Thank you. I appreciate the compliment.
1: There's no way to specifically lower the footsteps sounds. But I'll consider lowering them as a whole If I get enough complaints about it.
1.5: I don't support the mod once it's been unpacked. As you found out, it's pretty easy to break by poking around in there. Unfortunately, once you open it up, it's on you.
2: As far as the battle swirl goes; I spent 2 years carefully mixing and creating sounds for this mod to my own personal tastes. If I started changing sounds or telling people what sounds are what so they could change a single sound, It would be a full time job considering how many requests/suggestions I've gotten - just because that one sound out of 1300 doesn't jive with their
own personal taste. So, I hope you understand when I say: If you don't like the new battle swirl, at least the new one isn't made out of pitched static like the original was. You'll get used to it