Sounds

WoT's audio runs on Wwise (Audiokinetic). The game fires Wwise events by string name, and the audio engine handles playback. From Python, the SoundGroups module wraps this into a simple API.

Playing a sound

The simplest call fires a Wwise event and returns immediately. The audio engine handles everything else.

import SoundGroups

SoundGroups.g_instance.playSound2D('be_replenishment_full')

playSound2D maps directly to WWISE.WW_eventGlobal. The 2D suffix means the sound has no position in 3D space: it plays at full volume regardless of where the camera is. This is the right choice for UI and notification sounds.

Controllable sounds

To start and stop a sound manually, use getSound2D. It returns a Wwise sound object.

import SoundGroups

_snd = SoundGroups.g_instance.getSound2D('cons_toolbox_start')

_snd.play()   # start playback
_snd.stop()   # stop playback

Use this pattern for looping sounds that need an explicit stop, for example a repair tool running for a fixed duration.

Finding event names

Event names are plain strings. They are not enumerated in a single place, but there are two reliable sources:

Resource accessor list: scripts/client/gui/impl/gen/resources/sounds.py in the game source lists most GUI and lobby sound events as attributes. The attribute name matches the event string directly.

# from gui/impl/gen/resources/sounds.py
be_replenishment_full   # repair complete
be_pre_replenishment    # repair starting
gui_hangar_hover        # hangar UI hover
end_battle_last_kill    # last enemy destroyed
end_battle_capture_base # base captured
time_over               # battle time expired

Source grep: Search for playSound2D(' in scripts/client/ to find event names used in context:

cons_ammo_single_plus     # ammo count increased
cons_ammo_single_minus    # ammo count decreased
cons_toolbox_start        # repair started
cons_toolbox_stop         # repair stopped
cons_radio_interference   # radio interference
eng_damage_risk           # engine damage warning
artillery_stun_effect_start
artillery_stun_effect_end

The full Wwise project is not shipped with the game, so there is no exhaustive list. Testing event names by calling them is the practical approach: unknown events fail silently.

Replacing a sound file

The game supports MP3 file overrides for exactly two events: sixthSense (the sixth sense skill ping) and soundExploring (the artillery spotting sound). These are the only audio events that read from audioww/ on disk at runtime.

Place your MP3 at:

res_mods/<version>/audioww/sixthSense.mp3
res_mods/<version>/audioww/soundExploring.mp3

Then open Settings → Sound → Sixth Sense Activation Sound and select User sound from the dropdown. The game loads the MP3 on next launch. No Python required.

This is one of the most common sound mods because it requires no tooling.

For all other sounds, audio is stored inside Wwise sound banks (.bnk files) at res/audioww/. Replacing those requires extracting the bank, swapping the .wem audio files inside, and repacking it. That workflow needs dedicated tools (BnkExtract) and is outside the scope of this guide.

Try it yourself

This mod plays a sound each time you select a different tank in the hangar. Save it as mod_wgmods_dev_sound.py and drop it in res_mods/<version>/scripts/client/gui/mods/.

import SoundGroups
from CurrentVehicle import g_currentVehicle

TAG = '[wgmod.dev_sound]'
SOUND_EVENT = 'be_replenishment_full'

def _onVehicleChanged():
    SoundGroups.g_instance.playSound2D(SOUND_EVENT)
    print(TAG + ' played: ' + SOUND_EVENT)

def init():
    g_currentVehicle.onChanged += _onVehicleChanged
    print(TAG + ' loaded')

def fini():
    g_currentVehicle.onChanged -= _onVehicleChanged
    print(TAG + ' unloaded')

Launch the game and click through the hangar carousel. You should hear the replenishment sound every time the selected tank changes.

To try a different sound, replace SOUND_EVENT with any event name from the list above.