Custom voicepacks needlessly difficult ?

[JaFO]

Anyone who has the game probably already knows that we can't change the voices.

What is really weird is that the voices are linked by their CharacterID instead of by referring to the voice-class (as was done in UT2kx and UT'99).

This is how it is done for the TwinSouls/Ronin :

class UTFamilyInfo_TwinSouls_Male extends UTFamilyInfo_TwinSouls
	abstract;
...
static function class<UTVoice> GetVoiceClass(CustomCharData CharacterData)
{
	local class<UTVoice> Result;
	Result = Default.VoiceClass;

	if ( CharacterData.BasedOnCharID == "A" )
		Result = class'UTGame.UTVoice_Reaper';
	else if ( CharacterData.BasedOnCharID == "B" )
		Result = class'UTGame.UTVoice_Bishop';
	else if ( CharacterData.BasedOnCharID == "C" )
		Result = class'UTGame.UTVoice_Othello';

	return Result;
}
...

What is weird is that in the character-code we find the line :

struct native CharacterInfo
{
	/** Short unique string . */
	var string CharID;

	/** Friendly name for character. */
	var localized string CharName;

	/** Localized description of the character. */
	var localized string Description;
...
	// @TODO: VOICE PACK
};
...

I really would like to know why Epic chose to use CharID instead of a more direct VoicePack-classreference.

[ContrivanCe]

so is it POSSIBLE to change your voice or not?

[JaFO]

It is 'possible' ... if you like to write a new Unrealscript-class for a new faction that has your character with a different voice.

It is 'impossible' to change the voice from within the GUI, because it is effectively hardcoded.

[Caravaggio]

Weird. So you'd have to make a new faction for each new voice? Would that show up in the character screen in places it's not supposed to?
And what happens when you run out of letters? You can put any figure in the charid, right?

[Contra]

Because only supports the modding they think the majority of players want and don't allow anything else.

[JaFO]

You probably could use multiple characters for CharId ('AA', 'AB', etc.) which should be enough for most people.
The standard factions appear to have 16 characters at best, which is big enough to enable them to play as a complete team on the largest maps.
As such it is not much of an issue.
It is however an extremely dirty bit of code considering that Unrealscript allows one to spawn classes at run-time.

That entire if/then-construct could have been reduced to this (if a voiceclass-entry had been available) :

static function class<UTVoice> GetVoiceClass(CustomCharData CharacterData)
{
	local class<UTVoice> Result;
        if (CharacterData.VoiceClass <> '')
          Result = CharacterData.VoiceClass
        else
          Result = Default.VoiceClass;
}

Which gives us an unlimited amount of voices per faction without any extra code ...

[Lopar-XL]

Over the past year I have been working on a "generic voice library" that could be used for this game. It is a compilation of over 1,000 samples recorded with my own voice into my PC, and contains enough stuff for a UT VP and some for machinima, TC mods, etc. Basically, I've been watching the vids and reading about the development of the game so I could get an idea of what would be needed. It's not quite done yet, as I'm going to record some more samples for UT3, but if anyone wants to give a shot at trying t make a voice pack for UT3, then they can use this "VL01" library of mine. PM me if anyone is interested.

[JaFO]

That's quite an interesting project Lopar-XL
I've been doing some digging to see where all the voices are located.
So far I've located the taunts and related voices that are in the UTGame-package in the UtVoice-class.

The weird thing is that not every voice has stuff like "Enemy raptor ...", while the basic CTF-voices appear to be available to everyone.

And if it helps : voices appear to be in mono, announcers are in stereo.

// -- edit --
It gets worse :

class UTVehicle_Fury_Content extends UTVehicle_Fury;
...
   EnemyVehicleSound(0)=SoundNodeWave'A_Character_IGMale.BotStatus.A_BotStatus_IGMale_EnemyFury'
   EnemyVehicleSound(1)=SoundNodeWave'A_Character_Jester.BotStatus.A_BotStatus_Jester_EnemyFury'
   EnemyVehicleSound(2)=SoundNodeWave'A_Character_Othello.BotStatus.A_BotStatus_Othello_EnemyFury'

Yep ... those character-voices are linked to vehicles.
So if you are wondering why you're hearing Jester or Othello yell this kind of stuff then this is the reason.
I hope there's a good explanation for doing it like this, as this appears to make custom-voicepackages completely impossible.

[Emmet Otter]

Originally Posted by JaFO

Yep ... those character-voices are linked to vehicles.
So if you are wondering why you're hearing Jester or Othello yell this kind of stuff then this is the reason.
I hope there's a good explanation for doing it like this, as this appears to make custom-voicepackages completely impossible.

Damn! This really sucks! Not only is the game half-assed, its almost neary impossible to do anything with the editor other than create maps, mods and mutators. It appears that to make skins of the current models impossible as well as their voices.

[JaFO]

I've noticed that I don't get to see the scripts inside UnrealEditor either.
I've had to export them just to browse them.
Then again ... with a decent text-editor and a good interface for the compiler it's not that much of an issue.