/lf257
wav/se051
wav/se068
wav/se137
wav/se149
wav/sizuku
wav/suzu_1
wav/suzume
wav/tr018b
wav/waru
zippo

Stats:
Used:132/433
Unused:301/433