Author Topic: Voice acting in Space Quest V - Part 2  (Read 7439 times)

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Offline lskovlun

Re: Voice acting in Space Quest V - Part 2
« Reply #30 on: November 06, 2024, 10:40:51 PM »
OK, so I managed to get it to work. I had a stray file in the SQ5 directory that ScummVM somehow picked up even though it shouldn't. Once I got past that, I was able to look at the bug - and yes, it is a bug in ScummVM. It happens in a part of ScummVM that tries to synchronize the in-game settings with those of the main ScummVM UI. For various reasons (mostly related to SCI32 games), this code has a hard-coded list of games that support text and subtitles at the same time. Unsurprisingly, SQ5 is not among them!

I'll contact the right people next, so we can get this sorted (I do have commit access, but I haven't used it in years).

Offline cdb-boop

Re: Voice acting in Space Quest V - Part 2
« Reply #31 on: November 06, 2024, 11:05:09 PM »
Good to hear. Fixing it won't mess with playing the original version, right?

Offline Collector

Re: Voice acting in Space Quest V - Part 2
« Reply #32 on: November 07, 2024, 09:35:44 AM »
The installer can read external driver.hlp files. I've attached one that can be just dropped into your SQ5 folder that will make the installer work properly.

Oh, I know how the installer works and had already edited the INSTALL.HLP. That is part of what I had called 'fiddling around'. But even so, without the RESOURCE.CFG stub file that is included with the original install media the generated cfg file the generated cfg will not include the extra flags from the stub. Without the minHunk set, the game will fail to launch. While it is easy enough to manually write a working RESOURCE.CFG, I usually try to approach these things from the point of view of helping more average users, which is to simply run the install.exe.

As I said, I was thinking about making an NSIS script to automate the entire process to have a ready to play game from the user's copy of the game, much like my SHP installers.
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Offline Collector

Re: Voice acting in Space Quest V - Part 2
« Reply #33 on: November 07, 2024, 10:04:20 AM »
@cdb-boop, I take it that when you decompiled the game your copy had all of the patch files in the game's folder. In that case the decompiled scripts would have been from the included patch files. I'll assume that the steam version comes from one of the official collections (which included the SQ5PAT patch) and did not include the NRS patch.

Do you have a list of the scripts altered by you? Specifically did you alter scripts 104, 110 or 994?



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Offline cdb-boop

Re: Voice acting in Space Quest V - Part 2
« Reply #34 on: November 07, 2024, 10:48:47 AM »
Sure. Most of the changed files were me being a trigger happy perfectionist and changing some timings from cycles to ticks where I assumed the animations were too fast at higher cycles. I think most of the game can actually now be played at max cycles, save a few animations here and there.

104 had to be changed to add vocals to the intro as it did not make use of the Messager.

110 I altered to "fix" timings and I added back the red lighting at the start (commented out `(Palette palSET_FROM_RESOURCE 600 2)`).

994 was altered to add `case 0` to Rgn and Rm classes as suggested on here to get things to work with the audio driver.
« Last Edit: November 13, 2024, 06:28:53 AM by cdb-boop »

Offline lskovlun

Re: Voice acting in Space Quest V - Part 2
« Reply #35 on: November 07, 2024, 08:41:24 PM »
It seems safe to me. But let's see what sluicebox and bluegr say.

EDIT: I'll just attach the patch that I use, in case anyone wants to try.
« Last Edit: November 07, 2024, 08:54:23 PM by lskovlun »

Offline cdb-boop

Re: Voice acting in Space Quest V - Part 2
« Reply #36 on: November 13, 2024, 06:45:56 AM »
Besides the narration, people generally disliked the poor voice acting quality and are getting more aggressive.

I took it down to avoid negativity over something mediocre that was meant to be fun.

Offline OmerMor

Re: Voice acting in Space Quest V - Part 2
« Reply #37 on: November 13, 2024, 12:21:05 PM »
Besides the narration, people generally disliked the poor voice acting quality and are getting more aggressive.

Really? I quite enjoyed the voice acting ...

Offline cdb-boop

Re: Voice acting in Space Quest V - Part 2
« Reply #38 on: November 13, 2024, 12:56:35 PM »
Kind of.

If I were to try this again, I'd make sure to train with a variety of voices and make sure the resulting voices were truly unique. I expect it would be a challenge to keep them consistent, high quality and charming, but I guess that comes with the territory. Furthermore, I'd work on something like Conquests of the Longbow or Heart of China, as there are no vocal expectations and I can be more creative.

Offline cdb-boop

Re: Voice acting in Space Quest V - Part 2
« Reply #39 on: November 13, 2024, 05:29:09 PM »
And... really I was spooked by the possibility of the passing of the No Fakes act, which, as I best understand it, would make computer-generated likeness protected property in the US. I want to continue abiding by all relevant laws and certainty want to avoid getting into trouble over something that, again, people have said sounds "alien" and "bad", and so I have preemptively taken it down and will not do something this risky in the future.

Offline doomlazer

Re: Voice acting in Space Quest V - Part 2
« Reply #40 on: November 14, 2024, 10:37:37 PM »
Shame you took it down. I actually have a friend who was planning to integrate the project with their Spanish translation of SQV.

As for the no fakes act, I wouldn't worry about any Dem. sponsored bills getting passed for awhile. Besides, if any of the rights holders cared, you'd have a chance to take it down. It's not like you're monetizing it. And if the installer is a diff patch, you're not distributing any copyrighted material.

As for the voices, the narrator sounds surprisingly good from the sample I heard. If the other voices are trash, maybe try to get actual people to record those lines. There seemed to be interest in the project so you'd probably get some volunteers fairly easily.

Offline cdb-boop

Re: Voice acting in Space Quest V - Part 2
« Reply #41 on: November 15, 2024, 12:41:09 AM »
Yeah, I guess I just got a bit paranoid after a bunch of attention shot up like a rocket after the Hacker News posting.

I guess I just needed a few days and some kind of external assurance that I wasn't going crazy. I mean, I know that cg videos of Will Smith eating spaghetti are still posted and voice and image models of celebrities are fine-tuned and uploaded online. Regarding me, the relevant legislation in my state and in the US is still early and in the works, so I'm safe.

I'll trust you and I've put things back up for now...

But like I said earlier, I would like to try and figure out how to make unique voices so I don't need to worry about this stuff anymore.

Offline Collector

Re: Voice acting in Space Quest V - Part 2
« Reply #42 on: November 15, 2024, 06:24:18 AM »
The Sierra community is alive and well, though mostly on Facebook these days. I suggest that you advertise for voice actors in the various Sierra groups and have them submit audition samples.This could be done remotely. If unsure you could ask some of the fan and or indie developers that have released their games with voice packs for suggestions. Don't give up, your project should be far from done.
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Offline cdb-boop

Re: Voice acting in Space Quest V - Part 2
« Reply #43 on: November 15, 2024, 06:53:20 AM »
Thanks for the suggestion and kind words, Collector.

Maybe that'd be easier, as training voices, especially for smaller roles with the current tech it is really inconvenient and labor intensive without taking bad shortcuts.
« Last Edit: November 15, 2024, 07:22:20 AM by cdb-boop »

Offline Kawa

Re: Voice acting in Space Quest V - Part 2
« Reply #44 on: November 15, 2024, 07:09:17 AM »
Y'know that's not what Collector said, right?


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