Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: oneway on May 22, 2010, 11:13:39 PM
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Good Evening...
Does anyone have any experience using DWVAC aka VACommand for in game control of play?
Apparently with VAC you can assign voice recognition patterns to control various aspects of game play...basically voice activated macros...
...Such as saying "flaps down" and the flaps drop a notch..or "gear up"
I would imagine you could rig it to handle complex text commands such as salvo and delay settings, fuel tank management etc...."burn aft tank"
A segment of the jet age flight simulator Lock On community are using it and seem to be enthusiastic with its use. Lock On has a bazillion key commands and modifiers...so its a natural solution to reduce pilot work load...
Apparently is has an extensible or layered set of responses to phrases in as much as a certain phrase would be treated very much like a shift state key on a controller...there by setting the mode (think clutch button on a joystick)...thus the follow up voice command can be used more than once for separate results...
Fascinating...
As an example a catch phrase clutch might be "Ground Vehicle"...at which point the software would treat all subsequent commands as ground vehicle specific commands...
Anyone with experience with this software please comment...
Link to home page here:
http://www.dwvac.com/ (http://www.dwvac.com/)
:salute
Oneway
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(http://www.dwvac.com/wpimages/wp72e83f46.png)
(http://www.dwvac.com/wpimages/wpca4a30fb.png)
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I will definitely play with this when I get back from vacation. :aok
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The more I think about this, the more it makes sense...
As a simple example of usefulness, imagine controlling your Track IR with it...by simply using the 3 voice commands: "Track IR Center", "Track IR Precise", "Track IR Pause"...
Or how about this...."tune radio five one six four" to rapidly re-tune your VOX?
Seems like it is definitely worth exploring...
Apparently it has a 30 day free trial as well...
Out
Oneway
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What's it gonna do when you or someone else nearby yells $h!t or something else?
"I'm sorry Dave, I can't do that"... :huh
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Your voice level and inflection will change depending upon your 'mental situation.' Have fun! :devil
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This software looks very good does it compensate for change in voice the more drunk you become? :old:
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This software looks very good does it compensate for change in voice the more drunk you become? :old:
I don't think so...
However reading the tech manual it does have the capability to detect when someone is contributing NOTHING to a conversation...
You should pass on it...
Oneway
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I keep forgetting that more than half of the kids here are just that...children...
:rock
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Let me rephrase what we were both trying to tell you. Voice applications have not evolved to the point where any of them are completely dependable. What I was trying to say is that if you get a little excited while using the program your voice will change (believe it or not) and the application will not recognize it as the same command. Yes these programs are better than they were ten years ago but they still have alot of evolving to do.
Its still fun to play with things like that though. Enjoy! :D
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I think this software is very interesting and a bit light hearted banter is useful don't you think ?
I will be trying out this software.
Do me a big favour don't send me abusive PM'S
it's not called for.
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Oneway gets uptight when someone doesn't agree his 1337 k00l ideaz are teh bestest.
Frankly oneway, it looks cool but Chalenge and Zack are right...it has the potential to be highly annoying and with AH, anything running in the background has the potential of becoming a problem.
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looks interesting...ONe way to possibly get around voice inflections is to make the commands short..
For flaps up...you could say 4up
For flaps down you could say 4down..or something along those lines..or make the commands a simple letter or number.. :salute
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That looks sweet...I want to try this out this coming weekend for sure.
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Well, if the VAC is always active (always listening), many unwanted things will occur while you're discussing things over VOX. If it's button activated (like VOX), then...why not just push the button that already performs the command and know that it'll work?
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I had this before, actually paid for it before it was free. Seem to recall it was not that easy to work with voice commands and that I had to remember the exact command in order to make it work. I have heard our advanced fighters were looking at using it. Think they had it in that Russian firefox movie.
I did have a key to turn it off and on so I could communicate over VOX. That of course adds another delay.
http://nascar.about.com/library/weekly/aa060401a.htm (http://nascar.about.com/library/weekly/aa060401a.htm)
If you disgree with me that's ok I won't be upset.
Infidelz.
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Well, if the VAC is always active (always listening), many unwanted things will occur while you're discussing things over VOX. If it's button activated (like VOX), then...why not just push the button that already performs the command and know that it'll work?
You assign one button to communicate with the software...so instead of 2 buttons for range and channel, you have 3...just like team speak...either voice activated or button/key activated...
I have tested for jumping gun positions in a bomber, bomb-sight, calibrate mode, call up map, and a few other things and it works very well...
Does anyone know if their is a keyboard command that will pull the map up i,n or switch the map to, E6B?
Frankly I think it has limited application for fighter guys turning and buring in tight quarters...however it has tremendous potential for fixed battery and bomber missions...
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You assign one button to communicate with the software...so instead of 2 buttons for range and channel, you have 3...just like team speak...either voice activated or button/key activated...
I have tested for jumping gun positions in a bomber, bomb-sight, calibrate mode, call up map, and a few other things and it works very well...
Does anyone know if their is a keyboard command that will pull the map up i,n or switch the map to, E6B?
Frankly I think it has limited application for fighter guys turning and buring in tight quarters...however it has tremendous potential for fixed battery and bomber missions...
oneway,
I've been fiddling with this, but I don't know exactly how to assign it to a key in AH. I was going to program it for map, but I'm lost.
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I believe you map it to a keyboard key, then map that key to a command in Aces High.
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I believe you map it to a keyboard key, then map that key to a command in Aces High.
Yeah that is what I figured...the CP is confusing though...many spots to input keys.
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Its pretty basic once you get going...
The builder screen is divided into 5 segments...the upper left is the action description, which is nothing more than a list of commands and the category they are assigned to. The category is irrelevant other than it affords a convenient way to group your commands. The name of the command is also irrelevant and is simply a human friendly way of assigning a name to your command.
Immediately below that is the activation phrase. This is basically the meat and potatoes of the recognition aspects of the application. Depending on which OS you are using, this application leverages the resident windows voice recognition SAPI (Speech Application Program Interface). According to the bobble heads on Google, Windows 7 version (which is what I am running) is quite a bit better than previous versions found on XP for example.
At this point it should be noted, that after going through the lengthy Windows tutorials and training (applies to Windows 7) found in the resident SAPI (Control Panel~Speech Recognition), that the 'local' system recognition vastly improves. Under W7, the tutorial process not only teaches you how to talk like an air traffic controller, it is logging your voice dynamics, and is in essence creating a voice recognition profile for the way you speak. The computer is learning...(see Skynet)...
After I ran through the W7x64 speech recognition tutorial/setup twice...DWVAC performance and recognition vastly improved. Do not skip the step of teaching your computer to recognize you.
The upper right of the interface (Command List) is what your computer will do when a recognized voice command comes down the pipe. The qualifier key is just like other controllers...its a shift state...typically something like Ctrl or Alt or whatever...The two extenders keys are used as prepend modifiers in front of the end command (Character Key)...its really pretty straight forward...this is nothing more than the output macro...
Command Attributes below that is simply a method to cause, control and dictate duration of press, pause between presses and number of times the command repeats...disregard this for AH as it has no bearing and should be left in its default condition of "Toggle Key On" NOT CHECKED
Profile activation keys activate the on off nature of the application VOX...choose a key/map a key to your controller to turn on voice transmit just like Range and Channel...I am using middle mouse button and have also tested used Left Ctrl for the push to activate...the "Push to Deactivate" is only applicable if you have your Activate set to Toggle...which makes little sense unless you plan on dictating the Magna Carta while in flight...
Finally below that on the bottom right is the key sequence used to start and stop VAC while in game...not unlike the default F9 in TrackIR...think of this as your "VAC Pause" command...
As it stands now...and I am still fine tuning things and tweaking word choices for recognition, I have the application programmed to handle:
Jump Top, Jump Tail, Jump Right, Jump One, Jump Nose, Jump Left, Jump Belly, Start Engines, Stop Engines, Shut Down 1, Shut Down 2, Shut Down 3, Shut Down 4, Start 1, Start 2, Start 3, Start 4, Doors Open, Bomb Sight, Damage Control, Gear Down, Gear Up, Flaps Down, Flaps Up, Center Trim, Plane One, Plane Two, Plane 3, Calibrate, Map.(edit: whoops...left out "Flight Level" and "Auto Climb")
I am working now on Salvo and Delay settings...
Works well and the testing and setting up continue...
After playing with this over the next few weeks I will report back here from time to time on the progress, as well as my impression and opinion of this software as a viable means of in game control...
As stated earlier...the turn and burn guys who end up on the deck doing donuts in fighters should look the other way...though technical fighter pilots who would like to control "Flight Systems" for start up and approach procedures such as Gear, Flaps, Tail Hook, Air Break, Map/Nav...and hands off management of radio/com might be interested...
This software relative to AH has application for bombers, fixed gunners...and I would assume vehicle drivers....
Out
Oneway
edit: The following applies to B17's in terms of gun positions and engines...
edit: I still have not found a voice command that will produce a fresh cold beer from the ice box....and a glazed doughnut...tragic...
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One note on Win7...(probably applies to Vista)...
This program does not like UAC (User account control). The program is leveraging some legacy VB6 Active-X components (namley comctl32.ocx)...which is actually quite pathetic considering that AX version of that VB6 DLL was last printed in the year 2000...
In fact....within the Win 7 release docs...it has been stated by MS that all of the legacy VB6 stuff will eventually no longer be supported...and this applications inability to operate with UAC running is indicative of that policy...
That having been said, the application does what it says it will do...providing you disable UAC...
Which begs the question: when will a 21'st century developer step up and fill this niche leveraging today's technology?
Out
Oneway
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Did you have to re-map the map key from Escape? The program doesn't recognize Esc as a character key...
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Did you have to re-map the map key from Escape? The program doesn't recognize Esc as a character key...
No
You simply assign Esc as an extended key and leave the character key blank. I also created a sister command with the exact same parameters and named/phrased it "Map Close" so as to maintain intuitive logic.
This way if the map is open I can say "Close Map", instead of using a generic command such as "Toggle Map", or a counter-intuitive command such as "Open Map"
I did the same thing for landing gear; 'Gear Up' and 'Gear Down' both trigger the g key so they are redundant...but it is far more logical and intuitive to have a set of paired commands for a toggle state key such as gear, tail hook etc...
Name: Open Map
Category: Global
Phrase: Open Map
Command set: 1
Qualifier: NONE
Extended: ESC
Extended2: NONE
Characters:
Duration: 200
Pause: 100
Repeat: 1
Toggle: False
Sound played:
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It is really quite amazing that when manning the guns on a 17 you can simply say "Jump Belly"...."External" and the game automatically gives you the external view for the belly gun....then do a final line up....and then just as quickly say "Bomb Sight"...."Calibrate" and you are now in the bomb sight calibration mode...and once done calibrating say "Salvo Three"....."Delay Zero Five"....without ever having to take your hands off of the controls....
Incidentally the same method of assigning only an extended key applies to function keys such as F6 ~ VIEW MODE BOMB SIGHT:
Command set: 1
Qualifier: NONE
Extended: F6
Extended2: NONE
Characters:
Duration: 200
Pause: 100
Repeat: 1
Toggle: False
Sound played:
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First online test/live in arena use of software results:
Amazing to say the least (for bomber/B17 pilots)
Gun jumping, salvo, delay, flight level, auto-climb, map, damage control, external view, internal view all nearly flawless...even speed settings such as:
"Speed 150"..."AutoClimb"...."External Tail"..."Map Off"......on the fly with engaged bandits....
Had a 262 come up and and attack me off my low left rear....blasting through...and extending off the nose: "Blister"...."Nose"....hit him in the fuel as he extended in front of the nose guns....he went home...
Very impressive....
I would compare this to 6DOF in Track IR but voice activated instead...
Testing continues
Out
Oneway
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mmmmm, "glazed doughnut". :banana:
Sorry, I have nothing to offer to this thread except my love for donuts. :)
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First online test/live in arena use of software results:
Amazing to say the least (for bomber/B17 pilots)
Gun jumping, salvo, delay, flight level, auto-climb, map, damage control, external view, internal view all nearly flawless...even speed settings such as:
"Speed 150"..."AutoClimb"...."External Tail"..."Map Off"......on the fly with engaged bandits....
Had a 262 come up and and attack me off my low left rear....blasting through...and extending off the nose: "Blister"...."Nose"....hit him in the fuel as he extended in front of the nose guns....he went home...
Very impressive....
I would compare this to 6DOF in Track IR but voice activated instead...
Testing continues
Out
Oneway
maybe you can do a test using this, and record a film of it.....like while in a bomber and jumping from belly gun to chin gun etc....... and shooting at attack planes.... or something of the like....
from what you have posted so far, this program seems very interesting....