[Akalabeth Angel]

So I load up FS2 for the first time in months and head into the techroom to play a single mission used to test a model and then I hear "The G-T-F Ares is the blah blah blah potato". I wasn't aware that I'd installed Microsoft Sam on my machine, apparently he invited himself at some point. The point is how do I get rid of him (or turn him off)? I'm not blind. I don't need some monotone chump to read my mission briefings and so on. Talk about taking you out of the moment.

[NGTM-1R]

It's a launcher option. He comes with every windows machine.

[Akalabeth Angel]

It's a launcher option. He comes with every windows machine.

It's an option on the FS Launcher? Whereabouts?
Oh wait no I found it. . . do people actually play with this thing??? Odd.

[portej05]

You don't like Green Eggs and Ham?

It can be useful in some areas. One place I've noticed that it's used is in the briefing 'please review your objectives for this mission' (or someone has cleverly substituted the voice for a briefing sound)
If it's speaking fast enough, it can be useful in mission as well, although it can get a little tangled up with lots of text.

[Mongoose]

I personally see it as just about the biggest immersion-killer one could imagine, but some people seem to have a great deal of trouble with reading in-game text as it appears and/or using F4, so I guess it works for them.

[Killer Whale]

I found it really annoying

[TrashMan]

I find it works great in the TechRoom. Not so much for briefings or missions.

[paul1290]

I actually like having the text-to-speech voice on.

However, I'm running Vista so I get Microsoft Anna, which sounds a lot better than Sam, at least for in-game use.

[SypheDMar]

I wish my TTS works again. I screwed it up somehow.

[Nissan]

I find it works great in the TechRoom. Not so much for briefings or missions.

Agreed... I always end up reading faster than the voice speaks. The only time I really like having it during an actual mission is in the first mission of Deus Ex Machina, just to hear Sam (or Anna) stumble through the name of the destroyer.

side question: was text-to-speech used for the voices in Shrouding the Light?

[CP5670]

I hate this thing. I always find no voice acting preferable to bad voice acting, and this TTS system is about as bad as it can get. Even aside from the voice quality, it talks slowly and I can read faster than it talks.

If TTS is on by default, it shouldn't be. I recently saw someone on another forum who was trying FS2 for the first time and complaining about it.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

I recently saw someone on another forum who was trying FS2 for the first time and complaining about it.

That bad?

I found it more of an unhelpful annoyance than something worth complaining about - I mean, you can shut it up by unchecking a few boxes, so what's there to complain about? I think it's only worth the complaint if you can't turn it off that easily.

[Mongoose]

I found it more of an unhelpful annoyance than something worth complaining about - I mean, you can shut it up by unchecking a few boxes, so what's there to complain about? I think it's only worth the complaint if you can't turn it off that easily.

That's all well and good...if you actually know how to turn it off.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

Uhh ... Launcher.exe -> Speech?

* Androgeos Exeunt is using a Mac and has not touched the Windows Launcher for about nine months.

[Mongoose]

Did I ever say that I didn't know how to turn it off?  I'm referring to the people who are just trying out FS2_Open for the first time.  Someone unfamiliar with the Launcher isn't necessarily going to click on the Speech tab and examine the checkboxes halfway down the screen.

[Wobble73]

I find it works great in the TechRoom. Not so much for briefings or missions.

Agreed... I always end up reading faster than the voice speaks.

Did you knlow you can turn up the speed of the TTS? (Control Panel/Speech/)?

[Alan Bolte]

Yeah, Microsoft Sam really isn't very good, and I don't like using with FS2, but there are other voices available, I think there may be some commercial products, and Vista and Windows 7 come with Microsoft Anna. She's still far from perfect, but I like her well enough to use her sometimes. There are some campaigns where you just can't take your eyes off the action long enough to read every line. Sure, you can read it in F4, but sometimes I miss stuff anyway.

I can't remember how I acquired it, but I have Microsoft Anna on XP. I know I have Microsoft Speech SDK 5.1 installed (press the Get Additional Voices button in the launcher, or click here), but I'm not sure that's where I got it.

Also, if you don't think Sam is cool, have him say "My ROFLCopter goes soi soi soi soi"

[Androgeos Exeunt]

Also, if you don't think Sam is cool, have him say "My ROFLCopter goes soi soi soi soi"

* Androgeos Exeunt takes a guess.

"My R-O-F-L-C-opter goes SWARF SWARF SWARF SWARF"?

[asyikarea51]

Techroom (provided the voice can read specific words properly, which is hardly the case) and "please review your objectives for this mission".

Other than that... probably no substitute for voice acting I guess...

[Wobble73]

I once managed to acquire AT&T voices for XP once, some of them were okay, much better than Sam anyway. Try looking into them. And yes, Mocrosoft Anna on Vista with the speed turned up is much more passable. Of course there are words and punctuation that pronounced incorrectly, but as Alan Bolt said, there are some missions in campaigns that you just can't take you eyes off the action to read stuff and pausing the game with F4 every few minutes also takes away the immersion factor.