[8]72|JSgt.Super64
11th December 2007, 13:49
After Wolf so nicely posted a link to this in the shoutbox lastnight, I was fascinated by the concept. The ability to use voice command in ArmA to control my AI troops. Being the BFCO for the US side, I have plenty to do without having to spend a lot of time clicking around the map to micro-manage the genius ArmA AI. So I spent almost 4 hours last night setting up, configuring and learning to use this speech recognition system.
First off you'll need to go to the PiLfIuS (http://www.pilfius.com.ar/default.php) homepage and grab their speech recognition software, the SpeechSDK51.exe from Microsoft and then the ArmA Commands List. (http://www.pilfius.com.ar/downloads/commands/ArmA.zip)
Install them all starting with the SpeechSDK51.exe, followed by the PiLfIuS software, then import the commands list. There are so many voice commands in ArmA you'll be glad they provided a pre-made list. Once all this is installed, you go through about a 10 minute exercise of teaching the software to recognize how you speak. You read through several pages of text in the form of an article about speech recognition while wearing your mic. Once that is done, you're set to go.
I fired up the PiLfIuS program, minimized it, then fired up ArmA. I spawned in a squad at Rahmadi, me as the squad leader. Thank goodness PiLfIuS provides a way to map a press-to-talk key, or I would have the AI doing things like "sit!", "go lay down!" and "go on, get your chew toy!!", as I yelled at my dog who was in the room wanting my attention. This push to talk feature allows you to still use TS and not interfere with your brilliant AI.
So now I was ready to 'command' them. The thing I learned about this program is to use it effectively you pretty much have to learn to speak AI. For starters I said "Squad, go prone." Sure enough they all layed down. Sweet! It works. Ok, "Squad, stand up!". "Roger" and they all stood up. Excellent, time to move them. This is where it got tricky. To get them to move to locations on the map I still had to say "2, 3 or 4" then actually click on the map where to go. As for vehicles, I was unable to get them to get into the trucks. I would say "Squad... mount" then the menu system would be on "5T truck". I would then use my mouse to roll down and select Get in.. Back.
Setting up fire teams was actually easier. I would say "Two, assign red. Three, assign red. Four, assign yellow. Five, assign yellow." And they would all say "Roger!" and their icon on the bottom would turn that color. I could then say, "Squad red, stay low" or whatever status i wanted them and each color squad would respond accordingly.
The biggest challenge of this software is learning and remembering how to speak to the AI. You have to speak in the same terms as the game speaks to the AI. Not in the same robot voice, although that is tempting and i sometimes found myself sounding like one. lol But you have to use the wording they understand. Problem with this is its actually a quite vast vocabulary that is very specific. The PiLfIuS program needs a "print commands" function because I could have used a print out to glance at. I minimized my game about 20 times to look at the commands and what order they had to be said in. After a while I had mastered the very basics of AI troop command. But im not ready to 'voice-command' them in a battle day. You always know something isnt quite right when you say "Two, danger." And 3, 4 and 5 get up and run off across a field. I have no idea what happened on that one. I just said "All, stop" then "All, return to formation" and they snap back into shape.
Overall, Im glad this program was brought to my attention. If anything it's fun to use. I just need to learn its language better. Its fun to run around in the editor trying to get them to do different things. Setting it up was actually very easy and configuring it was a piece of cake. The program is still listed as Beta, but seems stable. I look forward to what the final version will have in it. Maybe a print command list? :D
First off you'll need to go to the PiLfIuS (http://www.pilfius.com.ar/default.php) homepage and grab their speech recognition software, the SpeechSDK51.exe from Microsoft and then the ArmA Commands List. (http://www.pilfius.com.ar/downloads/commands/ArmA.zip)
Install them all starting with the SpeechSDK51.exe, followed by the PiLfIuS software, then import the commands list. There are so many voice commands in ArmA you'll be glad they provided a pre-made list. Once all this is installed, you go through about a 10 minute exercise of teaching the software to recognize how you speak. You read through several pages of text in the form of an article about speech recognition while wearing your mic. Once that is done, you're set to go.
I fired up the PiLfIuS program, minimized it, then fired up ArmA. I spawned in a squad at Rahmadi, me as the squad leader. Thank goodness PiLfIuS provides a way to map a press-to-talk key, or I would have the AI doing things like "sit!", "go lay down!" and "go on, get your chew toy!!", as I yelled at my dog who was in the room wanting my attention. This push to talk feature allows you to still use TS and not interfere with your brilliant AI.
So now I was ready to 'command' them. The thing I learned about this program is to use it effectively you pretty much have to learn to speak AI. For starters I said "Squad, go prone." Sure enough they all layed down. Sweet! It works. Ok, "Squad, stand up!". "Roger" and they all stood up. Excellent, time to move them. This is where it got tricky. To get them to move to locations on the map I still had to say "2, 3 or 4" then actually click on the map where to go. As for vehicles, I was unable to get them to get into the trucks. I would say "Squad... mount" then the menu system would be on "5T truck". I would then use my mouse to roll down and select Get in.. Back.
Setting up fire teams was actually easier. I would say "Two, assign red. Three, assign red. Four, assign yellow. Five, assign yellow." And they would all say "Roger!" and their icon on the bottom would turn that color. I could then say, "Squad red, stay low" or whatever status i wanted them and each color squad would respond accordingly.
The biggest challenge of this software is learning and remembering how to speak to the AI. You have to speak in the same terms as the game speaks to the AI. Not in the same robot voice, although that is tempting and i sometimes found myself sounding like one. lol But you have to use the wording they understand. Problem with this is its actually a quite vast vocabulary that is very specific. The PiLfIuS program needs a "print commands" function because I could have used a print out to glance at. I minimized my game about 20 times to look at the commands and what order they had to be said in. After a while I had mastered the very basics of AI troop command. But im not ready to 'voice-command' them in a battle day. You always know something isnt quite right when you say "Two, danger." And 3, 4 and 5 get up and run off across a field. I have no idea what happened on that one. I just said "All, stop" then "All, return to formation" and they snap back into shape.
Overall, Im glad this program was brought to my attention. If anything it's fun to use. I just need to learn its language better. Its fun to run around in the editor trying to get them to do different things. Setting it up was actually very easy and configuring it was a piece of cake. The program is still listed as Beta, but seems stable. I look forward to what the final version will have in it. Maybe a print command list? :D