Change the Steam IM Sound

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How to change the Steam IM notification sound for a custom one

First and foremost, biggest thanks to Deses on the Steampowered forums for the huge help. It's him who figured how to make this operation work, not me. I'm only writing this down in a tutorial fashion and sharing it so as many people as possible can profit from this!

[title]How to change the Steam's Friend Chat Message Notification Sound [/title] I don't know for you, but the default notification sound that comes with steam really grates on my nerves, is too loud and generally makes me jump in surprise when I receive a chat I wasn't expecting. In case you do not know which sound I'm talking about, listen to the following:

So! You don't like it? Here is an easy tutorial to change it!

[subtitle]Steps:[/subtitle]

1-Find a .wav file more to your liking (or convert any sound file to a .wav).

2-Go to your Steam folder, then into the "friends" subfolder. With a default installation, the path should simply be akin to c:\Program Files\Steam\friends

3- There should already be a file named "message". Get rid of it in whatever fashion you prefer. (for instance, saving a backup in-case you're not sure you want the sound gone forever)

4- Take your new sound file and place it in the folder. Rename it "message", like the default file. (important! The name must be "message", not "message.wav")

5-(Important!) Right-click on the new sound file, press "Properties" and check the "Read Only" box.

6-Ta-daaa, you are finished! Not even need to restart Steam, the next time someone sends you an instant message, it should play your new custom sound. Voilà!

Kisses from your friendly neighbourhood Battlemedic, Celebren

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Comments

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smm18's Levels
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smm18
Posted 4 months ago
Well Steam updated again and I think custom sounds are now gone for good. I can't even keep my friend_online or message sounds changed without Steam extracting from it's package and replacing them every time I restart it.

Bananite
Hunter5010's Levels
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Hunter5010
Posted 12 months ago
OMG FINALLY ITS BACK!!!

I missed the ol' steam message sound

Thank you

Slowly learning, fast winning.
Snow Wolf677's Levels
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Snow Wolf677
Posted 3 years ago
Pros: Well written Cons: Not really needed, maybe by some Hardcore noobs.
Marlette's Levels
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Marlette
Posted 4 years ago
Thanks for the info. I really appreciate it. When you figure out how to make a unique sound for each person on my friends list, please let me know.

Keep up the good work.

Bananite
L!thium!'s Levels
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L!thium!
Posted 4 years ago
I have the "WAZZUPPP!" from that old Budweiser commercial You know the one...

"Yo, pick up da phone!" "WAZZUPP!!"

Almost a Jill Sandwich.
CelebrenIthil's Levels
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CelebrenIthil
Posted 4 years ago
I haven't found out how to embed a simple sound file people could play to understand what sound I was talking about (I felt the need to precise it since there had been confusion on the Steam forums over the multiple sounds of the steam messaging application when I inquired). So I did the next best thing, put a quick youtube video: people can hear the sound without needing to download any crap. I would gladly remove it for something less space-wasting, if you know of another mean, let me know.

Otherwise, I am that kind of person that likes to liven up stuff with intros and that does long phrases. I'm sorry if you dislike that, but you can always skip over right away to where it's written "Step 1" and not tire yourself with the rest. :)

Posted by dead-aim Pros: This is the only tutorial that I have seen which explains how to do this. True, I already knew how to do this, but for some of the less experienced members it could be useful. It's well structured, written In simple and easily comprehendable english, and the html structuring is also good, and finally you seem to have spent a lot of effort for a simple 5 minute job. Cons: Above, I stated that you could have made it a 5 minute job, and you should have...there's really no need for any long-winded intro, and definatly not a video; the only real advantage of a video is that it helps people who have english as a second language to understand your tutorial better, but If they really can't understand the 6 steps you put down, then they shouldn't really be on this site. I know it sounds crazy, but you seem to have spent too much time on this tutorial than you should have; this is very rare indeed :) Improvements: Remove the vid, It justs takes up space. Either shorten or remove the intro. Notes: Good work; keep it up. :)

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Your friendly neighbourhood Ba
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:. Steve-o .:
Posted 4 years ago
Pros: This is the only tutorial that I have seen which explains how to do this. True, I already knew how to do this, but for some of the less experienced members it could be useful.

It's well structured, written In simple and easily comprehendable english, and the html structuring is also good, and finally you seem to have spent a lot of effort for a simple 5 minute job.

Cons: Above, I stated that you could have made it a 5 minute job, and you should have...there's really no need for any long-winded intro, and definatly not a video; the only real advantage of a video is that it helps people who have english as a second language to understand your tutorial better, but If they really can't understand the 6 steps you put down, then they shouldn't really be on this site.

I know it sounds crazy, but you seem to have spent too much time on this tutorial than you should have; this is very rare indeed :) Improvements: Remove the vid, It justs takes up space. Either shorten or remove the intro. Notes: Good work; keep it up. :)

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HungryMungry's Levels
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HungryMungry
Posted 4 years ago
walls of text derp derp derp

No, it is message.

I guess it's my Steam or something. Sigh. I was hoping for like a Quack or something as my steam noise D:

I'll eat your babies. OM NOM N
CelebrenIthil's Levels
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CelebrenIthil
Posted 4 years ago
Posted by HungryMungry I named it message and made it read only, but it still makes another sound file named message. The old Steam one is obnoxious. EDIT -- Oh wait, I'm dum. It's not a .wav. Derpderpderp. EDIT 2 -- I followed your instructions and everything, but when I got a message nothing played. It was a .wav file.

Hm... Is it named "message.wav"? In which case, take the ".wav" out of the name and retry. (I'll edit my tutorial to precise this point too)

Otherwise, I don't know what could be wrong.

EDIT: Derp, the edit button seems to have disapeared on my tutorial! Awesome! >_>

EDIT 2: Found a workaround. Opened the window with my tutorial image and on that one there was an edit button for the tutorial. ....still, I really don't understand where the one on the tutorial itself is gone...

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Your friendly neighbourhood Ba
HungryMungry's Levels
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HungryMungry
Posted 4 years ago
I named it message and made it read only, but it still makes another sound file named message. The old Steam one is obnoxious.

EDIT -- Oh wait, I'm dum. It's not a .wav. Derpderpderp.

EDIT 2 -- I followed your instructions and everything, but when I got a message nothing played. It was a .wav file.

I'll eat your babies. OM NOM N