Command ship and crew using voice (VoiceAttack)

[Ghroznak]

Having played Elite Dangerous and other flight simulators I have found that using voice and microphone to control certain functions and commands in the games is very useful.

Especially true in flight and space simulators where you often use a HOTAS setup and prefer not to start pushing buttons on the keyboard but rather keep your hands on the throttle and stick (which is what the HOTAS abbreviation basically means).

 

But, for the sake of immersion and fun I started using this in Naval Action as well. While Naval Action has less buttons to worry about (in fact, it has very few which is surprising considering the complex tactics and such used in the game), I found it really fun to use these voice commands in Naval Action as well.

 

Not all gamers are aware of this software since it's mostly common in flight sim community, but I wanted to share it here as well.

 

It really does make you feel a bit more like a captain of the ship when you can simply use your voice and tell your ship to set 'rudder to port' and watch ship start turning. Or simply shout 'battle sails', or 'starboard battery load double shot' and crew starts working.

 

Anyways, enough chit-chattery.

 

The program (though I am sure there are others as well) is called Voice Attack; http://www.voiceattack.com/

 

It works exactly the same way as a macro button on your Razer mouse or your Logitech G19 keyboard. The only difference is you don't click a mouse button or press a key on the keyboard to activate the macro. You simply speak a command word (which you choose yourself).

 

I've already made a profile for Voice Attack which covers most of the commands in Naval Action. I'm thinking about adding commands for moving the sails to full port or full starboard. That has to be done by timing how long the Q or E button is held down though so it's a bit tricky, but not impossible.

 

Here's the Naval Action profile I use for voice attack: https://www.dropbox.com/s/elunveh4nja0xdv/Naval%20Action-Profile.vap?dl=0

 

(you can see the list of commands in the screenshot at bottom as well)

 

Sorry if the commands I have chosen are not very historically accurate or naval... I simply don't know the proper command used when firing a broadside, or telling them to go port or starboard rudder so I just used simplistic terms.

 

If anyone knows the proper historical commands used feel free to share. Would be even nicer to use the correct commands and terminology.

 

Again, just wanted to share since I think others might enjoy barking orders into the microphone as well

 

[Aristide]

Thank you for sharing it, this could be awesome !

 

I use it in elite dangerous too, and I made vocal responses with robotic treatment via audacity, this is really fun. Maybe it is possible to grab some vocals replies from a film or a documentory, this would rocks.

After this, I will ask my wife to spray water to my face with the shower and it will be perfect

[Ghroznak]

You can set up voice attack to play a sound file, such as a wav file or similar.

 

This way you can, as you suggest, make voice attack play that file as part of the macro it runs.

 

I can think of all sorts of Pirates of the Caribbean replies you could put in to confirm that voice attack did what you asked.

[Saintduiex]

I had seen a post on this somewhere in the forums a few months ago but never followed up. However, I will be giving it a try this time.

 

Thanks!

[NorthernWolves]

How does this interact with a key controlled teamspeak? I use the mouse wheel as a button to key my teamspeak, could this be used, but then overrode when that specified key is pressed?

[Ghroznak]

How does this interact with a key controlled teamspeak? I use the mouse wheel as a button to key my teamspeak, could this be used, but then overrode when that specified key is pressed?

 

Voice Attack just runs in background and listens to your mic.

 

It only activates when it hears the words in the command, and only those words.

 

For instance, using the commands as I have them listed in the OP, you say;

 

Fire Broadside

 

Then voice attack registers those two words together and then activates the commands, which would be 'Left Click Mouse' which then fires all guns.

 

However, if you are talking on teamspeak with friends and you say;

"When you are up close and personal just fire broadside at them" .. then voice attack doesn't care, because you said words immediately before "fire broadside".

 

So in effect, you can use teamspeak and talk and do everything as you always do... and when you want to activate a command from Voice Attack you simply speak those trigger words. No need for 'push to talk' or any of that.

 

As far as using mousewheel or any other button... voice attack doesn't care about keypresses or mouse clicks. It only listens for what you say on mic and activates when those trigger words are spoken.

 

You can use any command words you want. To fire broadside you can choose to say "Donald Duck" and when voice attack hears Donald Duck it will fire guns by doing a left mouse click.

[admin]

I know that elite dangerous did a special voice pack for voice attack confirming commands. In the future we might also do something like that with your first lieutenant shouting back confirmations.

[Sir John Longshanks]

If anyone knows the proper historical commands used feel free to share. Would be even nicer to use the correct commands and terminology.

 

My quick two cents on that chart would be to replace all the mentions of "port" to "larboard." The word port didn't really come into usage until a decade or two after the end of the Napoleonic Wars. I believe the word larboard comes from a Middle English word meaning the side of the ship that cargo is loaded on. It dropped out of usage because it was too easily confused with "starboard" when shouted in windy conditions.

[Edward Vernon]

I am a long time voice attack user and a huge fan, but I just don't see me using it for this, I can think about what I want to do and execute the key presses quicker than I can give the voice command. Don't forget also that you must give the EXACT command, "Fire Port Broadside" will NOT do if the programmed command is "Port Broadside Fire", so unless you want to programme all the likely variations on a theme then be REALLY sure you use the the correct command every time.

[Destraex]

Grabbing this!

 

Is there a way to have your orders repeated back to you in a crew/officers voice rather than the ladies? Without having to speak into the mic?

I mean when I press the W key three times I want to then hear the voice say AYe SIR.

I am on coms with people usually.

 

EDIT: I see it... I will just go edit each command!! Very cool. I need to find out how to get say 3 x W presses to equal full sails. That's just the way I play.

Perhaps I will have to remember all the full shortcuts I guess

[Destraex]

Only way I have found to get a reasonable voice in windows 7 would be to get Ivona's Brian uk male voice. Which sounds a little brain dead.

It also may not work on 64bit systems like mine.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f96EJ-j8Ay4

 

Maybe this welsh one:

http://www.deskshare.com/text-to-speech-voices.aspx

 

The 30 day trial of the welsh voice seems to work ok.

[Ghroznak]

I am a long time voice attack user and a huge fan, but I just don't see me using it for this, I can think about what I want to do and execute the key presses quicker than I can give the voice command. Don't forget also that you must give the EXACT command, "Fire Port Broadside" will NOT do if the programmed command is "Port Broadside Fire", so unless you want to programme all the likely variations on a theme then be REALLY sure you use the the correct command every time.

 

Indeed you have to speak the exact words that you use as trigger words.

 

However, you can add multiple variations by using semicolon to separate them.

 

For instance you can make multiple commands for firing guns like this:

 

Fire guns; Guns fire; shoot; battery fire; fire all guns;

 

Using the semicolon to separate the words will make voice attack activate if any of those variations are spoken, and then proceed to run the macro.

 

You can see an example of how I did this in the picture of the commands above under "Rudder free; free rudder", where I added both ways of saying it, separated by semicolon, since I kept saying it both ways during the battles.

 

So as you can see, even though voice attack needs the specific command you can make it a bit more reliable by adding the variations of trigger words you commonly use.

 

That said, after you used the commands for awhile  you get so used to it that you remember the words and speak them almost automatically. It's all about practice and getting used to it.

 

And while it's true that some commands you can perform faster by just using the keyboard yourself the whole point is that it's a bit more fun to just bark orders at your ship and watch it come to life Any fine-tuning with regards to course corrections and so on you can of course do without the voice thing.

 

Once you get used to voice attack though it becomes second nature to use it and you will notice that things go a bit more smoothly in situation when focus is required, such as aiming your cannons but need to adjust sails and you can just bark the orders for full sails, battlesails or whatever without having to take your eyes of your target or fingers off the spacebar fiddle around with the sail settings when your focus should be on punching holes in enemy ship with cannonballs.

[Destraex]

I am a long time voice attack user and a huge fan, but I just don't see me using it for this, I can think about what I want to do and execute the key presses quicker than I can give the voice command. Don't forget also that you must give the EXACT command, "Fire Port Broadside" will NOT do if the programmed command is "Port Broadside Fire", so unless you want to programme all the likely variations on a theme then be REALLY sure you use the the correct command every time.

 

I notice that you can get that feedback with key presses.

i.e I press B and a voice says "Aye sir, Battle Sails" 

 

Instead of "when I say" set it to "when I press button"

 

[Magnum]

Hey, Capt Aubry never had it so good - all too often his commands took some time to execute!

[Ghroznak]

Glad to see people are having fun with it

 

I'm having a blast saying "Fire Broadside" and watching the shells fly

 

Plus it's very convenient to just say Half Sails while you are using the spyglass and know sails will be at half without having to double-check the Sails status in the lower left corner.

[Magnum]

Best 8 bucks I ever spent - when the game comes out it should be an included option, or at least referenced

 

Cool, cool, cool!

 

Thanks Ghroznak

[Magnum]

Glad to see people are having fun with it

 

I'm having a blast saying "Fire Broadside" and watching the shells fly

 

Plus it's very convenient to just say Half Sails while you are using the spyglass and know sails will be at half without having to double-check the Sails status in the lower left corner.

 

All we need now is someone to map the spyglass view to your Google Glass!

[Jojcib]

Hello there everyone, as some may or may not have seen the video below. I have created a profile for Naval Action using the voice command program Voice Attack. This post is for anyone interested in using the program yourself. I will provide links to the program and profile. If you have any question do ask and I'll try my best to answer them. I'm still learning the program myself but I think I have a good grasp with it. Example video below as well as the current list of commands for the profile. If you have any command request please let me know and will add and update the DL link.

 

Voice Attack Link: http://www.voiceattack.com/

Profile DL Link: http://www.mediafire.com/download/2rnq5muywuwrqoj/Naval+Action+Voice+Attack-Profile.vap

Trial Profile: http://www.mediafire.com/download/fcmzfs1nswusy00/Naval+Action+Trial+Profile-Profile.vap

 

List of Commands

Rudder Controls:

• Rudder to Port/Rudder to Larboard (Rudder Left, Same as holding A key) <-- Any command with a / you can use either or. (*Trial)
• Rudder to Starboard (Rudder Right, Same as holding W key) (*Trial)
• Hard to Port/Hard to Larboard (Double Tap A) (*Trial)
• Hard to Starboard (Double Tap D) (*Trial)
• Rudder to Midships/Center Rudder (Rudder A Midships *Trial)

Sail Commands:

• Battle Sails (Sails set to Battle) (*Trial)

Cannon Controls:

• Fire/Fire as Your Guns Bear (Broadside) (Fire *Trial)
• Range (Single Shot) (*Trial)

Ammo Controls:

• Fore Ammo (Change Front Cannons Ammo)
• Aft Ammo (Change Rear Cannons Ammo)
• Port/Larboard Ammo (Change Left Cannons Ammo)
• Starboard Ammo (Change Right Cannons Ammo)
• Ball (Load Ball Shot)
• Chain (Load Chain Shot)
• Double (Load Double Shot)
• Grape (Load Grape Shot)

Crew Management:

• Make Sails (Sail Focus) (*Trial)
• Action Stations/Beat to Quarters (Gunnery Focus) (Beat to Quarters *Trial)
• Survival/Emergency (Survival Focus) (Survival *Trial)

Repairs:

• Repairs (Opens Repair Kit Menu) (*Trial)
• Armour (Repair Armour) (*Trial)
• Sails (Repair Sails) (*Trial)
• Rudder (Repair Rudder) (*Trial)
• Pump (Repair Pump) (*Trial)

 

Example Video

 

 

Voice Attack Quick and Dirty Tutorial

 

[Mitchverr]

Very nice, will look into using it once my sore throats been cured

[MarcoRossolini]

A minor problem though is that to be authentic, everything has to be shouted.

[Jojcib]

A minor problem though is that to be authentic, everything has to be shouted.

Lol, I'm going to have to try that sometime and see if it works.

[Jojcib]

Also forgot to mention up top. Voice Attack for anyone that wants to give it a try has a 21 day trial version. Sadly you can only have up to 20 commands (I think), and my current profile has 31. I'm not sure if you can import profile for the trial, still looking into that. But if you can I will make a smaller trial version profile just for that. Will have less commands but should work for trying out purposes.

[Jeheil]

I use voice attack with Elite Dangerous (a space sim not to far in notion from NA) and I have to say it is great fun. Add's a whole level of immersion as well as making your wife think you are a 7yo idiot. As you sit there yelling Battle Stations, Evac, Jump, All Stop etc.

 

As someone blessed with a Northern English accent (subsequently polluted by living in Austraiylya mayte), I would advise you to where possible 'train' you PC to recognise your voice...in saying that, I could NEVER get it to here my J as J (always thought it was a G)....this does lead you to having to use the odd substitute word.

 

Highly recommend voice attack to anyone (to be honest this should be built into ALL new games...c'mon...ffs..its 2015) and the free trial with I think 30 odd commands programmable takes like 3 mins to setup. It is very flexible (you could actually macro a 'tac'...I know..don't....but you could)...and allows for voice back to....so for example you could yell 'Hard to Port' and have voice attack double tap A and then respone 'Aye Aye Sir, Hard to Port....however by default your 2IC will be an american woman from Chicago.

 

I currently don't use it with NA as there are so few UI commands and the full bindings arent there yet, I haven't had the urge...but one lazy sunday (please...gimme a lazy sunday) I might setup a profile....after all...the notion of yelling 'portside' followed by 'fire everthing' or 'bail you dogs' is somewhat attractive

[Jojcib]

I use voice attack with Elite Dangerous (a space sim not to far in notion from NA) and I have to say it is great fun. Add's a whole level of immersion as well as making your wife think you are a 7yo idiot. As you sit there yelling Battle Stations, Evac, Jump, All Stop etc.

 

As someone blessed with a Northern English accent (subsequently polluted by living in Austraiylya mayte), I would advise you to where possible 'train' you PC to recognise your voice...in saying that, I could NEVER get it to here my J as J (always thought it was a G)....this does lead you to having to use the odd substitute word.

 

Highly recommend voice attack to anyone (to be honest this should be built into ALL new games...c'mon...ffs..its 2015) and the free trial with I think 30 odd commands programmable takes like 3 mins to setup. It is very flexible (you could actually macro a 'tac'...I know..don't....but you could)...and allows for voice back to....so for example you could yell 'Hard to Port' and have voice attack double tap A and then respone 'Aye Aye Sir, Hard to Port....however by default your 2IC will be an american woman from Chicago.

 

I currently don't use it with NA as there are so few UI commands and the full bindings arent there yet, I haven't had the urge...but one lazy sunday (please...gimme a lazy sunday) I might setup a profile....after all...the notion of yelling 'portside' followed by 'fire everthing' or 'bail you dogs' is somewhat attractive

I would love it if someone could do a voice pack. I could probably get around to doing one, but it will end up being a with a Southern Accent (U.S. Southern). Also quick little update created a 15 command trial verison, will add a note next to the ones that I used. Plus updated the original one. Fixed Rudder to Midships to Rudder a Midships.

[ThePandanator2]

So how does this work? Do I just download and start yelling at me crew for being scurvy knaves and not changing the sails fast enough?

 

What're the steps from installation to full use?