ARMA 2 and VAC (Voice Activated Commands)

[fish44 0]

Have just changed over from Shoot to VAC for voice commands, and made this short video. Works great for me.

Here is the Profile file V 1.01, and

here is the profile phrases used.

Here is a setup guide for VAC

B47ZS1S-h_I

Edited September 28, 2011 by Fish44

[joey_45 0]

Thats awesome...

I might try that.

[MavericK96 0]

Wow, that's cool! I want to try that as well.

[froggyluv 2136]

Cool stuff indeed.

Thanks Fish44, had a go with it and I probably need to do some Mic tweeking as some commands "Return to Formation" -work fine in the test but not so well in-game.

Gonna have fun with this as the wifey laughs on :rolleyes:

[Alex72 1]

Thanks for this.

Now we need auto danger to go back to normal and it will work even better. :)

[BeerHunter 0]

Been using VAC since ArmA1 and find it hard to play games without it now (ArmA2 , MS FSX , SH4 etc,.). Almost makes the game seem like your playing with real people except the AI do what you ask them to instead of disappearing of into the distance to do their own thing.

TrackIR was touted for ArmA but I never use it in game except for flying. Simple button click gives me free look.

[froggyluv 2136]

Strange, all my commands work except any of the ones having to do with Return to Formation.

This is how it sits in my .xml

 - <command name="return to formation" phrase="return to formation" phrase1="form on me" phrase2="follow me" phrase3="fall back" phrase4="regroup" phrase5="follow my lead" category="Move">
 <key value="11" extended="NONE" extended2="NONE" pause="100" repeat="1" duration="200" /> 
 </command>

...any tips to get this part working? For now I can say "Menu1-menu1" and that'll bring em back but it feels kinda silly :D

Also what are the few commands sitting down in the Activation box?

Edit- N/M. Nothing a brand new headset couldn't fix :)

Edited March 19, 2010 by froggyluv

[MavericK96 0]

I couldn't figure out how to configure my mic in VAC. Does it just use the default Windows settings?

I tried this out in the VAC tester, and it seemed like a lot of the time it didn't recognize the proper command, even when I was speaking loudly and clearly. Is there any way to "train" it to your voice, or any suggestions on how to improve recognition of commands?

[fish44 0]

............Is there any way to "train" it to your voice, or any suggestions on how to improve recognition of commands?

First, I use my mic at full blast, 100%, because it is weak. Most headset mics are pretty poor, and you need to be sure the sound is loud enough.

Second, yes most definitely you need to train the microsoft voice recognition software to your voice . This is what VAC uses. You can google it, but here a decent link here explaining it and setting up the mic. What you are looking for is 'Train your computer to better understand you' in the ease of access section of control panel. I would recommend 30mins, but it does not have to be done all at the same time.

Third, note that in my profile you have to hold the KP. (keypad period) key down, while you are speaking your commands. And vac must be 'ON' (right click the taskbar icon). You can change this key using the VAC Builder GUI.

Hope this helps

[MavericK96 0]

Very helpful, thanks! I was thinking the training might be necessary, but I wasn't sure how completely VAC interfaced with Windows.

[SeaVee 10]

How to install and configure Speech Recognition in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306537

[fish44 0]

.........what are the few commands sitting down in the Activation box?

The list in the Action description, is just a label for the command. For each labelled command, there can be one of more ('voice') activation phrases. Activation phrases don't need to include the label name, but each one must be unique in the profile. The command list in the right box, shows keypress combination activated when one of the phrases is recognised.

Example

Label (action description): return to formation.

Voice phrases (activation phrase): 'return to formation', 'form on me', 'fall bac'k, 'regroup', 'follow my lead'.

Command keys: 11 (keypress '1' followed by keypress '1' no spaces)

Hope this helps.

Edited March 20, 2010 by Fish44

[froggyluv 2136]

The list in the Action description, is just a label for the command. For each labelled command, there can be one of more ('voice') activation phrases. Activation phrases don't need to include the label name, but each one must be unique in the profile. The command list in the right box, shows keypress combination activated when one of the phrases is recognised.

Example

Label (action description): return to formation.

Voice phrases (activation phrase): 'return to formation', 'form on me', 'fall bac'k, 'regroup', 'follow my lead'.

Command keys: 11 (keypress '1' followed by keypress '1' no spaces)

Hope this helps.

Ahh, I see. Thanks for explanation.

Question: I notice when I call up a team ie, "Team Red", the cursor to actually move them doesn't show up, leaving me to move them individually. Is there a way to move whole teams at once?

[SeaVee 10]

I just finished installing and setting up VAC for Arma2 using Fish44's profile.

Fish44 I want to thank you SOOOOOO much for this. Your profile is excellent and saved me alot of time on the initial setup with all the macro commands.

Guys, its hard to convey just how good this VAC is. After using it just a couple hours it IMO is almost a necessity in this game and I can see me using it extensively in almost all the other games I play.

I'm still new to Arma 2 and amd still getting the hang of things. The learning curve is steep and the need for multiple key commands often to control the squad is a bit of a PITA and immersion killing. But let me tell you this VAC has TOTALLY TRANSFORMED that and its now intuitive and effective and simple to do.

This is so absolutely awesome that there is NO WAY I'll play Arma2 now without it.

I got the free 30 day demo of VAC directly at the developer's website:

http://www.dwvac.com/

VAC uses Microsoft's speech recognition engine. I did the initial set up and testing of the mic - about 5 minutes. I first had issues with the headset mic directly in front of my mouth but it picks up too much breathing and with it just off to one side its perfect. Then I spent about 20 more minutes doing the voice training. You have a choice of several different excerpts to read aloud, in my case I picked the one from War of the Worlds by HG Wells which is cool and made the voice training process itself pretty interesting.

The install puts into the program list for VAC a shortcut for VAC Builder and a shortcut for VAC System. With the Builder I imported and tweaked Fish44's profile a bit. Basically added a couple of additional voice commands and changed his default key press to activate mic from NUMPAD "." to something else as I had that key set to Arma2's default "tactical view".

I then closed the Builder and launched the VAC System. It's icon will sit in the systray lower right corner (at least in my WinXP32). You then have to right-click that, load the profile and turn VAC ON.

The cost of VAC after the 30-day demo period is just $18. IMHO its worth several times that based on how much it is improving my ARMA2 experience.

Guys try the VAC demo and have your Arma2 game experience literally transformed!

Edited March 20, 2010 by SeaVee

[fish44 0]

Ahh, I see. Thanks for explanation.

......... Is there a way to move whole teams at once?.....

No fool proof way to do it, that I can see. Problem is at the moment, there is no consistent set of key strokes to to achieve this, you have to scroll down/up through dynamic number of menu items when you hit the 'commanding mode' button, to get to the team option.

[froggyluv 2136]

No fool proof way to do it, that I can see. Problem is at the moment, there is no consistent set of key strokes to to achieve this, you have to scroll down/up through dynamic number of menu items when you hit the 'commanding mode' button, to get to the team option.

Hmmm maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but calling out "Team Red" works for me -it's just that the command cursor doesn't appear with it so I am unable to quickly move them to an exact spot.

Meaning, in standard keyboard issued command- you can press shift + team colored member to bring up that particular team, and along with that comes the command cursor. But with VAC, "Team Red" also highlights the team members, but no cursor.

Overall, I am extremely happy with this program and like Seavee stated, it really fleshes out the command side of the game.

Edited March 20, 2010 by froggyluv

[zapat 56]

Thanks for the tip, this made commanding a lot easier, more fun and a lot more immersive!

I am not native english speaker, so I had to make my own profile, since many times it just misunderstood things. Therefore I used very differing words for commands, and now it works like charm. Oh, and I see now why military needs special words to make sure nothing is misunderstood in the battlefield! :)

froggyluv: press space first, and then call red: you'll have the move option then. This has been an issue for me too...

Edited March 20, 2010 by zapat

[froggyluv 2136]

froggyluv: press space first, and then call red: you'll have the move option then. This has been an issue for me too...

Well that sorta works but more times than not it assigns everyone to Team Red rather then call them up.

[zapat 56]

Thats why I rewrote the commands for something more different in such cases.

In SP I only use like 10-15 commands plush directions and numbers, the rest is just confusing the engine with my accent. :)

[fish44 0]

Just updated the profile above, to v 1.01

1. 'upper' and 'lower' commands now activate F12 and F11 as intended.

2. fixed team command for blue and yellow both calling up yellow team.

3. Added new commands, 'red/blue/green/yellow/white team move' to allow user to move the team with the cursor. see note below.

Note.

For the team move command, I have used 3 mappable keys from ARMA,

In my game profile they are mapped as follows (this is not default mapping).

These commands may not work consistently, because the command menu list is dynamic!

commanding mode= KP2
previous=k
use default action= KP0

This is how they look in the code for the 'red team move command'

<command name="red team move" phrase="red team move" successphrase="" sndok="" category="Team">
<key extended="NumPad 2" extended2="NONE" pause="100" repeat="1" duration="200"/>
<key value="kk" extended="NONE" extended2="NONE" pause="100" repeat="1" duration="200"/>
<key extended="NumPad 0" extended2="NONE" pause="100" repeat="1" duration="200"/>
<key value="91" extended="NONE" extended2="NONE" pause="100" repeat="1" duration="200"/>
</command>

To use these commands, you will need to search for the code sequence, and check/change the key names, in the profile file.

Edited March 21, 2010 by Fish44

[froggyluv 2136]

For the team move command, I have used 3 mappable keys from ARMA,

In my game profile they are mapped as follows (this is not default mapping).

These commands may not work consistently, because the command menu list is dynamic!

commanding mode= KP2
previous=k
use default action= KP0

To use these commands, you will need to search for the code sequence, and check/change the key names, in the profile file.

Sorry but you lost me here. Your saying those code lines exist in the Documents/user/arma2 profileFile? I only see 'commanding mode' listed there but I don't understand that format -KP2? Is this the Keylist your talking about

keyMoveForward[]={17,200};

keyMoveBack[]={31,208};

keyTurnLeft[]={30,203};

etc....

Please simplify for us, this looks really valuable and I'd love to have that ability.

Edited March 21, 2010 by froggyluv

[SeaVee 10]

Just updated the profile above, to v 1.01

1. 'upper' and 'lower' commands now activate F12 and F11 as intended.

2. fixed team command for blue and yellow both calling up yellow team.

3. Added new commands, 'red/blue/green/yellow/white team move' to allow user to move the team with the cursor. see note below.

Note.

For the team move command, I have used 3 mappable keys from ARMA,

In my game profile they are mapped as follows (this is not default mapping).

These commands may not work consistently, because the command menu list is dynamic!

commanding mode= KP2
previous=k
use default action= KP0

This is how they look in the code for the 'red team move command'

<command name="red team move" phrase="red team move" successphrase="" sndok="" category="Team">
<key extended="[color="Red"]NumPad 2[/color]" extended2="NONE" pause="100" repeat="1" duration="200"/>
<key value="[color="Red"]kk[/color]" extended="NONE" extended2="NONE" pause="100" repeat="1" duration="200"/>
<key extended="[color="Red"]NumPad 0[/color]" extended2="NONE" pause="100" repeat="1" duration="200"/>
<key value="[color="Red"]91[/color]" extended="NONE" extended2="NONE" pause="100" repeat="1" duration="200"/>
</command>

To use these commands, you will need to search for the code sequence, and check/change the key names, in the profile file.

What are the Arma2 default keys for the ones highlighted in red above?

This is for the "red team move" command in Fish44's revised VAC profile. For users with the default key settings we need to open the profile in numpad or with the VAC builder and change these to match our Arma2 profile commands for the same actions - I think.

I looked but do not know where to find the "profile file"....

We'd need to do the same steps for each of the other team colors.

[fish44 0]

Previous post is for those who might like to modify the XML profile file! The location of my profile files in windows 7 is as follows

C:\Users\Gerry\AppData\Roaming\VAC\Profiles

.......Please simplify for us, .......

Ill try.

Only thing VAC does is pass a programmed series of keystrokes to the puter, just like you hit them with our fingers! So for now lets ignore VAC for a bit.

Lets consider how to give the 'red team move' command with keystrokes. This is the way i do it (there may be others, and like i said it may not be consistent, cause it depends on whats in the action command menu list is at the time the command is issued).

[b]Arma commands[/b]
'command mode' (opens the actions menu)
'previous','previous' (moves the cursor to the 'team' option)
'default action' (selects the 'team' option)
'9', '1' (selects menu item 9, followed by item 1)

Because I'm left handed, ive re-mapped some commands in Arma , and the actual keys I use are

[b]My keystrokes (and my VAV profile)[/b]
Numpad 2, k, k, Numpad 0, 9, 1

I think a default arma keyboard setup would be something like

[b]Default Arma keystrokes[/b]
'SPC',  '[',  '[',  'ENT', 9, 1

Now back to VAC. Open the profile, in the builder, choose the 'team' category, select the 'red team move' command. In the command list window you will see a list of 4 commands. These use the 'actual keys' I describe above. Change them to yours, save the profile. Do the same for the other team move commands. You can get more info on the VAC profile builder from their webpage here http://www.dwvac.com/

Edited March 21, 2010 by Fish44

[BeerHunter 0]

He forgot to mention that if you need the ASCII's for any keystrokes for any reason there's a "keyboard tester" with VAC that spits them out for you.

[froggyluv 2136]

Ok, I see what your on about now :D

I'm pretty close but still cant get the command cursor up.

When using keyboard, the correct keystrokes to both bring up Team Red and Movement cursor is

"Space"; "["; "["; "9"; "9"; "1"

Space -Opens console

[;[ -Goes to Team

9 - Goes to Team Menu

9 - Goes to Color Menu

1 -Brings up the Move There with Cursor (rather than Move Menu without cursor)

...so my command list for Team Red Move

Command 1: None+Space+None+"[["

Command 2: None+None+None+"99"

Command 3: None+None+None+"1"

...but that still brings up the Move/Return to Formation etc.. menu rather than the cursor :confused:

Edit -I've added an "Enter" as a fourth command and that now moves them albeit, the cursor appears and disappers so quickly that they move to pretty much wherever I'm looking at. Still much better but if anyone knows a better way I'm all ears :)

Edited March 21, 2010 by froggyluv